Chapter 3: The Second Island

"Five million is not nearly enough!" Captain Uhibi yelled, "I want to have a bounty of at least 25 million placed on that kid's head! And on their apprentices, I also want high bounties, you hear that!"

"Listen here, Captain. Sinking a marine ship is not that huge of a crime compared to what most people do when they get a 30 million bounty on their heads. The second Pirate King Monkey D. Luffy only got a bounty that high after defeating three other well-known pirates. They simply stole a ship that had been taken in custody by the marines, tried to sink a small marine warship and freed two prisoners. A five million bounty is already a high bounty, especially considering the age of the culprit."

"I don't care. I want a bounty on all four members of the crew. Menardy Colphor: twenty million. Petro: eighteen million. Mina: ten million. And that traitor Falarda needs a five million bounty. Understood?"

"But, sir…" the marine at the other end of the line tried.

"UNDERSTOOD?"

"Yes, sir… right away."

There was a sigh on the other end of the line before the contact was broken.

"They took those kids along with them," Uhibi thought out aloud, "those kids were my way to eternal happiness!"


"Yo, wood-dude," Petro yelled from the crow's nest. Colphor, sitting on the bow of the ship, turned around and looked up. He placed a hand above his eyes to protect his eyes for the intense sunlight that was shining mercilessly on the ship. It had been one day since they had been sailing on the ship.

"What is it, chainguy?" Colphor asked.

"There's a small island at four o'clock," Petro said.

"Four o'clock? What do you mean? It's not four o'clock yet, you dummy," Colphor scolded.

"That's not what I mean, you idiot!" Petro yelled back, "there's an island ahead of us, a bit to your right."

"An island! Why didn't you say so immediately!"

He searched for the island and found it.

"You're right, there's an island right there!" he yelled joyfully.

Petro facepalmed.

"It's official. That guy is hopeless… I'm almost starting to pity him."

Mina, who was sitting on the Front Deck, started giggling a little. Colphor turned around.

"What's wrong?"

"O-oh, nothing," Mina said, "you're funny."

Petro looked down surprised at his sister. He then slightly smiled.

"Heh, I guess at her age, someone like him is funny," Petro thought.

"That's the first time someone's ever said that to me."

Colphor smiled.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!" a sudden scream came from the back of the ship. Petro, Colphor and Mina looked up.

"Falarda, is that you?" Colphor asked.

It was Falarda indeed. He came running towards Colphor with several pieces of paper in his hands.

"What are those?" Colphor asked when Falarda stood right in front of his captain.

"Bounty posters," Falarda answered, "I just bought them along with a new newspaper."

Petro had a hunch of what had happened and climbed out of the crow's nest. Within seconds, he stood next to Colphor.

"Show them to me."

Falarda handed the whole pile of bounty posters to Petro.

"Only the relevant ones, of course," Petro said matter-of-factly.

"Ah, yes."

Falarda grabbed the first four posters from the pile and handed them over to Petro. Petro's eyes widened as he saw the posters.

"Wooden Cane Colphor: twenty million bellies. Melu Petro: eighteen million bellies. Melu Mina: ten million bellies. And lastly, Dexty Falarda: five million bellies."

It was silent for a few moments. Then came vastly different reactions from the people present.

"I have… a bounty?" Falarda said, feeling dizzy, "my life… my life is ruined. RUINED! COLPHOR! YOU RUINED MY LIFE!"

Falarda fell to his knees, depressed.

"My life is at its end. Someone please kill me."

"Twenty million?" Colphor reacted surprised, "That's, like, ten million less than the second Pirate King's first bounty! Am I that dangerous!"

He smiled as he realized that.

"Eighteen million… twenty million. Even Mina has a bounty of ten million. This is definitely his fault. This is ridiculously high for simply putting a warship out of commission for a few hours!" Petro thought.

"I… I have a bounty?" Mina said surprised, slightly scared.

Petro looked at Mina worriedly.

Lunch's ready!" Tybo shouted.

"YAY!" was Colphor's immediate reaction. He jumped down from the Front Deck to the Middle Deck, which was situated slightly lower than the Front and Back Deck.


After lunch, Petro called Mina with him to the cannon storage.

"Mina, listen, as soon as this ship docks, we're gonna run for it, okay?" Petro said.

A look of disappointment appeared on the girl's face.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because these people are pirates. And pirates are bad people!" Petro said.

"Colphor nii-san isn't a bad person!" Mina stated.

"That's only how it looks like!" Petro said.

That didn't convince the little girl, however.

"Not true! Colphor nii-san is funny!"

"Funny people can also be bad people!" Petro countered.

"Not true!" Mina yelled back.

"No, he's right," a voice coming from the stairs said.

The two turned their heads.

"C-Colphor!" Petro stuttered.

Colphor ignored Petro's stammering and continued speaking.

"Funny people can be bad people," Colphor said.

He reached behind his back and grabbed his cane. He stared at it intently.

"Are you a bad person?" Mina asked.

Colphor looked up from his cane and looked the little girl in her eyes. He smiled.

"That depends on your definition of "bad"," Colphor stated.

"I don't think you're bad," Mina immediately said, "But Petro nii-san does," she softly continued.

Colphor grinned, while he strapped the cane back on his back.

"I can't help that," he said, grinning, "I'll remember you, always."

He turned to Petro.

"It was great to know you. We'll give you a good farewell," Colphor said. He wanted to head back, but someone grabbed his hand, before he could do so.

"W… wait," Petro said.

Colphor turned around.

"I… we have nowhere to go," Petro said, "we've been betrayed time and time again. I just don't know who to trust anymore."

"I can't make you trust me," Colphor said, "I'm just myself. I'm not gonna try my best to win your trust. Trust needs to be genuine!"

It was silent for a moment.

"Look," Colphor said, "I have already decided that I want you in my crew. You'd be a great nakama! You're welcome on the crew. Think about my offer until we arrive at the island."

Petro nodded and let Colphor's hand go.


Colphor wasn't done yet… there was another person on this ship that was pretty depressed right now.

"Must be dream-shattering," Colphor said.

Falarda, who'd been staring into the ocean from the bow, turned around. His saddened face confirmed Colphor's words.

"Why did you want to become a marine?" Colphor asked. He was holding his cane in his right hand and was slightly leaning on it.

"To prove that I'm not a coward," Falarda answered, "my father was a coward, my grandfather was a coward, my great-grandfather was also one… my brother is one… everyone from my family is a coward… so am I…"

"And that's why you joined to marines to prove that someone from the Dexty family could also do something noteworthy, right?" Colphor guessed.

Falarda was surprised by Colphor's guess. Had he always been that perceptive? He nodded.

"And then I ruined it all and got you a bounty and a reputation as a pirate," Colphor went on with guessing.

Again, Falarda nodded.

"Well, let me reassure you then," Colphor said with a grin on his face, "I'll give you the chance to prove a Dexty can do something noteworthy too!"

Falarda looked at Colphor. A tear flowed over his cheek.

"You mean it?"

Colphor gave him a big happy-go-lucky grin.

"By the time I'm the next Pirate King, you'll be known all over the world!" he stated, pointing his thumb at his chest to emphasize the meaning of those words, "what do you say? Want to join my crew?"

By then, tears were running down Falarda's face. He nodded once again.

"We'll also take the invitation," Petro said behind him.

An enthusiastic grin appeared on Colphor's face, while he looked over his shoulder.

"Alright, guys! Now everyone has decided to sail under the same pirate flag, we need to celebrate! Bartho, Tybo!"

"Yes, Colphor?" the twins answered simultaneously, sticking their heads out of the kitchen door.

"Bake us a big cake!"

"Right away!" both of them said with big grins on their faces.


"Whoo! We've docked! Let's go adventuring on Iuda Island!" Colphor yelled enthusiastically, throwing his hands in the air out of excitement. Mina giggled.

"Yo, wood-captain, how about we visit one of those bars?" Petro suggested.

"Are you sure you want to take Mina along?" Falarda asked.

"Of course not," Petro said.

"Of course!" Colphor yelled.

"You take her with you!" Petro said to Falarda.

"EEEEEEEEH?" Falarda said surprised, "Why me?"

"So you won't get lost," Petro answered.

"I don't need an eight year old to watch over me! I'm already twelve years old, y'know!" Falarda yelled.

Petro snorted.

"Yeah, right, twelve years is a lot," he laughed.

"Hey!" Falarda yelled indignantly.
Petro had turned around and walked away into the town.

"Hey, woodcaptain! Are you gonna stand there forever?" he said, taunting his captain.

"Wait up!" Colphor yelled, while he tried to catch up with his newfound friend.


"Maybe we could find a navigator here," Colphor hoped, while they were walking through the town.

"One that's crazy enough to join a pirate crew? One that's crazy enough to join YOUR pirate crew?"

"Of course! There has to be someone!"

"Let's hope that or we'll sail the seas aimlessly forever," Petro said, "On another note, I have a question regarding your Devil's Fruit. What kind of type is it? Paramecia or Logia? You were able to control wood that was not generated by you, while you were also able to transform your body into wood when you transformed your finger into a key to free us from those seastone handcuffs."

"Oh, that… I'm Logia," Colphor said.

"Then how are you able to repair the ship when it's not generated by you?"

"That's the special thing about the Moku Moku no Mi. I can make wood and plants part of my body. When I was repairing the ship, I temporarily made the ship part of my own body."

"Whoa… impressive."

"However, using that also gives me a big weakness. First of all, I need to grow my feet, or any other part of my body, into the wood of the ship. I can't move from that place and if I do, I immediately lose control. But the biggest weakness is that it really wears me out. When making the ship part of my body, my body grows ten times larger. I need to use much more energy to support the whole ship as my own body. Aside from that, if someone were to hurt the ship when it is part of my body, I feel that pain… it has more disadvantages than advantages, which is why I'd rather not use it too much."

"I see," Petro said. He looked around him and saw a small bar to his right, "hey, I found our bar!"

Petro pointed with his thumb at the bar. They both grinned as they stepped inside the bar. The bar wasn't filled to the brim, but it was pretty crowded. A few people looked up to see the two new people in the bar. More than a few seconds of interest weren't given to them. Petro and Colphor took two places at the counter.

"Sake for two," Petro said, when the bartender looked at them, ready to take their orders.

"Aren't you two a bit too young to drink sake?" the bartender said. Despite that, the bartender prepared to cups of sake for the boys.

"Who cares," Petro said, "as long as you get your money, right?"

The bartender looked at him for a few seconds.

"That's how we usually do it, yes," the bartender said. He turned away and took another order from an already drunk man. Colphor was looking around in the bar. There were a huge variety of people present and Colphor bet on his life that he wasn't the only pirate in the bar.

"So, "the bartender informed, "what's your business here?"

"What good would it be to let you in on that information?" Petro countered.

"Don't get me wrong," the bartender said, while he was busy cleaning a glass, "I usually don't ask for things like that, but you guys make me curious."

"We're here for only a few minutes and we already make you curious?" Petro said, suspicious of the man's true intentions.

"Oh, I've seen your faces longer than today," the bartender said, pointing his thumb at the wall behind him. Several "WANTED"-posters were pinned on the wall. Four of them showed the faces of Colphor, Petro, Mina and Falarda.

"Ah, I see," Petro said.

"What did you four do to get such a high bounty right of the bat?" the bartender asked.

"This guy here," Petro said, pointing at Colphor's forehead, "tried to sink a marine ship and managed to temporarily disable it."

"That's all?" the bartender asked.

"Yup, that's all."

He took a big sip from his sake.

"Ah, this tastes wonderful!" he said like he was in heaven.

"It had to be a pretty important ship then, if that action alone got you such high bounties," the bartender assumed.

"Nope," Petro said, "it was a pretty small one, actually."

The bartender sighed.

"Sounds like the marines have nothing else to do than giving small fishes like you such high bounties. Ever since the Straw Hats disbanded fifteen years ago, after Monkey D. Luffy was caught by the marines and executed, the marines gained much more control over the sea."

"Executed?" a man who had been listening to their conversation for some time now, said, "do you really believe Straw Hat Luffy was executed? Unlike the executions of well-known pirates like Gol D. Roger and Fire Fist Ace, his execution wasn't public. There's never been any proof that Straw Hat Luffy died."

"So there's a possibility that he's still alive, you mean?" Petro asked the man.

"After ruling the seas for twenty-five years after finding One Piece, he's waiting for a new pirate crew to lead the new era, that's my guess," the man shared his beliefs.

Another man in the bar started laughing as soon as the first one had finished his sentence.

"Riley, you shouldn't share those delusional ideas with others."

The man turned towards Colphor and Petro.

"Don't listen to that madman! Even the Pirate King can't survive two Buster Calls! There was never an execution, because his body is lying on the bottom of the sea."

The man laughed again.

"You're greatly underestimating the former Pirate King," Riley said. The other man didn't listen and kept laughing.

"Nowadays the marine is so strong that a Third Pirate King will probably never exist."

That statement seemed to draw Colphor's attention.

"I'm gonna be the third Pirate King!" he exclaimed, drawing the attention of all the people present. Everyone quited down. Suddenly, the man started laughing. Louder than before. His laughing could be heard all the way down the street.

"Tjahaha… don't make me laugh… you? The Pirate King? Tjahahahahaha. If someone like you ever manages to become the Pirate King, I will eat my whole ship. Mark my words! A no-bounty pirate like you… the Pirate King? Aw, man, I haven't laughed so hard in weeks. Hey, bartender, give the boy some extra sake. I'll pay for him! Tjahahaha."

Petro waited for Colphor's reaction, but the reaction didn't come. Colphor turned to the bartender.

"I don't need extra sake. We're leaving."

Colphor reached in his pocket and took some bellies out of it and smacked them on the counter.

"There you go. You can keep the change. To keep up with idiots like him… I have respect for you," Colphor stated, before jumping from his seat and walking over to the door. The bartender had a slight smile on his face.

"I think I like that boy," the bartender thought. He looked at Riley, who had the same expression as him.

"Maybe… just maybe," Riley said, while he watched the two leave the bar.


Author's Note: So uhm, I guess I forgot to do it in the first two chapters, but I don't own One Piece...

Also, I have a little quiz for you... in Chapter 1, Colphor does something that's simply impossible. I did that, knowing that it actually wasn't possible. I, however, am not the only one that has made that mistake. Mr. 3 from the anime and mange also makes that mistake... can you guess what I mean? I'll give you the answer in chapter 6.