In the courtyard outside a luxurious villa in Syrup Village, a girl of fourteen or fifteen sat on a hanging chair, quietly reading a book.
She had light golden hair that fell neatly to her shoulders, parted down the middle. Every now and then, a soft, innocent smile flickered across her delicate face.
"Kaya, it's time for your medicine."
A dignified woman stepped out from the villa and walked over to her, her expression full of affection.
"Take your medicine first. You can keep reading afterward."
"Okay, Mother."
Kaya obediently closed her book and took the pills and water from her mother.
After watching her swallow the medicine, the elegant woman took the glass back and smiled.
"I heard a very interesting traveler has come to the village."
Kaya blinked. "A traveler?"
"That's right." The woman sat down beside her and glanced toward the closed front gate. "Merry said his name is Kairo. He just came from Shimotsuki Village. Right now Pepper and the others have already surrounded him, and half the village has run off to see the excitement."
A flicker of curiosity appeared in Kaya's eyes.
She clearly wanted to go.
But in the end, she didn't say it aloud.
Seeing that reaction, the woman smiled soundlessly, then rose to her feet.
"Come on. Take a walk with me."
And before Kaya could protest, she took her daughter's hand and led her out.
At the same time—
On a grassy slope in Syrup Village, beside a flower-covered wooden cottage, Kairo had just been warmly invited inside by the owner.
What he hadn't expected was that no sooner had he sat down than three little boys would rush up to him.
At first Kairo thought they looked vaguely familiar, but he didn't place them until he spotted a long-nosed boy in the crowd and heard the cottage owner call one of the boys Pepper.
Only then did it click.
These three brats had indeed shown up in the original story.
They were the three members of the Usopp Pirates:
Pepper, Carrot, and Onion.
Pepper was the first to come up to him.
He looked left and right, saw that the villagers were only watching and none of them dared speak first, then took a breath and asked cautiously,
"Mr. Traveler… I heard you're a novelist too. My name is Pepper!"
The moment he heard from Uncle Chestnut that a traveling novelist had come to the village, something inside Pepper had started itching.
One of his dreams, after all, was to become a novelist himself.
Looking at the eager boy in front of him, Kairo smiled.
"And what would you like to ask?"
Pepper's face lit up with hope.
"Could you teach me how to write novels? I want to become a novelist too!"
"Writing novels isn't really something someone else can teach you directly," Kairo said with a smile. "It takes a bit of talent, and it takes accumulated knowledge too."
Then he changed tone slightly.
"Of course, I can still teach you some basic techniques. Things like building characters, moving a plot forward, and how to pull readers into your story so that even if they can't personally experience it, they can still feel the joy of reading through your words."
Pepper listened with a blank, dazzled expression.
Then he nodded hard.
"I have to work even harder then!"
Right now, he barely knew enough words to read properly. As for things like character writing and plot progression, he understood almost nothing.
"You'll make it," Kairo said, giving him a gentle pat on the head. "I'm sure one day you'll become an excellent novelist."
"Yeah!"
Encouraged on the spot, Pepper nodded fiercely, then asked eagerly,
"Mr. Traveler, have you published any books?"
"A few, in my homeland," Kairo answered smoothly, without the slightest hint of embarrassment.
To be fair, in his previous life, he really had wanted to become a writer. Back then, he had even dreamed of spending his three years in high school writing a novel that could stand alongside Triple Door.
Reality, unfortunately, had been cruel.
He had no such talent.
The things he wrote were so painful that even he couldn't bear rereading them.
"Amazing…"
Pepper's eyes filled with admiration.
"Can you tell us one of your stories?"
Before Kairo could answer, Pepper spun around toward the villagers—who until now had only been standing around watching—and shouted,
"Do you all want to hear it?"
"We do!"
With Pepper taking the lead, the villagers finally dropped their hesitation and shouted back in unison.
Quite a few of them, having just seen how warm and gentle Kairo had been with Pepper, gathered their courage and moved closer. Some even carried little stools over and sat down around him.
Even Usopp, hiding among the crowd, stretched his neck out curiously. He was especially interested in what kind of novel Kairo had written.
If it was an adventure story, that would be perfect.
Looking at the villagers surrounding him—some sitting, some standing—Kairo slowly narrowed his eyes.
Yes.
This was the kind of peaceful, warm travel life he wanted.
"Since everyone wants to hear it, I'll tell you one."
He looked around, saw the expectation on every face, then after a brief pause said,
"I'll tell you about an adventure novel I once published."
"The title is…"
He paused dramatically.
"Journey to the Water Margin."
"The protagonist is a man named Tang Sanzang. Ever since he was little, he dreamed of becoming a traveler who would roam the entire world. After growing up, he bid farewell to his hometown and set out west. Eventually, he arrived at a place called Jingyang Ridge."
"After speaking with the villagers there, he learned that a fierce tiger was terrorizing the region. Every time night fell, it would break into homes, maul people, and devour livestock…"
"So after learning that Jingyang Ridge had long suffered under this tiger's tyranny, Tang Sanzang decided to rid the people of this evil. One dark and windy night, after downing three large jars of strong liquor to build his courage, he entered the mountain forest alone…"
"In the end, Tang Sanzang defeated the tiger and became a hero in the hearts of the villagers."
"However—"
Kairo paused and lowered his voice.
"He did not return to Jingyang Ridge to accept their gratitude and hospitality. Without taking a single cloud with him, he departed overnight and continued on to the next stage of his journey."
"Wow! He did good deeds without asking for anything in return!"
Pepper's eyes sparkled.
"I love this story! Mr. Traveler, what happened next? Where did Tang Sanzang go after that?"
Kairo blinked and sighed dramatically.
"Unfortunately, tigers were a protected species in that country. Although Tang Sanzang had saved the villagers, he had technically broken the law… and ended up being wanted for it."
"Huh?!"
Pepper's eyes flew wide.
The villagers around them were just as stunned. One older villager even got worked up immediately.
"He did a good deed and got wanted for it? That's outrageous! Then… was Tang Sanzang caught?"
"No."
Kairo shook his head with perfect seriousness.
"After becoming wanted, Tang Sanzang had no choice but to give up on traveling the world. He went to a place called Liangshan, where he raised his banner and founded a stronghold."
"People he had helped before began flocking to him, one after another. Little by little, their reputation spread farther and farther."
"The world came to call them…"
Kairo paused for effect.
"The Heroes of Liangshan."
By now, he was very close to laughing.
If not for the fact that he had already built up a solid record of speaking utter nonsense with a straight face, he might really have broken character on the spot.
That said…
The more he thought about it, the more he felt this plot twist was weirdly brilliant.
Why hadn't he thought of something like this in his previous life?
If he had written something with this kind of nonsense logic and shameless crossover structure back then, maybe it wouldn't have become a bestseller—but it probably wouldn't have done badly either.
Travel really did stimulate inspiration.
At the same time—
Back on the shore near Syrup Village—
Droopy, the fox, and Jerry had just finished their "Arlong Pirates Full-Course Feast," and all three were in excellent spirits.
Droopy even hummed a little tune.
Jerry was worse. He bounced all over the deck, his eyes darting around mischievously, looking exactly like someone who had just eaten his fill and was now desperate to find a new way to cause trouble.
Green Rabbit, meanwhile, had not gone back aboard.
He had stayed behind on the beach, quietly cleaning up the leftovers.
"Green Rabbit, Green Rabbit, stop cleaning!"
Jerry popped up beside him at some point, tilted his tiny head up, and said seriously,
"I'm bored. Let's go catch a cat to play with!"
Green Rabbit's eyes widened instantly.
"Are you trying to die?"
"Don't worry, don't worry." Jerry waved a paw casually. "Before I got summoned here, I used to play cat-and-mouse games with Tom all the time. He's dumb. I always bullied him."
Then Jerry's ears drooped slightly, and a trace of melancholy flashed in his eyes.
"Come to think of it… I kind of miss that guy all of a sudden. It'd be great if he got summoned here too. Then we could keep playing together."
Green Rabbit blinked, then fell silent.
A moment later, he sat down on the sand and looked up at the sky.
In his mind, images of Da Hong being locked in prison and subjected to execution after execution flashed one after another.
The more he thought about it, the worse he felt.
Da Hong was trapped in prison again—
while he himself was out here drinking, eating grilled food, and enjoying life.
After a long silence, Green Rabbit finally turned toward the deck.
"Droopy, let's go bring Da Hong ba—"
He stopped mid-sentence.
His pupils widened.
His gaze slid past Droopy and locked onto the distant sea.
On the horizon, an enormous ship bearing a pirate flag had suddenly entered view and was heading straight for the shore.
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