WARPING BOUNTY HUNTER LUFFY
CHAPTER 3:
ALVIDA AND COBY
A week passed, and time had flown by in Luffy's admittedly enjoyable company, especially as he managed to get enough money to buy a slightly larger boat than he originally intended. It was a touch smaller than the one she had been using, but it would be serviceable, and Nami contributed some money herself. She realised that she had made the decision to bring Luffy with her long before the time was up. And to be honest, she was okay with that. She had found a better variation of her special three-piece bo-staff in a store here.
During that time, Luffy told her a little about her life, including his grandfather's training, and growing up with a pair of adoptive brothers, Portgas D Ace and Sabo. The former had already gone to sea to become a pirate, while the latter…
Nami had to admit, it must have been horrifying for Luffy to witness. Sabo had gone out to sea, only to have his ship cross the path of a Celestial Dragon, one of the upper echelons of the Nobility. Said Celestial Dragon had ordered the sinking of Sabo's boat, Luffy was sure, and it was only the sheer paralysing fear of his own Logia powers that prevented Luffy from warping across and attacking.
Thanks to this incident, plus the destruction of Gray Terminal, led to Luffy having a grudge against the Nobility. He knew there were good Nobles out there, true. Sabo had in fact been the child of a Noble family. But those who exploited others, especially the Celestial Dragons, he held in contempt. Nami knew that feeling.
Luffy had packed a few things, and had joined her on the boat. Makino, Woop Slap, and other inhabitants of Foosha had come to see them off. Makino in particular urged them both to be careful. Woop Slap, rather pompously, demanded that Luffy never do anything to bring the village into disrepute. Luffy had snickered at that, and so had Nami.
For the first time in a long time, Nami felt something, something she hadn't dared feel. Oh, she felt anticipation, and a hollow version of this emotion, but now, she felt the kindling of a more genuine version of this feeling. A dangerous, ephemeral feeling.
Hope.
As they set sail, Luffy stood on the prow. He raised his hands to the sky as if in benediction to the gods of the sea and sky…or as if he were about to milk a gargantuan cow. "LOOK OUT WORLD, HERE WE COME! I'M MONKEY D LUFFY, AND I'M GONNA BE KING OF THE BOUNTY-HUNTERS!"
Nami snorted. A ridiculous proclamation. And yet, she felt Luffy may have the determination to get there. The question was, though, could he help her free her and her village from Arlong? She hoped so. She was putting a lot of faith into this boy, and while he had the powers and the determination, did he truly have what it took to beat Arlong?
Nami pursed her lips as she peered through the telescope. They had to make a diversion to get safely away from a rather large maelstrom, but they were heading close to an island…one which should have been deserted. But there was a pirate ship docked there, with distinctive insignia. She thought she recognised the insignia: a skull and crossbones, but with the skull in profile and with a love heart on it. Love hearts were also on the sails of the ship. "Luffy, I think that's the ship of Captain Alvida," she said.
Luffy took the telescope, peered through it, and nodded, all-business. "Yeah. I check the wanted bulletins and posters that they send to our village. 'Iron Mace' Alvida, self-proclaimed 'most beautiful woman on the sea', though in reality…"
"She's a fat hag," Nami said. She normally wouldn't call someone that, but Alvida deserved such an appellation with her reputation as a vicious and murderous pirate. "She's got a bounty of 5 million Berries. She's strong enough to wield an iron mace almost as tall as she is, and ruthless. Not quite Grand Line level, but still dangerous. What's more, I wouldn't be surprised if they've already spotted us. If this is a secret base for them, they're sure to have lookouts of some sort. I didn't think any pirate would have a hidden base here, but…while it would take them a while to aweigh anchor and pursue us, they might do so to prevent us from blabbing to the Marines. Or they'll use their cannons if we pass by them. Alvida's the sort to silence any witnesses she thinks she needs to."
"Then we fight them," Luffy said. "But…we'll wait until we get safely to shore. Whaddya reckon?"
"Bluff them until we can fight them?" Nami asked. "Sure, that's got merit. We'll just say we're just travellers who got lost. You do the fighting, I'll go and steal any treasure in the chaos. Speaking of which, how are we going to conceal mine?"
"Easy," Luffy said. "You know that thing I used on the Lord of the Coast? I can use that to store things and people, freeze them in another dimension. The problem is, it's slow moving, so I have to use it on a big target, or else a subdued one. It's also a bit tiring. I released the Lord of the Coast elsewhere in the ocean after we left."
"And where was that?" Nami asked.
Luffy scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Umm…I dunno…"
Near Cocoyashi Village, a rather large eel-like monster had just swallowed the commander of a local Marine garrison, a rather ratty man by the name of Nezumi. The only person who gave a fuck was Arlong. Oh, and the Lord of the Coast, but that was because Nezumi gave it indigestion…
Nami gave him a flat look, before saying, "I hope that doesn't come back to bite us." After some thought, she said, "Okay, put the treasure in your other dimension thing. But you'd better be able to bring it out afterwards."
Luffy nodded, before saying, "Vworp-Vworp: Space Prison!" The same wedge of darkness appeared between them, and lazily floated down to her treasure box, absorbing it, before floating off into the sky and disappearing.
"Okay, let's fake being tired. I've used that trick before…"
The pirates soon launched a small boat to intercept them, and towed the boat to shore once they thought Luffy and Nami weren't going to be any trouble. Luffy and Nami allowed them to drag them, until they were in a warehouse. However, they found themselves dragged not before a corpulent woman, but a rather slender, surprisingly beautiful one, dark of eye and hair, wielding a mace almost as large as she was. She wore pink trousers and a long purple coat, and said coat was open to reveal her torso, with her only other concession to modesty being a white bikini top. She wore a white, wide-brimmed hat. The dark hair, dark eyes and hat certainly were those of Alvida.
Nearby, incongruously, was a short, pink-haired boy, wearing glasses, and looking like he wanted to be anywhere but here.
"Well," purred the woman. "Who do we have here? Small-fry who chanced upon our base, it seems. What are your names?"
"I'm Luffy," Luffy said.
"Nami," Nami bit out.
"Well, you stand before the most beautiful woman in the sea, Captain Alvida." She smiled viciously at their admittedly subdued reactions of surprise, her lips a thinly-pressed line that had more to do with malice than mirth. "Yes, I am sure you are surprised, given the outdated picture on my wanted poster. The benefits of eating a Devil Fruit. I came across a pirate who had managed to eat the Gum-Gum Fruit, one who, sadly, perished in the ocean, though he had accumulated quite a bit of treasure we took from him. I sought out a Devil Fruit for myself some months ago…and found the Slip-Slip Fruit. It made all those kilos simply slide off me…amongst other benefits."
"Bit of a dangerous way to beauty if you can't swim again," Luffy remarked.
A dangerous glint flashed in Alvida's eyes, and she, rather too-gently, pressed her mace against Luffy's jaw. "It's even more dangerous to let your tongue wag, boy. I could crush your skull…" Her eyes flickered over to Nami. "And I could get a tidy little sum selling her."
Luffy's expression, originally wearily good-humoured, suddenly hardened. Nami had to give him that much, he was protective. "You may look good now…but you're just as ugly on the inside as you were before, you hag."
Alvida gritted her teeth. "Scratch 'could'." With that, she hefted her mace into the air, and swung it down with incredible force. Nami watched as, just before impact, a hole seemed to open up in space above Luffy's head. A pirate behind them screamed as the mace slammed into him, sending him flying like a skittle.
Luffy grinned, before he dissolved into particles, and rematerialized next to Nami. The shocked pirates could only watch as Luffy repeated the process, Nami in tow, only to snatch up the boy. Alvida leapt at them, attacking, only for another portal to send her mace through, smacking into other pirates.
"Leave the kid with me," Luffy said to Nami. Nami nodded, and dashed out. She hoped that most of Alvida's pirates would be distracted by Luffy, and any left on the boat, she could sneak past, or sneak up on…
"You little brat…" Alvida snarled. "You ate a Devil Fruit too?"
"Yep!" Luffy said, grinning. "I'm Monkey D Luffy, and I'm gonna be King of the Bounty-Hunters! And guess what? That means you're my first catch."
Alvida scoffed. "Cocky…but mistaken. You're going to die. The only other Bounty-Hunter bold enough to do what you're doing is the Demon Swordsman Zolo, and he's at Shell Town, last I heard. And you're a rookie compared to him."
Luffy frowned inwardly. So, Zolo was so close? However, he needed to focus on this. He had a possible innocent to protect, so he needed to stop this soon. "Everyone's a rookie at some point. But they don't need to stay that way. By the way, have you ever wondered how unpleasant it is to be drunk?"
"What's so bad about being drunk?" one of Alvida's pirates demanded.
"Go and ask a glass of water how it feels about being drunk(1)," Luffy snarked, before saying, "Vworp-Vworp: Loop Cannon!"
Alvida was suddenly caught between two portals, one above her, another below her. She began screaming as she picked up speed, caught in a loop between the floor and the ceiling, perpetually going through the same portals, gravity accelerating her. Then, with a gesture, Luffy, just as Alvida left the bottom portal, opened up a different portal, no longer on the ceiling, but rather, right next to her pirates, who had been gawking at her plight.
It was like watching a bowling ball hit pins, and it was a strike, the pirates sent sprawling, partly by the iron mace she wielded. Alvida, as she skidded to a halt, slurred, "I'll never be cruel to a bottle of rum ever again." Then, she lost consciousness.
"Vworp-Vworp: Space Prison," Luffy said with a smirk, and the wedge of darkness flew down, increasing in size as it did so, before absorbing the fallen pirates, who were seen, briefly, frozen on its surface, before it flew away and disappeared.
"Wow, what did you do to them?" the boy asked.
"Sent them elsewhere," Luffy said. "C'mon, I need to see if Nami's all right…"
Luffy found, to his pleasure, that Nami had knocked out the pirates left to guard the ship, and was grinning at the treasures present. "Hey, where are the others?" Nami asked.
"I used the Space Prison to put them on ice. I'll do the same thing to these guys. Oh, wait, before I forget…Vworp-Vworp: Space Prison." The wedge of darkness appeared again, and Nami's treasure chest reappeared. The wedge then absorbed the unconscious pirates, and sailed off into the sky before fading. "I was thinking of cashing in the bounties at Shell Town. Apparently Zolo's there too."
Nami nodded thoughtfully, before peering at the boy. "And this guy?"
"I dunno, I haven't got his story yet." Luffy turned to him. "So, what's your name, kid?"
"C-C-Coby," the boy stammered.
"Hey, Coby," Nami said, giving the boy a reassuring smile. "So, how did you end up with Alvida?"
The nervous boy divulged his story, of how he'd boarded Alvida's ship thinking it was a fishing vessel, only to be conscripted into being her cabin boy for the past two years. She had humiliated him frequently, as had her crew. But he had a dream himself: to become a Marine, and fight pirates.
Nami and Luffy exchanged glances, before Nami said, "Are you sure, Coby? Some Marines are as bad as pirates. Believe me, I know from experience."
"B-But the Marines are the good guys!" Coby protested.
"There's bad Marines out there, and there's good pirates too," Luffy said. He tapped his hat. "See this? This hat was given to me by a pirate who saved my life. I kept asking to join his crew at the time. But…well, I'm not gonna be a pirate anymore. But I'm not gonna be a Marine, either. I'm gonna be King of the Bounty-Hunters. And I'm gathering myself a crew. I'm hoping that, after I deal with some problems for Nami, she can be my navigator. Anyway, we're heading to Shell Town to cash in these bounties, maybe even recruit someone to my crew."
"Who?" Nami asked.
"Zolo. Apparently he's at Shell Town, according to Alvina," Luffy said with a shrug.
"Zolo?!" Coby yelped. "But he's a demon in human form!"
"He's a bounty-hunter. I'm going to be a bounty-hunter myself, so I'd like to have someone with experience to help me understand the ins and outs, beyond what I've read," Luffy said. "Plus, isn't he one of the best swordsmen in the East Blue? We could do with someone like that on our side. Hey, by the way, why don't we use this ship to get to Shell Town? We'll have to take down Alvida's flag and any other signs of the Jolly Roger. We'll just tie our ship to this one in case the Marines decide to confiscate it. You got the treasure from here?"
"She must have only just arrived here," Nami said. "There was a lot of treasure in the hold."
"Okay. Make sure you hide it with your stuff," Luffy said. He then looked at Coby, and smiled. "Well, Coby, we'll help you get to Shell Town. You don't have to worry about Alvida anymore. Just be warned, though, some Marine training is pretty harsh. Gramps is a Marine, so I should know."
"I don't care! Please, take me to Shell Town!"
"Okay, Coby, you've got it!" Luffy said with a broad grin.
With the pirates frozen in space, and with Luffy and Nami tying their old vessel to the pirate ship, and taking down Alvida's Jolly Roger, they set sail. It would be difficult, what with just three of them manning the ship, but they would manage. Of course, Shell Town was going to add further complications to their journey. They just didn't know it yet…
CHAPTER 3 ANNOTATIONS:
So, Luffy and Nami have encountered Alvida, defeated her and rescued Coby. Next chapter, Shell Town!
Now, some of you are wondering why Alvida has already obtained the Slip-Slip Fruit. Well, this is an AU, and the pirate who eventually bought the Gum-Gum Fruit off Shanks faced off against Alvida, only to get knocked into the sea during their battle. But she had been so impressed by the power of a Devil Fruit, she decided to seek one out, as she would later do in canon. Plus, I love wrong-footing you guys, and I thought Luffy and Nami being wrong-footed themselves would be interesting. Of course, her sliding abilities don't give her immunity to the insects Luffy uses here.
Also, keep in mind that Luffy has set sail earlier than in canon. So when he arrives at Shell Town, Zolo's not going to be tied-up…yet. Though Morgan and Helmeppo are still going to be problems for our heroes…
1. This gag comes from The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where Ford Prefect mentions that travelling through hyperspace is unpleasantly like getting drunk. When Arthur asks what's so bad about being drunk, Ford replies, "You ask a glass of water." Embarrassingly, it took me over a decade to get that joke. Alvida's later remark about a bottle of rum echoes Arthur Dent's line, "I'll never be cruel to a gin and tonic ever again!" And that itself is a reuse of a line from a Doctor Who story Douglas Adams wrote, called (fittingly, given the subject of this story) The Pirate Planet, where the Doctor, while uncontrollably speeding down an inertia-nullifying corridor, laments, "I'll never be cruel to an electron in a particle accelerator again!"