Chapter 10 Luffy cuts through a cannonball and encounters Zoro's former crewLuffy casually twirled his sword: "You're clearly a slingshot user, but you insist on being a swordsman, and now you want to be a gunner? Your career planning is a mess!"
Usopp: "Hey! Can't you respect my professional ethics?! Listen to me, you idiot!"
Boom!
A deafening roar erupted as a plume of black smoke billowed from the cannon, and the shell whistled through the air, exploding into a towering column of water a few meters from the reef.
"Tsk, that accuracy... a master of outlining."
Luffy shook his head disdainfully.
"That was an accident! That was to calibrate the trajectory! Watch this one!"
Usopp blushed, quickly reloading and crouching over the cannon to carefully aim.
"Yosh! Fire!"
Boom!
The shell hurtled through the air, heading straight for the reef, seemingly about to hit the bullseye.
Just then, a sharp sword aura suddenly appeared, instantly cleaving the cannonball in two!
"Huh?!"
Usopp turned around, completely bewildered, looking at Luffy striking a cool sword-sheathing pose.
Luffy shouted at the dumbfounded Usopp, "Again! Again! This moving target is so much fun!"
"Holy crap! That's amazing! He actually hit it!"
Zoro instantly woke up, his face beaming with excitement as he watched Luffy.
For the next few moments, an absurd target practice unfolded on the sea.
Luffy, wielding his long sword, treated Usopp's cannonballs like flying saucers, performing a reverse maneuver of "100% bare-handed catching a blade"—100% swinging his sword to slice the cannonballs.
Usopp, his competitive spirit ignited, frantically adjusted his angle, trying to dodge Luffy's attacks and bombard the unfortunate reef.
It has to be said, Usopp's sniping talent is truly a gift from God.
Even though he'd never handled a cannon before, after just a few shots, his accuracy was astonishingly high, every shell precisely locking onto the reef.
Unfortunately, Luffy's "Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King" archetype, with its unparalleled swordsmanship, was practically a bug. Unless it was a weapon of causality that allowed him to catch blades barehanded, any projectile was like slow motion in front of Luffy, easily sliced to pieces.
In an instant, the sea was ablaze with the sounds of cannon fire and billowing smoke.
Countless shell fragments exploded like fireworks above the reef, creating towering waves.
"Wow! Luffy, you're inhuman! You're too strong!"
Usopp stared in shock at the shells sliced in half. While cannons were mostly useless in the later stages of the Grand Line, in the East Blue, they were the primary means of attack in naval battles between the Navy and pirates.
With just that one skill—splitting cannonballs—Luffy's ship could basically roam freely in the East Blue.
"Hehe, basics are awesome, let's fire a few more!"
Luffy watched the accuracy rate skyrocket on the system panel, his heart pounding with joy.
You have to understand, back with that "Sea King" template, he practiced like a dog for a week straight, and the accuracy rate only increased by a meager 10%!
Luffy has now figured it out. The key to skyrocketing accuracy lies in two things: first, physical fitness must meet the requirements; second, one must master the weapons and skills that come with the template.
In other words, as long as Luffy's physical fitness surpasses the template's peak and he masters the skills to perfection, he can max out the accuracy rate.
And the best part is, when training using the template, they're completely unrestricted by the rules of the One Piece world.
This means that Luffy is essentially training his swordsmanship using the talent of Nezha's father, Li Jing!
If he were to get incredibly lucky and randomly acquire Saitama's template…
Even if it's only for seven days, with Saitama's terrifying talent for breaking limiters, Luffy could probably ascend to immortality on the spot!
Just as the two were grinding experience points with great enthusiasm,
the sharp-eyed Zoro suddenly noticed a tattered white flag that had somehow appeared atop the ravaged reef, being frantically waved.
Zoro pointed at the reef and asked in surprise, "Huh? Isn't someone raising a white flag to surrender?"
"Is there?"
Luffy and Usopp stopped what they were doing, still wanting more.
Usopp quickly pulled out a monocular telescope and looked inside.
"Hey! There really are people! And they seem pretty scared to death!"
Usopp exclaimed.
Luffy slung his sword over his shoulder smugly. "How about that? Luckily, my swordsmanship is superior, otherwise those guys would have been blasted to smithereens, without even a chance to raise a white flag."
"Let's go, let's steer the ship closer and see which unlucky bastard it is."
Luffy waved his hand, and the Going Merry slowly adjusted its course, heading towards the smoking reef.
Just as the ship rounded the reef,
a young man with a buzz cut, sunglasses, and a tattoo of the character "海" (sea) on his face, brandishing a large machete, leaped aboard like a cornered rabbit.
"This is outrageous! Absolutely outrageous! Give us a quick death! Are you toying with us by constantly bombing us from the side? Who are you trying to scare?!"
The young man roared hysterically, swinging his sword at Usopp, who looked the weakest.
"Oh my god! Murder!"
Usopp screamed, his survival instincts kicking in, and he darted behind Zoro, hiding behind him: "The culprit is clear! I didn't move the cannon! Don't hit me!"
The young man was about to follow up when his gaze suddenly fell on the green-haired man blocking his way, and his sword swing froze in mid-air.
The sunglasses nearly slipped off his nose, and the young man looked utterly bewildered: "Zoro... Brother Zoro?!"
"Yo, isn't this Johnny?"
Zoro raised an eyebrow, looking strangely at his disheveled underling. "Why are you alone? Where did Joseph go?"
Johnny's eyes nearly popped out of his head, his jaw almost hitting his thigh, and he stammered, "Brother... Brother? This is ridiculous! How did you end up on this run-down pirate ship?"
Zoro glanced at him helplessly, about to explain.
But Luffy deliberately cleared his throat, spouting nonsense with a straight face: "What pirate ship? Look closely, this is a proper warship! Hmm... although it's been temporarily requisitioned."
Johnny brought his face close to the Going Merry's repaired hull, his expression saying, "Don't treat me like an idiot just because I can't read."
He's a bounty hunter by profession, so doesn't he know what a real warship looks like?
Usopp, grumbling as he mixed colors, said, "I told you we should paint a striking naval seagull emblem on the sail!"
He glared at his companions with exasperation. "You bunch of art-illiterate fools, daring to question my nearly fifty years of graffiti skills!"
Johnny broke out in a cold sweat, thinking, "If you actually dared to draw that, you'd probably be mistaken for a counterfeit and blasted to smithereens by the regular army in a heartbeat."
But before he could finish his rant, Johnny's previously excited expression suddenly changed drastically.
Two streams of tears instantly gushed from his eyes. He pointed to the huge black reef behind him and wailed, "Big Brother! Something terrible has happened! Joseph... Joseph is dying!"
Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing.
There, Joseph, his skin a strange, ghastly green, his eyes rolled back to the top of his head, slumped behind the reef like a dead fish, convulsing.
Zoro, seeing his former underling's wretched state, remained silent for a long while before heavily patting Johnny's trembling shoulder.
He had just composed himself to say, "Please accept my condolences,"
when Johnny choked out a sob, "Joseph... he seems to have caught a cold!"
Zoro's hand, raised in mid-air, froze, and Usopp nearly collapsed.
Both cursed inwardly, "Why are you crying like you're sending someone to their funeral if he's not dead?!"
They hurriedly dragged Joseph onto the deck like a dead dog.
Nami glanced at his face and sighed helplessly, "This isn't a cold; it's clearly scurvy from not eating enough fruits and vegetables and lacking vitamin C."
She turned to the burly men and ordered, "Go to the warehouse and find some limes or lemons. Squeeze the juice into his mouth; he'll be bouncing around again in a couple of days."
Zoro looked on suspiciously: "It's that simple? This stuff can cure diseases?"
Johnny was crying so hard, snot bubbles were coming out of his nose: "Big sister, don't make this up just to comfort me! He looks like he's about to die, barely breathing!"
Nami rolled her eyes: "Stop talking nonsense, this is just basic scurvy..."
Johnny, as if grasping at a straw, excitedly spat out his words: "R-really, big sister?! Eating fruit can save lives?"
Nami shoved the overly excited guy away with a disgusted slap, wiping the drool from her face.
Just then, Usopp emerged from the cabin carrying a whole box of bright yellow lemons.
Without a word, he grabbed a lemon and squeezed it into Joseph's mouth.
Sour juice dripped from the corner of Usopp's mouth. "Is this enough?" he asked.
Zoro stroked his chin, pondering. "Doesn't seem to have much of a reaction. He's still not awake."
Usopp gritted his teeth. "Then why don't we just shove all these lemons down his throat and see?"
Zoro wholeheartedly agreed. "Great idea, lots and lots."
Nami, watching from the side, twitched her eyelids: "..."
Just as these two brutes were about to force their thirteenth lemon down Joseph's throat, Nami finally exploded.
"Stop it, both of you! Are you trying to choke him or kill him with sourness?"
Usopp stopped what he was doing, wiping his sweat. "Huh? Is that enough?"
He added, "But you're amazing, boss lady! I knew you were something special."
Zoro nodded in agreement, "Indeed, that medical skill is impressive."
Nami rubbed her throbbing temples, feeling utterly exhausted looking at these two clueless idiots.
"You two should at least learn some basic navigational knowledge! A bunch of morons! Otherwise, you won't even know how you died on this high seas!"
Before she finished speaking,
a muffled "plop" suddenly came from the deck.
Joseph, who had been lying like a corpse, suddenly struggled violently, spitting out the entire lemon he was holding.
His face was contorted into a jumbled mess from the extreme sourness, his features almost squashed together.
Then, like a zombie rising from the dead, he sprang straight up with a "whoosh."
Johnny tentatively called out, "Bro?"
Joseph instantly responded, "Bro!"
"Ha-ha-ha-ha!"
The two clowns, hand in hand, excitedly twirled around on the deck as if nothing had happened.
Joseph raised his hands and shouted, "Full power! I'm fully recharged!"
The others on the ship stared in disbelief: "..."
Nami yelled in exasperation, "You bunch of idiots! How can someone recover from an illness so quickly! This is not scientific!"
Before she finished speaking,
*Thump!*
Joseph, who had been full of energy just moments before, rolled his eyes back and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
The others were collectively speechless: "..."
What a bunch of idiots!
After a chaotic scene, the group temporarily sheltered Zoro and his two lovable underlings and adjusted their course to continue towards the sea restaurant.
Johnny, munching on dry bread, said, "I heard that restaurant called Baratie is really close to the Grand Line, and there's been a lot of talk about that Hawkeye guy that Big Brother's been looking for."
Night fell, a cool sea breeze blew, and everyone sat around the simple table.
Upon hearing the name "Hawkeye," Zoro, who had been listlessly chewing his bread, instantly brightened up.
Fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, but an uncontrollable, bloodthirsty, excited smile crept across his lips.
Luffy calmly placed the broken piece of steel sword that Garp had snapped across his lap, looking like a reclusive master: "Hey, Zoro, calm down. As a top swordsman, you need a calm and collected mind, don't you understand?"
Actually, he was mentally checking the system panel filled with a wicked sense of humor.
[Host: Luffy (Monkey D. Luffy)]
[Currently Loading Template: 100,000 Cold Jokes - Li Jing]
[Equipment: One Broken Sword]
[Talent Ability: Conceptual Skill - 100% Guaranteed Bare-Handed Blade Catching]
[Skill List: Single-Target Blade Catching, Group Blade Catching, Targeted Blade Catching, Peerless Swordsmanship (Pseudo)]
[Character Reset Countdown: 1 day 15 hours 23 minutes]
[Current Recreation Rate: 57%]
Luffy was secretly pleased. There was still over a day before the reset, and the recreation rate was already over halfway done. This was a sure thing.
Zoro's eyes still burned with fire: "Luffy, if you really run into Mihawk there, do you dare challenge him?"
At this moment, Zoro's mind was filled with the dream of defeating the world's strongest swordsman and ascending to the throne of the Great Swordsman.
Luffy shook his head mysteriously: "Me? I'll pass."
Zoro immediately gave him a disdainful look: "A swordsman should have the courage to draw his sword against every enemy. Giving up before even fighting is just too undignified!"
But Luffy returned the look with even more disdain: "What I mean is, if I really made a move, even someone as strong as Mihawk would have to kneel before me and obediently accept my sword. That would be too much of a bully."
"Tch, you're just bragging."
Zoro rolled his eyes, not believing his nonsense at all.
With Johnny and Joseph, these two experienced guides, the Going Merry easily sailed into the waters where Baratie was located.