SOL INVICTUS
Chapter Three: Demon Men and Devil Girls
Luffy bounced down the open streets of Shells Town, elated at the thought of gaining her first nakama – though, her full stomach probably had more than a little to do with her good mood. Coby walked beside her, his own excitement significantly curtailed at the civilians' reactions to the name of Captain Morgan. Personally she thought it had been hilarious – she wanted to go back just to see how they'd react to Kaido's name or something. Or maybe they didn't know about the Yonko over here? Hmm... Food for thought.
She skipped the entire dialogue at the front gate of the base by immediately scaling the wall in search for Zoro.
"Wha—Luffy-san, you won't find Demon Beast Roronoa Zoro like that! He'll be—"
"Ooh, there's someone there!" Poor, ignored Coby sighed behind her as she jumped down and ran along beside the wall. "Let's see, let's see... There he is!"
And so he was. The lean body of Roronoa Zoro slumped against a wooden cross, arms tied to the arms of the post and long legs stretched out before him. Luffy ignored Coby's miniature freak out and mulled over her next course of action. "I could just go over there and free him," she mused aloud. She really didn't like to see him in this state. But what repercussions would that have? How would she convince him to join her? Original Luffy had just given the pirate hunter an ultimatum after a day of learning about the man, but she didn't know that she could do the same. She already felt attached to Zoro; it would hurt her to wait and watch as he suffered like this.
"If you let him loose, he'll kill us all and destroy the town!"
"No," Luffy said with an easy grin. She never took her eyes off Zoro's beaten form. "He definitely won't. That's not the kind of person he is."
"How would you know what kind of person he is?!"
Zoro looked up with a grin like the blade of a knife and the eyes of Abaddon. "That's... a good question. Hey... girl... How do you know I won't just lop off your head the moment I'm free?"
Coby shrieked in fear.
"Because you're going to join my crew, that's why."
"What?"
Coby slithered down the wall, away from this strange confrontation.
"Uh-huh. I'm captain of a pirate crew, and I don't want anyone else to be my first mate but you. I'll untie you when you agree."
"Don't do it Luffy-san! He'll kill us the moment he's free!"
"Shishishi! He won't. I won't let him."
Zoro gave her a sharp look. "Che... What reason do I have to lower myself to that level... and under a woman? I'll have to decline..."
Luffy cocked her head in confusion. Why had Zoro made the distinction of her being a girl? Kuina had been a girl, so he knew full well that being female had nothing to do with strength.
"But... you know, I've been here for nine days... I can't stand it anymore... if you untie me, I can make it worth your while... I'll kill someone with a big price and give you the bounty. Trust me... I'm a man of my word."
"Hmm... I don't want the money though. I want you."
"This... is a strange place to be propositioning me... but we can find a hotel room or whatever after you've gotten these ropes off..."
"Why would we need a hotel room?" Luffy asked, confused.
"Oh my god," Coby whimpered, face red.
The tap of wood against brick distracted everyone from what was sure to be a conversation dangerous to Coby's health. A little girl popped up from nowhere with a finger held to her lips.
"Shhh!"
"Ah, wait kid," Luffy said, holding the child by the scruff of her dress before she could go anywhere. "Those are for Zoro, right?"
The man himself was staring at them with narrowed eyes. "You want to die, kid?" he roared. "I'm—not hungry, so take that stuff and beat it!"
The girl faltered at his words, and stared up at Luffy with large eyes. "Why do you wanna know?"
"It's dangerous for you to go down there. I'll do it."
"Really?" The child, Rika, if memory served her well, brightened. "Thanks onee-chan! It's the first time I made rice balls, I hope he likes them."
"I'm sure he will." Luffy leapt down from the wall with rice balls in hand and ambled her way over to the post where Zoro was tied up. "You heard her, right?"
"Take the kid and get lost! It's dangerous for her to be here!"
"Hmm, that's too bad. She's staying until she sees you eat."
"Fine! Give it here, hurry up!" She held up one of the rice balls to his mouth and he chomped at it, hardly even chewing before he swallowed. He had barely finished the first one when the whine of metal hinges interrupted them.
"Oh my, oh my, what's this I see?"
Zoro directed a glare to the owner of the voice. "Tsk. If it isn't the dumbass son leeching off of Daddy's wealth."
"Idiot! You're in no position to be saying such things! You, girl! Did you make that rice ball?" His eyes went to the napkin held in front of Luffy's chest.
The restrained swordsman stiffened but Luffy easily answered, "Yeah, it was all me."
Morgan's dumbass son glanced up at her face, shadowed almost entirely by her hat and appeared to find nothing of interest there before his eyes were magnetically drawn back to the rice ball. Or was his gaze a little past the rice ball? Hmm.
He smirked and said, "If you feed it to me, I'll conveniently forget that you just assisted a criminal."
"Nope. These are for Zoro, not for you."
With a sneer, he said, "Don't you see that sign over there? Anyone aiding this prisoner will be found guilty! Do you want to be killed? Don't you know how scary my father is?"
"He can't be much scarier than your haircut."
"Why you—! I can have you shot!"
Luffy laughed. "You can sure try," she agreed.
That seemed to be the last straw. "Men! Shoot this woman!"
"B-but..."
"Sir, she's just a civilian girl!"
"Are you disobeying direct orders? I'll tell daddy on you! Shoot her already!"
The four marines at Helmeppo's back slowly raised their guns and trained it at Luffy's head. Said pirate glanced behind her in alarm. She could probably avoid everything, but then they would reach Coby and Rika, who were peering over the fence. But not avoiding it would mean revealing her rubber abilities a little too early, thereby robbing her of the advantage of shock.
Or, she thought, she could just do this.
Luffy threw herself to the ground face first with the rice ball cradled to her chest. The business ends of the guns followed her. After a long moment's hesitation, the four men pulled the trigger and four bullets entered through her back just behind where her heart rested.
Helmeppo sneered at the girl laying prone on the ground. He couldn't see any blood, but her red vest was probably soaking it all up. No one could have survived that. "Ha! That's what you get!"
Nose in the air, he left the courtyard, four subdued men at his back.
"LUFFY-SAN!"
The little girl tried to squirm away from Coby's hands over her eyes. "What was that sound? What happened to the nice onee-chan?"
"S-shit! Woman, you're not dead already, are you? Oi! Kid! Get her to a hospital!"
Coby prepared to launch himself over the fence, only to be stopped in place by a familiar voice.
"No need." Luffy sat up. The skin that had been held in place by firmly packed dirt stretched even further for a moment, before snapping back into place. Bullets whizzed out of her back, all four at once.
"What the hell?"
"Ahahaha, are you surprised?"
"Who the fuck wouldn't be? What hell was that?!"
Luffy tilted her head back and grinned at the wide-eyed Zoro. "I ate a devil fruit, and now my entire body is made of rubber. Cool, right?"
He stared at her for another moment before relaxing marginally. "More like inhuman."
"That's funny, coming from the so-called demonic beast."
"Demonic beast, huh..." He smirked and shook his head. "Whatever, that kind of thing isn't important. Just get out of here, that other kid's having an ulcer. No—wait, before you go..." Luffy peered down, following Zoro's gaze with her own, and frowned. Despite her best efforts, the bullets had gone through the cloth and spilled some of the rice into a shapeless blob on the ground. She'd hoped to save Zoro from this particular scene, but clearly the universe wanted Zoro to prove himself this way, and no other. At least it wasn't so dirty as it had been in the manga… and there was one way to help him out. "Pick that up for me. Don't miss a single grain!"
Luffy did as she was told and scraped up every single part of the original rice ball off the ground, rubbing off dirt where she could. Zoro opened his jaw wide, obviously expecting her to shove the entire thing in. Instead, the part of the onigiri that was still in the napkin went into his mouth, while the dirt crusted portion went into hers, to Zoro's obvious confusion.
Luffy didn't chew. She ran her tongue over the grains of rice and began to separate the dirt and pieces of grit from the edible parts, swallowing the impurities to keep them separate. When she was relatively satisfied with the result, she angled Zoro's head up with her palms, tilted his jaw open, and met his mouth with her own.
"Mmpf?!"
When every last piece of rice was in his mouth, Luffy swiftly separated from the man.
"Chew," she ordered when he didn't move. He slowly began to work his teeth, still staring at her. "When I was little, there was this one time when I got so sick that I couldn't eat anything solid. But I really can't live on only soups; I needed meat to get better. So what my gramps did was, he chewed the meat for me and fed it from his mouth – like a momma bird. I just think that dirt and rocks can't be very good for a man who's been starving for nine days."
"Why… do you care?"
"Because!" She perked up. "You're gonna be my first mate, and I always take care of my nakama."
"You're so shameless! I said I'm not joining your crew!" he told her, halfheartedly kicking out his legs. Luffy danced out of the way with a grin and the pirate hunter quickly calmed.
"But, tell the girl... thanks. And tell her… Tell her that it was very..." He slowly licked his lips, his eyes never leaving hers. "Delicious."
"Sure thing!" Luffy said with a cheery departing wave. "I'll be back, so just wait a bit!"
Coby wanted to slam his head on something as he watched the insinuation in the Demon Beast's voice fly over Luffy's head the same way she flew over the brick fence.
"Hey, kid, Zoro told me to tell you thanks!"
He was clearly talking about you! Coby wanted to yell, but refrained.
"Really? I'm so glad, I worked hard on it!"
"Uhn! He said it was super yummy, so all that effort must have really paid off."
Dense. Dense, dense, dense, dense. She was so very dense.
Coby despaired for all of the men this girl would meet in the future.
"Ne, why do I have to get new clothes?" Luffy whined, her lower lip jutting in a petulant pout.
"Because!" Coby exclaimed, his cheeks red. "Your shirt is all damaged!"
Luffy peered down at her front. The bullets had pierced through her vest and part of her bindings, and walking back to the town had made the white cloth unravel fully. Now there was torn fabric right above her heart and nothing to hide the view of the valley of her breasts, which strained heavily against her shirt.
She shrugged. It wasn't that bad. There were clothes that were designed to show more skin that this.
"I don't want to."
"You have to! You really have to! Please do it! Please do it right now!" He pushed her with all his strength – admittedly not that much – into one of the clothing shops littering the streets.
"Ah, sheesh. I'll do it if you'll stop nagging about everything."
"Deal! Now please clothe yourself!"
Boys, Luffy thought, rolling her eyes. She grabbed a random something from a rack and went to the changing rooms. So obsessed with modesty or whatever. If he'd just been patient, I have a change of clothes back on ship.
Ace had been much the same, actually, always yelling at her for trying to take off clothes during training. What hypocrisy, coming from someone who went around almost half naked. What's the point of a shirt if you aren't going to let it fulfill its purpose? Just go without one, no need to pretend you aren't constantly bragging about your muscles.
Sabo, on the other hand... Sabo hadn't had a chance to do that, really, before that incident had taken him away. Luffy wondered where he was, what he had been doing since she'd last seen him. She missed him.
"Ah." Luffy realised she'd actually put on a dress, not a shirt. It bound her breasts tightly and was loose from the hips and down over her shorts, leaving fabric for her legs to move and stretch as she needed.
How convenient, she wouldn't need bindings like this! It was cheap too. She'd keep it. Luffy paid for the yellow dress and quickly spotted Coby waiting in the crowd with Rika at his side.
"Done," she said, poking the both of them. They both shrieked with shock, though Coby would probably swear otherwise if she teased him. "Let's get some food."
Rika squealed in surprise and stared up at her. Luffy's hat was hanging by its string at her neck, so her face was completely uncovered for the first time since setting foot on Shells Town. "Onee-chan, you're actually so pretty!"
"That's great but I'm hungry."
Coby gaped at her, but he quickly gathered his wits and turned to march out of the shop, muttering to himself all the while. She only heard short snatches of what he was saying, but it was enough to feel vaguely insulted. "Don't be fooled... an idio-... -tubborn... unbelievably selfi-... -ats like a pig..."
Just in case he really was talking about her, she reached out and punched him in the head.
"OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"
"I felt like it."
"So you see, Zoro-san isn't a bad guy at all! Captain Morgan and his son are the bad ones!"
"So I see," Luffy agreed as she picked at her teeth with a bone. Outside, she could hear a certain someone's whiny voice announcing the public execution that would reputedly occur in three days from now.
Well, time to pent some energy.
"Hey, you!" She yelled as she stomped outside. She passed over the conversation about the promise and went straight to the good part.
"Who are you—?"
Luffy grabbed his scruff and punched him, hard, and on the other side too just for good measure. Then she threw the unconscious idiot down and strode to the execution yard, ignoring the shocked cries and Coby's shouts behind her.
Original Luffy had said it was a waste of a punch, but damn if that crunch hadn't felt satisfying.
"Yo." Her head popped over the brick wall and she grinned at the surprised looking Zoro.
"You really came back, huh."
"Yup! And here, I got you something." She launched herself in his general direction and skidded to a stop just a few inches away. "Here."
She held up a water bottle and its straw to his lips. His eyes sharpened and he nearly lunged at it, gulping down the liquid with frightening desperation. It was understandable. Normal humans could go without water for one week, at the most. Zoro must have lasted longer on pure will and determination.
As he finished the last of the water, Zoro glanced up and smirked. "You didn't have to dress up for me."
"Good, because I didn't. My name is Luffy, by the way."
He rolled his eyes. "I'm still not joining your crew."
"I'll untie you if you join my crew, all right?"
"You're completely not listening!" He sighed and continued, "Look, I have a goal I'm going to reach at all costs, and degrading myself to becoming a pirate under a fucking woman has nothing to do with it. I live by my own code, and I never have and never will do anything that I regret. So scram! I'm not joining your crew!"
"A goal, huh? It wouldn't happen to be becoming the world's greatest swordsman, would it?"
"How did you—?"
"You use swords... and I recognized your eyes, the way they're set to go straight to the top. I have a dream too, you know. It isn't hard to put the facts together."
"Really," he said skeptically. "Not that I care, but what's your 'dream' then?"
Luffy beamed. "I'm going to be the Pirate King!"
Roronoa Zoro choked on his spit. "You what?! You're just a woman! Don't you know what that means?"
She blinked at him and tilted her head. "Of course I know. What's your point?"
Twitch. "What's my—?!" He sighed and slumped, the fire draining out of him. "I don't know why I'm trying so hard with a bullhead like you."
"So where are your swords? They're your most valued treasures, right? Next to your life that is."
"How did you—?" He narrowed his eyes. "You seem to know a lot about me."
"It's 'cause we share a lot of things in common." Luffy's fingers ghosted over the wide brim of her straw hat. "Anyway, where are they?"
"That Morgan's dumbass son took them away."
"Then I'll go get them for you so you can join my crew. I can't have my swordsman without his swords!"
"I said I'm not joining your crew!" he roared.
"Okay, see you when I get back."
She began making her way to the fortress, ignoring Zoro's cries of, "OI! Come back! You idiot!"
Helmeppo should be up on the rooftop with his dad right now. While she could grab him like the other Luffy had, that would also result in Coby's being shot in the shoulder. So she'd find another way.
But... their faces would have been hilarious if she went up there and broke the statue again!
No, bad Luffy. Just try and figure out which room is Helmeppo's. Let's see...
His was a room with a window facing the courtyard, and there weren't many of those. It also hadn't taken Luffy very long to get there from the roof, meaning it was very high, probably on the top few floors. There were only two windows that matched those descriptions.
Eenie meenie minie—ah, who cares, just choose the one closer to Zoro.
Luffy shot her arm up and launched herself straight through the right window.
Bingo.
Garish pink walls, scattered perfume bottles, an elephant jewelry box, and three out-of-place katana. They alone stood quiet and refined in this pomp and were all the more dignified for it.
She grabbed all three of them and tied them to her back with a ripped up shirt.
I hope that was your favorite, dumbass son!
"Shishishi!" Luffy peered outside and was glad to see no marines gathered outside, though Coby was there all the same, trying and failing to undo Zoro's bonds.
The look on their faces when she dove into Zoro's post feet first was enough to set her laughing again.
"AHAHAHA!"
The impact had broken the post nearly clean in half, a spiderweb of cracks splintering through the entire structure. One strong stomp, and the entire cross was just debris under her feet. The ropes binding Zoro slithered down his limbs, having nothing to support them now that the beams of wood were gone.
"IDIOT WOMAN ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME—ah, I'm free."
"Yup! And I have your swords, too." She grinned at him. "So Roronoa Zoro, join my pirate crew!"
"Give me my swords and I'll give you my answer." She handed them to him, not even considering that he could be tricking her until he smirked. "And my answer is this: no."
"I don't accept your answer. Try again."
"What? Look girl, I'm grateful for everything, but I'm not going to throw away my life's mission because some wench won't take no for an answer. I heard you punched the dumbass son, so I'll go kill Morgan and his wimp of an offspring before they can do anything to you. So get going!"
"Not until you say yes."
Zoro narrowed his eyes and unsheathed Wado Ichimonji. He pointed it at her, and said, "I'm never going to prostrate myself under a woman, so fucking scram already."
"No."
"Move."
"No."
"Move!" He ran at her, sword poised to stab. Luffy could tell that he wasn't moving as fast as he could have; even in a half-dead state, she knew he could be quicker than this. He was clearly expecting her to dive out of the way.
She didn't budge an inch.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Zoro stared at the bloody blade exiting the girl's back.
He tried to jerk it out, only to have Luffy wrap her hands around his and push the sword further into herself.
He choked in shock.
"... Why?"
She grinned, and the sun shone in her eyes like molten gold. "Roronoa Zoro. As the man who will become the greatest swordsman in the world... won't you stand at the side of the future Pirate King?"
"Ha." He bent forward, allowing his bandana to shadow his eyes. "Ha... haha... hahaha... HAHAHAHA!" Zoro threw his head back and roared with laughter until he collapsed. His chest heaved as he stared up at her from the ground, a wry grin on his face. "I... guess I never stood a chance, huh? Fine, you little devil of a woman! I'll join your crew! But know this. I am going to be the greatest swordsman in the world. The moment you interfere with my goal, I will have you cut open your own stomach in apology!"
She grinned her great big grin, the one that was all teeth and squinting eyes and joy. "Of course! As the companion of the Pirate King, if you couldn't accomplish something that small, I would be very embarrassed!"
"Che." A grin spread across his own face. "Well said."
"This is a relief though." Luffy peered down at the sleek length of metal still imbedded in her stomach. "I don't know if I could have survived a second one of these. Man, am I glad you didn't aim for my heart!"
Zoro gave her a disbelieving look. "You were prepared to die, just to have me in your crew?"
She stuck her tongue out. "A man is only as strong as the people at his side, you know."
"You're a woman!"
"So?" Luffy cocked a confused brow. "What's the difference?"
There are many! he wanted to say.
But then he tried to apply his usual beliefs of what he considered the weaker sex to this pirate and discovered – he couldn't.
They just didn't fit.
And then Zoro wondered what Kuina would think of Luffy.
Kuina, who had been his rival and the closest thing he had had to a best friend, who had thought that women were weak just by virtue of their birth...
What would he think about this little devil of a girl?
His was a viewpoint that Zoro had ended up adopting as well somewhere along the line, perhaps as a kind of tribute to his friend's memory. But he didn't think such a preconception would stand against the woman who wanted to be Pirate King—king, not queen. Honestly, what was wrong with this girl?
Zoro would have to shed his bias completely, if he was to keep moving forward. Without a doubt, being next to an impossible woman like this would only attract more impossible things.
As for Kuina...
Well, that guy would just have to deal with it from wherever in the afterlife he was.
Luffy winced as Zoro carefully extracted Wado Ichimonji, but very determinedly did not say anything. She did protest when she saw the sluggishly bleeding hole though. "Ah! I just got this dress! Damn it!"
"You should have thought of the repercussions before taking a blade to the gut," Zoro commented with a dull glare.
"Whatever," she pouted. She ripped off the end of her skirt and bound her wound with it. The dress was ruined anyway – blood was hell to wash out. "Let's just go kick some marine ass."
Luffy cracked her knuckles and stomped to the fortress, Zoro only a step behind – as it should be.
"Hey. You know, the normal marines here aren't that bad. Do you think you can fight those other guys without killing any of them?"
Her first mate slowly reached up and reversed the blade in his mouth so the dull side faced outward. She smiled and took a deep breath.
"OOOIIIII! MORGAN! YOU STUPID FAILURE OF A MARINE CAPTAIN WHO CAN'T EVEN CAPTURE A SINGLE PIRATE! GET YOUR UGLY MUG DOWN HERE, OR I'LL GO TO YOU INSTEAD, YOU DUMB WEAKLING!"
Several moments of silence passed, and then there was a roar of absolute rage from within the building. Several more moments and the man himself charged out of the front doors, a regiment of marine soldiers following behind him. "WHO DARES? WHO DARES INSULT THE GREAT ME?!"
Luffy grinned again, but this was not one of her happy beams. This was danger and sharp edges and predator. "Me."
Without further ado, she launched herself at the incensed blond, Zoro immediately falling into place behind her, decimating the soldiers who tried to stop his captain.
A "Gomu gomu no whip!" and the marines in her way fell like dominoes.
"What the hell was that?!" someone yelled, and while original Luffy would have stopped to explain that he was a rubber human – shonen manga, honestly – there was no room for such words in a real fight. Bullets whizzed towards her and she caught them with her outstretched limbs, sending them back into the crowd of marines – more specifically, at the shocked looking Morgan.
"Impossible!"
"That woman isn't human!"
"She must have eaten one of the legendary fruits of the sea. If guns don't work, use swords!" Morgan roared, throwing his jacket off of his shoulders.
"All yours, Zoro," she said, speeding on a straight course to her target.
"Of course, captain."
Her first mate blazed through the ranks of marines like a meteor, felling men with a single swipe of his sword, while she herself allowed a vicious smile to curve her lips. She stretched an arm back, back, further back, and – "Pistol!" – sent it sailing forwards straight to Morgan's face.
The larger man raised his axe to block the attack, and though her fist didn't shatter the iron as she'd hoped – have to work on that – the force was such that he was thrown clear across the makeshift battlefield to crash into the wall of the fortress.
"GRAH! YOU LITTLE BITCH!"
She grabbed a marine near the straining Morgan and used the man to launch herself into the captain's chest feet first. Her wound from Zoro stretched and howled with pain, but she mentally packed that away to deal with it later.
Her landing was announced with a "GUH!" and a coughed spattering of blood decorating her calves.
Morgan swiped viciously at her ankles with his axe, but she had already jumped into the air with her knees tucked into her chest. Both feet shot out and stomped him in the face, driving his head further into the stone as she used his head as a launchboard to flip back in the air.
"C-captain Morgan can only be kicked around!"
Really, it was too boring if he couldn't at least try to fight back. Luffy stood with her hands readied in fists as she waited for Morgan to extract himself from the hole.
The large man heaved himself onto his feet with a ferocious glare and his axe arm shot out in a powerful slash.
"Hupp~!" Luffy bent low to the ground this time, and the cutting wind went well over her head. She heard the crash of metal links and brick crumbling to the ground but didn't bother to look back to see it, instead stretching her arm to grab hold on her enemy's booted ankle. Spinning out of the way of a downward slash, her body shot forward except for a single foot, and by the time Morgan had caught onto what she was doing, her sandal was already on a crash course to his jaw. The crunch of broken teeth sounded through her bones and she pushed away from the tottering Goliath before he could fall on top of her.
"You're a poor excuse of a marine captain," she told the man, who was struggling to stand back onto his feet. "Oppressing those you're meant to protect… destroying Coby's dreams…!"
Because don't think she hadn't noticed the devastated look in her friend's eyes every time he saw a civilian cowering away from a marine. In his mind, marines were meant to shield, to safeguard, to serve true justice; watching these men harm the very same people who relied on them for shelter and security was like driving an ice pick straight into his heart.
Luffy grabbed Morgan's collar, drew her elbow back, and – "WAIT! Stop right there!" – drilled it straight into his skull.
"I said wait! Are you an idiot?!"
Luffy glanced up to see exactly what she had expected to see. A shaking Helmeppo stood with Coby at gunpoint. The younger boy's legs quivered madly, but his eyes shone with determination. She'd wondered if this particular scene could be avoided by leaving Coby far away, but clearly the Plot Matrix had decided it was necessary, and who was she to stunt her friend's character growth?
"If you want this guy to live, don't move!"
Zoro, who fell into step beside her, muttered, "Looks too scared."
She smirked. "Scared and holding a gun. 'S a good combination."
Coby braced himself and screamed, "Luffy! I'm not afraid of death! So… don't let me get in your way!"
"Yup!" she answered with a big grin. "I know!"
"I said not to move—!"
"Hey, you dumbass son! Coby's not afraid of death." She wound up her arm. "So go ahead…"
"LUFFY, BEHIND YOU!"
"I am the great marine captain...!"
"... and shoot!"
Her fist hurtled to Helmeppo's ugly face the same moment Zoro blurred past her, swords turned blade-side out.
The marines were cheering, Coby was laughing, Zoro was sitting haphazardly on the ground – but not passed out like the original Zoro, so perhaps her little bit of help had done some good – and all was well.
Luffy removed the mental block to her pain and her breath hitched from the surge of ow, ow, hurts! that burned liquid fire through her wound and reached up to clamp a heavy hand over her throat. Zoro gave her a curious glance when she staggered but the onslaught was gone as quickly as it had come and left only the dull ache the wound was causing at this present moment. By the time the swordsman's eyes turned to her a second time, this time in worry, Luffy was already straightening up as if nothing had happened.
Compartmentalization was excellent to use during battle. It allowed her to block out the information coming in from her pain receptors so that a wound wouldn't inconvenience her in the middle of an attack; even the slightest flinch or falter could change the tides of a match, and she liked to have her advantages when it counted.
The problem came after the battle was over. She couldn't ignore all pain forever. It was unhealthy and would kill her better than anything else could: she could be burnt alive or spilling out her guts and she wouldn't know any better. But the instant the block was lifted, all of that accumulated data rushed straight to her brain, all at once, and it hurt like nothing else. Of course once that moment of agony was over, everything was back to normal… but she knew that one day, some indeterminate years into the future, there would come a time when she wouldn't survive that rush of torturous pain.
To triumph in battle but then be defeated by her own body... well, that was a pathetic way to die. She'd prefer to go down in a blaze of glory, or exempting that, while protecting her loved ones.
Ah, all this future-thinking was giving her a headache. Best stay with the here and now – she had things to do.
Luffy put her hands to her hips and grinned at her two new friends. "You guys go eat first. I need to ask a favour from these marines."
Coby blinked in surprise and Zoro angled her a look, because what kind of favour would a pirate need from marines? But starvation won out over suspicion and he left without a second glance, Coby trailing at his heels.
"Look, miss, we're grateful that you've saved us from Captain Morgan, but if you ask us to do anything that goes against the marine code of conduct, we will have to refuse—"
"Nothing so complicated as that. I just need a den den mushi. Oh, and a directory for the Vice Admirals' numbers."
Because Morgan seriously pissed her off, and she wanted to cover all her bases.
"What d'you want?" the little snail snapped.
Luffy grinned. Abrupt and rude as ever, her gramps was.
"Grandpapa~! It's me!"
"IS IT REALLY—? LUFFY, MY ADORABLE GRANDDAUGHTER!"
"Shishishi, did you miss me?"
"Of course I did! Why are you calling from a marine base? Have you finally come to your senses and joined the marines? LUFFY, I AM SO PROUD—"
"Nope. Sorry, but I'm still not joining the marines."
There was a palpable air of disappointment coming from the den den mushi, and – was that a pout?
It was. The snail was pouting.
Pff, her gramps was so funny.
"I'm just calling to tell you that you might soon be getting a call from East Blue to pick up a convict who used to be a marine captain—"
"How would you know something like that?"
"Eh, it's a long story. Anyway, if you do, you have to make sure not to get hurt during the exchange, okay? If you let the guy that I disciplined for you to escape, I'll be really disappointed!"
"You underestimate your grandaddy! Why would I let a weakling like that escape?"
"By falling asleep."
There was a silent pause as they both acknowledged this possibility.
"And if you meet a guy named Coby, just know that he comes with a Luffy stamp of approval, okay?"
"What? Luffy—"
"Alright, I have to go now! I love you, gramps!" Luffy hung up on her grandfather before he could ask further questions and giggled. That proclamation of love, while true, would also serve to keep her gramps off her back for a while longer. He was a bit of a sucker for affection and he had a soft spot for her like nothing else.
(Because the poor man was in desperate need of love, and really, who else would cuddle him and pepper him with kisses? Ace? Sengoku? Dragon? Even original Luffy hadn't been emotive enough for that, with all his male pride and Fist of Love induced terror. She, however, adored cuddling, so it was no skin off her back if gramps liked to grab her and rub their cheeks together every time he saw her.)
Luffy exited what used to be Morgan's office and headed down to the ground floor. She passed the open door to the infirmary, where Morgan and his dumbass son were both being temporarily detained while the marines figured out what to do with both of them. Morgan was still knocked out from the beating he had taken, but Helmeppo was awake and spitting mad.
"You bitch! The moment my father gets free, you'll regret what you've done!"
And Luffy saw before her eyes one last loose thread to be tucked into shape.
"You know," she said as she slowly entered the room. She made her way to the chair Helmeppo was tied up in and bent over him. He flinched away from the light touch on his cheek, already aware of what those dainty fingers could do if provoked. "You... have so much more potential than this. Your insistence on clinging to a father who doesn't even love you is holding you back. You could be so much more if you just tried." She leaned back onto her heels, her spine set straight as she considered him seriously. He returned that gaze with an expression that was a boiling pot of emotion, of fury, shock, terror, and wonder. Had anyone ever done this for him? Had anyone ever told him that he could be someone capable of living life on his own merits? Helmeppo was an ugly jerkface, sure, but he was an understandable one. "Face the world standing on your own two feet, reach for opportunity with your own two hands, look for strength from your own beating heart. You'll be surprised at how much you can accomplish with your own power. Don't waste the existence you've been given, okay?"
One last clap of his skinny shoulder and she strode out of the silent room, determined to get some food into her belly before it ate her alive.
A wide-eyed blond was left in her wake, his gaze directed at nothing, but filled with determination that hadn't been there prior.
Her little boat filled with supplies, her wound tended to with utmost care, her hunger satiated, a minor beating administered, proclamation of eternal friendship shared (Coby had somehow looked simultaneously overjoyed and uncomfortable), and Luffy was setting sail from Shells Town with a new nakama and a sharp line of salutes to see her off.
Zoro chuckled as Luffy wriggled in excitement and threw her fists in the air.
"WOO! GRAND LINE HERE WE COME!"
Notes —
By the way, this will be a harem (well, as much as that's possible with a protagonist like Luffy). Because I love crack pairings (like you wouldn't believe) and find it hard to choose, and because ikemen are aplenty in One Piece so why not make use of them?
In this chapter, Luffy indirectly saved one person and sentenced another to death. The man who refused to kill Rika lived, while the man who accidentally scraped Morgan's statue's hand died (because she was not there to distract Morgan from going through with it this time). That's just how it is.
(Edited October 2016.)
[10/01/16: beta'd by beribboned. so talented! so clever! cute!]