Bang!
In the captain's cabin, the captain stood beside his desk, looking over the cargo manifest in his hand. Convinced he could make a tidy profit this time, he was just about to take a leisurely sip of tea when the loud crash of the door opening made his hand shake.
Tea splashed out of the cup. The captain set it down and glared at Sim, the sailor who had barged in.
"Damn it, Sim! If this isn't important, I'll dock your pay."
"No, Captain. Outside... someone's swimming toward us!"
"What? Are there pirates?" As he spoke, he shoved Sim aside and hurried to the deck.
Seeing the captain stride out of the cabin, Sim hurried after him and blurted out, "N-no pirates, Captain. There's only one person!"
"What?"
"Just one person," Sim said meekly, seeing the captain's sour expression.
"Idiot! You interrupted my afternoon tea over that?"
"But he's swimming really fast. He's almost caught up with the ship."
Hearing that, the captain couldn't help looking intrigued. "Oh? Someone swimming at sea can actually catch up with my ship? Interesting."
The captain picked up his spyglass and looked in the direction Sim was pointing.
Sure enough, he spotted a figure in the sea, swimming swiftly toward him like a fish.
"Stop the ship."
He gave the order to the sailors.
Watching the merchant ship slowly come to a halt, Roy stopped swimming at full speed. Once he reached it, he climbed up the rope ladder they had lowered.
"Hey, good morning, everyone!"
Roy swung over the railing and stood on the deck, grinning at the sailors gathered around him.
The captain pushed past the sailors beside him and looked at the child. He had a bare, muscular body, a grass skirt around his waist, and a youthful face.
"Kid, what's your name? How did you end up alone at sea?"
"Mm-hmm. My name's Roy."
He raised a hand and pointed toward the Boin Archipelago. "I've been living alone on the island for three years. I happened to see your ship passing by, so I chased after it."
The sailors around him looked astonished at his words.
They had sailed this route for years and naturally knew how dangerous the nearby island was. They couldn't imagine how a child like Roy had survived there alone.
The captain patted Roy on the shoulder, his face full of sympathy. "You're a lucky kid. Do you still know where your home is? If it's on our way, I'll take you back."
"Thanks, mister, but there's no need. I don't have any family back home anymore. Just drop me off when you pass an island with people on it."
After hearing Roy's answer, the captain looked at him with some sympathy.
He turned and instructed Sim, "Find the kid some clothes and get him something to eat."
"Aye, Captain!" Sim answered and ran off.
Roy stood on the deck while the sailors around him sized up the boy who had appeared so suddenly.
"This kid actually survived on that island for three years?"
"Look at him. He's got some solid muscles."
"Haha, maybe he got so strong from eating man-eating flowers!"
Roy paid their comments no mind and instead looked over the merchant ship. Hmm, it was well maintained. There were quite a few crates piled on the deck, and it looked fairly loaded.
Sim soon brought him a sailor's uniform and a plate of food.
"Here. It might be a little big, but make do with it for now."
Roy took the clothes and put them on. The sleeves were indeed a bit long, so he casually rolled them up a few times.
Then he took a big bite of bread and mumbled, "Thanks."
The captain leaned against the railing and lit a cigarette. "Kid, you swim really fast. It's the first time I've seen someone chase down a ship like that."
Roy swallowed his food and grinned. "I'm all right. I had to swim for my life every day on the island, so I got plenty of practice."
"Swim for your life?"
"There are lots of giant man-eating plants on the island. At first, if I ran too slowly, I'd get eaten," Roy replied casually.
The captain blew out a smoke ring. "Sounds like you were lucky."
"Yeah, unbelievably lucky, haha." Roy scratched his head. "By the way, where's this ship headed?"
"The Sabaody Archipelago, the last island in the first half of the Grand Line." The captain flicked the ash off his cigarette. "We run a small business, hauling cargo for money. If you don't mind, you can work with us for a while. We'll figure things out when we get to Sabaody."
Roy's eyes lit up. Sabaody? "Really? That's great!"
"But let me make this clear first," the captain said, holding up a finger. "You work if you're aboard this ship. We don't keep freeloaders."
"No problem!" Roy patted his chest. "I'm really strong!"
The sailors around them burst out laughing, and a burly man with a stubbled face walked over.
"Kid! You're strong? That won't do. We'll have to test you first."
The stubbled man pointed to a heavy cargo crate on the deck. "Carry that into the hold. Can you do it?"
Roy looked at the crate and estimated that it weighed at least three or four hundred jin. He walked over, gripped its edges with both hands, and lifted it with ease.
"This one? Where do I take it?"
The sailors' laughter stopped abruptly, and the stubbled man's eyes widened.
"Y-you little brat!"
Roy shifted his shoulders under the crate. "Come on, tell me. Where should I put it?"
"Hold number three! Quick, quick, quick!"
Following their directions, he carried the crate into the hold with ease. After a few trips back and forth, he had moved all the cargo on deck that needed carrying. Seeing how easily he did it, the sailors praised him again and again.
The captain watched, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly. "Interesting kid. Sim, find him a bunk."
"Aye!"
That evening, Roy sat by the railing and watched the setting sun sink slowly into the sea.
He thought about his three years in the Boin Archipelago, from his harrowing escape at the beginning to becoming a force to be reckoned with on the island. Though Pea had kept him company later on, the loneliness had never quite gone away. Now that he had returned to the human world, an indescribable excitement welled up in his heart.
"Hey, kid."
The stubbled man walked over with two meal boxes in his hands. "Time to eat. This one's yours."
Roy took the box. "Thanks, mister. But how much longer until we reach Sabaody?"
"Just call me Jack." The man sat down beside him and opened his meal box. "Sabaody? At our current speed, probably about two more days."
"But kid, Sabaody's a bustling place, and it's dangerous too. It's the last stop on the way to the New World, so there are plenty of pirates and slave traders operating on the islands." "Don't go running around when we get there, or you might get snatched up by a slave trader."
"Don't worry, Uncle Jack, I'm really strong!"
"All right, all right, but aren't you still a kid?" Jack laughed. "Anyway, get to bed early after you eat. There's work to do tomorrow."
Night fell, and the merchant ship sailed slowly across the calm sea.
Roy lay in a hammock in the sailors' quarters, listening to the snores around him, but he wasn't the slightest bit sleepy.
He rolled over and stared at the pitch-black ceiling of the cabin.
Roy closed his eyes, and scenes of his desperate struggles on the island surfaced in his mind. Those days had been hard, but they had also made him stronger.
Maybe it was time for him to find something more interesting to do.