Don't Laugh. You Wouldn't Make It Either

Ten days later.

The rain had passed, and the sky had cleared. The sea stretched wide beneath an open sky.

At that moment, a cargo ship was sailing across the ocean, steadily heading toward its destination.

Even storms that seemed as though they would never end would eventually pass.

Now, the sun was bright and the cloudless sky stretched for miles. The perilous experiences from not long ago felt like a dream, leaving behind no trace at all. Only the people who had lived through them still carried those vivid memories in their minds.

On the cargo ship's deck.

Li Mingyuan leaned against the railing and gazed out at the boundless sea.

In the blink of an eye, he had already been at sea for ten days.

Over those ten days, aside from the first few days of torrential rain, the weather had mostly been sunny. The voyage had been calm nearly the entire way, with no accidents whatsoever.

No expected sea beasts, bizarre and terrifying weather, or pirates who might hijack the ship.

None of them had appeared.

During his ten or so days aboard, Li Mingyuan either ate or slept every day. Most of the time, he stayed in his cabin. Otherwise, he went up on deck to admire the view and soak up some sunlight so he would not grow moldy.

He was certainly glad that he did not have to squeeze in with the sailors and had his own private space, but after living like this for too long, it was honestly rather boring.

Everything was utterly ordinary. Every day passed in idleness.

Though perhaps that was only because he had come aboard uninvited, and no one dared ask him to work.

But honestly, to Li Mingyuan, those first few days sailing through the storm had been far more exciting.

When the storm tossed the cargo ship around, he had thought several times that it was about to sink. Yet each time, they had made it through without any real danger.

Was it because the old captain was truly experienced and had confidence in his ability to put to sea? Or was that level of storm simply no threat to this cargo ship, which was why he had chosen to sail without hesitation from the beginning?

He could not figure it out.

From Li Mingyuan's perspective, there were simply too many things he did not understand.

Just like this uneventful daily life of his.

In his memories, One Piece's story had been tightly paced, and its colorful adventures had been utterly captivating. Yet now that it was happening to him, it was so dull.

As time passed, a thought inevitably arose in Li Mingyuan's heart. Perhaps for the Four Seas, this kind of life at sea was normal, while accidents were rare.

Even in the One Piece world, pirates were not so easy to encounter, and sea beasts were even rarer.

After all, countless people made their living sailing ships and engaging in maritime trade. Most were merely ordinary people with no combat ability. A wanted criminal with a bounty in the millions could easily deal with them. If they encountered such uncontrollable dangers all the time, trade and exchange between islands probably would have collapsed long ago.

Even the Straw Hat crew was the same.

In the early days, Zoro and Luffy had dared to set out to sea on a broken little boat. That alone was enough to show what the Four Seas were like. If it had been the Grand Line, that shabby boat might have been dragged into the depths by some freak climate halfway through the journey.

Even the protagonists themselves had only gone to the Grand Line because they could not fulfill their dreams in the Four Seas. It could be said that the real journey did not begin until they reached the Grand Line.

So by comparison, it made logical sense for voyages through the Four Seas to be this peaceful.

"This is so boring. Is life at sea really this boring?"

"No phones, no computers. At most, I can kill time with newspapers, chat with the sailors, or occasionally play cards. But when I talk with the sailors, our understanding of the world isn't even on the same level. I can only play the role of a listener. Even if we play cards together, as a transmigrator used to video games, I can't really get into it. Not to mention, playing cards with sailors means gambling for money."

Staring at the blinding sunlight, Li Mingyuan felt troubled. "Even in the Naruto world, if I couldn't find anyone to talk to, at least I could go for a walk somewhere in that vast world to pass the time. But on this ship in the One Piece world, I can't go anywhere at all. Every day, I can only look at the same unchanging scenery. Even if I wanted to write a sailing diary, I probably wouldn't know what to write. Other than recording that I slept through another day, I might only be able to add what I ate."

If these days continued, would he really lose his mind from excessive boredom?

Li Mingyuan could not help doubting it.

Time passed quickly.

While Li Mingyuan was still spending his days in a daze, it was not long before he realized it was time to eat again.

Food.

Other than sleeping, it was the only thing in his day that he could still look forward to.

It was a reasonably sizable cargo ship, and the captain had presumably considered the issue of food at sea, so their stores were fairly plentiful. Combined with the exceptional deliciousness of food unique to the One Piece world, it was enough to lift one's spirits.

It was just that he did not know how long such delicious days would last.

Vegetables and fruit could not be stored for more than a few days, after all. Even if their supplies were still abundant at the moment, as the voyage continued, there would eventually come a day when nothing was fit to eat.

By then, life at sea might truly be no different from prison for Li Mingyuan.

After entering the cabin, Li Mingyuan casually found a seat in a large room that he was not sure even counted as a dining hall. He listened to the nearby sailors talking while waiting for his portion of food.

Before long, a somewhat familiar-looking sailor brought over his fixed ration.

Li Mingyuan looked at his food, then glanced over what the sailors around him were eating. Sure enough, it was just as the captain had said: he received the same meals as the crew.

But words were just words. He raised his eyes and looked toward several seats deeper inside the dining hall. The boatswain and several other important crew members sat there, and compared to their food, what he was eating was rather shabby.

Compared to the captain's meals, which were not even eaten here, the difference was probably like heaven and earth.

"Ugh..."

Li Mingyuan sighed, lowered his head again, picked up his utensils, and began today's lunch.

Eating was clearly his only source of positive feedback here, yet even this tiny pleasure was divided into ranks. He suddenly did not feel much like eating anymore.

He somewhat wanted to ask the captain for better treatment, but after thinking it over, he gave up on the idea.

For one thing, it was too embarrassing. The captain had made it clear from the start that his treatment would be the same as the crew's. He was merely hitching a ride, so by all rights, he should have been grateful to have food at all.

For another, he did not want to reveal his wealth to these people.

If he was willing to pay, he might be able to improve his meals. But considering that he had seen them dealing with missing cargo before boarding, as well as the oppressive atmosphere among the sailors at the time, he decided not to make trouble for himself.

Keeping wealth hidden was friendlier to both himself and others. What if these people saw his money, got greedy at sea, and decided to kill him? If he killed the sailors in return, who would sail the ship for him? He had no knowledge of navigation at all. Without the sailors, the ship could only drift across the ocean.

All things considered.

After lunch, Li Mingyuan felt mentally exhausted and trudged back toward his cabin.

Along the way, several familiar sailors invited him to play cards. He casually brushed them off with a few words, ignored them, returned straight to his room, and threw himself face-first onto the bed.

Li Mingyuan rolled over and stared blankly at the ceiling.

"How much longer until we reach our destination?"

"If this keeps up, I'm really going to die from losing my mind."

He did not want to move at all. It felt as if even the strength to get up had completely vanished, and he simply curled up quietly in his room.

If he had known the journey would be this boring, then instead of preparing all sorts of miscellaneous supplies, he should have brought several books aboard. With the system's assistance, he had no problem with either conversation or basic writing.

Those fishermen had never told him that sailing at sea was this boring.

As he thought of this, Li Mingyuan suddenly seemed to remember something. He reached out and tapped the empty air.

The system's hidden page appeared before him.

"At a time like this, I really have to rely on this to kill time."

Li Mingyuan muttered to himself.

As he looked at the system panel before him, a trace of nostalgia gradually appeared on his face.

Back in the Naruto world, whenever he had nothing to do, he would browse through the reward list to pass the time.

Though that had not been because he had been as idle as he was now.

It was mainly because, during the early days in the Naruto world, his system had still been version 1.0. It had no language or conversation assistance functions. At the very beginning, it could only be operated by tapping, and it was only after gradually upgrading from 1.0 to the current 3.0 system that it gained the more convenient voice control function.

So during his early days in the Naruto world, he had been completely unable to communicate with anyone. Naturally, all he could do was stare at the system interface every day.

His system continued to update, and it gradually added functions as well, such as protection for the holder's system-related memories and protection against mind-reading. Beyond that, even the reward list continued to expand.

He did not yet understand the exact principles behind the updates.

But based on his observations from the previous world, Li Mingyuan believed that the system's evolution was tied to task completion. The closer he got to completing a task, the more the system seemed to improve.

In the Naruto world, it had ultimately evolved to version 3.0 after he completed the task. If that was the case, then in the One Piece world, it might have a chance to reach version 6.0 at most.

He wondered what kinds of functions would be added by then.

Just thinking about it was rather exciting.

And so, Li Mingyuan scrolled through the system's reward list, continuing to pass the time.

During that time, perhaps it was just his imagination, but he seemed to hear a set of footsteps outside his tightly closed door. Then, after those sounds moved away, a burst of commotion rose from the deck above.

"Hmm, hmm-hmm-hmm, hmm-hmm."

Li Mingyuan hummed softly to himself, completely unmoved as he continued browsing the system panel.

An illusion. Of course, it was only an illusion.

Even if something really had happened on the ship, it had nothing to do with him. His task now was to keep as low a profile as possible, avoid getting involved in the ship's affairs like some random extra, and just pretend he had noticed nothing.

After boarding, he had already discussed the terms of his protection services with the captain in detail.

One of the terms was that if a situation arose where Li Mingyuan truly had no choice but to help, he would solve the problem—but the captain would have to pay the discounted price of 100,000 Beli.

To that end, Li Mingyuan had even demonstrated chakra pressure points. After he knocked the strongest sailor on the ship straight to the floor with a single poke of his finger, the captain no longer objected to the price. Instead, he told Li Mingyuan that they would handle ordinary minor issues themselves. Only if they specifically sent someone to find him would it mean they needed his help.

Therefore, Li Mingyuan ignored all internal conflicts among the crew.

About thirty minutes later, the commotion on deck gradually settled down again.

Li Mingyuan closed the system page just as he was preparing to take a pleasant afternoon nap.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, Li Mingyuan raised his eyes toward the door.

Just then, he had faintly sensed an extremely light set of footsteps passing outside his door.

Those footsteps were very, very soft.

If his five senses had not been greatly enhanced by chakra, he would never have noticed them.

But at that moment, it was not the footsteps themselves that caught Li Mingyuan's attention. After all, he had pretended not to hear the earlier disturbance, so he was even less inclined to move over a minor dispute like this.

The important thing was that not long after those footsteps disappeared.

A roar suddenly came from somewhere below his cabin.

"Search! Everyone, get out there and search! Don't overlook a single corner of the ship!"

"The ship will dock in another thirty minutes! Don't give them any chance to leave before then! You understand, right? If we find them, we might even recover the portion that was already stolen!!"

"Anyone who wants to leave Arlong Park early, get your heads in the game and search like your lives depend on it!"

Even through the thick wooden boards of the cabin, Li Mingyuan could hear the man's voice. Every word was crystal clear.

Ignoring the talk about theft, he immediately seized upon the key point.

The ship was about to dock.

Did that not mean his prison sentence was about to end?

"So we're already this close to Arlong Park."

"I thought it would take at least another ten days or so."

Li Mingyuan could barely suppress the upward curl of his lips.

Never before had he experienced such an exhilarating sense of release. He felt like a prisoner who had just escaped from jail.

"In that case, I need to pack my luggage first."

The thought flashed through his mind, and Li Mingyuan immediately turned around, stretching out his hand toward his bag.