"TA-DAAAA!" Luffy gestured excitedly to the new and improved dining room "window".

"What do you think? Pretty great, huh?"

"Uh, yeah, Luffy," Deity forced a compliment out, "it's...majestic."

Deity was glad that Luffy had done his best to clean up the mess he had made before breakfast, and the table and chairs were properly arranged back inside, but the window...was another story.

"I've, uh, never seen such artistic use of plastic wrap before."

Where there had been a beautiful glass window with crystal fragments producing a portrait of their late ancestors, now stood a large circle of wooden planks miraculously nailed to the palace walls, plastic wrap stretched out to all edges, forming a big plastic circle.

"Now," Luffy added, "no rain will get in! You're going to be all dry!"

Yup. These pirates are going to be the death of me.

Luffy dusted off his red shirt and blue shorts, and straightened out his straw hat. "Now that that's been fixed up, let's go do something fun – like eat lots and lots of meat!"

"Sanji said that lunch won't be ready for another hour, Luffy."

"Awwww," he moaned as he fell onto his back on the grass, "but I'm hun-ga-ry!"

Deity smiled and sat down beside him. "I'm impressed that you managed to reach so high up on the palace walls without any sort of stand."

"Oh, that?" Luffy stretched his arm out a few meters into the sky. "I'm a gum-gum man."

"That's right," Deity remembered back to Luffy's stories at breakfast, "you ate Shank's Gum-Gum fruit."

"Yeah. He was so shocked, I thought he was going to choke me to death!"

Just as Deity began to laugh, he felt something thin and flimsy fall over him. "Huh?" He pulled it off in surprise. "Uh, Luffy, I think the window's falling down again."

"What?!" Luffy jumped to his feet and frantically grabbed the plastic. "Oh, man! I gotta fix this before Sanji beats me up again!"

Deity stood out of the way as Luffy grabbed a nearby role of duck tape and began taping the plastic up along the wooden planks. "Gotta fix, gotta fix!"

So...he's afraid of his crew's chef? I didn't think any pirate Captain was afraid of their crew...then again, the Straw Hats aren't your regular pirates.

"Luffy," Deity asked as the pirate finished taping the plastic back up and rested against the wall, "why is it your dream to become King of the Pirates?"

Luffy grinned at him. "Because of all the adventures! I've met so many cool people, and thanks to my friends, I've come so far!"

"So, you're willing to give it all up for the sake of your dream?"

"Yup!"

Deity felt a sudden memory float up from the back of his mind. "...Does that...that doesn't include...the lives of your crew, does it?"

Luffy's smile slowly faded, replaced with an expression of confusion. He lowered his head, his hat falling over his eyes.

"...Luffy...?"

"So, you met him."

"...Yeah," he admitted, "I've met him – Z, Captain of the Neo Marines. He came here to speak to my father, and he told me that he was hunting down pirates."

He gave me such an uneasy feeling, though...

"It's fine."

"?"

Luffy's expression lightened, and he glanced over at Deity. "He doesn't hunt pirates any more."

"Really?"

"Yeah. That trouble he caused with pirates – it's over, and he'll never harm another soul again."

...Oh...so that means...

"There are lots of people who don't want a new King of the Pirates, huh?"

"Yup." Luffy took his hat off and twirled it on his finger.

"So, you named your crew after a hat?"

"Yup."

"...Okay."

"Zoro, Nami, Sanji, Usopp," Luffy listed out his crew, "Robin, Chopper, Franky, Brook...I could have never made it this far without them. Being King of the Pirates means that I have to find the One Piece – but I also need the perfect crew."

"..."

"But I definitely needed a musician to survive!"

What.

"I mean, what kind of pirate Captain could I be without a crew?" Luffy sat up and counted off on his fingers. "I can't use a sword very well, and I can't navigate, and I suck at cooking-"

"you aren't an archaeologist," Deity chimed in, "you don't know how to perform medical treatment, you can't snipe, you can't play many instruments-"

"More like NONE!"

"-And you aren't a shipwright."

"...I can do this!" Luffy stretched his cheek two meters apart and stuck his tongue out. "No-phoby can doph thif!"

What'd he say?

Luffy let his cheeks go, and they smacked against his face. "I also have to give Shanks his hat back someday."

"Oh? But I thought he gave it to you?"

"He did, but only after we made a promise, one that I intend to keep."

"...What did you two promise to each other? That'd you return the hat?"

"Only once I surpass him."

Deity gawked. "Surpass...but, Red Haired Shanks...he sounds so strong! Are you sure you'll be able to beat him?"

"With my crew by my side, we'll definitely defeat Shanks and the Red Haired Pirates." Luffy tossed the hat back onto his head. "Then I'll return the hat. Until then, it's my most prized possession."

All of this for one hat...pirates sure can be strange sometimes...but still so loyal...

"What do you think the One Piece is, Luffy?"

"I hope it's meat."

"I doubt the One Piece is meat!"

"Okay, then, lots of steak!"

"Uh, that's-"

"Or sausage!"

"Well-"

"Ooh, ooh! HAM!"

"THAT'S STILL MEAT!"

"Hahaha!" Luffy's grin was back and bigger than ever. "Whatever it is, I'll find it!"

To give it all up for his crew, his promise, his dream. In my books, THAT'S what King of the Pirates means.

"...Wait a minute."

"What's up, Deity?"

"If you won't have your straw hat any more...,"

"Yeah?"

"What will your crew's name be? You won't have a straw hat, so the Straw Hat Pirates will become the Straw Hatless Pirates."

"...AAAHHH!" Luffy got to his feet and raced around in circles. "I completely forgot that we're going to need a new name!"

"Well, what will it be?"

"...The Super Awesome Amazing Pirates!...No, no, the Fantastic, Ultra-Cool Pirates!...the Red Shirt Pirates!"

"Those are all lame!"

"The Meat Pirates!"

"VERY WRONG!"