Plot Disruption

Besides, even if he had disrupted the original plot now, he still possessed a considerable advantage in foreknowledge. That information alone would be enough to guide his actions for a long time.

The benefits of gaining Nami far outweighed the drawbacks of disrupting the plot.

"In the One Piece world's setting, the route of relying on the masses is completely useless. Just like in the Naruto world, all the cannon-fodder ninjas combined couldn't pile up enough to kill a single Six Paths level fighter. The One Piece world also emphasizes that the strong reign supreme. Its system is even more reasonable than the Naruto world's feudal lord system. From Imu to the Five Elders to the God Knights, every ruler at the very top of the World Government is powerful. There isn't a single weak one. On top of that, the World Government commands an extremely powerful force like the Marines. No wonder it has ruled the world—its power truly has been the greatest in the world for centuries."

"By comparison, all those messy trash organizations that appeared in Big Mom's Whole Cake Island arc are perfect counterexamples. A whole bunch of people appeared in passing, yet they had no strength at all. It made no difference whether they appeared or not, and they barely had any presence in the main plot. In a setting like this, it's no wonder the system mission said that no matter how many civilians there are, they can't overthrow the World Government without top-tier powerhouses leading them. That isn't a figure of speech. It's simply an objective fact."

"If I want to overthrow the World Government in this world, then in the future, the only viable path will be the elite route. Just like how I proactively sought out Hashirama and Madara in the Naruto world last time, I should still start from the top. Recruiting some powerhouses and directly attacking the World Government is far more realistic. Trying to stack numbers and take the mass route? One blast of Conqueror's Haki would probably leave no one standing. There's no point at all."

Li Mingyuan tapped his fingers against the bag of money, thinking about Nami while also considering his next course of action.

He had calculated it clearly.

It would be difficult for him alone to overthrow the World Government, so he would inevitably need to gather companions.

And if he chose the elite route and gathered capable companions, what sort of allies would actually be useful to him?

In the One Piece world, every top-tier powerhouse could massacre armies on their own. In a setting like this, only absolute strength could carry out one's will. Therefore, if he wanted to recruit companions, he had to prioritize the strong and see whether he could gather an elite group of powerhouses like Rocks, who had once sought to become the "King of the World."

Unlike characters constrained by the original plot, he did not have to limit himself to pirates. He could even try recruiting people like Dragon and Garp. Even current Marine admirals such as Aokiji and Kizaru were not entirely out of the question. It all depended on how he handled things.

However, aside from the necessary combat power, functional teammates were also indispensable if he wanted to roam the seas.

Especially during this early stage of building his enterprise, with Dual Kamui in his possession, his strength was temporarily excessive. Functional teammates were even more important than powerful combatants.

As for what kind of functional teammates he should choose...

First, he definitely needed a navigator.

Virtually every story in One Piece revolved around the Grand Line. If he wanted to defeat the World Government, he would certainly have to go there. Yet the Grand Line's geomagnetism, climate, and currents were all chaotic, especially in its latter half, where abnormal weather occurred frequently. Without a reliable navigator, his ship would likely sink before reaching its destination.

Li Mingyuan had no interest in testing whether an ordinary navigator was capable of sailing the Grand Line. From that perspective, Nami possessed uniquely irreplaceable importance to him.

Second, if he was going to the Grand Line, a ship's doctor was also essential.

Although the One Piece world was filled with monsters blessed with absurd constitutions, and plenty of people had never caught so much as a cold from birth to adulthood, Li Mingyuan's body was not that formidable. If he got sick, the situation could become extremely dangerous. Especially in a world like One Piece, where even ancient viruses existed, the thought of having no reliable ship's doctor aboard was enough to make his skin crawl.

Therefore, his ship also needed a doctor.

In summary, those were probably the two main points.

As for the other positions modeled after the Straw Hat Pirates, he felt there was no need for them for the time being.

A helmsman was someone even the Straw Hat crew only acquired very late. In the early stages, he could just find anyone to fill in. A shipwright was unnecessary because he had low standards for ships; if one broke, he could just switch to another. A musician was unnecessary. A sniper was even less so—Usopp had faded into being a background character for who knew how long in the original story. Only a cook gave him some pause. After all, nutritional problems during a voyage could be troublesome, and eating terrible food for too long could make people irritable without realizing it.

In Li Mingyuan's view, only a doctor and navigator were necessary for the early lineup. With him as captain, that was enough.

"That should be about it for the early plans."

"It's not as if I can't keep thinking about the future, but in a sense, the simpler a plan is, the better. The more detailed and complicated it becomes, the easier it is for mistakes to happen. That would be pointless."

"For now, I should keep my feet on the ground and settle the initial crew members right in front of me first."

Thinking that, Li Mingyuan, having confirmed that he had overlooked nothing, could not help yawning.

He had forced himself to resist his drowsiness while thinking through all sorts of things, worried that insufficient consideration might lead to mistakes. But after lying down for only a short while, he felt the drunkenness starting to rise to his head, and his consciousness seemed to grow hazy as well.

That meant it was truly about time to sleep.

His body was desperately craving rest.

"Haa..."

Gathering the last of his energy, Li Mingyuan retied the bounty bag in his hand and carefully put it away. This was his startup capital; without it, he could not go to the Grand Line.

After finishing the last task at hand, Li Mingyuan finally lay down comfortably on the bed.

He exhaled a breath reeking of alcohol, curled up beneath the blanket the villagers had given him for free, and rested his head on the pillow they had carefully chosen. His entire body went limp, as though he no longer had the slightest strength to move. He felt exceptionally content.

It felt as if all his exhaustion were about to drift away along with his consciousness.

Living in the village like this forever would not actually be so bad.

There were still three years before the main plot began. Li Mingyuan had only arrived in the One Piece world today, so logically, there was no need to rush off. Taking some time to rest and recover would be fine.

Yet what Li Mingyuan feared was precisely this soul-wearing comfort.

After feeling the villagers' warmth at the banquet, he worried that if he stayed in the village too long, he might no longer have the drive to complete missions. He might become accustomed to being a member of the village completely.

So he still needed to set sail as soon as possible--

As the final taut string in Li Mingyuan's mind snapped, darkness instantly swallowed his consciousness.

Li Mingyuan fell asleep.

Meanwhile, not long after Li Mingyuan went to rest, the village banquet gradually began to disperse.

Although taking care of the bandit Dick was a wonderful thing for all the nearby villages, and recovering the stolen supplies was an unexpected delight, the people in this small village were still ordinary villagers. Bandit Dick was merely a roaming outlaw who occasionally raided nearby villages; he had never imposed any oppressive rule. Under such circumstances, the banquet was simply an ordinary celebration. Once everyone had enjoyed themselves enough, it was time for it to end.

The night grew deeper. When the banquet lights had all gone out, the village slowly fell silent. The exhausted villagers, full and satisfied, gradually drifted into their dreams.

Until late at night, at around three in the morning.

Li Mingyuan suddenly woke from his sleep.

"Hm?"

He rubbed his eyes, which were difficult to open, and barely lifted his gaze toward the door.

If he had heard correctly, there had seemed to be a knock at the door just now, faintly reaching his ears. But with the drunkenness not yet fully faded, he was not sure whether it had been an illusion.

"What's going on? Did the village chief come again?"

Just as Li Mingyuan was wondering that.

"Um... I'm sorry for visiting so late at night, but we heard that you're our savior. We're leaving this village now, so we wanted to say goodbye to our savior before we go."

A somewhat familiar voice came from the doorway.

Li Mingyuan became a little more alert.

He threw aside the blanket and walked to the door. Sure enough, after opening it, he saw two somewhat familiar faces standing before him.

Joseph and Johnny.

At this moment, Joseph and Johnny were still dressed as they had been during the day: one in a blue jacket, the other in a green coat, with a large curved sword slung across each of their backs. However, unlike before, both now wore black hooded raincoats over their clothes. At a glance, they seemed almost to blend into the darkness, making them extremely inconspicuous.

"Oh? You're finally awake."

Li Mingyuan looked the two men over and gave a slight nod. "Your faces aren't as swollen as they were during the day. At least my effort in saving you wasn't wasted. You recovered rather quickly."

"But why are you sneaking over in the middle of the night to say goodbye? You two are heroes who saved this village too, aren't you? Why are you acting like you can't be seen, and why are you leaving?"

Hearing Li Mingyuan's question, Joseph and Johnny exchanged a glance. Then Joseph stepped forward. Facing Li Mingyuan, he responded with a dejected expression, "No, you were the one who saved the village. We were just two overconfident idiots who rushed forward to challenge him. In the end, not only did we fail to save anyone, we ended up battered and covered in wounds ourselves."

"As bounty hunters, we're simply too weak. If we keep going like this, one day we'll probably die as well. So the two of us have decided to give up this line of work. We don't have the face to accept the villagers' thanks, either. After saying goodbye to the nurse who cared for us, we planned to leave under cover of night tonight. But before we went, we wanted to see what our savior looked like."

With that, Joseph held out a cloth bag and placed it in Li Mingyuan's hands with both hands.

"This is our token of gratitude..."

"It's not much, but it's what we saved up while working as bounty hunters. Please accept it."

Li Mingyuan took the bag, but his gaze did not linger on it for long.

He kept examining Joseph and Johnny, while his other hand rubbed his chin. Something felt strange to him.

Were these two really like this in the original story?

Their eyes kept darting around, and they spoke weakly. At a glance, they gave off a dispirited, defeated air. Why did he remember that although the two had also been weak in the manga, they had still been tough guys? Not only were they loud and boisterous in both words and actions, they even seemed overly energetic.

Could it be that without Zoro's involvement, and because he had arrived too late, bandit Dick had fought them longer and more viciously than in the anime, knocking some sense into them?

Surely not.

Li Mingyuan thought for a moment. After hesitating briefly, he spoke again. "I'll accept the money, since I'm rather short on it right now as well. But have you two truly decided you don't want to be bounty hunters anymore? If I said that if you kept being bounty hunters, I would become your big brother... would you still give it up?"

In an instant, Li Mingyuan stared fixedly into Joseph and Johnny's eyes, as if trying to see something within them.

Soon, the two men who had heard his words spoke again.

Unfortunately, Li Mingyuan did not see a scene like the original one where Joseph and Johnny wanted to recognize Zoro as their big brother.

Instead, Johnny, standing to the side, hesitantly opened his mouth after hearing Li Mingyuan's words.

"Through this incident, we've deeply realized how lacking our abilities are. In the days ahead, even if we followed you, we'd probably only hold you back."

"So although we're grateful for your invitation, please allow us to refuse."

After saying that, Joseph and Johnny seemed to have agreed in advance. In perfect unspoken coordination, they both bent deeply at the waist and bowed to Li Mingyuan.

It was impossible to tell whether they were thanking him for saving their lives earlier, or expressing gratitude for his invitation.

"...It seems you've truly made up your minds."

"Your gazes haven't wavered. One look is enough to tell that this conclusion came after much suffering and careful thought."

Li Mingyuan withdrew his gaze with a trace of regret and shook his head. "Fine. Since that's the case, I won't say anything more."

"I just hope your retirement lives will be a little more peaceful from now on."

"Yeah! Thank you."

Hearing Li Mingyuan say that, Joseph and Johnny seemed to have received some sort of affirmation. They raised their heads again and let out long breaths.

Both wore smiles now. Looking seriously at Li Mingyuan, they said, "Then before we leave, could you tell us our savior's name? We asked the nurse, but she wouldn't give us an answer. We will never forget our savior's name for the rest of our lives. Please!"

Facing their sincere gazes, Li Mingyuan's eyes flickered slightly.

He had not expected them to suddenly ask for his name.

Come to think of it, from the moment he woke up in this world until now, he had not decided what name to use when introducing himself to others.

It was not that the name Li Mingyuan was difficult to say.

The main reason was that in the previous Naruto world, in order to fit in with the locals, Li Mingyuan had not wanted his name to stand out too much. So he had taken the alias Chihara Asuka. By now, he had grown accustomed to using that name in the previous world, and he did not know whether there was any need to change back to his real name.

But at this moment, after thinking it over, Li Mingyuan felt that using his real name did not seem to matter.

After all, names in this world came in every imaginable variety. What difference would one more unusual name make? Continuing to use an alias in the One Piece world would instead feel like an unnecessary extra step.

"It doesn't matter if you can't remember it."

Thus, facing the two men, he said his name in this world for the first time.

Li Mingyuan said calmly, "My name is Li Mingyuan."