The Adventure Begins!

At the Northern shore of the Gecko Islands, dawn.

The Strawhat crew was looking at the magnificent ship, which they were given. Beside them were Kaya and Merry the butler, who looked way better now even though he was close to death the previous day.

" This ship is a of an old model, but it was designed by me. I call it the 'Going Merry'!"

Merry introduced the ship. Everyone was excited to explore their new ship, one which will take them all the way to the Grandline.

" The bow looks cool! This ship is awesome!"

" A caravel!"

Luffy and Nami were impressed while Zoro had a smile on his face which looked like he was smirking. Zoro felt something and turned back, and he saw Usopp trip on a stone and roll down the cliff. Luffy and Zoro stopped Usopp with a leg to his face.

'How the hell did I trip?! I was so happy about the adventure that I let down my guard goddamn it!'

"Thanks for stopping me guys, but using your leg was a bit too much don't you think?"

Ussop asked the two when he saw Kaya running towards him looking very worried. He again felt like there were rocks moving around his stomach when he saw her because he very much wanted to take her with him. But that was not an option because Kaya did not have any potential strength that could be trained, and she was still not well. Usopp steeled his heart and chose his path.

" I am fine, Kaya. I'll follow my dreams and set out to see with these guys. I am pretty strong myself, so you don't have to worry about me. Don't try to stop me alright?"

" I won't, don't worry. I wouldn't want to get in the way of your dreams."

Kaya replied to Usopp's words. Usopp could feel her emotions and the fact that she was reluctant to let him go made him feel better.

" You saying that makes me feel sad in some way too, ha ha."

Usopp said to make the situation less awkward. Then he turned his back towards her and looked at the Straw Hats, who were looking at him from the ship.

" Get on the ship, Usopp!"

"Of course, Captain!"

Usopp gave a determined reply in a cheerful voice. But only the crew could see the tears falling down Usopp's face, as he stepped on board.

...

"So Luffy, is this flag okay as the jolly roger?"

Usopp lifted up the original Straw Hats jolly roger and showed it to the rest. They were impressed with Usopp's painting skills.

"That looks nice! Unlike the terrifying one that Luffy had shown us before. Now we have a ship and a jolly roger. Our pirate crew is now official!"

Said Zoro. And of course, Luffy artistic sense was too avant garde for such a place where art renaissance has not taken place. It was terrifying in a sense that it would give others nightmares or make them laugh to death.

"So everyone, I am going to give you guys a basic idea of how strong pirate crews are in the grandline. You guys have fought with the Buggy Pirates right?"

"Yeah. Their captain was strong and the crew had weird tricks for attacking. It was a pain."

Luffy answered. He remembered how he much he had to do to win against Buggy and he did not want such an irritating opponent too. Zoro also agreed with that sentiment.

"The Buggy pirates can be considered a normal crew in the Grandline and a pretty weak one at that, if you take away the usefulness of a devil fruit. The normal levels of power for the grandline can be considered to be something like the Arlong Pirates, who are considered the strongest in East Blue. With our crew's strength, even without me, Luffy and Zoro are more than enough to take them down although you have to struggle a bit because of the numbers."

"Wait...you mean to say that these two are stronger than Fishmen?! That's impossible!"

Nami was confused and angry at this knowledge. She thought that these guys would be strong enough for her to make enough money to buy the village from Arlong, but did not think they will have the ability to take them down. Her trauma had made her think of Fishmen as impossible to defeat, but Usopp's tone in describing them felt like he was talking about taking down toddlers.

"Yes of course. The likes of Arlong won't be considered strong in the grandline. They are only strong enough to be exectutives of a proper grandline crew, not even worthy to be a captain. Anyway, You guys are strong enough to survive in the Grandline but you don't have the techniques or strength to stand out. So i'll teach you some techniques and training methods to increase your strength and fighting capabilities."

Usopp glazed over the matter of Arlong which pissed off Nami. Usopp ignored her though in his heart he was sweating like hell.

'This lady is the most dangerous Straw Hat. I shouldn't forget that and humor her once in a while. Oh, I'll make her a weapon for appeasing her.'

" Luffy, you are made of rubber, so you have the ability to take more punishment. I'll make you a suit will restrict your ablilities so that you will have to use more strength to increase the rubber's elasticity and tensile strength. For Zoro, a suit for muscle training along with a training regimen that will allow you to focus better and make your attacks sharper."

Ussop had made such contraptions before, and he also uses one to reduce his ability to focus and gather strength. Luffy and Zoro were given suits which fit their fighting style. Luffy especially had ridiculous hidden potential, which was why Usopp insisted that Luffy wear the suit at all times. The suit was created to evenly distribute the pressure to Luffy's body, and Luffy had to actively focus on fighting it. Even using attacks require more pressure and focus and even then his output would be way lower. Luffy was not someone who would want to see his strength fall from what it was before and Usopp used this personality trait of Luffy's to make him train actively.

For Zoro, Ussop made something similar, but it was designed to increase the strength and control required to move around. Usopp had calibrated it to the point where Zoro would have to worry about trying to move around, and don't even begin to think about using the sword. Zoro's swordsmanship is based on strength, therefore it was pivotal for him to break past his body's limit continuously. Usopp did not understand swordsmen, so he told Zoro that training underwater will make him use his strength better and increase his dynamic vision and reactions. He also gave Zoro information about how some swordsmen could 'throw' their attacks and had the ability to cut steel. Zoro was happy to find a direction in which he needed to focus on and began to train like the muscle headed training maniac he was.

" Uhmmm... Nami, I'll make you a weapon to your specifications which I'll modify for you, okay? I will also make a training regimen for you so that you won't have much problems facing the pirates on the Grandline."

"Okay, Usopp. I use a staff so make me the best one you can, alright?"

Nami said with a smile on her face that would even make Satan cry. Usopp nodded quickly and ran for his dear life.

...

The next day, somewhere on East Blue.

"Oi Luffy, I feel the presence of two people on that rock over there. Let me check if they are hiding an ambush or not."

Usopp jumped off of the ship and disappeared. Luffy then saw Usopp swimming back while pulling an entire boat by its anchor. He was impressed by the feat, and was also a little jealous because Usopp could swim. Zoro felt a boat move towards them, but ignored it when he saw Usopp's shadow. He was underwater with a rope tied to him so that he does not lose the bearings of the ship, which Usopp insisted on relentlessly. He could feel the increase in his sensory capabilities somehow and also felt that his sword's movements were sharper. He ended his training and came aboard the ship when he saw Usopp and Luffy stuffing lemons into a guy's mouth, and Johnny watching over him.

"Wait one minute! Why the hell are you here, Johnny? And isn't that Yosaku? What happened to you guys?"

Zoro was shocked to see two of his friends on the ship and wanted to understand exactly what was happening.

"Zoro-Aniki! Why are you on this ship?!"

Johnny was afraid that his Aniki would rampage on this ship to capture the pirates who were helping them but he got a completely different explanation.

...

"So Zoro- Aniki became a pirate and Yosaku had a sea disease? There are a lot of things happen when at sea huh."

" Yeah. This was an eye opener for us too. We now need a cook of the sea to keep ourselves healthy atleast."

Luffy replied to Johnny's words in a rational way, which kind of shocked the rest of the crew.

" A cook of the seas huh. I know exactly where to find one. Turn to North-North East, The Sea Resturant Baratie!"

Johnny said, striking a pose. Luffy was exited when he heard about a place where he could get food and a new member.

"Let's go find our new member! Onward to the Restaurant Baratie!"

Luffy jumped up and gave his orders. He was so exited that he forgot he still had the suit on, which increased the pressure on his body, which made him bend in comical ways. The entire room was full of laughter even after Luffy controlled his body back into normal.

...