Chapter 4: Dinner

Inside the castle Luffy is eating at a monstrous pace. Kohra stares in awe of his new captain's appetite. Zoro takes a long pull from a bottle of sake, burps, and wipes his chin with his sleeve. "So, Kohra, have you thought about that fruit?" Zoro asks, trying to sound like he isn't concerned.

Kohra sees straight through his father's mask. He knows Zoro is against him eating the Flame-Flame Fruit. "I think I am going to eat it," Kohra says this, attempting to add some conviction to his voice.

Zoro had expected this. What surprised him was the rashness with which his only son had decided. There was really no point in trying to talk him out of it though. Kohra would be in good hands, hopefully without any need to swim until someone was around to save him. His mind brought up images of all the times he had rescued his reckless captain over the years. "Well don't eat it til you have someone who can swim. With just you and Luffy on the boat…"

Luffy cut in, "Oi, Zoro, you worry too much. I wasn't going to let him eat it until six months into his training anyway."

"Training?" Kohra's face showed his confusion. "We aren't setting out to see?"

"Kohra, you have a power that few men know how to control properly. You can use Haki. I can too, but yours is stronger. Your willpower is incredible. In order to use it, you need to be trained. So when we leave we are going to an island near Amazon Lily, the same place Roger's first mate trained me. When you sail with the Pirate King, you have to be the best, and I'm going to make sure that you are."

Kohra understood and nodded. "How long will we be training for?"

"Most of a year, I told the rest of the crew to take a year off. I figure it will be another month before other pirates notice I'm gone. When we are done with your training there will be a lot of fights to reclaim territory. It should be fun. Shishishishi, it's been a while since I had to do any real fighting."

Kohra was a well-disciplined boy, but he was still a teenager, and the thought of going to the island of women excited him. The only girls he had ever talked with were Mom, Robin, Nami, and Chiminey. Robin and Nami were always teasing him about setting him up with Chiminey. His cheeks started to flush at the thought. He was happy to see his captain being busy with a hunk of Sea King meat.

Zoro wore a disgusted face as Luffy shoved a hunk of meat in his mouth. He finished his sake and said he was going to bed. As he walked back to his room he thought about his conversation with Luffy earlier that day. He thinks my son is destined to be the next Pirate King? He looked at the portrait hung over his bed; there he was with four year old Kohra on his back and Perona smiling at them both. He sighed with despair at the thought of explaining that their son had left with the most wanted pirate in the world to become the next King. Forget the couch; Perona would make him sleep in the yard.

Luffy finished the last of the food and patted his enlarged belly. "Ahh, I'm stuffed. So, Kohra, how's it feel?"

Kohra was unsure what he meant, "how does what feel?"

Luffy looked at his new nakama dumbfounded, "to be the best swordsman in the world?"

It finally hit home that Kohra was now the best, he hadn't been fighting against his father to earn the title, he had been fighting to join Luffy's crew. He hadn't even thought about anything else. "I honestly hadn't given it any thought. It feels good though." Luffy chuckled at this.

"Well, let's get some sleep, we need to leave early tomorrow."