The fruit tasted bitter against his tongue, stinging like the whiskey he had managed to steal weeks ago, warmth bubbling throughout his body as the chunk slammed down into his stomach.
Luffy grumbled, taking another bite from the disgusting dessert, uncaring of its importance. He just assumed that it was yet another grown-up thing he could be doing to look mature enough to be accepted into Shanks' ship, even for the smallest of adventures.
He hoped that one might even reach a port to a friend he'd missed so dearly.
By the time the pirate captain in question looked at him again, now covered in beer and scraps of food, Luffy was just holding onto the stem of the fruit, patting his stomach, urging his stomach to digest already and relieve some of the discomfort caused by his dessert.
Slowly, the boy realized just how silent everything had become, the commotion that the red-hair crew breathed and reveled in slowly dying all around him. "What's wrong?" he asked simply, looking around before meeting the gaze of his greatest hero.
Shanks looked down at the seven-year-old, eyes locked onto the stem, then onto Luffy's mouth. His own lips tightened in a scowl before they split at the seams, chuckles leaking out.
He smiled his widest, brightest smile and ruffled the kid's hair.
"You just became a full-fledged Anchor, Shrimpy!"
Luffy's eye twitched
"Who are you calling shrimpy?!"
Makino silently wiped down some glasses with a soft smile at the end of another day, enjoying her normalcy one last time, sighing softly as she glanced at the calendar.
Tomorrow is the day, isn't it?
She thought about the ball of dreams and energy that had been the heart of the village. Who was never shy about screaming about his date of departure. His 18th birthday, exactly to the day, much like his brother before him.
She could hear his characteristic giggle in her mind, fading already. Chased off ruff man too old for the antics of the younger generatio-
"LUFFY ARE YOU INSANE!?"
Her eyes snapped open, and she heard most of Foosha follow along, the island's residents rushing out to see why the Mayor was screaming down by the port.
And, that night, Foosha had its most impromptu farewell to one of its most beloved denizens, people laughing, crying, and waving into the dead of the night as a small dinghy sailed out into the deep blue sea. It's sole occupant uncaring and unstoppable, even as the guardian of the coast challenged that notion.
The Sea King's attempts at a meal were tossed to the side, the giant beast incapable of even slowing down the next Pirate King.
Makino laughed, and waved off the man she had looked after like a little brother for so long.
She knew deep down, the next time they would meet, he would have the story of a lifetime to share with her.
"Coward."
Luffy shrugged, uncaring as Coby's shoulders slumped as the boy sniffed and accepted his statement.
"Y-yeah, I am."
That got the pirate to smile. "Are you going to do anything about it?"
Coby stiffened, his trembling body beginning to settle, one hand rubbing his nose with another sniffle. The boy was standing tall in the rocking ship for the first time.
"I-..."
Luffy's smile widened further.
"I'll follow my dream! Even if I'm a coward! And I'll arrest even you, Luffy!"
Luffy beamed back at the young coward, slapping him on the back. "You can't do that from the bellows of this ship now, can you?"
"No!" Coby screeched, his arms shooting up to the air, fists clenched. "First I'll arrest Alvida! Then I'll join the Marines! And then, and then—!"
Luffy stiffened, pushing the kid quickly to the side as the ceiling caved in, someone landing on the floor of the pantry the two were raiding.
And as the dust settled, Coby saw a scene from his nightmares.
Alvida's eyes shined with rage and hunger, almost glowing in the depths of the boat, staring at the two that dared to oppose her.
"Arrest who now, cabin boy ?"
The man fell before her, and Nami fought the urge to spit on him, stepping over the disgusting pile of pirate scum to reach her next target.
She didn't fight the soft gasp of happiness from escaping her lips, enjoying the sight that befell her eyes.
Gold shining and shimmering on all corners of the treasure room of Alvida's galleon, bathing her in its birilliance.
One step closer to her goal.
She let out a giggle and unfurled her canvas bags, starting to relieve the room of all of its valuables, feeling no shortage of glee as the rest of the pirates simply brought their treasure to her.
Served the scum right. None of them had the passion to actually look inside the treasure room, content with just tossing the loot into the dark and nearly emptied treasury instead of reveling in the riches.
Nami rubbed one of the gold ingots with a motherly love, cooing softly as she gently slid it into the canvas bag. "Don't worry little ones, Mommy will take goooooood care of you"
Her face twitched as she remembered what she was collecting them for.
And you'll help mom in return, right…?
She shook off the thoughts drowning her mind, getting on her feet and grabbing the bags. With a silent grunt, she heaved softly and lifted with her legs, shouldering the weight with a grimace. Any more and she wouldn't be able to carry it out.
She didn't like it, but she'd have to leave the rest of whatever the crew was bringing behind. Besides, they had slowed down, she definitely had to leave before the rest of the crew returned and made escape harder than it should've been.
Sounds of fighting reverberated throughout the halls as she silently exited the room, stepping on the head of the guard on her way out. Confused why no one had even tried to move him.
Then she saw it.
A man, laughing in the face of danger, grinning ear to ear as pirates attacked him, their swords sharp and hungry for flesh.
He reminded her of someone.
She scrunched her eyes closed, the scent of gunpowder and something sickly sweet making her nose twitch even if she knew it was just a memory.
She rushed off, trying to get away from it all as fast as she could.
"Who's the most beautiful woman of the sea Coby?"
Honestly, Luffy was amazed that this woman was more concerned about how she was perceived than how many of her crew had fallen at his hands.
"You know you should take better care of your hair, if that matters that much to you." he grumbled, cracking his knuckles and rolling the tension out of his shoulder. "You're Alvida, right?"
The massive woman froze, and her eyes locked onto him, her teeth almost cracking with how hard she was gritting them. "y-YOU!"
He pointed at himself with a cheeky smile "Me."
Coby blubbered something to his side, but Luffy didn't care.
"Who the HELL do you think you are, beansprout!?" the pirate captain bellowed, rising her mace high into the air "I'll show you your place!"
"Me?" Luffy asked, rhetorically.
The world blurred, and he was in front of the woman, not even giving her the chance to swing the mace down.
His arm went numb, soft cracks echoing in the silence of a single moment, skin shredding like paper, something thicker and harder replacing it. Joints popping and muscles reforming.
Alvida got a chance to look down onto the straw-hat hiding the face of her aggressor, fearing what the arm that had replaced his clearly human one was about to do to her, hands losing their grip on her mace in pure shock.
"I'm the man who's going to be the king of the pirates," he announced with a certainty no man should have.
Something clicked and then Alvida vanished, her mace falling down where she once stood and rolling to the side, followed by a boom that took Coby off his feet, landing on his butt.
The boy shivered, scrambling back and looking up at his savior, eyes hidden behind the shadow of his straw hat, a wide smile on his lips.
His eyes traveled down the lean physique of the man, down to the arm he shouldn't have: the green, glinting carapace of a creature Coby didn't know, the arm that bent three times, all in the wrong way, with a red lump at the end lacking any fingers. Just a bulbous hammer-like head that slowly retracted to its place under where he guessed Luffy's elbow used to be.
He looked away as something squelched and the arm snapped in another direction, the shell covering it starting to snap and melt as the monster still faced him.
"...what are you?" Coby managed to ask, choking back tears.
Luffy tilted his head, laughing uproariously as if this was the funniest thing he'd ever heard.
He opened his mouth to respond with something other than laughter, but it clicked it shut at the sound of some whistling, followed by a boom.
Luffy tilted his head, grumbled, and walked up to Coby, who at this point was trying to run as far away as he could, failing miserably as his legs just refused to work.
"Getting captured in a pirate ship is a bad first introduction for the Marines, Coby!" Luffy chastised, grabbing the boy by the scruff of his neck and heaving him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Let's get the hell outta here, for both of our dreams' sakes."
Coby was sobbing and blubbering too hard to listen to the pirate. The poor boy was incapable of registering what was going on as Luffy ran around the boat, trying to find a life raft to make a quick and easy escape.
Luckily for both of them, there was a small dinghy already in the water, ready to unfurl its sails.
Luffy didn't even hesitate as he jumped down, landing in the boat just as the sails unfurled and its voyage started. A beautiful woman looked up to him with shock and awe as the little dinghy got swept away by a cannonball's wake.
He let the boy crumple to the deck of the small boat and raised his fists to the heavens above.
"To adventure!~"