During their time together, the swordsmanship exchange left Span deeply enlightened.
The other man was a truly formidable swordsman, someone who stood far above him in skill—perhaps just a step away from the legendary realm of cutting steel.
And to make matters worse, that man was so much younger.
Span couldn't help but feel both envy and admiration. He lived by the sword, made his living by the sword, but that was all there was to it.
Zoro, however, had already stepped onto the path of a true swordsman—one who followed his own way of the sword.
The gap between them was so vast it was almost absurd.
Sensing Span's gaze, Zoro opened his eyes slightly and gave a polite nod.
Though that swordsman had been quite rude before, since he had apologized and even treated him to a decent meal, Zoro decided to let it slide.
Besides, such experiences were also part of one's training.
Seeing Zoro's response, Span subconsciously nodded back, heart pounding with excitement.
It felt like his idol had just acknowledged him.
He was thrilled—almost honored beyond words.
Meanwhile—
Ren's polite exchange with Sir Becks was finally drawing to a close.
"Well then, until next time, Sir Becks."
Ren gave a courteous nod and prepared to depart. The pink-haired kid was already on the ship, ready to set sail.
'No, no, no—let's make sure we never meet again!'
Sir Becks grumbled inwardly but dared not let it show on his face.
He kept that stiff, overly-polite smile, nodding along obediently like a man whose life depended on it—because it did.
Every second he spent breathing near this devil of a man, Becks felt his fragile noble life teetering on the edge.
It wasn't that he looked down on commoners—no, this one was simply too dangerous.
On his very first day in Cuckoo Town, Ren had annihilated the biggest gang in the region—completely wiping them out in one bloody stroke.
Then, within half a month, he'd destroyed four pirate crews over a treasure dispute.
Rumor had it that the mast of a wrecked ship on that uninhabited island was now draped with over a hundred pirate corpses.
True, they were small fry with no bounties worth mentioning, but still—the man had single-handedly cut through entire formations of pirates, and afterward even joked about whether his eyes were tired!
How could anyone not be terrified of such a lunatic?
If he so much as irritated the man by accident, he might get cleaved in two before he could blink!
So, Becks had been treading on eggshells the entire time.
When he returned home, his father would probably scold him for letting a noble of the Goa Kingdom be frightened into submission by a commoner.
Ridiculous!
Except… it wasn't ridiculous—because there was simply no winning against that monster!
Only when the ship finally vanished beyond the horizon—carrying that "Demon King" away from Cuckoo Island—did Sir Becks exhale in relief.
He impatiently waved Span over. "Let's go."
He'd made up his mind.
To reclaim his noble pride, he would personally discipline that woman, Alvida!
He couldn't provoke Ren, but he could at least take out his frustrations on her!
When he got back, he'd use that fat gas-tank woman as a spinning top!
Out at sea, a small single-masted sailboat drifted freely with the wind.
On the deck, Ren stood with the air of a proper captain, supervising Koby's work. He handed the boy a mop and a broom.
"Koby, the voyage ahead is in your hands—and make sure the deck stays spotless."
"Yes, Mr. Ren!"
"Call me Captain!"
"Yes, Captain!"
Koby grabbed the broom and replied with such earnest vigor that Ren couldn't help smirking.
Then the pink-haired boy obediently got to work.
This small vessel—temporarily christened the Pipi Shrimp—had only three people aboard.
Ren was the captain and also Koby's savior, though he still looked pale and sickly, as if afflicted by some chronic illness.
Mr. Zoro refused to consider himself a crewmate, but Koby firmly believed he was the first mate.
Which meant that of the three people on board, two were his bosses. He couldn't afford to offend either of them.
So he accepted his fate and dutifully went back to the job he'd been doing for the past two years.
In fact, he was even busier than he had been under Alvida's crew—because he was now the only one on board who actually knew how to navigate!
The captain knew nothing about navigation. Honestly, Koby couldn't tell whether Ren had come to sea to seek adventure or to feed the fish.
As for Mr. Zoro, he was a good man and willing to help…
But after seeing his sense of direction—or lack thereof—on that deserted island, Koby swore he would never let Zoro handle anything involving directions.
Including navigation!
Otherwise, they'd die of starvation or dehydration after getting lost in the middle of the ocean!
'He's really hardworking,' Ren thought as he glanced at Koby's diligent figure.
Satisfied, he turned to mind his own business.
With the Sharingan constantly draining his stamina, he couldn't exactly do much physical labor.
So, with full captainly privilege, he decided to take a break—grabbing a cucumber from the kitchen and munching on it while enjoying the sea breeze.
If anyone else had done that, the captain would have yelled at them for slacking off.
But since he was the captain… well, no problem at all.
'Say what you will, the sky here beats the smog-choked Zhengzhou any day.'
Ren looked up, cucumber in mouth.
The sky was a brilliant blue, seagulls gliding lazily overhead. It was—
"Damn, that's beautiful."
Fine, maybe Ren wasn't exactly a poet.
Even his words of awe were limited to "Holy crap," "Badass," or "That's sick, bro."
Expecting eloquence from him was a lost cause.
Still, he was in high spirits. The Pipi Shrimp's maiden voyage marked his true beginning in the world of One Piece.
A ship of his own, a small crew, and a destination.
All he needed now… was an adventure.
Yes—
To defeat the Arlong Pirates (×) and steal Nami's treasure (√)!
If he was being honest, he wasn't entirely confident about it.
After all, the Arlong Pirates were easily the toughest enemy in the entire East Blue arc. In a one-on-one, Arlong's strength might even rival Zoro's.
Which meant… it was time for a breakthrough!
"For a genius like me, power-ups mid-battle are totally normal."
Ren tossed the cucumber's last bite into his mouth and headed straight into the cabin.
On the way, he accidentally stepped on Zoro, who was dozing against the wall.
"Get lost."
Zoro glared at him with a dark expression, waved him off impatiently, and went back to sleep.
Usually, he was in charge of night watch—and sometimes day watch, too, just to make sure his "employer" didn't wander off and get himself killed.
Ren smiled awkwardly and slipped into the cabin.
He wasn't trying to start anything, but the stamina drain debuff was getting hard to ignore.
He needed to maintain his character template and internal energy amplification almost constantly.
Still, thanks to that, he was beginning to master a new trick: suppressing his external aura.
As a result, the golden glow from his Third Calabash Brother template had condensed into faint golden lines hidden beneath his skin.
Normally, nothing seemed unusual, but pressing on his skin made the gold patterns ripple faintly.
By Ren's estimation, this was a low-intensity but energy-efficient state—a small blessing.
As for his "Qi" technique, however… there was no helping it. The moment he activated it, he turned into a little golden man.
And not just any golden man—pure 24K gold!
(End of Chapter)