Author's Note: T-Twelve reviews?! 21 followers?! 20 faves?! In three days?! I... I... words can't describe this so just imagine a cat dancing a stupidly silly dance to express my happines ;w; I just hope this chapter won't let you down... There are probably lots of things I could do better, and I probably will rewrite this some time, but I just really wanted to get to the next chapter... I've been planning most stuff for the later arcs, so, as the ball of writing-energy I am, I'll post it like this... Also I noticed I don't make Law and Luffy interact so much in these two chapters o.O what the hell's with that? Oh well, I hope I don't disappoint you guys! *gives you air-hugs from probably another side of the world* You're all making my week! ;w;
EDIT: Fixed the stuff the reviewers told me about! Ugh, looking back at it today I must say I'm disappointed with myself XD Oh well, now it's fixed at least. Hmm... I wonder... is this what it feels like, when you have a hangover? You look at the things you did the former day and think "Holy shit that was stupid" XD ah, whatevs. Just hope you enjoy it a tad more when it's fixed.
Chapter 2
~The Swordsman~
"Laaaaand~!" Luffy exclaimed in a sing-song voice as they indeed reached land and his feet touched solid ground.
"If you're gonna be that happy everytime we get to an island then maybe sea-life isn't for you", Law commented, binding the rope to the ship to a pole by the harbor and then turning to Coby. "By the way, you're pretty good at navigating. Sure you wanna join those marines? Why don't you become our navigator instead? Would save us the hassle to look for another one."
Coby gave a short, nervous laugh. "Ah, thanks, Law-san, but I went here to fullfill my dream, you know. To bec-"
"To become a marine is your dream, I know", the doctor finished, picking up his nodachi and getting up from his crouching position. "More importantly, this is Shells Town where that Roronoa Zoro-ya guy is held, right?"
"Really?! Where is he, that demon?" asked Luffy excitedly.
"You're still thinking about that? Luffy-san, I told you, he'll kill you if you try to ask him that!" Coby whined. His whining proved to be futile though as the duo of pirates walked into Shells Town, completely ignoring him. Tears of anxiety forced themselves over the edges of the pink-haired boy's eyes. "Why are they like this..."
i...i
"I don't like this town", Law declared, glaring at the smiling faces around him. "It's too happy."
Luffy took an apple from a stand and threw a coin to the salesman. "I think it's nice. It has food, for example, which is a plus!"
"And it's a great Marine Base, too!" Coby said excitedly. "I can't wait to join them!"
"Well, I don't like it", their mushroom-hatted, half-insane companion repeated stubbornly. "Let's just find this Roronoa Zoro-ya guy and he better join 'cause-" He trailed off as he noticed that the people around them had lost their happy faces and were pushing themselves to the walls in fear. "- what the heck are they doing?"
Eyes wide in alarm turned Coby to Luffy, trying desperately to change his mind. "See, Luffy-san?! Everyone's afraid of Zoro! Even though Captain Morgan is currently in charge of-" He stopped as everyone jumped again in fear. "- what?"
Luffy began to laugh loudly, saying "This sure is a funny town!" while his crewmate frowned in confusion. "Since the rumor says that the Pirate Hunter Zoro-ya is a demon in human form, I understand that they'd be scared scared even though we only mentioned his name and it seems kind of pointless to be scared just because we did mention his name, but... aren't marines supposed to be honored and respected in towns like these?"
"Maybe they did it for fun!" Luffy suggested, still laughing.
His friends sweatdropped. "No, I highly doubt that..."
"Then, maybe that Morgan guy did something bad?" he suggested instead.
"That's impossible!" Coby exclaimed.
Law rolled his eyes at the pink-haired boy. "Just because he's a marine doesn't mean he can't do bad stuff."
"He's a Captain, so he's trusted to do what's right!" the boy protested stubbornly.
"Ugh, let's just go to the damned Marine Base and get that pirate hunter to join us. I'll take his organs if he doesn't. Probably will even if he does... Oh, that would be such a fun operation", Law murmured, smiling wickedly at the thought, which caused the glasses-wearing boy beside him to back away from him with a frightened face. He blinked in confusion at the boy. "What?"
"N-Nothing... Nothing at all, Dr. Trafalgar-sama", the boy stuttered, quivering like a an autumn leaf in the cold winds of fall.
"Trafalgar-sama" raised an eyebrow, even more confused. "'Dr. Trafalgar-sama'? What's with the sudden use of my last name? And '-sama' on top of that? That sounds sort of wei-"
"Come on, you guys! Let's get our demon!" his captain called, half-running ahead. The other two shrugged and quickened their pace to catch up with the energetic red-vested, black-haired, straw-hat wearing teen. After some minutes of walking, they arrived by a wall protecting a pretty big fortress. Coby stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the building. "S-So this is it... I'm finally becoming a marine... Luffy-san, Dr. Trafalgar-sama (said doctor sweatdropped at this), thank you so much for helping me, but it's time to part wa-"
"Human Demon, where might you be~?" Luffy sang cheerily, climbing up on the wall.
Law stood firm on the ground, looking up at his captain while sighing exasperatedly. "Luffy-ya, you're interrupting people when they're talking too much today. Besides, we won't be able to find him out in the open. Marines don't keep their prisoners outsi-"
"There he is!"
"-see?! Now you're interrupting again. You need to let people fini- wait what?" The doctor scrambled up on the wall, clinging to its edge beside his captain. Shortly after the doctor, the wimpy to-be-marine climbed up as well.
Blood slowly running cold, Coby stared at the sight behind those walls. In the middle of the yard outside the fortress was a man, bound to a pole resembling a cross by ropes. A black bandana covered his green hair and a white shirt covered his torso. A green waistband held up his dark green trousers which were tucked into his black boots. "N-No way... it's really him... it's the pirate hunter, Roronoa Zoro!" he gasped, still not fully believing what he was seeing.
Law blinked as he studied the shape of the bound swordsman critically. "Huh... I had hoped that he would be something that would be more fun to dissect, like a Zoan Devil's Fruit user or a merman... Other than that, he looks sort of strong. He probably won't be a nuisance, at least."
"You can't dissect my crew, Traffy!" Luffy grumbled, leaning forward to glare into Law's eyes. "They can't fight if you dissect them!"
"Luffy-san, that's not the problem..." Coby wailed without being heard.
"Oi, you three."
The trio's attention was drawn back to the imprisoned bounty hunter as it appeared that he had spoken to them.
He raised his head, revealing his scowling face from the shadow of his bandana. "You're bothering me. Get lost."
Coby was now trembling more than ever and scooted closer to Luffy. "See, Luffy-san?! You can't possibly recruit a guy like him! His eyes are just showing blood-thirst and insani...ty..." He trailed off, staring at Law, who was mumbling things about needing more kidneys to his collection before reluctantly continuing. "... Even though you're probably used to those kinds of guys... If you recruit him, it doesn't matter how strong you are or how many lives you have! -Huh?" He turned his head around as the sound of wood meeting stone caught his attention. The two pirates turned their heads to the sound as well.
A girl who was only a tiny bit shorter than Coby was placing a ladder against the wall and climbing up to the top of the wall. When she noticed the stares from the odd trio she placed her index finger over her mouth and hushed them. She then proceeded by throwing down a rope which she used to climb down from the wall on the other side and ran to the bounty hunter once her feet touched the ground.
"Luffy-san, stop her! She's gonna get killed!" Coby exclaimed in a sort of hushed tone.
"Do it yourself!" the straw-hat wearing pirate pouted.
"Why wasn't I included in the 'rescue her' team?" Law queried, not really caring but wondering still. He flicked Coby's nose. "I'm beginning to think you don't like me, Coby-ya..."
"E-Eh?! N-No, it's no-nothing like t-that, Dr. Trafalgar-sama!" the boy with pink hair protested, flustered. "I-It's just that-"
"Eh, well, it's fine. I don't really like you either", the doctor shrugged, focusing his gaze on the girl and the bound bounty hunter and being oblivious to the pink-haired boy's depressed expression.
Roronoa Zoro the Pirate Hunter looked down on the girl, scowling still. "What?"
The girl smiled brightly. "You're hungry, aren't you? I made some riceballs for you."
Zoro remained uninterested. "You're gonna get killed if you stay here, you know. Go away."
"You haven't eaten anything though", the girl persisted, opening the bundle in her arms and holding forward a pair of riceballs. "Here! I made them myself. It's my first time, but I hope you like them!"
That seemed to affect the swordsman though. His eyes widened slightly and his scowl was replaced for a second by a baffled expression. "I'm not hungry! You're annoying me! Hurry up and go away."
"But..." the girl began, sounding incredibly disappointed.
"I don't want any!" he snarled. "Leave me be or I'll kill you!"
"You shouldn't bully kids, Roronoa Zoro", a sudden voice said as a gate opened and a blonde man with an onion-like haircut in a purple suit followed by two marines walked inside, towards Zoro and the girl.
Coby let out a breath of relief. "Thank goodness, the marines are here. The girl should be okay now."
"He looks weird", Luffy said, staring blankly at the new-comers.
"And stupid", Law concurred.
The weird-and-stupid looking blonde man walked up to Zoro and the girl with a smug grin on his face. He caught sight of the riceballs and picked up one without permission. "Oh, these look good. Thanks." He shoved it into his mouth in spite of the girl's protest, but then spat it out with a disgusted look on his weird-and-stupid looking face. "Blegh! This is horrible! Why is it sweet?! Riceballs should be salty!"
"B-But... I thought it'd taste better if it they were sweet...!" the girl said, her voice shaking now.
The blonde man snorted and smashed the riceballs into the ground, stomping on them repeatedly. Crouching down, the brunette girl tried to stop him. "Stop it! He can't eat them like this!" she wailed, about to cry.
"What a horrible thing to do..." Coby said breathlessly, still hanging on the wall together with Luffy and Law. The other two remained silent, watching the scene without as much as batting an eye.
Once the man finally stopped and revealed the dusty mess which was left of the riceballs, the girl couldn't hold it any longer and she started to cry. "I tried to make it good... I tried to make it with all my heart..." she whimpered, her shoulders shaking.
"Aww, haven't you seen this poster yet?" the man said in a complaining tone. He picked out a poster from his chest which caused Law to comment "Oh, he's even more woman-alike than I thought", which then caused Coby to reply "This isn't the time, Dr. Trafalgar-san" and Luffy to giggle. "It says 'Anyone who helps this criminal will be executed'", the weird man continued. "'Marine Captain Morgan'. In other words, it's my dad's orders." The girl froze and the man laughed. "Heh, brat, you know who my father is, right? Well", he glanced back at his bodyguards, "toss this kid out now."
The bodyguard who was asked to do so flinched and gasped in disbelief. He quickly recovered though in fear of being the one who was executed instead and leaned down to pick up the girl. "I'm sorry I must hurt you, little one", he apologized just as he raised her in the air and sent her flying across the wall. Law raised his hand with the word "DEATH" written on each of his five knuckles to use "Room", but Luffy leapt after the girl and caught her mid-air before the doctor could do anything.
"Luffy-san! Are you okay?!" Coby exclaimed, jumping down from the wall and rushing forward to the black-haired pirate and the little girl with the pigtails. Luffy only stood up as a response and brushed off some dust from his vest while Coby checked the girl to make sure she didn't have any injuries. "Okay... good, doesn't look like anything's damaged. Luffy-san, you're not inj- Not here!" The last part was a surprised shriek as he noticed that the two pirates were out of sight. "Why are they like this...?"
i...i
The sounds of footsteps coming closer reached the green-haired swordsman's ears and Zoro looked up groggily to see a face he had not expected to see. He had expected to see the ugly face of Captain Morgan's bastard son coming back after retreating to the fortress for some stupid reason, not that straw-hatted freak's inhumanly wide grin and his mushroom-hatted friend who seemed like the kind of guy you would run away from if he came at you with a needle. "Now what?" he questioned, making sure his tone was as patronizing as it could be. "Didn't I tell you to go away? Besides, you heard the bastard son, didn't you? You'll get executed, you know."
To his slight surprise, the strangers were unfazed. Not even offended by his tone. Instead, the straw-hatted one's stupidly wide grin grew even wider. "So you're Roronoa Zoro, huh? A bad guy, I heard. Being publicly humiliated... are you really strong?"
Zoro had only known this kid in a couple of seconds and he could already tell that it was an annoying kid. "Mind your own business, brats!"
"Oi, oi, I'm probably older than you", the mushroom-hat said, looking up from the shadow of his hat. "Don't throw the word 'brat' around at anyone you as you please." Once again Zoro felt slightly surprised. Despite his words, mushroom-hat had a smirk on his face and his tone wasn't angry or annoyed. It sounded more as if he was... amused.
Straw-hat took a couple of steps forward, placing his hand on his hat as he looked at Zoro with a confident smile. "I'd have escaped within three days if I was in that situation!" he boasted.
"I wouldn't have been captured in the first place", mushroom-hat responded, still smirking. "If I did get captured, I'd get rid of those ropes in a second anyways."
Zoro huffed and returned their confidents smirks with his own confident smirk. "I'm different from you. I'll survive to show them. Definitely."
Mushroom "ooh"ed in realization. "I see! So this is something about a swordsman's idiotic pride or something."
"Don't speak of things you don't understand", Zoro retorted, glaring at the man with the fluffy hat. Glancing at the nodachi in the man's hand, he added, "Especially not the things you should understand, but don't."
"Oh, right, sorry", mushroom chuckled. "Sorry I'm not an honorable swordsman. It doesn't in particular have a nice ring to it, so I chose not to be one." He turned to straw-hat. "So, Luffy, what do you think? Good guy or bad guy?"
"I don't know", straw admitted, holding his chin with his hand. "I'll need more time to decide that."
Zoro sweat-dropped. "You know, I'm right here..."
"We know that", straw said, looking at him as if he was an idiot. "We're not blind and deaf. If we were, you'd cure it, wouldn't you, Traffy!"
"There's no cure to blindness or deafness. And stop calling me Traffy, Luffy-ya." Mushroom, apparently called 'Traffy', whipped around and began walking towards the exit. "Let's go. Coby and that girl must be wondering what the hell we're doing."
'Luffy-ya' shrugged with a smile at Zoro before he turned to follow 'Traffy'. "You're a stubborn guy, aren't you", he said cheerfully, raising his hand to wave a short good-bye.
"Wait", the swordsman ordered, which led 'Luffy-ya' to freeze. "Can you get that for me?" he asked, cocking his head to the flat white-and-brown mess that once was a riceball.
"Sure you want this? It's all dirty now", the black-haired teen queried, looking doubtfully at the mess he was currently picking up.
"Luffy-ya!"
"Wait just a moment, Traffy!" he called over his shoulder to his comrade before turning his head back to the swordsman. "Anyways, as I was saying, you sure you wanna eat this?"
"Just give it to me already!" Zoro snarled impatiently. 'Luffy-ya' shrugged once again and handed the mess to his mouth. Hungrily, he dug in, trying in vain to suppress his coughing. "Before you say anything", he growled between his chewing, "I don't need any smart-ass comments now. It's delicious. Thanks for the food."
Straw-hat, or Luffy-ya or whatever, smiled so stupidly innocently and understandingly that Zoro felt like spitting out the riceball he had just eaten at the damn kid's face.
i...i
"Really?!" the girl with the pigtails, apparently named Rika, exclaimed happily.
Luffy nodded. "Yup! Ate it all up. He said it was delicious!"
Rika seemed to just barely manage to keep herself from bouncing up and down in joy. Even Law had to admit that it was pretty cute. Not out loud though. Hah, Hell'd freeze over before Law admitted that something was cute out loud.
Coby, however, was troubled, unlike the other three. "Is Zoro really a bad guy like everyone says...?"
"He's not!" Rika protested, surprisingly fiercely for such a young girl. "He's in jail because of us here in Shells Town..."
Law lifted his head from the wall he was leaning on. "Really? How come?"
Rika gulped and spilled out the whole story about how Zoro had rescued them from Helmeppo's pet wolf (apparently Helmeppo was the name of that weird blonde guy from earlier) and offered to stay tied to that pole a whole month in exchange that the people remained unharmed.
"That was three weeks ago", Rika concluded, frowning at the memory. "Helmeppo kicks and punches Zoro while he's tied up there, and he bullies him too. I... I..." She buried her face in her hands, sobbing lightly.
"So that's what happened..." Coby said, a new respect forming for the imprisoned bounty hunter. Luffy and Law were quiet, glancing at the Marine Base as if they could see the subject of the conversation there even though it was far too far away and walls secluded him from their sights. A sudden crash of glass splittering from inside the restaurant tore their gazes away and the four of them ran in through the entrance to see what was going on.
"I'm hungry!" a familiar, incredibly spoiled-sounding voice said. "We're all going to eat for free. Heeheehee! Hurry and bring the alcohol!" To everyone's irritation, it was of course the blonde onion-head called Helmeppo. He laughed smugly as Rika's mother poured out wine into his glass. "Oh right, right. Since I am so very tired of waiting, I just decided that I'm going to kill Zoro off a little earlier. Tomorrow, so to say. You're all welcome to come and watch! Looking forward to it!" Another gush of his annoying laughter flew from his lips.
Only this time, to Law's satisfaction, it was interrupted as a certain red-vested pirate's strong fist embedding itself into the bastard's face. Law smirked, about to unsheath his nodachi when Coby rushed forward and stopped his captain from reconstructing the little bastard's face further.
"Luffy-san, stop!" the pink-haired boy wailed.
"He's nothing but trash!" Luffy snarled in response.
"You-you hit me!" Helmeppo yelped, holding his hand over the bruise that Luffy's fist had left. "I'm Morgan's son!"
"Yeah, nobody cares, little shit", Law snapped uninterestedly, causing said little shit to push himself to the wall in shock. Ignoring him, Law turned to Coby with a disappointed expression. "More importantly, Coby-ya, why did you stop Luffy-ya? I was looking forward to finally cutting that blonde shit up." The little shit let out a shriek of fear at his words and said something about getting the two of them executed, but everyone was ignoring him at this point anyways so it didn't matter.
"I've decided, Law, Coby", Luffy said determinedly. "I'm going to make Zoro our nakama!"
Law grinned. "Finally!"
"You can't take his organs."
"Well you're no fun at all..."
i...i
The sounds of bamboo swords split the silent night air. Even from far away you could hear them clashing, until it ended with the sound of one of the fighters falling to the ground.
'You're weak as always, Zoro.'
Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro woke up with a jolt, wincing a bit in the process because of his strained limbs. After being tied up in nearly a month, it was only natural for his limbs to hurt as if they'd gone through hell and back. God knew how much it would hurt to finally be released from those goddamn ropes.
"Oi! You awake?"
Zoro swore he could hear his own scowl carving through his face as he looked up to see a familiar face. "You again, Straw-hat? Don't you have anything better to do?"
"Well, I'm going to release you so you can join my crew", Straw-hat or Luffy-ya or whatever his name was said bluntly.
"What did you say?" Zoro questioned in disbelief.
"I'm looking for people to join my crew, and you seem like a good guy", Straw-hat explained, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Zoro snorted. "I refuse! You want me to be a bad guy?"
"Well, everyone thinks you're a bad guy anyways so it won't make much difference", the evidently-pirate shrugged.
"I don't care what people say", Zoro replied stubbornly. "I have no regrets in what I've done. I live to do what I want to do, and that's it."
Straw-hat grinned. "Really... too bad, I've already decided that you are going to join my crew and become my nakama!"
The bounty hunter's teeth bared in a snarl. "You can't decide those things by yourself!"
Straw-hat laughed a peculiar laughter, it sounded like 'shishishishi'. "Where's your sword?"
"Huh?" Zoro frowned and blinked in confusion.
"I asked where your sword is", Straw-hat repeated.
"Uh... That bastard son of the Captain took it and keeps it in his room, I think", Zoro replied, eyes twitching slightly. "Why?"
"I'll get your sword for you, so you'll become my nakama!" Straw-hat declared proudly.
"Are you even trying to listen to me?!" Zoro blurted out, his patience running out. The boy ignored him though and head straight into the Marine Base. His eyes widened in astonishment. "Is he going to attack the base by himself?"
"Afraid he is", another familiar voice grumbled. Zoro turned his head to see Straw-hat's companion, 'Traffy', walking towards him. "Selfish bastard said he'd do it himself. Well, whatever. If something goes wrong then I'll have the pleasure to say 'I told you so', at least."
The swordsman narrowed his eyes. "Are you on that idiot's crew?"
"Correct, as much as I hate to admit it", 'Traffy' confessed with a smirk and a shrug. "This little guy isn't though. He's going to join the Marines." A tiny pink-haired boy rushed out from the hiding place behind 'Traffy' and ran up to Zoro, beginning to untie the ropes binding him to the pole.
"Idiot, you're going to get killed if you do that!" Zoro hissed. "Besides, I can't escape now! Only ten days left!"
"More like less than twenty-four hours left", 'Traffy' retorted, calmly looking up at the fortress where his captain had disappeared. "That little brat, Helmeppo or whatever, plans on executing you tomorrow if you stay here. Luffy-ya heard him say so out loud and punched his face. It was extremely satisfying, you should've seen it, by the way. He's definitely being chased by marines right now, though, so I'll probably need to help him clear the way a bit. Once you're released, would you like to fight them off as well? Just for the sake of cutting up those who imprisoned you."
The tiny pink-haired boy smiled nervously at him. "What Dr. Trafalgar-sama (at this, Law waved his hand with a baffled expression and said "Seriously, stop calling me that, it's weird") is failing to say is... well, he's probably not thinking about it this way, but what I want to say is: Please, help Luffy-san. I believe you can help him ("He didn't even want any help to begin with, pinky"). You and Dr. Trafalgar-sama ("Eh, I give up") are the only ones who can help him."
Zoro stared at the two for a while before turning his green gaze forward, determination filling his eyes to the brim. It was a pretty serious moment which was completely broken by the sound of a sword's hilt hitting someone's head lightly.
"Seriously, how long time can it take to untie a couple of ropes, Coby-ya", Trafalgar muttered, pushing Coby sort-of-harshly-yet-sort-of-gently out of the way with the hilt of his nodachi. "Step aside. I'll cut his arms off along with the ropes, so it'll be easier."
Both Coby and Zoro's eyes widened in alarm. "Don't!" they exclaimed at the same time.
Trafalgar blinked, frowning in both puzzlement and in insult, as if they had offended him. "What? It'll be much easier. I might cut through you anyways if I just try to cut the ropes. If I cut your arms along with them, though..."
"I want to keep my arms, thank you very much!" Zoro snapped.
Trafalgar blinked once again, all the more puzzled and insulted. "Of course you'll keep your arms. I'm a doctor for crying out loud."
"Oh right, you can just sew them on again..." Zoro said in realization.
"That's not how it works! Oh wait, Dr. Trafalgar-san's ability, I see..." said Coby, letting out a breath of relief. Then he seeemed to remember something and added in a frantic tone: "Wait! You could just cut off the ropes that aren't close to his arms, Dr. Trafalgar-san!"
Zoro quirked an eyebrow. "What ability?"
Before any of them could answer, a new voice spoke up. "Stop right there, traitors!" the cursed voice of Captain Morgan ordered. "As punishment for betraying me, you shall be executed here and now!"
Coby screamed in fear, Zoro's eyes widened and he gritted his teeth and Trafalgar... smirked. As always. He simply lifted his hand with the tattoos of the letters to the word "DEATH" and seemed to... wait for something. If Zoro didn't know any better, he might have thought that the mushroom-hatted man was waiting for the bullets. Not waiting for them as if he was waiting for death, but more as if they couldn't hurt him.
'What the hell is up with this guy...?'
"FIRE!"
Zoro closed his eyes, repeating 'I can't die like this' inside of his head over and over again.
Pew, pew, pew. The guns had fired. 'I can't die like this, I can't die like this, I can't die like this!'
"Shambles."
Sudden screams of agony brought Zoro's attention back to the outside world. He looked down, inspecting his body, expecting to see lots of wounds from the bullets, but instead saw that it was just as fine as it was before.
Captain Morgan, however, was in a completely different state.
Several bullets had pierced his knees, elbows, shoulders and ankles and he had fallen to the ground, unable to stand with so many bullets in those particular areas. The marines were staring at Trafalgar, eyes wide with alarm and disbelief. "W-Where did those bullets come from?! Where did our bullets go?!" they exclaimed in panic.
Trafalgar's smirk grew wider. "Those bullets were your bullets. I merely switched them around and sent them flying to our dear Captain Morgan instead."
"What?!" Zoro stared at the man before him, his confusion reaching a dangerous level.
The body of a young teenager hit the ground, feet first in front of the trio consisting of Trafalgar, Zoro and Coby. That teenager was Luffy who had jumped from the tower and landed on the ground perfectly fine in spite of falling more than a douzen of meters.
"Yosh! I knew it'd be alright if I left you with them, Law!" he laughed cheerfully. He spun around, facing Zoro. "I got your swords~ There were three, but I didn't know which one to take so I took all of them."
"Y-You two! What the hell are you?!" Zoro couldn't help but to burst out that very question, 'cause after what he had witnessed, he really needed to ask that question. Mindfucks need explanations, you know.
"Oh, us? Well, I am Luffy, the man who will become the Pirate King!" Luffy said with a grin. "And this is Toraogulfar-"
"I'm Trafalgar Law, the doctor and first mate of his crew", Trafalgar finished, glaring at his captain irritably. "I'll always introduce myself from now on, Luffy-ya."
"W...What? Become the Pirate King? Do you even know what that means?!" Zoro queried, his expression remaining baffled, puzzled and confused as hell.
"Becoming the Pirate King speaks for itself, doesn't it?" Luffy replied. "What else could it mean?"
Well, that didn't soothe his confusion at all. Quite the contrary.
"I was surprised too", Coby said, looking excited, "but Luffy-san is serious! That the kind of person he is! He's going to find the ultimate treasure, One Piece!"
"That's all fine and dandy, but what are you two?" Zoro questioned, staring them down with a hard glint in his eyes.
"A... Are you... Devil's Fruit users?" huffed Morgan, who was bleeding helplessly on the ground.
Law turned to the bloody heap behind the marines, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, you're still alive. Congratulations." He looked up with a frown at the marines who looked extremely conflicted at the moment. "But what's up with you marines? Your captain is bleeding and can't stand up, and all you're doing is watch? Shouldn't you help him? Or, I don't know, try to capture the ones who just attacked your captain." The marines remained still. "... No? Okay, whatever..."
Even Luffy noticed that it was strange of marines to do so, but turned to Zoro once again. "Anyways, which sword is yours?"
"All three of them", Zoro replied, finally beginning to be able to digest the oddness of everything. "I use three swords."
Luffy let out a little confused "Hmm...", as if he was wondering how he did that but grinned nonetheless. "You'll take them, right? But if we fight together, you'll owe me! Being killed by marines or coming with me... which one do you pick?"
"You're the son of the devil, aren't you?" Zoro smirked. "Fine! I'd rather become a pirate than dying here!"
While Luffy began celebrating, Law cut off the ropes (without cutting off his arms, to his relief) and released the swordsman. Like he had suspected, his limbs were hurting like hell after being tied up for such a long time and Law offered him a hand to help him get up on his stiff legs.
"They're letting Zoro go... Marines! Don't just stand there! If bullets don't work, use your swords!" Morgan ordered, his eyes bloodshot and about to pop out of his skull as he tried to stand up on his mangled knees.
Terrified by the sight of their Captain like that, the marines picked up their swords and rushed at the odd quartet.
"Room." A blue orb surrounded them as Law uttered that sole word. He unsheathed his nodachi and began slicing through the air, cutting the marines into pieces in the process. "Shambles." He moved around his hands and the orb turned into a whirlpool of live bodyparts flying around, until he stopped by putting those bodyparts wherever he pleased.
Well, that didn't soothe Zoro's mindfuck at all. Pretty much the contrary.
Law realeased the orb, sheathed his sword and let it rest on his shoulder. "Small fry shouldn't even try to oppose me. You'll end up humiliated beyond reason."
"Gum-Gum Whip!" Luffy shouted as his leg stretched and literally whiped the floor with the literally reconstructed marines.
The marines reactions were any normal man's reaction. "WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?!"
Zoro had simply accepted that nothing made sense anymore and that birds could obviously turn into ugly pegasuses now (get it? No? Skypiea arc? Anyone?). "Seriously, what are you guys?"
"Oh, I'm a rubber man and Law's an operation man", Luffy explained, tugging at the inside of his cheeks with his fingers to stretch them out more than a normal human would be able to do. "I ate the Gomu Gomu No Mi and he ate the Ope Ope No Mi. They're Devil's Fruits!"
"We'll drown if we fall into the sea, so you're sort of needed if we're going to survive", Law added. He looked like he was going to say something more, but a gurgling scream interrupted him.
"You weaklings! All of you! How can you fall to mere pirates?!" came Morgan's scream, as he groggily stood up. The marines and Coby gasped in shock at the pretty intimidating man. After all, a tall muscular man with an iron jaw, an axe-arm who is bleeding from horrible wounds looks pretty much like something from your nightmares.
"Idiot", Law muttered, sounding sort of doctor-ishly annoyed yet keeping his trademark smirk on as if it still amused him to see the Captain wince in pain (what a great doctor, huh). "The wounds'll get worse if he strains himself. He's too stubborn for his own good."
Luffy simply dashed forward and punched the axe-handed Captain's face. The Captain tried to block it with his axe, but the bloodloss had made him dizzy and his reflexes were slowed down.
"Crush those marines, Luffy-san!" Coby cheered. Zoro unsheathed his swords, ready to fight if he needed to. It didn't seem like it though, as Luffy was currently holding Morgan pinned to the ground while punching his face repeatedly. Zoro and Law watched some meters away with some satisfaction to see that guy get pummeled.
Then, of course, someone had to interrupt it, because clearly it was this island's hobby.
"S-Stop it, Straw-Hatt!" Helmeppo called, pointing a gun at Coby as he had apparently turned into a ninja and managed to appear out of nowhere. Seemingly. Luffy did not hear him though and continued to punch the onion-head's father. "Stop it you idiot! Can't you see I have a hostage here!"
Since Luffy still didn't hear, Zoro had to tell him while Law stared at Helmeppo, wondering how the fuck he and Zoro didn't notice that the spoiled blonde had come and taken Coby hostage. "Oi. Look up."
This time, Luffy did stop and turned to see the blonde whose hands and legs were trembling. "If you care about four-eyes' life, don't move! I'll shoot him!"
Luffy stared blankly at the two of them and Coby stared back, looking as if he really was ready to die. "Luffy-san! I don't want to interfere with your dream, even if I die!"
"Yeah, I know!" the red-vested teen smiled. He lifted his fist and held his arm with his other hand. "Give it up, you stupid moron. Coby is serious." With that said, he approached the hostage and the onion-head.
"I'M THE CAPTAIN OF THE MARINES, AXE-HAND MORGAN!" Morgan shouted as he raised his axe-hand in the air above Luffy, ready to strike down. Quick as a flash, Zoro cut the Captain just before his axe touched Zoro's own, newly appointed captain's head and that newly appointed captain's fist embedded itself into Helmeppo's face once again.
"Nice, Zoro!"
"It was nothing, captain."
Thus, it was all over.
All except for one little detail.
Law turned to the stunned marines, their bodies still screwed up by Law's little 'operation'. "Marines! If you still want to fight, step forward. If you don't, I'll get your bodies back to usual as long as we get to leave this island peacefully. Is that clear?"
To his surprise, the marines began dancing and cheering in joy (which, with their screwed up bodies, looked really odd), throwing away their swords if they still were holding them. "I'll... take that as a yes, then."
"Their captain was defeated and they're celebrating?" said Luffy, watching the marines eagerly wait for Law to change them back to usual.
"It's because everyone was afraid of Morgan!" Coby burst out gleefully.
Zoro let out a muffled grunt and fell to the ground, cutting his new friends' joy short.
"Zoro-san, what's the matter?! Are you injured?!"
"Ugh, he's only been in the crew a couple of minutes and already I'll have to treat him..."
"No... I'm just... hungry."
i...i
"Aaah, I'm stuffed!" Zoro declared, patting his stomach, pleased with his meal. "This food was worth those three weeks without eating!"
He and his crewmates were sitting in Rika's restaurant, given free food and the admiration of the town as a token of their gratitude.
Monkey D. Luffy pulled out the fork in his mouth, staring questionably at the swordsman. "Is that all you're gonna eat?"
"I don't understand how you can eat more than me", the swordsman scowled, pointing at the many plates that had been emptied by his captain.
"Get used to it", Law said, handing over a loaf of bread to their captain. "I'm worried that all the money's going to go to solely feeding him."
"How rude!" Luffy pouted, his face stuffed with the bread Law just had handed him. "I don't eat that much! At least I can eat bread, Traffy."
A vein appeared by Law's left temple. "That has nothing to do with this, Luffy-ya. At least I try to make sure Zoro-ya does not feel like he's made a mistake by joining your crew..."
Small beads of sweat appeared on the green-haired swordsman's forehead and he quickly changed the subject. "You said you were looking for more members to your crew. To become the Pirate King you must have quite the crew already."
"Yup, I do", Luffy replied, smiling in spite of his face still being stuffed. "You and Traffy."
"Huh?! Then..."
"Yup. Us three."
"Can we really be pirates with only three people?"
"We're all strong, so it'll be fine!"
"Strong or not, we'll need a navigator and a cook too", Law put in, whacking their captain on the back of his head. "And that boat we've got currently won't make it to the Grand Line, especially since you and me can't swim."
"Speaking of which, where is our ship?" Zoro queried, a bit worried what the answer might be judging from Law's reaction. The crew's doctor namely looked away, looking troubled for some reason as he and their captain pointed towards the harbor through the window. Slightly hesitant, the swordsman walked over to the window and looked outside. There, by the harbor, was a very small boat. Probably smaller than most lifeboats, even. "...That?"
"It's small now, but I'll get us a really big one!" Luffy stated, gesturing with his hands in a wide circle as to show how big he meant.
His green-haired crewmate laughed at that. "How?"
"He got a half-insane doctor from the sea and a bloodthirsty swordsman from a Marine Base, I'm pretty sure getting a ship will be a piece of cake with a thought of all these weird coincidences he comes across", said Law with a shrug.
"Luffy-san was born without planning abilities", Coby said, who was also currently eating in Rika's restaurant, in an excusing tone.
"Luffy, where are you going now?" Rika asked curiously.
"Oh, me, Zoro and Torao are heading to Grand Line now", the straw-hat wearing boy responded cheerfully.
Coby's juice he was drinking came out again through his mouth and nostrils. "You can't go to the Grand Line with only the three of you! No matter what, that's impossible! The Grand Line is extremely dangerous. You all know there are two oceans in this world, right? There's a road in the center called Red Line..."
Law stopped listening, for it was things he had known in ages. He didn't intervene with Coby's explaining though because if he did intervene it'd be his job to explain the whole thing to his empty-headed captain. And that is a torture he'd rather stay away from.
Once Coby finished he opened his ears to the outside world again to hear his captain's reply to the explaination. "But One Piece is there somewhere, so we'll have to go."
"Well, I guess we have no choice", Zoro shrugged, leaning back on his chair with a grin.
"You worry too much, Coby-ya", Law smirked. "You're not even coming along and yet you're talking about it as if your life's on the line."
"Even though I'm not going, I'm worried", the pink-haired boy said, looking genuinely concerned. "Can't I do that? Because Luffy-san and I are friends, even though we just met... right?"
Luffy's smile was as wide as ever. "Yep! We're parting ways, but we'll always be friends!"
Looking down a little in modesty, Coby smiled. "When I was little, I never had any friends. No one ever stood up for me, and I never stood up for myself. But because of you three, I've learned to strive for my own goals! I'm going to make my childhood dream come true! I will become a marine!"
"Sure you will, but it will not be easy", the doctor of the crew said, his eyes narrowed at the boy. He knew this would be cruel, but using honeyed words wasn't his style. "I know you were forced into it, you still served under a pirate. A pirate famous enough to have a bounty, at that. You shouldn't underestimate marines' information intelligence. If they do find out, you won't be able to join. It is good that you've learned to stand up for yourself, but because you didn't do it sooner you might've ruined your dream on your own."
While Coby looked horrified and Rika and her mother looked at him as if he had said something terribly offending, Luffy didn't mind and Zoro looked like he agreed with Law.
Speaking of the devil, the marines opened the door and entered the restaurant, halting by the pirates' table. "Excuse me. Are you truly pirates?"
"Yup, we're pirates!" "What he said." "Since recently, yes."
The marine at the head of the line sighed heavily. "We are very grateful for taking care of Morgan, but pirates are pirates. We won't report you to the headquarters, but we must ask you to leave immediately."
This did, of course, anger the people of Shells Town and they began to protest. Law let out a short laugh. "To think that townspeople are asking the marines to let some pirates to stay..."
"Well, shall we go?" his captain asked, and the crew stood up from their seats and strolled towards the exit. "Thanks for the food!"
"Are you their comrade?" the head-marine asked Coby, stopping the pirates in their tracks. Or, rather, it stopped the captain in his tracks and the other two stopped when they noticed their captain wasn't moving. When Coby didn't answer, the head-marine turned to the pirates. "Wait just a minute. Is he with you?"
"I know all about this guy", the captain responded. "There was this huge lady who looked like a fat duck!"
"Luffy-san!"
He ignored Coby's distraught voice and continued. "She had this big club... she was one ugly-looking hag! This guy sucked up that female pirate for two years!"
You could literally hear Coby's patience snapping as he punched Luffy in the face. It probably didn't hurt, but Luffy seemed to get mad anyhow and pummeled Coby to the ground. He punched him repeatedly, just like he had done with Morgan, and just like when he was punching Morgan, his crewmates had to tell him to stop.
"We get it! He's clearly not one of you", the head-marine said, glaring at Luffy for 'disturbing the peace'. "Just leave our town now!"
"Yeah, yeah, we're going", Law said, waving his hand casually at the marines. "Don't take brawls so seriously."
The trio left the restaurant and walked to the harbor, but while they were just outside the building they could hear Coby's determined voice asking to become a marine.
"Nice thing you did there, captain", Zoro said. "You've done too much for that kid", Law agreed. Luffy just shrugged with his usual grin.
As they boarded the boat and prepared to leave, they noticed three figures running towards them. It was Coby, Rika and her mother. The newly-made marine saluted them, and the rest of the marines of Shells Town followed suit.
"Well this sure is something", the former bounty hunter said, watching the town and his captain eagerly wave their hands in a farewell.
"Yup. Speaking of which..." Law began, raising his sheathed nodachi and jabbing it into Zoro's back, causing him to fall over board. "... you stink."
The eager farewells ended abruptly and everyone stared at the pirates.
"Bastard! What the hell was that?!" Zoro shouted in anger, crawling aboard again and grabbing Law by his collar.
"You've been without a bath in three weeks and you smell worse than a sweating polar bear", the doctor replied indifferently. "Besides, this boat is small and you're the only one who can swim. Naturally, you should swim by the side or something."
"Law, don't push my nakama overboard!" Luffy complained.
"You have to agree that he needed it, though", Law retorted.
"...Yeah, he sort of did."
"Why do I have to be in a crew like this?!"
"If you don't want to then I'll gladly take your organs."
"Shut up! I'll cut you up!"
"Both of you shut up! You can't begin a fight without me!"
"Let's wait with that until we're on solid ground, please."
Omake:
The trio were quietly enjoying the fine weather when Luffy suddenly spoke up. "Hey, Zoro, do you have a hat?"
Frowning, the green-haired swordsman shook his head. "No, I just have my bandana. Why?"
"Well, you'll have to get a hat!" his new captain whined.
Law let out an irritated sigh. "Why is that, Luffy?"
"Because you and me already have hats", he explained. "Zoro will look like an outsider if he doesn't get a hat!"
The two were completely silent, staring at their captain in disbelief. Then Law shrugged. "Fine. Let's get him a flower hat. Then we can call him 'Zoro-Baachan'."
"Yay!"
"WHAT THE HELL?! I refuse!"
"Captain's orders. Geez, Zoro, have you no sense of loyalty?"
"B-B-But...! I should at least have a choice!"
"Aw, you wish."
"... You're just agreeing with him to mess with me aren't you."
"Damn right."
AN: ...Ok, fixed the stupid stuff at the end. I'm really sorry. I knew it wasn't good to write, eat chocolate and chips at 00:30 PM at the same time. Oh, and thanks to Mauritius to pointing out that Zoro must have an incredibly bad hygiene! Also, about having Zoro's limbs hurt after he was released, well, I just wanted to make it more realistic. Being tied up only a couple of hours already hurt a lot (I do not know this from self-experience, it's just that I've read in books that it does hurt), after three weeks they should be feeling like something exploded in them or something. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed anyways! Thanks so much for reading and please review!
