From Mafioso to Pirate
Chapter 5: Captain Morgan
XXX
"R-Really?" The little girl, whose name they now knew was Rika, asked in elated disbelief.
"Yeah, he ate all of it," Luffy remarked as the four of them walked towards a restaurant that was apparently run by the girl's mother.
"He said it was pretty good, too," Lambo added as they stopped in front of the entrance.
"I'm so happy!"
"Is Zoro really as evil as people say he is?" Coby asked gloomily. The scene he witnessed with the Marines and Lambo's words to him had really woken him up to reality.
"No, he's not!" Rika shouted, causing them to look at her in surprise. "He got tied up for us..."
"What do you mean?" Luffy asked.
"It's all that stupid Helmeppo's fault!"
"Yet another bizarre name..." Lambo sighed. "I take it that's that purple bowl-head's name?" He asked, causing Luffy to snicker.
The girl couldn't help but giggle as well at Lambo's decided description for the man. "Yeah, that's him. He's Captain Morgan's son."
"So what happened? Why did Purple Bowl-Head tie Zoro up like that?" Lambo continued.
"Um, Lambo-san, why are you still calling him that when you know his name now?" Coby asked.
The other boy shrugged. "People like him don't deserve to be called by their names, no matter how stupid those names are."
"I-I see..." Coby muttered. 'Lambo-san is a pretty weird guy, too...'
"Three weeks ago..." The girl spoke up, the three boys turning their full attention to her as she began her story. "Helmeppo was walking through the town with his pet wolf, scaring all the townspeople. The wolf tried to attack me, but Mr. Zoro killed it with his sword. After that, Helmeppo threatened him, but Mr. Zoro is a lot stronger than him, so instead he said that he was going to execute me and my mom unless he agreed to be tied up for a month in our place..."
"So that's what happened..." Coby mumbled, looking even more dejected than before.
"Helmeppo keeps kicking and punching him while he's tied up there!" The girl continued, burying her face in her hands to try and hide her tears. "I-I don't know what to do..."
"...Yare, yare, these aren't the kinds of things a little kid should be worrying about," Lambo sighed, patting the girl's head as she looked at him in confusion. "Just leave Zoro to us."
"E-Eh? Really?" Rika stuttered in disbelief, hope shining in her eyes.
"So you're gonna help? Great!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly. "You've definitely got a spot on my crew!"
"I haven't agreed to anything yet," the cow-boy denied. This only caused Luffy's grin to grow even bigger.
"Ha! Yet! You said yet!"
"It's a figure of speech..." The cow-clad boy mumbled as he pushed the restaurant's door open.
As soon as the four were inside, the three boys froze. Sitting at a table in the restaurant, covered in bandages, were three very familiar people. The men noticed them as well and had a similar reaction.
There was complete silence for what felt like an hour, but was in reality a few seconds. Lambo blinked and pointed at them, the three men copying the motion.
"IT'S YOU!" The four shouted in unison, their yell resounding across the empty restaurant.
"Um, d-do you know each other?" Coby asked the older boy as he examined the three men.
They looked kind of familiar... Their defining features were that one had a scar, one was blonde, and the other was bald. His eyes widened when he realized who they were.
"H-Hey! Those are the ones who attacked you, Lambo-san!" The pink-haired boy stuttered, quickly hiding behind Luffy, who just blinked in confusion, already having forgotten who the three were.
"Yeah, that's them," Lambo muttered, glaring at the three, who cowered away from him.
"I-It's the lightning monster!" Blondie whispered as the three stared at Lambo in absolute terror, practically trembling in fear.
"Oi, who the heck are you calling a monster?" Lambo mumbled, eye twitching in irritation.
"Rika! There you are!"
A woman in a light green dress over a dark green shirt quickly rushed towards them. She had brown hair much like Rika and blue eyes. It didn't take them long to realize that this was the girl's mother.
She gave the girl a hug, obviously relieved that she was okay, before moving back and giving her a motherly don't-make-me-worry-like-that-again glare. "Rika, you were sneaking off to see Zoro again, weren't you?!"
Rika looked down guiltily. "Y-Yes... I'm sorry, Mom.. B-But he hasn't eaten in weeks! I had to do something!"
The woman sighed after a moment and gently patted her daughter's head. "I know how you feel, Rika. But if the Marines catch you, who knows what Captain Morgan will do..."
"Sorry..." The girl repeated, looking down.
The woman, seeing that her daughter understood, turned to the three newcomers. "Thank you for bringing my daughter back. May I ask what your names are?"
"I'm Coby," the shortest of them introduced. "And this is Luffy-san and Lambo-san."
The three men, who had just been staring at Lambo in terror the entire time, stood up. "Th-This is the guy who attacked us! The guy with the lightning!" Ringleader shouted, pointing his trembling finger at Lambo.
"You're the ones who tried to rob me," Lambo snapped back as the woman rounded on the three men.
"What?! You were trying to rob this boy?!" The woman shouted at them, causing them to flinch and step back. Apparently this was news to her. She took a closer look at Lambo, who stepped back in slight fear (women were freaking scary...) before turning back to the three, her glare even stronger than before. "For God's sake, he looks like he's only sixteen!"
"Actually, I'm fifteen," Lambo spoke up quietly from behind her.
"That makes it even worse! Apologize to this boy right now!"
"B-But, Ririka, we weren't going to actually hurt him-"
"Now."
The other people in the room (except for Luffy, who noticed some forgotten meat on one of the tables and began chowing down) shuddered. The fact that she didn't yell out that last word somehow made it even more terrifying.
"W-We're sorry..." The three men mumbled to Lambo, bowing slightly, more likely out of fear than genuine guilt.
"...It's fine, I guess..." The young boy sighed, walking over and sitting at the same table as Luffy. He'd seen some pretty nasty stuff that other Mafia families had done, so someone trying to rob him wasn't really that big a deal for him, especially since they didn't even really hurt anyone. "Well, I was right about one thing, you three don't seem like the mugger type. So who are you, anyway?"
The three seemed uncertain about answering the boy, but they quickly lost that choice when Ririka spoke up. "Here, I'll introduce you," she said, ignoring the men's protests. She pointed at the men who Lambo had dubbed Ringleader, Blondie, and Baldy, introducing them in turn. "This is Merit, Easton, and Gordy. They all work in this restaurant with me. They're also my brothers."
"Your brothers?" Luffy asked, looking at the men with new interest.
"So that means they're your uncles, Rika?" Coby asked, causing the girl to smile and nod. "But why would they try to rob Lambo-san?"
At this, the little girl grimaced. "It's all Captain Morgan's fault! He makes everyone pay a lot of money to him every month, and now our restaurant is going out of business!"
"Come to think of it, this place is pretty empty," Lambo noticed. "What happened to all your customers?"
Ririka sighed. "Our customers are having their own financial problems because of the monthly tributes to Captain Morgan. This place is our only means of making money. At this rate, we won't even be able to keep our house, let alone pay the tribute..."
"Listen, kid," Easton spoke up, causing Lambo to look at him. "We really didn't mean to hurt you or anything, but without that money our sister and niece will end up living out in the streets! We couldn't let that happen!"
"So please don't electrocute us again!" Gordy, the apparent coward of the group, spoke up, looking at him warily.
Lambo stared at the dejected family for a moment before looking down. He couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. His family was one of the richest of all Mafia families. Things like losing his house and being forced to live on the streets never really occurred to him. He knew that it happened to some people, but had never given it much thought until now. Exactly how was this family going to survive in the future? And he didn't think that this Morgan guy would react well to a family of homeless people in his town that couldn't pay tribute. Would he force them to leave? Or worse, would he-
His thoughts were cut short when the door of the restaurant slammed open. The eight people in the room quickly turned towards it, only to freeze when they saw a very familiar person walking towards one of the tables, two Marines following after him.
'Great, it's this guy again...,' Lambo thought, moving slightly to block the men's view of Rika.
Helmeppo sat at one of the chairs and placed both feet on the table, smirking. "Hey, you," he said to Ririka, who flinched. "Bring me a plate of your finest food. For free, of course. And bring me some wine! Make it quick, or I'll tell my daddy!"
Luffy watched with a blank expression as Gordy quickly filled a glass with wine and Easton started taking ingredients out of the storage room. Coby was watching worriedly while Lambo just looked on in plain disgust at how Helmeppo was acting.
"Oh, that's right," the bowl-haired man continued. "Since I've gotten bored of this little game, I've decided to execute Zoro tomorrow." He laughed, oblivious to the horrified looks he was receiving. "Get ready for a great show, everyone!"
Lambo was about ready to electrocute the guy. But before he could even think about calling out his Lightning flames, Luffy suddenly shot forward, almost a blur as he slammed his fist into the blonde's face, sending him flying out of his chair and crashing into the wall while everyone else just stared in shock.
The two Marines hurried to help Helmeppo up while the blonde clutched his bruised cheek, staring wide-eyed at Luffy. "Wh-Who the hell are you?!"
Seeing Luffy about to lunge at the blonde again, Coby quickly grabbed onto him. "L-Luffy-san, stop! You'll get in trouble with the Marines!"
"This guy's scum!" The other boy continued, looking like he wanted nothing more than to leave a giant dent in the man's face.
"Y-You punched me!" Helmeppo continued incredulously. "I'm Captain Morgan's son!"
"Yare, yare," Lambo said. Though his voice was nonchalant, the intensity of his glare made the man flinch. "Using your father's name like that may scare the townspeople, but it won't work on us."
"I-I'LL HAVE HIM EXECUTE YOU!"
"Why don't you fight me yourself?!" Luffy yelled after him as the man and his two Marines hurried out of the restaurant.
"Luffy-san, Lambo-san, please stop!" Coby begged.
"I've made my decision!" Luffy said as he stopped struggling, prompting the two boys to look at him in confusion. "I'm definitely making Zoro one of my nakama!"
Meanwhile, at the Marine base, a certain man was staring out the window. "I...am great."
"Yes, Sir! You are, Captain Morgan sir!" The Marine in the room shouted in confirmation, saluting the man.
"And yet, the tributes to me have been decreasing lately..."
The Marine faltered a bit. "W-Well, Sir, the townspeople only have so much money, a-and they need some for themselves, too..."
"No, the problem is that they don't have enough respect for me. Isn't that right?"
"I-I..."
Luckily, the Marine didn't have to answer, because just then the door burst open, revealing a certain blonde man clutching his injured cheek.
"Daddy!"
"What is it, Helmeppo?"
"There are some people I want you to kill!"
"I'm very sorry," Ririka said as she lead the three boys to the door. "I'm very grateful to you for bringing my daughter back, but if Helmeppo thinks that we're on your side..."
"We understand," Lambo said, putting a hand up to stop her. "You have to protect your family, right?"
The woman smiled in relief and nodded. "Yes, thank you... Rika, say goodbye, okay?"
Rika, who was standing behind the woman with her uncles, looked at the boys sadly. "Goodbye..."
"Alright! Let's go save Zoro!" Luffy exclaimed, looking ready to bolt off any second.
Lambo nodded. "Right. First thing's first, though." The others watched in confusion as Lambo reached inside his pocket and pulled out a bag. "Here," he said, tossing it over to Merit, who caught it clumsily.
He peeked into the bag only for his eyes to widen in shock. "Th-This is..."
"That's what you wanted, right?" The cow-boy asked, tilting his head to the side. "It's not much, but it'll help. You need it a lot more than I do."
"B-But this is all the money you have, right?" Easton protested as the others looked into the bag and had similar reactions. "We can't accept this!"
Lambo arched an eyebrow. "Weren't you trying to rob me earlier? Just take it. I'll find another way to make money."
"Th-Thank you! Thank you so much!" Ririka exclaimed, her eyes shiny as she and her brothers bowed.
"This is a bit embarrassing... Don't worry about it, okay?" With that, Lambo turned and looked at the other two. Coby was watching him with wide eyes and Luffy with a blank expression. After a moment, the cow-boy frowned. "Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked, directing his question at Luffy.
The straw-hat-wearing boy grinned. "I was right! You are a nice guy! Hurry up and agree to join my crew, alright?"
'The sad thing is, I'm actually starting to consider it,' Lambo thought to himself, sighing as he followed after them.
TO BE CONTINUED