Panthera

by Nekoet

Nekos are very rare in the World, and amazingly enough, Luffy and Zoro are one of them. They are nekos with dreams and ambitions, driven by vows and memories that constantly beg them to move forward. They enter a world where they will be known and discovered, but above that, a world where they are capable of ruling.

1. Chapter 1: Starting

Chapter 1: Starting

Just like the end note, Yep. I really am combining them.

Now, each chapter will be at least more than 10,000 words. Yay.

The raven haired boy stood confidently on top of the ship's figurehead, overlooking everyone on the forecastle deck. His tail wagged aggravated along with the smooth waves calmly crashing onto the shore, his ears perked high along with his pose. The flag of the ship waved proudly, showing off the pirate skull marked on it.

"Oi! What are you doing, Luffy?" One of the pirates called out, getting a huff as response from the young boy.

"I'm not joking this time! I've had enough!" He raised a dagger high above his head as if to prove something serious, "I'll prove it for you all to see!" His ears perked impossibly even higher than the dagger, as if his whole body wanted to show off just what it was capable of, and that it could handle some pain.

A man wearing a straw hat, concealing most of his flaming red hair, raised his fist and started to laugh before saying, "Ha ha ha! Go for it! Let's see what you're gonna do!" Another backed up his laughter by saying that the young boy was going to do something funny again.

Luffy stared at the man then at everyone else. His confident expression then changed to a nervous one, suddenly realizing that his idea wasn't going to end well. He lifted the dagger in front of his face, gaining a few shocked faces from some people on the ship. He then shifted the dagger underneath his left eye and set the edge right above his cheek. Quickly, he poked the dagger into his skin so deep that a large cut had revealed itself underneath all the blood.

He held the dagger inside him not even for half a second before he speed-defying pulled it out and screamed in pain, the voices of the pirates yelling at him for being an idiot and wondering why he had done such a thing were the least of his concerns at that moment. He continued to scream and yell out in pain, wanting desperately for the pain to stop. Finally, when he was slowly getting used to the pain, he finally heard all the pirates simultaneously yell out 'idiot!'

●ω●

"Let's drink up and celebrate! To Luffy's craziness and to our greatness!" Everyone who were at the pirate ship were now raising sake cups and laughing like there was no tomorrow, many ending up drunk after the first two cups they got.

"Ah… It didn't hurt one bit…" The neko said, his large eye threatening to tear up once more, a bandage now over the cut.

"Liar! Don't do anything so stupid again!" The straw hat-wearing man, Shanks, yelled at him, not done calling him an idiot, unlike the others who were already celebrating.

Luffy looked at the man and a large smile appeared on the neko's face. "I'm not afraid of pain at all! Next time bring me out to sea! I want to be a pirate too!" He said as if the event before really had done nothing to affect him.

After he had said that, Shanks once again began to laugh and held up a spoon ready to eat something. He continued to tease the neko about how he could never be a pirate and that his incapability to swim is a pirate's greatest weakness. Luffy, being the stubborn kid he was, stood up from his stool and faced Shanks with an angered expression. "As long as I stay onboard the ship, I'll be fine! Besides, my fighting is pretty good too!" He then punched the air and smirked, "I've rigorously trained before! My punch is as strong as pistol fire!" His tail twitched at his last comment, as if it was making fun of what the rest of its body was doing.

"A pistol?" Shanks asked while resting his head on his hand, "Wow… really?" He continued to tease in a bored tone, much to the neko's displeasure.

"What kind of tone is that!?" he couldn't help but yell out, he ears and tail reacting much the same way by twitching and loudly swooshing the air.

Suddenly, a group of pirates, obviously drunk but happy, continued to encourage him by saying that the life of a pirate was like no other and that it was the best way to have fun and seek adventure, the last one finishing off by saying that nothing was better than freedom, much to Luffy's amusement and encouragement. He couldn't help but stare in awe at what they were saying. His face clearly read something that meant that he was convinced.

His inspiration was long-lived though, all by a certain red head. "Don't give him these dumb ideas, guys." He said with a bored face and the spoon from before held between his teeth.

One man looked from over his shoulder on his chair and smirked kindly, asking his captain if they could take Luffy just once, others joining in on the invitation as well. Luffy jumped down from his chair and held his arms confidently close to his chest before also joining in on his own invitation, yelling out a 'yeah!' Shanks turned to look back at the counter and sighed annoyed but with a hint of teasing recognition. "Well, then next time one of you get off the ship and let him take your place."

With only that sentence, everyone who had tried to convince their captain had gleefully hopped back to each of their seats. "We've said enough! Let's drink!" Lucky Roo finished. Luffy yelled at the pirates, asking what kind of friends they were. He returned to his stool next to Shanks and sighed.

Shanks looked a Luffy and pointed his spoon at him with a kind smile. "The most important thing is that you're still too young. Wait at least another ten years and I'll reconsider taking you out to sea."

Luffy glared at the man as he gritted his teeth. His ears laid back and his tail bristled a bit. "Darn it Shanks! Let me tell you! I'm not a kid anymore!" Smoke was quite literally coming out of his pores.

Shanks set down his spoon and rested his hand on the counter and raised the other in a gesturing manner. "Don't be mad. Here, drink some juice." He passed down a smaller cup than the others filled with juice to Luffy who gladly took it and replied him with a thanks. Right after Luffy had only taken his first sips, Shanks slapped his fist onto the counter and burst into a loud fit of laughter that the neko was sure was almost impossible to stop. "You really are a kid! How funny!"

"What a dirty trick!" The neko tried to counter but the red head wouldn't have any of it, mostly because his words were muted by his laughter.

Luffy hopped off the stool and, regardless of the event prior, he took the glass of juice with him. "Hmph! I'm so tired! I even cut myself today and he still won't agree!" He continued to walk and ran into Ben.

"Luffy, you should try to understand captain's feelings." He said lighting his long but thin cigarette. Luffy looked at the tall man and repeated the statement in the form of a question, still holding the beer jug filled with juice. "Yes… after all, he is our leader. He knows that being a pirate is interesting, but he also knows that a pirate's life is hard and very dangerous." Luffy's ears twitched at the last statement, though he showed no change in emotion, only curiosity.

"Do you understand? He doesn't purposely tease your ambitions of being a pirate." Ben said.

"I don't understand! Shanks just takes me for an idiot!" When he finished his sentence, he looked over at Shanks who hid behind his fist in a teasing way and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, especially Luffy.

"Can't swim!" he teased.

"See!" Luffy pointed to Shanks and looked at Ben, who had a dumbstruck expression.

"Captain, you seem to be happy as always." A kind looking woman walked in holding a large barrel in her grasps walked in from behind the bar.

"Yep. Making fun of him is my joy." Shanks said, snickering.

"Luffy grew an annoyed look and pointed at Shanks while looking at Ben, "He is really happy."

His attention was then caught by the woman carrying the barrel who had offered him something to eat. Her ears were gently perked, protruding from under her kerchief. The tip of her tail was slightly visible from under her long skirt, which was an amusing dark green color. "OK! I'll pay you with my treasure!" Luffy said happily to the girl named Makino.

Shanks peered at Luffy who was now holding a knife and a fork and smirked, "What treasure? You're lying again."

Luffy looked at Shanks and banged his silverware on the counter. "No! I'm definitely gonna be a pirate. I'll pay Makino with the treasure I find!" He finished. Makino laughed and turned to go prepare the food. "I'll be waiting!" She said in her all-too cheerful and kind voice. Luffy grinned and giggled as well, his tail wagging pleasantly.

Once Luffy was given his food, he turned to Shanks and while eating a rather large piece of steak and asked, "How long are you gonna stay?"

Shanks stopped eating as well and looked at Luffy with a smile, somewhat forced, "Well… it's almost been a year since we used this town as our base. I plan on setting sail a couple more times then we'll leave this town and head north." Luffy finally managed to eat a chunk of the meat, all while listening.

"A couple of times…" He said mostly to himself. "I'll learn how to swim by then!" He said turning towards Shanks, who had wished him good luck.

After the conversation, not a second after, Luffy was surprised by the sudden door breaking from its hinges and ending up on the floor in the middle of the bar. "Excuse me!" The voice was loud, too loud for both Luffy and Makino's neko ears. As soon as they entered, Makino immediately pushed her kerchief over her neko ears and Shanks quickly snatched his hat and set it on Luffy's head as the neko quickly stuck in his tail in his pants. He then turned to Luffy who was staring at him with wide eyes and slightly glared at him, then he whispered, "That's the only time I'm letting you wear my hat." He then looked away from Luffy and stared back at the 'guests'.

"Hehe… so this is what pirates look like, huh?" He sneered, "This is the first time I've seen pirates. They look pretty dumb to me."

After Shanks had set his straw hat on Luffy's head, the neko had seen a small chest containing a strange looking dessert. Luffy had grabbed it and before the man had reached the counter, he had already started eating the purple treat. He then changed his attention to the man who had set his hand on the counter next to Shanks who was about to open a sake bottle. "We are bandits. We're not here to cause trouble. We just wanna buy ten barrels of sake." The leader said with a troublesome tone.

Makino stared at the man as a thin layer of sweat damped her face. "I'm so sorry, but we are out of sake."

The bandit looked at the pirate crew, "Oh? That's strange, then what are they drinking? Water?"

"It's sake. But that was the last of our stock." Luffy stared at Makino. Just by doing so, he could tell how much stress she was going through every passing second.

Shanks looked at the bandit and smiled kindly, but the bandit leader didn't take it that way. "I'm sorry, looks like we've finished all the sake here. Sorry about that. If you don't mind, take the last bottle." He lifted the bottle he was about to open and lifted it towards the leader. Luffy saw the anger grow on the man's face so he instinctively jumped off his chair, holding the hat on his head when he did so. He covered himself with his free hand and looked away when suddenly there was a loud shatter of glass. The next second, drops of beer had landed on the floor but many shards of glass had landed everywhere.

When Luffy looked up, he saw Shanks with his head down completely soaked in sake. He dropped his jaw at the sight, still eating the dessert.

"Just who do you think I am? Don't take me so lightly. One bottle is not enough!" The bandit said with his fist squeezed tight soaked in sake, implying he had crushed the bottle with his hand only.

Shanks had ignored him and a frown grew on his face. "Oh no. Now the floor is all wet."

The bandit lifted a piece of paper and when Luffy took a peek at it, he noticed it was a bounty of the bandit leader. "See this? My head is worth eight million beli. I'm one of the prime fugitives here, and I've killed fifty-six people before, you cocky bastard." He looked down at Shanks with a deathly glare, but it didn't seem to faze him. "Now that you know who I am, don't mess with us ever again. After all, mountain bandits and sea pirates don't mingle well."

Shanks picked up the lower broken piece of the sake bottle, a soft clink emitting from him picking it up. He then hopped off his stool and crouched down and continued to pick up more of the glass shards. "Sorry about that, Makino. Do you have a mop?" He asked looking slightly to his side.

"Ah… It's alright. I'll clean it up!" She replied with full honesty, concealing her tail even better from underneath her long skirt.

The bandit leader unsheathed his sword and without warning, he slashed at all the plates and bottles from the counter, most of it landing on Shanks and some glass shards fell on Luffy, though he was protected by the straw hat he was wearing. Although it wasn't visible, Luffy's tail had puffed up from underneath his shorts and his eyes were threatening to spill again. "Well, it seems like you really enjoy cleaning. Now you can enjoy it even more." He then turned around and sheathed his sword. "Hmmph. Later, you bunch of chickens." He said, finally leaving.

Luffy walked over to Shanks and returned the hat to him, revealing his ears. He also removed his tail from underneath his shorts. The red head then set it on his head as Makino asked if he was okay, kneeling to his level, who had already let her ears feel the air. Suddenly, the whole bar burst into laughter, the pirates making fun of their captain. Soon enough, he began laughing too, removing his hat and holding it in his hand.

Having enough, Luffy clutched his hand into a fist and his ears and tails immediately reacted. His black ears laid back on his head as his tail began to twitch and wag uncontrollably. "Why are you laughing?!" Immediately, everyone in the bar who had been laughing silenced themselves. "That was disgraceful! Why didn't you fight him?! So what if they have more people?! Who laughs after getting picked on? You're not a man, and not a pirate either!" He was screaming now and by the time he finished, he was huffing out the extra air.

Shanks looked at him with a surprised expression and smiled, once again setting his straw hat on his head. "Look, I know how you feel, but it's just a bottle of sake. There's nothing to get worked up about."

Luffy huffed once more before he started to walk away from the red headed man. "I don't want to see you again, coward!"

Before he could leave, though, Shanks grabbed his arm and let out a small chuckle, "Oh, c'mon. Don't go, Luffy…"

Before Shanks could finish, Luffy felt his arm get abnormally long and he could hear the many hisses of people spitting out their drink. The neko knew something was up and his curiosity grew bigger when he heard everyone gape at something, making uncertain noises that obviously meant something. He then looked back and his jaw immediately dropped.

"His arm… it's stretching!" Shanks yelled. "That's…!"

"No way… you…" Others joined in.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" Luffy's tail puffed up to the maximum and he could feel his scream rushing out of his mouth. "AAAH!"

Before, Luffy knew it, various events had happened in a single minute, all ranging from people screaming to Lucky Roo opening the chest and drawing an exact replica of the dessert Luffy had ate before to Shanks explaining to Luffy what devil fruits were and how they affected the user's body.

"Whoever eats it will turn into a rubber man and will never be able to swim!" Shanks finally finished.

"WHAAAAAAAAT! YOU'RE KIDDING RIIIIIIGHT?!" At this point, Luffy's jaw had completely dropped onto the ground, his rubber body now adding more stretch to it.

"You idiot!" Shanks and the rest of the crew yelled.

●ω●

The neko boy ran through the dirt pathways, many windmills turning, firmly planted on the ground. His ears and tail flew freely in the wind rushing past him and finally, because of his energetic body, he made it to the fish shop in record speeds. Almost. "Hee hee. I want to buy some fish, Mr. Store keeper!"

"Hey Luffy, you look like you're in a good mood today. So, did the pirates leave you behind again?" The store keeper set his hands on the counter of his small shop and a wild grin appeared on his large face, the woman behind him smiling as well. "Either way, you can't swim anymore."

"That's alright!" The neko's ears twitched slightly, "I'll just be a pirate who doesn't fall into the sea! After eating the Gomu Gomu no Mi, I've become even happier! Look!" With that said, Luffy grabbed his cheeks and stretched them as far as he could, all the while he tried to smile though his stretched mouth.

From behind him though, he heard an all-too familiar voice that he had never really grown a special liking to. "What's so good about that?!" Maybe the whole village thinks that's cool, but what good does that do… Having a rubber body!"

Luffy looked behind him and quickly turned his head around to face the direction of the fish shop. "I'm gonna tell you again, Luffy. Don't become a pirate! It'll ruin this town's reputation! The captain may look like a reasonable person, but don't hang around him again!" All the while the mayor was saying this, Luffy had plugged in his human ears with his index fingers and he laid his ears against his head so that he wouldn't have to listen more, also sticking out his tongue to tease him a bit more.

●ω●

Luffy sat on one of the bar's stools in front of Makino who was on the other side of the counter. He held a beer jug in his hands now empty and only ice laying on the bottom. His tail swished from one side to the other in a slow manner. He was somewhat aggravated, but not so much to where his tail was like a maddened snake ready to kill.

"They've been gone for a while now." The neko said.

"Do you feel lonely, Luffy" Makino asked cleaning one of the jugs in her kind voice.

"Nope. I haven't forgiven them for the bandit's incident yet!" He said forcing his jug on the counter with a soft thud. "I overestimated Shanks! I thought he was a tough pirate. What a disappointment." He said, the lip of the jug now rolling in between his teeth.

Makino picked up a wine glass and began to clean the glass, "Really? I thought people who could laugh it off after getting picked on are pretty brave." Her tail was moving in its softest movements.

"That's because you don't understand. There are times when a man should fight back!" Luffy said, angrily pouting through his lips which were perked in a way that would still hold the lip of the jug.

"Oh? I guess I don't know anything then." She smiled.

"That's right, you don't."

After he said that, an unwanted man walked inside the bar and once again greeted them with an 'excuse me'. Luffy immediately looked over his shoulder with a smile but it was cut short when he realized who the man who had entered were. His smile turned into one of shock, realizing that his tail and ears were still exposed. He and Makino tucked in their tails but only Makino could properly hide her hears. Luffy was left with only his hands to cover them.

"Well, looks like the pirates aren't here today. It sure is quiet." Behind the bandit leader, the same bandits walked right behind him, some smirking while others laughed at another's joke. Everyone took their seats on the tables and when Makino only stared, the leader banged his hand on the table and yelled, "What are you waiting for?! We're customers! Bring us some sake!"

●ω●

"What an interesting body." The leader of the bandits said, clearly amused.

"Yep, seems like kicking and punching won't do any harm to it." Another said.

The bandits circled around Luffy, clearly amused by the fact that his body was made of rubber and that he had both cats ears and a cat tail. They only found out because earlier, the leader had finally noticed, after Luffy had yelled at him, that the boy was hiding something underneath his hands, so, when the boy had let his guard down, the bandit took the chance to see what was really underneath his hands, and it clearly ended devastatingly.

"Damn it! Apologize to me right now!" the bandit leader had Luffy strangled by the neck while with his free hand, he pulled his cheek. "You bastard!" he said as he tried to punch him, only to have him dodge the attack.

"Oh, a rubber man, huh…?" He said amused, "Who would've thought such a thing existed in this world…!?" While holding his cheek, he let go of Luffy's throat and threw him to the ground, lunging him afterwards.

"Damn it!" Luffy's tail was waving ferociously, definitely much deadlier than a snake, as he glared at the bandits.

"A different type of human. A neko too…" The leader said again.

"You'll be sorry for this!" Luffy raged.

"If I sell him to a circus… I can sure get a lot of money."

Luffy grabbed a large baseball bat-sized stick and lashed out towards the leader. "What a strong… Brat!" The leader raised his foot and crushed Luffy's head and if he had not been rubber, his head wouldn't even exist by now.

"We were just having a good time drinking and talking…" The bandit leader raised his hands below his neck and waved his hands around a bit, "Did we say something that pissed you off?"

"Yes you did!" Luffy yelled from underneath his foot still grounded into his face, "Apologize right now! Damnit! Move your damn foot! You damned bandit!" the neko squirmed from underneath, trying to free himself as he grit his teeth as hard as he could.

Suddenly, from the corner of the neko's sight, he saw two figures quickly running closer to the group of bandits and him. "Let the child go! Please!" Luffy's eyes widened to see that the mayor and Makino were only a few feet away from him and the bandits, begging for them to let him go. He definitely wasn't expecting to see the person who always disapproved of his dream to become a pirate to confront a group of bandits with someone dear to him. What surprised him more though was that the mayor not only begged but also fell to his knees and hands and pleaded some more. "I don't know what Luffy did, and I don't want to argue with you… But I'm willing to pay! So please, let the child go!"

"Chief…!" Luffy didn't really know how to feel about the mayor now, but he was sure he was going to have to repay him someday.

The bandit leader squeezed his foot harder on the neko's head and looked at the mayor with a smirk. "As one would expect, it's the elders that know the proper way to deal with any situation," he lifted his hand close to his neck and a strangling gesture was clear, as if he was ready to kill anyone, "but it's too late! You can't save this little brat now because he really makes me angry…! When a weakling insults me, it makes me so angry!"

Luffy growled deep in his throat. He remembered about kyōbō mode, and he knew that if he were to be in it, he could definitely defeat the bandit, but he also knew he was too young to even unlock half of it, so he resorted to calling him names, "It's your fault! You wild baboon!" his tail was now whipping violently. This caused the bandit to look down at his prey and scoff.

"Fine, I'm not gonna sell you. I'll kill you instead." With that, he took out his sword and raised it above the neko's body, ready to slice and stab.

"Luffy!" He heard Makino yell out.

"Pl-Please! Let him go!" The mayor yelled out afterwards, pleading some more.

Without warning though, Luffy saw a figure suddenly appear in between Makino and the mayor. He widened his eyes and his tail slowed his whipping. He ears relaxed a bit but there was definitely still anger in his eyes. "I was wondering why no one welcomed us at the port." The figure said, his straw hat and red bangs shadowing his eyes. "So this is why…" Makino and the mayor looked to their middle and saw a definitely wanted character.

Shanks looked up and his constant smile reappeared once again in its own mocking way. "Hey, you guys were the bandits from the other day." Makino's tail puffed a bit but immediately relaxed when she called out 'captain.' "Luffy! What's wrong?" Shanks looked down at Luffy with his mocking smile, "Isn't your punch as strong as pistol fire?"

Luffy's tail bristled as his eyes flashed a bit more anger than before, "Shut up!"

"Pirate… why are you still here?" the bandit said looking towards the pirate captain with bored eyes and a sadistic smirk, "Are you going to clean up the whole town this time?" He mocked.

Shanks walked closer to the bandits with no worries. One of the bandits looked at him and smirked just like their leader and pulled out a gun. The leader held out his sword, still preparing to kill the neko underneath him, "I suggest you leave right now. If you get any closer, I might have to open fire, you coward."

Once Shanks was close enough, the bandit with the gun held up the gun pointed at Shanks head and smirked, "Didn't you hear!? You were told not to get closer!" He loaded the gun, "Do you want to get shot?" The other bandits started laughing, almost as if they wanted to see someone die from getting shot in the head by their pal.

Shanks slowly turned his head to look at the bandit threatening him and looked at him, not moving his head completely, "Well, since you pulled out your gun, I'll guess we'll have to fight." He said calmly. The bandit threatening him looked at him confused and lowed his guard a bit. Shanks then pointed at the gun with one finger and with a sincere smile, he said quite frighteningly, "I said, don't use this to scare people." And on cue, a loud noise sounded and the bandit fell onto the floor, blood seeping out from the bullet wound in his head.

Luffy widened his eyes in horror but with a bit of amazement, he then looked at the one who shot him and saw a fat body holding out a gun, the man eating a large piece of meat. He then realized that Lucky was the one who had done the deed. All at once, the rest of the red hair's crew appeared behind him, all wearing serious frowns.

"Now you've done it, bastard!" One bandit yelled out.

"Damn it… That was dirty!" Another joined.

"Dirty?" Yasopp asked, crossing his arms.

Ben stuffed his hands in his pockets as smoke rose from his cigarette. "Don't make us laugh. Do you think we're saints or something?"

Shanks grabbed his black cape and smirked, "The people standing in front of you are pirates."

One of the bandits growled and yelled at Shanks, "Shut up! This is none of your business."

Shanks completely ignored him and took a step closer then stopped, "Listen well bandits… you can whip food or sake at me… or even spit on me. I can laugh it off. But…!" Luffy flinched from underneath the man's foot, he knew that his tail was going to puff up any moment now, "I don't care what reasons you have! I won't forgive anyone who messes with my friends!" Luffy, expecting his tail to turn into a fuzzy ball, instead whipped around calmly. His eyes widened and he felt something new for the pirate captain. Silently, he whispered to himself, and called out the pirate's name.

The moment was ruined though when the bandit leader started laughing uncontrollably, making fun of what Shanks had said earlier. "You, a bunch of pirates who float around on a ship all day, want to challenge us!? We will destroy you!" Immediately, all the bandits charged forward, unsheathing their swords and other weapons they had, also using verbal combat which was completely ignored. Ben walked up to Shank's side and pulled out his shot gun.

"Let me deal with this. I can take care of them myself." He said, turning his gun backwards. When the first bandit reached him, he slashed his sword but missed, in return, Ben pulled out his cigarette from his mouth and in lightning speed, he set the hot part of the cigarette on the man's nose bridge, terrifyingly close to his eye. The man fell onto the ground, wailing in pain as Luffy watched Ben completely destroy everyone with the butt of his gun, not even breaking a single sweat. He then pointed the gun at the bandit leader who had a scared expression, clearly he had underestimated the strength of a pirate.

"Wow…" the raven-haired boy said in obvious amazement.

Out of nowhere though, the bandit threw a smoke bomb onto the floor. Exploding white smoke invaded the street as Shanks and the rest of the pirates and unconscious bandits were engulfed in it. "Come with me brat!" Luffy watched as the bandit picked him up roughly. Before he knew it, he was already far away from the place where the smoke was. "Damnit! Let go of me!"

Luffy watched as the bandit leader threw him on a small boat and they began to sail. Soon enough, they were far away from shore and Luffy's chances of escape were zero. The fact that he didn't know how to swim before and that he had eaten a devil fruit weren't helping either. The bandit started to laugh manically and boasted on how they escaped and how they were never going to find them, because, who would ever think to find a bandit on a boat? He then stopped laughing and looked at Luffy with merciless eyes. "Well, I only used you as a hostage, but you are useless now. I've killed fifty-six people who messed with me before, you know." Luffy looked at the salty water below him and grew extremely worried. His tail bristled with every moment the boat would make on the waves and he grew uneasy by the movement.

He then glared at the bandit and lunged at him with a punch. "Go to hell!"

He heard the bandit chuckle before the next thing he knew, he felt a sharp pain on his stomach and he was rapidly falling towards the water. There was darkness for a moment before he started to splash forcefully on the water and he found air. He could hear the manic laughs of the bandit who was still standing on the boat, laughing at how the neko was drowning with no means of escape. He continued to splash desperately but he stopped for a moment when he heard a low growl that definitely didn't come from the bandit, as much as it sounded like him. Suddenly, his tail puffed up from under the water—allowing water to soak it even more—when he saw a huge, dark figure appear from behind the boat the bandit was on. In not even a second, the boat was crushed and the bandit was gone, not a single trace of human left anywhere.

He stopped moving completely when he realized that if he made any noise, it would get its attention, but, when a red eye found its way to Luffy, staring deep at him, Luffy panicked and continued to splash desperately on the water, begging the heavens for someone to help him. The sea king, now rapidly going towards Luffy, opened its jaws wide, revealing razor-sharp teeth ready to kill. Luffy's tears finally found their way out as he wailed some more. Finally, the jaws chomped down as blood flew everywhere and mixed with the salt water. Luffy closed his eyes shut and slowly opened them. He was met with the gaze of the large sea king, and he found himself tightly in the grasp of a special pirate captain. "Shanks!" He managed to cry out.

He looked up at the captain, his flaming red hair completely exposed from the absence of his straw hat. "Get lost." He said threateningly to the large sea monster. They stared for a while but Luffy could see the terror in the sea king's eyes. A few seconds afterwards, the sea king obeyed and swam back into the water, as if something forced it to. Shanks looked down at Luffy and smiled warmly. "Thanks Luffy. Makino told me everything." Luffy continued to sniff, his tears threatening to spill once again, "Thanks for sticking up for us." He then smiled even wider and even let out a laugh, "Oh, c'mon. Boys don't cry."

Luffy's ears laid back against the back of his head as he cried some more, "But…! Shanks…!" Luffy let his tears spill completely and grabbed Shanks shirt as he cried into it, "YOUR ARM!" He continued to cry some more as the smell of fresh blood and salt water invaded his sensitive nose. He didn't even want to look at the left side of Shanks body. The limb that was supposed to be there was only a ragged stump that was soaked in crimson liquid. More blood continued to spill as he cried, all mixing with the water, giving it a hue of purple.

"It's nothing. It's just an arm…" he smiled kindly, "As long as you're alive."

Luffy choked on his tears and continued to wail, too scared to do anything else.

●ω●

The raven haired neko watched as the pirates carried barrels of water and sake and bags filled with food. He ran over to Shanks who had covered his arm with his black cape, completely concealing the injury. "You're really leaving this time?" he asked with a surprised expression, clearly not wanting him to go yet.

"Yep." Shanks looked back at his ship, "We've stayed here long enough. It's about time we move on. Are you upset?" He asked Luffy.

"Yeah… but, I won't force you to take me along anymore. I'll become a pirate by myself." The neko smiled sincerely.

"Heh, I wouldn't take you even if you begged me." Shanks mocked him even more by taking his tongue out, "You don't have what it takes to become a pirate!"

"Yes I do!" Luffy's ears and tail perked up along with his hands, "One day, I'll find myself a crew that is as strong as yours! And then I'll find the world's biggest treasure…! AND BECOME THE KING OF PIRATES!" he seethed.

Shanks smiled, "Oh…! So you want to be bigger than us, huh? Well then…" Luffy watched as the pirate captain raised his hand above his head and grabbed his precious straw hat. He then pulled it off and set it on Luffy's head. "This hat is my gift to you." Tears started to fall from Luffy's cheeks as his tail drooped low behind his legs. "This is my favorite hat, you know." Shanks turned around and walked away, but he didn't break his sight from Luffy. "When you become a great pirate in the future, you'll return that hat to me.

Luffy watched as Shanks and the rest of the crew go onboard their pirate ship and sail away. Tears started to fall once again from the neko's eyes as he tried his best to wipe them away. He recognized Makino's footsteps as she walked closer to him and set her hands on his shoulders. He bit his bottom lip as the endless stream of tears made their way out from his closed eye lids.

●ω●

"Ah… The weather sure is nice today." Luffy stared into the sky, his crossed arms behind his neck as he stared at the sea gulls flying over him. The waters were calm and the sun shun brilliantly against him. "Sure feels good." He said. As a neko, it was impossible for a neko—or a cat for that matter—to resist bathing in the sun light.

A loud splash sounded behind the neko.

When he turned around, he grabbed his hat and smiled excitedly. A large sea king with razor sharp teeth appeared, and Luffy couldn't have been happier. "I've been waiting for you, sea monster! This is your unlucky day." His smile then changed into a smirk. "I'll show you what I've learned in the past ten years." The neko rose from his spot and with his left hand, he grabbed his right shoulder, while his right arm was forced back. "Gomu gomu no…" The sea king lunged itself at Luffy with an open mouth. "Pistol!" His arm stretched and landed a powerful hit on the sea king, right on the cheek, breaking a few teeth in the process.

"How'd that taste? Stupid fish!" Luffy said holding his right arm. Once the sea king had submerged completely, he sighed and breathed in the fresh, salty air. "Hehe, I'll have to find some friends first. I hope I can find at least ten people, and then I'll make a flag!" A wide smile made way to his face, "Alright, let's go! I'LL BECOME… THE KING OF PIRATES!"

●ω●

The raven-haired neko had recklessly went to sea with a small rowing boat—not even big enough to hold a maximum of two people—and had made plans on making some friends. Earlier, he had yelled out to everyone in the vicinity around him that he was setting off, and he had told himself that he wanted at least ten crew members, but he was especially wanting a musician, no matter what. Yet, even though he had just started his journey, he had ignored a tingling in his tail and had gotten himself into the jaws of the ocean. "Ah! The weather sure is nice today."

He grabbed one of the paddles from his boat and let it rest on his shoulder as he crossed his arms over it, a wide grin spread across his face. "On a nice day like this, who would've thought I'd get into such a disaster!?" The neko's tail swayed from side to side in amusement, clearly undisturbed by the massive hole in the water.

"What a huge whirlpool." He laughed and his tail swayed happily, "How careless of me. I even felt a shift in the wind." He got up from his spot and rested his hand on his forehead, searching the vast sea for any promising figures. "There's no one around me. It'll be really bad if this boat wrecks…" He shifted his hand so now his thumb and index finger were underneath his chin in a thinking gesture, as if the neko could think clearly anyway. "And on top of that, I can't even swim."

He thought a bit more and suddenly his tail perked up high like a housecat and bristled a bit in realization. He bumped his fist in his palm and an expression of understanding was evident, "Ah! Wait a minute!" He grinned, "It doesn't really matter if I know how to swim in a situation like this. Swimming won't save you here!" His ears twitched from underneath his straw hat realizing that his boat was too close to the center of the whirlpool. Suddenly, his boat creaked and moaned before it started to be pulled towards the center by the invisible hand of the ocean.

Before he could get a move on, his boat was sucked in almost completely, and thinking rapidly, his mind came up with the best solution his meat-filled mind could think of, and, it certainly did wonders.

●ω●

His stomach grumbled and echoed in his closed space inside the barrel he was in. His tail had been soaked a bit, causing it to drag a bit for the first hour or so, but after that time, it had also been enough time to dry, but it somehow ended inside his pants, out from the waist, into his hoodie and out from the neck. Comfortable wasn't the word he would use for the whole trip and on top of that, he was hungry. His black hole of a stomach wasn't doing anything to help either.

Luffy had his fun by—first taking out his tail—and putting it in strange places. When he got extremely bored, he managed to accidently tie his tail around his neck, temporarily causing him to see the light. Before he crossed the tunnel, he managed to untangle his appendage from around his neck and air finally managed to tunnel freely through his pipe and lungs.

It could've been his imagination, but he thought he saw an island with buildings and strange roofs and many sunflowers and a high castle, though he had no idea what that meant and he paid no heed to it. It was one of his subconscious rules in his mind that if he didn't understand, he didn't care, and he followed it very well.

After some time, he felt himself stop moving a little. At this point, he would've happily jumped out of the barrel and feel fresh land in what seemed like a billion years, but he had fallen asleep earlier and his sleep hadn't yet left him. He yawned and closed his eyes, deciding that he would wake up later when his stomach grumbled again.

While he was asleep, he did feel a weak tug on his barrel, but, like with the incident with the whirlpool, he paid no mind to what his mind was trying to process.

After some more minutes of sleep, he yawned as his stomach grumbled. His eyes slowly opened as he yawned once more. He was still moving slow but when his stomach demanded food even louder, a wide grin quickly made it to his face as he sprang to his feet, breaking the lid of the barrel he was in with his arms high in the sky and his straw hat set on his head, concealing his cat ears, though he didn't mind the strange feeling of display near his rear. Huh.

"What a nice nap that was!" He said, practically screaming to the world. "Looks like I'm saved. I thought I was gonna die too!" Fits of uncontrollable laughter exploded from the previous quiet room.

He rested the palms of his hands on the rim of the broken top of the barrel and stared at four different people gawking at him. A fat guy to his right wore a striped shirt and a bandana as headwear—also striped. The neko found his facial hair curious since his sideburns ending in little curls that looked too small for the big guy. The one next to him was skinnier and wore nothing special, but he did have a bare head and a beard that connected with his moustache. Another to his left wore a striped shirt like—what he assumed was—his partner but vertical instead of horizontal with a small sash tied around his waist. He, like everyone else, had a surprised expression. Though, the last one looked like a… wimp, compared to the others. He had large, circular glasses and pink hair that was combed to the sides. He wore a white T-shirt with three blue stripes that reached from the short sleeves to the neck collar. The colors reminded him of his grandpa since he was a marine, though he looked nothing like one, so he dismissed his idea.

The neko, barely realizing what was going on, reached behind his back and slowly tucked in his tail in his pants. He then hunched forward and slightly squinted his eyes. "Who are you?" he asked as if he wasn't the strange one.

Almost immediately, the three taller ones yelled at him, repeating the same question with a bit more aggression, though a lot more confusion in it. The fat one walked over to him and grit his teeth, "Why would someone be coming out of a wine barrel!?" he asked with beads of sweat dripping off him.

Before Luffy could answer, the room exploded into a million pieces of wood and stone, and on top of it all was what looked like a heavy mace, spikes protruding from each end. But, before the neko could see the culprit of the destruction of the building, he—still inside the barrel—was flung into the forest. Though, he was completely unfazed by both the impact and the fall.

It took some time but the wimpy kid with the other men walked up to him and asked him if he was okay. Luffy laughed a bit, still inside the barrel, and said he was fine, though he was a little surprised. He then introduced himself and asked the boy where he was.

"This is the breeding ground of the pirate 'Iron Mace Alvida.' I'm the caretaker on this ship. My name is Coby." The boy, Coby, said with a small smile.

Luffy planted his leg to the ground and hoisted his other out of the barrel, his tail and ears still concealed from sight. "I see. Actually, that's not important." A small 'oh' peeped out from Coby's mouth and a dumb-founded expression planted itself on his face, a bit more sweat than before as well.

Luffy looked back at Coby and smiled, "Do you have a small boat? Mine got caught in a whirlpool." He asked as if it was something that every day in everybody's lives.

"Whirl…Whirlpool?! You were caught in a whirlpool?!" He asked, clearly surprised.

"Yea, that whirlpool was scary." Luffy crossed his arms and a frown made it to his face, a bit annoyed that he lost his boat almost as soon as he set sail.

"A normal person would've died already…" the pink-haired boy shifted his round glasses higher, "You… you want a small boat? Well, I have one, but…" Coby walked away for a few seconds and from behind a few bushes, shrubs and trees, he pulled out what seemed like a whole bunch of wood vomited from a diseased boat.

"What's this?" Luffy bent over and looked at it with almost pity, "A coffin?"

"That's a boat I secretly built for two years."

"Spent two years? You… don't want it anymore?" the neko looked at Coby, shifting his pity towards him, but it quickly disappeared when the boy rambled on how he was going to use it and how he didn't have what it took to escape. Luffy told him that he should leave then but the boy rambled on more about how he was terrified of doing so.

"That day… I was only fishing, but I accidently walked onto this ship! And I had to become a caretaker on the ship these two years to stay alive…!" He said with a shameful and horrid look.

Luffy listened to his story and his ears twitched from underneath his hat. He could definitely smell the amount of fear that was being released from the boy, so much that he could almost see a yellow, greenish gas around him. Though, he didn't hold such pity in his system. "You're pretty stupid and useless. And you seem kinda wimpy too. I don't like you." He said laughing. Coby looked at Luffy and after rambling a bit more, he asked the neko why he was sailing, to which Luffy simply responded, "I want to become the pirate king!"

Coby's eyes widened by what he had heard. Luffy sensed the fear rise much more than before and this time, he was definitely seeing yellow. "Eh….! Wha?! What?! 'Pirate King' was the title of someone who has everything in this world! Are you telling me that you're looking for the 'world's greatest treasure'?! THE ONE PIECE!?" Coby flailed his arms around like a mad man. "You wanna die or something? All the pirates in the world are looking for that treasure!"

"Well, so am I." Luffy said, crossing his arms and legs, his tail resting safely inside, but a bit uncomfortable.

"Im…Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Utterly, utterly impossible! To become the pirate king in the pirate era, there's no chance! Utterly impossible!" Coby said, sweat dropping from his forehead harder than before like heavy rain. Luffy raised a fist and bonked the rambling pink-haired boy hard on the head. "Ow! W-Why'd you hit me?" He said now flailing on the ground.

"Because I couldn't stand you." Was his simple answer. "I'm not afraid of dying. It's my dream, and that's why I won't mind dying for it." He desperately wanted to grab his straw hat and hold it proudly on his head, but he knew what was hiding underneath. "Hey, can I trust you with something?" The neko asked the boy, who was staring intently at him for some reason. To Luffy, it smelled something like recognition.

"Well, I guess so…" Coby answered warily.

Luffy smiled and a wide grin appeared on his already smiling face. With that, he grabbed his straw hat and pulled it off his head, his black ears plopping from underneath. He didn't stop there though. He lowered his pants a bit and softly grabbed his tail, pulling it out without too much trouble. When he looked at Coby, he was definitely expecting a surprised look, but they expression on the others' face was nothing he had ever seen on a human face before. His jaws were wide agape, every single tooth in his jaws revealed as his tongue almost stuck out. His eyes were bulging and it even seemed as if his pink hair was reacting as well since most of it was sticking out in every direction.

"Anyway, I think I could do it. Although it could get pretty tough." He said holding his hat close to his chest.

After many seconds, Coby finally spoke up, "You-You're a neko…! Lu-Luffy-san… You're a neko!" Coby practically choked out, "You're like a human gold mine! Luffy, if anyone else were to see you like this, they would definitely only think about getting their hands on gold and silver! You can't just go around showing everyone you think you trust your ears and tail! Think about it! What if I wasn't someone to be trusted?!"

"But I do trust you. And besides, there's nothing about you that seems threatening!" He said with a wide grin, his ears and tail twitching.

●ω●

After talking a bit more, Coby had confessed his dream to Luffy, asking him if it was something possible. Somewhere throughout his dream, Luffy had put back his hat and had hid his tail. Though, at the end of his rant of catching bad guys, he stated that the first pirate he was going to catch was going to be Alvida. As if on cue, a large woman crashed her mace onto the coffin-like boat, completely obliteration it. "Who did you say you are going to arrest, Coby?!" She looked up at him with a disgusting glare. "Did you think you can escape from me!?"

Not long after, the rest of the pirates shuffled in from behind her with maniacal expressions. "Is that who you hired to capture me? He doesn't seem to be Roronoa Zoro." Luffy perked his ears from underneath the straw hat and his tail twitched uncomfortable from inside his pants. Roronoa Zoro? Something about saying his name had gotten his attention. "Anyway, before you die, I'm going to ask you, what's the most beautiful thing in the sea, Coby?!"

Coby started to stutter, sweat running down him like an overflowing waterfall. He was scratching the back of his head as he thought hard what to say and what to do.

Luffy looked at Coby then at the woman named Alvida. "Hey Coby, who's this ugly, fat lady?" He said bluntly, pointing to what he was talking about. Coby and everybody else gawked at what he had said. The pink-haired boy reached out and grabbed Luffy's shoulders with sweaty arms.

"Quick, Luffy! Repeat after me! In all the seas, this lady is the most…" he started but stopped, confusing Luffy, but a small smile invaded his mouth, "The rudest, damned bitch!" Luffy knew it. Well, more like he smelt it. His smell had changed drastically, changing from fear to courage. The color, although still mixed with some yellow, was definitely red. The yellow from the fear from before slowly got stronger but to Luffy, if was satisfying to see that color again on someone else other than the people and loved ones who were at home and those who used to be.

Luffy, being the type of kid who laughed at everything in his path, started to do just that. His laughter was quite relieving as well, somewhat calming his non-angered nerves (if that makes any sense). He continued to laugh over the scream of the fat pirate and the wails of his new friend, but, when he caught on what Coby had said about not regretting a thing for his dream, the neko stopped his laughter and took in a deep breath to calm his systems.

He stepped in front of the sweating kid and pushed him back with his hand, keeping it there so that he was out of harm's way. "Well said, Coby! Now get behind me!" said Luffy.

Alvida raised her mace high above her head and within clenched jaws, she muttered something out before landing a full blow on the neko's head.

Luffy grinned from underneath the weapon. His eyes were shadowed by both his hat and bangs but his smile was definitely evident on him. "It's useless against me… because my body is made of rubber." The female pirate grew confused but a look of terror overtook her past expression. The neko flung his arm back while holding it with his other hand. "Gomu Gomu no…" a malicious smile came across his face for a sheer moment, one that clearly read 'sorry lady. I just won.'

"Pistol!" his arm stretched and connected with her left cheek, completely knocking her out. She had flown a good few feet before she collapsed on the floor, unconscious. Luffy stared on as her pirate crew circled around her large body, pointing out the obvious, some saying how she was beaten and how Luffy's arm had stretched, which, if you thought about it, wasn't all too obvious.

He pointed at the surprised pirates and with a serious look, he ordered them to get a boat for Coby. "He wants to join the marines! So stay outta his way!" The pirates stared agape at him as they simultaneously stuttered a small 'yes'. Luffy replaced his serious frown with a smile and giggled proudly, light shining off of him as if he was a star.

●ω●

Luffy sat on the bow of the small boat that was currently heading the opposite direction of the island they previously were on. Coby continued to ask Luffy questions about him being a neko and if the myths about them were true. Even to Luffy, it was obvious the pink-haired boy was quite intrigued by his ears and tail, which were now out of their closed spaces.

Speaking of cat features, Luffy's tail was swaying happily, once again feeling the salty air on his usually hidden-away cat parts.

"So, is it actually true that nekos only come from a few islands in East Blue?" He asked.

Luffy looked back at his friend and looked up at the sky as if he was thinking. "No." He said bluntly. "Actually, from what I know of the island I came from, it was only my village that had nekos. I visited some other places around there and as far as I can remember, the small village I was born and raised in was the only place that had nekos."

Coby looked at Luffy with a more confident voice, "So what you're trying to say is, is that only small parts of every island have nekos. Am I right?"

"Yep."

"I see…"

There was some silence between the two before Coby broke the awkwardness by asking some more questions about Luffy, beginning from him eating the Gomu Gomu no Mi to his dream of becoming 'Pirate King'. "But Luffy-san, if you're looking for the 'One Piece', that means you have to get into the 'Grand Line', right?"

"Yep!"

"But that place is known as the pirates' graveyard." Coby stated with his hands resting on his knees.

"Yea, that's why I need a strong crew." Luffy looked back at Coby and grew an oddly small smile as he pointed to some random direction on the vast ocean, "And one of them is being held captive at the place you're going."

"You mean… Roronoa Zoro?" asked Coby.

"If he's a good guy, I'd ask him to join me!" Luffy said, his smile returning to his trademark grin. Once again, light seemed like it was emanating from his mood.

"What?! You're dreaming again! You can't! He's like a monster!"

"We can't be sure about that yet." The neko countered.

"It'll never work!"

The neko's tail swayed peacefully, something that wasn't too common for the usually hyper kid, but, this time he was definitely content. "Monster, huh?" Luffy said, not looking at the person he was talking to. He was too excited. He wanted to be the first person to see the island where he was going to recruit his first crewmate.

"Yea Luffy-san." Coby said from behind the mast, walking over to where the older boy was sitting. "Roronoa Zoro is also known as the 'Pirate Hunter', he's a scary person." Coby shifted his round glasses closer to his eyes. "Rumor says he's like a blood thirsty hound, he wanders around the sea and hunts down fugitives. He's a monster in the form of a man."

Luffy looked back at the pink-haired boy. "Oh yea?" He knew there was something about him. Even though he had never seen or met the swordsman, he would always feel his tail bristle, but in a good way. Even saying the name 'Roronoa Zoro' sent a tingly, but nice shiver down his spine. To prove the point to himself, he whispered the swordsman's name and after saying it, a wide grin made it to his face. After ignoring what his cat instincts had told him before, he decided that he was definitely going to listen to what his body was telling him: there's something about this man and you definitely want to see what it is.

Coby raised his hands in a protesting gesture, waving them in front of his chest. "So let's drop the idea of recruiting him…"

Luffy smiled and laughed a bit, "I haven't made up my mind about recruiting him yet!" He paused a moment and remembered the special tingle he felt before when he simply said his name, "But if he's a good person…"

"HE'S ARRESTED BECAUSE HE'S BAD!" Coby countered.

●ω●

"We're finally at the marines' base!" Luffy punched the air as he hopped of the bow of the small boat he and Coby were on a second before. "You're great Coby!" he said stuffing his tail into his pants. His ears were already hidden by the straw hat he was wearing during the trip. Coby looked questioningly at the neko and a worried expression came over him. The raven-haired boy looked back at Coby and smiled, "We've actually made it to our destination!"

"Of course! That's the basics of navigation." Coby said with a glint of worry. "If you wander around at sea every time, you'll never become a pirate. You should at least find a navigator for you."

Luffy completely ignored Coby by thinking with his stomach. Besides, he didn't get anything to eat while he was at the island where Coby was with the fat pirate lady. "Alright! Let's go eat!"

●ω●

Luffy patted his stomach as he finished munching the last of his meal. Since they didn't have much money, they could only buy so much food for each one, though, while Luffy had already finished his plate and drink, Coby still had some rice on his plate. "We'll go our separate ways here! You do your best to be a great marine, alright?"

Although Coby wiped away his tears, Luffy smelled what type of tears they were. They were mixed with happiness but it smelled more like candy than cut grass, something like recognition as well. Gratitude. "I will…! Thank you so much!" Coby said wiping away more tears. "Luffy-san, you have to become a great pirate too… although we'll be enemies in the future."

Luffy leaned against his chair and sighed. "Say, I wonder if Zoro is still being kept at the marines' base."

Immediately after saying that, everybody else inside the restaurant jumped out of their chairs and created a mess of flying chairs, table and plates. When the neko looked at the customers, he found them all huddled together in a big group, scared out of their minds. Coby drew closer to Luffy and whispered to him how they probably shouldn't yell out the name 'Zoro', to which Luffy agreed, though, to him, he found it quite entertaining to see random people fly out of their chairs.

The pink-haired boy grew a small smile and told Luffy how he saw a notice about the marine base having a lieutenant called Morgan, and, surprisingly, the customers acted much the same way, all throwing their plates and chairs and tables and even other people.

When they left the restaurant, Luffy grabbed his stomach and slightly hunched over as he walked, laughing uncontrollably. "What an interesting restaurant! I gotta go there again!" Coby looked at the laughing neko and told him how he felt uneasy, and what a truth that was. When Luffy took a sniff in the air, he smelled the sweat on his friend, mixed with an onion odor. After thinking about it, he really thought that the boy was only capable of feeling an emotion with fear in it, no matter what it was.

"I could understand why they'd be scared after hearing Roronoa Zoro's name, since he could escape anytime, but why would they be afraid of a marine lieutenant's name too?!" he started to ramble.

"Well, he could've done something bad, right?" Luffy said bluntly as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked in front of Coby towards the marines' base, only having Coby yelling at him that it was impossible. "I'm serious." He said, looking at Coby. He wasn't a bright boy, and he wasn't a thinker either, but he recognized the smell of intense fear radiating from each of the customer's bodies. That smell was something that only one would emit if they had seen something that they would love to escape from, it was exactly like Coby's when he was with the female pirate captain as her cabin boy and navigator.

After a bit more walking, they finally made it in front of the marine base. The building had thick, blue patterns on it while the building itself was a light gray. Surrounding the base was a high, brick fence with metal doors with the word 'Marine' on it with the symbol of a seagull holding a wrench. "It looks pretty ugly up close." Luffy said. "Go ahead Coby." He said looking at the chubby kid. He stuttered out a few words about how he wasn't ready and that the incident at the restaurant had him thinking about something, but Luffy had already jogged to the brick wall and hopped onto the top, his body against the wall.

He raised his hand above his forehead as he studied the grounds of the base. "Monster… I wonder where he is?" he said with a small but excited smile. He hopped of the wall and continued to run to his left.

"You can't find him that easily. He's probably being kept in a secret room or something." Coby said without even looking.

"No! I saw something over there!" He continued to run further away from his friend and hopped once again on the wall as a wide smile appeared on his face. "Look at that person." He said resting his arms on the other side of the wall, facing inside the base. The man he saw inside was tied on what seemed like a cross. The man wore a black bandana tied on his head, completely covering from his forehead up. What had caught his attention was that the tied man had green hair, which, for any average human, would be impossible to see from where they were looking. He saw his glare but he immediately covered his nose.

Without even looking at Coby, his nostrils were infested by a disgusting onion smell. When he looked at Coby, his nose had been shriveled to a small raisin. Actually, he thought he had smelt the worst of Coby's fear, but… apparently not. Said kid was on the floor, shivering and sweating as if he had been near death. Luffy, still holding his nose, asked Coby what was wrong. "Th-That black bandana and cloth around his waist… and that intimidating aura…! It's Zoro…! It…It's him! Roronoa Zoro!" He finally stuttered out.

After hearing the name twice, Luffy's body bristled excitingly. Luffy smelled it. It wasn't an emotion nor was it coming from his shivering friend. It was something that only he would know about just from a sniff, not even, just a little hint was all that he needed to figure out what it was about Zoro that interested him so much. He looked back over the wall and at the tied man, studying him more.

Yes. Something is definitely there… Luffy sniffed once more but the smell of fear overtook his nose. He looked back at Coby again annoyed and huffed. He couldn't use his smell to know what Zoro was, but he didn't want to blame his friend so he tried sniffing once more but to no avail. Zoro wore a white shirt with three undone buttons at the collar, black trousers tucked inside black boots plus the bandana and waistband from before.

"So he's Zoro, huh…? Looks to me those ropes are pretty easy to break." Luffy said bluntly, but he was completely serious about it.

"S-Stop joking! If you free him, he could make a mess in the town and even kill you!" Coby countered, a horrid look on his chubby face.

Luffy didn't tear off his eyes from Zoro though. His eyes were wide in curiosity and honestly, he wanted to walk over there himself and see what he was so curious about. The neko watched as the bound man twitched before looking up with a curious look as well. There, Luffy saw it. He finally found out what his tail and ears kept twitching about. A wide smile came across his face as he prepared himself to jump off the wall, but he stopped when he heard his voice.

"Hey, you!" he said looking at Luffy with a shark grin. "Could you please come over here and untie me? I've been tied up for nine days and I'm exhausted." Luffy took note of all the blood and bruises on the swordsman. He imagined since he was tied up, he was beaten while he couldn't do anything. This made the neko mad, but since he didn't know who it was who had done that to him, he didn't really show it.

"Look, he's smiling." Luffy stated with a confused frown, his anger well hidden.

"He-He talked…!" Coby hid behind the wall, not wanting to be harmed from the tied danger.

"I'll repay you. I could hunt down a fugitive and give you the rewards. I'm not lying. I'll keep my words." He said, a few fresh drops of blood trickled from his forehead and mouth onto his white shirt.

Luffy cocked his head in confusion. Had he not smelled me yet? The neko thought. It took him awhile to come up with an explanation. He had noticed what the swordsman was and he knew it took someone even more idiotic than him to not realize what was in front of them. He had temporarily convinced himself that the swordsman was in fact an idiot but his tail bristled in an uncomfortable way. When that happened, it was usually because he was completely wrong and that it was the complete opposite of what he had guessed, so he came up with another possibility. It took him some time to actually realize it but it did make some sense. It made sense that if one saw something that they would want to see closer, that they would offer something to get their objective to come closer to them. Basically, Luffy had thought that the reason Zoro had asked of him to untie him and bait him with rewards was so that he himself could get a better look at him, to see if it was true, and honestly, Luffy had no problem with it as he himself wanted to recruit him and get a better look at the swordsman.

He looked at Coby as he tried to convince him, "No… don't do it Luffy-san! Don't be tricked by his words…! If you free him, he'll kill us and escape!"

Luffy's ears twitched from underneath his hat. He knew the truth. He knew that he wasn't going to do such a thing. He knew Coby could be cautious of everything, but after sniffing once more, there was no truth in the swordsman's words. The only part that was true was the part of him going closer to him. He wanted to untie Zoro's binds as well but he definitely needed an excuse to do what the swordsman wanted of him, especially since Coby was there watching his every move. He needed to say something that could possibly raise the spirits of the pink-haired boy.

"He can't kill me." He knew he started off wrong but he went with it anyway. He smiled as he looked at Zoro again, "Because I'm strong too." He watched a small smile make way to the swordsman's face. Luffy knew it. He also figured out that the swordsman had seen through what he had said. Nekos, they sure were a smart bunch.

Even if some of them are idiots who think with their stomach.

●ω●

He wasn't feeling pain anymore. His mind had easily swept the pain under the rug and had replaced it with a more calming feeling. He hadn't seen when it was when the boys had climbed onto the brick wall but he did manage to see—or rather smell, something peculiar.

He recognized that smell.

It smelled like him.

Not as much danger, or as much fierceness, but it smelled like him.

When he had looked up from his post, he had saw the wide smile on one of the boy's faces while—what he assumed was his friend—the other fell from the wall only to shakily climb back afterwards. What was in between the smiling and the fall was a horrible onion smell that he wished would just vanish from his senses.

He also recognized that smell. He had usually smelled it before whenever he walked the streets of some populated village or town. Everywhere he went, he would see the yellow-green gas rise from the civilians. But that, that was something he had never smelled before. If he had guessed correctly, then the boy next to him should look about ready to pass out.

When he looked at the straw hat wearing boy on the bridge, he could tell by his look that he had never once in his life seen so much fear, and to be honest, neither had he. And that's saying something because he is what causes fear. Taking a closer look, he could see his nose slightly shrivel up. If the boy really was what he thought he was, then he felt sorry for him. After all, their noses were more advanced than a humans', so, once again, taking that information into realization, the straw hat kid must have realized by now.

"Hey, you!" he said looking at the black-haired boy, not caring about the chubbier one next to him. "Could you please come over here and untie me? I've been tied up for nine days and I'm exhausted." He stared at the boy as the boy stared back at him.

Though, he also found it quite curious that the boy had a hint of anger emitting from him. It wasn't directed at Zoro, but, it was directed at someone who wasn't there at the moment, which made sense since he didn't really show his anger.

"I'll repay you. I could hunt down a fugitive and give you the rewards." He knew what he was doing, he just hoped the other wouldn't actually believe it, "I'm not lying. I'll keep my words." His plan was quite simple but it took some thinking for one to understand what he was doing without any explaining. At first, he thought that the straw hat kid didn't understand at all, since he had cocked his head and a strong, confused smell came from him, but, after what seemed like hours, the boy's eyes widened and a small smile came across his face. He watched the boy as he spoke with his friend, who was protesting quite loudly against him, but, given the choice of words the other had chosen, he knew the kid was an idiot but did understand what he was saying. What had caught his attention though was that when the chubby kid said that he would kill them—what kind of absurdity is that?—the other said he was strong.

He sure didn't look strong.

People with large, buff bodies and with a large army couldn't even handle him. Though, he had once heard that appearances can fool the mind and deceive others, but sadly, he had seen none of that. But, there can always be a change in life.

A few seconds after he had said that, he saw a third head pop up from next to them, shushing the boys with her finger and a small hushing noise. Although it would be quite hard for a normal human to hear such small and silent noises, well… Zoro wasn't a normal human in both strength and appearances.

At first, he didn't know who the third head was until he saw the big, brown eyes and small pigtails.

He remembered her.

It was at least a bit over a week or two before when he had last seen her. She was definitely braver than most people in that restaurant though. But, even though he had protected her from that stupid 'dog', he had agreed to a month of no food. He didn't blame her at all though. In fact, if he hadn't been there, there would probably be a few extra gravestones in the local cemetery.

Though, he didn't know why she was walking up to him silently holding a small brown cloth that clearly hid something. Whatever it was inside the cloth, it was sweet. At that moment, there were two types of smells. One came from inside the brown cloth and the other came from the little girl, which smelled like cut grass. He hadn't smelled that combination in so long, it actually made him glad that the girl had visited him, but he knew what would happen if she didn't. "Hey, what are you doing here?" his voice was tired. He hadn't realized that before but he didn't care at that moment, he just didn't want her here, so he changed his tone to a more serious one and decided to sound a bit harsh, "Do you want to die or something? Get lost!"

Rika—he had heard before from what he supposed what was her mother—unwrapped what was inside the cloth which revealed two rice balls. For him, it would've been nicer if he had some ale or sake, they were good compliments to white rice and it just so happened that white rice was his favorite. "Um, brother," Zoro looked surprise by the use of 'brother'. It felt nice to have someone call him that after so long, "I made some rice balls for you! You haven't eaten for a long time, right?" she said holding out the food. "This is the first time I made rice balls.

"I'm not hungry! Go away!" he was yelling at her now.

"But…" She dipped her head lower as the smell from before completely vanished. The smell of candy and cut grass completely disappeared. Now, he felt bad, but he knew he couldn't stop there. There was too much danger.

"I don't want it! Leave me! I'll kill you if you don't!" He didn't mean the last part. He wouldn't go ahead and kill a little girl just for trying to help him. What he did mean though was the last part in his second sentence. 'Leave me'. He completely meant it. The damn marines wouldn't have a care in the world even after murdering an innocent child. He desperately wanted her to leave. If she kept stalling, she was going to end up in danger.

Almost like he had jinxed it, a skinny and lanky-looking boy with two marine guards behind him walked towards the pair. His helmet-shaped hair annoyed the crap out of him and his purple suit and fancy shoes did absolutely nothing to help with that annoyance. "Roronoa Zoro! Don't pick on little kids, or else I'll have to report to my father about it.

Zoro didn't even bother to turn his head to look at the marine. The teen absolutely disgusted him. "If it isn't the lieutenant's bastard son." He said between grit teeth. The appendage safely hidden away in his thick trousers continued to bristle aggravated, dying to just murder the man in front of him.

"Bastard? Don't get cocky. My dad is a marine lieutenant." The boy said with a scowl. Because of the growling noise, Zoro took it as the start of a fight. That's what growling was meant for anyways.

He watched as the marine walked over to Rika and snatch away one of the rice balls from her hands, stuffing a large bite of the snack into his annoying mouth. Almost immediately after, he tried to spit out but had already swallowed most of the rice. "Horrible! You put sugar in it! You're supposed to put salt in these things!" He then continued to throw the one in his hand and the other rice ball onto the dirty ground, stomping on it and ignoring the pleas of Rika. Oh, how much Zoro hated that bastard. When the girl stated that he wouldn't be able to eat it anymore, his marshmallow heart almost instantly melted. He could definitely smell the sadness around her and the happiness around the bastard (that's the new name Zoro gave him). It smelled strange. It wasn't a common combination, seeing how the two emotions didn't mingle well, but it smelled as if the damp climate had suddenly changed to a warmer one, but the 'warm' feeling in fact chilled him.

It was reverse.

He knew what the intentions of each feeling was. The damp weather was there because it had tried to be like the smiling sun, only to be turned down by the people it wanted to warm, only to see that it's clear, blue skies had turned into gray clouds by the other skies, one that it so desperately wanted to be so that its gift would bring a smile. If he had eaten the rice ball, she probably would've left with a smile, but now, her skies were now covered by gray clouds.

As much as he hated to admit it, he believed it was his fault.

When the bastard stomped once more at the mud ball, he heard a small whimper. When he looked at Rika, she was trembling in sadness and in defeat. "That's so cruel! I-I tried really heard to make them…!" She said with a broken voice.

"Aww… don't cry!" He said with a disgusted voice, as if he wasn't the one who caused her to cry in the first place, "It's no wonder why I hate little brats so much." He then pulled out a piece of paper from underneath his suit and shoved it in front of her face, "It's all your fault you know? Didn't you see what was written here? 'Anyone who helps a prisoner will be charged with the same crime, Marine Lieutenant Morgan'. You know how scary my dad can be, right? You would've gotten the death penalty if you're a grown up!" The bastard turned around and without even looking at his guards, he asked them to throw out the 'brat'. "I'm telling you to throw her outta here! Are you trying to disobey me? I'm telling my dad!" He said holding the marine by his collar when he had flinched from the order the first time.

Zoro watched as the marine hunched down to the girls level and whispered something in her ear. Even though he was hungry and weakened, he completely heard what he had told her: 'Try to roll up in a little ball'. At least not all marines were cold hearted. When he had told her this, she did as asked as the marine grabbed her and threw her over the brick fence. At first, Zoro thought she was going to be seriously injured, but he saw the straw hat boy jump from the wall and catch her, much to his relief, but he still couldn't forgive the bastard.

"I didn't think you'd have this kind of endurance! I'm gonna keep you alive for one whole month." The bastard said raising his hands to his sides as if he was shrugging.

"You better keep your promise!" Zoro seethed.

"Oh I'll keep my promise…" he laughed, "If you can live like this for one whole month, I'll keep my words and release you! Good luck!" He mocked.

Zoro watched as the bastard son walked off with his two guards out of the courtyard. He then shifted his gaze at the mess of rice and mud and stone on the floor right in front of him. He was damn hungry.

He then heard footsteps get closer to him. If it hadn't been for his keen hearing, he wouldn't have heard the soft steps walk towards him. He looked up from his gaze and saw the boy with the straw hat standing in front of him. He was surprised to say the least. Zoro expected that the boy would just know what he meant and what he was doing and leave him altogether but he didn't think he was really going to get close to him. He was a bounty hunter. He hunted and even sometimes killed to get his hands on some money to survive off of (and to pay back others) and he was being held captive at marine base which was clearly stated by the bastard son that intruders would be given the same treatment as the prisoners. Thinking about that made him remember about what the straw hat kid had said before to his friend, 'I'm strong.' That definitely made some sense but at the same time, the event prior made him sound aggravated at everything in the world. "You still haven't left yet? Leave now, or else he'll go tell his dad about it."

"Oh yea?" was all the kid said, before he started again on a different subject, "I'm looking for someone to join my pirate fleet." He said with a smile.

"Pirate?" He found it absurd at first. Only crazy or strong people (like him) of his species would leave their homes to adventure around the world, but he found it even more absurd that one of his kind would leave to become a crook. There were many explanations: tragic backstory, human auctioning, trauma, or just because they want others to suffer because of their past. He only left because he had a dream to complete for someone fallen. That's that. "Heh! So you gave up on life and became a crook, huh…?" He stated what he thought was the truth. It was the only explanation to why someone as young as he would want to become something so ugly.

"It's my dream! There's nothing wrong with being a pirate!" he countered back. Zoro was caught off guard by this. A dream? Why would someone dream of becoming what people detest? He was confused by this. Something must have happened to make him want to become a pirate. It had to be something similar to his case. He had a dream and it all started by a vow. The vow was broken the next day, but, he had changed it to more of a dream. Perhaps, judging by both the smell, innocence and logic behind the kid, he wasn't lying. But, he then realized what he had just said. Looking for people to join my pirate fleet. He knew what that meant.

"Hm? Don't tell me you're gonna set me free and force me to join you." He said with a grin.

"I haven't made up my mind yet, since everyone thinks you're a bad guy." Zoro was slightly confused by this. From what he could tell, he hadn't decided for him to join his crew because everyone else saw him as a bad guy. That could mean that the pirate didn't want to look bad (which doesn't make sense at all) or that he didn't want a bad person in his crew (which also didn't make much sense either).

"A bad guy, huh…?" He grinned, "I'll never join you, because I have something that I need to take care of. I could survive even if you don't help me. I just need to stay alive for one month. That bastard kid promised to let me go afterwards. I'm gonna do everything I can to stay alive and fulfill my dreams!"

"Really?" The kid said with a smile. "If I were you, I think I'd starve to death in a week."

"That's why we're different. Go find someone else to join you." Zoro finished. There was a bit of silence between the two before the boy lost his smile and turned around to leave. "Hey! Hold on." He shifted his gaze to the mud ball on the floor, "That… can you pick it up for me?

The boy looked at the 'rice ball' and gawked at it before picking it up, "You want to eat this? But the rice ball is all muddy."

"Shut up and give it to me!" Zoro opened his mouth wide to allow the entrance of the rice ball. The kid did as told and threw the ball into his mouth, to which Zoro clamped his mouth shut and started to chew. Immediately afterwards, he started to choke on some of the rocks and dirt, but he didn't allow any crumb to leave his mouth. He continued to bite through the stone and dirt and finally swallowed the rice. The boy crossed his arms and frowned. "Tell that little girl…" The boy cocked his head in confusion, "'The rice balls taste very good. Thank you very much.'"

He smelled cut grass almost immediately after he had said that, but he didn't dare lift his head up. He was probably a sweating mess. For someone who wasn't dying of starvation, they would probably spit out everything before it even entered their mouth and scream out 'disgusting!' but Zoro was in fact, a starving animal. That rice ball tasted delicious.

When the kid left, his eyes widened as he remembered why he wanted the kid to get close to him in the first place. He lowered his gaze and sighed, his throat a bit scratchy, "Damnit."

●ω●

"Really!?" The little girl held her hands close to her chest as she smiled happily.

"Yep! He ate every last crumb!" The neko said, sitting crisscrossed with his arms hoisted on top of his ankles.

"I'm so happy!" The girl said. Oh, what a truth that was. She was practically the meaning of sugar and cut grass and cotton candy and everything that would make a person smile if they even caught a whiff of it.

Coby was also sitting behind the girl on a barrel like Luffy but he was supporting himself up with his hands resting on the barrel lid. "Is he really that horrible person his reputation says he is?"

Immediately, he got a response, "No, he isn't!" She walked back a bit so that she could look at both of the older boys at once. "Brother didn't do anything wrong. It's just that the people in this town are afraid of him. He got arrested because of me. He killed Helmeppo's pet wolf, because Helmeppo let his wolf run around and got everyone scared…" She informed them.

Luffy's tail twitched from inside his shorts. They've been stuffed in there for too long and this Helmeppo kid was getting on his nerves just by listening to her story. "So you're saying that Zoro's only arrested because he killed Helmeppo's pet wolf?" She nodded.

"You're right!" Coby lifted his glasses higher, "So maybe he has a bad temper, but chasing down fugitives isn't that big a crime either." He finished.

"The only bad guys are the Morgan's! You'll get executed if you disobey them, so everyone is afraid of them." Rika finished, but, as soon as she did, Luffy heard a loud and annoying but familiar voice coming from behind him, stating that anyone who raised their heads would be punished by his dad. Too familiar.

"Do you want to be like Roronoa Zoro? I'm gonna publicly execute him in three days. I'll use him as an example for all of you! It's gonna get pretty interesting." Luffy looked at the owner of the voice and saw the same person who was talking to Zoro earlier in the courtyard.

"Three days?" Luffy said to himself. According to Rika's story, this was Helmeppo. He walked over to Helmeppo as asked him a simple question, "Didn't you say you'll give him a month?"

"Who are you? How rude." He said smugly, "I was only joking with him! Only and idiot would believe that!" he said puffing out his cheeks.

Luffy stopped for a moment and thought back when he spoke with Zoro. I just need to stay alive for one month. That bastard kid promised to let me go afterwards. Luffy was beyond pissed. His mind started to click every gear into action as his physical body lunged forward at Helmeppo, punching him on the cheek. A loud cracking sound was heard and secretly, Luffy hoped he had broken his jaw, but sadly, it was just his imagination adding extra effects.

Luffy heard quick footsteps close in on him, recognizing who they belonged to. Without even looking, he knew Coby was going to hold him back. When his chubby friend did do it though, he didn't care though. His mind only stuck to one subject. That simple thought made his body quiver in anger and made his tail puff up, threatening to perk up and hunch his back even more than it already was. "Luffy-san!" He practically scolded, "Stop, please! Calm down!"

"You bastard!" Luffy was ready to pounce again, his tail starting to quiver the same way as his body.

"You want to mess with the marines or something?" Helmeppo cried out, holding his cheek. Luffy didn't care at all though. In fact, he wanted to inflict even more pain, play with his prey a bit more. His large cat instincts slowly dug their way through into his mind as he found a sudden urge to continue smacking his prey as they withered weakly. Large cats. So playful… He also didn't care when Helmeppo had threatened him by saying he was going to tell his dad. As if that would do him any good. These were the type of people Luffy detested. The ones who see glory in themselves while in reality, they hide behind someone else's back.

"Coby! I've decided!" He said not looking back at him and readying his fists once more,

"I'm gonna ask Zoro to join me!"

Luffy could practically feel heat rising off of him. Since he had punched the coward, he was being held back by Coby from underneath his arms. He smelled all the fear coming from the crowd who were bowing their heads earlier. For once, he didn't mind the onion smell, and for once, he didn't mind that everyone was staring at him with wide eyes and dropping jaws. He knew what they were looking at and it definitely wasn't the fact that he had punched Morgan's son—though, at first it was. Now, everyone was staring what was on top of his head, perked high like a wary meerkat.

When he had punched Helmeppo earlier, his hat had fallen off his head, revealing his black cat ears. He knew Coby had definitely noticed it too, seeing how he could smell a worried odor coming from behind him but he didn't let go, most likely so that he couldn't free himself from his grasps and charge at Helmeppo once more, finishing him off. "Luffy-san! Calm yourself! They are marines and everyone can see your—" Coby tried at least.

"I don't care! A bastard is still a bastard!" The revealed neko trembled in anger. He didn't care if everyone around him was seeing his ears and he didn't care if they found out more, so, he freed his whipping tail from his pants, surprising the spectators.

It had taken a while before Helmeppo had snapped out of his daze from both the hit and the cat features. He murmured something about how much money he could get from him but then he changed it to wanting him to die. "Y-Y-You dare to hit me?! My dad hasn't even hit me once!" He said rubbing his cheek. "I'm marine lieutenant Morgan's son! I'll tell him about this!" he said with tears threatening to spill.

Luffy could smell more of the onion smell even stronger now. He could tell that this 'Morgan' guy had done some serious damage to the civilians in the town, since everyone practically froze upon hearing his name. Luffy, on the other hand, was too pissed off to care. He never cared about the ranks of other people. He never cared about how people saw themselves. What he did care about though was that someone had forced another into torture for a full month only to finish them off afterwards. Too bad that the person he was going happened to be someone that Luffy wanted in his crew. That just tripled his piss off meter. "Why don't you fight me yourself?" he seethed through clamped jaws.

"Luffy-san! Don't do this!" Coby tried harder to control the beast coming out. Luffy felt his whipping tail thump against his smaller friends' leg, a loud thud noise being produced every time.

"You'll regret hitting me!" Helmeppo threatened with a sadistic glare as his marine guards picked him up, practically carrying him. "You'll get a death sentence for it! And my dad will be the one who executes you!"

Luffy huffed out many heavy breaths as he took one last one and sighed. He walked over to where his hat was lying and picked it up, setting it on his head, but he didn't hide his tail again. There was no point in doing so if everyone who was around had already seen it. "It's meaningless to hit people like him." He said with a bit of anger, but definitely not as much as before.

"He ran away…" Coby said quite dumbstruck.

Just then, he felt someone tug at his tail from behind him. At first, he thought someone was tugging it to get a fist in their face but when he turned around with a small growl, he saw Rika jump from her spot and blush a little. He stopped growling and smiled, knowing how sometimes kids didn't know how to use their strength properly and ending up hurting others. "Oh, hey there." He said crossing his arms and looking at Rika with a kind smile.

"You have a tail! That's so cool and cute!" She said holding her arms close to her chest.

"Really? I wouldn't know." Luffy replied happily, delighted on having someone call him cool. Not as much as the 'cute' but definitely the 'cool'.

"Onii-chan, you were also so cool! Just then I was scared to death!" She said with even more enthusiasm.

"Really?" He said again, seemingly getting even more excited with every word, "I should have hit him a couple more times!" His tail was swaying contently now. He could feel everyone's gaze on him but he didn't mind. He sometimes liked attention and he found it better this way. He would be able to walk to the marines' base and show Zoro who he really was. In fact, it did make sense if you thought about it. He wouldn't have to come up with an excuse of lowering his pants in front of someone else since he could just walk in already revealing his tail.

GENIUS! He was plain GENIUS!

Just then, a woman came out of a building and called out for Rika, her voice and smell full of worry. Luffy watched as the little girl tried to protest against her mother, telling her that he and Zoro were actually good people, but her mother simply told her not to be silly and asked her if she snuck into the execution site again. "Come back into the house quickly!" her mother snapped. Rika did as told and entered her house, looking back at Luffy with sad eyes. Luffy smelled the sadness but replied with a happy wave.

When the door finally closer, Luffy turned around and ignored Coby's rants of how the marines were going to come after them and how they were in a lot of trouble. "We'll deal with it when the time comes!" Luffy said bluntly as he continued to walk in the direction of the marines' base. "I'm gonna go talk to Zoro."

"Bu-But Luffy! Your tail!" Coby opposed the idea. "You can't let him see that!'

Luffy turned around to look at Coby with a smile, "Whaddya mean?" He said before sprinting off again towards the execution yard, laughing.

●ω●

Luffy walked towards the tied up sword-less swordsman, raising a hand to the side of his face as he said 'yo' in a patient but excited tone. He made sure to leave his tail in plain sight so that Zoro would be able to see it clearly, which he did. There was a smirk on the swordsman's face before he spoke up, "Knew it."

Luffy walked closer to Zoro and smiled. "Yep! You're also a neko, aren't you?" He said smiling.

"It should be obvious from where you're standing." He said before he started again. "Who would've thought I would see another of my kind walking around as a pirate."

Luffy grinned and chuckled innocently, "Speaking of pirates…" Luffy started, waving his black tail contently, "I'm Luffy. If I loosen up the ropes, then you're gonna join me, okay?!" He asked excitingly, but he could tell that Zoro would refuse flatly.

"I've told you clearly! I have things that I need to do. Besides, I'm not going to be a bad guy like a pirate." He stated.

"That's the difference? Besides, everyone already thinks you are a bad guy." Luffy said crossing his arms. His tail now swayed a bit quicker than before but he wasn't aggravated.

"I don't care what they say about me. I haven't done one thing I regret in the past and it will be the same for the future." He was practically glaring daggers at Luffy, but that wasn't enough to intimidate him. It took a lot to scare him. "I won't become a pirate!" He finished.

Luffy stared at him quietly before he huffed out in annoyance, his tail whipping once, "I don't care! You are going to join me!" Immediately, Zoro denied in an angry comical way. "Hey, I heard that you use katana, is that right?" Luffy changed the subject.

Zoro eased up a bit and slumped back into his cross. "If I'm not being tied up, I could use a katana." His tail swayed inside his black trousers.

"Where is the katana?" Luffy asked.

"That bastard kid took it. It's something that I treasure most other than my life."

"Oh?" Luffy smiled. "Treasure, huh? It must be something great! Okay! I'm gonna go to where the bastard kid is and get your katana back. But, if you want me to return it to you, you'll have to join me!"

"That's dirty!" How much Zoro wanted to choke the other neko. Luffy started charging towards the marines' base, "Oi! Wait!" He yelled out nervously for both the consequences and for the other neko. He looked flimsy and weak. He looked like he couldn't even harm a fly and he expected to get his katana from inside the base? This kid was plain crazy. "Is he planning on sneaking into the base? What a fool."

●ω●

Luffy looked up and searched around the area for any movement other than birds or mice (which he oh so desperately wanted to catch), having to grab his hat or else it would fall off. "That's strange. There isn't a single marine around. Are they having a meeting?" Luffy continued to search around the base before he set his hand below his chin in a thinking expression. "Never mind the katana, I can't even find that idiot son like this." He concluded.

After walking around a bit more, he looked up again and noticed a few sounds and the smell of fear and sweat from the very top of the marine tower. Looking closer, he saw what seemed to be a statue slowly being pulled higher and higher. "Huh? There seems to be people up there." Luffy said to himself, grabbing his hat the same way he did before. When he realized this, he lowered his arms and positioned it as if he was going to lunge and grab for something, his left arm holding his right. "Let's go up and see!"

He stretched his arm and with his rubber abilities, he managed to grab the top of the tower. "Gomu Gomu no…Rocket!" he said before releasing his weight and flung over to the top of the building a little too high and too fast. "Oh no… I'm going too fast!" He said as he grabbed his hat from falling off his head. He quickly looked around and saw plenty of ropes just in his reach, so he hunched forward and managed to grab a good handful of them, stopping his acceleration. He felt plenty of the pressure leave so he found it safe to land at the top of the tower, still holding onto one of the ropes in his hand. Suddenly, when he looked over to what he had grabbed onto on, there was a loud crack and the upper torso of a statue broke off from its lower segment.

He finally realized what he did and could only gawk at the mess it was going to create from down below. He looked at the people and raised his hand apologetically, "S-Sorry." He said before there was a loud crash down below, shocking everyone from the top even more.

"CAPTURE HIM! I'M GONNA KILL HIM!" A man with a metal jaw and an axe for a hand screamed out his orders, to which the marines agreed fearfully.

"Dad, it's him!" Luffy knew that voice. In fact, he needed to know where that voice came from, "He's the one who hit me! I told you he's no good!" Luffy looked towards the owner of the voice and stared at him before realizing why he needed him. He lunged towards the blonde kid and grabbed him, running towards a door which he assumed would lead inside the base.

"I've been looking for you!" the neko said with a serious tone, leaving no room for objection.

●ω●

Zoro had watched the straw hat boy, which he found out his name was Luffy, run towards the marine base with no weapons at all. He had been tied to the cross for some minutes before he finally heard a loud sound which sounded as if something had just broke, followed by a loud yell that he, for some reason, felt an extreme hatred to, even though he had never heard it before. He thought he was going to be alone for the rest of the day but apparently that wasn't true since the pink-haired kid who was with Luffy when they were watching him from the wall had walked over to him and had asked a few questions, which he found no reason not to respond to them.

He had explained to him that Luffy had entered inside the base to find his katana, but he also should've known that he was also going to ask about the neko tail and such. He had asked Zoro if he knew about Luffy being a neko to which he explained a neko's keen sense of smell and that he had only guessed. At his statement, the kid had finally realized that he meant that he also was a neko.

What surprised the swordsman though was that the chubby pink-haired kid had walked closer to him and had starting undoing his binds on the cross. "Oi! If you help me, they are going to kill you!"

Almost immediately, the kid snarled not at him but at the marines, "You shouldn't be arrested! I can't stand those kinds of marines! I'm going to become a real marine! Just like the way Luffy-san is determined to become the pirate king!" he continued to work on his ropes.

"What? Pirate king? You're joking, right?" the neko was surprised enough as it is. Before, he had watched Luffy go up to him and completely forget about why he wanted him there in the first place, he had watched said person invade the marines' base and now he learned that his dream was to become the 'Pirate King'. Honestly, this Luffy continued to surprise him.

"Hehehe… I was a bit shocked when I first heard his dream, but he's serious!" The kid smiled, not looking at Zoro as he continued to work on his binds. But, soon after he had said that, the kid flew back away from him, blood flying everywhere from his shoulder. The kids' round glasses, due to the sudden impact, were sent flying as well. Zoro should've known they were going to do that and he should've suspected that they were going to use guns because of the smell of gunpowder at the top of the building. He shifted his gaze from the wounded kid in front of him to the top of the building, glaring at the person he knew was there.

●ω●

The raven-haired neko continued to tug on Helmeppo's collar, practically choking him as a few marines chased after them. Said marines had ordered the soon-to-be pirate to stop where he was but why would anyone do that honestly? He looked over at the boy in his grasp and yelled at him as they ran, "Where's Zoro's katana?!"

"I'll tell! I'll tell! Just stop dragging me!" He hollered as well, grabbing onto his captors' hands.

"Okay! Spill it!" He said finally stopping.

"They're inside my room. We-We already ran past it."

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" The neko said punching his victim. His tail swayed murderously. After he had punched the boy, three marines had finally caught up, but once they were about to say 'freeze', they had noticed his tail. They snapped out of it and Luffy smelled a bit of guilt, probably because nekos were so rare, and raised their guns to shoot at him, all the while telling him not to move and to put his hands above his head, to which he replied by a blunt 'no'.

The neko then proceeded to calmly raise his 'hostage' in front of him as a shield. He then commenced to run all the while holding Helmeppo in the air. "Go ahead and shoot!"

"What?! You're actually using Helmeppo-sama as your shield!" One of the marines yelled.

The poor hostage continued to scream, pleading and begging the marines not to shoot.

●ω●

The green-haired neko watched as Luffy's friend cried and squirmed on the floor, wailing as his wound bled even more. He yelled some more, screaming out that he was going to die. If Zoro knew anything, it was that the kid shouldn't panic or else it would get worse. "Are you alright?" He asked calmly. He barely knew the kid so he didn't care much for him, but he had tried to help him earlier so he at least wanted to know if he was okay, and besides, that Luffy kid had trusted this kid enough to show him what he truly was. Those types of people were rare. Sometimes, humans only wanted money to go into a bar and waste themselves. There were almost none—from what he knew—that didn't desire riches. "Run for your life. They're almost here." He said looking back.

The kid panted some more, laying on his back as he took broken breaths, "No! I've… got to set you free as soon as possible."

"There is no need to worry about me. As long as I can survive his for a month, they'll set me free. Hurry up and lea—" he was interrupted by the kid on the floor.

"THEY WILL NOT SET YOU FREE!" Zoro could tell that he had used up most of his energy saying those words. He was surprised to say the least, that, when he took a small whiff, he realized there were no lies in his statement, "BECAUSE THEY ARE GOING TO KILL YOU IN THREE DAYS!"

Zoro didn't believe this, "Nonsense! That bastard promised me that if I could survive this for a month, he'd free me…" He didn't know what he was saying anymore. Why would he believe such a guy anyway? There were no false words in the previous statement form the kid and the bastard son didn't seem like someone who could keep a promise anyway.

"He never intended to keep his promise!" He said struggling to put on his glasses, "That's why Luffy-san punched him on your behalf… because he was toying with you!" he looked and smelled exhausted.

Zoro was shocked. He was usually never too surprised about many things but straight out punching someone… on his behalf? That had never once happened to him. "Wh-What did you just say…?!" was all he could say.

"The navy will never let the two of you off! Please! After I set you free, please help Luffy-san!" Zoro stared on, surprised by the plea, "Luffy-san is very strong! As long as you two join forces, you all will definitely be able to escape this town! Definitely!"

So he was wrong. This was going to be the first time the saying was going to reveal itself for him. If what the kid said was true, then he would be able to see strength from what one would misjudge and say, 'Sorry kid, weaklings are unimportant.' He was looking forward to see that.

Once the kid had told him that, many marines rushed to where the pair was and held up their guns, ready to aim and fire. "That's enough! The two of you who have betrayed Lieutenant Morgan die here!" Zoro widened his eyes in horror when he saw the group of marines corner him while he was still tied to a stupid cross. He didn't want to die there. He had important things to do, a dream to complete.

The marines loaded their guns as they prepared to fire by the command of Lieutenant Morgan who stood proudly from behind them, eager to watch the show. "Roronoa Zoro… I've heard of your name from a long time ago, but do not underestimate me. Before my great strength, you're just garbage!" He rested his axe hand on top of his shoulder. "Ready!"

Zoro's heart had accelerated a good speed. His tail was a bit puffed up from inside his pants but his ears laid even further down his head hidden away from view. I can't die here… I still have things I need to settle! Because I made a promise! Scenes of his memories flashed inside his mind. He had lost so many times and he had been made fun of his rival. He had yelled out to everyone his dream and he engaged in a fight with real katana with her. He had lost to her and yet, she had told him he would win one day because he was a man and not a woman. Then, they had made a vow only for her to pass away. But, during his childhood, because of her death, he had inherited her katana and was now slowly achieving his dream.

I made a promise... I cannot die here!

And he didn't.

●ω●

"Gomu Gomu no…" Luffy held onto the window sill as he tied the three katana onto his back. The window in question wasn't one could open, just there for decoration, so his only option was to crash into it and make it outside. He had witnessed what was going on in the courtyard and he saw the state Coby was in, so, he had no time to go to the courtyard by foot. Instead, he was going there by rubber.

"ROCKET!" he flung himself and broke the window with a loud crash. Down below, he heard a big guy bark out the order 'fire' and judging by the speed he was going, he was going to make it in time. A wide grin made it to his face as he landed in front of both Zoro and Coby and stretched his arms and legs out, taking all the bullets and not letting one slip pass him, all the while looking down and trembling a bit. He heard Coby yell out his name and Zoro gawk at him. The onion smell in the air was evident.

A few tears made it to his eyes but they quickly dried out just as fast as a cheetah on steroids. He felt the parts of his body that had been shot stretch behind him, appearing as if someone had stuck many long sticks through his body and stretching his skin to the other side. He felt his skin quickly retract to its original place as the bullets sprung out when he stood straight. "It's no use!" Immediately, all the bullets shot back to the ones who had shot in the first place. Luffy continued to laugh with his arms and legs spread wide apart, his grin practically consuming his whole face.

"What kind of person are you?" Zoro yelled at Luffy, not believing his eyes.

Luffy looked back at Zoro who was gawking at him and from the corner of his eye, he saw Coby faint from shock, "I am the one who will become the pirate king!" he said with a grin. He closed the space between him and Zoro and unstrapped the three katana from his back and held them in between them, "Look. Which one is your treasured katana? I couldn't figure it out, so I brought all three of them."

Zoro stared at Luffy in the eye and calmed down a bit, "All three belong to me. I use three katana." He stated.

Luffy stared at him as well and smiled mischievously. "Resisting the navy here together with me will make you an outlaw! Or maybe you want to die here?" the raven-haired neko looked at the vast group of marines sprawled on the floor.

Zoro grinned a shark-like way and glared at the other neko, "Are you the offspring of a devil? Forget it… rather than to die here, why don't I just accede your request… and become a pirate!"

Luffy raised his fists in the air as he celebrated his success in getting his first crewmate. His black tail swayed contently as he happily did a dance with Zoro's swords consisting of him holding them out in front of him and bobbing up and down. "Yes! I have a companion!" Luffy celebrated.

"Okay, hurry up and get these ropes off me!" Zoro tried to stop him from celebrating. Emphasis on 'tried'. Although he was the one who should be happy of finally being able to walk again, there was just so much sweetness in the air. It literally smelled like a billion carnivals of pure candy had been placed upon miles of fresh, cut grass. It should be nice for him for such a positive change from all the fear and anger, but the amount of happiness was just incredible. Had he really been wanted this much?

After Luffy had stopped celebrating, he dropped the three katana on the ground softly (because he didn't want to ruin his crewmate's treasure) and started working what Coby had left unfinished, since he was still out cold on the floor. While he worked, he spoke with his new crewmate about nekos, specifically about him.

"So, what kind of cat are you?" Luffy asked Zoro.

"Hm?" He finally realized what he meant. "Oh, tiger."

"Really? I haven't seen a tiger neko, yet. Nice to know that one of my crewmembers is one." Luffy said with a smile. "I'm a black panther, if you didn't know."

Zoro grinned and chuckled, "I guess it should've been kind of obvious, seeing how your tail has spots."

"You can see them? Most people don't even notice the spots unless I point it out to them." Luffy looked quite surprised, but he should've guessed it was because Zoro was a neko as well.

"Of course I can." He simply said.

There was some silence between the two before Luffy started again. "Hey, why don't you take out your tail?"

"And why exactly would I do that?" the tiger neko asked.

"The marines and some of the townspeople already saw what I am. I'm sure there is no problem as long as they don't tell anyone."

"What if they do?!"

"Well, we'll be pirates. If the marines want us because we're nekos, then we have no problem fighting them off."

Zoro thought about it for a moment before he sighed. He truly didn't know how to argue against that and it was worse that it was someone like Luffy who had said that, because, for some odd reason, he just knew that his new pirate captain was an idiot. For a moment, he wondered he had a new ability to sense someone's idiocy or stupidity because he could clearly smell it, even though nothing dumb was happening during their small chat, unless of course what the straw hat captain had said had just come out without any thought and it somehow came out smart. "Guess you have a point there…" He said defeated.

There was a bit more silence between the two since Luffy was working hard on his binds and Zoro was having some trouble freeing his tail from inside his trousers since the waist of the pants was kind of tight and he couldn't really loosen it up seeing how his arms were tied up. Zoro looked over to where the marines were and realized they were charging at the trio with readied swords. "Oi! Hurry up!" He ushered Luffy. He had stopped trying to free his tail since he definitely had something bigger to worry about.

"That's strange… the knot got tighter…" he stated with a slight whimper. "How do I open this?"

Suddenly, the two heard a scream of terror come from the pink-haired boy, followed by an onion smell. "Luffy! Zoro! Watch out!"

The two ignored him as Luffy continued to try to untie the ropes. "Could you stop taking my time? You're so noisy!" Luffy told both he and Zoro.

"We don't have time for you to take your time!" Zoro cleverly said (well, I think it's clever).

"Oh!" Luffy suddenly smiled and held up the rope that he was working on, showing it to Zoro as if he had accomplished the most important thing in the world yet he only expressed it with a small smile. "I untied one side! Looky!" his tail waved happily.

"Idiot! Hurry and get my swords!" Zoro yelled at him. Luffy did as told and passed Zoro one of his swords.

Before he could blink, he felt a soft wind pass by him towards the direction of the herd of marines. When the black leopard looked, he was simply amazed by the sight before him.

The swordsman had managed to snatch his two leftover swords and managed to put one in his mouth, all the while blocking two swords with each one of his. The other thing that had amazed him was his tail and tiger-like aura.

When Zoro had told him he was a tiger, he was expecting an orange or brown tail, but, he was surprised to see that his tail was pure white with perfectly formed stripes with a black tip. Makino and the other villagers had always told him that tigers were one of the most majestic large cats in the world, and now he understood why. Even though the swordsman had left and stopped every other sword, he had left almost no trace that he had been on the cross because there was no evidence, except for the ones who did see him. The wind he had felt would easily be mistaken as a simple breeze or wind, not a tiger swordsman.

His aura was stunning as well. As soon as he got a hold of all three of his swords, Zoro's aura practically changed from formidable and intimidation to one of power and danger. In actuality, it felt like a savage beast had been released as soon as he got to feel all three swords. That beast was not one to be messed with, seeing how being many feet away and so on, Luffy could still feel his monstrous aura. He knew that the tiger had been waiting for this.

Luffy gawked at the tiger's power, simply amazed, "Cool!"

Zoro looked behind him and glared at the marines with tiger-like eyes. He imagined because of the quick movements that nobody had yet noticed his tail but he was okay with that. The only way he managed to actually freeing his tail was by going at extreme speeds which managed to loosen the waist a bit. "All of you better not move. Make one move and I'll kill you." He said rather calmly. This immediately caused all the marines to tremble in fear and cry.

He then looked at Luffy as his aura calmed down a bit. "I already told you I'd be a pirate with you. Either way, after this incident with the marines I'll be an outlaw too, but it's okay. I still have my own goals! I'm going to become the world's greatest swordsman! I no longer care if my name is clean or not. Bad guy, good guy, it no longer matters! As long as my name is known worldwide!" Zoro felt his white tail bristle dangerously, "if you do something that ends up in the way of my goal, I will have to cut your stomach open to say sorry!"

Instead of feeling intimidated, Luffy ended up smiling, "Good! To be the world's number one swordsman! Since you're gonna be the pirate king's crew member, if you can't even accomplish something that small, then I would be very embarrassed as well!"

"Heh, well said!"

Suddenly, the man standing at the very back of his marine soldiers started to yell out in anger, much to the displeasure of Luffy and Zoro's sensitive cat ears. "WHAT ARE YOU GUYS STANDING THERE FOR?! HURRY UP AND FINISH THOSE TWO UP!"

Luffy grinned and prepared to kick something, "Zoro, duck!" Zoro did as told and lowered both his head and swords, not knowing what he was going to do, "Gomu Gomu no…Whip!" All the marines that had been blocked by Zoro were immediately thrown back by the neko's leg (or in the last guy's case, the foot).

Once all the marines had fallen onto the floor, Zoro looked back at Luffy with a confused glance and asked him what he was, to which Luffy responded, "I'm a rubberman!" with his leg still raised high.

Zoro and Luffy got up without any worries, as if they were saying that their abilities went on much further. They weren't really listening to the cries of the marines, saying the two teens were too strong, but what had caught their attention was the gruff voice of the marine lieutenant, ordering the marines that had just said that to shoot themselves in the head, saying he didn't need useless soldiers. The trio shifted their gazes to the group of marines and Zoro and Coby just stared in shock. "What the hell do these dumb marines think they're doing?!" the white tiger growled, his tail shaking agitatedly.

Before he could attack though (or defend the marines), his new captain had lunged himself towards the lieutenant, using his leopard genes to get a further jump, and punched him, only to be blocked by Morgan's axe.

The new pirate captain felt everyone's gaze's fall on him, as if each one of them held a special hope for something. Zoro on the other hand, was gazing at him for a different reason. He wanted to see just how strong his new captain was and Luffy was not going to disappoint him. Morgan ripped of his marine coat and held out his axe, blabbering on about how people without status had no right to oppose him.

"I am marine lieutenant Axe-Hand Morgan!' he yelled out, charging at Luffy.

"My name is Luffy!" The neko said calmly, preparing to evade, "Nice to meet you!"

The marine lieutenant sliced where Luffy was, only to have him jump as he held his hat and curled his black, long tail around his waist, so that it wouldn't be chopped off. Luffy was still in the air when the wired fence next to them was slice horizontally in half, but he evaded it so he didn't really care. Instead, he lifted his knees closer to his chest and when he was right in front of the marine, he retracted his legs like a snake and met with the man's face, sending him crashing towards the ground.

He quickly got up though and attempted to attack once more, using his protruding elbow as the handle of his 'axe-hand'. He raised it up high and slashed at the ground, missing again. Luffy, using his flexible and cat-like body to evade all sorts of attacks. He twirled in the air for a few seconds and smirked, "I'm not dead yet!" he chuckled. He halted his spins and landed another kick to the marine's face, successfully sending him to the ground again.

The black leopard landed gracefully on top of Morgan and grabbed him by the collar, preparing to punch him over and over again. "Some great marine you are… destroyed Coby's dreams and goal…!" He wanted to say more but an annoying voice called out wait before he could continue. He ignored the voice and punched his victim over and over again, not changing his gaze at all.

"You idiot! I told you to wait!" the voice called out again. Luffy knew who was calling him but he really didn't care. "If you want this guy to survive, then don't move! If anyone moves, I'll shoot!" Luffy looked at Helmeppo and got up from on top of Morgan, glaring at the (ugly) blonde teen.

Luffy and Zoro watched as Coby trembled a bit, being held at gunpoint and all. "Luffy! I… I don't wanna be in your way…I'm not afraid of death!"

Luffy smiled and giggled a bit. "Okay, I know!" The black neko forced his arm out as he grabbed it with his left, preparing to stretch and punch. "You stupid son! Coby's not afraid of death!"

"Hey! You idiot! I told you not to move or I'm gonna shoot!" Luffy and Zoro both smelled the sweat drip from the blonde kid. He was obviously terrified.

Luffy readied his body to stretch his arm as Coby warned him about something being behind him, though Luffy didn't look back. He had faith in his crewmate. "Gomu Gomu no…" He started to say, readying his arm. He heard the gruff and angry voice of the lieutenant behind him, but even then, he still didn't look back.

Zoro lifted his sword and clamped it in between his mouth, knowing what he had to do. "Pistol!" Right when his captain had said that, he used the same speed from before and charged in between the marine and his captain, and in one quick swipe, the captain laid motionless, standing high above the black leopard.

Luffy punched Helmeppo on his cheek, sending him flying a good few feet away from Coby. "Nice! Zoro!" he said at Zoro, who stood behind him, resting his arms as they laid limp without any force. Morgan then fell on the floor, a wide gash in his vest and abdomen.

"Leave it to me, captain." He said looking back at Luffy, who wore a wide smile.

Yep. I'm really combining these.

(One) Piece out!