1 week later.
Dan was asleep on the cramped boat with his leg hanging out the boat.
The first light of dawn quickly woke him.
Letting out a yawn, Dan violently rubbed his eyes hoping that an island would magically appear.
"How do the people out in sea deal with this boredom?"
"All I see is sea, damn, maybe I should have waited."
Dan was starting to lose hope of finding an island, though fortunately for him he was able to continue in a straight line most of the way.
With the help of the map he was able to tell where he's been preventing him from looping in circles.
"I refuse to believe that I won't find another island if I keep going straight." Dan fired up and quickly started paddling as he kept an eye on the map in inventory.
Oraa!
Oraa!
Oraa!
Oraaaaa!!!!!!
Fortunately lady luck seemed to be gracing him with her presence as a dot appeared out in the horizon.
Just a distant dot in the horizon.
"Land!!!"
After a few hours of chasing the dot in the horizon Dan could clearly tell that it wasn't land but a ship.
"Damn it… wait I can just follow them, they'll eventually have to dock."
Once closer, Dan sighed in relief as the ship was neither colored cyan, nor did it have a black flag.
As much as Dan wanted to wait for the ship to keep going forward, he realized the ship didn't seem to move.
Impatient as he is, Dan paddled his way over to the ship.
On the side of the ship he could see three people dressed like sailors/ruffians.
"Oi who are you?"
"What are you doing here?"
"I was lost but I ended up on an island, I'm trying to make my way back."
"Ehhh so you're still lost huh lad."
"Unfortunately so…"
"We're heading to Red Leaf Town, wanna come up on board." The tallest and built person commanded someone to toss over a rope ladder.
"Yes Please!!! Anywhere but this damn sea!!" Dan quickly jumped off his boat and climbed up the rope ladder.
'As for whether to trust these individuals? Does it matter? Unless they have seastone Dan could just escape!'
Once on top of the deck the tallest and built person was wearing what seemed to be a striped shirt that couldn't contain his muscles. A scruffy beard with a bunch of junk inside of it.
The man offered a handshake to Dan, "The names Garnet, I'm the captain of this merchant vessel, so mind telling me where you're from?"
Dan shook the man's hand, "Umm… I'm ... uhh my name is Carnes and I'm from some village off," Dan tried his best to play off where the village was, "Damn I don't really know where."
The captain narrowed his eyes, "You don't mind if we search you do ye?"
"Oh sure?"
Garnet signaled to two men who quickly stepped up and started patting Carnes down, "Boss he has nothing on him."
"Boy tell me your boat didn't have any supplies and you don't have anything on you?" Garnet said as he pull out his sword and point it at Carnes' face.
"Because I lost everything, or I already ate it."
Garnet stared down Carnes, eventually returning his sword back to his scabbard, "Alright sorry about lad," Garnet pat Carnes shoulder, "You gotta understand pirates be sending out scouts."
".... No problem," Carnes paused before adding, "Were you looking for a transponder snail?"
"Aye that's right it's how they communicate what they find. Or at least that's what the more cunning and bigger group do."
"But we ain't gotta worry your hands are soft, and you definitely don't have the face of a killer."
Carnes wasn't sure what to say, 'I just got to this world, I haven't trained yet at least.'
"Garnet I want to know what year it is,"
"The year? Boy weren't you just lost for a while?"
Carnes paused for a second, "It's not that it's just that it's been years since my village has gotten any information from the outside world."
"And no one really kept track of what year it was? So I was just curious."
Garnet was suspicious but still answered, "The year is 1468."
Hearing the year, Carnes couldn't help but grimace in despair, 'Shit, all those old monsters are on the rise.'
'The sea, what sea am I in?' "The sea, what sea are we in?" Carnes asked.
Garnet's eyes widened, staring at Carnes lost in thought, before looking at Carnes in understanding, "Lad I don't know what you've been through but you're in the East Blue now."
"East Blue?" 'The weakest Sea? Yes there's no one strong here.'
"Garnet, how long till we reach the next town?"
"It'll be a day but until then you'll be mopping the floor and helping out on board, any question can wait till we eat now to get to work."
Garnet gestured to his crew to get the bucket and mop.
"No problem, and thanks for letting me stay on board." Carnes added as he grabbed the bucket and mop and got to work.
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After a day's work at dinner Carnes stared at the bowl of slop in front of him when a figure approached him.
"Don't worry it tastes better than it looks."
It was John the one who was in charge of giving Carnes tasks around the boat, from the initial mopping the boat, into tying knots, and fixing some door joints.
Through John he learned there were a total of around fifty or so guys on the ship.
The people on the ship most were employed by the Captain, others worked for the free meal and low pay, since they don't have anywhere to go.
Others were pulled from villages for the adventure despite the low pay. Even if the adventure was limited to the surrounding area.
He also learned they were merchant vessels that travel around the islands nearby for profit.
They usually completed a round trip in a year or so.
"I won't believe that but it's better than nothing. Say John, do you get any news from the grandline?"
"The grandline? Well all I know is from the captain, he says the weather is unpredictable aside from that I don't know."
"What about the World Economy News coo? News paper delivered by birds?"
John thought for a second before replying "You're talking about the Dove Press, and The Pelican Journal?"
Carnes lied, as he noted the two news agencies, "Aye that's right, I just couldn't remember the name."
"Well we sometimes get papers but most of it is all about the marines and the world government.
Nothing really worth talking about because most of it is just vicious pirates being taken down, same news every day."
'Controlled news? Noted, the World government's influence is still strong at this time.'
As Carnes ate a few bites as John himself sat comfortably close by, "Say John ever heard of Haki or special fruits?"
John replied with his mouth full, "Haki never heard of it, and special fruits? Hmmm...I've heard the apples from the Red Leaf town are best around."
'What did I expect from the weakest Blue.' John looked at Carnes hoping he would explain what haki was.
Carnes ignored the look, "pretend I never asked, I'm off to sleep." Carnes put his plate away and quickly went to the hammock that was assigned to him.
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"Lad's wake up!!! Prepare to dock!" yelled the captain as passed through the sleeping quarters.
Out in the deck men scrambled to their assigned position and with precision prepared for the docking of their ship.
Carnes without any instructions simply leaned against the railing staring at the town that was growing closer every second.
The roofs of the town were all red tiles with the buildings themselves painted various colors.
The road was made of cobblestone and the buildings were made out of either stones or bricks.
The town was bustling with people moving about even from a distance.
Carnes felt a pat by his shoulder, turning his head to Captain Garnet, "Lad what's your plan you staying in town will you continue with us. Don't decide for now but we leave in three days at dawn. No later."
"Now take this," Garnet slid him a thousand berries, "It's not much but it'll do, but before you go wandering off help us unload our cargo."
"Will do." Carnes took the money and stuffed it into his pocket as he followed the crew to unload cargo.
It was noon when all the necessary cargo was unloaded and the crew was allowed to disperse.
Carnes wanders off far into the town before casually reaching into his pocket and pulling out his map.
With no around Carnes zoomed into the Map there he could various displays in town that he had wandered.
Seeing the map didn't need to be in hand for it to map everything he put it away and continued his wandering.
He came across a smith shop, he entered inside was a woman at the counter smiling as she polished her nails.
In the shop there were tools from a farmer's pitchfork to swords on display. Though the prices were relative to their purpose, as most tools on display were cheaper than the cheapest sword he found.
With the pitiful amount of berries he had from the shipwreck and the thousand berries he received from Garnet there wasn't much he could buy, 7,276 berries was the amount he had on hand.
Seeing this he left the store, "Have a nice day," the lady at the counter said with her ever smiling face.
For some reason it gave Carnes the creeps.
Taking a look around town he saw markets of people selling various items, and in the edges of the town were farmers, lumberjacks, and huntsman.
'I said I would make something of myself but what am I supposed to do with no money?'
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Before I forget, I wanted to ask for a good last name for the MC I chose Carnes because of some fanfic in the past and thought the name was pretty cool.
Note: Use this from some Reddit post decided to use it somewhat. In 1522 150 berries = $1.61 But I'm rounding it to $2. Changed the amount of money. That's with inflation right now it's earlier in the time period so there isn't much inflation.