Reiner stood on the deck, looking around and stomping his feet, causing the boards to creak.

“It seems my logistics life is about to begin.”

He climbed up to the lookout tower using the ropes and looked down, where Zoro was already sitting on one side of the deck, dozing against the railing.

When he looked up, the vast blue sea came into view.

He turned to gaze at the island, his eyes piercing through the forest, and faintly saw the scattered houses of the village beyond.

“The view here is quite nice!” he said, resting his hands on the railing and smiling down,

“I’ll take this place! You can leave the lookout duties to me from now on!”

“Ah, sure,” Luffy replied with a smile.

Reiner jumped down from the lookout tower and opened a huge blue backpack.

These were supplies sent by Kaya, and besides food, the rest contained daily necessities and a small amount of medicine.

“Shampoo and shower gel too? Merry is quite thoughtful.”

After sorting through the supplies, Reiner began to explore the Merry.

A secret door at the deck and mast opened, revealing the boys' dormitory below, which had two sofas and a few hammocks in the corner.

“What a clear view all around.”

Reiner sighed while looking at the simple dormitory.

The cabin at the front of the ship was where the cannons and ammunition were stored.

The deck had two levels of cabins; the first floor served as a warehouse, and a few cannons were set up on both sides, where Reiner organized some supplies.

The girls' dormitory was directly below the warehouse. Reiner glanced inside and noticed it was furnished much more luxuriously than the boys' dormitory, with sofas, tables, bookshelves, wardrobes, and even a bar!

Stepping outside onto the deck, stairs led to the second floor, which was a comprehensive living area consisting of a kitchen, dining room, meeting room, and more.

After exploring for a while, Reiner summoned a few skeletons to classify and organize the supplies.

“Not bad, Reiner.”

Nami walked onto the ship, smiling at Reiner, who was leaning against the railing on the second floor. “Your ability can actually be used for these tasks; it looks like you’ll have it much easier from now on.”

“No big deal; I’ll have them clean inside and out later,” Reiner waved and smiled.

Although the only combat skeletons he currently had were modeled after Luffy, Zoro, and Crocodile, he had plenty of miscellaneous minions, including Monka.

These could all be used for odd jobs, so he felt no hesitation.

He had modeled Crocodile after Wolverine, giving it a somewhat creepy appearance, but at least it resembled a person.

In regular battles, dealing with some weaklings was fine, but he wouldn’t personally take the field against more notable enemies.

He wanted to keep himself separate from the undead in the eyes of the outside world; before gaining top-tier combat undead, he needed to hide himself as much as possible.

He wasn’t without some fighting power; after all, with the Devil Fruit ability boost, his physical condition was not too bad.

However, he could only say his strength was average; not to mention he couldn’t compare with Luffy or Zoro, he even fell short of his own undead.

Having only crossed over for a year, no matter how much he trained, there were limits to his strength improvement.

He wasn’t like those who had the Ability Fruit that allowed them to become invincible through hard work.

Unless he activated his transformation state to become the Lord of the Undead, but that would draw too much attention, which wasn’t conducive to a stealthy development early on.

In his transformation state, all his physical attributes would depend on the strongest corresponding attribute among his undead.

For example, right now he could gain Crocodile's speed, Zoro's wrist strength, and the rest would depend on Luffy's more balanced overall quality.

In short, his strength ultimately depended on the undead he controlled; crossing over didn’t come with any extra boosts, and becoming invincible through effort was just a dream.

However, his “golden finger,” which was the Devil Fruit, had a very high ceiling; it was just a matter of time.

As for what Teacher K said about only Haki being above everything, that was just for fun; he was an ability user himself, and who was strong was up to interpretation.

Enel even claimed to be a god, yet he was still defeated by Luffy.

So, does that mean only fate is above everything?

In any case, it’s all up to one’s efforts.

Pulling himself back to reality, he realized he had finished his cigarette.

Usopp had moved all the items onto the ship, and they began to hoist the anchor, preparing to set sail.

“Goodbye, everyone. Goodbye, Usopp.”

“Goodbye, Kaya. When I come back, I’ll tell you even more exciting adventure stories than tall tales.”

Usopp waved goodbye to Kaya; today, he finally took his first step toward becoming a brave warrior of the sea.

Kaya and Merry stood quietly on the shore, watching until the small boat disappeared into the sea.

“Miss Kaya, I heard some stories about Usopp from the villagers the other day.”

Merry smiled and slowly began, “Before his mother passed away, Usopp kept shouting ‘Pirates are coming’ in the village and rushed home.”

“He was shouting to tell his mother that his father had come back to take them out to sea.”

“Perhaps it’s because of loneliness; after his mother died, he would shout ‘Pirates are coming’ in the village every day.”

“The villagers said there was a strong desire mixed in his lies, hoping that one day his father would return to take them away…”

Kaya listened quietly to Merry's words, gazing at the sea as if contemplating something.

“Merry, ... I want to learn medicine.”

“Oh? That’s quite a big decision to make suddenly.”

...

On the Merry, the group was celebrating.

“Let’s raise a toast to the Merry and Usopp!”

“Cheers—!”

“I see you don’t have a pirate flag yet.”

Usopp looked up at the empty mast. “A flag is the soul of a pirate crew; feel free to tell me any ideas you have; my drawing skills are top-notch!”

“Really?!”

Luffy exclaimed excitedly, “I didn’t expect you had that ability too.”

“I often paint on the walls in the village; I’ve been practicing since I was little,” Usopp said proudly.

Soon, Reiner took out a piece of black cloth, a few cans of paint, and some brushes from the warehouse.

Usopp began to dance across the black cloth with his brush, and in no time, he completed a pirate flag.

The white skull wore a yellow straw hat, with a pair of crossed bones behind it.

“Not bad, Usopp.”

Reiner took the flag and couldn’t help but admire it. “I’ll hang it up; you draw an outline for the sail, and I’ll control the skeletons to paint.”

“Leave it to me!”

Quickly, with Usopp and Reiner's cooperation, they painted a huge design on the sail that matched the flag.

The group couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

The Straw Hat Pirates had officially been established.

“Nami, how long will it take us to get to Cocoyasi Village?”

Reiner suddenly asked.

Nami replied without thinking, “Two days. But…”

“I still need to ask again; are you really sure? Although Arlong has a bounty of twenty million, I suspect his strength is far beyond that.”

“There have been many navies in the past attempting to take down Arlong, all of whom failed without exception. He has colluded with a certain branch in secret, covering up many of his crimes, which is why his bounty has never increased…”

Upon hearing this, Zoro couldn’t help but frown. He had previously made a living by hunting bounties and had some understanding of the navy’s bounty rules.

Bounties can reflect a certain extent of one’s strength, and in the East Blue, a bounty of twenty million is definitely very high.

Listening to Nami, it seemed that their opponent’s strength was likely much greater than they had imagined.