After managing to get herself down from her landing perch, Mac traipsed all through the forest to find Koby and the supposed 'Roronoa Zolo'. She felt doubtful that the goofy kid in the straw hat was this feared bounty hunter but if he was, well, she honestly didn't care if he took out Alvida. It'd be a weight off her shoulders and she would be able to carry on with her own business but if he took out Koby too, then she wouldn't be able to live with herself.
Through the thickness of the forest, the sound of voices made it to Mac's ears. Following the noise, she emerged into a clearing and found the exact persons she was looking for. "Koby!" She called upon seeing the boy, "There you are!"
"AAHH—O-oh, it's Mac." Koby sighed in relief, wiping his hand across his forehead upon seeing that it was only his sort-of-friend. Clearing his throat, he was about to say something until he noticed the stare down that was going on between Mac and the straw hat boy. "Uhm, Mac, this is, um—"
"I know." Mac interrupted, sizing up the boy. He was a good head taller than herself, having to almost crane her neck all the way back to look at him. As she had noticed before, he sported a simple straw hat with a red band over short black hair. Over his thin body, he wore a red vest that buttoned up the front and jean shorts that stopped above his knees with only a pair of flip-flops to cover his feet. She also noticed a scar that stretched underneath his left eye.
Raising a purple brow, Mac shifted her weight to one foot and placed a hand on her hip, asking the boy with heavy skepticism in her voice. "Roronoa Zolo?"
"What?" The boy responded curiously, cocking his head to the side. "No, I'm Monkey D. Luffy! Who's Zolo?"
Mac just nodded her head, crossing her arms across her chest. "I figured you weren't. You look too scrawny to be him." The boy—Luffy—frowned at her statement.
Coughing, Koby decided to change the subject. "Mac, why are you here? Won't Lady—"
"Oh yeah, about that..." She looked down at Koby, a rare bit of concern glinting in her eyes. "She sent me to find you two, said that you brought a bounty hunter here for her head. Although I see now that that's not the case."
Koby visibly gulped, shaking as he looked up at Mac, looking as if he was going to cry. "A-Alvida sent you! Y-you won't go and t-tell her where we are, will you?"
Shaking her head, Mac just leaned back on a tree, "Nah, I don't see why I should. She's a horrible woman and I don't much care for what she does. Anyways, I suggest you guys find somewhere to hide if you can."
"Oh, thank goodness..." Koby sighed in relief again. Looking over his shoulder, he indicated to a pile of wood that sat on the shoreline. "Well, I was going to give Luffy this boat..."
"Boat!" Luffy turned to look at the pile of wood. "I thought this was a coffin!" Looking at the wood, Mac finally noticed had it looked vaguely like a dinghy. It was poorly built and seemed to only be held together with spit and sand. Honestly, she would have mistaken it for a coffin too.
"I built it myself." Koby said, staring sadly at his little boat. "I took me two years..."
"Two years! And you don't want it?" Luffy gasped.
"I really don't need it anymore. I built it to escape from this place but I don't have the courage to give it a try. I guess it's my fate to be a cabin boy for the rest of my life. But... I used to have a different dream."
"Why don't you just escape?" Luffy asked like it was the simplest thing in the world.
"N-No way!" Koby exclaimed, shaking his head with enough vigor to send bits of sweat flying all over the place. "Just thinking about what Alvida would do to me if she caught me makes my bladder weak! I just can't risk it! I'll never forget that fateful day... I just wanted to go fishing and I boarded a pirate ship by mistake..." Mac wondered how bad his vision must be if Koby didn't even notice that he was climbing on board with a bunch of angry looking pirates. "That was two years ago. In exchange for my life, I've been working as their cabin boy."
After Koby's story, Luffy stared at him with an unreadable expression before sighing, "You're kinda clumsy and stupid." Laughing loudly, Luffy sat back on the edge of the boat. Briefly, Mac wondered if it'd break underneath his weight. "And you're gutless too. You really are worthless!"
"You don't have to be so frank..." Koby whimpered. "But you're right... I don't have the guts to float around at sea in a barrel like you... Luffy, why did you go to sea anyway?"
A large grin broke out over the straw hat boy's face, one so big that it showed off his gums and took up the entire lower half of his face. "Because I'm gonna be the Pirate King!"
Both Mac and Koby had the same reaction, both of them staring at the boy with wide eyes and gaping mouths. For Koby, it was just the sheer fact that Luffy was going to put himself in so much danger. For Mac, well, it was a totally different reason.
"P-Pirate King!" Koby gasped, "But you'd have to make the whole world kneel to you! Wealth, fame, power—You'd have to achieve it all! Don't tell me you're after Gold Roger's lost treasure, One Piece! Do you want to die! Every pirate in the world is after that!"
"And so am I." Luffy declared.
"Even though the odds against you are so astronomical! It's impossible! You wanna be the Pirate King in the Golden Age of Piracy! It'll never happen! Not in a million years, not ever! Never, never, never, never—OW! W-wha—Mac! W-Why'd you hit me!"
"You were making my ears bleed." Was her only response, digging her pinkie into her ear to try and regain some sense of hearing.
"Okay... Guess I should be used to it by now..." Koby sniffled, sitting up as he rubbed at the swelling bump forming on his head.
Standing up, Luffy took the straw hat off his head, looking at it with determination set in his eyes. "I'm not afraid to die, Koby. I've set myself to become the Pirate King and if I die trying... Then at least I tried!"
'How admirable...' Mac thought to herself, standing next to Koby and watching this Monkey D. Luffy.
"And I believe I'll do it, too." He said, placing his hat back on his head. Then he added, "But maybe I'm just fooling myself." ... Way to ruin a moment.
"Maybe... I can be like that!" Koby stated quietly, "If I'm willing to risk my life trying..."
"Huh?" Luffy hummed, looking towards the crying pink-haired boy.
"Maybe it's possible! Luffy, do you think I can join the Marines!"
"The Marines?" Luffy parroted back.
"We'll end up being enemies but I want to join the Marines and fight bad guys! It's been my dream since I was a little kid! Luffy, do you think I can do it?"
"How would I know?" Luffy asked. Suddenly, Koby turned on the purple-haired girl behind him. "Then, what about you, Mac?" Mac just raised a brow, shrugging her shoulders.
"I don't care."
"Well, I'm gonna do it!" Koby shouted, his fists clenched in pure grit. "What have I got to lose! I don't wanna be a cabin boy my whole life! Better to risk my life trying to achieve my dream! I'll join the Marines and then I'll capture Alvida!"
"WHO are you trying to CAPTURE, runt!" As if out of thin air, Alvida appeared, her iron mace coming down and destroying Koby's boat into itty-bitty pieces.
"My boat!" The boy squealed, his two-years payoff reduced to nothing but toothpicks.
"You little shit!" Alvida growled, turning towards the three. "Did you really think you could escape from me! Who's that? Is that the bounty hunter you hired? He certainly isn't Roronoa Zolo."
"Zolo?" Luffy asked, remembering how Mac had called him the same thing earlier.
"I'll give you one chance to repent. WHO is the FAIREST throughout ALL of the SEAS? ANSWER ME!"
"Heh-heh-heh..." Koby chuckled nervously, "Lady Alvida, you-"
"Who's the tough looking old fatass?" Luffy asked, pointing towards Alvida. Everyone's jaws dropped, staring at Luffy with wide-eyes. Mac made a throaty noise and eyes soon turned to her as she burst out laughing, slapping her knee and almost choking on her own laughter. The crew let out shuddered breathes.
"How dare..." Oh, he dared alright.
"No way!" Yes way!
"Luffy! Take that back!" Koby cried, "Mac! Stop laughing! Throughout all of the seas, Lady Alvida is..." Koby got quiet all of a sudden, his voice growing faint as if he was figuring something out. "L-Lady Alvida is..." He turned to look at Luffy, the boy curiously watching to see what Koby would do next. He then turned towards Mac as the girl recovered from her laughing fit, wiping a tear from her eye then looking towards Koby as well. Within a quick moment, Koby turned and fully faced Alvida, shouting for the whole island to hear, "LADY ALVIDA IS THE UGLIEST OLD BITCH OF ALL!"
"YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Alvida screamed, raising her mace high above her head.
"Good for you, Koby!" Luffy laughed, grabbing Koby and pushing him back into Mac.
"L-Luffy!" Koby cried.
"It makes no difference to me," Alvida growled, swinging her mace down on Luffy's head, "YOU'RE BOTH GOING TO DIE!"
For a few moments, all was quiet as they waited for Luffy to crumble to the ground in a dead heap. Koby stood next to Mac, gasping and shaking in fear for his new friend. Mac was silent, her eyes scanning his head. There was something peculiar about this particular kid. Where the mace landed on his head, there was no blood. Nothing. It was like his skull was made of pure steel. She had growing suspicions about this guy.
Finally, after several agonizing seconds, a large grin broke out on Luffy's face. "That didn't hurt at all!" He taunted, "Cause I'm made of rubber!"
"Impossible!" Alvida gasped, "No one survives the iron mace!"
"You;ve gotta be kidding!" The crew screamed, dumbfounded. Mac smirked triumphantly to herself, relaxing and crossing her arms over her chest. Turns out she was right afterall.
"Gum Gum..."
"What the hell!" Alvida cried. Luffy pulled his fist back and as he did so, his entire arm stretched way back! It stretched far enough, Mac could almost feel his knuckles brushing her nose before his fist shot forward.
"PISTOL!" His fist landed right on target, slamming into Alvida's jaw and sending the woman flying back into her crew.
"H-his arm stretched like rubber..." The crew gasped, crowding around their fallen captain. "Captain! He beat Lady Alvida! He's not human!"
"Give Koby a boat!" Luffy demanded, glaring at the men. "He's gonna join the Marines!"
"Y-yes sir!" The men complied, most of them scattering while a few stayed behind to roll Alvida back to her ship.
"Luffy..." Koby let his tears spill freely, watching Luffy laugh to himself. Looking down, Mac gave a very light, playful smack to the back of Koby's head. "Marines don't cry, kid." Koby nodded, biting his lips in an attempt to stop them from quivering. It didn't help that his nose was running and the tears were still coming strong.
Not too much later, three of Alvida's crewmembers returned with a tiny sail dinghy. As Luffy and Koby were setting it up, the three men turned towards Mac.
"Hey, short-shit! Stop hanging around and get back to the ship."
"Yeah, Alvida's got something planned for you since you just let those two get away." They smirked, glaring at the young woman.
Mac didn't do anything, looking at the men as they cracked their knuckles then towards Koby and Luffy. The two were watching her, having noticed how she hung around after Alvida had been taken back to her ship.
If she stayed, she would surely end up taking place Koby's place as cabin boy. If that happened, who knows how long it would take before she could do anything. She was already treated poorly since she was the only female in an all man crew, not counting Alvida herself, and if she continued to sail with them then Alvida would probably end up killing her anyways. It'd be lucky if she was simply marooned, at least then she'd still have a chance.
On the other hand, if Koby and Luffy allowed her to sail with them, she could easily continue on her own. If anything, it'd be a nice relief to not have to cow-tow to Alvida every morning. It was pretty much a no brainer about what Mac was going to do.
"Tell Alvida that she can take it and shove it up her gargantuan ass." Leaving the stupefied men with their jaws on the floor, Mac approached Koby and Luffy's dinghy.
"Hey, you guys... You don't mind if I come with you, right?" A large small immediately broke out across Koby's face, the boy moving aside to let her aboard.
"Sure, yeah, you can come with us." Smiling back, Mac climbed on, taking a seat against the small mast.
"Alright! Let's go!" Luffy cheered, pushing the boat into the ocean before stretching his arms and using them to pull him on board, taking a seat in the very front on the tiny prow.
And with that, they left Alvida's island. With the wind in their sails, they took off to wherever adventure would take them next.