A.N I own nothing.
Connor watched Zoro leave but he did not move from his spot in the corner, still afraid that he'd come back. When he thought it was safe he got up and looked around the room. There was nothing of interest to him and he decided to leave before Zoro came back. Connor left the house and wandered to the next street.
The first thing he spotted was a dog guarding what looked like a shop of some kind, it growled at him.
After the pirates had blown up the street they pointed the cannon at Luffy and tried to make a young red haired girl light the fuse. The girl had refused and attacked the pirates that's when Zoro had stepped in.
The captain of the pirates was a large man with a big red nose named Buggy, he recognised Zoro and attacked him but Zoro cut him in three pieces and when his guard was down Buggy stabbed him in the side; Buggy reviled that he had eaten the Barra-Barra Fruit (Separation) which allowed him to separate his body parts at will, this made him immune to sharp objects.
Zoro with the help of the red haired girl flipped the cannon so it pointed at buggy and his crew, they lit the fuse and blew them off the roof; Zoro had to carry Luffys heavy cage to get way.
Zoro breathed heavily as he dragged Luffys cage along the ground beside him.
"Luffy who's the girl?" Zoro asked.
"Her name is Nami and she's our new navigator," Luffy said.
"I never agreed to that," Nami said.
"Where's Connor?" Luffy asked, he'd noticed that Zoro was alone when he came to rescue him.
Zoro Stopped and hung his head "He's dead," He said sadly.
"What?! How?!" Luffy asked distressed.
"We were caught in a bombardment and took shelter in a house, the kid was terrified so I left him there while I went to find you but the house was destroyed by Buggy a few minutes ago," he said, sadly.
"I see," Luffy said; he was both angry and sad.
Connor was just a lost kid and Luffy had wanted to help him get home but Buggy had ruined any chance for that. How would he tell Connors parents that he'd died, if he ever found them. Buggy had killed his nakama and he would pay dearly for that.
"Who's Connor?" Nami asked.
"My other nakama," Luffy said.
"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss," she said.
They continued walking on in silence; the only sound was form the cage being dragged on the road. Nami felt guilty it was her fault that their friend was dead. If she had known that Buggy would have bombarded the town and blown up the street as a party entertainment she would never have tried to rob him.
Zoro stopped again and collapsed in front of a pet shop.
"I need to rest," he said, and fell asleep on the spot.
Luffy watched Zoro sleep, he was glad Zoro had survived his wound; he just lost one Nakama he did not want to lose another.
"Here let me help you" Nami said, she produced a key and unlocked the cage.
"Thanks, where'd you get that key?" Luffy said, after he'd been freed.
"I stole it from Buggy earlier," Nami said.
"You're a really nice person," Luffy said.
"Let me make one thing clear. I didn't help you out of the goodness of my heart, I just don't want to owe you anything," Nami explained
"Well okay then," Luffy said, he looked around and saw an open house across the street.
Luffy picked Zoro up and carried him into a house across from the pet shop; the house had its door broken so he could easily get in. Once inside he put Zoro on the bed and left to rejoin Nami but she was gone when he exited the house.
Luffy sat down on the porch, he needed to think. Zoro's injured and Connor's dead, he had hoped not to lose anyone on his journey but he'd already lost one nakama; Luffy wanted to avenge Connor but he could not leave his first mate alone in his current state.
"I'm sorry Connor," Luffy said solemnly, taking down Buggy would have to wait till Zoro had recovered.
The door to the pet shop opened and a small dog walked out, the dog sat in front of the shop guarding it.
Luffy watched the dog guard the shop, the dog barked a few times.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," a voice said from inside the shop.
Luffy froze he knew that voice 'it can't be' he thought.
Connor stepped outside from the shop and closed the door behind him; he turned around and saw Luffy sitting across the street.
"Luffy!," Connor said relived and ran over to him.
"Connor!, you're alive!," Luffy said in disbelief.
"Yes," Connor confirmed.
Luffy grabbed Connor and pulled him into a hug; Connor stiffened at the contact but did not fight it he just stood there quietly while Luffy hugged him.
"I'm so glad you're not dead!," Luffy said, very relived.
"What happened? Zoro said you died in an explosion," Luffy asked.
At the mention of Zoros name Connors eyes widened in fear he didn't know why but all of his instincts screamed danger and it wasn't because of the red aura he'd seen earlier.
"He did? I don't remember that," Connor said.
Luffy let go of Connor and looked at him with concern on his face.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Luffy asked.
"We were walking down the street, then a house exploded and the next thing I know is I'm sitting alone in the corner of a room I didn't recognise. So I left to try and find you and then there was a big explosion behind me." Connor explained.
"Why did you leave the house?" Luffy asked.
"I…I was afraid" Connor answered.
"Afraid," Luffy said.
Connor Nodded.
"One minute everything is fine and the next it was all on fire; people were screaming and burning. The next thing I know, I'm in some room I've never seen. So I ran; I'm sorry if I did something wrong," Connor said, he was on the verge of crying.
Luffy was stunned, he knew about the bombardment he watched it happen but the town being on fire was impossible. He supposed that the cannons could have started one but he would have seen it form Buggies base, plus the town was deserted the only ones in town were Buggy and his crew and they were all at their base. So just what had Connor seen?
"No. you did nothing wrong, I'm just glad you're alive," Luffy said.
Luffy hugged him again. Connor was confused why was Luffy happy that he was alive? Was Luffy saddened by the thought of him being dead? And why would he care at all?
"Let's go inside, I'm hungry," Luffy said, he let go of Connor and they both walked inside the house.
Inside Luffy managed to find some fresh fruit and ingredients to make a couple of sandwiches; Connor offered to make them but Luffy insisted he just wait at the table. Luffy ate two sandwiches and stole half of Connors before he devoured all the fruit. Connor wasn't too fussy about it, in fact he felt lucky that Luffy let him eat anything at all.
Suddenly Nami burst through the door into the house she dragged in two big bags behind her. Luffy looked her over Nami was out of breath and had a frightened look on her face.
"Nami, what's in the bags?" Luffy asked.
"Good your still here. I need your help," Nami said desperately.
"WOMAN GET OUT HERE, YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM ME!" Buggies voice was herd form outside.
Outside Buggy wasn't alone he was flanked by three others to his right there was a giant pale green lion with a light purple mane and a man riding it. He wore a white fur shirt and blue pants, his hair was white and covered most of his face, and it looked like he had round ears on the top of his head.
To Buggies left was a man on a unicycle he had long black hair and carried two swords one in each hand. He wore an open dark blue vest, white long pants and a blue and white striped scarf around his neck.
"After I left you earlier I went back and stole all of Buggies treasure," Nami explained
"Okay I'll help," Luffy said and he walked outside.
Connor followed and stood on the porch blocking the door
"Ah Straw hat, have you seen a little thief around?" Buggy asked.
"Yep, she's inside that house," Luffy said, he pointed to the house he just came out of.
"That idiot!," Nami said.
She couldn't believe that Luffy had just sold her out, he was supposed to help her not give her up though she should have expected it Luffy was a pirate after all. Nami grabbed her stolen bags of treasure and quickly snuck out the back.
"Wonderful, by the way have you met my first mate Moji and his pet Richie?" Buggy asked.
"No," Luffy answered.
"Well where are my manners. Moji introduce yourself," buggy ordered.
The lion took a step forward and the man on top looked down at Luffy.
"Hello there, I'm Moji the beast tamer and this is my pet Richie the lion," Moji said.
"Pet lion, does it do tricks?" Luffy asked excitedly.
"Yes he does. Richie Shake." Moji said.
Richies paw lifted up and hit Luffy in the chest, Luffy was swatted away like a fly; he crashed through several houses.
"Ha Ha Ha, Good job Moji now let's go get our treasure back," Buggy said.
"Thank you sir. Captain there is a pet shop here, do you mind if Richie gets a snack?" Moji asked.
"Not at all, Richie can have it all if he wants," Buggy said. He and the other man approached Connor who didn't move.
"Kid get out of our way," Buggy said.
"No," Connor said, defiantly.
"Cabaji show this kid why he should listen to grownups," Buggy ordered.
The second man, now known as Cabaji got off his unicycle and kneed Connor in the stomach, Connor gasped for air as Cabaji grabbed him by the shirt and threw him of the porch onto the street.
Buggy and Cabaji walked into the house.
Connor landed on his side, his stomach was in pain and he found it hard to breathe. He was used to pain far worse than what Cabaji had done, he just needed a minute and he'd be good to go.
Connor watched as Richie moved towards the pet shop; as he approached the dog started barking, when Richie was in front of the dog it attacked. The dog bit Richie but Richie just swatted him away, the dog didn't stay down he attacked again and again getting knocked down by Richie's enormous strength after each attempt. After a minute the dog was too exhausted and injured to get up again. Richie tore off the top half of the pet shop, tossed it to one side and began eating all of the food inside. Windows were smashed but surprisingly the roof was still mostly intact.
In the house Nami was gone this infuriated buggy, Cabaji found Zoro sleeping and decided to finish him off; he raised his sword to strike but at that moment there was a crash from outside and Zoro woke up. He saw Cabajis sword above him and reacted by drawing his own swords and defended himself.
"I didn't order a wake-up call," he said and glared at Cabaji fiercely.
Connor had seen enough, he got up and grabbed a rock and threw it at Richie, Richie didn't notice and kept eating so he threw another one but had the same result. 'I need something bigger' Connor thought, he spotted the remains of the roof from the shop and got an idea.
Connor ran up to the debris and shifted through it until he found a plank of wood with two nails sticking out of the end and a length of rope. He tied one end of the rope to the roof and the other into a small noose; he snuck up behind Richie and lassoed his tail, it took a few try's but he got it on. Next he placed the wooden plank just under the tip of his tail and embed some small glass shards in it as well, satisfied with the setup 'perfect now the fun can begin' he thought.
Connor ran to Richies side and stopped when he could see Moji, he looked up at Moji.
"HEY MOJI!" He yelled.
"Hm," Moji said, and looked down at Connor.
"What do you want?" Moji asked.
"I saw your Lion do that trick earlier. Can it Sit as well as Shake?" Connor asked.
"Of course," Moji said proudly.
"Can you show me? Please," Connor asked.
"Dose Richie look like a dog to you?" Moji responded.
"No, but Sit and Shake are dog tricks," Connor answered.
"Richie's not a dog," Moji said, angrily.
"Hey it's fine if he can't do it," Connor said.
"Richie can do it, just watch. Richie Sit," Moji ordered.
Connor smirked. Richie stopped eating and obeyed Mojis command; he sat right on the spiked plank of wood. Richies eyes widened and he roared in pain, he started crying and jumped up and down on his hind legs, he tried to shake off the plank of wood but it was stuck firmly to his backside.
Moji was thrown off Richies back, he noticed Connor smirking at the scene. Moji tried to calm Richie down but it was only making things worse, in fact Richie had stepped in some glass and it embedded in his hind paws; he jumped high in the air and the rope pulled the roof up with him. Richie landed on his front paws and preformed a perfect hand stand, just when he thought he was safe the roof tied to his tail came crashing down on his head, he lost his balance and fell forward landing on his back unconscious.
Mojis jaw dropped. Richie was down and he would not be getting up again anytime soon, how could he have been defeated and in such an embarrassing manner.
"That was entertaining. Who knew that lions could do a hand stand?," Connor said.
"Y..You thought that was entertaining?" Moji asked.
"Yep, plus he got what was coming to him," Connor answered.
"What did Richie ever do to deserve that?" Moji asked
"Are you serious? Connor asked in return.
"You and your pet just destroyed that shop," he said.
"So what?" Moji said.
"So it was that dog's home and you destroyed it. Your cat got what he deserved," Connor said angrily.
"That dog is a weak filthy mongrel that should be honoured that the king of beasts would even consider fighting with it," Moji stated
"That wasn't a fight it was abuse. And if that kitty is king of the beasts what does that make the one who outsmarted him," Connor asked.
"Dead," Moji answered.
Moji pulled out a knife and charged at Connor, Connor got ready to dodge but a fist flew past him and punched Moji in the face knocking him out cold. Connor turned and saw Luffy standing not too far away his arm out stretched.
"Don't threaten my Nakama," Luffy said.
At that moment Cabaji burst out through the front of the house and landed on his back not too far away from where Connor was standing. He had two long cuts across his chest in an X shape, Zoro walked out of the building he was barely able to stand; he sheathed his swords and made his way over too Luffy.
Zoro ignored Connor; weather it was because he thought him an illusion due to his near unconscious state or because he didn't see him Connor wasn't sure.
"Buggy's gone after Nami," Zoro said as he collapsed.
Luffy caught him and gently placed him on the ground; he then walked over to Connor.
"I'm going after Buggy. Stay with Zoro," Luffy said and he ran off.
Connor made his way to Zoro and sat down next to him. He lifted up Zoros shirt and found an open stab wound that was bleeding 'no wonder he collapsed' he thought.
Connor suddenly felt something nudge his back; he turned to find the dog from earlier with a first aid kit in his mouth.
