Pet Shop

"Sic 'im, Richie!" A man with a zany face commanded. He wore the oddest clothes: a cropped shirt made up of entirely white fur, some flowy blue pants, and a yellow piece of cloth wrapped around his waist to add color to his bleak apparel.

Richie the Lion's large paws made cracks in the hard ground as he pounced on the surface with great force. He pounced on Luffy's cage, the weight from its massive body pushing down on the cage caused it to explode, freeing Luffy.

"Yes! The cage is open!" Luffy shouted excitedly. Though he was free, the cage hadn't exactly opened, rather, it had obliterated into umpteen pieces. He had barely stood on his feet for just a second before being shot back by Richie's destructive paw.

He flew quite a distance, even crashing straight through a house.

"An instant death" Mohji the Beast Tamer spoke with a devious leer. "Good Richie. Now let's find Zoro, so I can defeat him and increase my name!" Chouchou, the dog who had eaten the key to Luffy's former cage and rebelliously bit Mohji's hand instead of gently holding it up like told, sat courageously as a stream of smoke swept through.

"What is it?"Mohji queried the silent dog before the shop in front of him stole his attention away. "Ah, a pet food store." He looked down to the top of Richie's head "Alright! Make your meal quick!" He ordered. Richie displayed his sharp fangs as he roared graciously.

"Huh? Don't tell me this runt is this pathetic little shop's guard dog?" The tamer spat in disgust as the large lion he sat attop approached the humble shop. The closer the large feline came to coming in contact with the building, the more provoked the canine became.

Chouchou starred the lion out with his dark and beady eyes and ferociously barked, baring his own, smaller, teeth.

"Whew! What a shock!" Luffy deeply sighed. "At least I'm out of that cage now!" He stood up, yet again left unharmed from any damage. "Hee hee!" He chuckled. "Alright! Now it's time to beat all of them up and have Nami the thief be our navigator!"

"How are you still alive?!" As if on cue, said navigating thief walked up with an exasperated look on her face. Before Luffy could answer her question, Boodle, the mayor, dressed up in thick leather armor, chimed in, expressing his surprise as well.

You're alive!"

"Is it wrong to be alive?" He questioned back.

"Being fine after flying through houses isn't normal though!" Nami cried.

"It's not?" Luffy casually responded as he patted down his pants, ridding his clothes of any particles of debris.

"What is your purpose of coming to this town? Why are you involved with those pirates?" The mayor questioned with superficial coldness.

"I just decided our purpose!" Luffy responded with a bright smile on his face. "To get a map of the Grand Line and a navigator!" And with that he walked off silently, passing said navigator, who stared at him in bewilderment. His normal walking gait transformed into a fast sprint before her eyes when he suddenly remembered his injured first mate. "I think that guy in the animal suit said he was looking for Zoro! I'll go check on him!"

Back at the pet shop, Chouchou shook in irritation, while Richie on the other hand wreaked havoc. The lion swept his paw across the hand made sign that read "PET SHOP", causing it to come apart completely, and knocking Chouchou from his unwavering position. He skidded across the stone ground and Richie successfully set foot onto the property.

Chouchou bounced back quickly, feeling no pain from his exposed scrapes. As he raced back to the shop, fearing what calamity the wild lion was causing, memories from when his owner and the shopkeeper, Hocker, was still alive. How much fun they had and how he had helped him run the store, despite his old age.

Without Richie noticing, Chouchou had made it back to the surprisingly intact porch of the building. He bit the paw of the lion, which caused it to roar in agony. The angered Richie slapped the insufferable canine away, causing him to collide with the roof of a nearby house. But still, he came back to fight Richie, even if his white fur was stained with blood, or every inch of his small body was in agonizing pain.

"Oh? You're still coming at us..?" Mohji spoke.

"Hold down the fort!" Those were the last words Chouchou had heard his owner say. And by any means, he made a promise on his grave that he would do just that.

Walking had proved too painful, so he resorted to crawling, but even that was burdensome. In one last attempt to save the shop, he threw himself at the lion, but even that wasn't enough. He let out a pain filled yelp as blood splattered every nearby surface, staining it with crimson.

Bloody paw prints had led up to the then burning shop. The fire that had spread to the inside burned every piece of merchandise that was kept in perfect condition. Supporting beams that caught fire crashed down, and any wooden furniture was burnt to ashes in a flash.

Chouchou, severely wounded, felt helpless as he watched his- no- their shop burn to the ground.

I think it's because this shop is a treasure in Chouchou's eyes. I think he continues to protect it because of his dog-loving owner.' Those words handed to Luffy by the mayor, who had been around long enough to see every second for himself, ran through his head as he looked from the trail of smudged red paw prints up to the shop that had caved in from the flames it was still bathing in. Chouchou howled to the sky as the store's ashes blew in his face.

It reminded him of his own past. Of Shanks and his sacrifice, and of hat; his treasure.

Mohji, who comfortably stayed sitting on Richie's head, had long since left the scene of the burning building to take a jaunt in an attempt to find Roronoa Zoro.

"Damn it! That dog even bit me" he uttered with an enraged face. In Richie's grasp-or rather, mouth- was a kinked bag of dog food. The last from the shop. The lap they had taken around the town had landed them right back at the shop, though this time the building was reduced to nothing but ash, and Luffy stood there.

"Wait! I just killed you!" Mohji said with minimal surprise in his tone.

"I won't die that easily!" Luffy confidently said with crossed arms and a cool headed smile.

"Crunch his head for sure this time!" Mohji ordered the lion underneath him, to which he perked his head up to roar, only for his tamer to fly off in the process. The single bag of dog food dropped to his feet when there were no longer any teeth to clamp down on it.

"I won't lose to some lion!" Luffy exclaimed as it jumped toward him. He shot his arms forward, making them twist into a spring-like shape. His hands reached out and grabbed either side of the lion's muzzle. "Gomu gomu no-" Luffy jumped up with incredible height; one which any normal human being couldn't possibly reach. It made Richie hover above the ground while he spun in an endless spiral. "Hammer!" he yelled as he threw the lion over his shoulder, forcing him to plummet into the ground at high speeds.

"Richie!" Mohji cried, now vulnerable without his fallen partner. "What are you?!"

"I ate the gomu gomu no mi." Luffy explained in a deep voice as he held his pose, his dark locks of hair hiding his intense gaze.

"You mean… you have Devil Fruit powers? Just like Captain Buggy?!" Mohji sweat nervously, awaiting Luffy's answer, which never came. He stayed in silence as his straw hat fell back down to the ground after being lifted up from the force of the impact.

"A-alright! I p-peacefully apologize to you!" Mohji surrendered with his hands up. Luffy finally let go of the strenuous pose he forced himself to keep.

"You don't need to apologize now. 'Cause that dog's treasure is never coming back." Luffy said in a hushed tone as he continued to stare at Chouchou who barked helplessly. "That's why I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Mohji let out a quick gasp of surprise and fear, but before he could escape, Luffy's arm extended towards him. He tightly gripped the collar of his shirt, not allowing him any chance to escape. And as his arm was drawing back into place, he readied his other arm. Once he was close enough, Luffy let his arm rip and shot a hard, emotion-filled punch right in the middle of his face.

Watching Chouchou grieve over the burnt down store from a safe distance was none other than Nami.

"Pirates. They're all the same. Every last one of them" she spoke in a deep, grounded tone. "They take what people hold dear without a second thought!" Her attention was drawn from the dog over to Luffy. "Oh? You're still alive, pirate!" She called out to him with a hint of poison in her voice. "I figured that lion ate you for sure!" She said with a confident yet harsh smirk. "As a pirate, you'll do the same thing!" her cocky smirk transformed into a look of exasperation.

Luffy just stood there, staring blankly at her as she spouted insults right to his face.

"Maybe I should just kill you before you can gather a crew and attack people too!" she threatened, each word more baleful then the other. She had briefly mentioned her past, which seemed to have a huge effect on her vision of pirates.

As she had promised, she ran towards him with no hesitation, though Luffy's feet stayed glued to the ground. Before she could reach him though, Boodle had run ahead, catching her before inflicting any harm to him.

"Come! Stop that, girl!" He tried reasoning.

"As if you could ever kill me." Luffy spoke with a ghost of a chuckle following his words. Whether that meant she physically couldn't best him or she couldn't handle killing anyone, no matter the circumstances, she couldn't tell, but whatever he meant by it, he was definitely sure of it.

He casually walked away in the direction of Chouchou, and picked up the bag of dog feed on his way, ignoring nami's unhinged challenge to actually try killing him, and the mayor's attempt to calm her down.

He stopped next to Chouchou and relinquished the bag he carried in his grasp, placing it right in front of the dog.

Nami slipped from the relaxed grip of the mayor, gaining total control of her body. She continued to stare at Luffy, the pirate she had just threatened with death. She couldn't peel her eyes from the miraculous sight: a pirate casually talking with a dog.

"This is all I could take back." Luffy explained "Bastard took the rest."

"He… he fought with that lion. And all for that dog's sake.." Nami muttered with widened eyes. A gentle wind brushed past her, fidgeting with loose strands of her amber locks as the image of the two burned into her mind. Never- not in a million years- could she have ever predicted such an event to take place, and in front of her very eyes too.

"You fought good" Luffy commended the dog who continued to stare straight at the wreck. "I didn't see your fight, but I could tell!"

Chouchou bit the bag of food and walked a few meters, before turning around and barking a gracious good luck to him.

"Yeah! Good luck to you too!" Luffy responded, though he looked crazy, talking to a dog and what not. Chouchou barked happily and left the sight with dog food in tow.

"Ha.. haha!" Nami giggled lightheartedly at the dog and a sullen smile tugged at her mouth.

"Sorry about earlier," Nami nervously confronted. She was ashamed to admit it, but was starting to take a liking to the pirate, though as far as she was concerned, he acted nothing like one.

"Huh?"

"I didn't mean to yell at you…"

It's okay! You've been through a lot!" Luffy looked up at Nami's relieved face and stood up "I don't feel like hearing about it though." he bluntly added as he patted the dust off his shorts. And that was perfectly alright with Nami, because she didn't plan on sharing anymore than she already had.

The mayor let out a strained growl as he tightly made a fist out of each of his wrinkled hands. "I'm so pathetic! Choucchou and this youngin will fight so hard, yet why must I, the mayor, sit by and watch our town be obliterated?!" he yelled to no one in particular. Nami and Luffy rushed to Mayor Boodle's side.

"Calm down, mayor!" Nami unhelpfully comforted.

"Forty years ago, this place was nothing but barren land. We all worked together to clear the land, make fields, open stores, and build our town. This town is a treasure to me and all the citizens! I cannot let them domineer over it anymore!"

"Fire a Special Buggy Ball! Blow the town away!" Buggy instructed under the ominous shadows of his tent. After hearing his highest ranking crew members had been defeated, he wanted nothing more than vengeance against the thief who had lied and stole from him and the pirate who dared to claim he was going to become king of the pirates.

All attention was drawn to the crash and the smoke that rose from it.

"Even my own house…" The mayor sulked.

"AH!" Luffy exclaimed as he recalled something very important "Zoro's sleeping in there!"

"The youngin is dead now…" the three of them all stared into the smoke that refused to leave.

"Hey! Zoro! Are you alive?!" Luffy yelled desperately into thick smog.

All of a sudden, a husky voice came out from the smoke, along with his three sheathed swords. "That's one hell of a way to wake a guy up…". Luffy's bright smile returned at the sight of Zoro complaining about not getting enough sleep.

"How are you still alive?" Nami queried. It's not every day you see a man get hit point blank by one of Buggy's specially made cannonballs and survive.

The mayor put his foot down for the last time "I refuse to let them get away with this! I can't stand this no more! Some random scum has no right to suddenly destroy our forty years of hard work!" He struggled to find the right words "I am this town's mayor! And I will protect this town!" he announced with such conviction. He took a first step, but struggled to move any distance with Nami's slim arms wrapped around his waist, restricting him from any hasty movements.

"Stop! Stop, mayor!" she pleaded. Still, he did all he could to escape her tight clutch.

"There are some fights a man cannot run from! Isn't that right, youngin?"

"That's right, old man!" Luffy answered cheerfully, despite Nami's protests to stop urging him on.

"What can he possibly do by going to see them? It's reckless!" She tried reasoning through grunts that involuntarily crawled from her mouth each time the mayor took a large step forward.

"I'm fully aware it's reckless!" And with that, Nami loosened her clasp, allowing him to run free. "I'm coming for you, Buggy the Clown!" the mayor cried as he ran into the distance.

"The mayor.. he was crying…" Nami slowly spoke.

"Really? I didn't see it." Luffy responded.

"Looks like the party's gettin' more exciting!" Zoro cheered.

"Sure does!" Luffy chuckled.

"This is no time to be laughing!" Nami chimed in with a worried look on her face.

Luffy turned his head to face Nami with that same confident smile he had flashed to her food umpteen times in just the few hours they had met each other. "It's okay! I like that old guy! I absolutely won't let him die" he promised.

"In that case…" Zoro started walking in the direction the mayor had just departed in.

"You're going to go too? With that wound?!" Nami had an urge to massage her temples at Zoro's stupidity.

He tightly pulled the knot in the back of his bandana tighter, creating a menacing shadow underneath his eyes. "The injury to my name is much worse than the injury to my gut," he replied.

"Our destination is the Grand Line. So we're gonna steal that map back now!" Luffy smiled. He leaned in close, only leaving a few inches between their noses, allowing Nami to take in every detail of his face, from his wide, owl-like eyes to the small yet noticeable scar underneath his left eye. "Join our crew, Nami!" He beamed. He moved back some to allow for space to reach his hand out.

"I'll never be a pirate." Nami disclosed with a mad look on her face until a smirk tugged at one end of her mouth. Unlike the handshake he was expecting to receive, he instead earned a slap to his hand. "How about we team up for our common goal though?" she proposed instead.

Luffy's smile somehow grew larger as he let out a childish giggle, a sign he was perfectly fine with just being teammates.

A/N: Wow this one was long. And it only took me about 6-7 hours to write! Alright y'all please R&R! It will really make me feel good and raise my motivation to write... if one chapter a day isn't enough for you haha. But in all honesty, I enjoy writing these. And not only that, but I get to rewatch pretty much the best series as I go along. Also, I'm thinking of making this the last chapter for the Orange Town arc, mostly because I just don't remember any scenes I can make without literally just narrating the whole arc. And I'm sure you all want me to increase the amount of LuNa, which is why I will occasionally overexaggerate certain scenes just to squeeze every drop out I can for you all.
Please enjoy the next chapter!