It's the time you've probably(?) been waiting for, a new chapter!

Steam Powered Crow: True. Robin is an essential part of reaching Raftel, and she will play a major role in the story. I've thought about it some more and she might end up joining the crew but if she does, it'll probably be after Enies Lobby just so that arc doesn't feel cluttered. This might change however, if I get any better ideas.

Anyway, that's it for the notes this time, I'll get on with the chapter.

Chapter 3: Luffy vs. Zoro, The Duel to Save Bonney

Bonney was really regretting her life choices because as it turns out, her temporary Captain had no idea how to navigate to save his life. And Bonney, not being aware of this fact, entrusted most of the sailing to him. She now knows it was a bad idea but that was after Luffy had sailed them straight into a storm, thankfully they were lucky and ended up getting beached before the raft gave way and they drowned to death.

And that was the story of how the dysfunctional crew had ended up stranded on another island in just two days. Bonney groaned, "I should've never done this." Luffy pouted at her remark.

"Oi Bonney, it's not that bad. We can just find a ship on this island." The pink-haired girl felt anger levels reaching dangerous levels. She paused and took a deep breath. "And how exactly are we going to get a ship if we don't have any money to afford it?" Bonney had mustered the sweetest voice she could use to try and explain their problem to her pouting captain.

"Oh, that's right. We need money. Shishishi!" Bonney lifted her hand to her forehead in exasperation, how could he make jokes after putting her in this situation? The girl, an idea coming to her, suddenly shot up and started dragging her captain to the nearby town.

"Ehh? What're you draggin' me for, Bonney?" Luffy whined to the girl, who kept her head facing forward. "Well, we're pirates, aren't we? We just have to steal some poor sap's money… And boom! New ship.", Luffy's face had lit up in understanding after her explanation.

"I get it! You sure are smart, Bonney." The girl felt her cheeks heating up at his unfiltered compliment but admonished herself before getting too happy. She reminded herself that he was only her captain until she found a way to become independent. She had to not get attached to him.

The walk until they reached the town was relatively quiet. And when they actually reached it, Bonney was surprised to see that the town was actually almost entirely deserted, save for a few salesmen that she could count on her two hands. The purple-eyed girl felt a chill go down her spine while her eyes scanned the quiet town, and it also didn't help that Bonney could feel their every move being watched by someone.

Zoro was in the middle of drinking more sake, when Johnny suddenly rushed back into the bar while panting, "Aniki! You won't believe what I found!" The sword-wielder only raised a brow in return. "That girl… The one in the wanted poster… She's here on the island!" Zoro's eyes widened in surprise, but then narrowed again in suspicion. "This better not be like the time you told me that my bounty was in a swamp and the only thing I found was a forest."

'That was you getting lost!' But Johnny wouldn't give voice to his thoughts, because even though the man had a terrible sense of direction, Johnny had still respected him. He only shook his head in response, "I can take you to her right now!"

Zoro tightened his grip on his sword and slammed down the payment for the sake. "Then let's go. If we stay here talking all day, the bounty will escape."

Bonney was about to cry from frustration as all her hopes of finding anyone to steal from were being shattered right in front of her eyes. She and Luffy had been walking around for a good half an hour but they still couldn't find anything. It didn't help that there were only a few people here in this town. She was in the middle of looking around, desperate for a victim to steal from when she caught a pair standing in their way out of the corner of her eyes.

Her purple orbs light up in recognition, while Luffy stares blankly at them. "Do you know these people, Bonney?" She turns to Luffy in exasperation, "You mean you have no idea who he is?" The only response she got was her raven-haired companion picking at his nose. She resisted the urge to slap his hand away, "That green-haired guy is the Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro."

Luffy paused in his nose picking to register her words, "Pirate Hunter? You mean he's here to hunt us?" Bonney was confused, that couldn't be right. They hadn't even done anything yet. Surely they didn't have a bounty yet. Bonney had started straining to remember anything she might've done, but she was cut off by seeing the Pirate Hunter raise a wanted poster while smirking. The sight had made her eyes widen, she actually had a wanted poster and for twelve million berries no less!

"I'm here to collect the bounty on you… Bonney." Bonney felt her throat go dry at the words, looking at him as he wrapped the bandana around his head and placing the handle of one sword in his mouth while holding another sword in each hand. Her view is blocked off by red taking over most of her vision. Bonney blinked, did she get stabbed? No, she didn't feel any pain. Looking up, she saw Luffy's familiar straw hat.

"Oi, Pirate Hunter. I don't care who you are or how strong you might be, but I won't let you hurt my crewmate!" Bonney feels something flutter in her stomach at someone coming to her defense, but she quickly squashes it down.

Zoro's smirk had widened to a grin at Luffy's challenge. "If you really want to protect her, Captain, then you'll just have to fight me." Bonney rolls out of the way as Luffy kicks off forward while extending his hand backwards. "Gomu Gomu no… Pistol!" Luffy's attack is blocked by Zoro using the flat sides of his swords.

Bonney was in the middle of watching their fight, when she was brought back to reality by a sword slice aimed in her direction. She manages to duck under the attack delivered by Zoro's companion, Johnny. Bonney uses her low posture to kick him in the shin, sending him staggering. Taking advantage of his momentary confusion, Bonney jumps forward and gives him a slap across the face.

Johnny was about to retaliate with another slash when he felt a burning feeling spreading through his body and his sword getting heavier. He looked down and screamed in shock as he saw his now tiny arms. When he looked back up at his opponent in shock, he found that she'd disappeared from her original position.

The last thing Johnny felt was a foot digging in the back of his skull as he was kicked into the wall of a nearby house. Bonney walked over, searching his body. "That guy was a damn pushover for being with the famed Pirate Hunter." Remembering Luffy's fight, she turned to look how he was doing.

Crash. Dodge. Slice.

Crash. Dodge. Slice.

To Bonney, it seemed like the two were engaged in an infinite dance that would begin by Luffy throwing an attack at Zoro, who would then dodge and try to slice Luffy. Luffy always managed to retract in time and throw another attack, which kept the loop going. The loop was eventually broken when Luffy started running towards Zoro, "Gomu Gomu no… Gatling!" His arms were moving at speeds fast enough that it looked like he'd grown multiple arms, but as Zoro was not intimidated and rushed into the barrage. Bonney had started to feel a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Santōryū…" Zoro blocked one of Luffy's arms with his sword and managed to deflect it for a moment, staggering the rubber boy for a bit before he brought it back to continue his attack. The green-haired swordsman continued to dodge and weave through Luffy's punches until it appeared that he was beside him.

"Tōrō Nagashi!" Bonney's sinking feeling was right. While Zoro was beside Luffy, he had used the sword in his left hand to land a slash across Luffy's torso. The rubber teen jumped back and held his hand over the cut. "He's strong… I need to finish this quick." Luffy panted.

Luffy extended two of his arms back to prepare for another attack, "Gomu Gomu no… Bazooka!" As he sent his two arms forward, Zoro was prepared with an attack to slice his arms. "Santōryū…"

Zoro's eyes widened as he saw that Luffy changed his trajectory in the middle of it's flight path, bringing his arms crashing down instead. 'I see. He decided to kick up some dust… Smart, but too bad it won't work against me.'

"Santōryū… Tatsumaki!" Zoro spun himself as well as his swords around, creating a tornado that dispelled the dust that Luffy kicked up. Looking back at his opponent, or… where his opponent should've been. Zoro felt two hands grabbing his shoulders from behind. He looked back and saw that Luffy was standing far away from him and had extended his arms to grab onto his shoulders.

"Gomu Gomu no… Rocket!" Luffy had suddenly took off like a rocket towards Zoro. Bonney had looked on in confusion at Luffy's "winning" strategy when he used the bazooka but had grinned after piecing his plan together. 'He may be an idiot in everything else, but damn, I didn't expect him to be such a good fighter.'

Bonney's happiness at her Captain about to win the duel was short lived, as Zoro had also realized what Luffy was doing. 'As I expected, he used the momentary confusion of the dust to put himself behind me… Smart, like I thought, but it still won't work against me.' Zoro grinned to himself at his worthy opponent, before he spun his sword handles to hold them backwards, inverting the direction of the blades.

Bonney had started running towards Zoro once she realized his plan to jab the swords behind him once Luffy was in close enough range. She should've been running. She should've ran as soon as she beat her opponent. It wasn't her problem, she should just leave him there.

So why was she running to help Luffy?

"Oi, Pirate Hunter. I don't care who you are or how strong you might be, but I won't let you hurt my crewmate!" As Luffy's earlier statement came to her mind, Bonney had found her determination to not let Luffy die increasing.

Bonney kept running forward in Zoro's direction. 'I just need to get close enough to… touch him!' When she was in close enough proximity, she jumped towards Zoro.

'I'll make you too weak to even hold those swords!' Extending her arm as far as it could go, Bonney's fingers had successfully made contact with one of Zoro's arms. Zoro, too focused on Luffy's attack, was surprised to feel contact on his arm as he looked towards Bonney. Spinning one sword handle back to it's normal direction, he was about to slash in her direction until he felt a burning sensation spread throughout his body. He felt his grip on his swords loosen as his body started to become weaker, he felt his shoulders begin to sag and his skin wilting. 'That girl… She turned me into an old man!'

Luffy was still sailing towards Zoro when he saw Bonney turn him into an old man, not wanting to collide with old man Zoro, Luffy stretched his feet into the ground and took his arms off of Zoro. Luffy was in the middle of skidding to a halt when he heard people coming out of their homes and talking animatedly about the Pirate Hunter's defeat. Looking over at Bonney, he saw her pull a rope out of... somewhere in her shirt?

A long celebration party, a fishing boat as a gift, and a tied up Zoro later.

Bonney and Luffy, along with a tied up Zoro, had set sail using a fishing boat they got as a gift for defeating Zoro. Bonney wasn't quite sure why the townspeople disliked Zoro so much and gave gifts to pirates of all people, but she wasn't going to complain. The purple-eyed girl was brought out of her thoughts as her orbs settled on Luffy, who came to sit across her. Specifically, her eyes settled on the bandages that covered the injury he received during the battle, her view unfiltered now that he had his red vest open. A wave of guilt washed over her when she remembered that this was her fault.

"Oi, Bonney… Why'd you jump in my fight with Zoro like that?" Bonney almost didn't hear Luffy's question.

"Because I thought you were going to die?" She articulated slowly, thinking she was missing something in his question.

Luffy was watching her with his owlish eyes, his expression more serious than she was used to from the rubber man. "Yeah, but that's still not a reason."

"How. Is. Thinking. You. Were. Going. To. Die. Not. A. Damn. Valid. Reason?!" Bonney had reached over and was shaking him with every word she said, trying to put some sense into him.

"Bonney. Stop. Gonna. Hurl!" Luffy's head was spinning after Bonney let go of him, not wanting to be covered in everything that he ate during the celebration. She regarded him in silence, waiting for him to regain his bearings and restart the conversation. "You could've been hurt, Bonney."

Bonney was ticked off; did he think she was just a damsel who'd wait and sit for someone else to save her?! "Yeah, so what?!"

Luffy tilted his head and looked at her with an expression of confusion, like his logic was the simplest thing to grasp. "Don't you remember? I told him that I wasn't going to let you get hurt and if you got hurt there… I would've broken my promise."

She remembered. In fact, those were the only words running through her head when she saved him. And they've still been repeating ever since. Her expression of annoyance had softened into a slight smile, "Idiot, if you were dead then you would never be able to keep that promise."

"Yeah, but there's some things I just have to deal with on my own. Fighting's the only thing I'm good at… And I'll never be able to fulfill the promise to Shanks if I can't kick people's ass all over the East Blue." Bonney giggled at the statement, he was just so serious at the start and he had to end it like that. Shaking her head, she processed the rest of his statement.

Wait.

Shanks? Red-Haired Shanks? That Shanks?

"Luffy, that Shanks you were just talking about… Are you talking about Red-Haired Shanks?" Luffy looked at her for a moment and then eagerly nodded, "You know Shanks?"

"Who doesn't know Red-Haired Shanks, you dumbass?!" She only got a look of confusion in return, "Shanks is that popular?"

She shook her head in exasperation and took in a deep breath, nodding, "Shanks, along with Kaido, Big Mom and Whitebeard are the Four Emperors that basically control the second half of the Grand Line: The New World."

"The who controls the second half of what now?" Luffy blinked at her. She thought it was too much of a pain to explain it all, "Y'know what? Just forget about it for now."

"Okaay, if you say so, Bonney." It took her another moment to realize something else he said, "Wait, did you just say you made a promise to him?" Luffy nodded and made a noise of confirmation.

Bonney saw him take off his signature hat and gaze at it in reminiscence. "I promised him that I'd one day become a great pirate with a strong crew, a crew that I want to cherish and protect… And when that day comes, I'd return this hat in good condition. That's why this hat is my treasure." It all came to Bonney then, why he wanted to become King of the Pirates, why he wanted to prove himself against Zoro… And why he wanted to rely on himself in that fight.

Luffy put his hat back on and looked for a change in conversation. "That Zoro guy said you had a bounty on your head, what did you do?"

Bonney looked at the Pirate Hunter from the corner of her eye laying away from them. And while the man in question looked to be asleep, he was actually straining his ears to hear what they were saying.

She had actually thought about it all multiple times during the celebration where she came to a conclusion that was supported by the stipulation on the wanted poster of only being brought in alive. It only took her a few minutes to recount the whole tale of her encounter with the man that wanted to make her his slave to Luffy. By the end of her story, Luffy looked like he was about to rip someone's head off. "If we find that guy, you better tell me so I can kick his ass!" Bonney felt the same fluttery feeling that she did when Luffy came to her defense against Zoro.

It felt nice to be appreciated. To feel protected. To feel like she belonged somewhere. She supposed it wouldn't hurt if she stuck around more to feel those emotions after being alone for so long.

The pair was interrupted when they heard movement coming from where they'd placed the tied up Zoro. The pair both turned to him and found that he sat up, looking at the floor of the fishing boat. Zoro cleared his throat, "I'm… ashamed. Ashamed to think that taking your bounty would've sent you to a hell of slavery… That's why… I'm prepared to do whatever you want right now!"

Bonney stared at him in shock and turned to Luffy. She couldn't grasp anything from his eyes as he stared at Zoro. The silence lasted a few more seconds with the tension still thick in the air, she saw a grin forming on Luffy's face. She knew that grin. She only knew one thing that would result from that grin.

"Okay! Join my crew!" Zoro paused and his eyes drifted over to Bonney, who only gave him a shrug. Zoro thought the both of them were insane, "I can't do that! What kind of Pirate Hunter joins pirates?!"

Luffy maintains his same grin as persuades, no, forces Zoro into accepting. "But you just said you'd do anything. If you go back on that, you'd break your code of honor twice. Shishishi!"

'Damn it, this kid is evil!' Zoro thought in exasperation, as he saw no way out of it. Bonney turned towards Luffy, "How did you know he had a code of honor?" Luffy kept his eyes on Zoro as he replied to her. "If he was just a normal bounty hunter, he wouldn't have warned us when he was taking your bounty and it would've been easier to attack from behind us, but he didn't do that." Bonney was surprised that Luffy was this perceptive, he managed to find out all of that just from one encounter with the man?

"Fine, I accept." The pink-haired girl's attention is brought back to reality as Zoro sighed the words in defeat. She thought it was her cue to do her thing, so she got up and touched Zoro's head, before leaning down to untie him. Zoro felt the same burning sensation spread through his body as he felt his strength returning.

The now normal aged Zoro looked at his new crew, his eyes settling on Bonney's form, he thought she was too young to be a pirate but he didn't voice his complaints lest she turn him back into an old man, instead he voiced out another thought. "What are we going to do about her bounty?" Bonney looked at him for a moment, forgetting the fact that they'll be chased more because of her bounty. "Ugh, damn it. That'll be a huge problem."

"Couldn't you go back?" Zoro was confused as he listened to Luffy's statement, "Go back where?"

Luffy only tilted his head. "To her original form." Now Zoro was really confused, she had an original form?!

Bonney's face flushed. She had completely forgotten all about that, she coughed and tried to salvage whatever pride she had left. "I was just about to say and do that!"

Her attempt to salvage her pride was ruined however when Zoro snickered at her attempt. "That does not look like the face of someone prepared to me."

"Shut up, dammit!"

Bonney had touched her arm, her body beginning to fill out as she started to retain her original form of a young woman. "And here I was thinking you looked too young to be a pirate." He just had to go and ruin it.

"I said shut up, swordbrain!"

"Like that'll happen, Cotton Candy!"

Luffy laughed at his crew's antics, moving ahead to the bow of their small boat to look over for any islands.

They had a long journey ahead of them.

TO BE CONTINUED.

I feel like as I'm going along, my chapters keep increasing in length. I'm afraid one day I'll be typing out a 100,000 word chapter. Anyways, sorry that the update came late, I ended up starting work on this super late and it took some time to find the right techniques I wanted to use in the fight. I hope you actually enjoyed the mini fight scene, since it was my first time writing one down. I didn't want Luffy to lose to Zoro because then he'd hand Bonney in and we wouldn't have much of a story, but I also didn't want Zoro to lose because his loss against Mihawk wouldn't be as impactful to him if he lost before that. And also, I find that before the timeskip, Zoro is Luffy's natural weakness and Luffy is a machine that can take a lot of injuries so I think it'd be a stalemate in the end. So I had Bonney interfere just so both characters are kinda preserved. Also, the next arc is Usopp joining, but I don't really have any ideas on changing it, since most of the fighting is against fodder. So I'll probably just have a small recap in the next chapter and we'll head into Baratie.