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One Piece - Freedom
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East Blue Arc
Chapter 5 : Pirate! Pirate! Pirate! The Pirate in Butler Clothing
0o0o0 Gecko Islands - Syrup Village: Cliffside Beach 0o0o0
"You're that pirate from earlier at the mansion. What do you want?" Kuro narrowed his eyes at the raven-haired teen who was dusting himself off.
"I think you're asking the wrong question, Captain. How the hell did you survive that jump?" Jango questioned not comprehending how the teen before them wasn't currently a pancake after jumping from the top of the ridge and crying 'Hey you guys!' down at them.
"It's not really that high." Luffy scratched his cheek as beads of sweat formed on the back of his head.
"That doesn't matter. What does... is why you're bothering us." Kuro adjusted his glasses as he felt them begin to slip once again.
"I want you to not attack that girl," Luffy bluntly stated.
"So you overheard us." Kuro's eyes narrowed into slits.
"Yeah. Personally I don't care, but Ussop does and he's going to become my marksman. And whatever my crew cares about, I care about. So I guess it actually did become personal. And you really didn't want it to become personal," Luffy reasoned out to himself. "So I'm only going to tell you once more. Don't attack that girl."
"And why should we listen to a kid playing pirate? Were you really eavesdropping or are you just stupid? Captain Kuro is the most vicious and vile pirate in the entire East Blue! And some punk who thinks he can just call himself a pirate and demand anything of him, has got another thing coming!" Jango burst out.
"That's enough Jango." Kuro calmly adjusted his glasses. "Who are you, boy? Why did you come to this island?"
"I'm Luffy, the future King of the Pirates!" Luffy proudly stated. "And I came here to recruit the son of the greatest marksman in the world to join my pirate crew."
"A dreamer, I see. And tell me, dreamer, have you ever actually faced an actual pirate before? Drawn swords on the high seas and fought to the last man standing? Plundered, pillaged, and raped? What does an ignorant child know of what it means to be a pirate?" Kuro mocked. "I've done it all boy. And I'm tired of it. All I want now is to rest and relax in the knowledge that I'll never have to worry about those idiotic marines or their damnable bounty hunters ever again. Jango." Kuro nodded his head at the other man. "Let the dreamer dream."
"Right!" Jango reached into his coat and pulled at a chakram on a string and let it hang out in front of him. "Now! Watch this ring closely!" Jango began to lightly swing the circular blade back and forth. "One! Two! Jango!"
"Hmm?" Luffy tilted his head slightly before darkness overtook him and he fell forward onto the ground asleep. "Zzzz."
"Good work, now… oh for the love of… wake up!" Kuro shoved the sleeping Jango, who'd fallen back into his chest, off of him and roughly into the rocky ground surrounding them.
"Ow!"
"I see you still haven't fixed that technique yet," Kuro stated, annoyed that his former first-mate and current captain of the Black Cat pirates was still so weak.
"Well we can't all be living the high life in a mansion," Jango muttered under his breath as he stood back up. "What do we do now?"
"Nothing. We move forward with the plan. Even if he does wake up and tries to tell anyone, no one would believe him. I mean honestly? Me, a pirate? I'm just the humble and polite butler, Klahadore. What a ridiculous and outrageous lie! I'd die for milady!" Kuro began to walk away, laughing as he did so, Jango not far behind him.
Up above them, Nami finally let Ussop go, having prevented him from calling out to Luffy to look away from Jango's hypnotism. "Why'd you do that!? They could've killed him!"
"They didn't. ...I hope." Nami quickly glanced down at the prone form of Luffy before looking back at Ussop. "You just have to trust me when I say he's a lot tougher than he looks. Besides, now they don't know about us, like they would've had I let you call out to him. Now the element of surprise is in our hands."
"Surprise!? We've gotta go warn everyone that pirates are going to attack tomorrow. I can't let everyone I care about die!" Beginning to panic, Ussop tried to run off to warn the village when he felt a stinging sensation scream across his face.
"Would you calm down! Panicking isn't going to help," Nami shook her hand from the slap as she took hold of Ussop's shoulders and stared him directly in the eye. "Listen. As much as I don't want to agree with him, Kuro is right. No one is going to believe us. Not me, not Luffy, and especially not you! So instead of running into town and screaming about pirates we need to calm down and come up with a plan."
"Not believe me? Of course they'll believe me! I've known everyone my whole life and-"
"Have lied about pirates attacking for years! Face it, you're a liar and everyone knows you're a liar. Your little friends told us all about what you do on the way to the mansion and while trying to liven up a boring setting isn't bad, lying while doing it isn't going to give you the best reputation." Nami poked Ussop's nose pointedly. "Meanwhile Kuro has spent the last three years building a respectable relationship with this town and did a ridiculously good job of it. He had you beaten before he ever came to this island."
"I-I… that's not true! Everyone knows I do that just to liven things up! They'll believe me when the threat is… is real." Ussop hung his head as the truth settled in. "I can't just do nothing."
Nami looked away, troubled. "...He's right. I can't in good conscience let what happened to me happen here. But we can't just run in blind and hope it'll turn out fine. We need a plan, but what? Warning the villagers will do nothing. Thanks to Ussop's reputation they'll just think it's a prank and blow it off. … Maybe warning Kaya could work. She seemed friendly enough with Ussop, she might believe us... Then again, Kuro's been her primary butler; she's just as likely to not believe us. What do we do?"
"Didn't I tell you guys to go warn everyone?" Luffy asked from beside the two, confused as to why Nami and Ussop were still on the cliffside.
"Not now Luffy, I'm trying to think of a plan!" Nami yelled at her self-appointed Captain.
"AREN'T YOU DEAD?!" Ussop cried out at the sudden reappearance of the straw-hat wearing man.
"I died!?" Luffy gave a concerned look to Nami. "I can't die yet, I'm not the Pirate King!"
"You're not dead you idiot! And he didn't die, you moron!" Nami hit both of them, knocking them back. "I'm surrounded by idiots," she sighed, facepalming.
"I thought that weird guy killed you or something with his hypnotism." Ussop rubbed the lumps growing out of his skull as he stood up with Luffy, who was doing the same.
"Hypnotism? Is that what he did? I got bored and took a nap. I woke up and they were both gone so I jumped back up here to start looking for you guys but you were still here."
"That's because rushing off and trying to claim that one of the villages' model residents is really a conniving pirate that wants to kill them all isn't believable. Thankfully they didn't just kill you when you took a nap in front of one of the most notorious pirates of the East Blue in recent memory!" Nami did her best to ignore the abject stupidity that had just come out of Luffy's mouth.
"Hm? They can't kill me. Honestly, they probably would've killed themselves if they had tried."
"What nonsense are you trying to say now? That you can't be killed or something?"
"No. I can definitely be killed. Just not by them. Watch, Ussop shoot me with one of your pellets."
"Wh-what? But I'll hurt you-"
"Just do it."
Ussop hesitantly reached into his bag and pulled out his slingshot. "Look, I really don't want to hurt you. You risked your life confronting Kuro and-"
"Shoot me. You won't hurt me."
"If you're sure." Ussop raised his sling, loaded a pellet and took aim.
Nami watched with interest, ready to witness Luffy grasp wherever Ussop shot him and bask in the glory of her "Captain" getting what he deserved.
"Last chance. It's really going to hurt, Onion accidentally hit me once and-"
"Just shoot already!" Both Luffy and Nami yelled at the same time.
"Fine! Here goes! And… fire!" Ussop let go and the pellet flew.
It flew and flew and flew, straight at Luffy. Then through him, out the backside of his body, and collided with a tree behind him. The sound of metal meeting wood echoing around them.
"Er… what?" Ussop adopted a dumbfounded look as Luffy just stood there as if nothing happened.
"See. They can't hurt me." Luffy grinned at them.
"What the hell are you?" Nami demanded. "I'm done with this non-answer bullshit. You're explaining this now."
"I keep telling you, I am made of lightning. I ate a logia devil fruit. Which means I've literally become lightning. All of its properties aren't just mine to wield, but who I am. That's how Logia devil fruits work. Of the three different fruits, Paramecia, Zoan and Logia, Logia is the strongest and rarest. Pretty lucky for me huh? Shishishishi!"
"SO COOL!" Ussop yelled, stars in his eyes.
"... so you can just become intangible whenever you want?"
"For the most part. That's not to say I'm completely intangible, so much as you can't shoot or harm lightning. I still hold mass but bullets, swords, cannons, etc will just pass right through me when I want."
"When you want? So you can choose to be solid or not."
"Pretty much. Took a bit to get the hang of, Ben got a bit singed in the process, and sometimes I'd be all lightning with bolts sparking out in every direction, or I'd be plain old me. I also got banned from watch duty during storms. Accidentally electrocuted everyone on deck when we were in the same puddle. Which I apologized for!" Luffy pouted, "Stupid Shanks. I AM NOT A LIGHTNING ROD!"
"It sounds like you kind of are to me."
"NO! I'm a lightning man! Not a lightning rod!" Luffy pouted even more.
"So is there anything you are weak to? Because aren't these devil fruits supposed to be like a deal with the devil? So far I'm seeing no downside to this," Nami asked with genuine curiosity.
"I can't swim," Luffy said lamely. "And that but they don't need to know about that yet."
"Wait seriously? I can teach you, you know. It really isn't that hard, in fact I once swam the entirety of the calm belt twice over while pulling a galleon behind me!" Ussop proudly proclaimed, believing the other two were impressed by his made-up achievement.
"I know how to swim, I just can't anymore. No devil fruit user can. That's the trade. Any one power in exchange for your ability to swim. If I jumped into the ocean right now, I'd sink like a rock, completely immobile. That's the curse for eating a devil fruit," Luffy explained. "They also taste really bad." Luffy shuddered, and winced at the memory of eating his fruit.
"That's… lame." Nami stated, unimpressed by the curse of the devil fruit. "Unimaginable power and all you lose is your ability to swim. How is that a curse?"
"For a number of devil fruit users it's not. Sometimes the curse is the power they receive. Imagine if the power you got was just being different levels of stinky, or made up of rubber. Like how useful could being made of rubber be?" Luffy glared at nobody in particular. "Stupid rubber stopping my lightning," he grumbled before continuing, "But also think about what my profession is. I'm a pirate. I sail the ocean. One wrong move and it's a watery grave for me."
"Well this has been educational and all but we still don't have a plan to deal with Kuro, we don't know where Zoro is, and all I really learned from that is that you're a walking anchor."
"Ah but Nami, that's where you're wrong. I always have a plan, I know exactly where Zoro is, and thank you for the compliment." Luffy grinned.
"I swear to Goda if you just say you're going to kick their asses-"
"Of course not." Luffy paused dramatically. "You guys are."
0o0o0 Gecko Islands - Syrup Village: Kaya's Mansion 0o0o0
Kaya, in the few hours since Ussop and his friends had left, had confined herself in her room, not letting anyone in.
"How could Klahadore say those things to him? Ussop has never blamed his father for following his heart, even when he should. He's always been proud to be the son of a pirate. It's what makes him special." She lightly smiled to herself. "I wish I could live like him, instead of being trapped in this mansion."
Kaya curled into herself as she wallowed in her loneliness. Time seemed to pass unnoticed as her once bright room, lit by the afternoon sun, began to darken as the sun began to set beyond the horizon.
Tap...
Tap... Tap...
Tap...
The small noise caused Kaya to stir. At the edge of her hearing, she thought she heard two people arguing, but it swiftly dropped off, before she started to drift into sleep again.
…
"….aaaaaAAAAA!"
THUNK!
The room rattled from the impact of a body smashing into the mansion, causing Kaya to jolt awake and scream as she saw Ussop's head sticking out through the wall. "Ussop!"
"K-Kaya? Are you home? I really don't want him to throw me again." Ussop's nose was bent into itself, completely disfigured, and his eyes were replaced with spirals.
She quickly ran over to the seemingly decapitated head mounted on the wall. "Ussop what's going on? Why were you thrown into the wall?"
Getting a hold of himself, Ussop refocused on the girl of his affections. "Kaya, I need you to listen to me. This is going to sound like I'm trying to trick you because of what happened earlier, but I'm not. You're in danger and I need you to come with us right now. If you don't, I don't know what's going to happen and if anything happened to you… I could never forgive myself."
"What are you talking about? What danger? You're scaring me." Kaya gave him a scared look, which broke Ussop's heart, but he kept his resolve. He would protect her no matter what.
"Do you remember when we first met and formed the Ussop Pirates? We made a promise to always look out for each other as Captain and First-Mate and trust each other above all others. I know I lie a lot and bend the truth but… but that's because the truth can be scary. It hurts. So please believe me when I tell you that Klahadore isn't who he says he is. He's been lying to everyone ever since he came here three years ago. He's really a notorious pirate named Kuro who's been plotting to steal your family fortune this entire time. He had a subordinate of his fake being him and be executed in his place to get the marines to stop hunting him. He's going to have his old pirate crew attack the village tomorrow morning and force you to write a will leaving him everything you own and then kill you," Ussop explained, betting everything on their connection as Ussop pirates.
"I… Ussop how could you… I know what he said earlier was wrong but to accuse him of such a plot… I can't believe you." Kaya couldn't accept such a lie. Klahadore, whilst a jerk at times, had been nothing but kind to her family in his debt to them. He had been taking care of her ever since… since they'd gone away. What Ussop was telling her couldn't be true.
"Kaya please! I'm not lying. I would never lie about something like this. You know that! And even if I am, all I'm asking is that you come with me until noon tomorrow and you can return here without anyone stopping you. If nothing happens you'll never have to see me again. I swear on my pride as a man! If I'm lying, I'll never bother you again Kaya, all I ask is that you come with me until then." Ussop looked at her with such intensity that she didn't know what to do.
Her heart and mind were at war. Here was the boy she'd fallen for, lodged head deep in her wall, claiming her last pillar of support was really a villain of the high seas and plotting against her. It was utterly ridiculous, but… she could see it in his eyes. He believed every word he'd said. Kaya hesitated. She'd known him since they were children. He'd told hundreds of thousands of lies and tall tales. But not once - not ever - was there fear in his eyes like there was now.
"Ussop, I-"
"Lady Kaya! Lady Kaya is everything alright? Please open the door! The entire mansion shook just now. Lady Kaya!? Lady Kaya!?" Merry and her various other servants, who were supposed to have left by now for vacation for the next few days, were pounding on her bedroom door.
"That was Klahadore's idea. He said they deserved time off instead of fussing over a party for his 3rd anniversary at the mansion. He got everyone time off and it would just be me and him… did… did he really just want me alone? Is he really who he says he is?" Kaya's mind raced as her absolute isolation in the mansion would be a convenient time for a pirate attack.
"Kaya you have to choose now. I can't prepare to fight knowing that you're here with him alone. He could just throw away his plan and-" Ussop's brain shutdown as he felt Kaya's tender lips fall on his own.
Kaya's heart was racing a mile a minute. How long had she waited to do this? Far too long it seemed as Ussop started to respond back. The two were rapidly falling into their own little world, when a voice interrupted them.
"So are we kidnapping her or not? Or should I leave you two alone? Though by the sounds of things, you're going to have company anyway." The two broke apart, blushing furiously, as they did their best to not look at Luffy who was sitting on the window sill while pointing at Kaya's bedroom door, which was being pounded on by her worried servants.
"Luffy! I… this isn't… I mean I told you we're not kidnapping her!" Ussop stammered as he tried to regain control of the situation. "I was just convincing her that she needed our protection! Right Kaya?" Ussop looked helplessly toward her.
Kaya was frozen in place as she realized her first kiss had been interrupted, her face still glowing a heavy red.
"Right. Well anyway, if you don't mind stepping back, I'll take care of this," Luffy walked up to them, instructing Kaya to step away as he suddenly grabbed Ussop by the head.
"Please don't," Ussop cried as he realized what was about to happen.
"No time." And in one swift motion the rest of Ussop's body joined them in the room.
"Ussop!" Kaya rushed up to the boy and engulfed his left arm in her embrace. "Are you alright? You're not hurt anywhere are you?"
"Did you have to pull so hard!?" Ussop complained at the rough treatment, though secretly enjoyed Kaya fussing over him. "I don't know whether to kill him or thank him."
"No. But then we'd be here all night and we need to go." Without giving the couple any warning, Luffy threw Kaya over his shoulder and Ussop under his opposing arm before quickly making it back over to the window to make his escape.
"Kya!" Kaya cried as she was easily manhandled by Luffy.
"Oi! We can get out-" Ussop was cut off as Kaya's door suddenly burst open.
"Lady Kaya! Unhand her you scum!" Kuro was standing within the door frame, a murderous glare etched across his face at the sight of Luffy about to run off with his soon to be former mistress.
"Take her back if you can! We'll find you in the morning Candelabra," Luffy taunted before a brilliant light engulfed the room with the three of them vanishing from sight as the light dispersed just as quickly as it came.
"Lady Kaya!" The rest of the servants rushed into the room, despairing over the apparent kidnapping of their mistress.
"Klahadore we must do something! Lady Kaya's in no condition to handle such a situation. We must contact the Navy Base immediately!" Merry panicked, "I'll go and round up the townspeople! Kidnapped from her own home!? What is this world coming to?"
Whilst the rest of his fellow servants panicked over Kaya's kidnapping, Kuro silently seethed. "That brat! The insolence to butt into my affairs! He will pay for this." Kuro did his best to regain his composure and emulate the made up man of Klahadore for the others, but couldn't remove the deepening scowl adorning his face. "We will not be contacting the marines nor will we round up a posse."
"But Klahadore! Every second we waste Lady Kaya could be-" Merry cut himself off, unable to voice the dark thoughts overcoming his mind.
"If they wanted to cause her harm they would've done so immediately. They obviously want something if they were willing to go to such lengths. I highly doubt any harm will befall her. I know it will be hard but return to your quarters and do your best to get a night's rest. Lady Kaya will be counting on all of us."
"But what do they want with her?" one of the maids asked, shaken.
"We'll find out in the morning." Kuro turned and left the room, adjusting his glasses as rage boiled his blood. "At least that fool Ussop has finally given me a reason to dispose of him. As for you Straw-hat, I'll take my time with you." Silently, Kuro stalked his way back to his room, and began the long wait for the sun to rise.
0o0o0 Gecko Islands - Syrup Village: Ussop Pirates HQ 0o0o0
"I can't believe you were just sleeping in the middle of nowhere!" Nami berated a still sleepy Zoro, who was yawning as he stretched his arms out away from him.
"You work out for a few hours and see how full of energy you are afterwards, Witch. Besides, from the sound of things you didn't necessarily need me now did you?" Zoro continued to stretch, wishing he could just go back to sleep, but knew Nami would just nag him if he tried. "Might just do so anyway just to annoy her."
Nami simply crossed her arms in irritation. She'd spent an hour looking for him, just to find him sleeping in the middle of nowhere.
This was the scene Luffy, Ussop, and Kaya walked in on. "Yo! We successfully kidnapped the rich girl to protect her from the evil butler!" Luffy proudly proclaimed only to be hit on the head by Nami.
"Rescue!" Nami shouted, not comfortable with doing something so pirate-ish.
"Rescue, kidnap, it's the same thing regardless." Luffy shrugged. "Now Ussop doesn't have to worry about his girlfriend tomorrow," Luffy teased, as both Ussop and Kaya shifted uncomfortably.
"She's not my girlfriend!"
"I'm not his girlfriend!"
"Right, right. Whatever you say. Well I guess we should get comfortable. Going to be a long night. Guess we should get a fire going or something. You don't have any food or anything in that shed over there do you?" Luffy pointed to the relatively small shack Ussop had built where he planned his various projects and schemes.
"Not really. I usually go home or work if I'm hungry. There's maybe a candy bar or two. Not enough to feed everyone."
"I took care of it already." Zoro stood up and opened the shack where a bear's bloody corpse fell out of it. "Bastard wouldn't leave me alone when I was training so I had to deal with him."
"Ask before you shove bloody corpses into someone's shed!" Ussop complained seeing the bloody mess falling out of his work shed.
"That'll do. You don't mind if I break some branches off that tree and start a fire do you?" Luffy was already ripping branches off before Ussop could respond.
"At least lemme answer first!"
"Um… I don't mean to be rude, but could someone explain what's going on here? I know we met before but… who are you people?" Kaya finally spoke up, trying to gauge the situation she found herself in.
"We're the Straw-hat pirates and we're trying to get dinner started!" Luffy happily responded, having almost stripped the tree bare.
"That's too much!"
"Idiot, she wants us to explain the situation with Kuro." Nami sighed at Luffy's bluntness. "I'll explain things, they'll just give you a headache otherwise. Right, after we left your mansion earlier we stumbled across your butler, Klahadore is his name I believe, and some weird guy. After listening in we learned that Klahadore used to be an infamous pirate named Kuro and that he's been plotting against your family the last three years. He got fed up with being hunted by the marines all the time so he faked his capture and sought out a rich family that he could get close to. Then, he'd become so ingrained in their lives that if they were to die it wouldn't seem odd that they left everything to him in their wills. Luckily for you, we're here." Nami winked at the poor girl who was still trying to wrap her head around the plot against her family.
"...And the weird man who met with Klahadore, who was he?"
"A hypnotist named Jango that Kuro left in charge of his old crew."
"But that means Klahadore could've been manipulated by him. This could really be this Jango's plot and Klahadore is really-"
"No. Jango was taking his orders from Kuro." Luffy cut her off, now having gathered the branches together he'd ripped off of the tree, snapping his fingers together to shoot sparks of electricity at the branches. "That much was clear when I told them not to come after you. Kuro was the one in control." It didn't take long for the branches to catch fire.
"I know it's a lot to take in. If I hadn't been there myself I would've said it was just another lie by him," Nami thumbed towards Ussop.
"Hey!"
"The real question is what do we do now?" Nami bit her thumb, as she tried to come up with a plan.
"That's obvious. We cook up that bear!" Luffy salivated as he eyed the corpse up and down.
"I meant what do we do for a plan! Kuro's crew must be at least 50 men strong if they were talking about raiding the village."
"Could be 100 men and it wouldn't mean anything. We should probably skin it first." Luffy split off, talking to Zoro.
"Aye. Oi, do you have a good knife or axe?" Zoro asked Ussop.
"You have three swords!"
"They aren't meant for skinning!"
"Could you all stop being so nonchalant about the situation at hand! There are 3 of you against at minimum 50 men! This isn't a joke. If we don't come up with a plan to keep them from getting past us the entire village is going to pay for it!" Nami yelled, primarily at Luffy and Zoro.
Luffy sighed before turning to her. "I am taking this seriously. But getting worked up over it isn't going to help either. I'm pretty sure Zoro can handle Kuro's entire crew on his own. As for me, I'll be the one making sure they don't make it to the village. So all you have to worry about is how good you and Ussop can fight."
"Excuse me?!"
"You and Ussop are going to fight Kuro's crew. It'll be good experience and let me know just how much I need to show you guys before we go to the Grand Line." Luffy did nothing to avoid the orange haired missile that tackled him to the ground and grabbed ahold of the collar of his shirt, violently shaking him.
"I am not fighting Kuro's crew!"
"But you're brave enough to attack a former commander of the Red-Hair pirates?" Nami immediately stopped shaking him as the realization set in. "If you're brave enough to attack me, knowing who and what I am, Kuro's men will be a walk in the park."
"You're different."
"Only because I don't want to hurt you. But there are plenty of pirates out there that do and I can't be there all the time to protect my crew. So we all have to become strong. Besides, the pirates in the East Blue are generally pretty weak. And I won't let anything happen to you. I'll protect you. All of you," Luffy vowed.
"We're going to have to get the two of you a room of your own once we have a ship, aren't we?" Zoro teased, after a moment of quiet had settled on the five teens.
Nami's face lit up as she realized she'd once again straddled Luffy and shot off him as quickly as possible. "Shut up."
"Is it always like this?" Kaya asked, having taken a seat on a log Ussop had rolled up close to Luffy's fire.
"Like what?" Luffy tilted his head at her.
"I… I suppose fun would be the word. I can't remember the last time I partook in a campfire. Before my parents died I'm sure. I wish it was under better circumstances, but the three of you are just so lively that fun is the only word I can think of to describe my kidnapping." Luffy couldn't help but grin at her words.
"We didn't kidnap you-"
"Shanks calls it a "saving the princess" quirk. Apparently I have a knack for it or something," Luffy cut Ussop off.
"And by Shanks, you mean the man who recruited Ussop's father?" Kaya asked innocently.
"Yeah! Luffy met my father Kaya, and get this - my dad's the greatest sharpshooter in the world for real!" Ussop excitedly proclaimed. "And he's been proud of me all this time."
"Yassop never shuts up about him," Luffy affirmed, which only made Ussop beam with more pride.
"So you're really a pirate then?"
"Sure am! Have been since I was 15."
"But aren't pirates supposed to be scary, menacing even? The local marines always tell us about the evils of pirates when I have to travel to the main island for my family's business. I just can't seem to imagine you being like that."
"Hmm? Being like that just isn't really my style. How am I supposed to enjoy life by scaring people all the time? Nah, I'd rather have a good time exploring unknown islands and finding adventure!" Luffy grinned as he thought back on his time with Shanks and the others.
"Then you're definitely the strangest pirate I've ever heard of," Kaya giggled.
"You hear that Nami!? She's heard of me!" Luffy continued to grin, turning to the navigator as she rolled her eyes.
"We get it, you're a 'famous' pirate," Nami groaned. "The infamous 'Straw-hat Luffy' oh no! It's not even that terrifying of a moniker."
"It is too!" Luffy shouted back.
"It really isn't."
"Men quake in their boots at just the mention of 'Straw-hat'!"
"Doubtful."
"They seem quite close," Kaya said quietly to Ussop, scooting closer to him and resting her head on his left shoulder.
Ussop stiffened at the sudden contact. "Er, yeah. They've been bickering since I met them this morning."
"Mmm." Kaya mumbled into his shoulder, the adrenaline from Ussop crashing into her bedroom wall finally waning.
Mustering up some courage, Ussop wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer. "I've got you Kaya. I won't let anything happen to you."
"I know." Kaya smiled lightly as her vision darkened and the world went black.
0o0o0 Gecko Islands - North Shore: The Next Morning 0o0o0
"I still think we should oil the path," Ussop complained, looking for an easy fight that could be fought at a distance.
"You'll be fine," Luffy reassured as he chomped away at the leftover bear meat from the previous night, crouched over as he surveyed the horizon line.
Ussop and Kaya stood next to the pirate, both nervous about the coming battle. After Kaya had fallen asleep, both Nami and Ussop had tried to convince Luffy to come up with any kind of a plan, but he remained adamant about facing the Black Cat pirates head on. Ussop had also tried to suggest places for Kaya to hide only for Luffy to shoot that idea down as well. "She'll be safest with us. Better she be where we can see her, than where we can't." After a night's rest and more bear meat for breakfast, Luffy ordered his crew and Kaya to follow him.
"And you're sure this is the place? Don't you think they'll come from where Kuro met that weirdo?" Ussop asked, afraid they were waiting at the wrong place.
"This'll be the spot." Luffy stood up as he saw Nami and Zoro return from repositioning their boat further down the coast.
After a minute the two had made it back up to them. "We saw them. They're coming from further North up the coast. Should be here in the next 10 minutes." Zoro reported.
Luffy grinned.
"Good."
0o0o0 Gecko Islands - Woods 0o0o0
Kuro stalked through the backwoods of the island, adjusting his glasses every now and again with his right hand, a duffel bag in his left.
"Those morons should've made landfall long before now. It must be that Strawhat again," he muttered to himself, the image of the cocky smile the boy had the night before plaguing his mind.
He had waited patiently in his room, sitting on his bed, waiting the night out. Thousands of thoughts had come and gone about what to do next. He'd considered disposing of the staff once or twice. Their simpering over their missing precious mistress had irked him. He could hear them crying all throughout the night. They'd only been spared due to the fact he really didn't want to go through the pains of hiring a new staff. He didn't spend the last few years training them all to his specifications just to have to teach newcomers all over again.
He also thought of attacking the village himself and then turning on the crew once they helped him deal with Strawhat. He didn't truly need the villagers and could walk away from a ferocious pirate attack as the lone survivor. No. Too much time and effort had gone into Klahadore for him to simply abandon everything because some brat was butting into his business. He would follow the plan to its end. As always.
When morning had finally come, it had taken a great deal of effort to convince the staff to let him deal with Kaya's kidnapping on his own. Merry had once again suggested rounding up the townsfolk and attempting to take the girl back with numbers or contact the Navy. It took mentioning the fact that the cutthroats that had taken her would likely slit her throat open if they saw a large force coming after them to get him to finally shut up.
It was 8 o'clock when he left the mansion with the promise to return with Kaya no matter the cost. It was currently 8:17 and he'd yet to come across anyone from the Black Cats. For their sake, they better all be dead or he'd remind them why he was the reason the Navy feared the Black Cat Pirates.
So Kuro continued on his path at a leisurely stroll, giving Jango and his men all the time they could possibly need to deal with a couple of kids playing pirate.
It was 8:45.
45 minutes past the agreed upon time of the raid.
45 minutes since he'd left the mansion.
45 minutes late.
45 minutes.
"To think these brats have held you back. How the Black Cat Pirates have fallen… right… Jango!?" Kuro snarled, a vein throbbing in his forehead.
Before him were the battered forms of the entire Black Cat crew, the majority of whom were clearly out for the count. Only a handful of his men were left, including Jango as well as the Nyan Brothers, Sham and Buchi.
But what truly annoyed him, pissed him off even, was that the one fighting was the orange haired girl. Not Strawhat. Not the green-haired one with the three swords. Not even that pathetic brat Ussop.
In the middle of the path the orange haired girl was clutching a bleeding shoulder, more than likely a blow from Jango, and surrounding her were the Nyan brothers, both to her sides, and Jango before her, lower down the path. At her feet was a broken wooden staff. Far off to the side but up above on the cliff was Strawhat, the swordsman, and Kaya, all of whom seemed fine. And just before him was the brat, Ussop. His clothing was disheveled and he was bleeding from his forehead. The rest of the remaining Black Cats were cowering down on the beach.
"Captain Kuro! It's good you're finally here! We can finally fight against that monster," Sham cried out upon seeing his former Captain.
"Klahadore..." Kaya had never seen such rage on her butler's face before. The recognition from one of the pirates was all she needed to know that Kuro had truly been lying to her all this time. The man Klahadore was nothing more than a figment of Kuro's demented mind.
"You said to do nothing about that Strawhat! Because of that we've been caught in this sick death game! You should've let me kill him when we had the chance!" Jango cried out.
"Death game?" Kuro shot a curious glance over toward Strawhat. "Just what are you dribbling on about? You're in no death game, Jango! Just kill the girl and proceed on to the next one until only the rich bitch is left and make her write that god damn will before I kill you myself! Are you pirates or not!?"
"You don't understand Captain! He's not natural! He has powers! We even tried to leave but he won't let us! He's using us like training dummies! We need to get out of here!" Buchi shouted, desperate to run, but smart enough not to.
Kuro observed the three men. They were terrified. And for the first time it wasn't of him, Captain Kuro of the Black Cats, the man of a thousand plans. They were legitimately scared of a teenager in a straw-hat. The same teenager that was currently grinning at him like a complete dunce.
Had the world gone insane?
"Nami, you've done enough. You too, Ussop. Zoro and I will take it from here." Strawhat ordered moving toward him, the swordsman going with him.
"It's about time! This is going to scar!" Nami complained as she carefully walked toward her Captain, mindful that the enemy pirates may attack her as she retreated. Jango had broken her tri-sectional staff and she was more or less defenseless now. It was only the reassurance that Luffy was nearby that allowed her to keep her cool. She was going to make that idiot pay for making her fight like this.
"My bad! I didn't think your staff would break. Otherwise I would've jumped in." Kuro noticed Jango flinch at that.
"Oh thank goda! I thought we were going to fight each of them on our own!" Ussop sighed in relief as he finally reached Kaya, Nami joining him.
Zoro and Luffy split apart, Zoro walking down to Jango and the Nyan Brothers while Luffy went before Kuro.
"So you want to do this mano a mano? You truly don't know who I am, do you boy?" Kuro sneered.
"I don't care, you're just another person in my way."
"In the way of what exactly? You never did state the reason you're a pirate, not that it matters, but I'm curious. Why go through all this trouble to help a rich brat you don't even know?"
"I'm the man that's going to become the next King of the Pirates, and this little betrayal of yours inconvenienced my sniper. So I'm going to beat you down." Luffy cracked his knuckles, smiling at Kuro.
"You? Your goal is to become King of the Pirates? Don't make me laugh! And how exactly do you expect to accomplish that? I may never have gone there, but the Grand Line is full of monsters that could eat me for breakfast and spit me out. And if that's what they'd do with me, a beatnik kid like you would be nothing more than a squashed ant under their boots." Kuro chuckled to himself, liking the thought of the straw-hat boy before him bloody and broken. "You wouldn't last 5 minutes in that graveyard."
"Yeah, you're right." Kuro grinned at Luffy agreeing with him.
"The Grand Line is full of monsters." Kuro's grin faltered as electricity began to arc out from the boy, striking the ground a few feet from him.
"What is this? What are you doing?"
"And unfortunately for you… I'm one of them." Kuro spun around, quickly backing up, eyes wide at the sight of Luffy standing behind him, more and more sparks arcing off of his body.
"What!? How did… what trickery is this?"
"You know I never did introduce myself. My name is Monkey D. Luffy, Captain of the Straw-hat Pirates and former commander of the Red-Hair Pirates led by the Yonko Red-Hair Shanks! And you insulted not just the 3rd Commander of the Red-Hairs, but you insulted his son. I'll give you one chance to apologize and leave with your crew." Luffy's smile grew menacingly.
"That lie again?" Kuro's brow was dripping with sweat. He wasn't sure of what he was witnessing here, but he'd be damned if he begged for forgiveness from that cur Ussop. Clearly he'd underestimated Straw-hat, but this was nothing more than a trick, despite the chill running down his spine. "Enough with the fantasies! I don't care what lies you come up with boy, there's no way that mongrel is worth anything, and I refuse to perpetuate your fantasies! You're nothing more than a passing vagabond with delusions of grandeur! I am going to enjoy shredding that smile right off your face!" A vein throbbed in Kuro's forehead as he slipped his hands into his custom made clawed gloves.
"Oh? You're going to come at me?" Luffy couldn't help but feel a bit excited at the sight of the strange gloves.
"I can't kill you without getting closer." Kuro began to shuffle his feet before disappearing from view.
All was quiet in the surrounding area, almost as if the world was holding its breath.
Bzzt bzzt bzzt
"So… instead of running away, you chose to approach me. That wasn't a smart move." Luffy grinned, looking down at the multitude of blades sticking out through his chest from his back.
Bzzt bzzt bzzt
Kuro could do nothing as his entire body was paralyzed, a current of electricity coursing through his body. Shock had literally taken him by surprise at the sight of not blood, but electricity jolting out of the boy's body as he pierced him with his bladed gloves. "What is he? This boy… is… is he a plague? A god? This isn't natural, no man should have a power like this." Fear overtook him as Luffy casually turned around, as if the blades piercing his body weren't even there.
"It's scary right?" Kuro's brow furled in confusion, at least as much as it possibly could whilst being actively electrocuted. "Meeting a real monster. I'll always remember the first time I met one myself. It was like I was being suffocated just being in his presence. It was terrifying." Luffy then stepped backwards until he was free of the blades piercing him. Instantly Kuro fell to the ground. "But you were also wrong about something."
Kuro huffed as he struggled to stand, unable to feel his legs. "Wrong… about... what?"
"They wouldn't eat you and then spit you out. They wouldn't even step on you. They would flick you away like a disgusting booger they'd just picked out of their nose. You're not worth the effort to even fight."
Rage filled Kuro's being. He instantly jumped and charged Luffy, only to stumble forward and fall back down into the dirt. "What's wrong with me!? I… I can't feel my legs!"
"I'm surprised you feel anything at all." Kuro looked up at Luffy with fear. "I keep a constant current of about 50,000 volts running through my body at all times as a… way to help me control the millions of volts that want to burst out of me every second. Something Shanks made me do to prevent me from shocking everyone I touch to death with just a second of contact. However, you plotted to kill my new friend. You insulted not just a man I admire, but owe my life to, and his son. For that, I doubled my body's constant current. You'll never be able to walk again." Luffy looked down at Kuro with a look of pity. "The sad part is that I don't even remember your name and I don't care what it is."
"YOU BASTARD!" Kuro swiped at Luffy's legs with his right arm, only for the five blades attached to his glove to harmlessly swing through with a momentary burst of electricity to once again shock the paralyzed former pirate. "GAAAAAAAH!"
Luffy continued to look down at the man for only a few seconds more before he turned away and returned to everyone else.
"Don't you walk away from me! No one walks away from me! I am Kuro of the Thousand Plans! I can't be outwitted by some random child! THIS IS NOT OVER!" Kuro was ignored. Left to thrash about on the ground, unable to move.
Luffy glanced over to where Ussop, Kaya, and Nami were.
Ussop was staring at him with both fear and admiration. It was understandable, as it's not everyday you witness someone be paralyzed. In his arms was Kaya.
Kaya had looked away, unable to bear witness to her former butler's downfall, burying her face into Ussop's shoulder.
Nami was clutching her shoulder, it was now wrapped in a bandage most likely by Kaya or Ussop, her gaze solely attached to him.
Seeing they were fine, Luffy turned his gaze toward his swordsman and the rest of the Black Cat Pirates.
Zoro was standing at the start of the path toward the beach with a bored expression, at his feet were the Nyan Brothers, both unconscious. Further behind was Jango, frozen in fear like the rest of his men.
Luffy walked past Zoro and regarded Jango, "Take whatever his name is back there and get lost."
The Black Cat Pirates were on the horizon line within five minutes.
0o0o0 Gecko Islands Two Days Later - Syrup Village: Kaya's Mansion 0o0o0
"How is your arm feeling today Miss Nami?" Nami smiled at Merry who had just walked into the parlor where the Straw-hat crew was being served lunch.
"It still hurts, but it is better. Thank you for asking."
"Think nothing of it, miss! I'm just glad it wasn't a deep cut and that Lady Kaya's physician was able to stitch it up with no issue. I'm still surprised that your injury was the worst one you lot received. Taking on so many pirates by yourselves, it must have been terrifying." Merry nodded at the two servants that came in behind him carrying trays of food, who immediately went about placing food in front of their Lady's rescuers.
Upon returning to Kaya's mansion two days ago, the servants of the house had rushed the five teens in worry. Upon questioning what had occurred with Kaya's kidnappers and where Klahadore was, Kaya explained that they had all been tricked by the missing butler and that he'd actually been a heinous pirate that had wanted to inherit her fortune. If not for Ussop and their new friends, Luffy, Nami, and Zoro, she'd have been forced to write a false will and killed by Klahadore's former pirate crew. When asked about her three friends, Nami interjected, throwing her hands over Luffy's mouth and claiming they were passing sailors looking to chart various numbers of islands that had yet to be discovered. After Kaya directed Merry to alert the Marines about the fleeing Black Cat Pirates and that Captain Kuro had been posing as a butler Kaya had offered the Straw-hats a place to stay for as long as they wished.
"It was. I still can't believe you made me fight them!" Nami glared at Luffy who was happily filling the black hole he called a stomach.
Looking up at his Navigator, Luffy grinned. "You did fine. Hell, you took more out than Ussop did, I'm actually impressed!"
"You could have taken all those guys out in a literal flash!" Nami seethed. "Instead you make Ussop and I fight them for 45 minutes!"
"And now I know where to start your training!" Luffy moved his head slightly as a knife embedded itself in the headrest of his chair. "Hey!"
"It would literally go through you!" Nami defended. "And like hell are you going to train me to do anything. Fighting shouldn't even land in the same sentence as me!"
"You saw how powerful he is, Witch." Nami's attention snapped onto Zoro. "You need to get stronger."
"Why would I need to get stronger, when our Captain is virtually a god?"
"Because strength invites challenge."
This time it was Merry who spoke.
"What do you mean?"
"I do not know where it is you plan to go, and I'm sure that you're more than simple sailors and charters. But with strength like that," Merry nodded at Luffy, "Men will seek you out. Powerful men. And much like Kla-Captain Kuro, they will try to exploit any weakness Mr. Luffy has. That includes you."
Nami slowly turned her gaze toward Luffy.
"I can't always protect you Nami. I'm strong. But I can't be everywhere. I know there are guys out there that would laugh at my powers and proceed to beat me up. It's why I'll also be training right alongside you. I still have a long way to go myself. We all do."
"I-I see."
"You did good out there Witch. Don't doubt how strong you are." Zoro took a bite out of a sandwich and went back to drinking his sake.
A silence fell over the group as the Straw-hats continued to eat.
0o0o0 Gecko Islands - Syrup Village: Ussop Pirates HQ 0o0o0
"You can't be serious!" Pepper, Carrot, and Onion all exclaimed as they stared at their Captain and First-mate.
"I am. As of today, the Ussop pirates are disbanded," Ussop solemnly told them.
It had been a long discussion between himself and Kaya about what to tell the boys about what had occurred two days ago. In the end they had decided it would be for the best if they didn't know about Kuro and the Black Cat Pirates.
"But why!? Did we do something wrong?" Carrot cried, unable to understand the decision his Captain was making.
"It's because we ran away when that Nami girl pointed us out, isn't it!? I promise we won't ever run away again Captain!" Pepper vowed as tears filled his eyes.
Onion simply cried.
"Geez, guys don't cry! It's nothing you did I promise. I couldn't have asked for a better crew!" Ussop attempted to calm them down.
"Then why?" Onion finally managed to ask.
"I made a decision. It wasn't easy to come to, but I've decided to strike out on my own. Luffy, the guy with the straw-hat, offered me a position in his crew and I took him up on his offer. I've been here too long and it's time I went out to sea, like my old man."
"But… you're our Captain! What about us and Kaya!?" Pepper yelled.
"Pepper, is that anyway to talk to your Captain?" Kaya chastised, shocking the boys. Sighing, she smiled softly at them. "I don't want the Ussop pirates to disband either. But we can't continue as the Ussop pirates if there's no Ussop now can we? Ussop has made his decision and he's going to go with the Straw-hat Pirate crew and experience all the adventures the world has to offer. In the meantime, we decided that a new Captain is needed in place of the infamous scourge of the sea, Captain Ussop!"
"Pepper," Ussop called out to the green-haired boy. "While the Ussop pirates may be disbanding, I can't help but think how boring this place will be without me to liven things up. So I'm passing the torch on to you," Ussop reached behind him and pulled out his most trusted slingshot and offered it to the bewildered boy. "Use it wisely."
"You… you want me to be Captain?" Pepper stared in awe of the slingshot before him, slowly taking it into his grasp.
"You've earned it. Form your own crew and make your own tales. Ussop Pirates!" Ussop came to attention, as did the others. "We are officially disbanded! Now go raise some hell for me would ya?"
The three boys saluted, tears in their eyes before they cried out with all their hearts. "AAAAH! Pirates are coming!" The boys took off towards the village.
Ussop couldn't stop the tears from flowing as he recalled the first time the three boys had stumbled across him and Kaya playing pirate, right here at the Ussop HQ, and asked to join them.
"They'll be alright Ussop." Kaya took his hand into hers. "They're brave warriors of the sea after all."
"I know."
0o0o0 Gecko Islands The Next Day 0o0o0
"I'd like to thank you all for being patient and staying on the island. It took a day longer to get everything prepared." Kaya bowed, Merry behind her.
Luffy, Nami, Zoro, and Ussop all stared up at the relatively small ship with a goat's head for a figurehead on it's bow.
"It's a caravel!" Nami exclaimed in glee.
"Yes, it belonged to my parents and I can think of no better reward for "kidnapping" me than this. Captain Luffy, the Going Merry is yours," Kaya offered, a smile on her face.
"Awesome! This is even better than what I was thinking of!" Luffy shouted in joy.
"This is great Kaya, I always loved sailing on the Going Merry!" Ussop reminisced about all the times Kaya and her family took him sailing.
Zoro just smirked.
"The Going Merry is a slightly older model, but I personally designed her for Lady Kaya's family!" Merry happily explained. Merry focused his attention on Luffy. "A carvel-make caravel, with lateen sails and a central stern rudder. Let me explain the running rigging! First, about the Kruger net yard adjustment-"
"No, no! Explain the ship stuff to me!" Nami interrupted, realizing Merry had the wrong idea about her Captain.
Ignoring them as Merry started to tell Nami about how to properly sail the ship, Luffy walked up to the Going Merry with a pleasant grin. "What a good ship! Especially this front, it's so cool!"
"We've loaded it with everything you might need on a voyage, and we even had the contents of the boat you arrived in moved aboard as well," Kaya explained.
"Thanks! Saved us a bit of trouble there." Luffy nodded at her.
"Luffy, let's get aboard and prep the sails!" Nami called out.
"Coming!"
Luffy, Zoro, Nami all climbed aboard and began to prepare their first true voyage.
"You're really leaving then?" Kaya asked as she stared directly at the boy that owned her heart.
"Yeah. It… just feels right. Almost like history repeating itself. Only I'm going to do something different." Ussop looked back at Kaya.
"What?"
"This." Ussop pulled Kaya to him and kissed her.
Kaya quickly melded into his embrace and kissed him back, hoping they would never part.
Eventually the need for breath overtook them and they separated.
Panting, Ussop locked eyes with her. "No matter how long it takes, no matter where I go, I promise that I'm going to come back and tell you about every adventure we go on. And every bit of it will be nothing but the truth."
Kaya couldn't help but giggle. "Of course. Or you're not Captain Ussop!"
"Oi, stop kissing your girlfriend and come aboard already!"
The two froze as they turned to look up at Luffy, Nami, and Zoro looking down at them with smiling grins.
"I told you-"
"You better take care of my boyfriend Monkey D. Luffy or I'll come after you and turn you in for your bounty!" Kaya yelled up at him.
Luffy smirked and gave Kaya a thumbs up. "I'd expect nothing less from the former First-mate of the Ussop Pirates."
Ussop stared at Kaya briefly in disbelief before shaking his head. "I have to go."
Kaya leaned into him and gave him a brief kiss. "Raise some hell for me."
o0o Meanwhile o0o
0o0o0 Orange Town: Docks - Marine Battleship 0o0o0
"Sir! We've apprehended the majority of Buggy the Clown's men and have them locked aboard in the brig!" A marine saluted the imposing form of Monkey D. Garp.
"Good, good! Go help unit 5 and keep an eye on the brat, Lieutenant. Make sure he puts his back into it!" Garp laughed as he looked out over the destroyed town. It had been a few days since a report was put out that Buggy the Clown had been uprooted out of his stronghold in Orange Town and that his men had been rounded up by the good townsfolk they had been terrorizing. As soon as word had gotten out, Garp had immediately volunteered to lend a hand. From reading the report, Buggy had been in control of the town for over a month, which was a month too long by his standards. He couldn't help the sigh as he thought about the Marine's strength in the East Blue. Now though, he could help by having his men aid in rebuilding the once lovely town.
"This Blue is supposed to be the symbol of peace and we let one of the Pirate King's apprentices take complete control of an island for a month. Granted no one knows that, but it's still unacceptable. If Sengoku would stop worrying about my grandsons, I'd maybe have time to actually improve things here rather than protect those two ungrateful ingrates!" The normally joyous man slammed his fist down on the railing of his docked warship, causing the massive vessel to rock and the numerous sailors on board and ashore, as well as the civilians of Orange Town, to look at the man warily.
"WHY CAN'T THOSE TWO MORONS JUST LISTEN TO THEIR DEAR OLD GRANDPA!"
Major Bogard could only sigh at the sight of yet another outburst from his Vice-Admiral. Twenty-seven years and Garp still acted like an overgrown man-child. "Sir! I have concluded my investigation into the incident that took place here."
"It's always pirate this and pirate that! Bah! I should've been stricter. I shoul-"
"I found your grandson sir!" Bogard interrupted the ranting Garp.
"Ace? Where? I thought he was still in the New World with Newgate." Garp snapped to attention, picking out his nose with his pinky.
"The other one sir."
"Oh! But I thought that one died." Garp finally pulled his pinky out of his nose and flicked away whatever muck he'd managed to pick out.
"The one we're here to arrest sir."
"Hmm? Luffy? I found him a while ago, Major," Garp said nonchalantly.
"No you haven't sir. We found his boat."
"I know that! What I mean is that I know where he's going."
"And that would be?"
"Where the beginning meets the end."
0o0o0 To Be Continued 0o0o0