Chapter 6: A Short Journey
The banquet continued for a whole three days and nights straight and the time to set off finally came. Jin Woo, along with the Straw Hats Pirates, set sail with Louge Town as their destination on the Going Merry.
Jin Woo refused to accept any rewards, like the treasures collected by Arlong's Gang. He didn't feel that he would need that much money and besides, that money would be a huge help to the villagers for reconstructing.
Although, he didn't hesitate to accept Arlong's head because he had soloed it.
Half of Arlong's body was completely crushed, and so was his head. Half of the head had caved in and brain matter flowed out of it. In place of his two eyes were black hollows and yellowish-brown pus oozed out of the two holes. His jaw and nose were bent oddly, and red blood covered them. It was a truly grotesque sight. One could barely recognize that it belonged to Arlong.
Thankfully, Jin-Woo didn't need to carry the half-crushed head around with him like a madman. He could just store it in his inventory.
The sea remained peaceful throughout their voyage, but peace never settled on Going Merry. Be it the theft of food in the middle of the night or the fawning of the love-struck cook, an episode occurred one after another.
The few days Jin Woo spent on Going Merry helped him relax his mind from all the stress and develop a goal to strive for.
Jin Woo got to know a lot about the crew of the small pirate group. He felt that they were very friendly and trustworthy.
His journey hadn't been completely relaxations either. Sparks flew around the deck of Going Merry as two figures, Jin Woo and Zoro, clashed against each other.
Zoro had been on guard and unfriendly to him at the start but Jin Woo didn't mind it. In fact, it was a completely reasonable action and Jin Woo had done the same. Just fighting once alongside didn't mean the other party could be trusted wholeheartedly.
He had many 'friendly' spars with Zoro that the latter insisted on, and Jin-Woo didn't hate it either and thought of them as a form of training. Despite not getting experience due to being unable to kill the opponent, Jin-Woo could grind experience for his Skills. Moreover, he had also gotten a new skill.
[Skill: (Passive) Advanced Dagger Arts (Level 2)
Description: You can now use daggers more proficiently. When a dagger is used, the attack with it gains 43% additional damage.
Resource Consumption: None]
And it had already leveled up once.
Jin Woo also had a short bout with Luffy, in which Luffy ended up damaging the ship badly. From then on, The Captain was prohibited by the second mate and navigator of the crew.
"Damnit. What's with you? Getting stronger with each fight." Zoro cursed and sat down, exhausted from their duel.
"I could say the same to you." Jin Woo also sat down, exhausted. Their duel ended again in a draw. At first, Jin-Woo could barely keep up with Zoro's ferocious attacks but now, Jin-Woo could hold his own and maybe even gain an upper hand against a master swordsman like Zoro.
Despite that, both of them knew that a practice match was just, in the end, a practice match. None of them knew what the outcome would be if they ever clashed with the intent to kill, as they both could tell that the other person had held back.
"But still, it's strange how I have never heard of a bounty hunter as strong as you when I have been in this line of work for years. Where did you pop up from?"
Zoro had suspicions. No matter how much little interest Zoro had, he still felt the need to meddle as it involved his crew.
"Well…let's just say I came from a land very far away."
A wry smile appeared on Jin Woo's face. He could tell the other party's intentions, and frankly, Zoro hadn't even tried to hide his wariness while asking that; and while it would not bring Jin Woo any harm, Jin-Woo didn't feel like answering directly.
Everyone had their secrets. Even Zoro himself had things he never told his crew. As long as the Hunter's secret didn't bring him and his crew trouble, he had no plans of forcing it out.
"Everyone! Bad news! Get here quick!"
Nami's voice interrupted their conversation.
"Luffy…Luffy has got a bounty on his head!"
She showed the wanted poster with a picture of Luffy with a goofy smile and 30 million Beri written at the bottom.
Zoro's first reaction was to tighten his grip on the sword. He didn't know if the bounty hunter on board would suddenly go crazy or not!
Jin Woo, seeing his reaction, laughed.
"Haha, Relax. I already have Arlong's head. I don't have any other plans for now."
His bounty hunter profession was just a result of misinterpretation and convenience. Although it could help him in gaining experience, he didn't plan to cut down every single pirate that came his way. Especially pirates like the Strawhats.
Zoro felt a little embarrassed and grunted.
"Yahoo! I finally got a Bounty! And it's so big!"
Luffy was jumping with joy while on the other hand Usopp and Nami held their heads in worry and were almost crying.
"This is bad. This is bad. We are wanted now!"
"The Navy…The Navy will come after us!"
"Shishishi. What's wrong with you guys? It's time to celebrate!"
"Like hell we can!" Usopp and Nami both shouted in unison to Luffy's complaints.
Jin Woo felt like he was watching a comedy skit.
"Hey, guys! I can see an island right ahead!" Sanji's voice managed to pull them all out of the skit.
Nami and Usopp's depressed demeanor instantly disappeared and they expectantly looked at the slowly approaching island.
"Luffy, listen carefully, you will love this island because…the Pirate King, Gold Roger, was executed in Louge Town!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone