The three arrived at the harbor, where the sea breeze brushed their faces, carrying a faint salty tang. Luffy and Zoro stood beside Liu Qing, their eyes fixed on him. Zoro spoke first. "So, how are we getting out of here?"
The corners of Liu Qing's mouth lifted into a confident smile. He clapped his hands together as though he already had a brilliant idea. "Easy, we just build a ship! Wood Release: Jet Sailboat Technique!"
Before he had finished speaking, Liu Qing formed hand seals, and a powerful surge of chakra poured out of his body. Then he channeled it into the ground. In an instant, thick lengths of wood burst from the earth and rapidly wove together, forming a huge sailboat.
The boat was three or four times larger than an ordinary sailboat, with a sturdy, spacious hull that could easily accommodate the three of them. Even more surprisingly, a device resembling a jet engine sat at the stern, clearly something Liu Qing had designed specially. This engine could convert chakra into propulsion, driving the boat forward at high speed.
To avoid the situation in the original story where Luffy grew dizzy with hunger, Liu Qing even made a special trip into town to buy enough food to fill half the hull. The food was stacked neatly in the cabin, enough for them to enjoy during the voyage.
With everything ready, the three happily jumped aboard. Liu Qing stood at the bow, took a deep breath, and then used Wood Release to create a clone. The clone stood firmly at the stern, feeding a steady stream of chakra into the engine to provide continuous propulsion.
As the engine converted chakra energy into propulsion, the boat shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow. Before long, the townspeople at the harbor could only watch from afar as Luffy and the others' boat gradually disappeared over the horizon.
After traveling for a day and a night...
The next morning, out at sea.
Luffy said, "Ahh~ I'm so hungry~ I want meat~"
Zoro gritted his teeth. "You still want meat? You ate two or three days' worth of food in a single meal, and you're still hungry? Keep it up and I'll cut you down!"
What Liu Qing had not expected was that, despite preparing several times more food than in the original story, Luffy had still polished it all off in one meal. Now Luffy was so hungry he did not even want to move.
Just then, as Luffy lay there, he suddenly spotted a large bird flying overhead and shouted, "Meat~ There's meat flying around! Let's eat it!" As he spoke, he stretched out both arms, grabbed the bird's feet, and shot upward with a whoosh, flying straight into its mouth.
Luffy shouted, "Save me, Liu Qing, Zoro! This bird's going to eat me!"
Zoro looked at Liu Qing. "How did this idiot trick you into joining his crew? Isn't this just dragging people into trouble?"
Liu Qing said, "Hahahaha~ I chose to go adventuring with him myself. Hurry up and chase Luffy, or we'll lose sight of him."
As soon as Liu Qing finished speaking, the clone supplying chakra at the back increased its output, and the boat raced after Luffy, who was caught in the bird's beak overhead.
They had barely gone any farther when Zoro spotted people swimming in the sea ahead and shouted, "You three up ahead, get out of the way! Don't blame us if we hit you. We're in a hurry!"
The pirates in the water burst into tears when they saw a boat approaching. "We're saved! We're saved! You guys over there, save us! Someone threw us off our boat!"
Liu Qing said, "There's no way we're stopping. If you've got what it takes to get aboard yourselves, go ahead. If you can't, wait there and die."
The pirates watched the boat show no sign of slowing, and their hearts tightened. One of them gritted his teeth and said fiercely, "We can't let this boat get away, or we'll never be able to swim back to Orange Town. Give it everything you've got!"
Just as the boat was about to reach them, all three pirates exerted themselves at once, grabbed tightly onto the stern, and began climbing aboard cautiously.
After some effort, they finally managed to climb onto the boat. Yet the moment their feet touched the deck, they whipped curved swords out from behind their backs and roared menacingly at Liu Qing and Zoro, "This is a robbery! Hand over the boat! We serve the great pirate Captain Buggy! This boat belongs to us now!"
Looking at the three pirates who had no idea how outmatched they were, Liu Qing's lips curled into a teasing smile. He turned to Zoro. "Haha, these guys really are brave. Zoro, you or me?"
Zoro replied expressionlessly, "I'll do it."
Before he had finished speaking, Zoro darted forward like a phantom, rushing at the three pirates. In an instant, a flurry of cracks and thuds rang out.
In less than ten seconds, the three formerly menacing pirates were like flowers battered by a gale, their faces swollen like pigs' heads as they knelt miserably on the deck, apologizing to Liu Qing and Zoro and begging for mercy.
Liu Qing glanced sideways at the three and released a little of his presence as the God of Shinobi. "Behave yourselves, or you're dead."
Feeling the oppressive force bearing down on them, the three pirates hastily nodded. "Yes, yes, yes... We'll behave."
Seeing that the three were behaving, Liu Qing and Zoro could not be bothered with them anymore and continued chasing after Luffy.
Meanwhile, inside the pirate Buggy's Treasure Room in Orange Town, Nami sneaked in, successfully opened Buggy's Treasure Chest, and took the treasure inside along with a Sea Chart of the Grand Line.
Just as Nami was about to sneak away, she ran straight into Buggy. Seeing the woman who had come to steal his treasure, Buggy flew into a rage and ordered his men to capture her.
Seeing the pirates closing in, Nami dropped several smoke bombs at her feet, blocking everyone's view, and successfully escaped.
Buggy glared furiously in the direction Nami had fled and told his underlings, "After her! Catch her! I'll show him what happens when someone steals Lord Buggy's treasure! I'll blow her up with a Special Buggy Ball!"
The pirate underlings replied, "Yes, Captain Buggy!"
Buggy shouted, "Bastards! Who are you calling Big Red Nose?"
Looking at Buggy as he lost his mind, the pirate underlings ignored him and went straight after Nami.
Back with Luffy.
After carrying Luffy to Orange Town, the large bird opened its beak and dropped him. While in midair, Luffy spotted Liu Qing and Zoro pursuing him across the sea and shouted, "Hey... Liu Qing, Zoro! I'm over here! Hurry over!"
Seeing that Luffy had reached the town, Liu Qing and Zoro both breathed sighs of relief. Liu Qing could hardly be blamed for being nervous. After all, he had transmigrated, so who knew whether there would be a butterfly effect? What if the bird dropped Luffy into the sea? That was why they had traveled so fast the whole time: he was afraid Luffy would be dropped into the water.
Just as the pirates were about to catch Nami, Luffy fell straight out of the sky and landed in front of her.
Watching the goofy-looking Luffy get up from the ground, Nami's eyes immediately lit up as an idea came to her. Pretending to be excited, she ran toward him, shouting as she went, "Boss! Boss! Are you here to pick me up? I've already followed your orders and got the Buggy Pirates' treasure and Sea Chart!"
At that moment, two pirate lackeys charged at Luffy. "So you're this thief's boss! Die!" one of them said.
"Gum-Gum Pistol!" Luffy knocked both of them down with a single attack, then prepared to keep looking for somewhere to eat.
Nami said, "You're so strong! You can beat armed pirates without even using a weapon!"
Luffy said, "Ah~ You're that, uh, whoever you are. We meet again! I'm really hungry right now. I want meat. Do you know anywhere I can eat?"
Nami said, "I'm a thief who specializes in stealing from pirates. My name's Nami. I'll treat you to a meal, and then let's work together."
Luffy said, "Sure, sure!"
After eating, Luffy agreed to Nami's proposal to work together.
Then Nami tied Luffy up with rope and took him to the Buggy Pirates' Headquarters.
Pirate A said, "Captain, that thief who stole the treasure is back, and she's brought someone with her."
Pirate B said, "That's right, that's right! She's the one who stole it!"
Nami pushed Luffy forward and said, "Captain Buggy, my name is Nami. This guy is my boss. He was the one who ordered me to steal your Sea Chart. But I respect you very much, Captain Buggy, so I secretly tied my boss up and brought him here as a pledge of loyalty. Please let me join the Buggy Pirates."
Buggy said, "Hahaha, is that so? Welcome to the Buggy Pirates! But the condition for joining the Buggy Pirates is that you kill your boss with the Buggy Cannon! Hahahaha! Someone, lock his boss in a cage and bring out my Buggy Cannon. Let our new companion finish off his former boss himself!"
Then he looked at Nami again and laughed sinisterly. "Hehehehe, Nami dear, you're not going to lose your nerve, are you?"
Nami said awkwardly, "O-of course not. I'm definitely brave enough."
Before you continue