Chapter 218: Stealing the Going Merry

"You want to steal their pirate ship?!"

Uchiha Feiyu looked at Nami with a shocked expression, then glanced at the Going Merry; the expression on his face was almost impossible to hold back.

The little cat burglar Nami was a bit puzzled. Why was this guy Uchiha Feiyu reacting so strongly? Could it be because of the Marine Hero Garp?

Come to think of it... that Marine Hero was Luffy's grandfather, after all. If she stole Luffy's pirate ship, perhaps he might have some other thoughts...

"Is it because of old Mr. Garp? Come to think of it, although these people are indeed pirates, at least they haven't done any evil; on the contrary, they've done quite a few good deeds, and they don't even have bounties. Out of respect for that old gentleman..."

"Very good, excellent, I fully support this idea!"

Uchiha Feiyu's twisted expression quickly turned into excitement. He pressed his hands onto Nami's shoulders, an excited smile appearing on his face:

"It's up to you, Nami! Let's get them drunk first, then we'll just sail the ship away!"

Although the Going Merry was much larger than the small sailboat, it still fell into the category of small vessels, and two people could manage to operate it.

Of course, what Uchiha Feiyu actually wanted to know more was, after Nami stole the ship from the Straw Hat Pirates, in what direction would the plot of this world develop? It felt just too interesting!

Oh... you say that in the original work, it was Nami who stole the Straw Hat Pirates' ship? Then never mind.

Although Nami was just a young girl, having spent so many years on the sea, her tolerance for alcohol was not bad at all. Getting pirates drunk and then stealing their treasure was a very common way for this little cat burglar to make a haul.

Sanji was a pure simp; if Nami smiled at him twice, the guy wouldn't know which way was up. Getting him drunk was as easy as pie.

There was no need to even mention Luffy; even if you put a sleeping drug into his meat right in front of his face and said it was seasoning, he would eat it all up while saying it tasted a bit strange.

Usopp had a decent brain, but his courage was too small, and he loved to brag. As long as you cornered him while he was bragging, it would be very easy to get him drunk.

The only difficult point was Zoro, who had higher vigilance, but he was currently in a state of serious injury and had gone straight to rest and sleep after eating his fill.

And Zeff's group of chefs were not members of the Straw Hat Pirates; even Sanji was only somewhat tempted right now and wasn't yet a member of the Straw Hat Pirates, so naturally, no one would go to watch the ship for the Straw Hat Pirates.

So, after a banquet, Uchiha Feiyu and Nami took the two human bounties, snuck onto the Going Merry, and sailed the ship away directly.

Anyway, there wasn't anything else on the small sailboat. Uchiha Feiyu took the supplies and his change of clothes, Nami took some oranges and orange saplings, and then they just left the small sailboat there.

After an hour or two, a chef from the Baratie accidentally discovered that the Going Merry had been sailed away, leaving only a small sailboat in its place. He hurriedly ran to wake up the members of the Straw Hat Pirates.

"What?! The Going Merry has been sailed away!!"

After hearing the news, the Straw Hat boy was so startled he jumped three feet high. With a 'whoosh', before he had even run over, his head had already crashed through the window and arrived at the side of the ship.

Sure enough, the Going Merry next to the Baratie was nowhere to be seen, leaving only a pathetic little sailboat drifting in the seawater, as if mocking him.

"Damn it... my ship!!!"

"Usopp, Zoro, wake up quickly, our ship has been stolen by someone!!"

"What!?"

Zoro woke up at the first moment, but as soon as he climbed up, he felt a sharp pain in his chest and could only lie back down unwillingly.

There was no help for it; the guy had just been slashed by Dracule Mihawk. Even if that world's greatest Great Swordsman had shown mercy, Zoro's injuries were not light at all. If it were a normal person, even someone in the One Piece World, they would have to lie down for four or five days.

Zoro's physical constitution was much stronger than an ordinary person's, and his recovery power was also extremely powerful. If he could rest for a night, he could basically recover more than half—however, Zoro had only been eating and resting for two or three hours now, so naturally, his wounds hadn't recovered yet.

"The Going Merry!! Damn it, that wretched thief! I knew those two guys weren't good people; they even stole a pirate's ship!! That's just too much!!"

Usopp also rushed out the moment he received the news. Seeing only the empty sea surface where the ship used to be, he was so angry his eyes turned red.

Because the Going Merry was a gift from Usopp's childhood sweetheart, Kaya, this ship had extremely high importance in Usopp's heart. He was probably the person in the entire pirate crew who cared about this ship the most.

"Luffy, we can't let these ship-stealing thieves get away! Let's go together and chase the Going Merry back."

Usopp, who had always appeared very cowardly, this time grabbed Luffy's stretched-out head and shook it frantically:

"No matter what, we can't let these little thieves sail the Going Merry away. Let's move out, Captain!"

Luffy's head was shaken back and forth, and he shouted loudly:

"Wait, wait, wait a second, Zoro hasn't fully recovered yet..."

"It's fine, Luffy,"

Leaning on his famous sword like a cane, Zoro slowly walked out of the cabin:

"Let's set off together! I can recover from my injuries on the way."

"Uh, alright then! Sanji, do you want to get on the ship and set off with me? Our pirate crew happens to be missing a chef!"

As if thinking of something, Luffy turned his head to look at Sanji and asked with a grin. Sanji sighed and pressed out the cigarette in his mouth:

"Idiot, you want me to get on your ship? Your ship has already been sailed away by someone. I've never seen such a pathetic pirate crew and such a stupid pirate captain."

"I'm so stupid that I can't even leave you idiots alone!"

After saying that, Sanji flicked away the cigarette butt in his hand, turned, and walked into the restaurant, saying indifferently:

"Wait for me, I'll get some supplies from the restaurant. To catch up with them, first of all, I have to make sure I don't go hungry!!"

Walking into the restaurant, Sanji saw Zeff standing opposite him at a glance. A hint of hesitation appeared on his face, and he spoke to the father figure in his heart:

"Old man, I'm going to help Luffy and the others with something, and I'll come back later..."

"No need to come back!"

Zeff shook his head, his expression somewhat emotional as he looked at Sanji, as if he saw the future:

"You're old enough; it's time to go out and venture on the sea! Set off with the Straw Hat kid. Although that brat doesn't look very smart, he is indeed a very good captain."

"Old man, what are you saying? I don't want to leave the Baratie..."

"Are you satisfied? The Baratie is just a place for me to spend my retirement. Even when I was young, I wouldn't have thought about staying at the Baratie for my whole life."

"I know that because of what happened back then, you've always felt guilty about my severed leg, but that was my own choice. And since this leg of mine has already been traded for your life, then you should take my dream and go on a long voyage on the sea!"

Sanji was silent for a moment, then reached out and wiped his eyes:

"Old man, you guy, why are you being so sentimental all of a sudden? I'm just... just going out to sea... even if I leave with that Straw Hat kid, it'll be at most a few years."

"Alright, a real man shouldn't be wishy-washy once he's made a decision."

Zeff waved his hand as if he were somewhat impatient, turned around, and lifted his head slightly:

"Get along well with your new companions in the future, and go chase your dreams!"

By the time Sanji and a group of chefs came out with bags of food, Usopp had already adjusted the entire small boat, which was exactly the vessel Uchiha Feiyu and the others had left behind.

After putting all the food onto the small boat, Sanji turned his head to glance at the Baratie, as if he could see the figure of a certain old man in the lights of the second-floor cabin.

"Let's go, we're setting off!!"

Accompanied by a loud shout from Luffy, the small boat's sail was hoisted, and it sailed off into the distance. However, at this moment, Usopp, who was steering the boat, seemed to have thought of something; he turned his head and stared at Luffy with wide eyes:

"Luffy... where are we supposed to go?"

"Of course, we're going to chase down the Going Merry!"

"But... where did the Going Merry go?"

"Uh... this..."

In an instant, the two looked at each other in dismay. Then, as if Luffy had just realized it, an expression of extreme terror appeared on his face:

"No, no... I don't know... I don't know either!! What do we do? What do we do?! The Going Merry is going to be stolen!!!"

Sanji: "..."

Is it too late to go back now, apologize to the old man, and say I want to be a chef?

"Stop making noise, you idiots!"

Zoro, who had been resting on the small sailboat, perhaps unable to stand the foolish behavior of Luffy and Usopp any longer, pushed open the cabin door and walked out, throwing a note:

"It's written right here, the other party went to Loguetown! If we want to get our ship back, let's all go to Loguetown together!"

"Huh!? So that's how it is!"

Luffy patted his chest, an expression of relief appearing on his face:

"I didn't expect them to leave us a note; they're actually pretty nice!"

"Idiot, they're the ones who stole our Pirate ship!"

Usopp was so angry he grabbed Luffy by the neck and shouted loudly:

"And don't trust the enemy so easily! They might have some kind of conspiracy!"

"Even if there is a conspiracy, we have to go! No matter what, the Going Merry must be retrieved."

Zoro crossed his arms over his chest and spoke coldly, his eyes filled with fighting spirit:

"I will steer the ship and lead everyone to Loguetown to meet this ship thief!"

"Stay away from the helm!" ×2

In an instant, Luffy and Usopp stopped arguing and directly tackled Zoro, who was attempting to take control of the helm, avoiding the fate of them getting lost all the way to Laugh Tale.

Once they had a goal, the members of the Straw Hat Pirates didn't say another word; they followed the direction of Loguetown on the nautical chart and sailed away in the small sailboat.

In Loguetown, Uchiha Feiyu and Nami steered the Going Merry and stopped at the harbor pier.

The Pirate flag on the Going Merry had already been taken down by Uchiha Feiyu; this thing was just a source of mockery if left up, and it would attract the attention of a large number of Marines.

Although Uchiha Feiyu didn't care much about the Marines of the East Blue, he clearly didn't want to cause any trouble. Most importantly, he wasn't a Pirate yet; he was just planning to establish an adventure group to play around with.

As the gateway island from the East Blue to the Grand Line, and also the execution site of the former Pirate King Roger, Loguetown was extremely important in both practical and symbolic terms. Naturally, such a place would be guarded by the Marines.

The main officer of the Marine base guarding Loguetown was named Smoker, a Logia Smoke-Smoke Fruit user with the rank of Colonel from the headquarters; he was likely the strongest Marine officer in the entire East Blue.

In the original story, Smoker once chased the Straw Hat Pirates until they had nowhere to run, and he almost captured the Straw Hat boy directly—if it hadn't been for the Straw Hat boy's father running over personally to save him, Luffy would have likely ended up rotting in a Pirate prison.

However, the Smoke-Smoke Fruit had almost the lowest effectiveness among Logia Devil Fruits. Back when Haki hadn't appeared in the One Piece World, it was naturally invincible.

Unfortunately, with the version updates in the later stages, Smoker immediately became a relic of the past—even the Flame-Flame Fruit was considered undesirable by some, and the even weaker Smoke-Smoke Fruit was, in many people's eyes, likely not even as good as a Zoan type.

Now, Uchiha Feiyu had mastered the Haki power that came after the version update. With his current strength, he really wasn't afraid of Smoker, this Logia user with little offensive power.

"Let's go, Nami, let's go take a look at Loguetown."

Glancing at the surroundings of the pier, Uchiha Feiyu saw quite a few Pirate ships at the dock and couldn't help but secretly complain:

As the entrance to the Grand Line, all these Pirate ships were parked directly in Loguetown, swaggering about without the slightest attempt at concealment.

And in the original story, the residents of Loguetown even said that after Smoker came to Loguetown, he cracked down on Pirates heavily, and there were far fewer Pirates than before. Even the shopkeeper who sold swords said that after Smoker arrived, his business plummeted...

Speaking of which, just how chaotic was the original Loguetown? Was it a Pirate island? This was still the most peaceful East Blue; one could imagine how chaotic the other seas were.

"Okay... hehe, let's send these two captured Pirates to the Marine base first!"

Nami laughed twice and dragged Gin and Krieg out. Their injuries had only been treated perfunctorily, and since they had only been given a little wine and no food for the past two days, the two of them had no strength to resist now.

Nami looked like an ordinary girl with a petite stature and a slim figure, but her actual strength was not small; it was just that everyone in the Straw Hat Pirates was superhuman, so she appeared to be a delicate little girl.

With Nami's strength, carrying these two captives was not difficult at all.

(End of chapter)