One Piece: Star Sea Legend

Chapter 7: The Meeting

Qin Ming, caught in the rapidly spinning whirlpool, felt the powerful tearing force of the vortex as if it were trying to rip his body apart. The sensation was unbearable.

Adding to his misery, being submerged in seawater left him weak and powerless. Faced with a whirlpool that no human could resist, Qin Ming was truly at a loss.

The only silver lining was that being caught in the whirlpool kept him from sinking to the bottom of the sea. Instead, he was spinning around in circles, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.

Meanwhile, on the fishing boat, Luffy was growing increasingly frantic. He tried several times to stretch his arms and pull Qin Ming out, but Qin Ming was spinning too fast in the vortex for Luffy to grab him.

If this continued, not only would Qin Ming be doomed, but Luffy would also meet his end. Luffy was well aware of this.

“Why is this happening? The weather was so nice today. Who would’ve thought we’d run into such a huge whirlpool on such a clear day? And now Qin Ming’s in danger. This is so unexpected.”

Luffy, unable to rescue Qin Ming for the moment, forced himself to calm down. He stroked his chin, muttering to himself while trying to figure out how to escape their predicament.

“Unexpectedly, my foot! If you hadn’t thrown me into the sea, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

Qin Ming, spinning around in the whirlpool, heard Luffy’s words and wished he could slap him. “How can you be so calm and reflective at a time like this? You’re the worst!”

“Even though I want to call for help, there’s no one around.”

Luffy looked around, seeing nothing but empty sea. Aside from them, there was no one in sight. He sighed helplessly. “Well, if the boat sinks and Qin Ming and I die here, there’s nothing we can do about it. Besides, I can’t swim.”

Hearing Luffy’s words, Qin Ming couldn’t help but feel a grudging respect. “Even in this situation, you’re so calm and accepting of death. I have to hand it to you.”

But as Qin Ming felt himself being pulled deeper into the whirlpool and accidentally swallowed more seawater, he grew even more miserable. He didn’t even have the strength to shout anymore.

“Is it because I set sail with Luffy and altered the course of One Piece’s history that we’re now facing death?”

Just as this thought crossed Qin Ming’s mind, Luffy, sitting on the boat and deep in thought, suddenly had an idea. “That’s right! In this situation, whether you can swim or not makes no difference!”

“Qin Ming, hold on! We’re going to be saved!”

As Luffy shouted, he quickly stretched his arm and grabbed the large treasure chest filled with gold from the corner of the boat. Without hesitation, he dumped all the gold into the whirlpool.

Hearing Luffy’s words, Qin Ming felt a surge of hope. But then, his head suddenly throbbed with pain, as if he’d been hit by something hard. He nearly passed out from the impact.

Soon, Qin Ming realized that the objects hitting his head were shiny pieces of gold—gold that looked strangely familiar.

“Wait, isn’t that the gold from our treasure chest?”

“Did Luffy just throw all the gold away, and some of it happened to hit me?”

Indeed, Qin Ming was correct. Although both he and Luffy were caught in the whirlpool, Qin Ming was positioned closer to the bottom. When Luffy threw the gold, some of it inevitably struck Qin Ming’s head.

Qin Ming understood Luffy’s reasoning: the glutton would rather part with priceless gold than give up his precious meat. It was classic Luffy behavior.

“But did you have to hit me in the head with it?!”

For a moment, Qin Ming was filled with resentment towards Luffy. He felt like beating Luffy a hundred times wouldn’t be enough to vent his frustration.

But soon, Qin Ming realized that when Luffy tried to help, things could always get worse.

“Gomu Gomu no… Rocket!”

On the boat, Luffy threw the now-empty treasure chest into the air. His arms stretched far back, then snapped forward with incredible speed, striking the chest.

The treasure chest shot toward Qin Ming like a rocket.

Boom!

The chest hit the water right next to Qin Ming. The impact created a powerful wave within the whirlpool, sending Qin Ming flying out of the vortex.

Before Qin Ming could react, Luffy stretched his arm and grabbed him mid-air, shoving him into the large treasure chest.

As Qin Ming was crammed into the chest, his head repeatedly slammed against the hard lid. Combined with the earlier damage from the whirlpool’s tearing force and the shockwave from Luffy’s attack, Qin Ming felt as if every bone in his body had been shattered.

Unable to withstand the pain, Qin Ming finally passed out as the chest’s lid closed. His last thought before losing consciousness was: “I’m going to kill him!”

After this ordeal, Qin Ming finally understood why even someone as tough as Zoro sometimes threatened to kill Luffy.

“It’s not that we’re evil—it’s that Luffy is just too damn infuriating!”

More importantly, after surviving the whirlpool, Qin Ming realized that to sail with Luffy, the first thing you needed was the resilience of a cockroach.

“Strength? That’s just a bonus!”

After Qin Ming was stuffed into the treasure chest, Luffy quickly found a large barrel filled with meat. He stuffed as much meat into his mouth as he could before hiding inside the barrel.

Soon after, the small fishing boat they had been sailing on for nearly a month was destroyed by the whirlpool.

—

Some time later, Qin Ming woke up, his head heavy and groggy. He struggled to open his eyes, finding himself in a dark, cramped space where movement was difficult.

Shaking his head, Qin Ming remembered the whirlpool and Luffy’s “brilliant” plan to shove him into a treasure chest.

“I’m still alive. It seems we were saved. But where am I now?”

Qin Ming’s entire body ached as if he’d been beaten hundreds of times. He worried that if they were still drifting at sea, he might not make it.

The keyhole in the treasure chest allowed some air to flow in, but Qin Ming noticed that water had begun to seep inside. If this continued, the chest would eventually sink.

However, after a while, Qin Ming realized something was off. The chest felt stable, not like it was floating in the sea.

“What’s going on?”

“Did someone fish me out of the water?”

As Qin Ming pondered this, he heard a deep, gruff voice: “Koby, what is the most beautiful thing in the sea?”

“Uh… that would be you, Miss Alvida! Hehehe…”

A nervous, sycophantic voice reached Qin Ming’s ears. Now he knew exactly where he was.

“Alvida? The female pirate with the iron club, the round hat, freckles, and a cruel personality?”

“Damn, it’s that short, fat woman who fished me out. She must think there’s treasure in this chest.”

“If Alvida finds out it’s just me inside, in my current state, she’ll probably smash me with her club. I’d better stay hidden and see how this plays out.”

Qin Ming knew Alvida was a pirate with a bounty of 5 million berries—a laughably low amount, but still more than he could handle in his weakened state.

“If I were at full strength, I might actually be able to take her down.”

Qin Ming felt the chest being lifted. He heard Alvida, wielding her iron club, order her crew: “Take this inside. We’ll check what treasures are inside after we finish plundering our target.”

“Beautiful Miss Alvida, this is a rare catch,” a middle-aged pirate with a crew cut said to Alvida.

“Exactly! We’re taking that ship. Make sure you all give it your best!” Alvida cackled in her grating voice.

From their conversation, Qin Ming deduced that Alvida was targeting a luxurious cruise ship. If Luffy was on that ship, Alvida was in for a world of hurt.

After some slight shaking, Qin Ming, still hidden in the treasure chest, was carried into a storage room.

The sounds of cannon fire and pirate shouts echoed outside. After about ten minutes, the noise began to fade. Qin Ming guessed that most of the pirates had left to raid the other ship. This was his chance to escape.

“If I can just reunite with Luffy, everything will be fine.”

Qin Ming decided to make his move.

Just as he was about to act, he heard a male pirate’s voice: “Who are you? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

A few seconds later, there was a “thud”, and the pirate who had spoken fell silent.

“Pirates are so stupid. I just came to see what treasures are here.”

A sweet, melodic voice reached Qin Ming’s ears.

Then, with a “click”, the treasure chest opened, and light flooded in. Qin Ming, lying sprawled inside the chest, found himself face-to-face with a beautiful girl with short orange hair.

Her bright, lively eyes met Qin Ming’s as they stared at each other…