"Uhm..." Koby stuttered nervously as the two barrel pirates stared expectingly at him. He had no idea what he should say in this kinda situation though, so every word that managed to reach his lips came out as nothing more than an incoherent mess. Their display of strength not even a minute ago had overwhelmed Koby's and even when they might be his ticket out of Alvida's grasp, he had not a single clue how he should approach the topic. Luckily for him, the woman saved him from any further stuttering.
"Are you with these pirates?" the young woman asked him, her voice calm and demanding. Koby choked on his saliva before he answered without thinking, turning his words into an even greater mess. "I am! I mean not.. kinda?" If god existed, Koby wished a hole would appear under him right now and swallow him whole.
Needless to say that Victoria raised her eyebrows when she heard his response, clearly confused about whether he was in the pirate group or not.
"Shishishi. Who cares about this? I'm hungry!" the pirate with the straw hat suddenly shouted as he stretched his arms over his head, a big toothy smile upon his lips. He sniffed the air and turned his head around towards a locked door behind him. In the next moment, he had already jumped out of the barrel, allowing Koby to take in his full appearance.
The black-haired pirate wore a red, sleeveless shirt, sky-blue shorts with fur rimming the end and simple sandals. Of course, there was the golden straw hat sitting on his head as well. Arriving at the door, he tried to open it but groaned in frustration a second later as he found it locked. However, that didn't stop him as he pulled his arm back before punching the wooden door open without remorse.
"Awesome! So many apples!" Luffy shouted, his voice full of delight as he entered the storage room. Stepping out of the barrel as well, Victoria only sighed at his antics, the distant sound of munching already echoing in the air. "I swear Luffy, your stomach must be a bottomless hole or something like that. Just where do you stuff all this food you basically inhale?"
Just like Luffy, she had only sandals as footwork, but the rest of her outfit differed a lot from his. She wore a black kung fu jacket, the end of the sleeves and the line where the buttons were secured kept in a pure white. A red belt, the buckle silver and formed like a skull, secured a sword to her hip, the sheath kept mostly in white with few hints of a grey at the end. Delicate lines covered the surface and embraced golden diamonds that run from the bottom to the top of the sheath, ending in a golden emblem that looked like a cross with four reddish gems embedded in each corner of the religious symbol. The sword itself followed the design, but the pink-haired boy could only see the golden know and guard alongside the grip, kept in a royal blue. Furthermore, when Koby squinted his eyes he could see some sort of runes engraved into the guard of the sword though he had no idea what they could mean because he had never seen such forms before.
The blade was a stark contrast to her black clothes and the fact that she was a pirate. No matter how much he tried, Koby couldn't avert his eyes from the sword. He was not an expert in this field, but even he could tell that this was not an ordinary sword. It almost felt like the blade emitted a presence on its own, but before Koby could look at the sword any further, an apple was suddenly thrown in his face, one he barely managed to catch in time with a squeak.
Surprised and startled he looked at the culprit. It was the woman, serving herself an apple as well. "I'm still waiting for an answer kid, but beforehand I think it would be appropriate to introduce ourselves." She pointed with her thump at the young man with the straw hat still stuffing himself with a ridiculous amount of apples. "This one is Luffy and I'm Victoria, the only two members of the freshly founded Straw Hat Pirates." Victoria bowed her head slightly. "At your service."
To say that Koby was surprised would be an understatement. He hadn't expected a proper introduction from a pirate, especially not one who sounded so gentle. Koby only knew these two for a few minutes, but he could already tell that they were quite different from the other pirates he knew. "I'm Koby," he said, coaxed by Victoria's gentleness.
"Koby..." she repeated, letting the name linger on her tongue for a while before she continued. "Alright then, Koby. Now that the introductions are out of the way, mind telling us whether you're a part of the pirate crew currently raiding this ship or not?"
The pink-haired boy wasn't that much surprised that Victoria was aware of the raid. Even when hidden within a barrel, the noises of gunshots and bloodthirsty battle cries were hard to miss. Still, he looked to the side, not able to meet her eyes. "Well... I'm..." he drawled, unsure what he should answer. He felt that Victoria's gaze was not leaving him, silently demanding an answer. She probably wanted to judge whether he would pose a threat to them or not, but as she addressed him suddenly once more, she managed to surprise him yet again.
"In case you are worried that we harbour any ill intentions towards you, rest assured because there's no reason for worry." she cooed. "If we wanted to do anything, we would already have done so, right Luffy?" Said pirate was too busy devouring apples, two empty barrels already laying on the floor around him. He still managed to throw Victoria a thumbs-up in response, showing that he was listening while he ate.
Amused she returned her gaze to Koby. "See?" she grinned at him, managing to cast a small smile on his lips as well as he nodded. However, his tongue was refusing to form a single word, too heavy were his current circumstances weighing down on him.
After a short silence, Victoria addressed him once more with slightly narrowed eyes. "As far as I'm seeing this, you are a pirate of the pirate group," she began, fuelling his panic in the process. "But I think your entry into the crew happened not on voluntary terms, am I wrong?"
Before Koby had understood what was happening, his tale was already spilling from his mouth, how he went on a fishing trip when suddenly a pirate ship appeared on the horizon and abducted him, the crew forcing him to work to his bones. In the heat of the story, Koby even stated his dream of becoming a great marine.
Victoria listened and so did Luffy, even though it looked like he was too absorbed in eating the fourth barrel of apples. Koby talked for minutes and would have continued for a long time. However, the sound of cracks suddenly echoed around the three, originating from above. Next, there was a loud, deafening shout.
"Koby! Is it true that you have betrayed me?! Show me your loyalty and tell me who is the most beautiful woman in this world!" Alvida roared as she came crashing through the ceiling. Koby yelped in pure panic as the giant of a woman glared menacingly at him, already swinging her maze around. In his fright, he was about to commit yet another lie, but suddenly a voice rang out behind him.
"If you were honest about your dream just now, Koby, it's now the time to show that you possess the will to follow it through to the end." The pink-haired boy could easily identify the origin as Victoria and he knew that she was right. It was now or never. If he hadn't the courage to change, his dream would always be just that, a dream.
Koby inhaled deeply before he shouted his response. "Alvida, you are the ugliest woman in the world! Even the Umibozu is looking prettier than you do!" A beat of silence followed after Koby's claim before loud and bellowing laughter erupted like a volcano from behind him. Luffy and Victoria were laughing so hard that they were doubling over, tears forming in their eyes.
Meanwhile, veins started to pop on Alvida's face as the pirate captain gritted her teeth, raising her maze high above her head. "Is that so, Koby?" she said threateningly before bringing down her weapon. "Then die!"
Koby cried as he saw his end coming for him, closing his eyes so in utter fright. However, the strike aimed at him never came. There was only a dull sound before he was suddenly lifted by someone. Reopening his eyes Koby found himself held by Victoria's left arm while she stopped Alvida's swing with her other hand. Koby's jaw dropped at the image. Such power!
"Well, then Alvida, from woman to woman I have to say that I'm agreeing with Koby over here. You sure are ugly," Victoria teased, enraging the pirate captain only further. But before Alvida could ready another attack, her maze was deflected by Victoria with a mighty push to the side, throwing her off-balance. A moment later Victoria clenched her fist and struck the taller woman in the face, sending her flying through countless walls. At the display of raw, physical strength Koby could only gasp.
Suddenly Victoria jumped through the holes Alvida had made during descent and landed safely on the upper deck where she set him down gently. Luffy appeared a moment later from the holes as well, his strength seemingly on par with Victoria's as he was still laughing. "Shishishi. This is so funny Tori!" Luffy exclaimed while he was positively beaming, not caring the least about all the weapons that were directed at them from the pirates now surrounding them.
Victoria answered with a chuckle on her own before she began cracking her knuckles. "Say Luffy, how about we start the clean-up?"
"Hell yeah!" the straw hat-wearing pirate shouted excitedly, his smile growing even larger than before. The life of a pirate was so much fun and he was more than happy to have Victoria by his side. Together they were simply unstoppable.