The voice sounded familiar. When it reached his ears, a face immediately appeared in Kyoma's mind, which made him happy.
Kyoma turned his head around in surprise.
As expected, an old man with gray hair and a strong, muscular body was walking toward them in flip-flops.
"Rayleigh-san! Long time no see..." Before he finished speaking, Kyoma's pupils flashed with surprise.
His eyes were no longer focused just on Rayleigh alone, but more on his surroundings.
Those were familiar yet unfamiliar faces all at once.
Familiar because every single face here had accompanied his childhood and youth on TV, and unfamiliar because this was the very first time he'd seen them in person in the real world.
The Straw Hat Pirates.
A straw hat kid walking with his hands casually behind his head, a green-haired swordsman with three swords at his waist, a blonde-haired cook smoking a cigarette, a beautiful orange-haired woman, a mature lady with black hair and a cowboy hat, a long-nosed man, a perverted cyborg, a skeleton, and a reindeer.
When Kagura saw the reindeer walking while eating marshmallows, her eyes lit up brightly.
The straw hat boy walking in front took a closer look, and his eyes lit up.
"Orange hair? Nami?"
"Idiot, Miss Nami's beauty is unique. How could there be others..."
Sanji paused in his somewhat annoyed voice, staring blankly ahead with a flash of surprise in his eyes.
Then he saw a beautiful girl with orange-red hair running toward him in the sunlight.
"Small... version... Mini Nami." He was so excited that he became incoherent.
"This is really great!"
Sanji shouted excitedly, then raised his hands high into the air. His legs spun like a windmill as he rushed forward with a look of adoration.
"Hey! Sanji, what are you doing?" Nami didn't have time to hold him back.
"What an idiot."
Zoro habitually cursed him, but when he saw the orange-haired girl running toward them, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly.
His expression gradually became solemn.
The girl seemed ordinary, but beneath her thin body, there appeared to be a terrifying power that made him tremble, giving him a faint sense of danger.
Although this feeling wasn't as strong as what he'd felt from the Warlords of the Sea, it was enough to put him on alert.
Zoro's expression turned serious. He reached for his waist and grasped his sword hilt firmly, as if facing a powerful enemy.
"Haha, good instincts and sharp awareness. But Kyoma and Kagura aren't enemies."
As if noticing Zoro's change in demeanor, Rayleigh chuckled a few times and patted his shoulder, shaking his head as he continued to laugh.
"They're newcomers with great potential, just like you. Perhaps they'll become opponents in the New World in the future."
"Then I'm looking forward to it." Zoro's mouth curved slightly upward.
After Rayleigh's reminder, he'd loosened his grip on his sword.
At that moment, he just looked at the foolish cook with a playful expression, waiting to see the show.
"Sanji!" came five voices in unison.
Sure enough, when he looked over, the cook had been blown away by the orange-haired girl and was now embedded straight into a tree trunk.
"Yikes!"
Seeing this scene unfold, except for Luffy, who was still clapping excitedly, the faces of the other Straw Hats changed drastically as they realized this girl was no ordinary person.
The figure didn't stop after slapping Sanji away. Instead, she continued running and pounced on a frightened reindeer.
"What a cute tanuki!"
Kagura hugged Chopper tightly in her arms, took two deep breaths, her little face slightly flushed, and showed a satisfied expression.
Chopper didn't dare resist at first because the girl who'd hugged him had just slapped away Sanji, one of the three strongest members of their crew.
But after hearing the word "tanuki," which he absolutely could not tolerate, he immediately became furious.
"I'm not a tanuki, I'm a reindeer!"
"Hey. The tanuki actually spoke."
"That's because I ate the Zoan-type Human-Human Fruit, and... I'm not a tanuki."
"What an interesting tanuki."
"I told you, I'm not a tanuki!"
Just as the two were arguing about "tanuki" versus "reindeer," Kyoma arrived.
After a simple greeting with Rayleigh, he raised his hand and struck the girl who'd run off without permission on the head.
"Ouch!" Kagura covered her head and looked at Kyoma with some dissatisfaction.
She'd been in this world for less than a day, and he'd already hit her on the head several times.
"You still have the nerve to complain? Look at what you did. First, you knocked away someone else's crew member, and then you petted someone else's tanuki without permission. Kagura, you're really going too far!"
Kyoma continued scolding while tapping her head repeatedly.
But he didn't notice that after hearing the word "tanuki" from his mouth, the cute reindeer behind him could no longer bear it and suddenly began to swell in size.
Kagura, who was facing Chopper directly, saw it clearly.
Her eyes suddenly lit up, as if she'd witnessed something magical, and her slightly opened mouth couldn't hide her surprise.
"Can you listen to me seriously... eh?" Seeing Kagura distracted, Kyoma was about to tap her head again when he suddenly felt unbalanced and was lifted into the air.
Feeling the touch of thick fur between his arms, Kyoma, who had a premonition of what was happening, turned around somewhat nervously to see Chopper behind him, now transformed into his "Heavy Point" form.
"Wait... This isn't because of that tanuki comment I just made, is it?" Kyoma said suddenly.
It would have been better if he hadn't said anything, but after he spoke, Chopper's anger increased even more.
"I told you I'm not a tanuki!"
Bang!
The earth trembled.
****
A short while later, at Shakky's Rip-off Bar.
The bar owner, Shakky, kindly served drinks.
A glass of cold beverage relieved Kyoma's slight pain.
Putting down the glass, he sat on a round stool beside the bar, watching Kagura, who was already deep in conversation with the Straw Hat Pirates.
A hint of bitterness appeared on his face.
He'd still gotten involved with this group of trouble magnets.
Running in the wrong direction by accident, reuniting with Rayleigh, getting to know the Straw Hat Pirates, and being invited to this bar.
"Kyoma, do you want to join my pirate crew?"
Luffy slid his chair over and asked with anticipation.
Not long ago, Luffy had witnessed the interaction between Kyoma, Kagura, and Chopper, laughing the entire time happily.
In his heart, he'd already defined these two new friends as "interesting people."
And this kind of "interesting person" happened to be his primary criterion for choosing crewmates.
"..." Kyoma was slightly stunned.
Knowing Luffy's personality, he wasn't too surprised by the sudden offer.
His expression grew somewhat complicated.
He remembered the last person who'd made him an offer: a certain Admiral named Kizaru, who might still be showing off his power and kicking Supernovas around.
And now another boss had taken a liking to him, offering him what was arguably the most popular position in this world: pirate.
Joining the crew of the protagonists, adventuring and living alongside the anime characters he'd admired in his childhood, would undoubtedly be a rare experience in life.
But he really didn't want to work for others anymore in this life.
He wanted to be his own boss.