"Hm? Why do I suddenly feel so heavy?"
Half-asleep, Shirakawa felt like he was being crushed so hard he could barely breathe. He groggily opened his eyes and discovered that Shanks and Buggy were lying on top of him, sleeping like logs.
"These two idiots are using me as a pillow."
Shirakawa was speechless. He didn't hold back as he shoved both their heads down onto the ground. Even so, neither of them showed any sign of waking up.
"Are you pigs?" Shirakawa cursed under his breath.
Last night, it was supposed to be just him and Shanks drinking together, but at some point Buggy wandered over too. The three of them got drunk and started fooling around, and even the bad blood between Shirakawa and Buggy got vented in the chaos.
But just thinking about what happened last night made Shirakawa want to cover his face. Was that really him drinking last night? He had practically drunk more than his entire previous life combined.
"Did I become better at drinking? No, it's just that I couldn't fend off Shanks's enthusiasm."
Every time he didn't want to drink, Shanks would shove a full cup right up to his mouth, or just force it down his throat.
"I seriously didn't expect twelve or thirteen-year-olds in this world to drink like this."
But it also made Shirakawa realize his "unchanging" ability wasn't absolute. For example, last night he really did drink too much, to the point of passing out completely.
"Looks like I've still got a long way to go in understanding this ability."
After finding a place with no one around to relieve himself, Shirakawa noticed that most of the Roger Pirates still hadn't woken up.
If another pirate crew attacked right now, Shirakawa honestly wasn't sure whether they'd get wiped out.
"Yo, newbie. You're up early. How was last night? Have fun?"
When Shirakawa came back, a pirate he didn't recognize greeted him.
"Very fun," Shirakawa replied politely. He didn't know the guy, but since the other party greeted him, he returned it.
"Good. You'll have plenty more days like this in the future," the pirate laughed.
"Oh right. Want to eat breakfast with us? If you wait for them, it'll be noon at least."
"Sure."
Shirakawa agreed without even thinking. He wasn't hungry, but eating together was a good chance to build relationships and help him blend into the crew faster.
By noon, the Roger Pirates' crew members gradually woke up one after another.
Roger stood on a large rock.
"Our journey continues. Are you ready?"
"We're ready!" The crew below cheered. Banquet days were great, but they were pirates. They preferred adventure on the sea. Besides, it wasn't like they couldn't throw banquets on the ship.
"Then let's board."
The group marched to the shore in a lively crowd.
"So this is the Oro Jackson… It really lives up to being the Pirate King's ship. It's impressive," Shirakawa thought to himself.
"Pretty good ship, right?" Shanks came up from behind and patted Shirakawa. His tone was full of pride, as if the ship belonged to him.
"Yeah. This is the first time I've ever seen a ship this magnificent."
"Of course. It's not bigger than Whitebeard's Moby Dick, but in terms of cost, it doesn't lose to any pirate crew out there."
After that, everyone boarded the ship.
For Shirakawa, stepping onto the deck for the first time was pure excitement. This was his first time ever riding a ship. In his previous life, he'd never even been on one.
After getting familiar with the ship, Shirakawa ended up sticking with Shanks again. On this ship, Shanks was the one he got along with best.
Or maybe the others looked down on his strength and didn't want to bother with him.
"Hey, Shanks, hurry up and find me a mirror. I want to see what I look like."
"Ah, if you hadn't said it, I would've forgotten," Shanks said. "So that's why you've been following me around."
Shirakawa's face darkened. Was his request really that trivial?
"Come on. Let's go check the storage room."
The ship was full of men. No one had the habit of looking in mirrors, so useless things usually got piled into the storage room.
They reached a room under the deck. Two huge characters were written on the door: Storage.
Shanks opened the door. The first thing that greeted their eyes was gold and silver treasure, along with dozens of swords.
"You guys keep valuables in here, and you don't even lock it. Aren't you afraid someone will steal it?"
"Steal? Why steal? We don't need this stuff."
"…True. You're pirates. If you want something, you just go take it."
"But I remember Buggy seems to like this stuff," Shanks added. "I often see him wrap himself up tight and sneak into the storage room, then come out looking fatter, then sneak back into his room. When he comes out again, he's back to normal."
"Does anyone else know about this besides you?" Shirakawa asked carefully.
"Of course. Other than Buggy himself, everyone on the ship seems to know."
Shirakawa paused. No wonder the guy got called Clown Buggy later. Not only did he look like a clown, he acted like one too.
"We've told Buggy he can take whatever he wants," Shanks said, spreading his hands with an innocent look. "I don't know why, but he likes the sneaky feeling. Maybe he's addicted to it."
They searched for a long time before finally finding the mirror Shirakawa wanted. The storage room was such a mess that finding any specific item really took effort.
"Is this really me?"
Staring into the mirror, Shirakawa felt dazed.
In that face, he could still see traces of his old life. You could say this face had evolved from his previous one, only with subtle changes.
He looked more handsome, and his features were even gentle-looking. If he said he was a pirate now, no one would believe it.
"Seen enough? If you've seen enough, let's go," Shanks said.
"Huh? Oh, okay." Shirakawa still hadn't fully recovered. He couldn't believe the handsome guy in the mirror was actually him, but since it had already happened, there was nothing he could do.
"As I thought. If I didn't have acne in my last life, I would've been pretty handsome too."
Shirakawa smiled confidently. Now that he knew what he looked like, a weight finally lifted off his heart.
Before leaving, Shirakawa also took a tachi from the storage room for self-defense.
"Oh right," Shirakawa asked, "when do we go train with the vice-captain?"
"If you want to train, you can do it anytime," Shanks said.
"Really? That's great. Then let's go train right now."
"Fine. We've rested for two or three days anyway. My body's about to rust."
/-\
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