-----
-----
Bai Ye turned to look at Luffy's smiling face and felt… a little emotional.
In the original story, Luffy never officially named anyone as his first mate.
So to be given that title now—yeah, he was touched.
But then Luffy added:
"You'll be the one handling the new recruits when they join!"
Bai Ye: …???
So I'm basically the HR manager, huh?
Gimme back my feelings, dammit!!!
Still, no one had any objections to making Bai Ye the first mate.
And just like that, the crew destined to shake the world—the Straw Hat Pirates—was born in a laid-back, light-hearted atmosphere.
Then, as his first official act as captain, Luffy gave out his first command:
"Alright!! Let's head to the Grand Line!!!"
"They must not be allowed to enter the Grand Line!"
A voice echoed through the Marine HQ conference room.
The speaker: Marine HQ Major Brannew.
Everyone present was a top-tier officer from HQ's strategy division.
They were all gathered here for one reason:
To determine the bounties for the Straw Hat Pirates.
Brannew pulled out several wanted posters and laid them out for everyone to see.
"In East Blue, where the average bounty is just 3 million Berries, these people have taken down—"
5 million Berries: Alvida15 million: 'Buggy the Clown'16 million: 'Captain Kuro'17 million: 'Don Krieg, Ruler of East Blue'20 million: Arlong
Brannew's tone was serious. He then revealed a set of images—photos of the entire Straw Hat crew.
"Gentlemen, there's no doubt about it—East Blue is about to send out a new pirate crew that will shake the Grand Line."
"Major Brannew,"
He suddenly turned to the side.
"I'll leave the rest to you, Brian. Go ahead and give everyone the details."
Brian rose calmly and began his report.
Starting from Shells Town all the way to the defeat of Arlong, he recounted every detail.
Thanks to some extra tips from Bai Ye, Brian was also able to explain who each member had defeated along the way.
And then, he dropped the real bombshell—
Bai Ye had fought Mihawk… and held his own.
The whole room erupted.
"Is that intel legit? Not just some rumor?"
One of the strategists couldn't help but question it.
"The report came directly from Lieutenant Helmeppo. He witnessed it himself."
Brannew jumped in to clarify, then dropped an even bigger bomb:
"We even asked Mihawk himself. Based on his reaction, it's clear Bai Ye really can go toe-to-toe with him."
The room fell silent.
Then Brian stepped forward again.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku has issued the following order—"
"Assign the Straw Hat Pirates the highest possible bounty tier, and mobilize all available forces for a full-scale hunt."
Then, Brian paused as he looked at the wanted poster Branno had placed on the table.
"The East Blue is Navy territory. We absolutely can't allow pirates like this to enter the Grand Line."
No one in the meeting room responded. They all stared at the Straw Hat Crew's wanted posters, their hearts pounding with unease.
Is the East Blue really about to produce another major pirate crew?
Even though the East Blue has always been called the weakest of the seas, many in that room knew the truth:
The East Blue gets so much attention from the Navy for one reason—and one man.
That man is—
"The Pirate King, Roger?!!"
On the Going Merry, East Blue—
Luffy stared wide-eyed at the booklet in Bai Ye's hand.
"Wait... This is the Pirate King Roger's Haki training manual?!"
Sanji muttered in disbelief.
Now that the crew was officially formed, they'd finally settled on their last destination in the East Blue—
Loguetown, the legendary place where it all began… and ended.
On the way there, Bai Ye started explaining to everyone where Haki came from.
And finally, he took out Roger's personal Haki training notes.
Everyone was stunned.
And when they found out that the notebook came from Buggy's pirate ship, and that Buggy had been a trainee on Roger's crew, along with Shanks—
Their jaws dropped even further.
There was just too much to take in. Their brains were still processing all this new info.
Well, except for Luffy.
"So… you're saying we're gonna train using this thing to learn Haki?"Zoro was the first to snap back to reality. The rest didn't matter—what really mattered was learning Haki.He turned to Bai Ye and asked.
"That's just part of it," Bai Ye said with a grin. Then, a golden aura began radiating from his body as he added,
"The 'Qi' I practice is actually a more advanced form of Haki."
"In the days ahead, I'm going to channel this Qi into your bodies so you can feel the power yourselves."
"Then, using Roger's training methods on top of that, I believe you'll awaken your own Haki a lot faster."
He didn't hold back at all explaining how his Qi differed from Haki. These were his crewmates, not enemies like Smoker.
When Zoro asked if they could train in Qi too, Bai Ye just shook his head.
His Innate Qi came from a Taoist seed from his own world, and more importantly, Bai Ye already had a foundation in internal energy cultivation.
Qi and inner power come from the same root. For him, training was fast and efficient.
But for people in this world, they'd have to start completely from scratch.
Not to mention—none of them had access to top-tier techniques like Pure Yang Infinite Skill.
Bottom line? Too many limits, not worth it.
One practitioner of Qi in this world—Bai Ye—was enough.
Zoro and the others didn't seem disappointed by the rejection.
Looking at Bai Ye's power, it was obvious this wasn't something just anyone could learn. So they didn't press.
They all agreed to go through with Bai Ye's training plan.
It sounded insane, sure—but at the moment, the strongest person on the ship wasn't Luffy... it was Bai Ye.
He was stronger than Luffy, though not to the point where he could just beat him to death easily.
Worth mentioning—when Usopp and Nami heard about Bai Ye's hellish training methods, their cowardly instincts kicked in hard.
They tried everything to get out of it.
In the end, Bai Ye used force and money to crush their resistance.
Once training began, just as Bai Ye expected—
Luffy, with his pure, simple mind, instantly awakened Observation Haki and Armament Haki after Bai Ye's Qi flowed through his body.
Zoro wasn't far behind. He was the second on the ship to awaken both Haki types. (Besides Bai Ye, of course.)
Sanji took a bit more effort. After all, Bai Ye's method—like passing on energy—worked best on people like Luffy, who had zero mental clutter. Zoro, with his iron will, also got quick results.
But in the original story, Sanji never really had a firm resolve about getting stronger—at least not early on.
"....."