Chapter 3: Luffy has A Plan?!
AN: And, I'm back with another chapter! I've changed the title, in case you haven't realized, because I find it cooler than the last one. So, today is the end of the Morgan arc with more info on some other crew members.
You have been numerous (Well, not really, but oh well..) to wonder what happened to the Sunny, and you'll be fixed ... well, just right now.
Have a good read :D
Meanwhile, somewhere on the Grand Line:
It was quite a good day for Billy the smuggler. The sea was calm, he and his crew encountered no Pirates, and he managed to reach his destination safe and sound, with his shipment intact. And what a shipment!
In his boat there was enough Adam Wood to build a ship.
Adam Wood was a special sort of wood, it was extremely resistant and very rare, which explained his very high price. Billy would get two hundred Berry if he ever sold this wood in the Black Market of St. Poplar.
But suddenly, as he glanced at the precious wood, something incredible happened before his very eyes.
The Wood disappeared and transformed into …
Back in Shells Town, East Blue:
"The Pirate King!" Everyone on Ririka's restaurant –except Luffty, Zoro and Nami- screamed. "You aren't serious!"
Luffy's face remained neutral. "I am serious. Once I've picked up two of my crew members we'll be heading to Grand Line."
"But, this is suicide!" The lieutenant from the Marines exclaimed. "Grand Line is commonly referred as the Pirates Graveyard, do you know why?"
Luffy shrugged. "Some people call it 'Paradise'. I'm not afraid about facing powerful opponents, because I'm pretty strong myself."
"Yeah, us too." Zoro added.
The lieutenant sighed. "Do whatever you want. However you are Pirates, and therefore the Marines' enemies." He ignored the shouts of protest coming from the population, or at least he tried.
"Don't you have any shame?!" One of the villagers shouted.
"Zoro saved us all when you were obeying Morgan." Another one pointed out furiously.
"HOWEVER." Ripper said with a louder tone. "Since Roronoa Zoro helped us we will make an exception and we will only report that Roronoa Zoro joined forces with us to defeat Captain Morgan…"
"Actually, no."
It was Luffy who interrupted the marine officer, in the surprise of all the people in the room.
"I have a request." Luffy said. "I would like you to report that Monkey D. Luffy and his crew defeated the Pirate Alvida and Captain Morgan of the Marine Base."
Lieutenant Ripper widened his eyes. "Alvida you said?"
Nami grinned proudly. "I did the job."
"Zoro and Nami are part of my crew." Luffy continued. "As their Captain I am responsible for their actions."
Luffy's second-in-command raised an eyebrow. He wondered what his captain had in mind, even if he had the beginning of an idea.
"You want to surrender?" Ripper asked, astonished.
To his surprise, Luffy laughed. "Shishishi, no! I just want to have my own bounty poster."
Ripper's jaw dropped.
"What are you doing, Luffy?" Nami asked.
Luffy stared at his two companions. "We don't know exactly what happened, but I'm sure that the others are fine."
Nami nodded. "Of course." It had been a day since they apparently gone back in time, and she had been able to think about it quite often. It was highly probable that their companions suffered the same thing, and since Zoro was indeed at the Marine Base as Luffy guessed it then Usopp should be at his village, Sanji should be at the Baratie etcetera …
"But maybe they don't know that we're fine too." Luffy continued.
The non-straw hats were wondering what they were talking about, and stared at the three straw hats in confusion.
"Who are the others?" Rika asked to the green haired swordsman.
"He's talking about our other crewmates." Zoro explained. "We've been separated and … well it's a long and complicated story."
"That's why…" Luffy exclaimed, with a grin that indicated nothing good. "I've been thinking of a plan."
Nami gulped.
"Luffy…" She said quietly.
"What?" Luffy asked.
There was a second of silence in the room.
"You've been thinking!?" Nami exclaimed in shock. "You've actually planned something?!"
A small Interlude:
The blue-haired girl named Nojiko was wandering in the tangerine farm of her surrogate mother, the now deceased Bell-mere. It had been several years now that these ruthless fishman pirates landed on their island and imposed their rule, forcing the population to pay a tax. It was a never ending nightmare: Nojiko's mother had been killed and her sister Nami had been forced to work with this Arlong, their mother's murderer as a cartograph, when she was only 8 years old. During all these years, Nojiko along with all the population of Cocoyashi had hoped for the Marine Headquarters to intervene in order to freed them, but they never came, or they were being defeated by the fishman pirates. The last bit of hope was within Nami's shoulders, who tried to gather 100 million Berry in order to free the village from Arlong.
"I wonder if she's alright." Nojiko said to herself. Suddenly, something completely unexpected happened before her eyes.
A dozen of tangerine plants disappeared.
Back to the Marine Base:
Luffy, Zoro and Nami headed to the harbor where their boat was. Well, it wasn't the Going Merry or the Thousand Sunny, but it was enough for the calm waters of East Blue.
"Luffy! Nami!" Someone exclaimed once they climbed on the bark. It was a small pink-haired boy with goggles. Coby. "Thank you for what you've done!"
Luffy grinned. "No problem Coby! So, they took you in the Marines?"
Coby had a huge smile of pride on his face. "Yes. It's thanks to you that I'll be able to realize my dream. I'll become stronger and stronger and I'll become a proud marine officer, I promise!"
"Sure!" Luffy exclaimed. "The next time we'll see you, it'll be in the Grand Line! And remember, we'll always be friends!"
Coby nodded, before hearing someone clear his throat. "So you're friend with a Pirate?"
He flinched. Behind him there were a dozen of marines along with Lieutenant Ripper.
Coby took a deep breath. Nami's plan had been a failure: she had suggested to Coby that if the Marines wouldn't suspect him to be a Pirate spy Coby had to enlist all alone without telling that he knew Luffy. But…
It wouldn't feel right to Coby to hide that Luffy had helped him, and since they were already suspicious…
"That's right!" Coby exclaimed finally. "Luffy and Nami are my friends! Before I met them, I was a weak little boy who was afraid to leave Alvida's ship! I was forced to do everything she ordered, because I was weak, and because I was too scared to risk my life to do what I always wanted!"
The marines were surprised by the sudden burst of courage this little boy had. "I know you may consider me a Pirate and you may think of me whatever you want." Coby said, staring at Lieutnant Ripper in the eyes. "But believe me when I say that catching pirates like Alvida and disgraces to the Marine like Morgan is my deepest dream."
Coby lowered his head, and waited for the shouts to come. 'I have no regrets. If I'm refused in the marines, then it'd be better if it was because I said the truth rather than hiding it.'
To his surprise, the Lieutenant smirked. "That's better." Ripper said.
Coby widened his eyes.
"Earlier, many of the Alvida's Pirates have been captured." He explained. "We would've known your past anyway."
"So, I'm…" Coby said, his throat dried.
"You shouldn't be able to enlist in the Marines." Ripper said.
Coby closed his eyes. "I understand…"
"…And someone like Former Captain Morgan shouldn't have been given any authority." Ripper continued. "I'll make an exception for you."
Coby's face brightened. "Really! Thank you so much, sir!"
But then they were interrupted by someone.
"Hey, you!" A blond guy with rather expensive clothes pointed his finger to Ripper. "Why did you arrest my father? You had no right to…"
He stopped as he received a cold glare from the villagers and the marines.
"Shut up, little brat!" Ripper snarled. "You'll be on chores for a month! And that goes for you too!" He exclaimed to his men, Coby included. "That's for saluting a Pirate!"
Nami, Zoro and Luffy were now sailing on the sea, heading for their next destination. It was the first time they were alone.
"So, do you know what happened exactly?" Nami asked finally. "It seems we've gone back in time, but we've still our actual appearance."
Zoro was sitting, his hands behind his head. "Like I said earlier, it's probably someone with a devil fruit."
Nami raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"
"When I was sleeping on the Sunny, I sensed something." Zoro explained. "It lasted only a fraction of second, but just before being suddenly attached at the marine base I could've sworn I sensed a presence with my observation Haki, just in front of the boat."
"Whoaa!" Luffy exclaimed. "You use Haki even when you sleep!"
"Because you don't?" Zoro asked rhetorically.
The captain shrugged. "No. When I sleep, I sleep."
Nami frowned. "It could be this strange mist, though. We aren't sure if this is just an illusion or a dream we share, however we were on the same place as we were two and a half years ago."
"So, you were near Luffy at one point of the timeline." Zoro stated.
Nami nodded. "Yeah, even if we met later on we were both in Alvida's ship at the same time, and I've also been to the Marine base."
"In any cases." Luffy said with a serious tone. "We must reunite with the crew. First Usopp and the Merry, and then Sanji. We will enter the Grand Line and take the same road as before, so we can pick up the others."
Zoro nodded in acknowledgement. "That seems to be the wisest thing to do."
Nami, however, was concerned by something. "You aren't worried about this." She stated. "So do you, Zoro. I know you're pretty strong and all but, come on! If we're under an illusion then we might be captured at that time!" She shouted, letting out her worry. "Have you thought about it?!"
Luffy sat on the ship. "I have thought about it." He said with a stern tone. "I don't have a clue about what happened, I don't know if we're back in time, or if we're just dreaming or something like that. But there is no possibility for us to find it out. We can live in fear, thinking that if we ever wake up we'll found ourselves in a cell in the Level 6 of Impel Down, or something like that, but we can also live it like if we have really gone back in time and enjoy it while doing what we couldn't do last time."
Nami stared at her captain in sorrow. She remembered when she read in the newspaper that Ace, Luffy's older brother, died and now she was mad after herself for not realizing that Luffy, during all this time, silently hoped to see his brother once again.
"We can think whatever we want." Luffy continued. "It doesn't change ANYTHING to our condition. So let's take the best out of it."
Zoro smirked. "You're right, Captain. There's no need to worry."
Nami observed her captain silently. While she was still wondering what happened to them Luffy had already gotten over it and focused on the essential. There was little chance that they'd find themselves back in the Sunny, in the New World just like before, and even if it was the case, they wouldn't be responsible for it. 'In the end, we have to focus on the present and act as if we were indeed living in the past' Nami thought, before smiling. 'This sentence doesn't make any sense.'
"So, we have to save my village once again." Nami declared sternly. It was more important than finding out why they suddenly popped up in the past.
"Yes." Luffy said in agreement. "We'll kick Arlong's ass once again, same with big nose Buggy, Don Thingy and the cat guy."
Zoro smirked by hearing his Captain's words. "They won't stand a chance. We're a lot stronger than two years ago."
Suddenly a bird, a News Coco, flew near the boat.
"Thanks." Nami said to the bird while giving him a couple of coins. "Let's see if there's your bounty poster…"
Syrup Village:
Usopp was sitting alone on the beach of his native island, deeply concerned about something.
'He was there!' Usopp thought in anger and fear. 'Kuro was there! This bastard is still trying to kill Kaya and take his money! I have to do something about it.' He shook his head.
"At least I still have my pop greens and my Kabuto." He muttered to himself. "I'm sure I'm stronger than him, but…"
Usopp faced strong opponents before, such as Mister 4 and Miss Merry Christmas in Alabasta, with the help of Chopper; Chew the fishman, Perona from Gecko Moria's crew, and even Luffy himself. These people were way stronger than Captain Kuro, so why did he still feel apprehension in battling him?
'That's because I'm on my own.' Usopp thought finally. 'I can't rely on Luffy or to beat stronger opponents, and if I'm injured then Chopper wouldn't look after me.'
Usopp was alone, but he still decided to face Kuro. After all, Kaya was the one who gave them the Merry, it wouldn't be right to let her alone with this monster.
He stood up. "Alright." Usopp said to himself. "I'm going to prepare my traps."
But then, a News Coco brought the news paper to him.
Usopp read it, and found a certain bounty poster.
His face brightened.
"Understood!" He exclaimed. "Understood Captain!"
At the Restaurant on the seas, Baratie:
Sanji stared at himself in the bathroom's mirror. It had been two days since he appeared on the Baratie without any warnings. After two days, he came to the conclusion that he was indeed in the past because, well, the restaurant workers found it completely normal that Sanji was there.
'Well, I'm glad I'm not in this place.' Sanji thought in relief. 'It's probably a trick similar to Kuma did to us two years ago, and I wouldn't be surprised if there's a devil fruit able to send us back in time, but I wonder if I'm the only one sent in the past.'
Suddenly he had hearts on his eyes. "Will Nami-swan and Robin-chwan remember me?" He said aloud. "I hope they've kept their appearance as well."
It was odd, but Sanji had kept the little differences he obtained during his two years of travelling. The other cooks had noticed his new suit and his small goatee; Patty even commented how he had brushed his hair differently, and Sanji didn't know what he was talking about.
Suddenly the door opened, revealing an annoyed Patty.
"Hey, shithead." He said. "We need you in the kitchens."
Sanji ignored his insult, but noticed that he was holding a newspaper.
"Give me that." Sanji said casually to the cook. "Don't worry I will be short."
"Fine." Patty gave it to him, before adding. "There's a bounty poster in it."
Sanji raised a (funny) eyebrow. "Oh yeah?"
He looked at the bounty poster and widened his eyes.
"What's going on?" Patty asked.
Sanji chuckled. "It's none of your business, dumbass." Internally he thought 'Alright Luffy, I've understood the message.'
In the bounty poster there was written:
WANTED
Dead Or Alive
Monkey D. Luffy
12.000.000 Beri
The guy on the picture wore a straw hat and had a huge grin on his face. On his teeth there was something written.
WAIT US
AN: Liked it? Dissapointed by Luffy's low bounty? Remember that the only thing he did was to say: 'Hey guys, I'm a Pirate and I want a bounty on my head'. He'll get an even higher bounty one day, I promise :D
