On the vast, open sea, a solitary wooden boat drifted with the current.
Viktor lay at the stern, hands tucked behind his head. While he appeared to be napping, his consciousness was actually immersed in the System Shop.
Looking at the "600" Ninja Path Points—a number that felt very satisfying to his inner perfectionist—his finger hovered over the virtual interface for a long time. After a moment of deliberation, he made his move.
[Ding! Consumed 300 points. Exchanged for C-Rank Ninjutsu: Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu.][Ding! Consumed 200 points. Exchanged for E-Rank Ninjutsu: Substitution Jutsu.][Current Balance: 100 points.]
"Phew... working hard all day just to end up back at the starting line," Viktor muttered, closing the system interface with a twinge of regret for his dwindling balance.
Just then, a foot unceremoniously kicked his leg.
"Hey! Viktor! Stop playing dead! It's your turn to row!" Zoro stood holding the oars, a vein throbbing on his forehead. He looked incredibly annoyed at this so-called "Vice-Captain."
Viktor immediately rolled over. "Like I said, I'm the brains of this operation. Heavy labor like this should be left to the swordsman with infinite stamina or the rubber man."
"Hah? You bastard..." Zoro gritted his teeth. "By the way, where the hell are we even going?!"
"Eh?" Luffy, who was leaning over the side playing with the water, looked back with a matter-of-fact expression. "We just go wherever the wind and waves take us!"
Zoro let out a roar of frustration. "I'm telling you! It's weird for someone who wants to be a pirate to not know a single thing about navigation!!"
Luffy picked his nose. "Is it? I've always done it this way."
"THAT'S EXACTLY WHY IT'S WEIRD!!" Zoro shook the boat in his rage.
"Whoa!" Luffy lost his balance. The straw hat he cherished more than life itself flew off his head, caught by a sudden gust of sea wind.
"AH!! MY HAT!!" Luffy's face went pale. He lunged for it, grasping at thin air.
Just as the hat was about to dip into the brine, a slender hand shot out.
Swish!
Viktor didn't even stand up. Propping himself up with one hand on the deck, he leaned out at an impossible angle over the gunwale and snagged the edge of the hat. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed it back to Luffy.
"Here," Viktor said lazily, settling back into his spot. "Stop bickering, you two idiots."
Luffy caught the hat, carefully patted away the non-existent dust, and put it back on. He looked at Viktor with a rare spark of seriousness in his eyes.
"Thanks, Viktor. This is more important to me than my own life."
Gurgle—
Luffy's expression immediately collapsed into a miserable pout as his stomach roared. "Ah... actually, I'm starving. Viktor, got any food?"
Viktor's eye twitched. "Don't switch moods that fast, you moron!"
Zoro turned suspiciously toward the large bundles in the middle of the boat—the ten days' worth of supplies they had "requested" from the Marines.
When he opened the first bag, he froze. Aside from a few barrels of water, the dried meat, fruit, and bread were gone. Only empty wrappers remained.
"Well..." Luffy looked away, whistling innocently.
"YOU!!" Zoro grabbed Luffy's collar and began shaking him violently. "You ate ten days of supplies in one sitting?!"
"Sorry! I didn't notice! I just kept eating, and then it was gone!"
Viktor massaged his temples. He felt partly responsible; he had been too distracted by the System Shop to notice the bottomless pit next to him, inhaling their rations.
Luffy, however, had zero sense of crisis. He looked up just as a massive, pink-feathered bird soared overhead. It was ridiculously large, like a small glider.
"Ah! There it is!" Luffy's eyes turned into the shape of meat. "That bird looks like it has a lot of meat! Let's eat it!!"
Viktor looked up. Pink feathers, giant size... Is that the unlucky bird from the story? Before Viktor could stop him, Luffy had already taken a stance.
"GOMU GOMU NO—" He stretched his arms back, gripping the sides of the boat until he was taut as a bowstring. "—ROCKET!!"
BOING!
Luffy shot into the sky like a cannonball, straight for the bird.
Zoro crossed his arms. "Oh? The kid's actually got some moves. He made it all the way up there."
A second later, their admiration turned to shock. Luffy had indeed reached the bird, but instead of knocking it down, his entire upper body had become wedged inside the giant bird's beak!
"Gaaah?!" The bird let out a startled squawk and flapped its wings, flying off into the distance with Luffy dangling from its mouth.
"EH? EH-EH-EH?!" Faint, muffled screams drifted down from the sky. "HELP!! I'M STUCK!! VIKTOR! ZORO! SAVE MEEEEE!!"
Zoro's jaw nearly hit the deck. "That idiot... did he just get kidnapped by a bird?"
"Stop staring, Zoro! Row!"
"Tch! What a pain!" Zoro complained, but his movements were electric. He grabbed both oars, his muscles bulging as if he'd engaged a turbo engine. The small boat carved a white wake through the sea, chasing after the flying bird.
Huff... puff...
As they were desperately giving chase, three figures suddenly appeared in the water ahead. They were pirates dressed in strange costumes—members of the Buggy Pirates who had been tricked out of their ship by Nami and were now treading water.
Seeing the boat charging toward them, the three waved their arms frantically. "HEY!! STOP!!" "WE'RE OVER HERE! SAVE US!"
The boat showed no sign of slowing down.
"Whoa! Who are those people?!" "WE'RE GONNA CRASH!!"
At the bow, Viktor looked at the three blocking their path and flashed a "kind" smile. "You guys! If you want to get on, do it yourself! If you can't, then just serve as our speed bumps!"
"WHAT?!"
The three pirates scrambled out of the way, desperately grabbing the edge of the boat as it sped past, hauling themselves aboard in a pathetic heap.
"Huff... huff... we're alive..." They lay on the deck, gasping for air.
Zoro glanced at them while rowing. "Heh, didn't think you'd actually make it. Not bad."
One pirate with a mohawk caught his breath. He looked up at the two—a green-haired "laborer" rowing and a "pretty boy" sitting at the back. Malice sparked in his eyes. He pulled a glistening cutlass from his back and sneered:
"Now that we're on board, this ship is ours! Hand over the treasure and the water!" The other two pulled out daggers, surrounding the pair.
Viktor sat at the stern, his lips curving slightly. "Oh? A robbery?"
"Hmph! If you don't want to die—"
Before Mohawk could finish, his vision blurred. He didn't even see the black-haired youth move. He felt a sharp, agonizing pain in his chest, as if hit by a sledgehammer.
BAM!
Viktor delivered a concise, powerful knee strike directly to his stomach. The pirate couldn't even scream; he curled into a ball on the deck, foaming at the mouth.
Immediately after, Viktor slammed his palm into the face of the pirate rushing from the left, using that momentum to smash his head into the deck.
THUD!
Wood splinters flew as the second pirate was knocked out cold. For the third, Viktor simply tilted his head to dodge the dagger. In a flash, a black kunai appeared in his right hand, the cold edge pressed firmly against the man's carotid artery.
Battle over. Time elapsed: two seconds.
The scene shifted.
The three previously "menacing" pirates were now sitting on the sides of the boat, faces bruised and swollen. They were rowing with all their might, wearing extremely subservient smiles.
"Hehehe... Great Masters, is the ride smooth enough?" "We were truly blind to offend such legends! We deserve death!"
Viktor and Zoro sat leisurely in the middle of the boat. Zoro looked at the three "Human Engines" and nodded with satisfaction.
"Hey, Viktor, Luffy is gone and you're still this calm?"
Viktor pointed to the sky. "That bird isn't flying high, and its direction is clear. With Luffy's rubber body, as long as he doesn't fall into the sea, he's basically indestructible."
Zoro thought about Luffy's ridiculous constitution and nodded in agreement. Then, he looked sharply at the three rowing pirates. "Hey, I heard you shouting about a 'Captain Buggy' earlier. Who's that?"
The three pirates froze. "Wait... Zoro-sama? You don't know 'Buggy the Clown'?"
Zoro looked at Viktor. "Is he famous?"
Viktor said dismissively, "You can tell by the name... probably just a circus clown, right?"
"PFFF—!!" The three pirates nearly jumped overboard in terror.
"SHHHH!! PLEASE!! Never say that word!" The pirate hissed, trembling. "Captain Buggy is a terrifying man! He's the 'Chop-Chop' man who ate a Devil Fruit! If he hears someone calling him a clown or mocking his red nose... he'll blow the whole town to smithereens!!"