Morrow bid the crew farewell about a half mile off the coast before swimming the rest of the way to an unmanned beach with his waterproof luggage. The reason he was getting off in the middle of nowhere instead of the port had to do with what he liked to call good foresight.

Now how to find Arlong's crew? The manga was a little vague, but they should've set up shop somewhere in these islands by this point.

He was basing this on an impromptu timeline he had created when his memories were still fresh, as he had learned that Gol D. Roger had been executed 12 years prior which gave him a reference point. He wasn't hardcore enough to have birthdays for all the characters, but he remembered that Ace was born a little over a year after the execution and that he was 3 years older than Luffy.

Taking into account some wiggle room on account of birthdays and I should be anywhere from a year to two years younger than Luffy. Nami should be about 10 give or take a little, which was past the apparent age of the flashback where Arlong invaded. The problem is, it's not like I can just run up and ask someone "Hello, can you point me to Arlong Park?" If Arlong is already running his protection racket, I'd be lucky if I wasn't attacked. It can only be the most stupid way....

He had decided to simply circle the islands until he got lucky. That was not as daunting a prospect as it would have once been, on account of his growth and a nifty innate ability he had discovered while combing his memories. A fishman could evidently 'talk' to fish, although it was quite primitive. The closest description he could think of was of pushing an idea telepathically at the fish you wanted to talk to, to which they could give simple replies.

Unfortunately, most fish that would give him the time of day were quite dull and only good for simple 'yes or no' questioning with small elaborations. This ability should have room to expand into commanding, but considering any ordered fish would be much weaker than me it's not really useful in a fight. Still useful for recon though...

So he circled while asking nearby fish if they had seen other fishmen nearby. A couple hours later, he had been directed to a particularly large tuna that claimed to have seen some a day ago, but getting directions to where they went was an exercise in frustration. It had no concept of human directions, but if he was interpreting it's gestures and images right Arlong Park wasn't that far away.

[Thanks.]

As Morrow gazed at the pagoda in the distance and decided it was best to simply be bold. There were some fishmen guarding in front of the gate, so he walked up and asked them.

"Hello friends, my name is Morrow. I was stranded in East Blue and heard there was a gathering of fishmen here, is that true?"

"...It's true, but it's been a while since a new recruit has come here, much less so young."

"I think you are misunderstanding. I just heard there were other comrades here and came to see people from home."

"At any rate, Mr. Arlong is out at the moment. They should be back soon, so you can stay here until then or come back later. By the way, my name Juchi, and this is Gad."

Awfully polite for an extreme race-superiority group.

"I'll stay here if that's fine."

Morrow was shown to a seat in the hall of the main building, and he explained his backstory to the assembled mooks while he waited. Evidently enough stayed to man the fort while the main crew was out causing havoc. He vaguely remembered them getting one shot off screen with the cow monster in the original, but they were pleasant enough to talk to as long as you tuned out the constant jabs at humans.

2 hours later the crew returned...

Morrow was just finishing his conversation with Arlong and they were finally getting to the point.

"...so if I'm getting this right, you don't want a ride home and instead want to learn Fishman Karate so that you can become strong?"

"Right."

"I see, but you're leaving me in an awkward position. You don't want to join my crew, and we don't do charity for kids. We are pirates."

"I'll pay for lessons, how much would that cost?"

Arlong looked amused at the idea he would pay for himself, but still gave the go-ahead.

"That depends entirely on Kuroobi's mood. He's the one who instructs new recruits, but I'd guess you could convince him."

Kuroobi as it turns out wasn't thrilled to be training 'some brat,' but they eventually settled on 50,000 an hour when he was free. Morrow couldn't tell if that was cheap or if he was getting ripped off, but that meant he only had about 48 hours with his current stash. Thankfully Kuroobi turned out to be very serious about his martial arts and gave no-nonsense explanations that didn't waste his money.

After his first 2 hour lecture that he took right there, he had a good idea of what to expect. Fishman Karate at it's core focused on the control of water in the user's vicinity through a combination of breathing and vibrating muscles, but the specific expression was highly personal and only a couple 'standard' techniques existed. The breathing was easy, but the vibrating muscles part would evidently take at least 3 months if he was talented to achieve initial success. He was told how to train in order to achieve it and told to come back tomorrow if he wanted to learn more.

The whole thing would've sounded like nonsense to Morrow before reincarnated, but frankly this was far from the strangest thing he'd had to accept since coming to this world. He hadn't seen any devil fruit users yet, but he'd already given up on trying to find reason and just decided to treat everything as if it made sense. Talking to fish was just one example.

My plan is working smoother than I could have hoped. I was even prepared to join Arlong as a last resort, but they were pretty friendly as long as you are a fishman. I still need to find a way to make more money though, or I'll be broke in no time.