Out at sea, the Thousand Sunny sailed steadily across the waves.
Under Merry's control, the crew barely needed to steer at all—the ship would automatically head wherever they wished.
Of course, as the navigator, Nami still had to keep an eye on the weather and sea conditions.
"Ahhh…"
Jin sat at the edge of the ship with a fishing rod in hand, staring ahead with lifeless eyes.
"When are we ever going to reach the next island?"
A whole day had already passed, and there wasn't even the shadow of land.
Aside from fishing, he honestly didn't know what else to do.
"Traveling from one island to another actually takes a very long time," Merry said, sitting beside him and explaining seriously.
"You know a lot," Jin glanced at her.
"Hehe, of course!" Merry puffed out her chest proudly.
"I'm a ship spirit~ I naturally understand how ships travel!"
Before gaining her body, she had accompanied the crew from island to island, so she knew very well how long voyages usually took.
"…Fair enough."
Jin sighed helplessly but didn't say more.
Lately, he'd noticed that the little girl had grown especially attached to him—she could sit beside him fishing for an entire morning.
Maybe it was because he had used chakra to save her, creating some natural sense of closeness between them.
He casually handed the fishing rod to Usopp, who had just walked over, then jumped down from the railing with Merry.
"Not fishing anymore?" Usopp asked.
"Nope."
After setting Merry down, Jin looked at her seriously.
"Merry, how's it going with the ninjutsu I taught you earlier?"
Ever since he'd saved her, Jin had sensed a strange kind of energy inside her body.
It wasn't chakra—but who knew?
Maybe she could still learn ninjutsu.
"Ninjutsu?!" Usopp's eyes instantly lit up.
"Merry can learn ninjutsu too?!"
"Not sure," Jin replied.
"But there's no harm in trying."
After explaining to Usopp, he lowered his head and looked at Merry—only to find her wearing an embarrassed expression.
"…Merry-chan," Jin said slowly.
"You didn't slack off, did you?"
"I really tried!" Merry said hurriedly.
"But I just can't use it… I can't release any Water Style or Fire Style at all."
She wanted to learn—she really did.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't do it.
The chakra control Jin talked about… the energy circulation…
She just couldn't manage any of it.
"…Is it because it's been too short?" Jin murmured.
After thinking for a moment, he said:
"Merry, take out the summoning scroll."
"Oh!"
She obediently pulled the scroll out of her little spatial pocket and placed it on the deck.
Poof—
White smoke burst out as the scroll instantly expanded in size.
"Huh?!"
Usopp's eyes nearly popped out.
"It can get bigger too?! Jin, what kind of technique is that?!"
"A type of sealing jutsu…" Jin frowned slightly as he stared at Merry.
"How did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Making the scroll bigger."
"That's the method you taught me," Merry said after thinking for a moment.
"You told me how to open the summoning scroll—did you forget?"
"I didn't forget, but…"
Jin frowned deeper.
"Why can't you learn ninjutsu, but you can use sealing techniques?"
It made no sense to him.
Could it be because Merry had a special connection to the scroll itself?
"I don't know either," Merry spread her hands.
"After you told me how, I just… could do it."
It felt more like instinct than learning.
"What's going on?"
Luffy and Chopper ran over curiously.
"What's that scroll?"
"This is the summoning scroll," Jin explained.
"It's the medium that allowed Merry to survive."
"So that's the reason?" Luffy blinked.
"Yep."
After explaining, Jin pointed at the scroll again.
"Merry, try using Reverse Summoning Jutsu."
His name was written on that scroll.
If Merry could use reverse summoning, the possibilities would expand enormously.
He carefully taught her the method.
And what happened next completely exceeded his expectations.
In just a short while—
"Reverse Summoning Jutsu!"
Poof—
A burst of white smoke appeared.
The Jin who had deliberately gone out onto the sea surface vanished—
and reappeared instantly beside Merry.
"…!!!"
Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper froze.
"So… so amazing!!"
They stared at Merry in disbelief.
She actually learned one of Jin's techniques?!
That shouldn't have been possible!
"I can't believe it really worked…"
Even Jin himself was stunned.
But then—
why couldn't she learn other ninjutsu?
"Hey, Jin," Luffy asked seriously.
"Why can Merry learn ninjutsu, but we can't?"
"Yeah!" Chopper hugged Jin's leg.
"I wanna learn ninjutsu too…"
"Honestly," Jin rubbed his chin,
"I don't know either."
"I tried teaching you before, remember? You couldn't even refine chakra."
Without chakra, using ninjutsu was impossible.
"Then why can Merry do it?"
"…Maybe because she's a ship spirit?" Usopp guessed suddenly.
"And don't forget—she was revived using Jin's special method."
"At that time, Jin nearly died in the sea."
That might be the reason she could use certain techniques.
"…That's probably it," Jin nodded.
"Merry's life state is very special—completely different from yours."
No—
different from anyone's.
After all, she wasn't human.
She was a spirit.
Jin looked down at Merry and saw how happy she was—clearly excited that she could use a jutsu at all.
"But why can I only use this kind…" she muttered softly.
Her smile faded, replaced by self-blame.
"Did I not try hard enough…?"
"That's not it," Jin said gently, rubbing her head.
"You're already amazing."
"The problem is probably the scroll."
"The scroll?"
"Yes."
Jin pointed at it.
"I think if you want to use techniques, they must be based on this summoning scroll."
"But that means the range of abilities you can use is limited."
Most likely—
only sealing techniques and summoning techniques.
"B-but that's still super enviable!" Usopp said quickly.
"We can't use anything at all!"
"Yeah!" Chopper nodded eagerly.
"Merry, don't be sad—you're already incredible!"
"I see…"
Merry thought for a moment, then suddenly looked up at Jin.
"Then… can I write other ships' names on it?"
"That depends on you."
Merry pursed her lips, lowered her head, and placed her hand gently on the scroll.
She closed her eyes, carefully sensing something.
A moment later—
An unbelievable scene occurred.
Soft green letters slowly appeared on the scroll.
Thousand Sunny.
"W–Wait…"
Usopp's jaw dropped.
"She actually did it?!"
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