Back on the ship, the entire crew had gathered on deck, waiting for answers.
"You guys... what the hell happened back there?" Sanji asked, cigarette dangling from his lips as he stared at the four crew members who had descended from the sky moments earlier.
Luffy scratched his head.
Zoro remained silent.
Usopp looked confused and a bit shaken, his memory was stuck at the moment when Morgan's axe had been about to separate Luffy's head from his shoulders.
Marcus knew the full story, but he wasn't sure whether he should explain or keep his mouth shut. After all, how do you casually mention that the leader of the Revolutionary Army had just saved their captain, and that said leader happened to be Luffy's father?
Seeing the mixed expressions on their faces, Sanji took a long drag and exhaled a cloud of smoke.
"Forget it. Hey, Zoro, did you get the money?"
Zoro reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a stack of berries. Nami immediately snatched them and started counting, then frowned.
"Didn't you spend anything on new swords?"
At that moment, Zoro had three swords hanging at his waist.
Just like in the original timeline, he'd acquired the Sandai Kitetsu and Yubashiri from the weapon shop.
As for why he wasn't using the iron sword Marcus had forged for him back on Cocoyasi Village, the reason was simple: Zoro was too accustomed to katana fighting style. Double-edged European swords just felt wrong in his hands, no matter how well-crafted they were.
"Due to some circumstances, these two swords were given to me," Zoro explained briefly.
Nami didn't pry further, as long as they weren't stolen, she was satisfied. She went back to happily counting their remaining funds.
Watching Nami get excited over what was pocket change, Alvida felt a bit speechless. At the moment, the crew wasn't exactly hurting for money. After all, between Marcus' two chests of gold and the treasure they'd collected, they could probably buy a small island if they wanted to.
"Supplies are pretty much all stocked up," she said, stretching lazily. "So, should we set sail now?"
Her current appearance was so different from her old wanted poster that as long as she didn't volunteer the information that she was Iron Mace Alvida, nobody would suspect she was a pirate. Shopping openly in Loguetown's markets had been quite a refreshing experience.
If anything, she wouldn't mind staying here a little longer.
For a moment, the ship fell into silence.
Finally, all eyes turned to Luffy. After all, as captain, this was ultimately his decision to make.
But he just stared back at them with that same confused expression.
"What? Do I have food on my face or something?"
Sanji's eye twitched, but he patiently explained, "We're asking if you want to set sail right now. Technically, none of us have bounties yet, so we could stay in Loguetown longer if you want."
"Oh, that's what you meant! You should've just said that from the beginning!" Luffy grinned widely. "Let's go! To the Grand Line!"
Everyone on the ship fell silent again.
"We've been talking about this for the past ten minutes," Nami sighed heavily. "Whatever. Loguetown is the last island in the East Blue where we can resupply before heading to the Grand Line. By the way, Kira, did you manage to get a Log Pose?"
Kira untied the Log Pose from her wrist and handed it to Nami, who examined it carefully.
"It's like a regular compass," Alvida observed curiously. "What's so special about it?"
At the moment, the Log Pose's needle was pointing in the exact same direction as the table compass sitting nearby.
"Before entering the Grand Line, a Log Pose works the same as any ordinary compass," Nami explained, strapping the device to her own wrist. "It only starts functioning once we're inside the Grand Line's magnetic field. Oh, Kira, did you ask which route this one's set for?"
"I don't know," Kira shook her head. It wasn't that she hadn't asked, the truth was that before entering the Grand Line, all Log Poses were essentially random. "The merchant said they don't activate until you're inside the Grand Line's waters."
The East Blue wasn't like the other seas where pirates were everywhere and Log Pose merchants could afford to be selective about their inventory. Here in the East Blue, finding someone who even sold the things was lucky enough.
That information had taken some clever use of her Devil Fruit ability to extract from a particularly tight-lipped merchant.
After hearing Kira's explanation, Nami couldn't help but feel suspicious about the Log Pose now strapped to her wrist.
"We didn't get scammed, did we? This thing better actually work."
As a navigator, and someone who had spent years with Arlong's crew, she had heard plenty of stories about the Grand Line over the past eight years. Pirates from that sea had shared tales of magnetic islands, impossible weather, and navigational nightmares that would make any sailor think twice.
But she'd never paid much attention to the technical details about Log Poses. During those years, she'd been too busy figuring out how to steal enough money to buy Cocoyasi Village's freedom.
"We'll just have to use it and hope for the best," she said, giving up on trying to determine whether they'd been ripped off. She walked over to a bookshelf and pulled out an old map she'd drawn years earlier.
Of course, she'd only seen it in books and navigation texts; she'd never actually been there herself. But her cartography skills were good enough that even secondhand information became accurate maps.
She spread the Reverse Mountain chart out on the table for everyone to see.
"Let me make this clear before we go any further: once we enter the Grand Line, returning to the East Blue is nearly impossible."
"Really? But didn't Krieg's crew come back from the Grand Line? And what about Mihawk?" Zoro asked.
Nami launched into a detailed explanation about the Calm Belt and the Grand Line's unique challenges.
Marcus listened quietly, already prepared for what was coming. After all, whether in the original manga or anime, this had always been part of the journey. But hearing Nami explain it in such detail made the dangers feel much more real than they had in a fictional story.
Her reliability as a navigator far exceeded his expectations. The years of drawing maps and gathering information from Grand Line pirates had clearly paid off.
"Have you all really thought this through? Especially you, Luffy! The Grand Line is extremely dangerous. People die there every day, and most of them are a hell of a lot stronger than we are right now."
But before Luffy could respond, Johnny and Yosaku, who had been quietly standing off to the side, suddenly spoke up.
"Guys... it's time for us to part ways."
Luffy looked surprised.
"Huh? You're not coming with us?"
The two bounty hunters had been with the crew for so long that by the time they'd reached Loguetown, everyone had just naturally assumed they were permanent crew members.
Johnny and Yosaku exchanged a glance, then both sighed heavily. Johnny stepped forward, looking at each crew member.
"We really want to keep sailing with you all. But unlike Zoro, we don't have the ambition to become the World's Strongest Swordsman. And unlike Luffy, we don't have the dream of becoming Pirate King."
Yosaku added, "So for us, there's no reason to risk our lives in the Grand Line. If we stayed on the ship, we'd eventually just become dead weight, or worse, we'd get in the way when things got serious."
"Rather than putting everyone in danger later because of our limitations... it's better to end our journey here, while we can still part as friends."
"I see," Zoro nodded, not surprised by their decision. He knew their limitations better than anyone else on the ship. He'd expected them to quietly keep following...
But Luffy couldn't hide his disappointment. After all, he'd grown close to the two bounty hunters. They shared laughs during meals, could joke around and cause trouble together, and had proven themselves loyal companions during their adventures.
For once in his life, he sat up straight and looked serious.
"Is this really where our adventure together ends?"
The two men exchanged another look, then bowed deeply.
"These past weeks have been the greatest adventure of our lives, and we're truly grateful for everyone's friendship. If it were possible, we'd love to keep following in your footsteps. But… it seems this is as far as we can go."
Marcus witnessed the entire exchange.
To be honest, the only reason the two were still on the ship at this point was because of his intervention.
In the original story, Johnny and Yosaku had realized their own weakness during the battle against Arlong's crew. After understanding just how powerless they were against truly dangerous opponents, they'd said their goodbyes when the Straw Hats were about to leave Cocoyasi Village, choosing to stay there as the village's protectors.
But since events hadn't played out the same way in this timeline, they'd never even participated in the final battle against Arlong. He had arranged for them to stay behind and guard the ship during that confrontation, claiming that managing supplies was more important than having extra fighters.
Back then, the crew had relied on his Minecraft-built boat to reach the island, and someone needed to stay behind to operate it properly.
Naturally, that someone had been Johnny and Yosaku.
Marcus had thought this change might alter their fate, giving them more confidence to continue the journey... But looking at the situation now, the result seemed to be exactly the same as the original timeline. Some things, it seemed, were just meant to happen regardless of the circumstances.
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