We Experts Don't Let Anyone Watch Us Row

"Y-you mean..." Captain Nezumi fell into deep thought.

"Isn't the Marines' job just to keep putting prices on pirates across the seas so other bounty hunters will chase them down?" Arlong sneered.

"This man has committed heinous crimes. Raise his bounty to the highest limit you're authorized to set!"

"I see! Hahahaha, Arlong, you really are a genius!"

As a colonel who single-handedly commanded a Marine branch, couldn't he write the report however he wanted?

"By the way, where am I?" Captain Nezumi looked around. There were Fish-Men everywhere, but not a single normal human in sight.

"Of course you're in my Arlong Park. That guy will come knocking sooner or later to throw his life away!" Arlong glanced at the wanted poster on the table, his eyes filled with killing intent.

"If you want to leave, go ahead. Cocoyasi Village nearby is fairly prosperous. There's a ship that can take you back."

"No rush." The colonel smiled.

"How's that thief under your command doing with saving money? Since we're already here, it wouldn't hurt to harvest a round."

"Forget it. At Nami's pace, we can wait a few more years until she's stolen a little more money before harvesting it... I really want to see the look on her face when she breaks down. Hahahaha..."

"That works too." Captain Nezumi nodded, then got up and went back to raise Ling Donglai's bounty.

--

"In this world, why make money honestly when a windfall comes so much faster?" Ling Donglai's pockets had grown fat again.

After robbing a Marine warship, along with a few bounty hunters who didn't know their place, Ling Donglai had enough to avoid working for a month.

As for after that month, there was a ninety-percent chance all those Beli would end up in his stomach.

He casually joined a merchant convoy heading toward Cocoyasi Village and leisurely trained his abilities aboard the ship.

For now, he was focusing on Current Drive, squeezing in some Armament Haki practice when he had time. As for Observation Haki, he would leave it alone for the moment.

The goal of Current Drive was to reach the level the Rumble-Rumble Fruit could attain. According to his projections, once he developed Current Drive to an advanced realm, he would be able to sense other people's brainwaves and read their thoughts.

At that point, his Observation Haki would naturally rise straight to Enel's level, covering an entire Sky Island.

This was Ling Donglai's five-month plan. Whether he could achieve it or not didn't matter; he had to make the plan first.

As for why it wasn't a five-year plan... the average transmigrator became strong enough to become a God and smash the world within a few years.

Although Ling Donglai had no cheat like a system, he dreamed of becoming the protagonist of a power fantasy. He felt he couldn't disgrace the protagonist tier.

You had to have dreams, after all.

The ship rocked continuously amid the winds and waves as a gigantic sea beast raised its head from the water.

"It's a giant sea beast! Run!" Cries and screams erupted across the ship.

"Can you eat this thing?" Ling Donglai opened the window and stuck his head out to inspect the situation.

"A huge octopus monster... Once I learn to read, I have to buy an ocean cookbook!"

Ling Donglai stretched one hand out the window and blasted the octopus monster with 100,000 Volts.

The terrifying lightning strike hurt the octopus monster badly enough that it fled in panic.

The fact that it hadn't died was perfectly normal. Monsters in the One Piece World had incredible vitality. Even a 100,000-volt lightning strike could only instantly kill fodder-level monsters.

Anything stronger than that couldn't be taken down by a single 100,000 Volts. He would have to hit them several times.

"We're saved! That thunder shaking the heavens... it's that man! That legendary man is aboard our ship!"

Before long, the convoy erupted in the joy of surviving a disaster. The unmistakable thunderclap also made them realize there was an expert aboard their ship—the legendary Fish-Man Hunter!

Meanwhile, Ling Donglai casually pulled the baseball cap he had bought down over his face and continued cultivating.

"Sir, we've arrived at Cocoyasi Village." Not long afterward, someone knocked on Ling Donglai's door.

"I know."

Pulling his cap lower, Ling Donglai lazily stepped off the merchant ship. However, the place where he disembarked was a deserted island.

"You're the man with a ten-million-Beli bounty, aren't you? Though I'm grateful that you saved us, my ship won't carry pirates. Stay on this island and fend for yourself. With your strength, I'm sure you'll survive."

The merchant ship's leader stood on the deck and shouted at Ling Donglai, profound hatred visible in his eyes.

Ling Donglai looked into his eyes and understood.

He hated pirates.

So he wouldn't carry one.

"I see, but the problem is, I never said I was a pirate." Ling Donglai raised his cap slightly.

"You repay kindness with hatred. I was a passenger who paid to board your ship—how dare you treat me like this?"

He placed a hand against a nearby tree and exerted a little force, uprooting the entire tree. Then he aimed it at the merchant ship sailing away.

He hurled it with all his strength!

With a single boom, the tree punched straight through the ship and tore it apart!

"So this was your original fate, wasn't it?"

If Ling Donglai had not acted, there was a high chance that octopus sea beast would have destroyed this convoy. Since they refused to accept Ling Donglai's gift, they could only accept their original fate.

"Ah, I might as well make a raft and head out to sea myself."

Ling Donglai knocked down two more trees. He tossed one into the sea, where the wood naturally floated, and stepped onto it.

A simple and convenient "raft" was complete.

Next, Ling Donglai used the other tree as an oar and gave it a stroke. The raft drifted along with the waves; where it ended up depended on luck.

This was also how experts traveled.

Experts naturally went out to sea alone, just like Hawkeye. He traveled alone in a small boat without even an oar, relying entirely on the waves.

Of course, Ling Donglai was still very far from being an expert like Hawkeye.

So Ling Donglai still needed an oar.

"Hey, are you stranded?"

Ling Donglai had not drifted for long before he spotted a small boat drifting with the waves as well. Though it was small, it had both a sail and oars.

A little girl was steering it, which made Ling Donglai look at her in a new light.

A girl who dared to go out to sea alone was clearly an experienced sailor.

"I'm not stranded. I'm simply training." Ling Donglai answered without changing expression.

"Really? Then goodbye..." The orange-haired girl nodded and rowed away.

"..." Ling Donglai thought for a moment, then hugged the tree and paddled once. He easily caught up to the girl in the little boat.

"Now that you've seen me row, I have to kill you!"

That was the way of experts. Legend had it that Hawkeye killed everyone who saw him rowing with his black blade—and he even hunted them down. Terrifying.