A classic trope

"Where should we go next?"

Xie Wen's gaze roamed over the map in the Hunter's Notes as he picked their next destination.

By then, he and the two Palicoes had boarded their newly acquired Explorer One and sailed away from Gures.

The escort job was over, and he had secured the ship, swords, and money he needed most. He had also finished mapping Gures long ago, so there was naturally no reason to stay. After catching up on his sleep, Xie Wen gave Uncle Cody and the others a quick goodbye, then set sail with the two cats.

Before they left, though, Uncle Cody had suggested that Xie Wen apply for a sailing permit.

These days, having a permit hardly mattered out on the seas, but it could still spare him quite a bit of trouble.

According to Uncle Cody, even if Klee accidentally blew up someone else's street again, showing the Marines that permit would keep them from classifying him as one of the Pirates... Of course, he would still have to pay for the damage.

But the permit only worked with the Marines. Never mind the Celestial Dragons-even in the Affiliated Nations, plenty of people couldn't be bothered to acknowledge it. Unless Xie Wen could get a permit issued by the Holy Land...

But if I could actually get a permit from the Holy Land, why wouldn't I just become one of the Shichibukai instead?

Xie Wen discreetly curled his lip, then brushed off Uncle Cody's suggestion with a casual response.

"The Capone Family hasn't sent anyone after us. Looks like we won't be making any extra money, meow." After watching from the top of the mast for a while, Sanji Meow landed back on the deck and kicked Xie Wen twice as he stared at the Hunter's Notes. "You still haven't picked our next destination? Then why didn't you decide before setting sail, meow?"

Xie Wen said nothing. He merely glanced at Klee Meow, who was racing wildly around the ship.

"Hmm... Well, if that's why, never mind, meow." Sanji Meow scratched his head and immediately stopped questioning Xie Wen's decision. Instead, he moved beside him to help choose.

Xie Wen's original plan had been to head straight for the East Blue as soon as he got a ship, but as he learned more about the current situation, he felt less pressed for time.

There were still several years before the story began, after all. Sandai Kitetsu and Yubashiri were still in Loguetown and weren't going anywhere. Besides, the West Blue didn't seem all that dangerous, so there was no need to run off.

Most importantly, their starting point was a little out of the way...

Well, "out of the way" wasn't quite right. It was actually fairly close to the center of the West Blue. More precisely, it was rather far from the East Blue.

Excluding flight, there were three routes between the Four Seas.

The first was to cross the Red Line, which was controlled by the World Government.

With his current clean record, crossing the Red Line wouldn't be much of a problem. The trouble was that, from his present location, reaching the nearest stretch of the Red Line was practically the same as sailing across half the West Blue.

The second was to cross the Calm Belt into the Grand Line, then cross the Calm Belt again to reach another sea.

But without seastone, never mind a little ship like Explorer One-even Luffy's later ship, the Thousand Sunny, couldn't manage that. Even if he had seastone, without a Log Pose or an Eternal Pose, who knew where he would end up amid the Grand Line's unpredictable weather?

Besides... The Calm Belt wasn't much closer than the Red Line. The Four Seas were divided into four quadrants by the Grand Line and the Red Line, like two intersecting lines of longitude and latitude. Since Xie Wen was in the middle of the West Blue, the distance was about the same whichever way he went.

The last option was to use Reverse Mountain's four Reverse-Flow Rivers to reach the four different seas.

When he learned about that third option, Xie Wen had actually been a little surprised. From his hazy memories, he had thought there was no turning back after climbing Reverse Mountain.

But after thinking it over, he realized that couldn't be right. In the original story, the Krieg Pirates had entered the Grand Line, only to flee back with Hawkeye chasing them the whole way. As a pirate who could only throw his weight around in the East Blue and had a bounty of less than twenty million, Krieg couldn't possibly have taken his pirate ship over the Red Line. He could only have returned the way he came.

That made sense. The Reverse-Flow River might have strong currents, but with the physical abilities of people in this world, they could still row back with a little effort. Xie Wen had also specifically asked Uncle Cody and learned that, at certain times, the tides caused the Reverse-Flow River to flow normally downhill again.

But the same problem remained: Reverse Mountain was on the Red Line, and it was... very far from them.

Considering that he would still have to return to the West Blue to map it even if he went to the East Blue now, he might as well finish mapping the West Blue first, get the Summon Ticket, and then head for the East Blue.

He might even summon a few more Palicoes along the way.

So rather than choosing his next destination, Xie Wen was really planning their route... Otherwise, he would have simply let Klee Meow point to any island she liked.

The first thing Xie Wen settled on was their final stop in the West Blue-Reverse Mountain.

There were two other routes available, but the one through the Grand Line and the Calm Belt could essentially be ignored, while on the other side of the Red Line bordering the West Blue... lay the South Blue.

To get from the West Blue to the East Blue, he would either have to climb onto the Red Line and travel a distance no shorter than the sea route, or pass through one of the two points where those "lines of longitude and latitude" intersected.

One intersection was the Holy Land, Mary Geoise, where the Celestial Dragons were most concentrated. Xie Wen would have to be out of his mind to take the Palicoes there. The other intersection was Reverse Mountain.

Going to Reverse Mountain also had two advantages. First, its East Blue entrance was very close to Loguetown. More precisely, Loguetown stood right beside the entrance from the East Blue into Reverse Mountain. The second advantage was... he could meet Laboon, the Island Whale.

Xie Wen wasn't particularly interested in talking sense into a stubborn whale, nor did he have a hot-blooded protagonist's gift for persuasive speeches like Luffy. The main thing was that a whale that huge was bound to qualify for the Hunter's Notes bestiary.

...Huh?

Xie Wen suddenly remembered something-hadn't Brook and his crew brought Laboon over from the West Blue? That meant he might be able to unlock the Island Whale's bestiary entry right here in the West Blue.

All right, now there was only one advantage to going to Reverse Mountain.

Xie Wen curled his lip and returned his attention to the map. It wasn't a big deal anyway.

Once he had settled on their final stop, planning the route became much easier, and Xie Wen soon chose their next destination.

"The Shatterbone Islands... Doesn't sound like a very nice place..."

But Xie Wen had the confidence that came with skill. Naturally, he wouldn't change his plans over a name.

Just as Xie Wen turned the helm to change Explorer One's course, Klee Meow's excited shout suddenly rang out from the storeroom holding their fresh water and provisions-

"Big Brother Xie Wen, Klee caught a thief, meow!"

Xie Wen immediately let go of the helm and rushed into the storeroom with Sanji Meow.

Klee Meow stood with her tail puffed up and both paws raised, baring her claws at a corner of the storeroom in an adorably fierce display. In the corner facing her, a figure crouched with her hands over her head, trembling.

"D-don't kill me. I... I'm not a thief," the figure protested in panic.

A woman?

Hearing that delicate voice, Xie Wen felt a surge of delight. Could this be the hero-rescues-the-beauty scene every transmigrator had to experience?

It wasn't that lust had gone to his head. Suddenly stumbling into such a classic trope had simply given him an inexplicable thrill.

Besides... Side quests like these usually offered pretty good rewards, which made Xie Wen even more eager.

"Ahem..." Xie Wen made a show of clearing his throat, then suppressed his excitement and said evenly, "Don't worry. We're not bad people. We won't just kill someone for no reason."

As he spoke, he picked up Klee Meow, who was still "intimidating" the woman, and held her in his arms.

Beside him, Sanji Meow gave Xie Wen a sidelong look. He said nothing, yet somehow seemed to have said everything.

Xie Wen ignored the contemptuous look from the little yellow cat, who was judging others by his own standards, and continued, "But you still need to explain why you're on our ship."

"I-I'm hiding from the Capone Family. They're trying to kill me..."

Perhaps sensing the kindness in Xie Wen's words, the figure gradually stopped trembling. Then she cautiously raised her head just enough to reveal a pair of timid eyes and answered in a small voice.

Though only half her face was visible, and the dim light in the storeroom made it hard to see clearly, he could still make out that she was beautiful.

Just as I thought! Definitely a hero-rescues-the-beauty scene!

I don't know where the idea started, but plenty of people seem to think that once you enter the Grand Line, you can't easily turn back.

Yet the manga mentions the state of people who fled back from the Grand Line more than once-they had lost their will, like the walking dead.

So there is definitely a way back, and it isn't all that difficult. The most obvious examples are Krieg, whom I mentioned, and Buggy.

As for powerhouses like Shanks, Hawkeye, and Dragon, it goes without saying. Returning to the Four Seas is child's play for them.