Smooth Sailing Chapter 4: Nagagutsu Kingdom 1

Chapter 4: Nagagutsu Kingdom 1

Luckily for us, there was indeed a map in the captain’s quarters of the Lovey Dovey. To my annoyance, it was quite crude, and only showed a portion of the East Blue. The big-named islands were all on there, as was the Red Line and Calm Belt, but any sense of scale was off, leaving me to guess-timate how far the Nagagutsu Kingdom was, and how to get there.

‘Right, this world still has an issue with the spread of information,’ I reminded myself.

There were people who could build cyborgs, but the rest of the world had to rely on psychic snails to communicate across long distances. Things like electricity-powered appliances were available, but navigation still required magical compasses.

As a result of all this, there just wasn’t a way to set up things like telegraph wires or power cables between islands, meaning there was no way to have something like the internet and accurate exchanges of data, resulting in crude maps and people having to use wind-powered sails to get anywhere.

‘Won’t get any better anytime soon. Not unless Vegapunk puts satellites into orbit or starts building radio towers, at least,’ I thought. He probably could do all of that, honestly.

This meant that we would have to sail for two days straight towards Nagagutsu, hoping all the while we were following the map properly.

My crew had recovered enough from their wounds that they could move around on their own, which was a relief to me as well. Not to mention that Hep seemed to be a decent navigator and had been promoted to Helmsman so he could handle the dull and boring business of steering the ship when I couldn’t be bothered to do so.

Not having to pilot the Lovey Dovey anymore left me with a lot of time on my hands, and so to avoid boredom I’d defaulted to something I’d done quite often in my old life: making random shit.

I was an engineer with a love of woodworking, which had led to me making all sorts of neat little toys and gizmos out of wood, plastic, and cheap metal. Ever seen those ads for brain toys and puzzle boxes that can be taken apart and put back together in cool and interesting ways? That was basically my job before getting Isekai’d by canned fruit.

Not to toot my own horn, but I was pretty good at it. I made a decent amount of cash selling my creations on the web and at conventions and the like. Sure, I missed rent once or twice, and a few meals were instant noodles with whatever I could scrounge up sprinkled on top, but I’d been my own boss, damn it! And that had to count for something!

And that was what I ended up doing: creating an interesting little puzzle box out of wood scraps that I’d found lying around. It kept my hands busy and it prevented my mind from thinking too hard about some other problems that had recently popped up.

Cramps. Painful, bloody, menstrual cramps. Alvida’s period had just hit, and now I was the one dealing with it.

“I am surprised more women don’t turn pirate after dealing with this,” I hissed through my teeth with a grimace.

They put up with this pain and discomfort for several days a month for years?! It was a Goddamn miracle they weren’t constantly on the war path. And with superhuman physiques and things like Devil Fruit and Haki, that really put it into perspective just how insanely resilient the women of this world were.

A disgruntled “Meeeh!” broke me from my thoughts on fighting evolution itself and punching God in the face for this terrible design flaw, and looked down at the cute pygmy goat that had hopped up into my lap and lay down in it, like a house cat.

Absently I began to stroke its furry head, its tiny horns little more than nubs. “Sorry, little fella. Just human problems, you know?”

The nanny goat bleated a bit, pleased I’d resumed petting her, and settled down, leaving me to my thoughts and my woodworking project.

“Not bad,” I mused, examining the object I’d made. Not my best work, given the lack of supplies I had, but it’d been fun, and I decided to test my creation.

I took out a 1 beri coin I’d found underneath the bed, and placed it into a groove on the top of the box. The coin rolled down before clinking into a slot and falling inside the box, which caused a small latch to unlock. I tugged on a corner of the box, and it came away. I then had to use that corner piece to use it like a lever, and another part of the box popped out.

Bit by bit I undid the puzzle, until I could open the ‘safe’ I’d made. And there was the coin I’d inserted earlier, resting inside the hollow cavity of the box. I took out the 1 beri coin and began to idly flip it.

‘I wonder what else I can make,’ I thought to myself. ‘This world has some bizarre tech and I bet some islands have ancient ruins full of traps that still work despite decades of misuse.’

That gave me some ideas for combining the materials that were unique to this world, which naturally got me thinking about Dials. Those near-magical shells that could produce solid clouds, flavor food, and even generate heat and cold were too ridiculous not to take advantage of.

‘I bet I could create a hot air balloon with Dials,’ I mused. ‘That could turn a boat into a zeppelin and we’d be able to cross the ocean in style and safety.’

Of course, until I got access to such things, it was all just a pipe dream, but it didn’t stop me thinking about the ways I could create something truly magnificent in this world. And that thought made me excited.

My concentration slipped a bit, and suddenly the metal disc I was flipping suddenly went flying, piercing into the wooden ceiling, vibrating a little from the sudden deceleration.

I stared at the coin now lodged in the ceiling, and the goat in my lap gave me a judging look for damaging the cabin. I however was too engrossed by this discovery to care for the opinion of a fuzzy milk dispenser.

‘So, it seems like I can temporarily impart a portion of my Smoothness to objects to sort of create a frictionless rail cannon effect, sending an object flying with greater speed and force than normal,’ I guessed, slowly getting new ideas for using my Devil Fruit. ‘Almost reminds me of Doflamingo’s Awakening where he turned other things around him into string instead of generating it from himself.’

This obviously wasn’t Awakening, not by a long shot, but it was a powerful new trick that had interesting application if I could get it to work consistently.

That was the rub, though, and no matter how many times I tried to repeat what I’d just done, I couldn’t flick the coin and turn it into a deadly projectile.

My experiments were soon interrupted by a muffled shout of “Land Ahoy!” from outside, and I perked up, all but kicking the door down in order to get a glimpse of our destination.

The kingdom was located on Boot Island, which was shaped more like an ‘L’ than an actual boot, but the name still stuck. Jagged, snow-capped mountains stood in the middle, and ice-melt rivers cut their way through the foothills with countless towns and villages built alongside a staggering number of water-powered mills and factories. And from these river side industrial sites smoke was belched forth and pollutants filled the rivers, flowing into the ocean like sluggish black snakes.

This was Nagagutsu Kingdom. A large and powerful nation, and one of the hundred and seventy countries that was underneath the banner of the World Government. It was vaguely themed after Italy, and was a large nation, by this world’s standards, meaning it could take more than a day to walk from one end to the other.

The kingdom was also rich, thanks to its booming fashion industry. Indeed, Nagagutsu’s wealth came almost entirely from this particular industry. It imported raw cotton, wool, silk, and flax fibers, and used its various mills to turn them into cloth. Then, it took these materials and turned them into clothing.

From everyday garb like t-shirts and jeans worn by anybody, to high-fashion suits and dresses only affordable by nobility and the hyper-wealthy, Nagagutsu was the place for outfits for any occasion.

In fact, the Heavenly Tribute, the ‘tithe’ the World Nobles demanded in exchange for a country being part of the World Government, was fulfilled by just five outfits a year: the suits worn by the Gorosei, the Five Elder Planets, the quintet of elders who ran the World Government, were exclusively made on Nagagutsu.

For this reason, the island was free of the heavy taxation other nations suffered under in order to reap the benefits of the World Government, and had grown to be one of the wealthiest kingdoms in not just the East Blue, but the entire world.

It was a risky place to be, since the Marines kept a small garrison here to protect the island, and my bounty poster would definitely be circulating here, but for now I was still relatively unknown thanks to my Devil Fruit induced weight loss.

That did not mean it was particularly strong, though. Aside from the Marines, it had a small, poorly trained police force, and no real army to speak of. This resulted in the royal kissing up to larger, more militant nations, like Deul Kingdom or Germa 66, in exchange for mercenaries and military aid in the event that the Marines weren’t good enough.

‘And all of this information gained thanks to Pep,’ I mused. He had been a surprising font of information on the various islands of the East Blue.

The Alvida Pirates had never ventured anywhere near this place, although it had targeted merchant vessels from Nagagutsu in the past, so I wondered how Pep had learned so much.

After some thought, I decided to ignore that question and focus on something else, such as turning the treasure in the Lovey Dovey’s hold into cold, hard cash.

‘This kingdom is also going to be the best place to update my wardrobe,’ I thought to myself, glancing down at my outfit.

My clothes were still too loose on my body, and I had to use several belts to cinch my pants up since I hadn’t had a lot of time to do much shopping on Satsuruzo. If I was going to start a new page of my life, then I needed to be dressed for the part.

Shaking my head a bit to dismiss my idle thoughts, I walked to the front of the boat, arms folded as I watched us approach the docks.

Vercase, the capital and largest city of the kingdom, was nestled in the bay that was formed by the bowl of Boot Island’s ‘L’ shape. The port had an eclectic mix of designs. It generally reminded me of Victorian era London, with the grim, sooty buildings crowding each other, but there were bright neon and electric lights all over the place, something that contrasted with the rest of the architecture.

Then, beyond the smog-stained city, closer to the mountains, were manors belonging to nobles and estates for the wealth fashion designers and merchants, just barely visible. They reminded me of Roman manors mixed with Medieval castles. Very interesting design.

“Okay, folks!” I said, clapping my hands to get everyone’s attention. “First things first! Hep, good job getting us here. You didn’t crash or lose the way even once!”

“Thanks, captain!” he said, grinning at the praise.

“Pop, you’ve done well with the goats. Focus on training them on where they can and cannot go to the bathroom for now,” I instructed, and he snapped a salute.

“Pep, you’ll be coming with me. You’re the healthiest amongst your brothers, and seem to know a lot about the kingdom, so you get to help with haggling over pawning the gold,” I informed him, and the blond saluted before rushing off to fetch the treasure chest.

In the next couple minutes, the Lovey Dovey arrived at the docks and found a berth to slide into. We were a bit far from the main areas where the Marines and merchant ships were anchored, closer to the rough and tumble side of the docks, but that suited me just fine.

“H-here you go, Captain Alvida!” Pep said, sweating as he dragged the treasure chest over, bent over by its weight. I rolled my eyes and grabbed it from hum, hefting it under one arm.

“Don’t mention my name,” I instructed him. “The Marines still don’t know I’m alive and active, and until you’re in better shape we can’t risk this coming to light.”

“Ah! Right, captain!” Pep said quickly.

Giving him a nod, we stepped off the boat onto the pier, helping Hep and Pop lash some mooring lines to a nearby bollard.

Satisfied it wouldn’t drift away, I made my way into the streets of Vercase, taking it all in. Just as I’d seen from a distance, the buildings were a curious mish-mash of cultures and eras, but they had just enough to be familiar, yet also deliver a bit of uncanny valley.

The biggest thing was that the streets were rather narrow, and made of cobblestone. Without vehicles like cars, there was no need to have dedicated roads for vehicles and pedestrians. And when things like carts, carriages, and wagons came through, people just moved out of the way to let them pass.

Walking through the street, I admired the different stores, taking note of how many of them were clothing boutiques.

‘Ooo! That one looks good,’ I thought, eyeing a store that had a pink pair of skinny jeans in the window with heart shaped buttons, before blinking a bit. That was weird.

‘Did I inherit some of Alvida’s tastes as well?’ I thought. Because old me would have never worn anything that pink!

“Uh, captain?” Pep asked hesitantly.

“What is it?” I asked, with a bit more of a growl that I normally would have.

“Ah! Nothing!” he stammered, zipping his lips when he saw I wasn’t in the mood for talking. I huffed a little, but stopped looking at the clothes.

‘First things first, we just have to find a bank,’ I thought to myself, glancing around.

From Alvida’s memories, it seemed that banks in this world served as a place to exchange things like gold and jewels for beri. This was likely due to the fact that the World Government – and most other, unaligned countries – operated off of the gold standard, so obviously the banks would have places to trade in precious metals since they’d have to keep a stockpile of the stuff on hand.

I could try visiting a local pawnshop to trade in our loot, and I had a couple fuzzy memories of a young Alvida doing just that, but only for small amounts. A couple rings, a single gold bullion, never anything more than that since pawnshops wouldn’t exactly be the first place to try and unload a whole chest full of treasure.

“Well? Where do we go to drop off all of this?” I asked Pep, jiggling the treasure chest, who shrugged helplessly.

“Um, I don’t know?” he replied awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

“But you know so much about the kingdom!” I pointed out.

“Ah, well, that’s because I read a tour guide to the place once,” Pep admitted, coughing awkwardly.

“So, you don’t where to go to find a gold exchange?” I asked sharply, and he winced.

“Sorry, captain,” he muttered.

“Ugh,” I grunted. “Fine. Luckily, there’s always Plan B.”

I looked around the street, eyeing the people as they walked around us, ignoring our little argument aside from side-eyes and muttered utterances of “Tourists!”

“Oi, you!” I called out, pointing at a random guy as he crossed the road in front of us. “Where can I trade in gold for beri?!”

“Eh?” he uttered, looking around, confused to be called out. Still, he got hearts in his eyes as he caught sight of me, and he quickly hurried over, trying to curry favor with the vision of sexiness in front of him. “Well, the best place to do that would be the local branch of the World Bank. There’s also the East Financial Institute if you’re not a citizen of Nagagutsu or any other affiliated nation.”

“And if I don’t have any sort of official ID?” I inquired.

As a pirate, I didn’t exactly have a way to prove my citizenship to any island without getting arrested. Or, more likely, flagged by the staff and the local garrison alerted while they stalled.

“In that case, the Draupnir Brokerage is probably going to be the one you want to visit,” he said hesitantly. “Gonna warn you, though: it’s in the bad side of town.”

“Hm. They’ll probably try to fleece me, then,” I guessed. It was practically guaranteed for that to happen. And it was likely under the control of a criminal group, to boot.

‘And since I don’t have my ruthless reputation as a dastardly pirate right now to cow any would-be scammers, they’ll try to fleece me for all I’m worth,’ I mused in the privacy of my head.

Pep seemed to have the same thought as his face scrunched up a bit in distaste at the thought of somebody stealing from us because we couldn’t lean on my ‘Iron Mace’ persona at the moment.

We didn’t really have any other choice right now, so I asked the love-struck fellow to give us directions. He sadly did not know where the Draupnir Brokerage was located, though, so we had to find somebody who did.

This led us deeper into the seedier part of Vercase, where the walls and streets were grimier and the people more closed off and suspicious of newcomers.

“Sorry, missy, can’t help ya,” a sleezy street tough replied, trying to look cool while chewing on a toothpick and leaning against a lamppost in leather pants and a jacket.

“Uh-huh,” I drawled, not impressed. “Because according to three other people, you know a guy who knows a guy who works there.”

“Cool Johnny ain’t no snitch!” he shot back, and I rolled my eyes.

“Look, I just want to turn my gold in beri. Telling me where the Draupnir Brokerage does business will let me leave you alone.”

He squinted at me suspiciously, before jerking his head towards an alleyway. I flashed him a smile which had him blushing and then I sauntered off, but not before leaving him a whispered warning.

“If I find out this was a trick, I will hurt you,” I vowed.

We then entered the side street, which was narrow and just as dirty as the outside. There was also a door at the end, which was clearer than the surroundings, and made of steel with a sigil of eight gold circles arranged in a ring on the front.

“This is shady as shit,” I commented, eying the door.

“Sure is,” Pep agreed, his hands inching towards his pistols to reassure himself they were still there.

I didn’t bother knocking, and just opened the door. It swung open as easily as if it was made of regular wood, though from the shocked gasp from somebody within it wasn’t supposed to be that simple.

“Yo,” I said blandly, looking around the interior of the building. “I want to make a deposit.”

As my eyes adjusted, I saw a couple of bank teller booths in front of me, though all but one had shutters closed over them. The booth that was open had a very nervous, pimply faced teenager manning the desk.

“Um, g-good morning,” he stammered out. “You, uh, you want to make a deposit?”

“I want to exchange gold for something I can actually use,” I replied, letting the chest I’d been carrying thump down in front of him. I then popped the lid open, revealing the jewelry, and he swallowed nervously.

“I need to get the manager for such a, um, large transaction,” he claimed, and bolted for a room in the back.

“Squirrelly little fella,” I commented idly, somewhat amused. “You’d think that working in what is essentially a loan shark's office would result in a stiffer spine.”

“He could be new,” Pep said, though I knew he was playing Devil’s Advocate.

The teller returned soon with a middle-aged man who had a monocle over his left eye. He peered closely at the two of us, his gaze lingering on me and my face for a couple seconds before snorting.

“I can appraise the treasure you have brought in,” he claimed. “May I ask if this is the first time you have used our services?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“In that case, allow me to appraise your items personally,” he said, clearly trying to get on our good side.

He pulled out a number of merchant’s scales and a jeweler’s loupe which he attached to his monocle, and began to inspect everything inside the treasure chest. Gold was weighed against a number of tiny weights, and the jewels closely inspected for any flaws. I didn’t know if he’d be slapping

“I can give you thirty million for everything,” he informed me, and I tilted my head at that, thinking it over.

‘If that Marine back at the Satsuruzo Kingdom was correct, and this pile of loot is about fifty million, then they’re trying to slice off a full forty percent of the total price,’ I thought, narrowing my eyes a little.

I’d need to see what exactly the prices around here were like to know if that was an acceptable amount. Since Nagagutsu was an industrial kingdom some goods would likely be cheaper than others.

Though, from my memories of the series, a hundred beri was the price of a single issue of the World Economic Newspaper, a cabbage was a hundred and fifty, a high-end t-shirt from a famous brand could go for ten thousand, and the lowest quality sword, like what any Marine or pirate could have, was fifty thousand.

‘And the Straw Hats also claimed that a hundred million beri would be enough to buy a second-hand ship similar to the Going Merry,’ I mused.

It felt like I could try to compare it to the Yen, so I’d be getting the equivalent of roughly three hundred thousand dollars, but at the same time this world was significantly different from my old one, so the economic forces would mean prices and buying power of money would be different as well.

After some thought, I decided to accept the loss. I didn’t want to argue, and while a forty percent cut was steep, I didn’t have choice.

“Alright. Thirty million it is,” I said with a nod. The manager blinked, clearly having expected me to try to haggle or reject the offer.

“Now, if you wish to open an account with us…” he began, but I shook my head.

“I do not,” I said, cutting him off. “Cash. Not credit.”

“Very well,” the manager said, inclining his head. “In that case, it will take a few hours to acquire everything.”

“I can wait,” I informed him, and proceeded to lean against the counter, letting both of them get an eyeful of my poorly restrained cleavage. It flustered the boy, but the older man simply raised an eyebrow, unimpressed with my attempt to get some freebies.

Still, he got to work authorizing the release of the money and writing up a receipt for the transaction, and in just two hours he handed me a briefcase full of beri.

“Thank you for using Draupnir Brokerage for your money exchange services,” he said as I opened it up and idly flipped through a wad of ten thousand beri bills.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” I replied, closing the lid with a snap.

Pep and I returned to the Lovey Dovey after that. Much as I wanted to start shopping right away there were still things to do back on the boat.

“Alright, boys, listen up,” I said as I gathered my companions in the cabin, all of us sitting at the dining table.

“Ten million for me, ten million for you and your brothers to split between yourselves, and ten million for the crew as a whole, to be used for repairs, supplies, and other sundries that benefit everyone,” I informed them as I separated the money from the briefcase into three piles.

Hep, Pep, and Pop stared at the money, then me. I raised an eyebrow at their reaction. “What?”

“Uh, nothing, captain, but you aren’t usually so generous,” Pop said, before grunting in pain as his brothers elbowed him in the ribs.

“I am as generous as I am beautiful!” I declared. “And you three have proven your loyalty to me, so I feel that’s worth a reward.”

That earned me grateful smiles, and I quickly held up a finger to stall them. “But! Only two of you can leave the Lovey Dovey at a time, understood? Somebody has to stay behind to watch it!”

The brothers shared a look before immediately doing an impromptu ‘Rock-Paper-Scissors’ tournament, with Pep and Pop winning, forcing Hep to take the first watch while they got to explore and send their money.

I just left them to it, as I wanted to finally get some clothes that actually fit.

‘Time to see what this place has!’ I thought to myself as I hopped off the boat for a trip into the kingdom.