Chapter Sixteen: Without Dreams, What Difference Is There from a Salted Fish?

“Congratulations, host, for successfully defeating the Buggy Pirates. Because Captain Buggy is still alive, the rewards are halved. You have earned 480 Justice Points and 560 Chakra. Upgrade requirements not met.”
After every battle, the system would send a prompt like this. The reduction in rewards made Shu Mingyuan frown; it seemed that if he wished to strengthen himself quickly, he would have to kill every pirate he faced.
Still, the amount of Justice Points gained from this fight exceeded his expectations. Buggy the Clown had hidden his true strength; with his current abilities, Shu Mingyuan was far from reaching the level of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. To have received so much, he was already satisfied.

Character: Monky D. Shu Mingyuan
Rank: Junior Ninja
Chakra: (1420/50000)
Justice Points: 705
Acquired Ninjutsu: Lightning Release—Chidori (evolution requirements not met), Clone Technique, Fire Release—Great Fireball Technique
Ninjutsu Value: 171
Taijutsu Value: 54

He gazed at the Justice Points, nearly crossing the threshold of 1000. This meant he would soon be able to exchange for another B-rank ninjutsu. The A-rank Chidori had already demonstrated advantages far beyond those of the Great Fireball Technique. For those slightly stronger, the Great Fireball could be evaded in numerous ways, whereas Chidori’s instantaneous speed and explosive force made it a formidable ninjutsu that even Luffy and Zoro could not ignore.
Yet the Great Fireball Technique had its advantages too: its wide-area attack. With a single blaze, he incinerated everyone except the Buggy Pirates’ officers, saving himself much exertion. Of course, today’s circumstances were coincidental—they happened to be in a bar, and fueled by the alcohol, the fire’s power was amplified.

“But ultimately, it’s time to leave…” He looked at Luffy with a complicated gaze. Even after transmigrating here, Luffy still seemed to carry a sort of aura. If he stayed with them, his rate of advancement might slow even further.
Moreover, from his own perspective, he had no desire to alter the course of the story with his own hands. Everyone had their own path; Luffy and his crew embodied the spirit of adventure, which didn’t quite align with his own ideals.

He knew the story of One Piece by heart. Having lived two lives, to follow the protagonist and “make trouble” would feel like wasting time. With the invincible ninja system at his disposal, becoming a formidable force across the seas was only a matter of time.

Frankly, he was more curious about which world—One Piece or Naruto—truly held the greater power at its peak. From what he knew, the Naruto world had the nearly immortal Otsutsuki clan, while the One Piece world lacked any comparable god-like combatants.
Shu Mingyuan laughed at himself. It was still too early to think about such matters; the priority was how to quickly boost his strength. The Justice Points mechanism was clearly designed to encourage him to hunt evil pirates relentlessly for rapid growth. Following Luffy’s crew, killing pirates only when encountered, the pace of leveling up would be too slow.

He needed to take the initiative! So, finding large numbers of pirates became his immediate challenge.
The East Blue was known as the weakest of the four seas. According to his memory, the only noteworthy pirates there were the Black Cat Pirates led by Kuro, the Krieg Pirates with their military might, and the Arlong Pirates led by the fish-man Arlong.

Such a vast East Blue, and only these few pirate crews! And they were all taken down one by one by Luffy and his companions.
Shu Mingyuan was left speechless.
“If only there were a place where pirates gathered en masse.”

Thinking of a place teeming with evil pirates, inspiration struck. The image of a deep-sea prison holding endless wicked pirates flashed in his mind—Impel Down. There, pirates were numerous, and every one imprisoned was a notorious, high-bounty pirate.
With his current strength, charging into Impel Down would leave him with less than a ten percent chance of survival. Moreover, Impel Down was located in the first half of the Grand Line, still far from his current location, so he couldn’t consider it yet.

Impel Down, Marineford, and Enies Lobby formed a triangle, separated by countless enormous whirlpools and currents, accessible only through the massive “Gate of Justice.”
“Will I have to be forced in by the Marines if I ever go to Impel Down?” At this thought, a strange expression crossed Shu Mingyuan’s face.

“Haha, that red-nosed guy got sent flying by my punch. He looked pretty scary for a moment, but he couldn’t stop my Rubber Rocket. Hey, Mingyuan, what are you thinking about?” Luffy said nearby.
Shu Mingyuan emerged from his thoughts, smiled at the group, and said, “The pirates’ treasure should be hidden in the house behind the bar. If Buggy doesn’t carry the sea chart with him, the chart to the Grand Line should be in there as well.”

At the mention of treasure, Nami’s pupils instantly reflected the symbol of Berries. She dashed off, and soon her wild laughter echoed from inside.
“So much treasure! Striking it rich! And I finally have the sea chart to the Grand Line! Now I can go steal even more pirate treasure.”

Before long, Nami emerged carrying a huge sack of treasure, smiling dryly at the others. “You’re all so strong, you won’t take my treasure, right? Let me tell you, whoever gets the treasure first owns it, so don’t get any funny ideas.”
Hearing Nami’s greedy voice, Shu Mingyuan could only sigh in resignation. Fortunately, the other two treated treasure like dirt.

“Let’s go. Now that we have the sea chart, we should leave. This town suffered greatly from Buggy’s destruction; we’ve done the people a huge favor.”

…

Orange Town Harbor.
They found Buggy’s pirate ship moored by the shore and loaded all their belongings aboard, including the treasure Buggy had stolen from the townspeople. In East Blue, the highest bounty belonged to the Arlong Pirates at twenty million Berries, while Buggy had fifteen million, so his ship was naturally substantial—more impressive than most pirate vessels.
The Sea King was massive and fast, but its flaws were obvious: no shelter from wind and rain, no kitchen or other amenities. As humans, they couldn’t sail on it forever; they needed proper lodgings.

“What? You’re setting out alone?” As soon as Shu Mingyuan told them his plan, the group erupted.
He repeated himself helplessly.

“Kid, you saved me from the Marines. Didn’t you promise to sail to the Grand Line together as comrades? Now you want to run off alone? Want me to cut you down?” Zoro said, squinting threateningly.
Shu Mingyuan smiled wryly. That had indeed been his intention at first, but now he knew it wasn’t suitable.

“Zoro, your dream is to become the world’s greatest swordsman, and your chance lies in that boundless sea. You’re different from me; go, follow Luffy, and chase your dream—one to become Pirate King, one to become the world’s greatest swordsman. Someday, we’ll meet again.”
“In my hometown, if someone has no dreams, they’re no better than a salted fish, and looked down upon by others.”