I Thought They Were Speed Bumps!

On the vast sea, a lonely little wooden boat drifted with the waves.

Victor lay at the stern with his hands behind his head. He appeared to be resting with his eyes closed, but his consciousness was actually immersed in the system shop.

He stared at the "600" Ninja Way Points balance, a number immensely satisfying to anyone with obsessive-compulsive tendencies.

Victor's finger hovered over the virtual interface for a long time.

After hesitating for a moment, he decisively tapped purchase.

[ Ding! 300 Ninja Way Points consumed. C-rank ninjutsu exchanged: Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique. ]

[ Ding! 200 Ninja Way Points consumed. E-rank ninjutsu exchanged: Substitution Technique. ]

[ Current balance: 100 points. ]

"Whew... After working hard for half a day, I'm back to square one."

Victor looked at the remaining three-digit balance and painfully closed the system.

Just then, a foot unceremoniously kicked his shin.

"Hey! Victor! Stop playing dead, it's your turn to row!"

Zoro gripped an oar, veins bulging on his forehead as he glared unhappily at this so-called "vice captain."

Victor immediately rolled over.

"I already told you, I'm the brains of the operation."

"Brute work that burns stamina should naturally be left to swordsmen with endless strength, or rubber men."

"Huh? You bastard..." Zoro gritted his teeth. "Come to think of it, where exactly are we going?!"

"Huh?" Luffy, who had been leaning over the side playing with the water, turned around with an utterly matter-of-fact expression. "We just follow the wind and waves!"

Zoro broke down and roared, "I'm saying, isn't it weird to want to be pirates when you don't know the first thing about navigation?!"

Luffy picked his nose. "What's weird about that? I've always been like this."

"How is that not weird?!"

The enraged Zoro could not help violently shaking the boat.

"Whoa!"

Luffy lost his balance, and the Straw Hat he treasured more than anything flew off his head, caught by the sea breeze and sent flying overboard.

"Ah!! My hat!!"

Luffy's face changed drastically. He reached out in a panic, but grabbed nothing but air.

Just as the hat was about to fall into the sea, a slender hand suddenly reached out.

"Whoosh!"

Victor did not even get up. He merely braced one hand against the deck.

Yet his body leaned over the side of the boat at an unbelievable angle, steadily catching the brim of the Straw Hat.

Then, with a flick of his wrist, he tossed the hat back to Luffy.

"Here."

Victor lay back down lazily. "You two idiots, stop arguing."

Luffy caught the Straw Hat, carefully brushed off the dust, and put it back on.

He looked at Victor, a rare trace of seriousness appearing in his eyes.

"Thank you, Victor. To me, this is more important than my life."

"Grrrrrr—"

Luffy clutched his stomach, and his expression instantly collapsed into a miserable grimace.

"Ah... Come to think of it, I'm starving. Victor, do you have anything to eat?"

Victor's mouth twitched. "Don't change moods so fast, you bastard!"

Zoro suspiciously turned toward the large bundles in the middle of the cabin.

Those were the ten days' worth of supplies they had extorted from the Marines.

However, when he opened the bundles, he froze solid.

Other than a few barrels of fresh water, the jerky, fruit, bread, and everything else that had packed them full had vanished without a trace, leaving only a pile of empty wrappers.

"Um..."

Luffy guiltily looked away and began whistling.

"You bastard!!" Zoro grabbed Luffy by the collar and shook him furiously. "Did you eat all ten days' worth of our supplies?!"

"Sorry! I didn't notice at all! They were just gone by the time I kept eating!"

Victor sighed and helplessly rubbed his forehead.

He was partly responsible too. He had been too busy browsing skills in the system shop.

He had completely failed to notice the glutton beside him vacuuming food down at a terrifying rate.

Yet Luffy seemed completely unaware of the crisis. He looked up and happened to see a huge strange bird flying overhead.

The bird was absurdly large, practically like a small glider.

"Ah! There it is!"

Luffy's eyes instantly turned into pieces of meat, and drool streamed from his mouth.

"That bird looks like it has so much meat! Let's eat it!!"

Victor looked up.

Pink feathers, a massive body... Was this that unlucky giant bird from the story?

Before Victor could stop him, Luffy had already assumed a stance.

"Gum-Gum—"

Luffy stretched both arms out to grab the sides of the boat, pulling his body taut backward as he aimed at the giant bird in the sky.

"—Rocket!!"

"Boom!"

Luffy shot into the sky like a cannonball, charging straight at the giant bird.

Zoro folded his arms. "Oh? That guy's pretty capable. He can get that high."

However, in the next moment, their admiration turned to shock.

Luffy had indeed reached the bird, but instead of knocking it down, his entire upper body got stuck inside its enormous beak!

"Caw?!"

The giant bird was startled as well. Then it flapped its wings and flew away into the distance with Luffy clamped in its beak.

"Huh? Huhhh?!"

Luffy's muffled scream came from the air.

"Help!! I'm stuck!! Victor! Zoro! Save me!!"

Zoro's jaw nearly hit the deck. "That idiot... Did he get carried off by a bird?"

"Don't just stand there, Zoro!"

"Tch! What a pain!"

Although Zoro complained, he moved quickly.

He grabbed two oars, his arm muscles bulging as he rowed madly as if turbocharged.

The little wooden boat cut a white wake across the sea, speeding toward the direction the giant bird had flown.

"Phew... phew..."

Just as the two desperately gave chase, three floating figures suddenly appeared on the sea ahead.

They were three pirates dressed in strange clothing, members of the Buggy Pirates who had been tricked out of their ship by Nami and were now left treading water in the ocean.

Seeing the little boat speeding toward them, the three excitedly waved and shouted as though they had spotted a lifeline.

"Hey!! Stop for a second!!"

"We're over here! Save us!"

However, the boat showed no sign of slowing down and charged directly toward them.

"Wah, wah, wah! Who are those people?!"

"It's going to hit us!!"

At the bow, Victor looked at the three guys blocking the way and revealed a kindly smile.

"You guys up ahead, if you want to get on, do it by your own ability! If you can't, then be our speed bumps!"

"What?!"

The three pirates were scared out of their wits. They hurriedly dodged to either side, then desperately grabbed the edge of the boat and clambered aboard in a miserable state.

"Phew... phew... We're saved..."

The three sprawled on the deck, gasping for breath.

While rowing, Zoro glanced at them. "Hey, I didn't expect you to actually make it aboard. You're pretty agile."

One of the pirates with a mohawk recovered his breath.

He raised his head and looked at the two people aboard—one green-haired laborer and one annoying pretty boy.

Evil thoughts immediately arose in his heart.

He pulled out a gleaming machete from behind his back and sneered.

"Now that we're aboard, this boat is ours! Hand over the treasure and fresh water!"

The other two also drew daggers and surrounded them menacingly.

Victor sat at the stern, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

"Oh? Robbery?"

"Hmph! If you don't want to die, then—"

Before the mohawk pirate could finish speaking, his vision suddenly blurred.

He did not see how the black-haired boy had risen.

He only felt a sharp pain in his chest, as though he had been struck by an iron hammer.

"Bang!"

Victor drove a simple, powerful knee directly into his stomach.

The mohawk pirate could not even scream. Clutching his stomach, he curled up on the deck in agony, foam spilling from his mouth.

Immediately afterward, Victor pressed one palm against the face of the pirate charging from the left and used the force to smash him hard into the deck.

"Thud!"

Wood chips flew, and the second pirate was knocked unconscious on the spot.

As for the last one, Victor merely shifted slightly aside to evade the dagger.

Then a pitch-black Kunai appeared in his right hand, its cold blade pressed precisely against the man's carotid artery.

Two seconds... Battle over.

The scene shifted.

The three pirates who had just been so fierce now sat on either side of the boat, bruised and battered.

They gripped oars and rowed with all their might, wearing extraordinarily flattering smiles.

"Hehehe... Sirs, are we rowing steadily enough?"

"We never expected to meet gentlemen like you two. We were truly blind before, and our sins deserve death!"

Victor and Zoro sat leisurely in the middle of the cabin.

Zoro looked at the three hardworking "human engines" and nodded in satisfaction.

"Hey, Victor, Luffy's completely disappeared, and you're still so calm?"

Victor pointed at the sky. "That bird isn't flying very high, and its direction is obvious.

"With Luffy's rubber body, as long as he doesn't fall into the sea, he'll basically be fine."

Zoro thought of Luffy's absurd constitution and nodded in deep agreement.

Then he fixed a sharp gaze on the three pirates rowing the boat.

"Hey, I heard you yelling about some 'Captain Buggy' in the sea just now?" Zoro asked. "Who's this Buggy?"

At the mention of that name, the three pirates were so frightened that their hands stopped moving.

"Huh? Sir Zoro, you don't know 'Clown' Buggy?"

One of the pirates widened his eyes as though he had heard something unbelievable.

Zoro looked at Victor in confusion. "Is he famous?"

Victor said casually, "You can tell from the name... He's a circus clown, right?"

"Pfft—!!"

The three pirates were so scared they nearly jumped into the sea.

"Shh!! Shh!! You must never say that word!"

The pirates covered their mouths in terror and spoke in trembling low voices.

"That Captain Buggy... is a very terrifying man! He's a Split-Split Man who ate a Devil Fruit!"

"If he hears anyone calling him a 'clown' or mocking his red nose..."

"He'll blow an entire town into the sky!!"