The Monchi Family Tradition

He sped across the sea, carrying Ace, and stopped on a reef. Loguetown was already out of sight.

He plopped down on the rock, sweat constantly steaming off his body. Opening the first gate still placed quite a burden on him. If not for Garp's devilish training over the past few days, he would never have lasted this long.

"Let go of me! My crew is still waiting for me! I'm not going to see the old man!"

"Sorry, that's not up to me. I'm about to complete Vice Admiral Garp's mission." He had already captured Ace, but the mission still hadn't registered as complete. Clearly, he had to hand Ace over to Garp. He was about to catch Red Eye, so how could he possibly stop now?

As long as he didn't stop, he could reach that place. As long as he didn't stop, the road would keep stretching onward...

Cough, cough.

Ace tried to struggle, but his body had no strength because of the Seastone restraints, and he couldn't use his Ability either.

"Damn it! Why would that bastard old man send you to capture me?"

"Who knows? Maybe he got bored on a whim. To be honest, even if you hadn't eaten a Devil Fruit, capturing you would've been difficult. But you ate one, let your guard down, underestimated your enemy, and didn't know anything about Seastone."

Rodney had managed to capture Ace largely because of luck. Ace was unfamiliar with his Devil Fruit Ability, and after recently obtaining the Flame-Flame Fruit, he had relied too heavily on his elemental form. Instead, Rodney had outmaneuvered him, and with the two of them working together, he had been captured.

If he ran into an Ace familiar with his Devil Fruit Ability... running away would be the wisest choice!

Meanwhile, Deuce and the others escaped from the Marines' encirclement. Deuce said, "The captain's been captured. We have to find a way to rescue him."

One person asked, "But where are we supposed to rescue the captain?"

"That man just said he came to capture the captain under Vice Admiral Garp's orders. Vice Admiral Garp is the Marine Hero, and his hometown is in the Kingdom of Goa in the East Blue. The captain mentioned his hometown before, so we can go to the captain's old home and try our luck." Deuce calmly analyzed the situation and reached that conclusion.

The other crew members looked at one another, then all nodded. Their captain was occasionally unreliable, sometimes ate without paying, and often fell asleep at random, but he was the captain of the Spade Pirates. As companions on the same ship, how could they abandon him?

"Spade Pirates! The Captain Rescue Plan! Begin!"

"Yeahhh!!!!"

Rodney walked across the surface of the water with Ace slung over his shoulder. Ace stared at the choppy sea, utterly baffled that anyone could actually walk across the ocean.

"Hey! Aren't you afraid of being eaten by a Sea King?" Ace asked.

"Oh, perfect timing." He could use one as a mount.

The Sea Kings of the East Blue weren't thousands of meters long like the ones in the New World. The biggest they got here was a few dozen meters, and they were especially easy to bully. So... how had Red-Haired, one of the Four Emperors, lost an arm?

"Danger!" Ace saw a shadow below growing larger and approaching rapidly.

"Free labor's here!" Rodney suddenly leaped into the air. A Sea King burst through the surface beneath him. The lion-headed Sea King opened its enormous jaws and lunged at them.

Rodney twisted in midair, Chakra gathering in his leg.

"Konoha Great Whirlwind!"

Bang!

The lion Sea King was knocked down with a kick. Ace said, "That's impressive." This man's physical strength seemed to be nearly on par with Ace's before he ate the Flame-Flame Fruit. He was really strong.

Rodney landed steadily on the surface of the sea and approached the lion Sea King. Realizing it couldn't win, the creature tried to flee, but Rodney grabbed its soaking-wet mane and kicked it again. With a fierce expression, he said, "Listen to me, or I'll eat you later."

The lion Sea King fearfully displayed an almost human expression. Animals in this world could understand human speech, though they were occasionally a little slow on the uptake...

"Wuu wuu wuu."

The lion Sea King could only resign itself to its fate. Rodney grabbed it by the mane and sat on its neck, while Ace was tossed aside.

"Take me in that direction, to the nearest island." He pointed in the opposite direction from Loguetown. It was difficult to determine the direction of the Kingdom of Goa from the open sea, but he could have the Sea King take him to the nearest island. Once he knew where he was, he could make further plans.

Ace remained silent because he had no strength and couldn't do anything.

After a while, he said, "I'm hungry."

"Eat." Rodney took a Soldier Pill from his waist pouch. Ace asked, "Is this chocolate? And there's so little of it. It won't even fill the gaps between my teeth."

"Are you eating it or not?"

"I am." Something was better than nothing. He opened his mouth, and a Soldier Pill went in.

He bit down.

Ace: "..."

"It tastes awful! It tastes so awful!" Ace wasn't a picky eater, and even he couldn't stand it. That showed just how indescribably terrible the Soldier Pills tasted.

"It's all right. You were unlucky. The one I ate was honey-flavored." The flavors of the system-produced Soldier Pills were random. Most of them were the indescribably awful kind, so getting a honey-flavored one clearly meant he had good luck.

The Soldier Pill wasn't chocolate, but you never knew what the next one would taste like.

"I can't take this. Do you have anything else?"

"Huh? One of these can keep a person from feeling hungry for a day and provide the strength the body needs. You're still not full?"

"Of course I'm not! How could something like that fill me up?!" Ace refused to believe that something so small and disgusting could fill his stomach.

Rodney thought about it. Ace's stamina was far beyond that of an ordinary person. He had trained since childhood, and people in this world were all especially big eaters. So it wasn't surprising that a Soldier Pill couldn't satisfy his stomach. He took out a handful of Soldier Pills.

Ace cried out when he saw them. "No! I'd rather die than eat those! Let me go, you... Huu huu huu!" A bubble of snot suddenly appeared, and he actually fell asleep on the spot.

Rodney: "..." Was he really Garp's grandson?

The ability to fall asleep anytime, anywhere!

Luffy could do it too. Could Dragon?

The Monchi family was terrifying!

He set Ace aside. He couldn't escape anyway. The problem now was how to find Garp.

Would he have to go to Foosha Village?

The Sea King's speed was decent. Although this creature looked exactly like the one he had captured earlier and kept trying to find ways to drown itself, it would be fine as long as Rodney stayed focused the entire time.

After that, the lion Sea King continued swimming with three large bumps on its head.

"There's a ship ahead. Take us to it, and your mission will be over." It wasn't until the sun had set over the sea that Rodney spotted a ship. A skull flag fluttered from its mast, making it obvious that it was a pirate ship.

The lion Sea King's eyes, which had lacked any spark, lit up the moment it heard that its mission was about to end. It sped up, then leaped out of the water. Rodney grabbed Ace and landed steadily on the pirate ship, saying directly, "Sorry, but I'm requisitioning your pirate ship."

"Who the hell are you, kid? How dare you act so arrogantly?! Men, kill him!" The captain was a muscular man wielding a large ax. He stood three or four meters tall and had a thick beard covering his face, making him look utterly ferocious.

The crew all looked at Rodney and Ace as if they were idiots. Clearly, they thought victory was already theirs.

"Tch!"

Chakra flooded into both his legs. He leaped in front of the pirate captain. "Konoha Great Whirlwind!"

"You're looking for death!"

The pirate captain was just about to swing his ax when he was a step too slow. Rodney kicked the ax's handle, bending the iron shaft. The force transferred into the man, sending him flying into the sea.

"Hey, big guy, here's a treat for you." The lion Sea King seemed to sense something. It leaped out, opened its jaws, swallowed the man, and sank beneath the waves.

"All right, who's next?"

Rodney surveyed the surroundings. Seeing their captain defeated, the pirates' hands began to tremble, and their weapons fell to the deck. On an ordinary pirate ship, the captain was usually the strongest person. Once he was defeated, these weakling pirates lost all their will to fight and could no longer muster the courage to resist.

"Good. I hereby declare that this ship belongs to me now. Turn around and head for the Kingdom of Goa. Prepare a lavish dinner, then look after this guy. Don't mistreat him, or you'll end up just like your captain."

Few pirates were kindhearted. People like Luffy and Ace were ultimately the exception, so there was no need to concern himself with the pirates' circumstances or opinions.