From Mafioso to Pirate
Chapter 11: Treasure
XXX
"Zoro, what the hell are you doing?!" Lambo gaped as Zoro lifted the cage over his shoulder. "You're injured, you big green dumbass!"
"Sh-Shut it..." Zoro gritted his teeth, ignoring the fact that his wound (which was painful for Lambo to even look at) squirted out blood with each movement he made. "This is nothing..."
Luffy frowned as he examined the wound from his place in the cage on Zoro's back. "You sure? You're bleeding all over the place."
"You shut up, too..."
"Wh-What's up with this guy?!" Nami exclaimed, eyes wide with disbelief. "And how the hell is he able to lift that thing when he just got stabbed?!"
"Hey, who's that girl?" Zoro grunted in question. "I think I heard you say her name was Nami or something, right?"
"Yeah, she's our new navigator," Luffy responded cheerfully.
"Th-This is insane!" Nami shouted. "Just what the hell are you guys?!"
Zoro didn't answer, instead taking step after grueling step forward, the cage held firmly over his shoulder.
"Seriously..." Lambo groaned before hurrying over and grabbing the other end of the cage. He doubted he was actually being much help, but he couldn't think of anything else to do, and this was better than nothing. "Do you even know where you're going?"
"Away from here," Zoro grunted in an "isn't-it-obvious" kind of way.
"That's not what I meant, and you know it..." The cow-clad boy grumbled as he tried his best to be able to hold some of the weight.
"H-Hey! Hold it!" Nami said once she'd snapped out of her stupor. "Wh-Why are you doing this? You're..." She paused and her face hardened. "You're just pirates..." She muttered before turning on her heel and walking away.
Lambo frowned. "She really hates pirates, doesn't she? I wonder what happened?"
"Beats me..." Luffy mumbled with a frown.
Lambo gave a small sigh. "Rhetorical question, Luffy..."
Finally having pushed himself too far, Zoro let go of the cage, which he was at this point dragging instead of carrying, and fell to the ground. "Ugh..."
Lambo sat down next to him and frowned worriedly. "You okay, Zoro?"
Zoro scoffed. "This is nothing... I've had worse..."
"Somehow, I doubt that..." He looked at his wound and frowned further. "It's still bleeding... If only we had some bandages or something..."
"Hey," Luffy suddenly spoke up. "What's with this weird dog?"
Both of them blinked and turned to follow their captain's gaze. Standing a small distance away was a small, white floppy-eared dog. It didn't move at all. It just stood there, staring at them motionlessly.
"...It's kinda creepy..." Lambo mumbled after a few seconds of the silent staring.
Luffy grinned and pushed at the cage, causing it to move closer to the dog.
"...Could you have done that this whole time?" Lambo muttered in irritation. He was ignored.
Instead, Luffy initiated a staring contest with the dog, which didn't even seem to really look at him. After a while, Luffy started to pull at his face and make silly expressions to try to get the animal to react.
Nothing.
"...It's not moving," he said after a while.
"Who cares?" Zoro said as he dragged himself over to lean against a wall. "It's just a dog."
"Yeah, we have more important things to be worrying about right now," Lambo agreed, looking around at the empty-seeming houses. "I wonder where everyone is? We could really use a doctor right now..."
"Yeah, this dog looks like it's dead," Luffy said, nodding.
"That's not why we need a doctor..."
Luffy reached out and poked the dog between the eyes. No response. The boy continued poking it in that exact spot. After a few seconds of this, the dog's eyes narrowed, its teeth becoming slightly visible and a low growl barely being heard.
"Hey, Luffy," Zoro spoke up. "Maybe you should stop-"
"ARF!"
Both Zoro and Lambo blinked and stared as the dog latched its teeth onto Luffy's face, biting and pulling on his rubber-like skin.
"Whoa! Hey! What are you doing?! Let me go!" Luffy whined, trying to pull the animal off.
"Luffy, quit fooling around!" Zoro shouted at him, attempting to stand up only to fall back down as his wound squirted out more blood.
"And you should quit moving around," Lambo said as Luffy finally got the dog off of himself.
"Damn dog..." Luffy muttered, rubbing his face.
"I wonder if there's anyone here willing to give us bandages or something..." Lambo said as he watched the dog return to it's previous position, becoming an unmoving statue once more.
"You can't. Everyone in this village evacuated because of Buggy," a female voice called out.
"Yo, Navigator!" Luffy greeted cheerfully as the orange-haired girl jogged up to them.
"Hey, you're...Nami, right?" Lambo asked.
"Yeah," she said before turning to look at Zoro, seeming impressed. "I can't believe you actually dragged the cage all this way. Anyway, here." She tossed something over to them and it landed a few inches from Luffys' cage.
"A key?" Luffy asked.
"Yeah," Nami answered with a shrug. "I mean, you guys did save my life. This is the least I could do."
"So you got it just for us?!" Luffy continued happily. "Thanks!"
"Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not going to join your crew or anything, this just means we're even now."
"I'm saved!" The straw-hat boy cheered, reaching for the key. Before he could even touch it, however, the dog, in what was probably a petty act of revenge, grabbed the key in his mouth and swallowed it whole.
Everyone's jaws dropped as they stared at the animal in disbelief.
"H-Huh?" Nami stuttered.
"The hell?!" Zoro grunted.
"Are you kidding me...? How did he even swallow that...?" Lambo asked in shock.
A few seconds later, Luffy had his hands around the dog's neck, shaking him back and forth. "You stupid dog! Spit that out! Spit that out right now! Dammit!"
"Great. What now?" Zoro sighed.
Lambo grimaced. "I guess we're just going to have to wait for it to...you know."
Nami gave him a look. "...That's disgusting."
"Hey, you! What do you think you're doing to Chouchou?!" Someone shouted, causing them to jump in surprise.
"Who's that old man?" Zoro asked as the man stomped over to him.
Lambo couldn't help but arch an eyebrow at the man's appearence. His hairstyle was something he was more likely to see on a poodle than a human being, and he was wearing some kind of hand-made armor that looked like it was fashioned out of wood.
"Stop picking on Chouchou, you punk!" He shouted at Luffy.
"Chouchou?" Luffy asked, looking at the dog he was still holding.
"Excuse me, but who are you?" Nami asked him.
"I am Boodle, the mayor of this town! Now, who are you?" He shouted at them before catching sight of Zoro's injury. "Oh, my," he said, calming down. "That's a serious injury. Were you attacked by Buggy?"
"Yeah, we were," Luffy said, letting go of the dog, which quickly got back into its previous immobile position.
"Are there any doctors nearby?" Lambo asked. "Or at least some bandages or something?"
Boodle frowned. "No, everyone in town already evacuated a long time ago. My house is nearby, though, so I could wrap his wounds up there, then take him to a doctor."
"Yeah, that'd be great," Lambo said with a slight sigh of relief.
"Yeah! Thanks, old man!" Luffy echoed, grinning.
About thirty minutes later, the mayor walked back out of his house and towards them.
"How's Zoro?" Luffy immediately asked.
Boodle frowned. "I offered to take him to a doctor, but he said he just needed to sleep it off."
"Seriously?" Lambo sighed. "I wonder if it's even worth worrying about that guy...?"
"So this dog's name is Chouchou?" Nami changed the subject, patting said dog on the head. Chouchou glanced at her as she did, but made no move to attack.
"Why's he just sitting there like that?" Luffy asked, looking back at the animal.
"Was he abandoned here?" Lambo asked, his expression changing to sympathy.
The mayor shook his head. "No, he wasn't abandoned. He's guarding the store."
The three blinked and turned to get a closer look at the building. "Oh, I see, it's a pet food store!" Nami said in realization.
"If it's guarding it, then it must belong to it's owner, right?" Lambo asked as he knelt down to look at the dog, careful to keep his distance. Unlike Luffy, his skin wasn't made of rubber, after all. Couldn't be too careful.
"That's right," Boodle answered, nodding. "The owner of this store was a good friend of mine." With that, he went inside the store, coming out a few minutes later with a bowl of dog food in hand. "I come here everyday to feed Chouchou in his stead."
Nami frowned. "I thought you said he wasn't abandoned. This sure sounds like abandonment to me."
Boodle sadly shook his head. "My friend died from illness three months ago."
"O-Oh..." Nami said, her gaze now sad as she looked at the dog. "So he's waiting for his master to come back?"
"Well, that's what everyone says," the mayor replied with a shrug.
Lambo arched an eyebrow. "But you don't think so?"
Boodle nodded. "Chouchou is a smart dog. I'm sure he knows that his master is dead."
"Then why's he still guarding the store?" Nami asked.
"Because this store is Chouchou's treasure. It think it reminds him too much of his master for him to leave it. I kept trying to get him to leave and evacuate with the rest of us, but he wouldn't budge."
Finishing his food, Chouchou let out a yawn before going back into position. A few minutes passed by in silence afterwards. There was really nothing much to do at this point other than sit around and wait for something to happen.
That "something" came in the form of the now empty dog dish shaking back and forth. They all looked at it for a moment before feeling the vibrations running across the ground. Before anyone could comment on it, though, a loud roar revertebrated throughout the area.
"What the heck was that?" Nami asked, standing up and looking around.
"I-It's him!" Boodle shouted in panic, jumping to his feet. "Beast Tamer Mohji! We have to run!"
"Beast tamer?" Lambo asked right before the mayor grabbed both his and Nami's arms and yanked them away. "Whoa- hey!"
"So..." Lambo sighed once they'd finally stopped running. "Why exactly did you drag us here?"
Boodle looked at him incredulously. "Didn't you hear those footsteps, boy?! We had to get out of there!"
"Those were footsteps?!" Nami gasped. "They felt like mini earthquakes!"
"Yeah, what was up with that?" Lambo asked. "It sounded like a giant was coming or something."
"That's not too far off," the mayor said, calming down. "Beast Tamer Mohji is always riding a lion as large as a house."
"Are there really animals that big?" Lambo asked, frowning in disbelief before shaking his head. "Whatever, I'll believe it when I see it. More importantly, we left Luffy back there...
Boodle sighed. "Your friend is most likely doomed. There's no way he can fight against Mohji. And he's also trapped in a cage..."
Lambo's eyes widened before he grimaced. "Damn..." He turned and started to talk back towards the way they came from when his arm was grabbed yet again, stopping him.
"Hey, where the heck do you think you're going? He just said that there was a monster out there!" Nami shouted at him.
"Yeah, that's why I need to go make sure Luffy and Zoro are alright," Lambo said, turning to look back at her, his expression troubled.
Nami let him go and crossed her arms. "Why do you even care, anyway? You're a pirate! Betraying others to save your own skin is what you do, right?"
Lambo felt a burning rage start to build inside of him as he turned and glared at her. Seeing her step back in fear, he forced himself to calm down. "...Look," he started. "I don't know what happened to you or why you hate pirates so much, but it doesn't give you the right to judge me or Luffy or Zoro based on just that. There are tons of assholes out there that aren't pirates, right?"
Nami regained her composer and hmph-ed. "Can you name one other pirate out there that isn't a scumbag?"
Lambo opened his mouth to respond, then closed it. "Well...you got me there."
Nami smirked. "See? You should just ditch them. You'd be much better off that way."
"I'm not just going to abandon my friends like that," Lambo said firmly. "Besides, wouldn't that make me just as bad as those scumbags you're talking about?"
"Hey, hold on now, young man," Boodle interjected, walking over to them. "Are you sure about this? Do you even know whether your friend is still alive or not?"
Lambo crossed his arms and looked in the direction they came from. "Well, it's Luffy, so I'm sure he'll be alright."
Just as soon as he said that, a red blur flew past them and crashed into one of the buildings nearby. All three blinked and turned around to watch as said building was reduced to a pile of wood and stone.
A few seconds later, his familiar straw-hat wearing captain stood up and brushed himself off, smiling brightly. "Haha! I wasn't expecting that!"
"What the hell?!" Nami yelled in surprise.
Lambo blinked. "...Huh."
"You're alive?!" Boodle gaped.
Luffy tilted his head to the side. "Yeah. Is that bad?"
"You just crashed into a house! You don't just get up from that!" Nami shouted in disbelief.
"Really? It's pretty normal for me, though," Luffy shrugged.
"Luffy, what exactly happened?" Luffy asked, ignoring the gaping girl and old man. "Why did you fly into a house?"
Luffy looked at him and grinned. "Oh, that. A giant lion hit me and I ended up here."
"So there really is a giant lion... Are you okay?"
Luffy waved off the other boy's concern. "I'm fine. I fought monsters bigger than that when I was a kid!"
"Somehow, this doesn't surprise me..."
"You, kid," the mayor spoke up. "They say you're a pirate... Why exactly did you come to this town? Are you all part of Buggy's crew?"
Luffy frowned. "Hm? Nope. I'm here to get a navigator and a map of the Grand Line!"
"Did you just come up with that?" Lambo muttered, remembering the bird incident. "And where the heck are you going to find a map of the Grand Line?"
"That Buggy guy has one," Luffy answered as he started walking away. "I gotta go back, that weirdo with the lion was looking for Zoro."
"What? Wait, I'm coming, too!" Lambo called out, hurrying after him.
"Ah, so that's what happened..." Lambo said, nodding. While they were walking back towards the pet food store, he had asked Luffy to fill him in on what exactly happened after that bird had taken him all the way here. "If Big-Nose has a map of the Grand Line, then it's pretty lucky that you were dropped off here of all places."
Luffy grinned and laughed. "Yeah! Maybe I should do stuff like that more often, huh?"
"I wouldn't go that far... By the way, do you remember the way back to that store?"
"Hmmm...nope!"
"Then where are we going?"
"I dunno. I was just following you."
"...You're walking in front of me, Luffy."
Luffy stopped and blinked. "Oh... Hey, do you remember where it was?"
Lambo sighed. "How should I know? I was just following you... Wait, what's that?"
"Hm?" Luffy followed his gaze to see a bright orange light coming from one of the far-off buildings. He frowned and tilted his head a bit. "...Fire?"
"...Unfortunately, that's probably where Zoro is."
"Let's go get him, then!"
Reaching the source of the fire, the two boys instantly screetched to a halt at the sight before them.
The pet food store was gone. In it's place was a torrent of wood, stone, brick, and fire. So much fire.
Chouchou, beaten and bloodied, sat in front of it all, howling again and again and again...
Lambo clenched his fists as the mayor's words came back to him.
Because this store is Chouchou's treasure. I think it reminds him too much of his master for him to leave it. I kept trying to get him to leave and evacuate with the rest of us, but he wouldn't budge."
"Th-This is horrible..." Lambo said, walking over to the dog. "And he's covered in so many injuries...did he try to fight the lion?"
"...This place was his treasure..."
Lambo blinked and turned back around. "Luffy?"
"And that bastard did this to it..."
Lambo couldn't help but shrink back a bit. He had never seen Luffy look so...enraged before. His eyes were shadowed by his hat, so he couldn't see his expression, but he could practically feel the anger rolling off of him in waves.
And just as suddenly as it came, it was gone.
Lambo blinked in surprise as Luffy suddenly looked up, turned on his heel, and started to run away.
"...?! Luffy? Where are you going?!"
Luffy looked back at him as he continued to run. "I'm gonna find that guy and kick his ass! Take care of things here, Lambo!"
And just like that, he was gone.
Lambo stared after him for a moment before sighing and looking back at Chouchou. "That poodle guy had bandages in his home, right? Come on, doggy, I'll patch you back up."
Chouchou blinked and looked up at him as if he just realized he was there. After a few moments, he stood up and slowly and shakily started to walk towards the mayor's house before his legs finally gave way.
Lambo's eyes widened and he quickly rushed to him. Much to his relief, it seemed to be more from exhaustion rather than his injuries. Sighing in relief, he reached out and patted the dog's head. "On second thought, I'll bring them to you."
Nami's eyes widened at the scene before shop was in ruins with smoke rising from it in various places, the fire having put itself out a while ago.
Chouchou was covered in bandages, some of which were covered in veigue red spots, and was sitting next to Lambo, who was finishing bandaging one of his legs.
"What... What happened?"
"The store... Chouchou's treasure..." Boodle said as he stared at it all.
"Oh, Nami," Lambo said, getting up and walking over to her. He grimaced. "That beast tamer guy and his lion probably did this."
Nami's eyes widened before her expression contorted into a glare. "I knew it... Pirates are all alike, they just pillage and plunder and don't care who gets hurt or killed...!"
"Nami..." Lambo started before he spotted a familiar figure making his way towards them. "Luffy?"
Nami's head shot up and turned in his direction to see the boy walking up to them, holding a box in his hands. "...So, you're still alive, pirate," she said coldly. "I was hoping you'd be eaten by that lion... You're a pirate, too. You're no different from them!" She started to walk towards him. "If you're going to just get a crew to do the same thing, then I'll kill you right here myself!"
Lambo's eyes widened as he and Boodle quickly grabbed her by the arms, stopping her.
"Wait, miss, please stop!"
"Nami, stop! Calm down!"
"Shut up! You're just a filthy pirate, too! Let me go!"
Luffy just walked past them, barely glancing at her. "Like you can kill me."
"Then fight me!"
"Luffy, don't encourage her!"
Nami finally did stop, however, in surprise when she saw the other boy place the box he had been holding in front of Chouchou before sitting down next to him. He smiled down at the dog, his expression almost apologetic.
"This is all I could save. That stupid lion ate the rest. You fought really bravely, though! I wasn't there to watch, but I can tell!"
Chouchou stared down at the box of pet food for a long while before sitting up, grabbing it in his mouth, and starting to walk away. A few seconds later, he paused and looked back, letting out a bark, the box falling out of his mouth.
"Arf! Arf!"
Luffy looked back at him and grinned. "Good luck to you, too, doggy!"
"Arf! Arf! Arf!" Finishing his barks of gratitude, Chouchou grabbed the box again and continued on his way.
Realizing that Nami was no longer trying to lunge towards his captain, Lambo tentatively let go of her and smiled. "See, Nami? There are pirates like that, too..."
"...Yeah, I guess there are," the girl finally said before walking towards Luffy. "Hey, sorry about earlier. I lost control of myself there..."
Luffy grinned up at her. "S'alright. You have your reasons, right?" He asked, sitting up and dusting himself off.
"Dammit!" The mayor suddenly shouted, causing the other three to jump and look at him in surprise. Boodle was glaring down at the ground angrily, fists clenched. "Chouchou and that kid both fought so hard... But I, the mayor, couldn't do anything to save this town!"
"C-Calm down, Mayor!" Nami said as she, Luffy, and Lambo hurried in front of the old man to stop him from charging off.
"...Forty years ago, there was absolutely nothing here... The townspeople and I worked hard and built a community out of nothing... This town and its people...they're my treasure! I won't let Buggy hurt either one anymore!"
"But...what can you do?" Lambo asked hesitantly.
Before anyone could reply, however, the familiar sound of a cannon ball flew past them and into one of the houses yet again.
"There goes my house..." Boodle said with a defeated sigh.
Luffy's eyes widened. "Zoro was sleeping in there!"
"I wonder if he survived..." The mayor mumbled.
Lambo cupped his hands and shouted, "Zoro! Are you still alive?!"
They all waited with bated breath.
"...Jeez, talk about a rude awakening..."
Luffy broke out in his biggest grin yet. "Zoro!"
The swordsman groaned as he put a hand to his head, emerging from the rubble. "Damn it...I'm still tired. What the hell happened anyway?"
"It's a long story. We'll tell you all about it later," Lambo said with a relieved smile.
"H-How is that guy not dead?" Nami muttered in disbelief. "Are you guys monsters or something...?"
"I've had enough!" The mayor shouted, jumping to his feet. "That pirate has no right to destroy forty years of hard work! It's my responsibility to protect this place! I'm putting a stop to this right now!"
Nami's eyes widened and she quickly grabbed onto him to stop him from moving. "Wait, Mayor!"
"There are some fights you can't afford to run from! Isn't that right, kid?!" Boodle continued.
Luffy grinned. "That's right!"
"STOP ENCOURAGING HIM! What can he possibly do?! This is just reckless!"
"I'M AWARE OF THAT!" The mayor finally shouted.
Nami let him go in shock and watched as he ran away, shouting Buggy's name.
"He...He was crying..." She mumbled.
"Really?" Luffy asked. "I didn't notice."
"He's willing to fight for his town even if he knows it's hopless..." Lambo said with a frown. "He's an idiot, but he sure has guts..."
"Don't worry. I like that old guy, so I won't let him die!"
"I guess that's an order, then," Zoro said, standing up and walking in the direction the old man went.
Lambo looked at him worriedly. "Are you sure, Zoro? Your injury-"
"-Is nothing compared to the injury to my pride if I let that clown beat me," the green-haired man interrupted, grinning as he tied his signature bandanna around his head.
Lambo let out a sigh but couldn't help but smile. "I guess we're idiots, too... Let's go then. We need to get that map, right?"
His captain grinned and nodded. "Yep! Hey, Nami," he turned towards the girl, who was staring at them in disbelief, and reached out a hand. "Be our nakama!"
Nami glared at him. "I have no interest in becoming a pirate, but..." She smiled and slapped his hand. It took Lambo a moment to realize that it was a highfive. "I guess we could partner up for now."
"Alright, let's go save that old man!"
"BUGGY! SHOW YOURSELF!"
The clown pirate turned and frowned when he saw an old man standing at the front of the building, breathing as if he had just run a marathon. "Who the hell are you?"
"I am Mayor Boodle! I'm here to defend this town- no, my treasure!"
Buggy smirked. "Are you an idiot or something? 'Treasure' is gold and silver and jewels, not some crappy town!"
"Someone like you will never understand- GAH!" The mayor gasped as something grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up into the air.
Buggy continued to smirk. "I'm about to conquer the Grand Line. Then, all the treasure in the world will belong to me, no one else! If this town is so important to you, then you can die along with it!"
"Q-Quit your babbling...and fight me!"
"Don't make me laugh!"
"I-I will protect this town...EVEN IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!"
"Enough of your bull- Wha?!" Buggy grimaced in pain as his severed hand was yanked from the old man's throat and squeezed to the point where he was afraid a bone might break. "St-Strawhat!"
Luffy looked up at him and grinned. "I'm here to kick your ass, just like I promised!"