Voyage Log

Sea Circle Calendar, January 13, 1506.

I boarded the Sea Bass and became a member of the Sun Pirates. The first thing that happened after I "joined" was that everyone got a red sun branded onto them, just like the sun tattoo on Boss Fisher Tiger's chest.

Boss Fisher Tiger never said it outright, but everyone understood it was meant to cover the Celestial Dragon Hoof Marks on his companions who'd been slaves, myself included.

I knew that Boss Fisher Tiger had once been captured by the Celestial Dragons and made a slave, too. After escaping, he'd resolved to free all the slaves on the sea...

That was a wound buried deep in Boss Fisher Tiger's heart. He wouldn't let anyone know about it, and I pretended not to know, either.

When it came to resentment toward humans, Boss Fisher Tiger was even more bitter than Arlong. But he'd seen Celestial Dragons, slave traders, and human slaves alike, so he kept that resentment in check.

Sea Circle Calendar, January 14, 1506.

It was my turn to get a tattoo today. The burn of the branding iron still felt as intense as ever, but... it felt completely different from when I was in Mary Geoise!

The Celestial Dragon Hoof Mark on my back had been replaced by a red sun.

And I'd had the flag of the Sword of Freedom tattooed on my upper left arm. It had flown for less than two hours, but this was the first pirate crew I'd joined, and the beginning of "freedom."

Holy crap... Hachi really did press the branding iron to his head? That octopus was one tough guy!

Sea Circle Calendar, January 15, 1506.

I signed up as a combatant. My fighting skills weren't great, but my physique made me stand out in the combatant tryouts. Unlike the other elite combatants, though, the few squad leaders just stared at me in silence.

After Kuroobi's tryout, Willy had wanted to poach one of Arlong's men, but Kuroobi was already Arlong's Little Brother and didn't pay Willy any mind.

Kuroobi was a Cartilaginous Fish-Man, with large fins growing from his forearms. He was already a thirtieth-degree practitioner of Fish-Man Karate. I had no idea what the thirtieth degree meant, but it sounded impressive... Still, I wasn't lacking in raw strength, either!

But when they looked at me... they were clearly still hung up on my being "mixed-blood."

Fortunately, Boss Jinbe noticed the awkward situation and decisively spoke up, saying I was strong and putting me under his command as a helmsman. Hachi was chosen alongside me.

Boss Jinbe served as the crew's chief helmsman—or head helmsman. Though nobody said it outright, everyone treated him as the first mate.

The second mate was Aladdin, a burly merman who was the crew's Ship Doctor. He was tough and taciturn. Below him... came Arlong, Willy, and Makoro. Willy was a hulking tiger shark Fish-Man, nearly as big as Boss Jinbe, who wielded a hammer and didn't get along with Arlong. The two had initially fought over the position of boatswain, until Boss Jinbe chewed them out.

Willy was now in charge of deck combat, while Arlong handled underwater combat. Willy was popular among the older Fish-Men, while Arlong was the big brother of the younger generation.

Makoro had far less presence than Willy and Arlong. I didn't remember him from the original story, either, since I'd skimmed the "two years later" part.

Makoro was a wide-gullet Fish-Man, so you could imagine how wide his jaw was. His appearance was hard to describe: ocher skin, hair like a string mop, and arms like hammers. Maybe it was because of his drooping eyes, but he always looked a little sluggish. He'd probably been taught a lesson by Willy in the past, and didn't dare compete with him or offend Arlong, the New Generation's big brother. He'd ended up responsible for protecting the ordinary crew members, which still made him a squad leader of sorts.

Sea Circle Calendar, January 15, 1506.

Today, Hachi and I learned to steer under Boss Jinbe's instruction. Perhaps because of the "Sailor" Pathway in the "Wrathful People" sequence, I had a real knack for it.

An ordinary helmsman might only need to steer as instructed, but Boss Jinbe held nothing back. He taught Hachi and me everything he knew about judging wind direction, reading currents, and more.

Hachi, with a sun branded on his head, turned out to have a real knack for it, too. Maybe Fish-Men were just naturally talented at this sort of thing...

If I could reach Sequence 7, "Seafarer," the Pathway after "Wrathful People," I might be able to upgrade "pretty good" to Nami's level.

Sea Circle Calendar, January 18, 1506.

It was the fifth day since we'd left Fish-Man Island, and we'd reached the first island on our route.

With the Dragon Palace Kingdom's discreet help, we'd brought several Eternal Poses pointing to different islands in the first half of the Grand Line. The Dragon Palace Kingdom was relatively isolated, but pirates passed through often enough that they had a few resources to spare.

The Sun Pirates had no interest in the "One Piece" or becoming "King of the Pirates." They'd gone to sea first to escape, and second to free slaves wherever they could!

But Captain—crossed out—Boss Fisher Tiger wouldn't let us land. At the port, we'd seen a tall gallows with several dried corpses hanging from it, along with a few tattered pirate flags.

I'd heard in Mary Geoise that this sort of thing usually meant the corpses belonged to pirates. It was a sign that the island wanted nothing to do with pirates: if a skull flag entered the harbor, it meant war.

There was another possibility: an empty gallows meant the island welcomed pirates, and had facilities and services especially for them. As long as they had money, pirates could stock up on all the supplies they wanted.

Of course, both situations were rare in the first half of the Grand Line. Either one meant the island had a powerful force backing it. Otherwise, the first kind would've already been wiped off the map by enraged pirates, while the second would've been stripped bare by greedy ones...

The most common arrangement was to have no gallows at the harbor at all—to go with the flow and offer only limited defenses, hoping the pirate big shots wouldn't cause too much trouble.

Arlong and the others were a little unhappy and wanted to make a big score. But Boss Fisher Tiger wasn't staying away because he'd been intimidated. Seeing pirate corpses hanging on Shindra Island told him that the island must be peaceful.

That was good. Boss Fisher Tiger didn't want to disturb them.

Sea Circle Calendar, January 20, 1506.

On our seventh day at sea, we encountered the first Marine pursuit we couldn't evade...

"There's a Marine fleet to the southeast!" Talissgo shouted from the crow's nest, ringing the large bell there as he did.

Talissgo looked as if he were holding a spyglass, but those were actually his eyes. He was an Eye-Tube Fish-Man, skilled at seeing things from afar.

"One, two, three... Confirmed: a standard fleet of six warships," Talissgo reported.

It was probably one armored flagship and five sailing frigates.

Jinbe nudged Sig, who was at the helm, aside and took over himself. At times he closed his eyes to feel the currents; at others, he watched the sails.

"There's another Marine fleet to the northwest! Also a standard fleet!" Talissgo shouted again.

"Jinbe." Fisher Tiger looked over.

"The Marines are trying to surround us. We're at a disadvantage. Diving is the only way to escape," Jinbe said, giving his assessment.

The Sea Bass had many functions, and could even dive. With an all-Fish-Man crew, diving was relatively simple; there was no need to worry about keeping water out. But diving would badly damage the ship, and supplies—including gunpowder—would get wet. After all, the Sea Bass was made with only a little Eve Tree wood, unlike Roger's ship, which was made entirely of Adam Tree wood.

"Boss Fisher Tiger! Let's fight!"

"Damn humans... Ahem, I mean, damn Marines. They really think we're afraid of them?"

"Kill the Marines and take their warships!"

Arlong and the others all volunteered to fight.

Fisher Tiger's expression turned solemn. "Prepare for battle!"

We'd shaken off the Marines twice before, but it wasn't because we couldn't beat them. Fisher Tiger simply didn't want to fight for no reason. If it had been a slave-catching crew, he would've started the fight himself.

But since we couldn't shake them off and they were deliberately surrounding us, we'd just have to show the Marines what we could do...