I Swear: I'll Survive

Moya lay sprawled on the deck, struggling to breathe.

Every muscle in his body twitched and trembled, as if it no longer belonged to him.

Moya secretly scanned the pirate ship.

Alvida crouched down to look at Moya, her ugly face looming before him.

"You came to follow me?" Alvida asked coolly.

In Alvida's eyes, Moya's swollen face and split eye were so ugly that all her initial interest had vanished.

She didn't need someone so weak following her. She only liked strong men!!

Moya couldn't understand what Alvida was saying, and didn't dare nod carelessly. He'd already paid the price for that once.

Moya didn't say anything, either. He just went, "Ah-ba, ah-ba," like a mute.

"Captain, he might be a mute!" a sailor said.

Moya silently studied the pirates' expressions and tones as he regained his strength.

Suddenly, Moya sprang to his feet and ran toward the railing.

The pirates jumped in alarm and grabbed their swords, ready to hack him to death.

Moya nervously held up a cleaning bucket and a dirty rag, going "Ah-ba, ah-ba" as he faced the still-wary pirates.

Moya immediately bent down and began scrubbing the deck as hard as he could.

Moya was gambling that the pirates needed someone to do odd jobs, since the coward Koby had already run away.

While swimming in the sea, Moya had already started figuring out how to survive in a place where he couldn't understand the language—how to avoid being killed by the pirates and stay alive!

So he planned to pretend to be mute and take over Koby's job—doing odd jobs.

The pirates watched Moya scrubbing the deck. Then the fierce-looking pirate spoke up.

"We're short a deckhand anyway. Captain, let him stay!"

It wasn't that the pirate was kindhearted. He just didn't want to do the odd jobs himself.

Since Koby had run away, he figured he'd be stuck taking over, so he spoke up out of "brotherly loyalty."

"Captain, we don't know where this kid came from."

One of the pirates spoke up. They were worried that he might be an enemy's child sent to infiltrate them. After all, they had killed plenty of innocent villagers.

"What's there to be afraid of? I could take on a hundred puny little brats like him!" the fierce-looking pirate said.

Watching her crew argue, Alvida impatiently waved a hand. "Stop arguing. Fine, he can stay!"

She pointed at the fierce-looking pirate. "You're in charge of teaching him how to work from now on!"

Then she returned to the captain's quarters.

Once the pirates had finished arguing, Moya breathed a sigh of relief. He lowered his head, tears filling his eyes. It seemed he'd successfully survived.

He'd finally survived.

He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, shouting in his heart:

"I swear, I'll survive no matter what. I'll never let anyone treat me like a helpless victim again!!

"And I'll kill every last person on that ship!!! Aahhh!!!"

A frenzied, blood-red thought began to grow in Moya's heart.

"Hey, kid. You're under my supervision from now on," the fierce-looking pirate called.

"Ah-ba, ah-ba." Moya came to his senses and pointed at his mouth again.

The fierce-looking pirate said in frustration, "Right, I forgot you're a mute!"

Then he smacked Moya on the head. A sharp pain shot through him, but Moya still gave him a simple-minded grin.

The pirate pointed at the bucket, then at the railing, indicating that Moya had to clean it thoroughly.

He also took Moya to the toilets and every other place that needed cleaning.

And just like that, Moya began doing odd jobs without even tending to his injuries.

That night, Moya finished a full day's work despite his injuries. The pirates held a banquet and ignored him.

Moya stayed hungry, waiting until the pirates had finished eating.

Only then could he quietly eat some of the leftovers. His eyes red and tears held back, Moya stuffed mouthful after mouthful into his mouth.

Never in his life would Moya have imagined that he'd end up eating scraps and leftovers.

Once the gnawing hunger in his stomach had finally passed, Moya began cleaning up the banquet debris.

He cleaned carefully, afraid of disturbing any of the crew.

That night, Moya slept in a corner of the ship's cabin, watching the pirates snore in their sleep.

At that moment, Moya silently hated how weak and useless he was.

But now his gaze had grown even more resolute—and even more ruthless.

Moya seemed not to notice how much his personality had changed.

Moya had been living aboard Alvida's Miss Love Duck for two days now. The swelling on his face had gradually gone down, though the wound at the corner of his eye had left a curved scar.

It rivaled Garp's scar, but there was a world of difference between their strength.

Thinking back on everything he'd experienced in just these two days since crossing over, it felt as if he'd suffered a hundred times more than he had in the previous twenty years.

Moya was even more determined to survive and grow stronger.

In this pirate world where the strong ruled, there were no rights without strength. The weak could only live like dogs!!!

Whenever he wasn't doing odd jobs, Moya made a point of training his body.

He had to admit, the energy system in this world was far superior to Earth's.

Even Moya could feel the natural energy in the air. After every workout, he could feel his body recovering just by breathing.

And the meat in this world was packed with an incredible amount of energy.

On the pirate ship, Moya could only eat leftovers, but even those gave his body a major boost!

Perhaps Earth's energy had run dry, causing living things to grow weaker and smaller. After all, creatures in the age of the dinosaurs had been enormous!

Moya, who had come from Earth, was like a sponge left in the desert that had suddenly been dropped into the ocean, constantly absorbing the energy of this pirate world.

He wondered where the limits of his body as a man from China on Earth lay!

There were several main ways to get stronger in this world: Devil Fruits, physical techniques, swordsmanship, technology, and Haki.

Aboard Alvida's ship, the only thing he could make plans around for now was the Slip-Slip Fruit, which Alvida would soon eat.

Some people said the fruit was useless, only able to make its user beautiful and slippery.

Moya thought so too, but at the moment, it was the only Devil Fruit he had a chance to get close to.

He had neither the opportunity nor the ability to get any other fruits.

Some people said Blackbeard had stolen the Yami Yami no Mi through a sneak attack and sheer luck.

But they overlooked the fact that Blackbeard had been strong enough to give Red-Haired three scars.

Obviously, Moya wasn't as strong as Blackbeard.

The reality was that he had no strength at all right now, and wasn't qualified to go searching for Devil Fruits—not to mention that he didn't have the time.

He was still just a little deckhand, a nobody who couldn't even understand the language!!

His plan was to get a Devil Fruit to survive first, then find another way to grow stronger.

As the pirate ship approached an island to resupply, Moya had a strange, sudden feeling.

He sensed that the Slip-Slip Fruit was on this island, and that Alvida would get it here.

Moya clenched his fist and took a deep breath, looking up at the sky. He didn't have the strength or time to think about other Devil Fruits.

He could only make plans around Alvida, a "little pirate" with some knowledge of Devil Fruits, in the weak waters of the East Blue.

Heh~, Moya wasn't even as strong as a little pirate!

Moya stood by the railing. When he saw a pirate approaching, he immediately put on his simple-minded expression again.

But a dangerous glint flashed in his eyes.

He'd taken no shortage of insults and slaps over the past few days.

Any gratitude he'd once felt toward these pirates for saving his life had long since vanished.

At last, the pirate ship reached the shore of the island, and the pirates excitedly began preparing to land.

Once most of the pirates had gone ashore, Moya—who hadn't been given any orders and was supposed to stay behind on the ship—quietly followed them onto the island while the pirates left to guard the ship weren't looking.

No one would pay attention to a little deckhand.