That night, by the fire, Reith finally came to terms with reality.
Roger, having eaten and drunk to his fill, was lying on the sand, but suddenly sat up abruptly:
"Reith you're a funny guy! Want to come on my ship?" He slung his arm around Reith's neck. "You can set off on an adventure across the seas right now!"
Rayleigh chuckled.
— Roger when you went to sea, you didn't even have a ship.
Roger suddenly leaned towards Reith, his eyes glittering.
"And now there's a little pirate on board, isn't that even more exciting? That'll make our crew three!"
Rayleigh shook his head sadly.
- I don't think you can take proper care of a child, Roger.
"Huh?" Roger scratched his head, but then burst out laughing. "But, Reith, our adventure will definitely be more fun than yours alone! Because..." he jumped up abruptly, pointing his finger at the sky, "that's my, way of conquering the seas! Ku-ha-ha-ha!"
Reith looked at this laughing duo and suddenly thought: perhaps in this era, without knowing the future, it really will be more interesting.
"Yes captain" Reith looked at Roger. "What a charm this future Pirate King has! That charisma of his... Damn it!"
The next day, Reith already regretted it.
As expected of this pair at the very beginning of their journey, they had only a tiny ship. Even for Reith, who was barely four years old, there was limited space. "What the hell difference is this from going to sea in a wooden barrel?"
Roger patted the side of the boat proudly:
— Well, how about it? Impressive, huh? It's Rayleigh's boat!
Reith couldn't resist making a snide remark:
- No! Captain, are we really going to go to sea on this?
In desperation, he counted the people on board, estimated the ship's carrying capacity, and came to a horrifying conclusion:
- So, there are three of us, and this boat... will only hold two and a half at most?
"Ku-ha-ha-ha!" Roger leaped aboard with a laugh, and the ship immediately moved dangerously about thirty degrees. "Don't worry! Rayleigh's got it all figured out: if we have the provisions, take only three days' worth of fresh water, and throw away the spare oars..."
"That's suicide!" Reith tore his hair out in despair.
Rayleigh chuckled adjusted his glasses calmly.
— According to my calculations, with the current load, in calm weather we will last... about six hours.
Reith suddenly lost his desire to go out to sea.
Eventually, all three resigned themselves to this plan. Reith figured that Roger was now a child of fate, so there shouldn't be any major problems.
Roger stood on the bow, meeting the waves, and shouted with delight:
- Amazing! This is the taste of freedom!hahahaha
Rayleigh, steering with one hand, remarked:
" Roger, we're off course." Rayleigh said
"Then where have we gone?"Roger asked looking back at Rayleigh
"I have no idea," Rayleigh replied calmly. "I don't have a map of that stretch of sea."
Reith mentally complained 'Why are you two so calm about this !!!'
Reith stammered in a weak voice:
"Listen... maybe we should think about going back..."
Why was he so weak? Because Reith has never been on a ship since birth.
Holy shit, he was seasick!
Before he could finish speaking, a three-meter wave crashed in. The boat creaked pitifully, and the mooring rope snapped with a loud crack.
"Oh, the rope broke," Roger stated, pointing to the swaying mast.
"!!!!" Reith
Reith's face twisted into a silent cry of panic. "What to do, what to do?!"
"Ah, the barrel of fresh water washed away," remarked Rayleigh, watching the barrel roll into the sea.
"!!!!!!!!!!!"Reith
Just as the ship began to fall apart, it suddenly dawned on Reith:
— Wait! I'm a Devil Fruit user!
Suppressing a bout of seasickness, he activated his Mist-Mist Fruit with all his might, compressing the fog beneath the bottom of the boat.
— Misty Sea: Floating Platform!
Although it couldn't get the boat off the ground, the fog supported the hull, significantly reducing its weight. The ship immediately stabilized, and its waterline rose several inches.
Roger's eyes lit up:
- Wow! I didnt know that was even possible?!
Just as the fog began to clear, a medium-sized merchant ship appeared on the horizon. Its sails bore the crest of some merchant guild unknown to Reith.
"Saved!" Reith waved his hands excitedly.
However, Roger and Rayleigh became surprisingly serious.
"What is this?" asked Reith.
"Slave traders," Roger replied.
The merchant was already turning towards them, and on his deck stood several burly, heavily armed thugs.
"To battle!" Roger drew his sword, his eyes blazing with excitement. "A new ship is just what we need!"
Reith looked at his frail four-year-old body, then at the heavily armed thugs opposite him:
— Um... I've only been on board for three hours...
"Welcome to the pirate life!" Roger burst into laughter and rushed forward, leaping aboard at the last moment before their small boat collided with a merchant vessel.
Rayleigh patted Reith on the shoulder.
- Don't worry, Roger is master when it comes to "borrowing" ships."
Hearing the sounds of fighting and screaming coming from above, Reith sighed. Now he realized: with these two lunatics, the next few days would probably be worse than surviving on a desert island.
"Rayleigh seemed so reliable, but what's wrong now?!"
From the deck came Rayleigh's cry:
"All slave traders deserve death! Accept the righteous judgment!"
- Guys, attack!
Reith felt his future was becoming increasingly bleak.
Well, what can you do? You yourself agreed to board the pirate ship.
A thick fog quickly spread, and the pirates' small fry, choking on blood, fell to the deck. Manipulating acidity and alkalinity may be useless against powerful opponents protected by Armament Haki, but against cannon fodder, it was incredibly effective. After all, internal organs are the most vulnerable part of the human body.
It is common knowledge that acids and alkalis have caustic properties.
Reith's methods were hardly uncruel, but such people deserved the most painful death. (Slave traders must die!)
Soon, the trio—Roger, Rayleigh, and Reith—had complete control of the ship. Reith descended into the hold and gasped: it was absolutely packed. Besides humans, there were representatives of many other races, such as mermaids.
"It seems the slave trade has been going on for a very long time," thought Reith.
He addressed the slaves in the cages softly:
"We are Roger's pirates. You are free. Trust us."
But there was no answer. In the eyes of everyone, regardless of race, there was only dull apathy.
Seeing this, Reith was overcome with an unknown anger.
He came from a world where everyone was equal. He knew that society in the world of One Piece was organized differently, but he also knew that it shouldn't be that way.
— Get up! Do you want to be slaves for the rest of your lives?! Get up, you bastards!
Reith's hair, tied back haphazardly with blades of grass, had become disheveled during the fight. Dressed in clothes borrowed from Rayleigh, with his long, straight black hair, he looked like a graceful young gentleman, inspiring confidence. Children are easy to win people over, and such a handsome child even more so.
But now his face was contorted with rage. "If you're caught, does that mean you have to become a slave?! Damn this world! Damn these Tenryuubito!"
What was even funnier was that when Reith had just cleared the deck, he saw the Marine captain there.
Officials and bandits in cahoots – how absurd!
Reith said:
"I've been chopping up boars on this island for eight months, and now my heart has become frighteningly cold. And most importantly, all the slave traders must die!"