One Piece: New Luffy

Luffy waved his hand and gave the order.

"Oh!"

Immediately, everyone began moving quickly.

Looking around, Luffy didn't see Bellamy's ship. It seemed the pirate group had already departed ahead of them.

While they were busy, the people from Upper Yard also arrived at the shore.

Out of gratitude, many people brought specialties from Sky Island.

The White Beret Brigade, led by Captain McKinley, returned over two million Berries that had previously been paid for Nami's entry, just as they had promised.

He waved in farewell. "Thank you for everything you've done. We learned everything from Gan Fall. You are the liberators of Skypiea!"

The Straw Hat crew mimicked his gesture and bowed.

"You're always welcome to return here. We won't charge an entry fee anymore," McKinley smiled. "Mr. Monkey D. Luffy, thank you once again."

Luffy waved and called out to his crew:

"Time to go, everyone!"

Jaya Island – East Coast

Everyone had gathered behind Cricket, their faces full of astonishment as they looked toward the sky.

"Boss, it's a ship!"

"It's the shadow of a ship!"

Cricket smiled and looked up.

The shape of the massive ship projected onto the clouds had a group of people standing side by side on its deck.

Even though it was just a silhouette, he could recognize every single person.

Cricket focused on the one in the middle—the one wearing a straw hat.

"Monkey D. Luffy… I heard you! Thank you! Shandora, it truly exists!"

With joy on his face, he closed the book in his hand, stood up, and said, "So next, I'm off to the next adventure. Are you all coming with me?"

"We'll follow you for the rest of our lives, boss!"

The Ark Maxim had returned to the sea near Jaya Island, descending from the White Sea, 10,000 meters above.

It took the crew an afternoon to find Laboon.

Fortunately, Laboon was large enough to be easily spotted when he surfaced.

After that, they headed toward the next island.

As for the Going Merry and Thousand Sunny, they were released and returned to the sea.

As captain, Luffy reassigned crew members to each ship.

The main ship, the Sunny, currently housed only women. There was no need to change that for now, though space was still limited.

The second ship, the Merry, was led by vice-captain Zoro. The crew included Sanji, Usopp, Chopper, Yosaku, and Johnny.

The third ship, the Ark Maxim, was temporarily under the command of the second-in-command Bartolomeo. Its crew included five male agents.

With the new ship, everyone was happy—no longer needing to cram together on the Merry.

On the contrary, things now felt a little empty.

After all, the Ark Maxim was massive, even though most of its interior had originally been designed to house complex energy systems.

Still, it offered plenty of living space.

Seven days later

Ark Maxim – Foredeck

"This big ship needs a lot of maintenance. Luffy, we need professional shipwrights, and one or two won't be enough. At least five, right?" suggested Nami.

"Five people?" Luffy fell into deep thought.

There were certainly many shipwrights in Water 7, and Franky was definitely a target, but maintaining three ships alone would be tough for anyone.

"Let's wait until we get to Water 7 and see. By the way, we'll need to modify this ship too," Luffy added.

After a pause, he continued, "We're about to reach the next island, and I plan to stay there a bit for a small experiment."

"What kind of experiment?" Yosaku asked, curious.

"About improving your strength. As we go deeper into the Grand Line, the enemies we'll face will only get stronger. I want you all to become stronger as fast as possible."

"Are we training together?" Zoro smiled with interest.

With a soft chuckle, Luffy calmly said, "We'll need Chopper's help. We've made some progress in the past two days. Anyway, we'll talk more about it once we arrive."

Leaving a bit of mystery, Luffy walked to the bow of the Ark Maxim and gazed calmly at the horizon.

In his field of vision, an island was already faintly visible.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, he was startled and removed the straw hat hanging around his neck, pulling a piece of paper from inside it.

It was Ace's Vivre Card.

At this moment, one corner of the paper had already started to burn.

"He's hurt?"

Luffy narrowed his eyes slightly and thought to himself: "Did he run into Blackbeard?"

"What's wrong, Luffy?" Robin approached with a smile on her face.

"The current era is about to go crazy."

Luffy smiled faintly and put away the Vivre Card.

Navy Headquarters, Enies Lobby, and Impel Down were known as the three main institutions of the World Government.

At that moment, Impel Down.

It was the number one prison in the world, located in the Calm Belt.

As the name suggests, it's a windless sea zone. It lies on both sides of the Grand Line, completely separating it from the Four Seas.

In a prison built in such a place, normal ships can't reach it—unless they can fly.

Even if some merchant ships dared to enter, the Sea Kings that inhabit this sea zone would cause great trouble.

Of course, none of that mattered to the Navy.

Among the three main institutions, there was a special triangular sea current, and each one had a massive gate in front of it: the Gate of Justice.

On this day, a warship arrived and sent four prisoners into the prison through the Gate of Justice.

Pushed and shoved by the prison guards, the four newcomers went through the "baptism" before entering the prison.

There were no human rights here. The four were stripped and thrown into a boiling pot at 100°C for the first round of disinfection.

Suddenly, screams filled the air.

Among them, the one who screamed the loudest had an ugly appearance and was missing seven or eight teeth.

The guards outside the hot pot immediately complained.

"The last time Crocodile came here, he didn't even flinch."

"I heard these guys were captured by Admiral Aokiji, and the total bounty for all four is zero."

"Hahaha, rookie pirates who just set sail, huh? They were unlucky to run into Admiral Aokiji."

The prison guards burst into laughter.

Afterward, the four who had gone through high-temperature disinfection were sent to the interrogation room and questioned briefly.

Since they weren't important figures, the interrogation didn't last long. The guards simply stamped their registration books.

Finally, the four were placed into separate cells.

Level 1: Crimson Hell!

"Teach, this is your cell. Get in!" The guard kicked the ugly, toothless pirate inside.

Blackbeard fell to the floor, panting heavily.

"You bastard, I almost died. Who came up with boiling disinfection as a torture method?"

"Shut up and behave! Pirates have no human rights here. Rookie pirates like you will learn some hard lessons from other inmates. Don't scream too much."

Spitting on the pirate's face, the guard turned and left.

"Hehehe…"

Blackbeard smirked, wiping the spit from his face. "Even though it wasn't planned… this must be fate."

"You're… from Whitebeard's ship! Marshall D. Teach?!"

Suddenly, a shout came from behind him.

Blackbeard froze, a flash of killing intent in his eyes.

He had just arrived—how could his identity be exposed so quickly?

He narrowed his eyes and turned to look.

He saw a clown with a red nose staring at him in shock.

"You're that brat from Roger's ship. What was your name again… Red Nose Buggy?"

"What?! Who are you calling Red Nose?!"

Buggy was furious and headbutted Blackbeard. "Even after all this time, I haven't forgotten your face, you bastard!"

"Hahaha, meeting here must be fate, Buggy. How about joining me?"

"Joining you? What do you mean…"

"We're going to escape from here!"

---

(End of Chapter)

"Hmph. If you really want to be useful, then entertain me, try to throw those pathetic power stones at me. Let's see if even your insolence can amuse a king."