Chapter 3
A/N: Quite a few of you reminded me that I forgot to put some info up last chapter. Opps. Luffy is a couple years younger in this story, and everyone else is the same age as the manga. Why did he leave so early? Because they finally got rid of Doflamingo (maybe?), so Luffy feels safe enough to set sail without worrying about the pink bastard going after his family and his future crew. He didn't make a promise to anyone about leaving at a certain age in this story, and really, no one wanted him to leave just yet (or ever). But Whitebeard figures, 'Why not? Go for it. He's going to leave eventually anyway.' And Whitebeard trusts Luffy to be able to take care of himself (of course, he and the rest of the family will be keeping tabs on him). Luffy just wants to hurry and be the Pirate King.
Coby isn't sure what to think anymore. It's been only two days since he's sailed with the strange brothers. Strange doesn't even cover it. They sleep together in the same hammock. They even asked if he wanted to join them. He's not even sure if they were being serious or teasing him. They even take naps together out on the deck. All three of them! Do they even know what a lookout is? Granted, nothing has happened, but still! They should at least have one awake at all times to make sure nothing happens. What if they were attacked? Or a whirlpool shows up? Or...or something!
Then when it's time to eat, they'd give Coby all the canned stuff, not wanting to eat it themselves. Not that he was complaining. They were good and edible. Why did they even take it then? All they ate were raw fruits, and they cooked the meat themselves. And they ate a lot. At least they were kind enough to share some with him. He's so glad they were near the island they wanted to go to. There isn't enough food to last the rest of the day with the amount they ate. He could have sworn they had enough to last at least a week or more with how much they've taken from Alvida.
And Luffy actually complained about there not being enough seakings swimming around. Luckily, they haven't ran into any yet. Something Coby is extremely grateful for. Luffy even mentioned something about the seakings were not big enough. That made Coby wonder what kind of seakings they've seen and where they've been.
Let's not forget the outlandish tales they tell. An island under the sea? Giants? Islands in the sky? Goldfish with poop as big as an island? Coby couldn't believe the older brothers would even go along with the stories Luffy told, even adding bits and parts to the stories. He could only shake his head at the boy's wild imagination. Coby isn't that gullible to believe all those strange tales.
What Coby finds even weirder is that the older brothers are willing to let Luffy sail alone when Luffy doesn't know how to use a compass, nor does he want to. Apparently, the youngest doesn't like the fact that the compass only points in one direction and not the direction he wants. That's common sense, right? All compasses points north. It's always north. Always been that way. Right?
Even though he's only met these brothers, he's already considers them his friends and is very worried for the youngest to sail alone for many other reasons. He's never had friends before. Everyone usually just makes fun of him or push him around. These three didn't laugh at his dream of being a Marine Admiral. They even helped him leave Alvida Pirates and is willing to take him to a Marine Base.
"We're finally at the Marine base!" Luffy cheers as the hops off the ship.
"Great. Now we need to-" Sabo starts before Luffy cut in.
"Food!"
"Right, we need to get something to eat," the blond nods as if that was what he had planned on saying, as they all followed Luffy who had started running off without them.
Both Sabo and Ace had their hood of their cloak up to hide their identity. They were on a Marine Island, after all. It's best to be careful. They just hoped no one would recognize Luffy. Luckily, his wanted poster is of him in a dress, and it doesn't say whether the person is male or female, just his name. They have their fingers crossed that no one would recognize him until he has enough trustworthy crew mates, and that the marines and people of East Blue doesn't keep tabs of Grand Line pirates.
Once Luffy and Coby took a seat, Ace and Sabo went up to the woman at the counter to make their order requests.
Coby watched Luffy curiously, as the boy ate his first plate at a normal pace. This is the first time that he's every seen Luffy eat like a normal person. Then after finishing, the pirate-captain-to-be gave a wide grin before attacking the rest of the plates laid out on the table for him at his normal fast-paced eating. Coby really wanted to ask what that was about but didn't see the point. If he had learned anything from staying with the trio for the short time, it was that the two older brothers don't like giving away information about themselves, Luffy included, unless it was about the strange things they've supposedly seen. Luffy may answer, but his answers tends to be as far fetched as his adventure stories or a jumbled mess that doesn't make sense.
"I wonder if Zoro is still at the Marine Base," Luffy says, patting his full stomach after he finished eating.
The other customers in the restaurant got up so fast that the tables and chairs got overturned. All four of them look around at the fear in the faces of the other patrons, even though most of them were watching the two cloaked figures warily before.
"Looks like the name 'Zoro' is taboo here," Coby leans in to whisper to them. He sat back up and mentions seeing a notice in the streets that there was someone called Captain Morgan at the base, to which they received the same treatment.
The three brothers were laughing as they left the restaurant.
"Oh my God! That was hilarious," Sabo wheezed with an arm around Ace's neck to hold himself up, with the other doing the same.
"Hey, guys," Coby says with a hint of nervousness in his voice, "I have a bad feeling about this. I understand why the people there had that reaction to Roronoa Zoro's name, but why would they be afraid of a Marine Captain's name too?"
"Maybe he did something bad," Luffy says as he leads them towards where he thinks the Marine Base is.
"That's impossible!" Coby shouts, feeling the need to defend the Marines.
""No need to get defensive,"" Ace and Sabo lean their elbows on either side of Coby's shoulders.
"We're not being bias just because we're pirates," Ace says.
"How about this," Sabo continues when Coby looks at Ace, eyes full of doubt, "we're pirates." Sabo gestures to himself and his brothers. "What do you think of us?"
"What I think about you..." Coby trails off in thought. After a moment of thought, he hunched his shoulders, making himself smaller. "I know we just met and all," he says meekly, poking his pointer fingers and thumbs at each other, "but I think of you guys as friends. Is that okay? To think of you as friends? Even though we haven't known each other for very long? I know you're pirates and all, and I want to be a marine, but I still think of you as my friends."
"Hey, guys," Luffy calls out from in front of them. "I think that's the Marine Base."
Ace gave Coby a shoulder bump before going to join Luffy climbing up the wall of the base.
"We thought of you as a friend since the day you sailed with us. We wouldn't have let you on our ship otherwise," Sabo says softly, looking at his brothers with a warm smile. "Just remember that not all Marines are good and not all pirates are bad. You have to see things with your own eyes and judge what is right and wrong on your own. Don't let others tell you what to think."
Coby's feet froze as Sabo went off to join his brothers, happy that they thought of him as a friend also. He quickly wiped the tears that were about to fall and ran to catch up with the brothers.
"Hey, Coby," Luffy says from his right, "is that the monster?"
Coby nearly slips from his hold on the wall when he caught sight of the prisoner. "Th-tha-that black bandana and haramaki and intimidating aura, it's Z-Z-Zoro," he confirms.
"Hmm? So that's Zoro," Ace places his chin on his arms that are crossed over the wall. "Those ropes looks easy enough to break. Wonder why he's still there."
The four of them look over to their left when a ladder all of the sudden showed up with a little girl climbing over it. Coby freaked out when the girl ran over to Zoro with something in her hands. "Someone go stop her! She's going to get killed!"
"Why don't you do it yourself?" Sabo says casually as he observes the girl.
They watched as the girl offered her onigiri to Zoro, only for the swordsman to yell at her to go away. Then a young man in a suit and two marines come in.
"He must be someone important. Thank goodness. The girl is safe now," Coby breaths a sigh of relief.
Ace and Sabo scowled when the suit guy grabbed an onigiri only to make a face of disgust after taking a bite and then stomping it into the ground.
"That bastard," Ace growls.
"How pathetic," Sabo spat at how the guy keeps mentioning his father. "No backbone at all." He stays where he is and trusts Ace to catch the girl as she was being tossed over the wall.
Ace stays on the ground with the girl when Luffy finally climbs over the wall to walk over to the prisoner after the marines and the wimpy guy left.
"What do you want?" Zoro grunts when Luffy stops in front of him. "Don't think I didn't notice you guys watching from over there," he turns his head to see Sabo and Coby still there at the wall watching them.
"I'm looking for people to join my pirate crew," Luffy says with a wide smile.
"Pirate?" Zoro scoffs. "So you gave up on life and became an outlaw, huh?"
"There's nothing wrong with being a pirate! It's my dream," Luffy defends.
"Let me guess, you're going to set me free and force me to join your crew."
"I haven't made up my mind yet, since everyone thinks you're a bad guy."
Zoro thought it was weird how the kid in front of him went from defensive to happy quickly, especially while saying he's a 'bad guy.' "A bad guy, huh? I'll never join you because I have something I need to do. I could survive even without your help. If I can survive a month here, I'll be set free. That's what the idiot son promised me. I'm going to do everything I can to stay alive and fulfill my dream!"
"Really?" Luffy says curiously. "I think I'd starve to death in a week."
"That's why we're different. Go find someone else to join your crew. Hold on," Zoro stops Luffy from leaving. "Could you pick that up for me?" he nods his head towards the squished onigiri on the ground.
"You want to eat this?" Luffy says in confusion, even though he bent over to pick it up. "It's all muddy. Well, I guess you can't be picky if you're hungry."
"Shut up and give it to me already." Zoro had his mouth open, waiting for the muddy onigiri.
"Do you want to kill yourself?" Luffy comments as Zoro tries not to choke on the muddy onigiri.
"Tell that girl, 'The onigiri was very girl, thank you very much,'" Zoro coughs out.
Luffy laughs as he walks back to Coby and his brothers. He passes the message on to the little girl as the group walks back to the village.
"Really?" the girls says happily. "I'm so happy."
"Is he really as bad as what the rumors says?" Coby asks thoughtfully.
"No, he isn't," the girl insists. "He didn't do anything wrong. He got arrested because of me. He killed Helmeppo's pet wolf because it was running around scaring people. I was in it's way, and Zoro killed it before it could hurt me."
"So you're saying that this Zoro guy got arrested because of that wimpy guy's pet?" Sabo clarifies.
"Yeah," the girl nods. "So the only bad guys are the Morgans. You'll get executed if you don't listen to them, so everyone's afraid of them."
They all turn their head towards the commotion behind them. The brothers had a look of hatred as the idiot son threatens anyone who lifts their head as he walks down the street.
"Who does he think he is?" Ace seethes, as memories of Celestial Dragons went through the trio's minds.
Red blinds Luffy when he hears the son mention moving Zoro's execution date to the next day, rather than the month that was promised. Before they knew it, Luffy had already punched the idiot in the face.
"Luffy!" Coby cries out as he holds Luffy back, while Ace and Sabo tries to hold back their own anger. They all ignore the towns people's cries of disbelief.
"Who-who the hell are you? How dare you hit me! I'm going to tell my dad on you!" the idiot points at them as he held his bruised cheek. What he didn't know was that he was lucky that Luffy held back and didn't kill him right then and there with that punch.
"I've decided," Luffy says with determination. "I'm going to have Zoro join my crew."
"Luffy, calm down. They're marines!" Coby tries to reason with the boy he's holding onto.
"I don't care. A bastard is a bastard! Why don't you fight me yourself!" He yells the last part to Helmeppo.
"You'll regret hitting me. You'll get the death sentence for that, and my dad will be the one to execute you!" the wimp yells as he's being carried away by the two marines with him.
"It's pointless to hit someone like him," Luffy huffs as he sets his straw hat back on his head.
"You already hit him, Lu," Sabo snickers.
"More like you sucker punched him," Ace laughs loudly, patting Luffy's back.
"You were so cool!" the girl says. "I was so scared."
"Oh, then I should have punched him a few more times."
"RIKA! Come here! Don't talk to strangers! What if you were executed too for being associated with them," a woman scolds the girl as she pulls them both into a house.
"Hey, that's the lady with the yummy food~" Luffy drools as he waves to Rika.
"We're going to be in trouble!" Coby panics. "If Captain Morgan gets mad, he's going to send the marines after us!"
"We'll deal with it when it comes. I'm gonna talk to Zoro," Luffy says. He was just about to walk away when Sabo stops him with a hand on his shoulder.
"Ace and I will be leaving you here," his blond brother says as he gives his brother a hug. "We've got something we need to do."
"We'll try to come see you when you get your first bounty, alright?" Ace joins in on the hug.
The smile fades from Luffy's face for a second before bringing it back and hugging his brothers back. "Okay. I'm going to miss you. Make sure you visit. You have to see my crew." He gives them a bright smile as he lets go of them and walks off towards the Marine Base.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay without your brothers?" Coby asks tentatively.
"I have to be. I'm going to be the Pirate King, so we can be the freest people in the world." The quiet intensity in Luffy's voice made Coby turn his head to see the boy's face. The serious face he saw sent chills down his back, and he briefly wonders what's made Luffy want to be the Pirate King so badly. Only briefly, because he's more worried about having the Marines chasing their ass.
-*/
"Yo!" Luffy holds a hand up in greeting to Zoro.
"It's you again. I've already told you, I'm not going to be a pirate," Zoro sighs, already tired of dealing with the kid in front of him.
"I'm Luffy. I'm going to untie you, and you're going to join my crew."
"I've already told you, NO!"
"You use a sword right?"
"Yeah, that bastard kid took it away. It's something I treasure more than my life."
"Treasure, huh? I'll go get it, but if you want it back, you have to join my crew."
"THAT'S DIRTY! What are you? The son of the Devil?"
"Something like that?" Luffy tilts his head in thought.
"Huh?"
"Anyway, I'll be right back."
"Hey! WAIT! ...is he planning on sneaking into the base? What an idiot," Zoro huffs before another person with pink hair comes towards him.
-*/
"I think he's this way," Luffy says to himself as he follows what he thinks is the idiot wimp's presence. He looks up when a tower came into view. "There!" He reaches up and stretches his arms all the way to the top and rockets himself up, only to go a little to far. He reached for the nearest thing to stop his ascent, which happens to be a statue that was currently being pulled upright, and it fell, causing it to break in half. "Sorry," he apologizes to the group of marines there.
"Capture him! I'm going to kill him!" Screams the marine in charge.
"That's him! That's the guy that hit me!"
"Ah! There you are. I've been looking for you," Luffy quickly runs to grab the idiot son and drags him off. "Where's Zoro's katana?" Luffy finally got around to asking after dragging the idiot around for a while.
"I'll tell you! I'll tell you! Just stop dragging me! It's - It's in my room! We already went past it!"
"Why didn't you say so earlier!" Luffy gave him another punch in the face for wasting his time.
"Ow! Don't hit me! That hurts!" the wimp wails, even though Luffy barely put any strength into the punch.
Luffy turns his head around when he hears the sounds of boots coming closer from the marines chasing him and sees them aiming their guns at him. He sighs as they demanded he raise his hands and surrender. Really, he's already wasting precious time. Coby's already at the execution ground with Zoro, and Luffy can feel the high ranking Marine with his underlings heading there. Luffy's sure he could defeat these guys easily, but he really doesn't want to hurt them. They're good people. They're just following orders.
Instead, he used the wimp as a shield and pushed his way past them, back to where Helmeppo said his room was. He randomly opens a door and asks if this was it, only to be greeted with silence. Luffy looks down to see that the wimp was out. Not giving it another thought, he just drops the wimp to the ground. He sees the swords. There's three of them, but it doesn't matter. If he brings them all, Zoro can just take what's his, and they'll just toss the others.
Now, he needs to hurry back to Coby and Zoro. Good thing the window here faces the execution ground, though what he sees isn't very good. The Marines has his friend and soon-to-be crew mate surrounded. He has to hurry. The marines have their guns trained at both of them. Without a second thought, Luffy grabs the window sill and walks back, stretching his arm. He adjusts his positioning so that he doesn't miss his landing this time, then lets go, smashing through the window.
"I made it!" Luffy cheers as he blocks the bullets aimed at Coby and Zoro, making sure to stretch tall enough to get the ones aiming for Zoro's head. All eyes bulged as none of the bullets penetrated, only stretching the skin where they hit. He laughs loudly as he lets the bullets fly back towards the marines, making sure none hits. Using the time the marines are getting over the shot and gathering themselves, Luffy turns to Zoro to give him his sword.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Zoro yells at him before he could even hand him his sword.
"I'm Luffy. The man that's going to be the Pirate King."
"Man? You're just a kid," the swordsman scoffs.
"I'm 15," he comments and continues on as if it wasn't important, holding out the three katanas. "I didn't know which one is yours, so I brought all of them."
"All three are mine because I use three swords."
"Oh, okay. Well, resisting the marines here will make you an outlaw, or do you want to die?" Luffy wiggles the swords tauntingly in front of Zoro.
"You really are the son of the devil," Zoro says with a feral smile. "Whatever. Rather than dying here, I'll become a pirate with you."
"Yay! I did it!" Luffy cheers as he dances in a circle in happiness.
"Okay. Okay! I got it! Hurry up and get these ropes off me," Zoro demands urgently as the Marines finally got themselves together and starts charging at them with their swords.
"Oh, right. Hmm. But I'm not good with ropes," Luffy furrows his eyebrows as he fumbles with the ropes, seemingly oblivious to the danger coming towards them. He could use one of Zoro's swords, but Vista has told him that a sword is a swordsman's pride and that most wouldn't like it being used by others. He doesn't want Zoro to be mad at him for using his swords.
He stops with his fumbling and tilts his head in thought as Zoro continues to yells at him to hurry. He could just break the stake. That should loosen the ropes enough to come off, but would that scare off his new crew member? Luffy shrugs off his thought as there wasn't much time for anything else. Grabbing hold of the stake holding Zoro's left arm, he crushes the wood with his bare hand.
"There you go," Luffy says as he thrusts the swords at the swordsman's chest.
Zoro curses under his breath as he quickly unsheathes a sword to cut the rest of the ropes off him and save the loopy kid from his impending doom. With a sword in each hand and the third held in between his teeth, he held off the marine's swords from killing Luffy. Seriously. Who would casually stop in the middle of untying a rope to save a person and just stands there to think with marines charging at you with intent to kill?! And has the balls to smile at his savior as if that's exactly what he wanted him to do. Better to lay down his terms with this idiot right now before this whole joining a pirate crew goes too far.
"If any of you move, I'll kill you," he warns the marines. Zoro turns his attention back to his new captain. "I already told you I'd be a pirate with you, but I have my own dream. I'm going to be the world's greatest swordsman. I no longer care if my name is clean. Bad guy, good guy, it doesn't matter as long as name is known throughout the seas. If you do something to get in the way of my dream, I'll have you cut your stomach open!"
Luffy crosses his arm in pride. "I'd expect no less," he says grinning. "The Pirate King would need the world's greatest swordsman on his crew. It's perfect."
"Well said," Zoro grins from around his sword as the Marine Captain starts yelling at his men to finish them off.
"Zoro, duck!" Luffy orders as he twists and stretches his left leg out. "Gomu Gomu no Whip!" He spins back around and brings his overly stretched out leg around and over Zoro's head to slam it into the group of marines, sending them flying.
"What are you?" Zoro asks in surprise.
"Me? I'm a rubber man," Luffy grins. He stretches his cheeks further than it was possible for a normal person to show him.
Hearing this, the marines starts complaining about not being able to defeat the two pirates. They already knew they were in no way strong enough to defeat the Pirate Hunter Zoro now that he has his swords, but add in a kid with what is most likely a Devil's Fruit? There's no way.
Luffy basks in the joy of causing fear in the marines. It's what he and his brothers do every chance they get. He's going to miss playing Marine hide-and-seek with his brothers. Maybe his crew will play with him. He giggles at the thought of his whole crew playing games at a Marine Base in Paradise. That would be fun.
The shout of "That's an order," from the head Marine snaps Luffy out of his thought. He turns to see the marines all pointing their guns to their heads.
"What the hell does these dumb marines think they're doing?" Zoro curses. Before he could move to do something, Luffy was already off, running towards the Marine Captain.
"I'm your enemy here. If you're going to execute anyone, it should be me!" Luffy yells as he aims a punch at the Marine's face, only for it to be blocked by a large ax. Luffy had to hold back from using haki at the last minute. Otherwise, he was sure he'd be able to break the stupid ax and the stupid Marine's face. No. He has a promise to keep, and the only thing keeping his anger in check is the light of his brothers somewhere on the base. He promised his brothers that he wouldn't use his full strength yet, at least not until he reach Grand Line.
Seeing that Luffy has things under control, Zoro took his sword out of his mouth and relaxed. He really doesn't have the energy to put up that much of a fight. He's tired and hungry. That and this is the perfect chance to observe how strong his captain is.
"Luffy! Defeat these Marines!" Coby shouts at the top if his lungs. This isn't the kind of Marines he wants to join. Marines that blindly follows orders, whether they were reasonable or not, is just wrong. He doesn't understand how anyone could order their own men to kill themselves. He thought that was only something pirates would do.
"People like you, without status, have no right to oppose me! I am Marine Captain, Ax-hand Morgan!" the now-named Marine cries out.
Now that he's had time to calm himself, Luffy went along with the introduction, just like Sabo taught him. "I'm Luffy. Nice to meet you." Minus the handshakes and the likes, because he doesn't have time for it as Ax-hand Morgan decides to tell him to go to hell and swings his ax at his midsection.
Luffy didn't bother to look at the fence that got split in half by the ax. It was nothing new. He's seen galleons split in half with a single strike of a sword. Instead, he jumps up just high enough to avoid getting himself split in half and uses Morgan's chin as a springboard to flip backwards, sending the Marine Captain sprawling on his back. Not giving the man time to get back up, Luffy pounces on him and lands punch after punch on the Marine's face, reprimanding him for ruining Coby's dream.
He only stops and gets up because the idiot son has a gun on Coby. He knows the spineless wimp wouldn't pull the trigger, but he stops anyway, heeding Izo's warning of leaving a gun with amateurs. You never know if the trigger might get pulled on accident. Guns are dangerous like that.
Luffy stares at Coby, looking for what it is Coby wants him to do. This will be a test to see if Coby has the backbones to overcome the difficulties that lies before him in order to reach his dream. Regardless, Luffy will save him, but Coby needs to learn to stand on his own when they leave. The young captain smiles brightly when his friend declares that he's not afraid to die, even while trembling with fear.
He readies his fist, already knowing that Morgan is already up and ready to strike him down without Coby's warning. Now is the time to see what his new crew member can do. Either way, the ax wouldn't be able to cut him. He has Armament Haki ready under his hat.
"Gomu Gomu no," Luffy stretches his arms back, relishing in the fact that he hasn't had to use this move in a long time, not since he's learn to use Gear Second, "Pistol!" He lets his fist fly towards the idiot son, just as Morgan brought his ax-hand down towards his head. His punch hits his target at the same time Zoro cuts down the Marine Captain. "Nice, Zoro."
"Leave it to me, Captain," Zoro answers lightly, causing Luffy to giggle. He's finally a pirate captain!
There was a moment of shock before the surrounding Marines threw their weapons in the air and cheered. That was when Zoro fell to the ground, complaining about hunger.
-*/
After eating their fill at Rika's Mom's restaurant, figuring out what they're doing next, and Coby freaking out over their plan, a Marine disrupts their talks.
"Excuse me, we are wondering are you really pirates?" he asks
"Yes, we are," Luffy smiles cheerfully. He's finally got a crew mate, so they're finally a pirate crew.
"We are all grateful that you saved our town and base, but as Marines, we can't let you stay any longer. You will need to leave this island immediately. To show our gratitude, we won't report you to Headquarters."
"Mmm...Okay. Let's go Zoro."
Luffy stopped to look back when the Marine asks if Coby is with them.
"I"m - n-no-not with them," Coby finally says.
"Is he telling the truth?" the Marine asks Luffy.
"I know this guy," Luffy says, laughing inwardly at what he's about to do and hopes Coby falls for it. "I don't remember where, but he used to be with this reeeealy big lady. I think her name was Almeeda. It was a fat and ugly pirate." He says poking Coby in the forehead. "He spent two years with them."
"SHUT UP!" Coby had enough and punches Luffy in the face with all his might. He didn't want his dreams to be ruined by someone he thought was a friend. He couldn't believe he was being betrayed.
"Why you!" Luffy retaliates, hitting Coby back a few times until he was stopped. He was proud of his friend and hopes the pink-haired teen reach his dream.
"I now know he's not your friend! Please leave this island immediately!" the Marine yells at them.
Coby caught a glimpse of the smile on Luffy's face before the boy turns to leave and knew it was all done for him. He wanted to cry at how useless he was and that he received help again. Not letting this chance get away, Coby stood tall and asks to join the marines.
-*/
"Don't you think you went overboard?" Zoro asks about the Coby incident. "He doesn't seem like the fighting type, and he was bleeding."
"He'll be fine. I know he'll be a strong Marine," Luffy laughs.
"Right. So I take it, that's your ship?" Zoro asks, pointing to the decently sized ship. It's got a cabin, a nice sturdy mast, and a big sail. He doesn't know much about ships, but this one looks nice. Fairly cute, if he says so himself.
"Nope. It's this one," his captain points to the pathetic row boat with a sad excuse of a sail and two oars.
"Seriously?!"
"Yeah, my stuff is on here. See?" Luffy points to a large bag at the end of the boat. Ace and Sabo must have moved it for him. "We'll get a really cool ship later."
Zoro sighs and just goes along with it. Just as he hopped on with the rope that tied the boat to the dock, they both hear Coby calling for them.
"Thank you very much! I'll never forget you for the rest of my life!"
"I've never seen a marine salute a pirate before," Zoro laughs as he kicks them off the pier.
''Coby! We'll meet again!" Luffy calls out as they slowly sail away. He stood at the end waving at the group of Marines now saluting them.
-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/
Omake
"You have great friends," Commander Ripper, the Marine that chased Luffy and Zoro away, says to Coby.
"Yes, sir," Coby says with tears of gratefulness streaming down his eyes.
"We have just saluted pirates and have violated the Marine's Code. Our punishment will be no food for a week!" the Commander says to his men.
The new temporary leader of the Marines expected the salutes and the calls of, "Yes, sir!" But he wasn't expecting the complaint that came from a marine standing behind Coby.
"A-a-a WEEK?! I can't go a week without food!"
"Shh! We're not marines, so we're not included," the one next to the wailer whispers but was loud enough for Ripper and Coby to hear.
"What do you mean by that?" the marine says as he looks the two over. They both had their hats pulled down low, so he couldn't see their faces very well.
"What he means is that we're pirates, and we're here for Coby," the one with black hair sticking out from under the hat says with no fear of being caught.
"M-me?!" Coby squeaks in fear of being taken away by pirates again.
"Yes, you," the blond one pokes at his chest, causing Coby to flinch at how hard he was being poked. "We weren't sure if these guys would actually take you in, since, you know, you worked for Alvida for two years. So we pulled some strings for you. Even got you into Marine Headquarters."
"Ace! Sabo! What are you two still doing here?!" Coby exclaims after recognizing the voices, surprised that the two brothers are still there.
""Surprise!"" They both say as they pulled their hats off to show their faces. ""We're still here~""
"More friends of yours?" the Marine asks with a raised eyebrow.
Coby didn't know how to answer, considering that he's already admitted that the pirate that just left was a friend of his. Would they still take him if he's friends with more pirates?
Seeing Coby's plight, the brothers answers for him. ""Yes, we are.""
"I see," was all the Marine says before dismissing the rest of the Marines back to the base.
""Wait! That's it?"" The brothers were baffled with the treatment.
"Yes, that's it. We have enough to deal with here now that your brother took down our Captain. It didn't quite click until I heard your names. Ace, Sabo, and Luffy, the ASL Pirates, the Demon Children of Whitebeard, right? You guys have a habit of turning up at random Marine Bases in Grand Line and wreck havoc for fun," he says, feeling quite proud of himself for surprising them with his knowledge. "I was based in the first-half of Grand Line for a few years, before coming back to East Blue."
"Aww, you're no fun," Ace pouts as he crosses his arms.
"Is it possible for you to not let Headquarters know we're here?" Sabo asks hopefully. "We want Lu to find crew mates without knowing his ties to Whitebeard just yet."
Ripper regards them thoughtfully before sighing. "Only if you leave my men alone."
""Yes, sir,"" they both salute the Marine with the wrong hand as he walks away. ""Don't worry, we'll be out of your hair as soon as the old geezer gets here. We'll even put in a good word for you.""
"Damn creepy kids," the Marine mutters under his breath as he walks as far away as he could from them. "Wonder if they had to rehearse what they're going to say to sound so synchronized."
-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/
A/N: I did it! I finished this chapter in less than a week. Just don't expect that often. I just happened to have a slow week. XD
What do you think of this chapter? It's waaaay longer than the last chapter. Most of the dialogues were taken from the manga or anime, I just switch who said some of them. I'm actually rereading and rewatching this before I write the chapters. Did I forget to mention anything else that needs to be clarified?