After spending several leisurely days as a happy shut-in in Foosha Village, enjoying Rouge's cooking and Roger's noisy, ridiculous company, Ritter knew his lazy life had to come to an end for now.
He stretched.
His bones gave a series of light cracks.
It was time to go out to sea and loosen up a little.
And, while he was at it...
Maybe he could kidnap a useful worker.
He was going out to gather more crew members.
According to the information he had received, Luffy had already left Shells Town and was currently heading toward Syrup Village.
Of course, Ritter hadn't personally gone looking for this information.
Roger had given it to him.
Roger could mobilize Ritter's entire intelligence network.
He just had to let the information pass through Roger's hands first.
Ritter rubbed his chin.
"Syrup Village, huh..."
"Now that's a nostalgic place."
He grinned.
"Klaha... are you ready to welcome your new old boss?"
Ritter decided to head for Syrup Village.
On one hand, he wanted to coincidentally run into Luffy and take a look at this kid chosen by fate.
After all, Ritter had watched over a thousand episodes of the original story.
He had read countless fanfics.
Some stories had killed Luffy off.
Some had put him on Luffy's ship.
Some had even made him join Luffy's crew.
Ritter had seen practically every possible version of the guy.
Now he wanted to see what the real Luffy was actually like.
On the other hand, and more importantly...
He wanted to invite the former captain of the Black Cat Pirates, Kuro.
No, wait.
Klaha.
He wanted to bring that brainy bastard back and make him help deal with the paperwork!
As for why Ritter didn't want Tesoro to know that he had returned?
What a stupid question!
If that golden, glittering bastard found out...
Do you know how much gold Tesoro was packing?
Womp, womp~
The moment Ritter returned, Tesoro would probably use the Golden Ark to air-drop the entire mountain of documents into Foosha Village.
Then he would grab Stella and little Ratty and run off to enjoy their N+1 honeymoon!
Wait.
Had little Ratty already gone out to sea?
No!
That absolutely could not happen!
On the vast blue sea, a small, shabby boat slowly sailed forward.
On the deck, the green-haired swordsman Zoro was holding Wado Ichimonji and performing his daily maintenance.
Nearby, the orange-haired girl Nami was drawing a sea chart.
Honestly, it was quite strange.
Even though Ritter, the butterfly, had already begun flapping his wings with all his might...
The people who were destined to become family still somehow ended up becoming family.
A sea breeze blew past.
Luffy looked at the island ahead.
"Ah! That's the island Usopp's uncle said his house is on!"
Nami looked over curiously.
"Wait... Usopp from the Red Hair Pirates?"
"Yep!"
Luffy nodded.
"When Shanks and Usopp were staying in Foosha Village, Usopp usually went home for a few days every week."
Then Luffy squeezed his own face.
His features twisted into a perfect imitation of Usopp.
In a deep voice, he said:
"As a father, I must watch my child grow up."
"As a crewmate, staying with my friends is my responsibility."
"I will do my best to balance everything."
Zoro continued polishing his sword.
As if asking a completely random question, he casually said:
"Speaking of which, Nami... when you were little and still living in Cocoyasi Village, did you ever hear of someone named Ritter?"
Nami's hand suddenly froze.
She raised her head in surprise.
"Uncle Ritter?!"
"Zoro, you know him too?"
Zoro nodded.
"Yeah."
"He came to the Shimotsuki Village dojo before I did."
"He only stayed for a short time, but he gave Kuina and me some guidance."
"His swordsmanship and Haki were monstrous."
"Even Master Koshiro respected him greatly."
Zoro paused.
"Apparently, Senior Ann, Senior Ace, and Senior Sabo were all sent to Master Koshiro's dojo by him."
"But every time I fought Senior Ann, I was always just one move short of winning."
"And when I fought Senior Kuina... I was only half a move short."
Zoro wasn't particularly confident when talking about the first half.
But when he mentioned the second half, his confidence was noticeably stronger.
Not by much.
After all, Zoro was a battle maniac.
Especially when his opponents were Senior Ann and Senior Kuina.
He had challenged them the most.
And he had been beaten by them the most.
Just thinking about those two senior sisters' terrifying swordsmanship made the corner of Zoro's mouth twitch.
"My goal is to defeat them first."
"Then, one day, I will challenge Uncle Ritter!"
"And become the world's greatest swordsman!"
Nami's eyes grew brighter and brighter as she listened.
"It really is Uncle Ritter!"
"He passed through Cocoyasi Village back then."
"Bell-mère was already working so hard to take care of Nojiko and me..."
"It was Uncle Ritter."
"He... he left behind a huge sum of money."
"He even helped connect us with several merchants, giving the village's orange groves a stable market."
Her voice was filled with gratitude.
"He only stayed for a few days, but he gave us hope."
"Bell-mère said he was a true hero of the sea."
"A genuinely good person!"
"Uncle Ritter is my hero~"
Zoro and Nami looked at each other.
Both of them could see the enormous shock in the other's eyes.
Neither of them had expected that, despite growing up in completely different places...
They had somehow shared the same remarkable elder.
And that person had left such a deep impression on both of their childhoods.
"That Uncle Ritter..."
"Just what kind of big shot is he?"
Zoro couldn't help muttering.
"He sounds amazing!"
Nami sighed in amazement as well.
"Ahhhhh! Who are you guys talking about?!"
"Ritter?"
"Who's that?"
"Is he strong?"
"Can I eat him?"
Luffy had been listening to their conversation from the side.
A mountain of question marks seemed to appear above his head as his rubber arms flailed around wildly.
"Ace and Sabo are always talking about this guy too!"
"'Uncle Ritter said this!'"
"'Uncle Ritter taught us that!'"
"Who the heck is he?!"
Zoro stared at Luffy's completely confused yet strangely excited expression.
"Oi, oi."
"Uncle Ritter is really strong."
Nami immediately punched Luffy.
This clearly showed how differently Ritter existed in the two of their hearts.
To Zoro, Ritter was a rival.
A master of swordsmanship.
A powerful opponent he wanted to surpass.
But to Nami, Ritter was the hero who had saved her family.
So naturally, her reaction to Luffy's words was completely different from Zoro's.
"Anyway, he's a really strong and amazing elder who was incredibly kind to both of us!"
Nami gave the final summary.
"Luffy, show some respect!"
Luffy stood there with a huge lump on his head.
"Sumimasen, Nami-san."
Zoro tightly gripped the sword in his hand.
"He is someone I want to surpass."
About a thousand meters away from the Going Merry, an unremarkable little speedboat quietly floated on the sea.
Ritter was lying comfortably in a chair.
The corner of his mouth curled into a smug smile.
His bug-level Observation Haki had captured every single word spoken aboard the ship.
This wasn't Ritter secretly eavesdropping!
The people involved had literally brought up his name right in front of him.
Of course he was going to listen!
"Tsk, tsk."
"Looks like I've done a pretty good job as an uncle."
Ritter clicked his tongue happily.
"Little Nami is still as sensible as ever."
"And Zoro has ambition."
"Not bad. Not bad."
When he heard Luffy's confused shouting, Ritter couldn't help laughing.
"Luffy really is a clueless optimist."
"But... that's what makes him interesting."
Ritter put away his eavesdropping device.
He then controlled the speedboat and continued sailing leisurely toward Syrup Village.
"Alright."
"Let's put the nostalgia and emotional reflections aside for now."
"Next, it's time to meet that brilliantly cunning butler."
A sly glint flashed through Ritter's eyes.
"I hope he doesn't drop his glasses when he sees my surprise entrance."
Just thinking about recruiting a free...
No, wait.
A willing and highly capable contributor to the kingdom's development...
Ritter's mood became even better.
As for the mountain of paperwork?
Hehehe.
For a professional like Kuro, handling such a small matter was obviously the right choice!
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