Be Careful About Who Sees What Where

by Tatrin

"When my old Captain found One Piece," Shanks grinned, "Roger had arrived to this place with just his crew. The armies of marines trying to prevent his going to Raftel were eliminated before Roger reached Raftel currents. Luffy though, heheheh." In which the top dogs of the pirates, marines, revolutionaries and the princesses are going to witness Straw Hat Crew's Journey! (CaDiv)

2. Befriending Marines (Zoro's Arc)

Be Careful about Who Sees What Where

Tatrin

Shanks had experienced this phenomenon with his late Captain before, so he didn't flinch in surprise when what the Roger pirates assumed as 'preparations' were made so they can watch the man who declared he'd be the pirate king to an Emperor's face when he was just a six-year-old kid. You might expect couches and a giant screen, but what happened was the creepy sensation of being pushed by an invisible force, so all twenty-two people present stood upright upon some sort of surface – however invisible.

The fluorescent bulbs of colour started to blend together until there was nothing but an expanse of blue. Clear blue sky, calm blue ocean—

And a giant whirlpool right underneath them.

More than half of them—which were Devil Fruit users—scrambled haphazardly or were impolite and panicked enough to jump on top of the biggest person there, Shirahoshi. Their mad scramble accompanied by Carue and Dugong's wails were done while they were temporarily blinded by ephemeral bright blue light as Marco promptly shifted into his phoenix form. Dragon lifted both Sabo and Ivankov with his wind, while his father and his apprentice automatically spread their hands and prepared to paddle.

Shanks laughed at them.

None splashed. Come to think of it, Shirahoshi couldn't even feel the ocean nor the whirlpool tugging her – not that it would even be able to drown a mermaid of her size.

The almost 49-year-old Sweet Commander was the first to be brave enough to copy the Red Emperor. With confidence he probably actually have inside his bones, he "stood" on top of the seawater. "Is this a dream?"

"Nope!" Shanks answered. "We're viewing Luffy's pirate life. Kind of like, being inside a memory? We can't affect anything here, and none can affect us either."

Sengoku jumped from Shirahoshi's massive tail too and grumped when his feet made contact with a mysterious, solid surface. "An amazing effect, I say."

The rest could agree. It was weird to see the ocean's calm waves beneath their feet while feeling as if they were standing on a floor. Quite disconcerting for the twelve Devil Fruit users among the group.

Shanks walked nearer to the centre of the whirlpool. It looked as if all but Shirahoshi were separated from touching the floor by an invisible glass. It was spiralling down, and the centre was pitch black. The sound it made was deafening, but the ocean around it was calm. Like... "This must be East Blue," Shanks concluded. Easily enough. It's what was expected after all. "Still, strange to see such a whirlpool in the calmest ocean of the Four Blues."

"I thought we'd be seeing Mugiwara-ya, here."

"Yes," Vivi looked around, not too anxiously. "There is nothing but a whirlpool and a barrel here—" Carue quacked loudly at her and manoeuvred her body to turn to a direction. "Oh, look, a ship!"

"A...cruise ship," Carrot tentatively observed. There were barely, if any, cruise ships in New World. The oceans of the second half of Grand Line were way too chaotic for a simple passenger ship. "Right?" The musketeer got a nod from Rebecca.

The cruise ship was sailing peacefully along the sea.

None really had any idea of what to do so they mostly just watched the barrel bobbing away from the whirlpool towards it.

The barrel bumped against the ship, and a few deckhands heard it. They caught the barrel and began to open it, believing it to be filled with rum. But before they could, a scream came from the crow's nest, and the cruise ship was being pelted by cannon shots.

Turning their heads, their eyes jutted out of their sockets.

The attacking ship which was sneaking out from the cover provided by a nearby island was coated in bright pink. Each of its four sails was decorated with pink hearts, and the figurehead was a straight-crafted swan. The ship looked no different than a toy given to a child. It looked like it was inspired by one of the little toy ship mass-produced to teach little kids about how 'yes, bad pirates can not only be men but also women' in schools.

"I pity that ship's crew," Sabo commented, sweating.

"It's cute!" Carrot defended. But then her ears deflated. "Um, maybe too cute."

The cannons forced the deckhands to abandon the barrel and assist the others in defending. They were gunned down pretty quickly by a tall noirette in a cowgirl hat with a large red plume. She barked at her crew to pillage anything valuable in the cruise ship. Y'know, normal stuff, except for—

"Who's the most beautiful woman in the world?" The woman asked.

"You are, Lady Alvida!"

"That's right! Get to work faster, you wankers!"

Garp was getting more irritated. He thought they were going to see his cute and dangerous grandson! Why the hell are they being shown some pirate doing a normal raid?

Right before he was going to manifest his ire by growling, their surroundings slowly blurred. It gained visibility soon after, and they were now on top of a wooden ship. Some stood. The giant mermaid was definitely outside and had to view the cabin interior through the small, heart-shaped windows on the sides of the ship. The freakishly tall ones like Katakuri and Ivankov? Only their upper bodies were visible.

Emporio Ivankov and Charlotte Katakuri looked down to see nothing but wooden floorboards. Their ankles disappeared under it. Katakuri moved his legs, and found he could easily move through the boards and take 'steps' to come to a higher position. Disconcerting, but nothing jarring for a person who lived in Totto Land.

"Oi, weakling!" Someone yelled.

The only reason said man wasn't impaled for his obtuseness was because he was clearly addressing the pink-haired teenage boy in the middle of the room.

Also, cause we can't actually affect anything here, Shanks thought.

The boy looked like he had been inspecting the wooden barrel – What's with the fucking barrel? – and he also resembled Commander Coby. If he had a bowl hair cut and glasses completing his much less muscled body.

"That your younger brother or you?" Yasopp asked, even though everyone knew the answer already.

"That was me."

"You look so... chubby!" Shirahoshi voiced her opinion. And it was true, especially with the huge, round glasses perched on his nose. The boy's body language was extremely timid, like he was expecting someone to jump him at any second. Which, well, he just was. Garp's training clearly changed him. "You are very different now, marine-san."

"This has got to be that Alvida's ship? Why was a marine like you here with these pirates?" Marco asked.

"I wasn't always a marine, Phoenix-san," Coby replied.

"So, Luffy-senpai met you this far back," Bartolomeo said, glancing between Coby and... memory-Coby.

The pirates laughed openly at Coby's face. "We'd be a decade older by the time you're lightening the load. Get out of the way, shrimp." The pirate unsheathed his sword and positioned it so that the tip was pointing at the barrel. Coby jumped in fear and backed away, leaving room for the other two to circle around the barrel.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Coby cried. "Lady Alvida will kill us if you're sneaking off supplies!"

"Keep your trap shut and she ain't gonna!"

"Hey, get your sword out of sight. I wanna open this the old fashioned way."

Shanks raised an eyebrow when the pirate held his fist high. "What an idiot. Break a barrel of liquor. Shame."

Well, it broke, alright. No thanks to any external factor, but from within. Something burst out and smashed the lid to pieces, and the smiling face of young Monkey D. Luffy emerged.

It was a good smile, and Law was kind of jealous because it was the smile of a person who had a good night's sleep.

"I SLEPT SO WELL!"

"He was in the barrel all along?!" Similar exclamations were made alongside laughter when Luffy, without realizing, accidentally knocked out the pirate who was going to smash the tiny container he had been sleeping inside of.

Luffy looked so... well, not as different as the current Coby with Coby in the past. But there were visible differences alright. He looked so wiry, and not as muscled as he was now. Shanks recalled the freshest memory of Luffy he had – the one from their battle. He remembered grabbing Luffy's arm in an attempt to tie it with the other into a pretzel because dislocating it was a stupid move against a rubber man. Luffy's skin lacks the callouses that were normal for all pirates, but they weren't soft at all. Too used and too toughened from returning bullets and cannonballs with twice the force. Unlike Coby whose chin was sharper than Coby in the past, Luffy's face remained the same. Despite the scar under his left eye, even after two years he still looked too cute to be masculine. Messy and darker than black hair with wide obsidian eyes – if his body wasn't so blatantly male, Luffy would look pretty feminine. And with this amazing first impression, Shanks felt fondness knowing that Luffy was still the same troublemaker despite everything he had gone through.

"Isn't that mine?" Sabo blurted out. It made them turn to face him.

"Vat do you mean vat's yours-buru?" Ivankov asked.

A blush adorned his cheeks. "Nothing. Just... I'm pretty sure that's my vest." Sabo chuckled. "Lu must have raided my old place." Well, if his brother hadn't looted the things he left behind, Sabo would have been disappointed.

"Wasn't there a whirlpool?" Shirahoshi said. See? Shanks grinned.

"Does that mean he came out of a whirlpool?!" Vivi cried.

"He's not human, then?" Crocodile jabbed.

"I wish I could sleep that good," Sabo chuckled.

Luffy dragged a long yawn – Dugong, Carue, and Carrot were contaminated and yawned too, despite not being sleepy at all – and after stretching out (in a normal way), he looked at the scene around him. "Hey," Luffy addressed the pirates. "Your friend will catch a cold sleeping like that." He stepped out of the barrel casually.

"You're the one who knocked him out!"

"Who're you guys?"

"Who the hell are you?!"

Luffy ignored them and turned to Coby. "Who're you?"

"Are you ignoring us?! Do you not know we're vicious pirates?!"

"I'm starving." Luffy smiled sweetly. "Got any food?"

Oh, Luffy, if only I can interact with you now, I'll feed you! Hancock thought.

"Does he ever wake up and not ask about food first?" Law sighed.

"Oh, he can. To ask about his hat!" Vivi answered with a cheer. "But the second question he asked was about food."

"We're talking to you!" The pirates attacked Luffy with their swords. But the fight was over very quickly.

Carue and Shirahoshi were the only two who failed to see what just happened because their eye-reflexes weren't as trained as everyone else brought to see this.

The pirates couldn't see Luffy moving either, but they were very aware of what Luffy did. However low-quality their swords were, they were made from steel. And they were snapped in two. They fell on their butts, terror in their faces and stared up at Luffy, also noticing the halves of their swords were embedded into the ceiling.

"What's wrong with you two?" Luffy looked annoyed as he asked them.

"Who...who are you?"

"Me? I'm Monkey D. Luffy," Luffy said happily, his annoyance disappearing in a blink of an eye. "Hi!"

They ran away.

"Vat a nice introduction done vy the Virate King," Ivankov laughed. "Knock out their friend, ignore them, break their swords with nothing but his bare hands-buru."

"This Alvida merely recruited a pathetic crew," Aokiji snorted.

Coby looked rather pathetic too. His knees were shaking, and he was observing Luffy by peeking through his fingers which were also trembling. "What just happened?"

"You got me," Luffy pointed at the destroyed barrel with his thumb.

Then Coby started freaking out. "You gotta run away! They're gonna come back with Lady Alvida, and she'll kill you!"

"I'm just hungry," Luffy sniffed the air, seeing if he could smell where the food is.

"How can you say that so calmly?!"

Luffy paid him no mind. He headed towards the nearest door, easily dragging Coby who was trying to hold him back crying out that they should hide somewhere. Luffy kept sniffing while he walked.

They followed him. Very easily, after getting over the shock that they could pass through the walls. Shirahoshi simply poked her head to follow the small captain. When Luffy arrived at the storage room, her nose bumped against Carrot who just jumped across the room they were into the food storage room.

The storage room was filled with crates of food. Luffy grinned in happiness and began to eat in earnest, looking like a man who just found heaps of gold and valuables. Behind him, Coby kept asking questions.

"Ace's baby brother looks so focused on eating," Marco said. "I'm not sure he's even listening to you, Coby."

"He wasn't," Coby answered.

He definitely wasn't, Smoker deadpanned.

Still chewing, his twelfth apple probably, Luffy voiced his question and finally gave Coby attention. "Yo. We in a pirate ship or what?"

"No, we're on a cruise ship that's being raided by pirates," Coby explained. "Pirates of Lady Alvida's."

"Don't know her. Any extra boats here?"

"He's going to escape? Doesn't sound like him," Law said.

"You're going to escape?"

Law rolled his eyes from whoever snickered at this.

"Mine's gone. I only had that barrel in the end."

"How'd you end up in a barrel?"

Luffy hummed, poking his chin with a strawberry jam-tainted nail.

The scene blurred again. Dragon narrowed his eyes at how uninformative this feature was. They soon found themselves outside again, in the sea, but this time, they were near Luffy.

"Ah, the weather is pretty nice today." They heard Luffy say airily. He seemed to be daydreaming. "On such a nice day like this, who would have thought I would get into such a disaster."

"Who's he talking too?" Rebecca whispered to Vivi.

"What is he talking about?" Vivi asked back.

"Definitely that giant whirlpool his boat's heading to," Sengoku said in a deadpan voice.

Indeed, Luffy's boat was getting sucked into the giant whirlpool.

"That baboon's navigation skill is a lump of fat gut," Law concluded.

"He's not at all concerned he can't swim, is he?" Vivi sighed dejectedly. But her pets looked like they were saluting Luffy's terrible tutorial of what to do when you are facing a whirlpool.

"How careless of me," Luffy sounded way too calm for a person in his situation. The boat was already tilted, and it was going to take another ten seconds before he was going to drown inside that pitch-black hole.

"Why isn't the idiot doing anything?!" Law blew up. Straw Hat always made him lose his cool. As if prompted by Law's outburst, Luffy got up from his sitting position.

Luffy opened the barrel in his little rowboat. He leaned inside to pick up something at the bottom. It was jackfruit. Eating it, Luffy climbed into the barrel and sealed it shut just as his boat drowned at the centre.

Everything blurred, and they were all back inside the food storage room.

Coby's jaw had dropped.

"Garp, your grandson, is mentally insane!" Sengoku declared.

"Don't blame me. Blame my son's mutated genes!"

"Dad, it's your abuse that ruined his common sense," Dragon grinned nastily. His son was so cool. To think he started his adventure like that!

"My heart's going to drop if my future husband's doing this on a daily basis," Hancock whispered to herself.

"How about you? You a passenger or one of her pirates?"

Coby flinched. "I-I wish I was just a passenger. I've been Lady Alvida's prisoner ever since I accidentally came inside this boat for two years. The only reason I'm alive is that I'm pretty good at navigating."

"You mistook a pirate ship for what? You're pretty stupid, you know that?" Luffy chuckled.

Coby winced at Luffy's brand of harsh honesty. He wasn't being mean or cruel, he was just saying it like it was. And it was jarring. Shirahoshi knew the feeling too. Also Vivi. Law and Hancock got the brunt of it a lot of times. And also—well, everyone here really.

"Thanks for your honesty."

"If you hate it here, then leave," Luffy said. The crate of apples were now empty. The crate of oranges and watermelons too. Coby spied at the seeds Luffy had been spitting out while telling his story. The boy opened another crate—bread in Bobo plastic.

Law gagged inside.

"Are you kidding?" Coby cried out and shook his head violently. "I've seen what she does to anyone who tried to escape! No way! Not a chance! She'd beat my head to mush alive! Just the thought of Lady Alvida finding me scares me so bad I wanna throw up!" He looked completely afraid.

"You were such a crybaby," Garp grunted. Coby pouted in embarrassment.

"Oh, so you're an idiot and a coward!" Luffy laughed, eating his fourth chocolate-filled bread. "I hate people like you!"

This caused Coby to be tearful.

"Strange," Aokiji said. "I would have thought Straw Hat would help you on the spot."

"Isn't it what he does? Helping people left and right?" Crocodile muttered.

"Nah," Law replied. "Helping's never his M.O. Moron just does what he felt like."

Shirahoshi nodded, though not to anyone in particular. Luffy-san was not a hero and refused to be one. He's more likely to help people help themselves, like how he helped her help herself to be strong.

Sabo... tilted his head in wonder. Luffy seemed to act a lot like Ace. The way Luffy was treating Coby in the past reminded him of how Ace treated Luffy back in Dawn Island. He hadn't noticed at first because Luffy lacked Ace's cruelty. Blunt and harsh all the same, but Ace also did it to be mean. Luffy just wasn't.

Tearful, yes, but he got quiet in the face of Luffy's expectation for a response. "You're right," Coby muttered. "You're right, though. You're so better than me. You got away from a whirlpool. If only I was brave enough to drift in a sea in a barrel. I've always wanted..." He trailed off. "Um, Luffy-san, what brought you out to sea?"

"Oh, I'm the future Pirate King," Luffy said with a smile.

A lot of them smirked at how self-assured Luffy was even back then. Sabo broke into laughter at the same time as Shanks. Man, how he missed Luffy's casual declaration. He just said it like he was.

"PIRATE KING?!"

"Yup!"

"That means you're a pirate?" Coby asked in disbelief. Which was, eh, warranted enough. Luffy didn't look like your typical pirate. Too childish, too skinny, too young, too naive.

But he sent Lady Alvida's pirates running with their tails between their legs.

"Right."

"I thought you were a good person!"

"I returned a lost stuffed doll right back to its owner and gained an obsessive stalker who immediately found out where I live, where I go to train, where I hang out, where I do everything. I am never doing good deeds for society again. Damn the mayor's advice!" Luffy forwent chewing and just swallowed the entire pack of hors d'oeuvre cupcakes.

They laughed—what a valid reason to refuse to be an exemplary citizen.

"Your crew?"

"Haven't got one, but I'm currently looking for my musician!"

Coby mulled over this rare chance for an extreme introspection. "I pitched him my desperate situation with my navigation skill being the only thing that kept me alive, but he didn't even consider recruiting me once."

"He has a fucked up priority in recruiting," Katakuri said.

"Don't I know it," Vivi offered.

Coby began to panic. "A Pirate King is someone who has everything in the world! Fame, wealth, power! You're after the One Piece!"

"Yeah," Luffy said. He seemed quite bored, continuing to eat through the sixth crate.

"Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, absolutely impossible!" Coby frantically yelled as he shook his head rapidly. "It would be impossible to stand on top in this Great Pirate Era! King of the Pirates is a title for the one who has everything the world has to offer! Pirates from all over the world are looking for that too! You can't possibly beat all of them! It can't be done! Impossible, impossible—!" A harsh punch to the right side of his head sent Coby to the floor.

They blinked. Coby winced. Wow, was he a dramatic wimp. He really deserved that lump.

"Why did you hit me!?" Coby exclaimed as he rubbed his injured head.

"Just 'cause," Luffy answered.

Coby sniffed. He sat up from his downed position slowly. "It's okay. I'm used to it anyway."

Luffy touched his hat in a manner that was totally opposite to how he had been acting so far. He did it gently. "It's not about if it's possible or not. I do it 'cause I want to." He cheerily hummed as he took the straw hat off and spun it. "If I die fighting to be Pirate King, then I die."

"Oh, Luffy..." Hancock blushed heavily.

They stare at him in quiet awe—at his conviction, much like memory-Coby. People say bull all the time, but Luffy's selflessness to chase his dreams had them taken aback.

When a man really desires a thing so deeply he is willing to stake his entire future on a single turn of the wheel in order to get it; he is sure to win. Because people saw he had made up his mind to stand by until he succeeded.

Seeing his conviction made Coby seriously think about what he wanted... and wondering if he was willing to really fight for it.

Putting the hat back on, Luffy turned to leave, ready to go look for a boat he can use.

"Not afraid to die," Coby whispered. It was quiet, but it got Luffy's attention. "Maybe I can join the marines."

"Marines?" Luffy asked in surprise.

"That's right. My dream is to be a marine! I want to catch bad guys who hurt good people! It has been my dream since my childhood!" Coby yelled, nearing tears. "Can I do it?"

"Like he'd answer," Rebecca pouted.

"How would I know? I ain't you." Luffy answered honestly with a chuckle.

"No, I will!" Coby exclaimed as he pumped his arms up. "I'm going to get out of here and stop working as a slave to Lady Alvida! No, I'll catch Alvida!"

As soon as he said that, the ceiling to the storage room collapsed and the female captain came. She brought a giant iron mace in her hands, and she completely towered over Luffy and Coby. "Who are you going to catch!?" Alvida asked Coby in a booming voice.

All bravado fled, and Coby looked like he was going to pass out from fear.

Alvida glared at Coby before she turned her attention towards Luffy. She gave the boy pirate a long look before smirking. "You're not the Pirate Hunter, Zoro."

Luffy tilted his head in confusion. "Zoro?"

"Ah, so that's how he first heard of Samurai-san," Vivi exclaimed. "He was the only one – besides Luffy – who wouldn't share stories about how they met."

"Was it embarrassing or private?" Carrot asked.

"Neither, they simply hold little care to tell details about what's in the past."

Alvida turned her attention back towards Coby. "Coby, who's the most beautiful woman on these seas?"

"She's really serious about that question?" Vivi voiced.

Ivankov. "How terribly insecure of her-buru."

There's probably no mirror in her ship if she needs to ask that all the time, Katakuri grinned.

Coby stuttered to answer. "Well...that would be, of course..."

"Hey, Coby, who's this man?"

Luffy bluntly asked as he pointed at Alvida.

Both Coby and Alvida's jaws dropped in shock.

Meanwhile some of them burst into laughter. Luffy looked so innocent asking it as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.

"M-M-M-M-M-MAN?!" Alvida exploded. "I'M A WOMAN!"

"Oh! Like Dadan!" Luffy grinned. "You're truly a man among man!"

Sabo fell onto the floor, shaking in laughter. He was vaguely aware that half of his body was "inside" a crate—intangible, and that Shirahoshi looked at him strangely before poking her finger through the walls and crates idly. He just, wow, he didn't realize how much he missed their reluctant foster mother.

Veins started to appear on Alvida's head. "You brat!" she roared in a fury. She brought her mace up and was ready to crush Luffy's skull in. Luffy easily evaded the attack and jumped towards Coby.

"Let's go!" Luffy yelled, grinning, as he grabbed Coby's arm. He bent his knees and jumped so high that he exited through the hole Alvida made earlier.

As soon as he was out of the storage room, Alvida's pirate crew attempted to attack him. Luffy had been knocking one by one with ease as he dragged Coby along, but soon they separated the two boys and surrounded Luffy. The noiret's lips quirked as he spied an opening and promptly ran for it while yelling. His left hand grabbed hold of the mast and but he kept running. He kept running farther away from the pirates and yelling (but he could no longer fake it as a scream filled with fear because it quivered with barely repressed laughter) and all the while his left arm stretched.

They laughed at the dumbfounded look on the pirates face at seeing Luffy's powers. Then Luffy stopped yelling.

The straw-hatted boy looked back at them with a devilish grin, "Just kidding!" He jumped. Nothing high. Just enough to have no more footing on the ground and Luffy soon bowled over all of them.

"He doesn't care that they were holding swords and spiked maces, does he?" Aokiji mentioned.

"Reckless and stupid," Sengoku harrumphed. And Garp wanted him to be a marine!

During the entire fight, Luffy was blatantly just playing them. Most of the fight was just him throwing the crew around like rag dolls. Very boring to watch for them who had seen how much stronger Luffy is now.

"Luffy... What are you?" Coby asked.

Luffy happily grabbed his cheek. Then he stretched it farther than what was normal. "I'm a rubber man."

"Rubberman...?" Coby repeated in disbelief. He was completely unaware that Alvida was now standing behind him.

Alvida gave a loud grunt, gaining Coby's attention. He turned around and squealed when he saw the female pirate. Coby quickly ran behind Luffy for protection.

"You ate a Devil Fruit, right?" Alvida asked, although she already knew the answer.

"Yup! I ate the Gum Gum Fruit," Luffy confirmed.

"Is that so? I've heard rumours about it, but I didn't think they actually existed," Alvida said in mild wonderment.

"'Rumours'? How could she think Devil Fruits as a myth? It's a common item," Crocodile questioned.

"Yeah, common in Grand Line," Yasopp replied. "Any Devil Fruit users in the Four Blues naturally went to the Pirate Graveyard, so it's a rare thing to find in the Four Blues. And this is the East Blue."

"The year we stayed there for a break," Shanks added, "There are not many pirates sailing around. Most of the criminals in East Blue are just bandits."

"Are you a bounty hunter?"

"I'm a pirate," Luffy corrected.

"Pirate?" Alvida scoffed. "Just you?"

"It's just me right now, but I'll find nine more people eventually," Luffy answered cheerfully.

"So he was planning to take on the entire world with just ten people," Katakuri smirked. "And here I thought he sucked at recruiting."

Alvida laughed at him.

"Lu...Luffy, run..." Coby whispered in fear.

"Why?" Luffy asked.

"You saw the power of her mace. This person is..." Coby suddenly stopped himself in mid-sentence.

"What were you about to say, Coby?" Alvida asked with a wide grin on her face.

Taking a quick glance at Luffy, Coby's eyes burned with determination. "The ugliest woman in the entire world!"

"That was very mean of you, marine-san!" Shirahoshi scolded.

"Yeah, she's hardly the ugliest," Shanks said dryly.

"That's not the point!"

Alvida's eyes blackened in anger.

Luffy laughed loudly. He was actively laughing so hard to the point that he was clenching his chest.

"What did you say!?" Alvida demanded.

"I'm going to become a marine and fight pirates like you!" Coby yelled as he gained more courage. "I will join the marines and capture your lousy ass first!"

This sent Alvida over the edge. "You're dead, brat!" she yelled as she raised her mace, ready to smash Coby through the ship.

Coby froze in fear and gave a loud scream.

"That scream definitely ruined your speech, brat!" Garp barked.

"Well said!" Luffy exclaimed as he pushed Coby of the way and took the full force of Alvida's mace.

Despite the mace having spikes on it, they were obviously not well sharpened since there was no blood on Luffy's head and he showed no signs of pain.

Luffy smiled. "Doesn't hurt at all~!"

"What?!" Alvida exclaimed in disbelief.

"I'm a rubber!" Luffy yelled as he knocked Alvida's mace upwards, leaving her completely open. Luffy pulled his arm back. "Gum Gum Pistol!"

With one punch to the gut, Alvida went flying off the cruise ship and into the sea like a cannonball. Her crew was left completely shell-shocked.

Luffy turned to address Alvida's crew. "Hey, give Coby a boat. He's leaving to join the marines."

Rebecca stared at Luffy's extreme mood-swing. "How can Lucy just do that?"

Lucy? They wondered if they had misheard her.

None of Alvida's crew argued.

"He doesn't even sound threatening!" Sabo chuckled.

The pirates rushed to find them a boat. They worked quicker when the marines finally arrived to take care of the raided cruise passengers. Luffy and Coby had to make a quick exit and dumped the boat unceremoniously into the sea with them in it.

As they landed in the water, something caught the edge of Luffy's eye. He turned his head to see a young woman who was also in the water. They both stared at each in shock, obviously not expecting one another.

"Oh! Is that not Nami-chin?" Shirahoshi brightened.

"I forgot Luffy's navigator sported the cute short cut," Shanks grinned. "She sure looks different now."

"So Luffy recruited her first, huh?"

"No, he didn't!" Bartolomeo said.

As the water current tugged them away from each other, they both broke eye contact.

"Huh, guess not," Carrot said.

In a while, Luffy and Coby were merely sailing peacefully across the sea. Luffy looked like he had had fun, while Coby was glancing back and forth between the straw-hatted boy and the Alvida's ship – wondering how he just got free of pirates but got stuck(?) with another one, and eventually settled on being relieved.

"We got away somehow," Coby sighed in relief.

Luffy giggled. "That was fun!"

"Maybe the little shit's really not human," Crocodile muttered. "Every battle's just normal fun for him."

"Not always," Marco glanced at him sideways. It didn't take long for Crocodile to remember the shameful disaster in Marineford.

He hmmphed. "Guess not."

Coby perked up, "Hey Luffy, if the One Piece is your goal, that means you're heading towards the Grand Line, right?"

"Yeah," Luffy said, smiling happily.

"D-don't you know that place is called a pirate's graveyard?" Coby said in concern.

"That's why I need a strong crew," Luffy said before he paused for a moment in thought. "That pirate hunter, what kind of guy is he?"

"You mean Zoro?" Coby asked. "I heard he had been captured by the marines."

Luffy sighed in disappointment "Oh, he's weak then."

Weak? That brat cost me three toes! Sengoku thought in ire.

"How did the Demon Hunter got caught?" Marco asked.

"He wasn't always "the Demon Hunter", obviously," Hancock said.

They probably caught him because he was sleeping, Vivi sweatdropped. Samurai-san spent so much time sleeping Usopp-kun acted like the first mate most of the time. Carue quacked in delight, already guessing what his princess was thinking.

"Not at all!" Coby yelled in terror. "He's a terrifying beast! Why are you asking about him?"

Luffy smiled. "If he's a nice guy, I thought I'd make him part of my crew."

Katakuri picked his ear, making sure he had heard that right. "If he's a nice guy?"

"That's his requirement?" Crocodile sneered.

"He's not a nice guy! Roronoa Zoro is known as the Pirate Hunter. I've heard rumours that he's a bloodthirsty hound. He wonders around the sea and hunts down fugitives like a rabid dog. He's a terrible demon."

"I haven't decided yet if I'm going to recruit him," Luffy said honestly. "But if he's a good person..."

"He's arrested because he's bad!" Coby snapped.

"How naive," Hancock sniffed.

Coby brushed it away. He knew where he was wrong, accepted it and moved along. All of what they're going to see here is over , and he wasn't going to be ashamed. He learned his lessons from his impossible friend.

"You aspire to be a marine, and yet you followed a pirate you met less than 10 minutes ago?" Aokiji questioned.

The marine commander ducked in embarrassment.

"If he hunts pirates shouldn't you consider him a good guy?" Luffy asked. "Wasn't that what you shouted? You wanna catch pirates."

"M-maybe, but Roronoa Zoro brings his bounties dead even though they could be turned in alive. And most of the time he delivered them sliced to bits! And I've heard he doesn't care about collateral damage and burnt down a town!" And so on and so on Coby went, listing Zoro's terrible qualities Luffy was deaf to because they're all based on rumours.

It took them a while, but the two boys eventually reached an island with a large marine base stationed on the far side. When they docked, Luffy immediately jumped out of the boat in excitement, not even waiting for Coby to finish tying the boat to the dock.

"We're here! The town where the marines are!" Luffy cheered. In front of him was a large marine base on the other side of the island.

"He shouldn't be excited to arrive in a town of marines, he's a pirate," Vivi sighed.

"He wasn't a pirate yet," Sabo replied.

Dragon nodded. "No bounty assigned for his head. No marines were aware of his 'profession'. No jolly roger yet."

"I'll definitely get my bounty there!" Luffy grinned but then paused. "Hmmmmmmm. But Makino said I shouldn't get in trouble right off the bat. I won't be able to trick them to giving me free meat!"

"I seriously lost to this kid?" Crocodile grumbled.

"I wonder if Zoro is inside the base?" Luffy wondered out loud.

This caused the people in his vicinity to panic and jumped back in fear.

"Wow, what did Mihawk's little protégé do to this town?" Shanks wondered.

"It seems Zoro's name is taboo," Coby whispered to Luffy.

They resumed their walk again.

"Anyway, let's head towards the base. You want to be a marine, right?" Luffy asked.

"Yes, but I don't think I'm ready yet," Coby said timidly. "I've heard Lieutenant Morgan is in charge of this base."

This also caused the people in his vicinity to panic and jumped back in fear.

Law sent a smirk at Sengoku, "If their reaction to the marine's the same as the demon hunter, you can't deny something down the drain has gone wrong."

A few more minutes of walking and the two boys reached their destination. It took time mostly because Luffy was taking the slow route. The building was in plain sight, surrounded by a huge stone wall. They were standing by a big iron gate that was engraved with 'marine'.

"Alright, this is the place," Luffy said as they stood at the entrance.

"He looks like he's just gonna waltz in knocking."

"I'm finally here," Coby said with tears in his eyes. He'd started to say more, but Luffy walked away from him and climbed the wall that leads to the marine base. He started to look around.

"Now, where's that demon?" Luffy asked cheerfully. After searching for a few seconds, something caught Luffy's eye. There was a person out on the open field not too far from the main gate.

"There he is!" Luffy exclaimed in excitement as he jumped off the wall and ran to the other end of the base.

Once he had arrived at his new location, he climbed the wall again and saw a man tied to a pole that was in the shape of a cross.

Zoro looked awful. The greenish-black bandana wrapped around his forehead was the only thing that seemed decent, for the entirety of his garment was filthy and stained. His usually lightly tanned skin looked sickly from dehydration. He was tied up to a cross and hung limply.

Despite the way he looked, which should have confirmed Luffy's assumption that the Demon Hunter was weak and by all logic, the boy should move on, Luffy visibly perked up. Because, to the trained eyes, Zoro's eyes were looking quite deadly.

Care hastily went over towards the swordsman, but the duck's attempt to help the green-haired man that often slept on the decks of Going Merry was for nought, for its wings were simply intangible and had no effect.

On the other hand, Coby looked terrified despite Zoro's state.

"If we untie his ropes, he can escape, right?" Luffy asked Coby.

"Don't do a stupid thing like that!" Coby yelled in fright. "What do you think will happen once we let him go!? He'll kill you!"

"No problem, I'm strong," Luffy said dismissively, making Coby nearly fell off the wall.

A wooden ladder suddenly appeared on the wall. Coby cut off whatever protest he was going to voice to Luffy as a young girl with brown hair in pigtails donning a purple shirt, and white hoodie climbed the ladder. She used a rope to climb down the stone wall rather easily despite wearing a skirt. She ran over to Zoro, holding something in her hands.

"She's in danger—!" Coby hissed, but Luffy held his shirt back from jumping over their cover in a brave attempt to rescue a girl who willingly walked towards the perceived danger. "Luffy! What are you doing? He's going to kill her!"

"She's like eight. She can take care of herself."

Coby looked furious.

Sengoku also looked furious.

"She's just a normal girl! She can't stand against a bounty hunter!"

"Eh? Sabo and Ace and I were doing fine..." Luffy whispered. Coby didn't hear him as he was too frantic in chewing his nails.

"Sabo-san, you three used to fight against bounty hunters when you're eight?"

"Erm, not always, well, sort of, technically..." Sabo trailed off, facepalming at Luffy's lack of concern for a child. Kind of like Garp's—

No. No. Not going there.

"What?" Zoro asked impatiently.

"Aren't you hungry? I made you some rice balls," the girl kindly said as she held out her package.

"That's sweet/reckless of her," Vivi and Smoker said at the same time. The two glanced at each other before shrugging. Both adjectives were right in any case.

"You're going to get killed," Zoro said bluntly. "Go away."

The girl just unwrapped the two rice balls and held them out again for Zoro to see better. "I owe you. Please, you haven't eaten anything for twenty-one days!"

Yasopp whistled.

"What would a little girl owe a man like him?" Smoker muttered.

Zoro was clearly tempted by the delicious smell, but his eyes hardened again. He leaned away and even turned his head from her offering. "I'm not hungry."

The girl's eyes became teary. "But..."

"Don't make me kick your ass little girl!" Zoro raised his voice.

Zoro's harsh yell startled Dugong from his position. While the seal flailed, Vivi looked like she wanted to yell to, even though Zoro won't be able to hear anything she says.

"Tsk, you shouldn't bully kids, Roronoa Zoro." Zoro refused to look at the direction where the teasing voice came from, and Luffy and Coby realized Zoro had seen the man coming up behind the little girl from afar. He was a weak-looking man, but he strode over as if he was the biggest fish in the pond. The ten different marines accompanying him probably fed that visible ego.

"Oh, thank God, the girl is safe now," Coby sighed in relief.

Luffy merely tilted his head to the side.

The man who appeared, a teenager really, noticed the girl. "Oh, a rice ball." Rudely, he snatched one of the rice balls from the girl.

"No!" The girl shouted, but the guy already took a big bite out of the rice ball. He chewed twice, before spitting it out in front of her.

"Nasty!" He screamed as he stuck out his tongue. Her teary eyes now let go of the water in her eyes freely, and she flinched when the marine turned angrily at her. "There's too much sugar! Rice balls need salt! Salt!"

"I-I thought it would taste better if it's sweet."

Helmeppo knocked the remaining rice ball out of the girl's hands and stomped it into the ground.

"Stop, stop!" The girl pleaded.

"What a fine example of marines," Law drawled. Inwardly, he was... seething. The girl was a brunette in pigtails, and she reminded him of Lami.

The marine they were seeing wasn't here with them, but Smoker knew of Coby's friend—how they came to be one he could only wonder and perhaps wait. "If I'm not mistaken, that's Helmeppo," Smoker said to Coby.

"Yes..."

"Even if it vas too sveet, that man needn't ruin her first food-buru," Ivankov crossed his arms. "If Sanji-voy vas here he would explode in rage for sure!"

Helmeppo stomped on it one last time and was stupid enough to be satisfied when there was nothing left of the rice ball except a smudge on the ground.

The girl knelt before her ruined rice ball. "I... worked so hard..."

At some point, Zoro had faced them, but he offered no words for the girl.

"You made this for the prisoner?" Helmeppo grunted. "Don't you know? Anyone who helps any prisoner shall be executed by order of Lieutenant Morgan."

She shook in fear.

"You know my father, right?" Helmeppo asked cockily.

"He looks too smug for just bullying a little kid," Marco said.

"He's not going to beat her up, is he?" Rebecca really wished she could fling her sword at this 'marine'.

"Throw her out," the blond ordered one of his men. He either ignored or didn't notice how they weren't really by his side, as the marine recoiled at the order with visible reluctance. But apparently, he did, and Helmeppo grabbed said marine by the collar. "I'm telling you to throw her out! Are you disobeying my order? I'll tell my daddy!"

"Yeeeeah, that last word ruined it," Shanks raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, right away, sir..." The marine said. He walked towards the frightened girl. He grabbed the girl gently by her dress and whispered, "I'm sorry," before he tossed her over the gate.

She didn't hit the ground. Her scream was cut short as she felt herself hitting something—not as soft as a pillow, but not hard enough to hurt her by impact either. She opened her eyes to see Luffy grinning brightly at her.

Zoro growled.

Helmeppo laughed at him. "You're really stubborn to still be alive."

"Yeah, I will live through the entire month," Zoro proclaimed with certainty.

This caused Helmeppo to laugh again. "Well, do your best."

"Ten more days left," Zoro reminded him.

"Only if you live that long," Helmeppo replied smugly as he left the prison yard.

Once Helmeppo had left, Luffy jumped over the wall and walked slowly towards Zoro. Luffy suddenly stopped and winkled his nose like he had smelled something bad in the air. He was standing down-wind from Zoro, so he was hit by how smelly Zoro was.

"Man, even back in Gray Terminal it was never this smelly," Luffy complained to himself.

They missed the rest of Luffy's complaint when they felt the force of Conqueror's Haki washing over them. Carue fell over from the mental pressure. Shirahoshi and Vivi shivered in fear.

Despite the place being unable to interact with them, the sunlight somehow managed to make the small amount of steel glint from where Shanks unsheathed his sword. He didn't draw it fully though, just barely an inch. Shanks let go of his Conquerer's Haki and smiled amiably. "Oh, relax. I don't want to fight with you all. I just want you all to understand before you get any ideas about finding Luffy's home, you're going to have to go through the Red Force."

Shanks was given a nasty grin from Luffy's biological father. "Why, to think you'd declare protection that far."

"It's not for you and not for Garp either, I assure you. Revolutionary," Shanks said. Their little chat was cut short from a shout coming from Luffy's first mate.

"Mind your own business, or I'll fight you!" Zoro shouted. One thousand and five hundred fights. All losses! He did not go through that to end up tied by an asshole who was being even more of an asshole by stomping on the first food Zoro had the privilege to smell after three weeks and some kid mocking him.

"I'd beat you, but I'd infect my hands. Shishishishi," Luffy giggled. "You've been sitting in your own shit for almost a month! Man, do you smell! You're tied up and publicly humiliated!"

"How did Zoro agree to be the first mate when Luffy's acting like that to him?" Sabo wondered.

"If it was me, I'd have escaped already!" Luffy continued.

"I'm different from you," Zoro smirked. "I will survive and show them."

Luffy wasn't impressed. "What a stubborn guy," he mused before he turned to leave.

"Like you're not stubborn?" Law vaguely realized the Big Mom pirate said the same thing too. And Crocodile. As well as Marco.

"Wait a sec!" Zoro suddenly called, stopping Luffy. The rubber boy turned around to face Zoro, who was looking down at the ruined rice ball. "Can you get that?"

Luffy walked over and picked up the rice ball's remains. It looked like a tinier version of that one time Dadan accidentally sat on their food but because it was winter and the weather was too harsh for him and his brothers to find prey they had to settle eating the giant mush. "Are you really going to eat this? It's more like a mudball."

"Shut your trap and give it to me!" Zoro shouted impatiently. His eyes were wide with desperation.

Luffy gave into the swordsman's demands and threw the rice ball into his mouth. Zoro greedily ate it, even with the rocks. He briefly choked on the remains of the food.

"Told you," Luffy said.

"It was delicious," Zoro whispered, surprising Luffy. "Thanks for the food."

Luffy tilted his head, and a gentle smile adorned his face.

"Oh, if only Sanji-voy could have seen this," Ivankov theatrically wiped a tear from his large eye.

Sabo found it funny that Zoro was so unimpressive to his baby brother until he showed his kindness. Luffy has such a simple requirement for his small crew of 10 people.

The scene blurred again. The executioner's stand morphed into a counter bar, and they soon realized they were all in a restaurant.

"Gah!" Some of them yelled out in surprise when they looked up only to see, instead of a ceiling, but the giant mermaid's face was poking out of it. She giggled.

Some had burst in laughter when they saw Big Mom's third child's upper body disappearing into the ceiling. Katakuri could see nothing but Shirahoshi's ear and pink hair in the dark, uncared attic. The mochi man recalled his little experimentation the first time this happened and easily fitted his whole body inside the restaurant by crossing his legs to sit down.

Luffy was sitting on a barrel next to Coby. In front of them was the little girl from the prison yard, and behind her was a woman who could only be her mother.

"Even though you're a pirate, please help yourself, Luffy-kun," the girl's mother spoke, "The least I can do is to give you some meal after you saved my Rika. Rika, I told you to stop sneaking into the execution site!"

"Yeah, I was so scared to death, but onii-chan saved me!"

"Yeah, I should have hit him on second thought."

"Ne ne, onii-chan! How long have you been a pirate?" Rika gushed.

"Since this morning!" Luffy grinned.

"WOW!" Rika's eyes sparkled.

"Wow," Coby gaped.

They were amused. They were so used to their Luffy having a long-standing reputation of making everything run amok that they didn't realize just how new this Luffy is.

"Heard what you said to Zoro. Why'd you owe him?"

"Zoro helped me! Lieutenant Morgan's son used to let his wild wolf wander around the town and attack everyone. I...I was trying to make it go away when it was attacking our customers, but it got really mad!" Rika sniffed. Rika's mother placed her hands onto her daughter to comfort her. Rika continued, "Zoro killed it. But Helmeppo got mad, and Zoro made him promise to let my family go if he gets catched—"

"Caught," Rika's mom corrected.

"—caught and survive a month without food. It's been twenty-one days! I counted!"

Luffy whistled. "3 minutes without air. 3 days without water. 3 weeks without food. I came on time! If I didn't give your rice ball to him, he'd probably be dead by nightfall!"

Hancock looked perturbed.

"What does he mean with those numbers?" Carrot asked.

"Survival's Rule of Three," Sabo answered. "Crazy Old Man beat that into our heads." He glared at Garp who was grinning at seeing Luffy demonstrating what he learned from his Grandpa.

"He ate my rice ball?"

"Yeah. He said it was delicious."

Rika's squealed in delight.

'Despite Luffy's first mate's hard exterior, he's such a marshmallow,' Sabo looked at Rika's enthusiasm fondly, 'Kind of like Ace.'

Coby kept his upset look since hearing Rika's story, "I thought... Marines are supposed to protect! Not use their power to bully people. That's what pirates..." He turned to Luffy who continued to eat his meal and gestured wildly, but Luffy caught that Coby wanted to convey he was excluding Luffy, "What pirates do."

Smoker puffed out smoke, "You know better now."

"I know better now," Coby repeated to himself, then send a friendly smile at White Chase.

Then the door was slammed open, and Helmeppo entered the restaurant. "Hey, woman, I'm hungry! Feed my men and me for free!"

"Piece of shit," Rebecca grumbled.

"Even Luffy was never that rude when he's hungry!" Vivi exclaimed.

Helmeppo claimed a table after snatching a bottle of wine and a clean glass. "Since I'm tired of waiting, I've decided to execute Zoro tomorrow. Look forward to it everyone," he laughed.

He got decked hard by Luffy's fist. The arrogant marine was sent flying across the restaurant in a clear path and slammed into a nearby wall. Either Luffy predicted the path or Helmeppo was just unlucky to slam into the concrete wall instead of the wooden one.

"FUCK! WHO the hell are you!?" Helmeppo demanded, grabbing his swollen cheek. Coby wondered how his jaw wasn't broken. Luffy didn't – he didn't even use half of his full strength.

"You're demanding food from the lady whose kid you just threatened to kill?" Luffy snorted.

That's when Helmeppo noticed Rika clutching at a steel tray like a shield. "She was helping the prisoner!"

"A-All we saw was they're talking. Roronoa Zoro didn't let her help at all!" Coby defended.

"You can't prove that you stupid pinky!"

"He's not freed...?" Luffy questioned.

Helmeppo went red. "Just wait! I'll get my daddy to kill you!"

Luffy sucked his lips at how pathetic he was acting. "Why can't you just do it on your own?"

His tone was so condescending Coby could guess Luffy's intention to punch Helmeppo again. "Luffy, please calm down! You shouldn't make the marines your enemy."

"You're right Coby! He's not worth it," Luffy smiled. He completely ignored Coby's second sentence. "Zoro will join my crew!"

The friends of the Straw Hat Captain shared Coby's frustration. It was like after Luffy decided they were friends, nothing they said mattered. Oh, they certainly mean A LOT to Luffy, but he was very mercurial about listening to their concerns.

Turning around, Luffy ran out of the restaurant. The scene blurred but Luffy stayed running until he stopped short, and everything morphed back to the prison yard. No Coby or Rika or Helmeppo, but Zoro still tied on the cross.

"Yo," Luffy greeted completely unconcerned.

Zoro still glaring at Luffy. "What do you want, kid?"

"I'm going to untie your ropes, and then you will become my crewmate," Luffy stated bluntly.

"He didn't even ask," Dragon grinned.

Zoro snorted at him. "What did you say?"

"I'm looking for people to join my pirate crew," Luffy said as he moved closer to the swordsman.

"I refuse," Zoro said coldly, stopping Luffy. "You want me to become a bad guy? I'm not going to become some lowlife pirate." He turned his head away from Luffy.

"What's wrong with being a pirate?"

"I don't follow anyone. I'm my own man, not some sea scum."

"Everyone thinks you're an evil demon anyway."

"I don't care what society thinks of me," Zoro narrowed his eyes. "I've never regretted doing anything in my life. I will survive and do what I want."

"Hmmm," Luffy folded his arms. "But I've already decided that you'll be my crewmate."

"Don't decide that for yourself!" Zoro yelled, completely losing his previous cool.

"Luffy-senpai won't take no," Bartolomeo nodded.

Sabo chuckled. "Everyone loses their cool around him."

"You use katana, right?" Luffy suddenly asked.

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, but that stupid marine son took my treasure," Zoro said as he slumped further onto the pole. He sounded close to whining.

Luffy smiled at the admission. "Your treasure, huh? I'll get them. If you want them back, you have to join my crew."

"That's dirty! Are you blackmailing me?!"

Luffy laughed and promptly ran towards the marine base.

Dragon turned to face his father. "Your fault," he declared succinctly.

Garp should really retort that as an upstanding marine, but he was too busy showing everyone how proud he was. His grandson was paying attention when he introduced Luffy to that mountain bandit!

A noise got Luffy's attention. "Wonder what's that? It's coming from the roof," Luffy wondered out loud. He smiled and pulled his arm back. Stretching his arm until he grabbed the roof's edge, he rocketed himself up. Unfortunately, he shot himself too high. Not wanting to fall – though he looked more like he wanted to keep 'flying', Luffy grabbed a nearby rope. Unfortunately, again, the rope was tied to a statue that was being hoisted up.

There was a big guy backhanding the blond Luffy had decked earlier. "Why do I have to clean up your mess? You can do whatever you want in my name, but I punish those who oppose me!" He growled. "Have you executed her?!"

"Her? The girl? S-she's a just a little girl."

The guy ignored the blond and barked at another marine on the roof. "You! Go to town and kill her! I don't care how old she is. Whoever disobeys me must die!"

What a deluded jerk!

"But... but she's just a..." the marine stammered.

"Ensign Pedro," the guy said menacingly. "You're lower than the rank of lieutenant, so you do what I fucking say."

Luffy chose that time to land, and he caused the statue to fall over and break in half as it hit the edge of the roof. The remains of the upper half toppled off the roof and crashed onto the ground.

"Hmm?" Luffy stood calmly amongst them.

All the marines on the roof were left speechless as they stared at the ruined statue. There was complete silence.

That got most of them having a good laugh. "At this rate, he's going to break everything as a first impression," Law smirked.

Judging their expressions, Luffy concluded it was a statue of an important person. He scanned around to see the most important looking person there and nonchalantly said he was sorry to the marine who looked the most upset, whose jaw dropped the lowest and snot was falling out of his nostrils and his tear ducts leaked.

The man was tall and sported a giant axe in place of a right hand, metal instead of a jaw made of skin and bones. He wore dark blue jeans with black tiger stripes, and his eyes showed a look of indignant rage. "Capture him! I'll kill him myself!"

Rebecca showed her distaste. "Like father like son. Why couldn't he just capture Lucy himself?"

"Not that he would even be able to," Hancock interjected.

Helmeppo was also there, and he immediately recognized Luffy. "Father, that's the guy who punched me!"

"Oh, now he calls him 'father', No 'daddy'?" Rebecca crossed her arms.

Luffy recognized Helmeppo too. "Hey, it's you!" Helmeppo screamed and tried to run away from Luffy, but the rubber man clutched him tightly by the shoulder. "I was looking for you," Luffy said cheerfully. "Come with me!"

Luffy ran into the marine base while Helmeppo could only cry in horror. The blond was dragged across the floor of the base as the marines chased after him and Luffy. The straw-hatted boy lugged Lieutenant Morgan's son through the base for several minutes trying to find Zoro's swords. It might have been merely something of extreme discomfort. Unfortunately, Luffy was hauling him by his neck collar.

So, yeah, Helmeppo got a valid reason to scream. Luffy doesn't seem like someone who cares if he survived their tumbles through stairs and windows.

They had been following Luffy from the prison yard to the marine base, but Luffy was running around the place and other than the animals which were the desert princess' pets, none of them felt like following Luffy's path. Instead, whenever Luffy ran upstairs or jump through a window to break into a locked room by trashing their window, they simply utilized their intangibility by jumping and passing through floors and walls. In Shirahoshi's case, she had to be careful when poking her face into building less one of them jumped and poked her in the eye. It wasn't a difficult task though, Luffy was easy to find—just figure out where the most chaotic noise is coming from.

"Hey, where's Zoro's sword?" Luffy asked.

"I'll tell you. I'll tell you, just stop dragging me!" Helmeppo yelled for mercy.

Luffy stopped not for Helmeppo, but so the blond could answer Luffy. The blond looked dreadful as he lay limply in Luffy's hand. "Kay, talk," Luffy said.

Helmeppo weakly pointed behind Luffy. "It's in my room. You just passed it."

Luffy whined, "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"Don't move!" Several marines shouted at Luffy as they pointed their rifles at him. "Release Lord Helmeppo!"

"Nah," Luffy said. A second later, he lifted Helmeppo up and held him in front of him like a human meat shield. "But you can shoot if you want."

They burst into laughter.

"Bullets don't work on you Luffy!" Vivi clutched her cheeks because they always started to hurt whenever she laughed a little too hard. "You're just a jerk."

Helmeppo immediately panicked. "NO! Don't shoot!"

Luffy didn't waste the marines' hesitation and ran past them while still using Helmeppo as a shield. Arriving at Helmeppo's door, Luffy opened it.

"Ehhh," some of them grimaced at how Helmeppo decorated his room. There was nothing wrong with a feminine room, but for a blond jerk trying to act like a man, pink and flowery walls are just stupid.

Luffy took a double-take on the elaborate makeup dresser. "I thought those are for girls."

"I knew he wore eyeliner," Vivi whispered.

"Weren't you looking for the swords?! It's there! Now let me go!"

Luffy perked up but didn't let go of Helmeppo. "Hey, there's three." He tugged Helmeppo up again, "Which one's Zoro's?"

Either Helmeppo was just a wimp, or Luffy had been abusing pressure on his neck too much, but Helmeppo fainted before he could answer.

"Garp, I don't believe I've ever congratulated you on how fine you trained that wimp," Sengoku grunted.

Soon after that sounds came through Helmeppo's window. Luffy let the blond's collar go, and the blond fell flat onto the floor face first. Luffy looked out of the window to see Zoro and Coby against Lieutenant Morgan and a firing squad.

"Welp! Better crash!" Luffy grabbed all three swords and tied them to his back with a nearby piece of cloth. After securing them, Luffy's hands gripped the sides, and he pulled himself back. His fingers let go of their hold, and the rubber man went flying through the window.

"He didn't even bother opening it," Law deadpanned at the loud crash.

Sabo admired the chaos and saluted Luffy's perfect aim as the boy who had witnessed Luffy's terrible aim for months when they were kids.

Luffy landed directly in front of Zoro and Coby, exactly in time just as several bullets were fired. The sound made Coby, who had shut his eyes instinctively when he was facing a bunch of gun barrels, open his eyes to see bullets impacting his friend's body. He, along with Zoro, cried out in alarm and cried out again in shock when the bullets continued their path. But instead of continuing it after making holes through flesh and blood, it was like Luffy's skin encased them, stretching along with their force.

Luffy laughed, "Won't work~."

All the bullets deflected back at the marines.

Everyone freaked out. Coby and Zoro continued to freak out, and the marines would have stopped freaking out with the reason being they met their deaths had the bullets not miraculously missed all of them, hitting the pavement and buildings behind them instead.

Luffy looked at Coby behind his shoulder. "Said ya I was strong!"

"Wh...what are you!?" Zoro demanded as the shock started to wear out.

"He looks so shocked." Not an emotion they had seen on Zoro's often... if ever, actually.

Shanks heard Vivi's question and answered her, "They're from East Blue. Devil Fruit users are very rare in the Four Blues, especially that one."

Yasopp put in his own two cents. "The time we spent there, most of East Blue people even thought Devil Fruit is a myth."

"Actually, most people in the Four Blues do," Law added.

"But, don't they read the newspapers? Most famous marines and pirates have devil fruits!"

"Yes, but for people whose lives are for the most part very peaceful and untouched by pirates every other day of the week, devil fruit abilities sounded like catchy nicknames newspeople tagged on them for sensationalism," Smoker gave his explanation on the matter.

Coby nodded, a tad bit upset. "And the few times they discovered a Devil Fruit user, most of the time they'd be thought of as monsters, because they don't understand."

Luffy turned towards Zoro, grinned and gave him a thumbs up. "I'm Luffy, and I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

"W-what? Become the Pirate King!? Do you know what you're saying!?"

Becoming the Pirate King is the most ridiculous dream to shout about. Becoming the Pirate King means following the footsteps of Gold Roger, the most notorious pirate of the world (a very big pair of shoes to fill). Becoming the Pirate King means taking on all the other strong pirates in the entire world – that's who you are making an enemy of when you declare you're going to be King of the Pirates.

"Pirate King is Pirate King. What else would it mean?" Luffy asked with a smile that was a little too cheerful, and it showed a patronizing light. "By the way, I found your sword!" Luffy held out all three swords, expecting Zoro to grab one despite the green-haired man still being tied up at the cross. "Which one is it? I couldn't tell, so I grabbed all three of them."

"Good, because I use all three," Zoro tugged at his restraints. "I use a three-sword style."

Luffy blinked at him for several seconds, wondering where Zoro put the third sword when fighting. "Kay, take 'em," Luffy looked delighted. "But if you fight with me, you owe me. Being killed by the marines or coming with me... Which one will you chose?" he practically sang the last part.

Luffy blackmailing the pirate hunter into becoming a pirate caused them to snicker.

"You son of a devil," Zoro grinned. "Fine, I would rather be a pirate than die here."

"Great, my first crewmate!" Luffy cheered, completely forgetting the danger they were still in. He danced happily. "Alright, this is perfect!"

"I get it, now set me free!" Zoro yelled in irritation.

While Luffy was blackmailing Zoro and celebrated his success by silly dancing, the marines had recovered from the shock of Luffy's ability. "If guns don't work, then cut them to pieces!" Morgan ordered his men.

Within moments, all the marines in the prison yard charged the small group. Zoro gritted his teeth at how nonchalant and lazy his new captain was with the task of untying the ropes. Luffy could have used his swords to cut Zoro free, but the guy just held them under one arm and tried to untie the knots with only one hand!

"I can't untie this knot," Luffy muttered. "And your smell is offending my nostrils. Stupid marine knots."

"Stop screwing around!" Zoro yelled as he tried to pull himself free.

He's insane from the start! They all thought, marvelling at how at ease Luffy was despite the marines getting closer.

"Hmm, that's funny. The knot is getting tighter," Luffy muttered as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Just give me my damn sword!" Zoro yelled in frustration.

"Kay~" As soon as Zoro ceased hold of his swords, he moved so quickly Coby didn't catch how the starved pirate hunter freed himself from his restraints and caught all twenty marines in mid-swing.

"Whoa, cool!" Luffy exclaimed from the display of strength and speed.

"You make one move, and you're dead," Zoro said fiercely. This caused the marines to completely freeze in fear, so Zoro turned to address Luffy. "I promise to be a pirate. Opposing the marines now makes me a wanted man." He narrowed his eyes as he glared at his new captain. "However, I'll tell you one thing. I will always follow my own ambitions!"

This piqued Luffy's interest. "Ambitions?"

"To become the world's greatest swordsman," Zoro proclaimed. "If you ever do anything that causes me to lose my ambitions, you will apologize to me at the end of a sword."

Yasopp barked in laughter. "The first mate just told his captain to commit seppuku!"

"Well the captain did blackmail him," Shanks slapped his sniper's back at how amusing Luffy's first recruitment is going. He was vaguely aware of Rebecca, who was explaining to Carrot and Vivi what seppuku means.

Luffy smiled as if he wasn't being threatened. "Greatest swordsman, huh? Awesome. As the future Pirate King, I'd be embarrassed for you if you couldn't do that much."

Zoro returned Luffy's smile. "Heh, indeed. It doesn't matter if I'm known as a saint or a demon. I will make my name known to the heavens!"

"What are you doing!?" Morgan yelled at his men. "Execute them now!"

The marines were still too afraid of Zoro to move.

"Zoro," Luffy called. "Duck," he said as he swung his leg. The appendage stretched, and like a whip, they took out all twenty marines that Zoro was holding back. Coby jumped in high spirits and cheered for Luffy.

"What are you?" Zoro asked again.

"I ate the Gum Gum Fruit," Luffy smiled.

Dragon smirked. The thought running through his head was shared by the oldest members amongst them watching this. For the longest time, the Gum Gum Fruit was famous for being lame. Their owners always lose control of their limbs. One even couldn't stop falling over because of the rubber joints in his knees. Luffy was a perfect example of how a Devil Fruit is only as powerful as the user.

This baffled Zoro even more. "What's a Gum Gum Fruit?"

"A rubber man!?" one of the marines exclaimed in shock.

"So, he did eat a Devil Fruit," Morgan growled.

"Captain, we're no match for a monster," one of the marines said fearfully.

"And Roronoa Zoro's by his side!" another marine added.

"He's half-dead," Sengoku growled. "The marine force in East Blue needs a serious shape-up."

"And he's clearly still stronger than all of them," Garp acknowledged. "Give them credit for knowing to back down."

Morgan, however, refused to back down. Instead of channelling the frustration to fuel his attacks, he turned his anger to his men. "To all those marines who just complained, take your guns and shoot yourselves in the head. I have no need for such weaklings."

Garp's body moved before he could think, but his fist only passed through Morgan's head. "Bastard."

The marines looked at their captain like he had lost his mind. At the same time, it looked like they were ready to comply with the command.

"What utter crap," Katakuri stated.

"What's wrong with him?!" Vivi shouted.

"What's wrong with his marines?" Despite the question mark, Rebecca was giving a statement.

"Marines would even take their own lives just because their superior said so?" Hancock said dryly. "Pirates certainly don't. We have free will."

Sengoku looked tired at that last jab.

"Lucy, please punch him."

Luffy crossed the short distance in an instant and punched Morgan in the face. Blocking the blow with the broad side of his axe, Morgan wasn't thrown across the field, but Luffy's strength still managed to shook him badly.

Zoro took his sword out of his mouth. He wanted to see what his new captain could do.

"A mere civilian with no rank is no match for me!" Morgan proclaimed as he threw his jacket off. "I am the captain of the marines, Ax-Hand Morgan!"

"I'm Luffy," the straw-hatted boy greeted casually, "Nice to meet ya!"

"Die!" Morgan yelled as he attempted to cut Luffy in half.

Luffy easily dodged the attack, and the ground cracked from the impact of the axe. Morgan was strong, but he was far too slow to keep up with Luffy.

"For starters, I'd have expected Mugiwara-ya to have a bit of a hard time," Law said, "but this is just a one-sided battle. He seems too strong for East Blue standards before he even began his piracy."

"Um," Carrot jumped to close the distance between her and the Red Emperor. She lightly tugged at his sleeve. "It must be because of his home life. What's Gray Terminal like?" She asked quietly, so only Yasopp and Hancock, who were nearby heard her. Carrot did so to avoid Shanks releasing another wave of Haki.

Shanks shook his head. "I don't know what life at Gray Terminal is like, just that it's the place Luffy and Ace lived in when they were kids. Ah, and Sabo. Yo, Sabo!"

"Yes?"

"What's life at Gray Terminal like?" Shanks repeated Carrot's question, loud enough for everyone to hear. Just to let them know that he wasn't going to be releasing his Conqueror's Haki if they're curious about Luffy's homeland.

A smile full of mirth adorned his scarred face. "I'd happily say it's just wildlife, but it's honestly where people live like animals and die like insects," Sabo shrugged at them. Gray Terminal was slightly better than Edge Town, which was a place where one lived in a cramped hundred-square-foot shack if they're lucky. "No running water, no sanitation, deadly daily squabbles over a bucket of water... We're pretty intimate with the Rule of Three."

The revelation distracted them from Luffy's one-sided fight with Morgan. "Lucy lived like that? But..." Rebecca's eyes trailed at Dragon. Most of them did so too. Dragon himself didn't look put off by their unintentional blaming, but he did turn to Garp looking somewhat upset, but also understanding.

Garp, who used to have to look down on Sabo, turned to his tall blond grandson with a questioning look. Sabo gave him a shrug and a smile, confirming to Garp that, yeah, there's no hard feelings.

They turned back to watch Luffy's fight when a yell of delight caught their attention.

Luffy growled nastily once he finally pinned Morgan down. "You ruined Coby's dream!"

Coby's impossible friend proceeded to punch Morgan repeatedly in the face.

"STOP!" Someone yelled, but Luffy didn't pay them any attention. He continued to punch Morgan when the voice yelled again, "I said, stop! Don't you listen?! Can't you see I have a hostage?!"

Finally glancing up – though not before delivering one last punch – Luffy saw Helmeppo holding a gun to Coby's head.

Some were amused. Some were torn between being amused and being worried. Because Helmeppo was shaking badly and barely held his gun correctly.

"If you care for his life, don't move!" Helmeppo ordered.

Luffy stared blankly at Helmeppo.

Coby was frightened and was trembling. He glanced at Luffy, who grinned at him. This was all it took for Coby to regain his confidence. "Luffy, I won't interfere with your dream, even if I die! I'M NOT AFRAID OF DEATH!"

Coby was rewarded with a grin, "Yeah, I know," Luffy said, and he turned his back on Morgan. Luffy approached Helmeppo and exchanged looks with Zoro, before turning his attention back to Helmeppo. "Give it up, you stupid moron. Coby's serious."

Helmeppo was completely panicked now. "DON'T MOVE, STRAW HAT!"

"Huh, so this guy's the one who came up with Luffy's moniker," Shanks said.

Luffy kept walking towards Helmeppo. While this was happening, Morgan stood back up and towered over Luffy.

"Luffy, behind you!" Coby warned.

Helmeppo held the gun closer to Coby's head, Luffy pulled his arm back, Morgan had his axe posed over Luffy's head to cut the teen down in the middle, and Zoro swiftly put his sword in his mouth.

Both blonds were taken out by Luffy's pistol-like attack and Zoro's sword charge. Helmeppo was thrown away, while Morgan collapsed on the ground, his axe just inches from Luffy's head when he was stopped.

"Nice," Luffy said simply. Seeing Coby perfectly safe, he turned to the green-haired swordsman. "Zoro."

Zoro smiled at Luffy. "No problem, captain."

Luffy returned the smile, happy to finally have his first crew member. He also liked Zoro's smile and began to happily giggle when the thought of having the happy responsibility of keeping the happy expression on his crewmates' faces crossed his mind.

Then the strangest thing happened. Everything blinked—reality didn't blur; they just blinked into another reality. They were standing around the prison yard — Shirahoshi was having fun just 'floating' in the concrete and letting only her head poking out of the ground to witness Luffy and the rest and suddenly she floating in the seawater.

The place was the decks of an island. There was a gigantic thing floating on the ocean, and it was probably a ship, but there's a chance it was something else because none of them could make it out because it was just a blur. There were several people on the deck too, but most of them were blurs except for one person.

Luffy, as expected, except that he was a little tyke, his head drowning in the straw hat that was still too big on him. His eyes were determined, although the red corners told them that he had been crying, and he pointed to one blob, and shouted, "I'll have a first mate that's even stronger than you!"

Shanks and Yasopp burst into a giant grin. It was still a blob of a blur, but the two of them knew it had to be Ben Beckman. The rest were still caught off guard and missed the Red-Haired Pirates' expressions.

Everything blinked out of existence, and they were back at the prison yard.

Then Luffy turned to the marines, who had recovered from Luffy's blow but stayed back when they saw him pummeling their captain. "Hey, give me a boat. We're leaving for our pirate journey."

This caused all of them to snicker, despite the disorientation of what seemed to be some kind of flashback.

"I wonder who my precious grandson was talking to," Garp said to no one, but Shanks could hear his accusation.

"P-pirate, but you—but we... huh?" The marine looked lost.

Zoro sneered. "Do you still intend to arrest us?"

They looked at each other before ceremoniously throwing up their guns and swords in cheer.

"YES!"

"WE'RE FREE!"

"Morgan is no more!"

"I'M SO HAPPY!"

"Why are they so happy about Moger being defeated?" Luffy questioned.

"Everyone hated Morgan after all..."

At that moment, Zoro passed out and fell onto the ground with a thump.

Everything blurred back into Rika's restaurant, and in a second, Zoro went from the half-dead bandana-clad swordsman to the perfectly satisfied green-haired man rubbing his stomach. "I'm so full! Starving to death was not fun!"

"You wouldn't last a month in the first place," Luffy, who had mastered the art of talking with food in his mouth, said dryly.

Zoro squinted at him. "How come you can eat that much and still be so scrawny..."

Coby laughed weakly and turned to see Rika and her mother, "Sorry, we're eating your food quite a lot."

"It's okay! Keep eating. It's the least we can give you after saving our town from Lieutenant Morgan's abuse!"

"Oniichan, you're really, really, really strong!"

"Yup! I'm strong, and I'll be stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger!"

Rebecca clapped her hands. Lucy get along so well with kids!

"So, Captain, what's your next plan?"

"To Grand Line."

"LIKE NOW?! TO GRAND LINE!" Coby exploded. "Don't you understand all the world's strongest pirates and marines are there! You just became a pirate this morning!"

"Hey, he's going to be the Pirate King, he'll have to sail the pirate's graveyard. Besides, why are you worrying? You're a marine."

"I'M YOUR FRIEND SO I WORRY!" Then his eyes widened and completely embarrassed, Coby slapped his mouth.

"Aww! Why are you embarrassed? Even though we have to part ways, we'll always be friends!"

Coby beamed. "You two... I haven't had any friends growing up, and I don't know what to do... but you taught me to live by my dream!" He fisted his hands and shouted, "I'm going to become the best marine. I'll be so strong. I'll defeat you one day, Luffy!"

"I'll be so strong you'll never catch me!" Luffy agreed to that promise.

"Before even thinking about that you should think if you'd even be a marine. If they know of your past as a pirate, even if you were just a chore boy, they won't let you join."

"Excuse me!" Rika's restaurant's door opened to reveal the marine Morgan had ordered to kill Rika. Actually, the window revealed even more marines lined up outside along with the town's people. The marine captain cleared his throat. "We are wondering, are you really, truly, pirates?"

"Yes, I just found my first crewmate," Luffy confirmed.

Sengoku's palm met his forehead.

"Even though you are pirates, we are grateful you saved out the town from Axe-Hand Morgan... but since you are pirates, as marines we cannot allow you to stay longer. We will have to report to Headquarters, so please leave."

The town's people got angry. "Hey! They saved us!"

"What kind of bullshit is this?"

"Stop fucking with our lives you marines!"

"They're this town's saviours!"

Luffy just shrugged. "Hmm, well, let's go. Thanks for the food, Rika's mom!"

"Oniichan, are you really leaving?!"

"Luffy...?" Coby said. Zoro didn't say anything but stood up to follow Luffy. And the two pirates walked past Coby.

"Aren't you with them?" The marine captain addressed Coby.

"I...I...I'm not with them!"

Coby couldn't see it as his back was turned, but they all saw Luffy grinning.

"Hold on," he said loudly, indicating that he was addressing to Luffy and Zoro. "Is he telling the truth?"

Luffy pointed to Coby rather rudely. "I know what this guy used to do."

Coby didn't know what to say anymore. "Luffy...?"

The pirate captain faced them and put his hands on his hips and hummed, "Ehhh I can't remember where.. Oh! He used to be with this really fat female pirate captain. I think her name was Albida—"

"How does he pronounce some names right and some wrong?" Marco wondered.

"—and this guy," Luffy has walked closer to Coby and poked him in the head, "Spent two years there—"

"SHUT UP!" Coby punched Luffy in the head, missing to witness Luffy's smug smirk.

Luffy retaliated by punching him in the cheek, "You're asking for a fight?" Coby tried to punch Luffy again, but Luffy was too fast, and he ended up being Luffy's human punching bag.

"Both of you stop it! I won't allow this town to get into any more fights! It's clear he's not with you!"

What finally stopped Luffy from beating Coby was Zoro grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, "Hey, you went overboard."

Coby exhaled in exasperated fondness at Luffy's tough love. "He did it for me," he began to explain, despite no one prompting him. "He wanted to make me hit him."

"Marine-san!" Coby's beaten form bounced after Luffy and Zoro went out of the way. The pink-haired boy faced the marine captain and bowed. "Please let me join the marines! Even if it's chores, I will still do them!"

"He could be a spy for the pirates! We have to check the background of this boy—"

"I AM A MAN WHOSE DREAM IS TO BECOME A MARINE!"

Coby's outburst stopped the people's and marines' murmurs. He had no skill, no intelligence, nothing to offer them but his determination and he will go for it, just like Luffy!

The marine walked past him as he tightened his cap, "Don't think we don't know of your past as a pirate, boy. But I will still allow you to join!"

Coby's happiness skyrocketed. "Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!"

The scene blurred to the docks. The town's people were leading Luffy and Zoro to a modest-sized ship loaded with food, very grateful to their heroes.

"Nice act back there," Zoro said.

"Now Coby's past as a pirate won't matter anymore."

"You hope so. The kid seems like he's a hair's breadth from calling you his friend."

"LUFFY!" They all turned to see Coby, who had pushed past the people, panting harshly. The boy caught his breath and stood straight for a salute. "Thank you very much! I will never forget you for the rest of my life!"

Zoro smirked, "Told you."

Luffy giggled. "Coby! We'll meet again someday!"

"GROUP SALUTE!"

Coby was startled but didn't break his pose. Apparently, all the marines followed him, and they all copied Coby's example.

Luffy waved even more enthusiastically.

Everybody's jaws just had to drop, completely shocked. Marines saluting pirates!

"Marine!" It took him a second for Coby to realize that he was the one being addressed. "You have great friends!"

The bespectacled boy burst into tears. "Yes, sir!"

"Marines! We just saluted pirates, and thus we have violated the marine's code! The punishment will be no food for a week!"

"YES, SIR!"

"Yahooo!" Luffy yelled in glee. "Grand Line, here we come!"

Laughter and cheerful clapping were shared along with incredulous looks.

"They just met, and they're already acting like their old crewmates," Bartolomeo put his hand under his chin and nodded vigorously to himself. He founded Barto Club after Marineford, so he was very happy to have the honour of seeing Luffy-senpai's earlier voyage in the sea. He bet the next one Luffy-senpai recruited is Nami-senpai!

"Luffy was so cute!" Hancock blushed.

"I know, right?!" Sabo's smile stretched his cheeks. And as if all boundaries had collapsed, all the girls gushed together with the big brother. Bartolomeo and Garp somehow wiggled into the fest too.

Sengoku didn't know if he should facepalm at that kind of controversial solidarity or dryly congratulate Garp's grandson.

"The longer I watch Straw Hat, the more he's infecting my brain," Smoker grunted.

"I can't believe this," Crocodile said, "Just how?"

"I met him since he was a kid and I can't figure it out either!" Shanks laughed along with Yasopp.

Law smirked, "Just agree he's mentally insane and moves on."

Aokiji, and Katakuri, could only nod on that.

Ivankov turned to his leader. "Time?"

Dragon lifted his arm, and his sleeve got pulled back a bit, showing his wristwatch. He answered Ivankov and turned back to smile at his son, mirroring Coby.

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