"OI, ERIS! HURRY UP!"
"Shut up, Rubber Brain. I'm getting ready, don't disturb me and make it even longer." I snap as I pick up my satchel filled with my important stuff and put on my flowery bucket hat, posing a bit in front of the full-body mirror and looking at my growth spurt.
The most important thing is how I'm a bit taller than I was 3 years ago.
I grew up into a whopping 149 centimeters…which honestly doesn't really change at all from before I got thrown here! What the fuck!? What gives?! Where's that weird physiology of this world when I really needed it?!
Well, anyway.
Other than that, nothing else really changed. Hair is still the same cut, only this time I dyed the long side hairs with coral pink ombre. My face is still the same, just like Luffy's forever baby-face. But one thing for sure is how I lack growth on my chest but muscular on other places. No jiggly boobs, but at least I'm more muscular than Luffy.
Right now, I'm just wearing black-turquoise short sleeveless-turtleneck sport jumpsuit and a vermilion sash tied around my waist, a pair of black and coral pink instep shin guards as footwear, a pair of black fingerless demi-gaunt that extend to my elbows with metallic white guards that are shaped like eagles, a leather shoulder guard on my left for Takao's perching spot, and my treasured heart locket. My outfit doesn't really fit my hat, but whatever.
I never was a fan of footwear, so I usually just barefoot (and using Buso as 'shoes') or using instep shin guards gramps got me, but if the situation forces me to wear one, I'll get myself a pair of combat boots.
We'll be away for a long time, so I just bring things that are essential for our long adventure, including my old journals, both Phobos and Deimos, and my 'Garu' mask. I bring my stationary (especially the sharp ones for emergency weapons), a compass, a bag of money, a first-aid kit, a calendar for the logbook, and a new logbook with leather cover along. Now I'm ready for our adventure!
Grabbing a picture frame of the four of us during Luffy's 8th birthday party, I fondly look at it and trace my thumb at Sabo's before putting it along into my satchel.
As we got news about Ace's life into piracy, a certain figure from the Revolutionary Army was also slowly rising into the news. There are some pictures now, and I'm more convinced that it's Sabo. I've told Luffy about Sabo possibly surviving the attack from many years ago and that the figure is Sabo, but it's just my speculation.
Nevertheless, Luffy was super ecstatic about it as he read about the news, while also confused on why Sabo didn't come home instead. I told him about the possibility of him getting amnesia because of the attack, and while Luffy isn't happy about it, he easily accepted that and just said that if they somehow meet in these vast seas, he'll beat Sabo up so he can remember everything about them again.
Not the best method to deal with amnesia, but he got the spirit.
"Okay, I'm ready now." I exclaim out as I walk out of the room and jump down to approach Luffy and my two partners by the door.
"What took you so long?" Luffy complains impatiently and I roll my eyes.
"I'm getting ready for our long adventure. Unlike you, I have things I need to bring with me so I can write down our adventure." I tell him and his annoyance immediately disappears.
"Oh okay!" He replies and he looks at my appearance before grinning, "You look cool! I wanna wear armor too!" He says as he's definitely staring at my metallic arm guards.
"Sorry Lu, but you'll look weird if you wear mine. Maybe someday." I nonchalantly tell him as I walk past him and he openly groans unhappily.
"But I wanna wear armor!" He whines out childishly, "It's a man's dream to wear cool armors, y'know!"
"Full-body armors are heavy. I'll leave you behind if you're too slow."
"Eeeeehh…"
I just roll my eyes before turning back to the bandits inside the shack, "Are you guys sure you're not gonna see us off?" I ask them, a little disappointed that none of them will see us off.
"Yeah! C'mon, see us off too!" Luffy joins in.
"Nah, while Makino and the Mayor didn't mind, the rest of the villagers will be scared stiff if we come strolling down the mountain." One of the bandits' replies and the rest nod in agreement.
"I see. Well, thanks for everything, you guys!" Luffy exclaims out, which embarrasses the bandits a bit. "Dadan! Y'know, we hate bandits…" He starts.
"Shut your trap, brats!"
"But we like you guys!" He finishes with a wide and bright toothy smile and I join along, which makes Dadan to bawl her eyes out.
"Are you crying, old lady Dadan?" I ask teasingly.
"I'm not! Just hurry up and go you damn brats!" Dadan yells out and we all just laugh at her before we bid off to Foosha Village.
We race down the mountain as the forest wind gently blows and rustling the leaves, bidding us off and we just giggle in return. We run until we enter the village and into the dock, where Makino, the Mayor, and the rest of the villagers are waiting for us with a small rowing boat.
We greet them all as Luffy jumps onto the boat, followed by me and Flame, while Takao flies and perches on my shoulder as I lean on one of the two barrels of supplies we got from Makino. Using Kenbun, they contain apples and freshwater and I cringe a bit. I'm not a fan of apples, but at least there's food for us.
"Hey Luffy, why don't you just use my old fishing boat?" One of the villagers offers.
"Nah, we're fine with this. This is how we're gonna start out!" Luffy replies with a grin.
"What, in that little rowboat?" The villager points out in concern, "Especially with Flame on board too."
"Don't worry guys, we're gonna be okay. We're not those snotty children from ten years ago anymore after all, so we'll be fine." I assure them with a smirk, "And don't worry about Flame. He's not that fat." I add with a laugh while Flame glares at me for that.
Then Luffy turns around to face the open sea as he glances at me and we nod in sync before he brings up his fists into the air, "SABO! I HOPE YOU'RE WATCHING! WE'RE FINALLY HEADING OUT TO SEA TOO!" Luffy yells out into the sky with a big grin before looking forward and reaching for his hat as the wind picks up.
"Sabo set out first, and Ace set out second. We'll be the third, but we're not gonna let them beat us!" He exclaims, "Just you wait, Ace, Sabo! We'll catch up with you in no time!" He finishes.
"What's that, Luffy? Yelling and muttering to yourself, are you trying to cast some kind of good luck charm?" One of the villagers asks curiously.
"Nope! It's not a charm, but a challenge!" Luffy replies.
"Well, we'll be going now." I tell them with a grin.
"Take care, everyone!" Both of us exclaim out in sync before we start to row ahead and we both sense something moving under us until it emerges from the sea, revealing it to be the Lord of the Coast. I can sense that it's definitely hungry while the villagers behind us are all panicking.
"You do it, or me?" I ask Luffy as we watch the Lord calmly.
"Nah, I'll beat him." He replies and stands up, bracing an attack, "Gomu Gomu no…PISTOL!" He yells out as he delivers a hard punch to the Lord, knocking it out. We both high-fived each other, while the villagers were cheering on our accomplishment.
I sense three familiar figures from the forest nearby and I grin at that particular direction before waving to them. While the other two are waving back, the last one is seemingly embarrassed before stomping away. Geez, Dadan keeps on acting tough, and it's a little endearing and annoying at the same time.
"Alright, we're off! I'M GONNA BE THE PIRATE KING!" Luffy exclaims out and I smile at that. He sure is gonna be.
And then we keep on drifting off to nowhere as Luffy keeps on rowing. While I have a compass, I don't really know how to use it other than being a cool waypoint, so I just use Kenbun to detect the surrounding area. Flame is happily relaxing while Takao is doing the navigation with my compass.
After who knows how long, it's getting really boring just drifting along the waves.
"I'm bored." I whine out while watching the blue waves.
"Me too." Luffy agrees, with the same bored expression.
As if the sea god heeds our call, I sense something from the sea around 10 meters or so from our boat.
"Hey Luffy, I think I sensed something." I inform him as I send Deimos to check on it and close my eyes.
"Really? What is it?" He asks in anticipation.
"I see a whirlpool ahead of us." I announce calmly as I bring Deimos back and into my satchel it goes. "Let's get into the barrels. Better be safe than die stupidly after a few minutes of setting sail, right?" I tell him as I open the water barrel one and throw the contents into the sea while Luffy is literally inhaling the apples in the other one.
While both Luffy and me jump into the barrel (he insisted we both enter the same barrel so we don't lose each other), the animals take the sky route with my satchel. Inside the barrel, it's obvious that it's not for 2 teenagers with long limbs, but it's even more surprising that we both fit inside it, so I guess it's just a pretty big barrel.
Still, it's very cramped and hot.
The sea sways the barrel around, including us inside it and it's a miracle that the lid didn't open and drown us both. We stumble over each other plenty until Luffy lands on my chest, and he winces a bit.
"Why are your boobs hard?!" Luffy complains and I give him a chop in the head.
"Stop talking. You're taking all the oxygen." I tell him as I close my eyes, "Let's just sleep. We'll reach land eventually."
And he did, using my nonexistent boobs as his pillow while he snores away and I slowly join him into the dreamland, hugging onto him like a body pillow.
Eventually I woke up from continuous impacts and rolled around until we eventually stopped moving. I focus on my surroundings and it seems like we're in the kitchen of a ship, and there's our pink-haired coward slowly descending down the stairs and approaching the barrel we're in before more rolling ensues. Lord, I'm gonna be sick…
But the rolling suddenly stopped as 3 people slowly joined in with the cowardly boy, talking about the barrel he had (aka us) before the barrel got turned up. I poke Luffy and tell him to wake up, but he's still snoring away, so it's time for plan B.
"Oi Luffy, there's a mountain of meat outside this barrel." I say and back up a bit as Luffy opens his eyes and immediately launches up, breaking the lid into pieces and accidentally upper-cutting a guy at the same time.
"MEAAAAT!" He exclaims out as he starts looking around and realizing the people around us, "Eh? Who're you guys?" He asks innocently.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" The people outside, the pirates, yell back at him and I snort in amusement as I squeeze up to stand next to Luffy and I can see them bulging their eyes even more.
"Yo, sup." I greet them with a mock salute.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" They yell again, but this time directed at me.
"Me? I'm his First Mate." I reply as I thumbed at Luffy, who's picking his nose. Gross. "And he's my Captain. We're pirates." I finish with a grin as we both look down and see a knocked up man just laying on the floor.
"He'll catch a cold if he sleeps there, y'know." We comment in sync as we step out from the barrel.
"IT'S YOUR FAULT!"
And then the pirates are threatening us with their sabers by our faces. "You bastards, stop screwing around! Don't you know we're pirates?!" They yell out, but Luffy ignores them to approach Koby, asking for food while I just look at the saber.
"You shouldn't use a weapon to threaten someone, unless you're prepared to die." I tell him calmly as I reach up to the sword, imbuing Buso to my hands and just shattering it into pieces while the said pirates are taking double-takes on the now destroyed sword. "Now, what else should I crush? Maybe your family jewels?" I ask back with a sweet smile as I make grabbing motion on my hands, and they're widening their eyes as they move their hands to cover their nether area in fear.
"What are you guys doing? You shouldn't mess with Eris if you still wanna see tomorrow." Luffy comments with a pale face and 'are you an idiot?' expression.
"J-just who the hell are you?!" One of the pirates asks in fear.
"Me?" Luffy and me ask back in unison, "I'm Monkey D. Luffy"/"Name's Ryuuen A. Eris." We reply in sync with a big grin, "Nice to meet you!"
Despite our polite yet in sync answer, they all are suddenly running away in fear, screaming out while dragging their unconscious friend with them. I raise an eyebrow while fiddling on my gauntlet while Luffy is staring at the door. I guess they're just not used to meeting people that talk in sync with each other.
"Cowards."/"What's with them?" We say in sync before turning around to the pink-haired scaredy-cat behind us, who absolutely fears for our lives and possibly himself too.
"H-Hurry up and run!" Koby tells us and we glance at each other before looking back at him, "When they come back with their friends, you'll be killed!" He continues and I just let out a boisterous laugh.
"Only Death can kill me, and I'm not going down without a fight." I reply with a mischievous grin as I crack my knuckles.
"Anyway, I'm hungry." Luffy says while rubbing his grumbling stomach before he starts to walk off into the storage room. I suppose he uses Kenbun to find food, or just his good sense of smell.
"I wonder if they have valuables." I add as I snatch myself plenty of eating utensils. They looked valuable enough, but unfortunately I don't have my trusty satchel to store them, so I just take the most valuable looking ones and pocketing them.
"W-What are you doing?! How are you so calm?!" Koby is visibly panicking, and for once I'm looking down on someone considering he's somehow so short before he'll go train under Garp.
"Calm your ass, pink-hair. No one's gonna die today." I tell him as I walk past him to join Luffy, in which he grabs me and tries to pull me back while I keep on walking and dragging him along.
Inside the storage, Luffy is scarfing down a crate of fruits that looks like apples. I'm not really familiar with botany of this world, but from what I see, most of them are basically just like the fruits on Earth, but there are other ones I'm not familiar with.
"Oi Luffy, whatcha eating?" I ask and catch the one that Luffy throws over his shoulder while he keeps on eating.
"It's good! You should try it!" He replies, "It's not an apple, don't worry." He reassures me and I take a bite. Hmm, it's sweet and juicy, but it has the same crunchy texture as apples, so no.
"Kinda like an apple. Nope." I say shortly as I throw it back at him and he catches it without looking back.
"More for me!"
I watch him eating the fruits up before turning to Koby, who's still holding onto my arm and is watching Luffy in disbelief. "Not to discourage your bravery, but you need to at least take me to dinner first before being clingy." I tell him and he sputters away as he lets his grip go and starts apologizing. Cute.
"So, what's your name, Pinky?" I ask him as I sit down on the wooden flooring.
"I'm Koby. And that was pretty cool of you both, for having the bravery to fight them." Koby says as he sits down too. "I wouldn't have the bravery to even try…" He adds softly.
"And why's that?" I ask, "You afraid to die?"
"O-Of course! Who wouldn't be afraid to die?! And especially when there's Alvida-sama and her iron mace!" Koby yells and I raise my eyebrow at him while Luffy is finally finished eating the fruits.
"What, you her friend or something? Or any of those pirates that attacked us?" Luffy asks and Koby looks down for a moment, contemplating something before starting to tell us that two years ago he was about to go fishing by a boat, but somehow it got pirated by Alvida and her goons, thus sealing his fate being their new chore boy.
"So you're a dumbass, huh? Why didn't you just run?" Luffy replies.
"I-It's impossible! Impossible impossible impossible! Just imagining Alvida-sama knowing it, it freezes up my legs in fear…"
"So you're a coward then? I really don't like people like you." Luffy decides with a laugh, while Koby seems disheartened by that.
"But I guess you're right. If only I had the courage to fight those pirates like Eris-san, maybe I can do something too…" Koby continues before looking at me and Luffy, "How did you two even be inside the barrel?" He asks.
"There was a whirlpool, and the boat kinda got caught there." I reply calmly and he seems horrified by it.
"W-Whirlpool?! That should've killed you, and yet you both survived just by being inside the barrel?!"
"Yeah! I guess Luffy's dumb luck just rubs on me too, so we're alive."
"But why were you two in one in the first place?"
"I'm gonna be the Pirate King!" Luffy answers with a huge grin and Koby is definitely shocked and sweating his ass off.
"P-P-Pirate King?!"
"Yeah!"
"Are you serious?"
"I'm serious."
"So Luffy-san and Eris-san are pirates?"
"I did say it around 15 minutes ago, didn't I?" I point out.
"And your crew?"
"Just us for now; we're recruiting." I add.
And then Koby just freezes up.
Luffy is waving his hand to his face before Koby quickly stands up and starts spouting things we already knew about Pirate King and actually got the guts to tell Luffy that it's an impossible dream to be granted especially in this Great Pirate Era, which gains him a double Buso-induced hit on the head by us.
"Why did you hit me…" He mutters as he holds his head.
"Just because—" Luffy starts,
"—you're annoying." I finish before I decide to gather up supplies of food. We're going off again later, so better stock up so Luffy won't try to eat Takao or Flame, again.
Koby laughs pitifully in return, "It's okay, I'm used to it anyway." He says softly. Okay, I feel kinda bad for the anxious lad.
"It's not if it's possible or not," Luffy continues as he places his hand on his hat and takes it off to look at it, while Koby turns to look at him in surprise, "But I do it because I want to. I decided to become the Pirate King, so I don't care if I die fighting for it." He finishes before placing his hat back on his head.
"And it's not like I'm with him because I'm suicidal or anything," I continue as I tied the sack of ingredients and look at Koby, "But mostly because if I don't keep an eye on this dumbass, his luck will run out eventually, and I need to be with him when it happens so I can spare him a little bit of mine, so we can keep on going to reach that goal." I finish with a smile as I give Luffy a gentle bonk on his head.
"Anyway, I'm full now, so we should go get a boat." Luffy tells me, "Maybe they'll give us one if we ask." He adds and I roll my eyes.
"We're pirates; we don't ask for it, we steal it." I tell him with an evil smirk, but he bonks me in return.
"That doesn't sound nice. Stop it." He replies and I pout.
"Says the one that kept on dinner-dashing." I argue back.
"That's because I'm hungry and I don't have money."
"Exactly. Same reason as this one."
"I never thought of it that way before…" Koby mutters, "Do you think I can do it too?" He asks, "About not being afraid to die for your dream."
"About what?" Luffy asks back.
"Do you think that maybe even someone like me can join the Marines?"
"Marines?"
"That's right!" Koby exclaims out as he stands up and faces us with a newfound determination in his teary eyes, "It's my dream to catch bad guys! It's been my dream since my childhood! Do you think I can do it?"
"How should I know?" Luffy replies with a laugh, and I just silently smile as I haul the sack to my shoulder before looking up. Oh, she's closing in.
"No, I will do it!" Koby continues confidently, "I'm going to get out of here and stop working as a slave for Alvida-sama—No, I will catch Alvida!"
And as if on cue, the ceiling is suddenly crashing down on us, alongside with someone landing on the lower floor, making dust covering our vision and splinters to rain over us. I can feel many other people from beyond the wall behind us, readying their blades. Luffy and me glance at each other with a knowing look as I take a step to the left a bit.
"Making someone like that as your friend… Who did you say you're gonna catch, Koby?" Alvida asks as the dust slowly dissipates while Koby is shaking in his shoes, surprisingly not pissing his pants.
Alvida is one big lady with wavy hair and freckles on her cheeks, basically has the same body shape as Dadan, only Alvida is filled with more muscle mass compared to old lady Dadan. I guess using a huge iron mace as a weapon of choice will do that to you.
Luffy is watching them, not even flinching or turning to look as the blades are piercing through the wall behind us and basically caging us as Alvida looks annoyed at Koby before looking up at us and smirking.
"It looks like you're not 'Pirate Hunter' Zoro." Alvida says.
"Zoro?" Luffy echoes back curiously before turning to me, "Is he that one guy with moss as hair?" He asks and I snort loudly before hiding it with a cough.
"That sounds like him." I reply with a nod. Ah, it's been awhile since I heard about Zoro! I bet he's being tied up at that cross right now. What a dumbass.
"Koby!" Alvida calls and Koby lets out a squeak, "Who's the most beautiful woman in the seas?" She asks with a smirk.
"T-that is, o-of course, i-it's…"
Luffy then points at Alvida and turns to Koby, "Who's this fat old lady?" He asks bluntly, making the people that surround us to gape open their mouths in shock and horror.
"Don't be rude, Luffy. She's not fat. She's just huge, like Dadan." I tell him calmly.
"Oh, really? I guess so. She seems stronger than Dadan too." Luffy nods in understanding as Alvida is definitely furious.
"YOU BRATS!" Alvida yells out as she swings her mace down onto us, but we both quickly jump to the sides to dodge the attack as it crushed our previous footings. Luffy lands in front of Koby while I kick the air to exit the place by the hole above us with the food sack on my shoulder before landing on the deck, with Luffy and Koby following suit behind next to me as Alvida's men are coming at us.
Luffy and I grin as I quickly grab Koby to my shoulder and jump into the air while Luffy starts dodging and countering their attacks. Koby is both amazed and horrified when he realizes that we're floating in the air.
"Calm down unless you want me to drop you." I tell him and he immediately goes still as we watch Luffy basically just showing off his hard work of a full decade for this exact moment. "Look at him, just showing off. He better save some for me too." I comment and Koby just turns to look at me with a confused look.
"Oi, Luffy! Don't beat them all up! Save some for me too! Hujan Angin!" I exclaim out with a smirk before starting swinging my legs, releasing small projectiles of sharp winds to the men below while Luffy easily dodges all of them.
Once I'm done, I land back down on the deck and put Koby back down as I can feel both Takao and Flame flying above us before they land down on the deck next to us, scaring Koby up. I ignore him as I give the sack to Takao, "Take it away, Takao!" I tell him and he nods as he flies back up with the sack, leaving Flame behind.
"Flamey, keep an eye on Koby!" I order him and ready my stance as more men are running up to me.
"Got it, Master!"
"Buso!" Coating my fists and grabbing the blades that come at me, crushing it all in turns before I reach down to one of their crotches. Grinning at the poor lad, whose face is getting pale, I quickly grab on his balls, "Jurus Rahasia: Penghancur Anggur." and crush it.
The poor lad can't even let out a scream as he immediately crumples down and faints from the extreme pain. Others who see it immediately put their hands on their crotch and backing away as I glance at them before smirking, bringing up my hands to make grabbing motions, "Who wants to try it too?" I ask and they all immediately scatter off with a scream.
I can feel Luffy shivering and actually doing the same. "Oi Eris! Stop it! You're making me feel it too!" He yells out and I just laugh at him.
"Just focus on beating up the others." I tell him as I bring up my leg and swing it at those who are running away, letting the sharp wind projectile to get them, "Unless you want me to finish them all." I add teasingly and he frowns in return.
"Stop it! I'm the Captain! I order you to stop!" Luffy exclaims out in annoyance and I just roll my eyes at his childishness.
"Fine, fine. I'll hold back, for now." I reply with a shrug and take a side step as one guy tries to attack me with his sword. I keep on dodging as he keeps on swinging it around while screaming like an idiot. I frown at it as I start to remember Koshiro's words.
["Swords aren't just tools; they're magnificent tools that will show its greatness and will choose its own owner. Believe it or not, they all have spirits and personalities."]
I ward the sword away with a swing of my arm, letting the gauntlet clank against the sword. "Don't you dare…" I start as I clench my fist and reel back to punch his face, making him fly overboard and into the sea with a splash, "…make swords look lame." I finish with a huff, making Luffy cheer out in the background before he gets interrupted by the other pirates that are chasing him.
"Many against one is unfair you knooow!" Luffy exclaims out as he runs around with the pirates hot on his heels. I just watch them running back and forth calmly while Koby is panicking.
"Why don't you go help?!" He yells at me and I just wave my hand at him.
"He'll be fine. If he asks for it, I'll do it." I reply casually as I take a step to the side when someone attacks me from behind and I turn around to give him a palm strike to his chin, making him fly off and landing on the deck with a pain groan as I turn to watch Luffy again.
Luffy is currently letting his arm stretch as he keeps on running while his hand grabs on the mast, which scares the pirates up until Luffy stops with a mischievous grin before he stretches back to them, hitting them all like a bowling ball hitting the pins in a strike with his 'Gomu Gomu no Rocket'.
I can see Koby is dumbfounded by Luffy's stretchiness as I look around that most of the men are down already, and I dust my hands together for the job well done as I approach Luffy and we give each other high-fives.
"Just…what are you, Luffy-san and Eris-san?" Koby asks with his expression both in awe and wonder.
"Me?" Luffy echoes back as he pulls his cheek to stretch it further than normal, "I'm a rubber man." He answers with glee.
"I'm just your friendly Otherworlder pal." I answer with a grin.
"R-Rubber man and Otherworlder…?" Koby echoes back with an even more dumbfounded expression before he realizes that Alvida is standing behind him that he quickly crawls away to hide behind us, with Flame following along to heel on my side.
"You ate a Devil Fruit, didn't you?" Alvida asks Luffy as he lets his cheek go and it stretches back with a slap.
"Yeap! I ate Gomu Gomu no Mi." Luffy answers her, and then Alvida turns to me.
"And you're an Otherworlder?" She asks.
"Yeap! Nice to meet you." I replied.
"I've heard rumors about those, but I never thought that I would be seeing it myself." Alvida says before she smirks, "But you had taken this too far. Are you a pirate hunter?" She asks.
"We're pirates." Luffy and I answer in sync.
"Pirates? Hah! Just you two?"
"Well, right now there are only four of us, but Takao and Flame aren't really officially mine because they're both Eris', so I'm searching for my crew at this moment." Luffy answers before he hums, "Hmm, I guess 15 people seem enough for me, if I include Takao and Flame too." He adds and I blink in slight confusion while Alvida just laughs.
15? Not 10 people? That pretty much deviated from the canon 10 crew members that Luffy wanted, but I guess my existence here really changed things up a bit.
But still, 15 and not 13? I wonder who the other two are? Maybe one of them is our future ship(s), but who's the last one then?
Oh well, I'll think about it later in the future.
"I see, so you're a pirate too, huh?" Alvida points out, "Then I guess that makes us enemies, isn't that right?"
Luffy didn't say anything in return while Koby was shaking in his shoes behind us before he pulled our shirts to get our attention. "Lu-Luffy-san, Eris-san, let's run away." Koby tells us.
"Why?"
"Don't you see how big and scary that iron mace is? In this Blue, that person is the one of the—" He stops his words as we look at him, reading his expression as he comes into realization.
"One of the…what?" Alvida asks, urging him to continue with a smirk.
"O-One of the ugliest and fattest old lady in this Blue!" He exclaimed out loud, which shocked the rest of the pirates on their ship and made Alvida furious while Luffy was laughing out loud.
"What did you say?!"
"I-I'm going to become a marine! I will join the Marines and catch evil pirates like you!"
"Do you even know what the fuck you just said?!"
"I do! A-and I will do whatever I wanna do! I will join the Marine; I'm going to join the Marine, and catch evil pirates like you!"
"YOU DAMN BRAT!" Alvida yells out furiously as she swings her iron mace up while Koby is screaming in fear for his life.
"Well said!" Luffy and I tell him as Luffy receives the impact with his rubbery head while I take a step aside. Luffy eventually grins, "That won't work on me." He says and for some reason Alvida seems shocked by that, "Because I'm rubber" He points out again. And then Luffy wards the mace off of him with Buso coating his arm, throwing his fist real far behind us before retracting it back and delivering it to Alvida's gut, "Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"
And off she goes into the sky; so far away that not even my Kenbun can sense her presence anymore.
"Oi!" Luffy calls to the pirates on the other ship, which they all yelp in fear as a reply. "Give Koby a boat. He's going to join the Marines, so let him go." He tells him with a serious look, in which they all complied with the order immediately.
I grin at Koby and pat him on the head, "Luffy is so cool, ain't he?"
"H-he is." He agrees with a nod.
"Right?! He's super cool and shines super bright like the sun itself, and no one can even outshine him, no matter what! He's the coolest and I'm super proud of him as both my Captain and my brother!" I continue on with a big smile and puffing up my chest in pride, and I can feel Koby is seemingly dumbfounded a bit, but he stays silent anyway as I continue on. "Truly, no one is going to be Pirate King but him, and I will help him to reach his goal and dream, no matter what." I finish with a nod to myself.
"B-brother? You both are siblings?" Koby asks in surprise, "I suppose it's not really a surprise. You both are pretty similar to each other…" He nods before realizing something, "But wait! You said you're an Otherworlder, right?!"
"Yeap! But didn't change the fact that we exchanged sake cups and became brothers." I reply with a grin, "And no; it's brothers, because it's shorter and easier to say, so none of that other sibling bullshits." I quickly add when Koby opens his mouth again and he nods.
"I see. I understand."
Unfortunately, our conversation got cut because cannonballs are coming at us and almost hitting the ship we're on, making the ship rock around and making us lose stability as we grab on the railings.
"Whoops, guess this is our bad luck moment, huh?" I wonder out loud to no one in particular as I look at the Marine ships in the distance and Luffy nods in understanding before turning to Koby.
"It's a Marine ship. You can go right now if you want! We're pirates, so we're off!" Luffy tells him as he jumps overboard on to the small boat the pirates prepare for us with Flame following him along. I giggle while Koby is panicking before he accidentally tripped overboard and almost into the sea he goes.
Thankfully, Takao quickly swoops in and grabs him to put him safely on the boat as he turns back into his normal form after he puts our supplies and my satchel into the boat.
Grinning, I jumped into the boat too as the Marine shot another cannonball at the ship and cut the ropes that tied along the boat using Deimos before I let it go inside my gauntlet again as the boat freefalling into the sea below. I can feel someone on another boat and this person yelps when our boat lands harshly, splashing the water out.
We both lock eyes with each other for a moment before I pull my eyes off to actually start rowing away, while Luffy keeps his eyes locked with that certain orangette until we eventually sail away from the source of disaster.
Luffy eventually laughs when we finally manage to leave the premise safe and sound. I stretch out and let out a sigh and take out my logbook with a feather pen and ink bottle as Flame is resting beside me while Takao is perching on the yard's boat, watching our surroundings. After all of those excitements, peace returns back to the start of our journey. I kinda miss it.
Writing down in the log, both Luffy and Koby are talking more about Luffy's plan on entering the Grand Line and how he's planning to make Zoro join the crew. And of course, Koby being Koby, starts to chant that it's impossible for him to enter the Grand Line, which earns him another hit in the head by both Luffy and I.
"Calm your tits, Pinky. I've met and known Zoro years ago. He's not that bad." I tell him as I continue filling in the log, "You'll be surprised at how big of a softie he is under all of those rumors." I add with a grin.
"You've met 'Pirate Hunter' Zoro, Eris-san?"
"Yeah, we kinda met years ago. He's kinda intimidating by face, but he's pretty okay." I continue as I finish with my log and blow on it to make the ink dry faster. Kinda miss ballpoint pens instead of this archaic method of writing, but oh well! It's kinda fun.
But still, meeting Zoro again, huh? I wonder if he still remembers me after all these years…
(Posted on July 8th, 2022)
