Author Notes:
First of all, I'm sorry for the long wait for another chapter.
Truthfully speaking this chapter was finished awhile back but I delayed its release because I was looking for a Beta Reader(I'm still looking.) and while waiting for a reply rl started hitting hard(College and work mainly) and ... I'm currently working on a few original stories drafts(for those interested I'll probably be posting them on fictionpress).
Expect more chapters in the following days as I'm almost done reviewing them.
All chapters will follow the manga storyline and there will be some(lots of) differences with the anime. For special chapters like the previous one I'll notify on the notes.
Just a reminder: Luffy wears a black overcoat in addition to his usual clothes from the manga/anime.
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own any of the characters in this story as it is purely a fan work. All rights reserved for Oda Eiichiro.
"Hey, Coby! How long until we arrive? All of our food is already gone and we still can't see any island. Are you sure that you know how to navigate?" Luffy was sitting at the front of the small boat while looking at the sky absentminded.
"And whose fault is it that we are almost out of food?" Coby mumbled his words in the lowest voice while looking at the compass in front of him to make sure that they were in the correct route "Mr Luffy? Are you sure that we can keep on heading to the marine's base? Aren't you a pirate?"
"I already told you to drop the Mr. I'm a pirate and what use is there for being polite and speaking formal?" Luffy lowered his head to look at Coby who was navigating "As for the destination you can just keep going to the marine base."
"Okay Mr Luf-" before Coby could finish his words Luffy's fist had met the little wimp forehead "No Mr, didn't I say it already?"
"But if you are going to be the Pirate King then you will need a strong crew to go to the Grand Line. Forget the Grand Line but with you alone even going anywhere in the East Blue will be difficult." Coby was rubbing his head where he was smacked while looking at Luffy
"Shishishi~I know that there are a lot of strong people everywhere and that is why I'm going to the marine base." Luffy grinned while looking at the person in front of him "Moreover, my first crew member is being held in the marine base where we are heading to."
"Being held at the marine base?" Coby thought for a little about the news related to the place he was heading to but the only news of someone worth noting that was being held there was "You ... you don't mean him, do you? The pirate hunter, Roronoa Zoro."
"Yeah, him." the captain responded while still absentmindedly looking at the sky.
"You should really stop with the idea of recruiting him." Coby was frightened just from thinking about the man in question "He is a bloodthirsty demon that goes around the seas hunting fugitives and he is definitely a bad person. He is a monster in human form so let's drop the idea of recruiting him."
"Shishishi~I still haven't really decided if I should really recruit him but if he is a good person then ..." the straw hat boy laughed while looking at the panicked little wimp.
"Of course he is a bad person. He was arrested by the marine." Coby yelled interrupting the pirate's thoughts
The two kept talking about random things until Luffy suddenly stood up and looked at Coby "Hurry and hold onto something Coby, I can already see the base."
"Why should I hold onto somethi...?" Coby complied to the words of the pirate anyway while asking but before he could finish his question a sudden gust of wind blew on the sails of the small boat making it rocked in direction of the port.
Luffy and Coby were inside of one of the bars that had a good atmosphere that reminded him of Makino's place eating and talking.
"What exactly happened back there? The boat suddenly bolted to the shore as if it became a merman and started swimming instead of sailing like a normal boat." Coby was eating but still had a little of cold sweat running down his back from the shock earlier when arriving at the marine base.
"Shishishi~ I just gave a little push on the sails." Luffy was stuffing his cheeks like a hamster while laughing silly "I also didn't expect that the boat would actually almost fly with that little wind."
"By the way, Luffy." Coby lowered his voice and got closer to Luffy while trying to whisper so only the one in front of him could her "Is it okay for you to be walking like this in a marine base? I mean ... you are a pirate , aren't you?"
"Shishishi~ Food first and adventure second." Luffy stuffed the last plate of food in his mouth
[So a pirate walking into a marine base is just adventure for him, huh. Worse of all is that food comes first in his priority]*sigh* Coby didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this moment as the Pirate King to be revealed his priorities.
"Well, we part ways here. You do your best to become a great marine." Luffy leaned on the chair while chatting with Coby after eating almost all the food in the bar.
"You too do your best to become The Pirate King." Coby began to cry as he was departing with the man the brought him away from Alvida's ship "Even though we are going to be enemies." the little wimp was about to turn into a waterfall of tears.
"Shishishi~ I guess I should go looking for my first crew then. I wonder where are they keeping Zoro away?" at Luffy words the whole bar froze and some even fell of their chairs at the mention of the name of the pirate hunter.
Luffy and Coby stared at each other while looking at the reaction of the people inside the bar.
[I told you he was a bad guy. You only mentioned his name and look at the reaction of the people around us] Coby thought to himself while looking around when he suddenly remembered seeing a poster of the marine base on their way to look for a bar.
"I remember seeing a notice on the way saying that he is being kept at the marine base that is under Lt Morgan." as if in replay the same scene of when Zoro's name was mentioned the same happened when the name of the marine lieutenant was said.
"Shishishi~ What a funny town." Luffy was laughing until his sides hurt while looking around the restaurant [There is definitely something interesting going on this town]
"Zoro! Lt Morgan!Zoro! Lt Morgan!..." Luffy kept yelling at the top of his lungs while watching the reaction of the surrounding and laughing so much that tears were falling down his eyes.
"Give it a rest already! Just leave!" the crowd couldn't keep up with the youth any longer as they practically kicked him out of the bar without even waiting for the owner to ask for the money from the duo.
After being thrown outside the bar they began walking together again while Luffy was still laughing and at the distance there could be heard the conversation within the bar
"Don't worry owner we will cover what that brat ate. We just couldn't take it anymore!" a voice from one of the men that kicked Luffy and Coby could be heard on the street
"Okay, then here is the bill." the owner presented the paper for the customers while looking a little awkward
After a few seconds of silence suddenly a reverberating yell came from the bar "How the hell someone eat 15.000,00 Belly worth of meat on a single meal?"
"Shishishi~ The people at the restaurant are so funny. I'll definitely come again." Luffy was laughing until now and after he heard the scream of the man he began to laugh even harder.
"This is no laughing matter Luffy but I have a bad feeling about this. I can understand their reaction to Zoro's name but Lt Morgan is a marine official in charge of their security." Coby that was following Luffy was in deep thought.
"Maybe he did something bad. Well, not that it matters so let's just go to the marine base already." Luffy continued walking in the direction of the base while talking with Coby that was insisting that a marine official couldn't have done anything bad to be compared to an outlaw.
"Wow~! What an UGLY building." Luffy's words and Coby's thoughts were the same and the only difference was that one of them said it out loud.
"Anyway you should just enter through the front door and I'll go looking for Zoro." Luffy with a single jump reached the high wall and began looking around with total disregard for the fact that it was a marine base and that he was a pirate.
"There is no way that you are going to find him like this. He is probably in some secret cell inside the base and ..." before could could finish his sentence Luffy already jumped down from the wall and was smiling "Shishishi~ Found him."
Just as he got on the floor he began walking again as if nothing happened and he had just climbed the neighbor's fence. Luffy would jump from time to time to make sure that he could still see the person then he finally stopped in one point and jumped and sat on top of the wall.
"So he is Zoro, huh?" Luffy said while looking at the man tied to a wooden cross in a spacious yard "Hmm~ Those ropes seem pretty easy to break." he sized Zoro from top to bottom [He should also be able to escape easily, at least he should have been able to when he still had the energy to.]
After a while Coby finally climbed the wall enough to grab at the top just to hear Luffy's words and almost fall "Stop joking around Luffy. If you free him he will probably slaughter the whole town and kill even you." Coby was panicking at the words of the youth with the straw hat said.
"Hey,you." the voice from the man tied interrupted their conversation "Could you come over and untie me? I've already been here for 9 days and am already tired of this."
"Ooh~ shishishi~ look at that Coby." Luffy laughed while pointing at Zoro "He is smiling shishishi~"
"If you free me I'll be sure to repay you. I can even hunt some bounties and give them to you." Zoro said while looking Luffy in the eyes but the voice heard next was not from the straw hat youth.
"Don't be deceived by him Luffy! Don't be tricked by his words because if you free him he is going to kill us and escape." Coby was beyond frightened himself hearing the two's conversation.
"Shishishi~ He won't kill me." Luffy laughed while looking straight at Zoro's eyes " Because ... I'm strong."
"Ah?" Luffy's words seemed to have brushed Zoro's fur on the wrong direction as he glared at Luffy that was seating silly on top of the wall though their staring contest was interrupted when Zoro looked a little to the right of where Coby was as a little head popped out.
At the moment there were 3 people on top of the wall with Luffy seated on the wall with Coby hanging with only his head above the wall on his right and further on the right the head of a little girl popped now.
She just made a gesture for them to shush and jumped inside the base as the walls inside were actually shorter than the outside enough for a child to climb and jump down without getting hurt and as she landed on the ground she rushed to Zoro.
"Do you want to die or something? Get lost already little brat." Zoro glared at the little one in front of him.
"Luffy hurry and go save the girl or else he will kill her." Coby was yelling while looking at the little girl standing in front of Zoro.
"Do it yourself." Luffy just kept watching as he silenced Coby.
"Uhm Brother, It's my first time but I made some rice balls to you. You haven't eaten in a long time right?" the little girl removed a packet from her back and opened it in front of Zoro as she looked at him with shining eyes as if looking at a hero.
"Get lost already. I'm not hungry!" Zoro yelled at the little girl while fiercely glaring at her but it didn't seem to have much effect as he threatened "If you don't go I'll kill you!"
"Roronoa Zoro!" Before any more words could be said a loud shout came from the entrance to the yard where Zoro was tied "Don't go around bullying little kids or else I'll tell my dad!" a weirdo with a ridiculous weird mushroom hairstyle walked until he got closer to the little girl that was in front of the criminal tied "And you little girl ... can you read this?" the weirdo pointed at the board near Zoro "It says that anyone that tries to help him will have to share the same fate as him!"
[Why didn't I think of it before? While he is starving I'll eat in front of him to torture him] Helmeppo took one of the rice ball that the girl had in hand while looking at Zoro and took a bite just to immediately spit it on the ground "What the fuck is this? Why is it sweet?"
At the weirdo's shout the little girl trembled and looked at him while saying in a weak voice "I thought that if it was sweet it would be easier to eat so I added sugar instead of salt."
"Are you an idiot? Rice balls are made to be salty and not sweet!" Helmeppo grabbed the remaining rice ball on the little girl's package at threw it on the ground and began stomping on it.
After a stomping nonstop for a while he was breathing hard and looked at the marine next to him "Throw this brat outside."
The marine looked conflicted at the orders as he looked at the little girl that was crying because of the treatment her rice ball received.
"Are you defying orders?" Helmeppo glared at the mean that was hesitating to follow the orders "If you dare not follow what I said I'll tell my dad!"
At the mention of the little bastard of a youth the man could only swallow and look at the kid and as he grabbed her preparing to throw her "I'm sorry kid, I hope you don't get hurt" as soon as his words left his mouth he threw the girl over the wall.
As the girls was throw she would definitely get hurt when she landed on the ground outside.
"Coby." Luffy grabbed Coby by his collar and "Catch!" threw him in the direction to where the girl was going and it seemed that he threw Coby even easier than the marine threw the little girl.
"I didn't expect you to have such vitality to be able to endure until now." Helmeppo was looking at Zoro but didn't dare make eye contact from fear.
"I'll survive the whole month so you better keep your end of the promise." Zoro said while glaring katanas at the weirdo in front of him.
"Yeah, sure. I'll keep the promise and release you if you can survive the entire month." Helmeppo said while leaving the place as he seemed to already be bored as he didn't get the expression on Zoro's face that he was expecting.
"You still haven't left?" Zoro looked at the youth wearing a straw hat in front of him "Leave now or else that bastard will tell his dad."
"Hm~ really?" Luffy's attitude clearly showed that he didn't think much even if that idiot ran right now to tell his father "I'm looking for someone to join my pirate crew."
"Pirate? So you just gave up life and became a crook?" Zoro sneered at the word from the young man "Are you thinking of freeing and forcing me to join your pirate crew?"
"What is the problem with being a pirate? It's my dream." Luffy had a serious face as he looked at Zoro but soon smiled as he looked at the man still tied "About recruiting you I still don't know. After all everyone says that you are a bad guy."
"A bad guy, huh? To hell about what others think of me." Zoro sneered at Luffy's words that didn't seem to affect him in the slightest "I have a dream that I must achieve and I would do anything to achieve it and i don't plan on becoming a pirate moreover the bastard kid promised that if I stay here for a month he will later set me free." Zoro's eyes had a clear shine that showed his conviction "I'm not dying until I fulfill my dream!"
"Shishishi~ That seems tough." Luffy was smiling while hearing Zoro's words because even if he didn't become his companion it was interesting that there was someone else besides him that actually bet their life for their dream "I probably would die either from starvation or boredom before the end of the first week shishishi~"
"That is where I differ from you. Now just scram." Zoro lowered his head as if trying to save as much energy as he could but it didn't seem that he would have his way with the youth in front of him.
"I heard that you are a swordsman. Are you strong?" Luffy asked while staring straight into the man's eyes with a glare meaning that lying would be good.
"If I had my swords I could escape at anytime even in the condition I'm right now but that bastard son took. It is one thing I value most other than my life." Zoro didn't break the eye contact while replying "As for your question ... I'm strong!"
"Shishishi~ I see." Luffy grinned and turned around to leave but before he could even take one step to leave he heard Zoro calling for him again "Before you leave. Grab that for me." following the swordsman line of sight the only thing there was a ball of dirt that was one a rice ball.
Luffy looked at the rice ball on the floor all trampled and looked at Zoro that was staring at him "Shishishi~" Luffy casually picked the rice ball from the floor and threw it at Zoro who wolfed it down with a single bite and started coughing from all the dirt on the food [I never thought someone else would be capable of eating that aside from me. I wonder how could someone like him gained the fame of bad guy. Shishishi~]
"Shishishi~ you will end up killing yourself." Luffy was already at the top of the wall when Zoro looked at him again and as Luffy's figure disappeared at the other side of the wall only his voice could be heard "Next time I'll bring a bottle of ale."
[Hmm~ No matter how you see it that bastard son won't set him free even if he endured a whole year on that cross.] Luffy was sighing while thinking about Zoro's words about his situation while walking in the direction that Coby and the little girl should have flown earlier [Well, maybe I should try spying on him a little. I guess I could wait for a month in here without much problem.]
"Ooh~ Hey Coby!" Coby was sitting while rubbing his back and the little girl was by his sides with a worried look in her eyes "Good to see that you manage to save the girl. Did you get hurt anywhere, little one?"
"Ah... hmm... I'm already thanks to you both. Thank you." the little girl bowed to express her gratitude for saving her.
"So ... why did you go in there, little lady? You knew that would happen if you tried to help Zoro, didn't you?" Luffy asked while sitting in front of the girl
"It's because of me that big brother Zoro is there." the little girl clenched the helm of her clothes while speaking "He killed Helmeppo's dog to save me and he took all the blame and was tied in there as punishment but I know that he isn't a bad guy."
Luffy and Coby continued chatting with the little girl about the matters concerning the marine base when a commotion began in the middle of the streets near them.
"Anyone that dare raise their head will have the same ending as that idiot Roronoa Zoro." Helmeppo was parading in the middle of the streets while every inhabitant had lowered themselves and bowing to him as if reverencing a god "I just thought of something good. On his execution tomorrow I'll use his all swords to kill him in front of everybody hahahahaha~."
As Luffy heard those words he clenched his fists so hard that cracking sound could be heard and his veins were bulging from his anger and seeing this scene it was clear that the words from the bastard son had clearly crossed the bottom line of the pirate.
*Bang*
A loud sound of something colliding echoed on the silent street and before anyone could react the loud scream "AAAHHH!" could be heard coming from the previously gallantly parading Helmeppo that was now on the floor with Luffy pinning him down under his foot.
"*sigh* For a second I actually thought that maybe you would at least be man enough to keep a promise." Luffy was looking down at Helmeppo that was clutching his face were he was punched earlier "Guess I don't even need to waste time watching you." Luffy sent Helmeppo flying to the marines that were with him with a single kick.
The marines barely managed to catch Helmeppo as he was almost too fast to the point of making them fall while trying to stop him.
"Ooh~ That was fast." Zoro lifted his head to look at the person who was standing in front of him "But I don't see any ale."
"Shishishi~ I thought it would be better if you drank it after joining my crew." Luffy laughed as the swordsman remembered his words about alcohol from before.
"I already told you I'm not going to join your pir-" before Zoro could even finish his words Luffy interrupted him "I'll recover your sword and won't return it until you decide to join me."
"Hey! That is dirty! But what makes you think that I'm going to join you just because you are going to take my swords?" Luffy just looked at the marine base behind the yard where Zoro was tied and answered without looking at the swordsman "Playing dirty is something every pirate does. And I know you are going to join me, after all the sword is your treasure, aren't they? Shishishi~" Luffy grinned at the swordsman who didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the words from the pirate.
[If I search the base from top to bottom I'll eventually find his swords.] Luffy was looking at the top of the base as there seemed to have a big commotion going on there as he could feel the presence of various people together [Unexpectedly the base actually is quite high.]
[Hmm~ About five dashes maybe?] Luffy that was still in front of Zoro lightly jumped off and in an instant he vanished while kick the air and accelerating to the point of almost teleportation as he was already less than 10 meters from the top [Shit!] Luffy miscalculated while using Geppo and Soru to move in the air in high speed and after the last dash he was in a direct collision route with a statue being erected [I should have paid a little more attention when Gramps was teaching me this. Well, I'll just phase through it anyway]
*Bang*
*Crack*
Contrary to his expectation of just passing through what actually greeted him was a solid hit when he collided with the statue [Sea Stone? Who would waste sea stone to build a fucking statue?!] Luffy was cursing at the mongrel that decided to build a giant statue made of sea stone.
As he managed to stand on the top of the base tower he could hear in the background the sound of the statue's other half falling and shattering on the floor while around him no even the sound of breath from the people around him.
"Hmmm~" Luffy looked at his surroundings and no matter in which direction he looked the expression on their faces was the same a mix of anger and panic and a little of fear "My bad?"
"Capture Him! I'm going to kill him!" a big guy with an ax where his right hand should have been who seemed to be the boss around the place yelled at the top of his lungs and in his voice could be felt a bone deep hatred for the man who broke the statue.
"It's him, dad!" Helmeppo still being supported by two marines was at the side of the crowd "He is the one who hit me!"
[Oh found something that will help in the search.] Luffy followed the annoying voice and zoomed on Helmeppo snatching him from the hands of the marines that were supporting him and began dragging the stupid son away inside the base.
"Hey idiot. Where did you hide Zoro's katana?" Luffy lifted Helmeppo in front of him while running trying to get the location of the katana out of him but "You better release me right now or else I'll have my father kill you!" was the reply he got from the bastard son which of course wasn't the answer he was expecting "Wrong answer." obviously unhappy at the uncooperative Helmeppo Luffy delivered a small bullet of compressed air between Helmeppo's brows producing an "Ouch!" from him.
"Second chance. Where did you hide Zoro's katana?" the spoiled son clearly wasn't a fan of getting hurt as he promptly replied "I left them in my room." after getting an acceptable answer Luffy grinned and asked "And where exactly is your room?" this time Helmeppo didn't waste a heartbeat to answer fearing another round of pain "First room after a turn to the right."
Luffy immediately rushed following the direction he was given and certain enough while opening the door it was definitely a room of a spoiled child while in the corner of the room there were three katanas on the floor by the window.
[The window from his room has a view of the yard where Zoro is being held, huh] as Luffy got closer to grab the katana he looked outside the window [Shit! They are going after him and ... what the hell is Coby doing down there?!] down at the yard where Zoro was being kept the marines were marching there probably in order to execute Zoro and Coby, who had already been shot in the arm, while another portion of the marines were going after Luffy.
[It has to be one of them anyway.] without much time to think Luffy just grabbed all the katanas that were lying on the floor with one hand and with the other he grabbed onto Helmeppo and jumped out of the window [This time I'm sure that two dashes are enough.] the pirate once again used the combination of Geppo and Soru [I should probably come up with a name for this already.] and within seconds Luffy was already on the yard.
The moment Luffy had jumped out of the window the marines had already opened fire against the tied Zoro and Coby but before the bullets could reach their targets a black shadow intercepted them.
"Phew~! Talk about a close call." Luffy was hiding behind Helmeppo's body that had been used as a shield and had taken almost all the shots fired "Ah, don't need to worry. I stopped all the bullets that were going to hit his vitals so he should be more or less okay after some treatment." just as Luffy's words reached the marines so did Helmeppo's body that was tossed over to them.
As the marines were already preparing to catch the flying body an ax hand struck his body aside "How dare you break my statue and disrespect me ... and use my son as a shield!" Morgan was fuming at the youth wearing a straw hat in front of him.
"Are you sure your priorities are in the right order?" Luffy was caught off guard when he saw Morgan just punching his son's unconscious body aside and at the speech in which clearly he only notice that his son was used as a shield only after punching him aside, not that it mattered much to him though.
"I'm marine Lt Axe-Hand Morgan! And I'll have you executed for disrespecting me!" Morgan roared at Luffy but to his surprise the straw hat wearing boy was completely ignoring him and chatting with the prisoner.
"Hey I didn't know which katana was yours so I grabbed all the ones I saw." Luffy lifted three katanas so Zoro could see which one was his.
"All three of them are mine. I'm a santoryu user." Zoro looked at his three katanas in front of him as if they were the most precious thing in the world.
"Shishishi~" Luffy grinned and hid the katanas behind his back under his overcoat "After you join me I'll give them back to you."
"How dare you play this dirty?!" Zoro yelled at the attitude of the youth in front of him "Whatever ... the shrimp already told me that they were going to execute me anyways. Good guy or bad guy never mattered to me anyway and after break free I'll already be considered an outlaw so might as well join you."
"Shishishi~ Kamaitachi: Thousand Blades." Luffy raised his hand in front of him and several wind blades rushed at Zoro cutting the ties around him "Let's see what we can do together then." as the captain said this he threw the swords at his future first mate.
"Okay captain." just as the swordsman got the swords there was already dozen of marines rushing at them as Morgan probably ordered them to tear the two outlaws apart after being ignored.
"Move an inch and I'll end your lives." several swords were swinging at the two men who were having their relaxing chat but none of them could move an inch further as three katanas suddenly blocked all of them "My dream is to be the best swordsman in the world. If any of your actions hinder my path I'll have you cut your stomach open as an apology."
"Shishishi~ best swordsman, huh. I'm the man who is going to be the Pirate King." Luffy smiled at the swordsman in front of him stopping a wave of marines "If you don't become the best them I would be troubled too shishishi~" Luffy looked at Zoro and swung his leg in front of him while saying "I suggest you to duck. Kamaitachi: Big Cutter." a big wind blade slashed at the marines that were stopped by Zoro's katanas.
"What kind of monster are you?" Zoro looked in disbelief at the man he decided to follow [This world really is a big place to exist such monsters.]
"Better not be that surprised yet shishishi~" Luffy said while looking at the dumbfounded Zoro "The big boss is still standing." and as he said Morgan had actually managed to somehow block the wind slash and held his ground.
"The father should atone for his offspring faults." Zoro straightened his body and started walking towards Morgan "You should have taught your son to not break his promises like a true man." wish a single dash Zoro had already slashed Morgan beyond his endurance.
"Ooh~ even though you could have just killed him you decided to let him live?" Luffy was grinning at the swordsman sheathing his katanas and removing his bandana.
"It was neither a duel nor a fight to the death." Zoro looked at the straw-hat wearing boy in front sizing him up "And I'm still alive, aren't I?"