To be on a boat in the middle of the ocean, with a sun as high on the sky as it could possibly be, and being on the said boat with two people she just meet hours ago, would be, at least, an not so pleasant experience for Zora. Surprisingly so, it was.
"Three sword style? That's so cool! You learned it on your own or someone teached you? Damn, to be so great at it you must have had one hell of a teacher." Luffy's excited voice ressounding on the boat kept things from getting monotonous.
His eyes were shining as he looked at Zora, talking about her skills. On his side Sabrine also was looking at her with curiosity and wonder in her eyes, almost like a kid looking at something amazing. Zoro just imagined she was glad to find a new crewmate that seemed to do well.
"He, of course it's cool. I had a master, but a master, but he only teached the usual ways. I had to develop Santoryuu by myself. Also, he wasn't exactly supportive of me with a sword."
She said that with a small smile of depreciation on the corner of her mouth.
"What a fucking asshole!"
"Humph, if he thought you were not capable than he wasn't a good teacher."
The greenete was caught off guard by the strong reactions of the captain and the vice-captain. The look of content of their faces had turned into a frown. It was a little weird for her, she didn't understand why they reacted in such a way to her words, but it did made her feel good.
"Doesn't matter now, I am on my own either way. Actually, I guess I am with you two now."
Hearing Zora's words Luffy and Sabrine expressions changed again. Both showed wide and welcoming smiles that swordswoman didn't mind dumbly staring at for some long moments. She didn't even notice a slightly, and not even visible, blush on her cheeks.
"Yeah, you bet you are." Noticing that Zora was slowly relaxing and letting herself in, Sabrine happily said.
"And this means that you self-learned your own style? Shishishi, no doubt you will be the best swordswoman then." Luffy said leaning on the boat and resting his head on Sabrine's lap.
The greenete's eyes went slightly wide after hearing the captain words, and soon enough a confident expression took Zora's face.
"Of course, after all you got the best of the best." She proudly, or arrogantly, said. She crossed her arms and gave them a satisfied look, with a strong smile and determinated eyes.
A small moment of silence fell upon them. Sabrine started playing with Luffy's hair and Zora laid down, grabing a bottle of sake they got from Shells Town. The people didn't hide how help they were with Morgan's demise. They basically had enough food and drinks for days. At least, that's what Zora thought for now.
"Zora, would you mind showing me your swords? I noticed that one of them seems to be of high quality."
Breaking the silence, Sabrine asked remembering the scene of Zora's fastly cutting Morgan's head from his neck. It was just a moment, but she had the opportunity to take a look at their newest crewmate swords at that moment.
"Huh, sure. Though, I only have one great sword. The other two are some random ones an old man gave me once, and I just kept them. They don't even have names." Zora explained as she took her swords out of their scabbards and passed them to Sabrine, for her and Luffy to look at.
It wasn't hard for the blondie to distinguish each one was the high quality sword from the not even named ones. It had a pure-white hilt with a circular hand-guard, the stealth was also white and the blade was straight. Sabrine could feel by touch how carefully made that sword was. Even Luffy that didn't understand much about weapons could see the quality of that katana.
Zora looked at them with appreciation that they could see the value of something she hold with just as much regard as her own life.
"It's amazing... How did you get it? And what is it's name?" Sabrine couldn't avoid her curiosity and asked as she handed the swords back to Zora. She only take a fast glance at the other two, they were not bad but paled in comparison to the white hilted one.
Seeing the amazement and curiosity on the pair eyes, Zora had a gentle expression.
"It's the Wado Ichimonji, maybe you heard about it." The grenette explained as she looked at her own katana. Both Luffy and Sabrine noticed a look of nostalgia on Zora's face.
"Is this sword a... What was that thing you told me about once Sabri?" He asked looking up to ask his girlfriend.
"A meito." The blondie simply answered impressed that Zora had her hands in such a precious sword.
"Yeah. It was something... someone important left to me..." She didn't elaborate further, and neither the captain or the vice-captain felt the need to ask her about it.
"Shishishi, whoever it is must be proud of you." Luffy said getting up and facing Zora with a bright smile. Sabrine did the same, obviously agreeing with Luffy. And Zora could only look at Luffy in wonder and at a loss of words. He was someone with a dream as crazy as hers, that had randomly recruited her. But as if fate had arranged things, and maybe it did, she just seemed to perfectly fit with them. They barely know each other for hours, however Zora felt like they already had a lot of confidence on her, and in her part she also had some confidence on them.
It was weird, but didn't mean she didn't like it.
"Enough about me. What about explaining about that weird ability that you have? A devil fruit you said, right? I thought those things were stories to make kids piss on their beds."
Luffy and Sabrine's head felt back as they loudly start to laugh, even some small tears formed in the corner of their eyes.
"Damn, I kinda forgot that those things are rare here." Luffy said scratching his head.
"Yeah, we got too used with you having it since long." Sabrine cleaned a small tear that formed in her eyes as she said that.
"Well..." Zora started, getting out some drinks and food. "You can tell me about it during dinner. With this whole lot of food I bet we can eat as much as we want."
A brightness started shining on Luffy's eyes and a small drop of sweat run from Sabrine's forehead. She wanted to stop Zora's mistake, though it was already too late.
"LET'S EAT!" Luffy said, almost jumping on the boat. Sabrine was about to say something when a small rumble came from her stomach. She was a little doubtful for some moments, but at the end simply decide to join Luffy.
...
"I AM HUNGRY!"
Supporting their heads on the side of the boat, with their bodies lazily lied on the deck of the boat. Luffy and Sabrine complained for what it was probably the tenth time at bare minimum. Luffy had the face of a sad puppy and Sabrine seemed to have lost part of her soul as her eyes aimless faced the waves of the ocean.
"SHUT UP! GODDAMMIT! WE WOULDN'T HAVE THIS PROBLEM IF YOU TWO WEREN'T SUCH FUCKING GLUTTONS!"
On the other side of that boat Zora screamed with shark like teeths and a vein popping up on her forehead. Even her eyes seemed to be at flames.
Three days had passed since they left Shells Town. At first the swordswoman was sure they would have food for some days, after all the people from the town were pretty generous with them.
The food was basically gone two days ago. Not only Luffy, but Sabrine too, looked like they simply were bottomless pits that coulde eat infinit amounts of food without changing their figures. With the captain the grenette could try to justify it, since he had powers that changed his whole body, but Sabrine had nothing and was still as well as Luffy. In the end she just decided to give up of trying to make sense of this couple.
"Sabri, how long till we get to an island?"
Luffy asked as he slowly slipped to the deck. Since he was too big to lie down cutting throught the boat, his head was on one side of it and his feet were outside of the boat.
"I don't think it will take much longer, probably some hours. Can you see something Zora?"
Mentally thanking the heavens that they shut up about their hungry, the greenette took one monocle and looked ahead. And indeed, there was something. While they still couldn't see it from wehre they were, using the monocle the grenette could tell there was the outline of an island forming on the horizon.
"Yes, there is an island there, but it's obviously hours from here."
Zora said turning back to face Luffy and Sabrine, and lied on the boat crossing her arms. As boring as it sounded she was more than ready to wait for few more hours. However, hear words made Luffy's eyes shine with antecipation and something else. While Zora just thought he was happy to finally heard about an island, the vice-captain knew what her boyfriend was planning.
"Luffy wait-" But it was already useless.
Grinning, the captain jumped from the boat, holding the back of it. His body never touched the water though, as his bottom turned into lightning and he made the boat turn into a simulation of a rocket as it went straight to the island. The forced of the wind pushed both Zora and Sabrine to the back of the boat. The two felt like they were breaking through wall after wall of solid air.
It ended as fast as it began, and the two, now free of the pressure that had fallen upon their bodies, fell with their faces turned to the deck. Luffy dematerialized and rematerialized in front of the boat, his grin didn't get any smaller.
"Shishishi, much faster right?"
He asked getting on his knees and looking inside the boat.
Sabrine sighed and then laughed.
"Fuck Luffy, next time warn us before hand."
"There are easier ways to try to kill your crewmates. You know that, right?"
Zora said getting up and rubbing the side of her forehead and a frown on her eyes.
"Hehe, sorry. But I wouldn't be so rough if I didn't knew you two couldn't handle it."
In response to his apology Sabrine laughed as hard as she could and Zora gritted her teeth with a strong blush showing on her cheeks.
"Be careful with your words captain..."
The greenette said as she got out of the boat rolling her eyes. Luffy opened his mouth, noticing his small mistake.
"Fufu, maybe you should consider your words better Lu."
The blondie said wanting to make fun of him. She hold his right shoulder and got on the top of her feet to give him a kiss on the cheeks.
"Haha, yeah, I will." He simply answered, patting his girlfriend on the head.
Zora watched their small interaction with a sense of peace. She had gotten used to them in the last three days, and she felt nice just watching the two. Her eyes crossed with Sabrine, that send her a warm smile, and then they looked to their surroundings.
They were on a port, however unlike in Shells Town, there was no fisherman, no sellers, not even civillians walking down the roads or around the port. Actually, there were only two ships in the whole port, their small boat and another one much bigger.
It resembled an actual ship as much as resembled an actual circus. A lot of it looked like a tend, and the figurehead was an elephant with a cannon ball for a trunk. The ship was all colorful, with lot of different colors throught it, the ones proeminent being red and purple. And in the main flag there was a painting with a skull with a clown like appearance.
"Anything about it Sabri?"
Luffy asked to his girlfriend and vice-captain since she was the one that did more research on the pirate crews on East Blue, and useful information for their journey in general.
"The Buggy Pirates." And she readily answered. "They are one of the most three feared pirates of East Blue, but are also the less infamous of the three. The crew's whole bounty is basically their captain's bounty, they really are not that much."
She explained with a shrug. Clearly the supposedly infamous crew wasn't worth much in her eyes.
"Ha, heard about that guy before. Always thought that if he simply painted his hair and changed his clothes he could pass as a normal clown and never be seen again by the marines. Guess he just likes the pirate life." Zora added with a sarcastic smile on her lips. "Think we would be lucky enough to grab some gold from their boat?"
She asked turning to Luffy and Sabrine that momentarily looked impressed at her.
"What?" The greenette asked raising an eyebrow.
"Shishishi, nothing. I am just glad to see you adapted to the pirate life." Luffy clarified putting his hands behind and giving Zora a big smile.
"It's good to see you don't do things for half. However, Buggy is know for his greed, so I doubt he would let anything of value unprotected." Sabrine said, impressing the swordswoman with her knowledge about those pirates. She truly was the brain of the crew.
"Let me see if I find something." Luffy spoke and turned into a lightning bolt that went into the ship.
"Does he do that a lot?" Before Zora had finished her question the captain was already back, surprising her.
"Sometimes." Sabrine said amused by the swordswoman reaction.
"You were right Sabri, there was nothing of value there."
Luffy said getting to Sabrine's side looking a little disappointed. It was her time to pat him on the head, even if she had to get on the top of her feet.
"Seeing how lively the town is, I don't think we will have a hard time finding him and his treasure either way." Zora pointed out, making them realize how weirdly silent the town was. Not a noise of people, not even animals could be heard from it.
"It's unusual for a pirate to take a whole island as their territory, especially in the East Blue, but not impossible. Either way, it won't be for long, right captain?"
Hearing the blondie's question an expression of anticipation formed on Luffy's face. Zora also showed a similar expression, after all it would be great to fight after days of nothing happening.
"And to have our first oficial confront to be against Shanks old crewmate. Shishishi, this will be fun." Luffy declared as he started to go down the street, being followed by his two crewmates.
...
A few moments back, when Luffy used his powers to make them arrive at the island faster, it made the sound of thunder, as well as a big light that made it even more believable that it was actual thunder, scaring those that heard it. Especially because nothing pointed out to a storm.
In the rooftop of one of the houses in the town in front of the main plaza, there were two women hinding behind a chimney.
'A thunder? But I am sure the weather is stable and there won't be raining anytime soon.' A red-haired woman thought to herself as she put her left arm up, feeling the wind and making sure there was no actual risk of rain. She used as clothing a jean shorts that went until her knees a white shirt with some few blue stripes on it and brown boots. Her hair had a short cut, making her brown eyes stand out even more. If someone looked deep enough into her eyes they would see not the look of a normal young woman, but of someone that fought and survive countless hardships, however, that still had a sense of despair encrusted on her.
But besides that what called people's attention wasn't her surreal beauty, but her mechanical and rustic right arm, that was paradoxically an impressive and amateurish work. And she also carried on her back an axe that would probably be a little bigger than half of her size.
"Nami, what was that? Didn't you say today would be sunny all day?" At the red-haired side came the question from another woman.
This one also had a short cut to her hair, that was of purple color. She only had a dark pants, a white shirt and simple dark boots. In her hands she carried an empty bag and in her waist was a pistol and a knife. She made her question and looked at her partner with her blue eyes, waiting for an answer.
"I don't know. There is literally no sign that will rain! And the weather isn't favourable for a thunder to happen, so I have no idea what is going on."
The purplenette thought of what her partner said for some few moments, than she remembered an old rumor she heard once and tensed.
"Hey, Nami." She called, poking her partner.
"What?" Seeing the purple haired expression, Nami didn't have the best expectations to what she would say.
"I don't know if it's true, but I heard a rumor, and as much as I don't believe it-"
"Say at once Carina!"
Nami interrupted her partner, trying to make her go straight to her point. Carina rolled her eyes before saying.
"You are too impatient you know?" In response the red-haired looked at her with annoyed eyes. "Ok! Is just that... some people say Buggy ate one of those devil fruits. So, you think this was something he made happen?"
Carina explained then gulped. As much as she didn't want to believe on this possibility, after all she didn't even believe on those said devil fruits. But as a professional thief she had to consider all the factors that could affect them.
Nami's eyes went wide and she even paled a little. A pirate that could control thunder? Even if it sounded stupid and out of possibility for her, it would explain the weird and random thunder that just happened. And she also heard some rumors about Buggy having a devil fruit, but never paid attention to them.
"We shouldn't believe in those stories to scare children, you know?" In the end that was the red-haired answer. Carina sighed, she understood Nami's point and agreed with her, however they had to reconsider their plans.
"You still want to try to steal them now?" Carina asked to her partner with a raised eyebrow.
Nami bit her lower lip in thought. She didn't believe in tales to scare children that devil fruits were, at least for her, but she had to admit something weird happened, and Carina bringing up those rumors about Buggy made her unsure.
"Maybe we should go hide for sometime and observe the pirates to see if something changes."
Both felt this was the best route they could take for now, they even felt a little stupid for being scared of stories for children, but felt this was the safest approach. Also, even if their fears proved to be pointless, it was not a bad thing to take more time to consider their plan and learn about Buggy's crew to make their assault easier.
Ironically however, their targets, the ones that supposedly could have powers only made up to scare children, were even more scared that the said children. In a large plaza with one big tent in the middle, some tables and chairs, there was a bunch of men that looked like they just ended their circus presentation.
"The fuck was that?"
The question came from a man behind his chair. He had a slim built and blue messed hair. His face was covered in make up, with crossbones going down his face forming an X, as well as two blue lines near both of his eyes. He also made use of red lipstick.
His clothing was composed of green pants, white and red shirt with a fabric os darker green around it, and a red cape on his back. He also had a pirate had with his Jolly Roger on it, but at the moment it was on the floor at his side.
That scared man was one of the most three feared pirates of the East Blue, captain Buggy.
"It might start raining soon captain, we should probably raise our tents."
Those words came from a tall and slim man that had the left half of his face covered by his dark green hair, with the other half having shaved strips with light green. He wore a large blue and white checkered scarf, covering part of his face, a sleeveless brown coat that went until his knees. His pants were white and large, held up by a light blue sash, and on his feet he used white shoes.
The man however wasn't standing normally, he was sitting on a monocycle, moving back and forth on it. He made his observation while looking at the sky, thinking it was a little weird that the day looked so sunny, but he only assumed the weather would change soon and didn't put much thought into it.
"Calm down Richie, is just a little rain that is coming."
Next to the captain and to the man on the monocycle a third man, one that had white hair, as well as white fur covering the area of his chest. He used blue pants with a black sash and white shoes that resembled animal fur.
He was speaking with a lion that cowardly tried to hide his face with his paws, trembling because of the thunder.
Everyone else looked at the scene with a drop of sweat running through their foreheads.
"Mohji, Cabaji!" Buggy called, and respectively the one near the lion and the one in the monocycle went near the captain, that got his hat back on his head and sit on his chair again.
"Say it captain."
"What are your orders?"
Mohji and Cabaji said, only waiting for Buggy to pass his orders.
"The rain will probably start soon, so I want you two to take some men and look in town for food, drinks and money. And after you come back it's party time for us!"
Buggy finished saying, raising from his chair and punching up with his fists, his men also doing the same and screaming, excited with the promised party.
"Let this with us captain!"
They both said at the same time and moved to follow their orders. Mohji went to his lion Richi, getting up on him and making he move as Cabaji had already went out with some underlings after him.
...
"I still can't believe you know an Emperor. And right the one that rivals Dracule Mihawk!"
As they went down the empty streets of what they discovered to be a town by the name of Oranges Town, Zora spoke some of her thoughts to Luffy and Sabrine.
"Shishishi, it's a nice coincidence, no? We both need to take them down eventually either way." Luffy said smiling, casually talking about taking down an Emperor and his rival.
"We could even say it was destiny." Sabrine said half joking and half serious.
Zora had to contemplate for some seconds, maybe it was truly destiny. As far as she know, Morgan could have killed her and at the state she was in, not even herself believed she would have been able to fight back. After all, how could she when she had no swords or was tied?
Not only they saved her life, Luffy was someone with a dream as big as hers, and even indirectly related to her own goal. Maybe meeting them truly was destiny. She only knew that she had no regrets and that found certain confort on this new formed crew.
"Can you feel someone Luffy?"
Sabrine asked looking up to see her boyfriend's face. She was holding his left hand since Zora was walking on his right side. The greenette raised an eyebrow hearing that question but waited a little to question.
"Some few people, Buggy's crew I guess. Though there are some far from others, maybe they are people from this town."
From the swordswoman perspective her captain's words as he looked around in the street seemed like he just mumbling or coming with something up. If it wasn't for the confidence he spoke with she would assume he was inventing that at spot.
"How you know this?"
Zora assumed it had something to do with his powers, she only had no idea of what.
"Ya know, is that thing of electricity that's in through peoples bodies. I get that."
"What?" Luffy's explanation made Zora more confused than actually helped in anything.
"Hahahahahahaha." Seeing Luffy's attempts and Zora's reaction, Sabrine had to laugh, before giving a proper explanation. "It's actually pretty simple Zora. Our nerve system runs through electricity, Luffy can feel that electricity and sense where other people are."
The greenette went from confused to surprised, with widened eyes and an open mouth, an expression she was getting used to for the last few days.
"Fuck, you are broken." Was the only thing she could say after that.
"Shishishi, I heard that a lot." Luffy didn't even try to hide the pride on his voice as he said that.
Zora rolled her eyes but laughed at his attitude, and so did Sabrine. They went down even more on the streets, with Luffy being able to tell where people they didn't need to worry about being found easily.
The silent of the streets however soon came to an end since, in the distance, they could hear loud noises of pirates screaming with each other and breaking into houses. The three looked into each others eyes and silently decided on not interfering, they would only move on to find Buggy for their own interests, both on his treasure and to meet Red-Haired Shanks old crewmate.
At the same time Nami and Carina settled down on a house in front of a still well mantained store. They also heard the pirates commotion and took a glance at it through a window, though they couldn't see much from where they were.
"They sure like to do a mess? How long they've been settled on this town? And only now they are ransacking it? Buggy's management must suck."
The purplenette commented sarcastically. She had her back to the walls and was with a glass of wine in her right hand, wine that obviously wasn't originally hers. Not that she minded acting like the pirates.
"Tsc, of course they are too fucking dumb! They work for a goddamn clown! They are just a bunch of fuckers."
Finishing her rant the red-haired also took a drank of the wine, trying to ease her frustrations and annoyance.
"It's hard to take you serious when you are basically making almost the same as them."
Carina said playing with the glass of wine on her hands. She knew about Nami's rage, and had ideas for the reason of it, but personally she didn't see much of a diference themselves and those pirates.
"Shut up. That's not the same, and you know it. We are... just taking some wine, those motherfuckers are invading houses and taking what could be someone's whole income. They destroy inocent lives without blinking... we... I am not like this."
She looked to Carina with a fierce glaze, challenging her to say otherwise. The younger thief only sighed and didn't reply knowing discussing this further would have no results. Especially now they were still in middle of their work.
"Either way, now they have less people on the plaza so is our best chance to-"
Before Nami could finish there was a loud noise of glass, stone and wooden breaking, followed by muffled screams.
Alarmed the two went to the window and got the full view of what was happening. In front of the house they were in the store was broken into, the remains of it's showcase now on the floor, as well as other things they couldn't indentify now.
There were some underlings around the store, some of them were holding down an old man but most of them were only watching. They were all around the store and in the middle it was a man sitting on a lion, said lion being the one responsible for the destruction.
At the side of the lion a small and injured dog lied on the floor. Nami and Carina could hear his desperate barks in attempt to stop the lion, even if it was more than clear that it was impossible for him.
"These fuckers don't forgive not even animals and old people."
Nami said with gritted teeth. It only took Carina a glance at her to know what she was thinking.
"Nami wait! Do you really wanna warn them of our presence to save a dog and an old guy you don't know?"
The puplenette asked seriously looking at Nami and holding her mechanical arm. It was rough to hold and cold. She never learned how Nami lost her arm, though she had her ideas, and she generally wouldn't bother when the red-haired decide to trash some pirates around, but now...
"This was the first we put ourselves into the risk of going against one of the major crews of this blue. Do you really wanna take this risk?"
She saw as Nami gritted her teeth and looked once more through the window. Carina new that look.
"Sorry."
She said that lightly pushing Carina's arm, grabing her axe and getting down the stairs of the house. And the purplenette's reaction was just a tired sigh.
"Fuck Nami."
Loading her pistol she complained as she went after her partner.
"STOP!"
The old man on the ground, being holded by other pirates, screamed. Even if he knew it was mostly in vain, he tried to appeal to those pirates. He had a curling gray hair, distinctly bunched atop his head and down both sides of his neck. He wore a simple yellow shirt with thin brown lines, a dark short and sandals. His glasses were now on the floor besides him, with a crack on the right len. He had small injuries covering his body, but the man himself didn't see to mind them.
"Hey, hey, you can't complain. My Richie here only wanted a meal, why get so worked up because of such a small matter?"
Mohji said with a expression of scorn and a despicable smile. The dog near them, that was still barking had tears in his eyes as everything he worked so hard to protect was now gone in the blink of an eye.
He wondered if his owner would be disappointed. After all he was trusted to take care of the store, but he couldn't do it.
As the lion devoured what was once the food the little dog tried so hard to protect, two things happened at the same time.
Nami opened the door of the house she was in, already bringing her axe down, making a big and deep cut on the back of one pirate. Carina, behind her, aimed and shoot, getting a second pirate on the shoulder.
Besides the two of them, Luffy, Sabrine and Zora also appeared at the beginning of that street, seeing that whole scene playing out.
"What do you wanna do Lu?"
Sabrine asked to Luffy and Zora also looked at him, waiting for the captain's order.
It wasn't hard for them to understand what was going on. A bunch of people with similar clothing and make up attacking a place was probably a scene that happened through all whole the town right now. It only happened that this one had people on it. Though, the two girls didn't seem to be from there.
"I don't really feel like ignoring something happening in front of me."
It was everything he said to them. Sabrine and Zora nodded and took a step ahead.
"Let it with us then."
The blondie said pushing the steel pipe from her back walking to the battle. Zora watched her with interest, since she meet Luffy and Sabrine she've been wondering about the strenght of the vice-captain. She only had a feeling that Sabrine wasn't any weaker than her, and it was finally time to now.
And the Buggy's pirates had no time to react, suddenly being attacked by two different sides.
Some drops of blood splashed on Nami's mechanical arm, shirt and face. The agonized scream of the pirate only motivated her, and followed by her attack she kicked his back, throwing him to one of his crewmates next to him.
Followed by the gunshot they were even more lost. The one that Nami sent her first victim too instinctively got his crewmate as if he was hugging him. When he put his hands on the injured one's back, he only felt the blood dripping and a deep cut that went until the bones.
He felt a deep sense of fear and a chill pass through his whole body. The next thing he saw as an axe going down in his face.
The sound of the skull breaking, the blood dripping from it or the rest of pieces of the brain that felt on the floor once the pirate fell, none of that seemed to bother Nami. Though her trembling leg and slightly more pale face might say otherwise.
Carina seemed to care even less as she fastly shoot any pirates she could. There wasn't much of them, a little more than ten, and they were falling fast.
Zora and Sabrine wouldn't take their time and nothing either. With Wado Ichimonji between her teeth and her non-named swords in her hands the greenette wasted no moves to bring Buggy's underlings down. One swing of her sword and she made a cut into the neck of one pirate, making a gush of blood spill from there.
They were disorientated and confused, for the four women they looked like simple sheeps waiting to be slaughtered.
And Sabrine wasted even less time with the fight. Taking full advantage of the fact that both the lion and the man on top of him were completely stunned by the weird development things took, she went straight to attack them.
Firmly holding her steel pipe, she brought it down on Richie's front right knee. The piece of metal connected to the knee making it bend like it was just a thin piece of wood.
Mohji felt the balance of the lion destabilizing and heard a cry of pain coming from Richie. Even so he could do nothing was Sabrine's second attack was aimed to his head. Buggy's right hand man went flying into a wall, the impact pinning his body into it as he coughed blood because of the injuries that he got just from that.
At this point all the other pirates were already either dead, or injured enough to die soon.
"Are you okay uncle?"
Luffy asked helping the old man to get up and giving him his glasses.
"W-who, who are you?"
In complete shock because of the scenes he just witnessed, that was the only thing he could ask.
"Are you a bounty hunter?"
It wasn't only the old man that had questions, Nami and Carina approached Luffy and Zora, with the red-haired asking looking at them. She had the impression that the green-haired reminded her of someone, though she couldn't spot who.
"No, Monkey D. Luffy, the Future Pirate King."
He said with no hesitation and showing them a big smile. While the old man got even more dumbfounded, Nami frowned and raised her axe, pointing it to Luffy. Zora also frowned a little and was about to take a move when Luffy hold her on the shoulder.
"So you are a pirate." She affirmed with clear rage and a rooted hate on her voice.
While Luffy still didn't see to react, Zora was clearly not pleased with the red-haired attitude. And the purplenette saw with how much easy seh trashed those pirates, so she was not willing to let her partner enrage these people.
"Nami, these people helped us, so you don't need to act like that." Carina said putting on a weak smile and holding on her friend's shoulder. "And if you didn't notice, I am pretty sure that's Roronoa Zora, so I wouldn't try to piss her off if I was you."
The axe user eyes went wide and she took one more look to Zora, wondering if she really was the famous pirate huntress. Since Carina was more knowledgeable on these regards she would trust her judgement.
"Ok..." She simply said, putting her axe back on her back.
Seeing that she gave up for now Zora also put her swords on their scabbards and took a glance at Sabrine.
The blondie, using one arm, was holding Richie like he was a little puppy. Zora gulped at that, she wasn't exactly surprised but to say it wasn't amazing to see her vice-captain carrying a lion around like it was nothing would be a lie.
Nami and Carina however were shocked. The red-haired even sweated cold a little, mentally thanking Carina for stopping her.
"Shishishi, Sabri is amazing, isn't she?"
Luffy couldn't hide his pride seeing their reactions, laughing seeing as Zora slightly nodded her head. Now she was sure that she joined a couple of monsters.
"You know, I don't feel like killing animals, so go sleep a little." After saying this she simply throws him in the ground, making a small crater, with the lion coughing some blood and going uncounscious. He probably had some broken bones, but was not dead, and it was in a much better situation that most of the pirates still alive, though not for long.
After that she took a look at Mohji, that was still struggling to get out of the wall and then looked at Luffy, waiting to see his decision.
She wouldn't need to, as Nami took her axe once again and throwed at the pirate, hitting it on his chest. The blade of the axe penetrated the flesh like it was butter, a large amount of blood went down his chest and mouth as his eyes shined with despair. He briefly struggled more to get out of there, in vain, as a few seconds later, he was already done for.
"Well, that solves that." Luffy remarked, not seeming to mind the white-haired man's death.
The old man however turned his face around and started to throw up. The dark-haired looked at him with some sympathy and then looked at the injured dog on the floor.
"Let's took care of him first." He said, obviously referring to the dog. Nami had no complains to it, even if it came from a pirate.
"Is there anyone else coming here Luffy?" Sabrine asked when she got to his side.
Carina and Nami looked at each other not understanding the question.
"I think all of those that are not on the plaza are coming here, you all made a bunch of noise after all."
He said that with a calm expression and seeming to be looking at something beyond those houses.
"How long till they get here?" Zora asked with her hands already on the hilt of her swords.
"Seconds, barely a minute, it's not a big town, and they were not far." The captain answered stretching his arms, warming up.
"Wait, what do you mean? Are you serious?"
Not believing or understanding their conversation Carina interrupted, doubting if they were actually serious. At her side Nami had a raised eyebrow, clearly thinking the same as her partner.
Zora looked at them with an understanding gaze, Sabrine had an expression of antecipation and Luffy was laughing.
Just as Luffy had said, in a few seconds they were surrounded by pirates, probably around thirty of them. While Sabrine and Zora looked around with no interest, Nami and Carina tensed, the red-haired even cursed that she had throw her axe.
"Now it's with me."
When they saw the bodies of their dead crewmates the other pirates got enraged and moved to get their revenge. In one fast movement Luffy created a ring of lightning with the tip of his index finger, and ignoring the widened and schocked expressions of Nami and Carina, and made a motion with his fingers.
The ring of electricity grow, ignoring those around Luffy but passing through each one of the raging pirates. Cabaji, and some others, had swords and guns on their hands, so when the energy passed through their bodies and went in contact with the metalic objects on them, amplifying the energy.
What was only enough to bring them down, because of the amplification, would be able to kill. In a domino effect some of them started to fall, with the ones behind or at the front also being affected. Some other had their bodies paralyzed because of the amplified electricity and had their muscles spasming, nerve system and internal organs being damaged.
In seconds, and barely doing anything, the majority of Buggy's crew was on the floor, some simply uncounscious, others dead with muscles still suffering from spasms.
Looking around with a neutral face, Luffy suddenly heard a muffled noise, and looked behind to see Nami and Carina looking at him with nothing but shock.
"W-w-what are you?" Was all Nami could ask in her state.
"Shishishi, I already said it, the future pirate king."
...
After calming down they helped the old man, Boodle as they soon discovered and also learned that he was the mayor. And Sabrine also did the best that she could to treat the little dog.
Boodle told them what happened, the story of Chouchou, that because of a promissed with his already long dead owner tried his best to protect the store. However, they all already knew how this ended.
While Nami said nothing, after all she was still shocked by Luffy's demonstration, when she heard that story her gaze told everything needed. Carina could only bitter smile at the trio, thanking that they didn't seem to care about the red-haired's reaction.
"So devil fruits are true. I feel kinda dumb that I thought it was Buggy's power now."
Trying to ease the tension Carina joked after hearing Luffy's explanation of his powers and where they came from.
Nami said nothing about it, though she now understood why it didn't feel like it was going to rain, because it really wasn't. At the moment she was in the corner of the store cleaning the bits of blood from her mechanical arm.
"I must have scared everyone them. Back in Foosha they used to tell me I used to scare everyone with my powers, but I never paid much attention to it."
Sitting on a chair in front of Carina, Luffy answered as he finished eating a plate made by Boodle. However even if he had finally satisfied his hunger, he only carried a serious look.
In the middle of the store was Sabrine and Boodle, taking care of Chouchou. The small dog was covered in fabrics, they used everything they could from the store to help him.
"That's everything that I can do for him. Sorry, I am no veterinary or doctor, so I couldn't be of much help."
Finally finishing the treatmeant on the poor dog, Sabrine apologized, believing she was not of much help.
"Don't say that! You... I don't even know how to thank you for your help..."
The mayor however thought the complete opposite of her, and had tears on his eyes. They lost a lot, but at least Chouchou would be ok.
Nami was completely divided with that. At first when she heard Luffy's declaration she just assumed they were lowly pirates trying to take advantage of the situation. However, now they not only helped the mayor but one of her hated pirates treated the injured dog. Or they really the same type of people was Buggy or... Arlong? If not, then why they even call themselves pirates?
As her mind was in complete confusion Carina only sighed, knowing exactly what was passing through Nami's mind.
'Maybe now she will see that now we are not so for from them.' The purplenette thought to herself.
Sabrine got to the captain's side, and looked at him waiting for his next decision. Zora at his side did the same, and even Carina and Nami did so. The two never forgot their goal here, and if they could use of the help with such a monstruous power they had no reason to not too. Maybe the purplenette was even considering something a little furhter than their current situation.
After a few moments of silence, Luffy made his decision.
"I wanted to take a look at Shanks old crewmate either way. And if he is doing that much of a mess..." He looked at the injuried and uncounscious dog and at the crying mayor. The old man reminded him of the old Wood Slap, and that's all he needed to sympathize with him. "Maybe I should do a favor for Shanks and clean it. Let's go."
I am glad I could follow what I said about posting this fic once 15 days(though, take that as an aim more than an actual promise, I might not be able to always keep it). And I decided to split Orange Town arc in two chapters because this one was already big enoug for me, and I think I ended in a decent way. What do you guys think Carina's addition? At first she may look like to be basically Nami, but as the fic go I plan on making more distinctions between them. Also, Nami was more ooc because, as I imagine a lot of you noticed, I took a lot of inspiration from her early design from Oda, so yeah, one arm less and carrying an axe around makes her more violent. Next chapter I will wrap this arc next chapter, and might have another surprise there.
Reviews:
green2008: To be honest, I didn't thought of this possibility. Well, whatever.
Levibr: Thanks, it's always good to know I got people's er- I mean, attention, with what I wrote.
