Hello! Here is the second chapter for you all to read, and to be honest, it was fun to write but I hope you all have fun reading it!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Kasumi and any OCs that may appear.
Chapter 2: A new friend and Zoro the pirate hunter?
Normal P.O.V (Ten years later)
On the docks of Foosha Village stoop many people, amongst the crown to two individuals ready to depart on their journey. Their names; Monkey D Luffy and Monkey D Kasumi, and both of them had grins on their faces as they said their goodbyes to each of the villagers, though mainly to Makino and the mayor.
Luffy wore a red vest top that was button up and denim shorts that went just past his knees, he too wore sandals on his feel, and of course Luffy still wore that very Straw Hat that Shanks gave give all those years ago. Kasumi on the other hand wore a faded blue sweater that had no sleeves, add to that wore a black leather jacket and white gloves that covered her hands completely. She too wore denim shorts but hers only went to her mid-thigh and were a darker navy to Luffy's. As for anything else that Kasumi wore, she hand combat boots on, her long silver-blonde wavy hair was tied up into a pony tail, the tip of it just reaching her hips and her fringe just stopping above her gold-hazel eyes.
After saying their goodbye's to everyone, both Luffy and Kasumi set off, though with Luffy's kind of luck, Kasumi knew something was going to happen and that something was bad, bad and BAD! Kasumi sighed when she spotted a shadow coming from just below them and that when it happened; the sea monster appeared just in front of them.
"I've been waiting for you, sea monster! Today is your unlucky day." Luffy spoke, and Kasumi knew what he meant by him waiting, Luffy had told her about how he met Shanks, how he was saved from this monster.
"Go on Luffy, I won't stop you." Kasumi spoke, noticing him look at her. His expression told her everything, wondering if she had wanted to do it. Luffy nodded a grin on his face.
"I'll show you what I've learnt in the past ten years! RUBBER…." The moment Luffy said 'Rubber', Kasumi ducked just in case this went wrong, but she was still able to watch this.
"PISTOL!" Luffy yelled, as he punched the monster in the face and while his arm stretched. It was a rather quick yet strong attack, and even Kasumi knew the beast stood no chance against Luffy, not even to begin with.
"How'd that taste? Stupid fish." Luffy said. "Hehe…. We'll have to find some more friends, right Kasumi-Nee? Hope we can find ten people to join the crew and then we'll also need a flag." Luffy spoke excitedly.
"Luffy, first just concentrate on which way to go, then we will need to find a crew. Plus we will need a bigger boat and more supplies." Kasumi said, only to be ignored by the boy who was getting more and more excited at the thought of their journey beginning. She sighed, but smiled up at him.
"Alright, let's go! I'LL BECOME THE KING OF THE PIRATES!" Luffy yelled, looking forwards before he sat down and started to row.
~Time Skip, the next day~
Kasumi's P.O.V.
"Ah! The weather is pretty nice today." I heard Luffy say from next to me and I looked over at him and shook my head at that huge grin that he had on that face of his. Now wasn't the time to act carefree.
"On a nice day like this, who would've thought we'd get stuck into such a disaster!?" Luffy spoke casually as her sat there, while I was staring at the huge whirlpool with large eyes.
"LUFFY! STOP ACTING SO CARE FREE! WE'RE ABOUT TO BE SUCKED INTO A WHIRLPOOL AND ALL YOU CAN DO IS SIT THERE CASUALLY!" I yelled at him, glaring down at my younger brother. I looked down at the 17 year old boy as he looked at the whirlpool and then back at me.
"But what can we do?" He spoke, and I sighed, it was his stupid fault, he was the one that was doing the rowing and got us trapped in the whirlpool in the first place.
"Good question. There's no one around us that can help and it'll be bad if this boat wrecks…." I sighed out.
"Yeah. And I can't swim…" Luffy said stupidly.
"Your fault for eating that devil fruit then, wasn't it? Oh, how I wish I took up Ace's offer, I should have just gone with him…" I spoke, though that second part was mostly to tease Luffy.
"WHAT!? You promised to join my crew! Don't back out now!" Luffy spoke desperately. I laughed.
"I know, stupid, why'd you think I stayed with you? Now get in that barrel that we brought with us. I'll find some way to get us to safety." I said, pointing at the barrel that we had taken from Foosha Village.
"Ah! Okay, got it!" He spoke happily, climbing in quickly but I knew he didn't listen fully as he grabbed onto my arm and pulled me in with him, and I sighed before closing my eyes just as Luffy was shutting the barrel closed. And with that I felt the boat capsize and we knew we were in the water then. No escape now.
"I'm gonna sleep Luff, wake me up when something happens." I spoke from my place in his lap.
"Okay!" Luffy said happily, and I sighed yet again. And with that I drifted off to sleep.
Kasumi's Dream
I just met Luffy, he seemed rather interesting, a ball of energy and I saw that huge grin never left his face. I heard a sigh come from behind me and turned to see Garp looking at us, or mostly at Luffy it seems. I walked up to him.
"Are you okay, Gramps?" I question genuinely concerned. But then backed away when I noticed an angry expression on his face as he glared at Luffy.
"LUFFY! WHAT DID I SAY! YOU WILL NOT BE A PIRATE! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY, THAT YOU ARE TO TRAIN HARD TO BECOME A MARINE!?" Garp yelled at his grandson, storming up to the young boy.
"NO! I TOLD YOU, I WANT TO BE A PIRATE AND I WANT TO FIND THE ONE PIECE!" Luffy yelled stubbornly, only to get a 'Fist of Love' punch to the head, and Luffy glared up at the Grandfather and then they started arguing all while Luffy running away from Garp.
"Is it always like this?" I asked, looking at Makino, who was smiling at the two.
"Yes. Though normally things are a lot worse, so that's a good thing for now." Makino said, and I could only look at her in shock, those two were normally worse than this? How?
"Come on Kasumi. Let's go." I heard Garp speak and turned to look at him. He was holding Luffy by the scuff of his neck, said boy trying to escape his grandfather grasp.
"I'm not staying here?" I asked confused.
"At first yeah, but now because of my grandson, I'm gonna have you and Luffy stay with a friend of mine that live in the mountains that are further in the Island." Garp said. I nodded my head before grabbing my coat. I placed my robotic arm in first before placing my normal one in last, didn't want to freak anyone out along the way.
"Alright. Bye Makino, thanks for the drink." I spoke, waving at Makino as I left the bar and followed Garp who headed towards the woodland. Or should I say the forest?
"So who is this friend of your?" I asked, looking up at Garp, only for him to grin.
"Oh just an old friend who do a load of favours for me. You'll see soon enough. Oi Luffy, hurry up." Garp said, looking back at Luffy who was lagging behind, and it was at that moment that I had noticed that Garp had dropped Luffy.
"Ok, ok." Luffy said, boredom and he also sounded uninterested too.
"Come on, Luffy. Cheer up." I spoke, holding out my hand to him.
"Ok!" Luffy spoke, smiling up at me as he took my hand in his. I pulled him along gently. It wasn't long did we both see where Garp was leading us to. There was a building in the middle of the forest, looked big enough for quite a few people to live in.
"Oi! Dandan, you there?!" Garp called, knocking on the door. We stood there waiting but it wasn't long until someone answered. To me the person looked like a man at first but when I took a closer look, I could see it was a woman. She was big, and I wasn't talking in height. She had long messy ginger hair, wore a white shite and green checked trousers and had a cigarette in her mouth.
"Garp?! What are you doing here?" The woman spoke, her voice sounded nervous if not a little scared and I took a guess that this was Dandan and another guess that she was some mountain bandit.
"Hey Dandan, I've got a favour to ask of you." Garp spoke, a huge grin on his face.
"And what would that be?" Dadan questioned, her eyes not leaving Garp.
"I need you to take care of these two for me. My grandson Luffy and his newly adopted sister, Kasumi." Garp spoke confidently, pointing at us with his thumb. Dandan looked at us and then groaned openly.
"WHAT!? Y-You can't be serious!? Raising Ace is a challenge in itself, but two other to add to the mix, really!? No!" Dandan exclaimed, glaring at Garp.
"Oh okay, then I can just arrest you, for being a bandit then?" Garp question and I rolled my eyes, he was trying to blackmail her. What kind of family did she just enter? I looked at Luffy to see him watching stupidly, it was clear that he didn't understand what was going on. It was then did something hit Luffy on the face and too me it looked like spit, I looked over to where it came from to see a boy, probably just a one or two years older than me. Luffy was yelling but my eyes never left the form of the older boy.
"Hey, Ace!" Garp called as he too noticed the boy. So his name was Ace huh? I glared at him, not sure if I should like him or not.
"WOAHH! YOU CAME HOME, ACE!?" Dandan exclaimed, rather surprised and by this statement, it took a guess that he was rarely at home.
"That's Ace, a few years older than you, ten years old. You both are gonna live with him from today forward, so you better get along, got it?!" Garp spoke, I have a feeling that the last part of the statement was mainly for Luffy who was glaring at Ace.
Today, I met Ace, my other Brother, though older than me. And I was still undecided whether I should think of him as a member of my family.
End of Dream
I woke when I felt myself and Luffy getting toppled about in this barrel, it was as if someone from outside was rolling the barrel somewhere, probably didn't notice us in here.
"Hey, Luffy. Luffy." I whispered, shaking him as I notice that he was sleeping even though he was hitting the side of the barrel just like me. I wasn't surprised that he didn't wake up because of our predicament; the idiot was made out of rubber, so he most likely didn't feel a damn thing. Lucky bastard. Soon I felt that we have stopped rolling and was being put up straight, I could hear voices coming from outside the barrel but they were muffled due to the fact that Luffy landed on top of me.
"Oi, Luffy! Wake the hell up!" I said a little louder, hitting him on the head.
"Ow!" Luffy whined, finally waking up. "Oh, hey Kasumi-Nee. What you doing?"
"Why you-!" I spoke angrily, can't he see the situation that we were in. I sighed.
"Can you just get us out of this barrel!" I spoke, trying to stay calm. He nodded, before breaking to the lid off.
"WHAT A NICE NAP THAT WAS!" Luffy yelled a huge grin on his face. He moved off of me but stayed in the barrel, which in turn allowed me to finally get up myself.
"Looks like we're saved, right Kasumi-Nee?" Luffy spoke grinning at me, I swear I felt my eye twitch in annoyance at his innocent behaviour. I climbed out only to then just to notice a few men staring at us.
"Who are you?" Both me and Luffy asked.
"WHO THE HECK ARE YOU?!" They yelled staring at us with wide eyes.
"WHY WOULD TWO PEOPLE BE COMING OUT OF A WINE BARREL!?" They yelled at us, making me cover my ears as they were a little too loud. It was then that I noticed something being thrown in our direction. A large metal mace.
"Ah! Sorry Luff. Don't get angry at me!" I spoke turning towards my brother.
"Why?" He asked looking confused, but the only answer he got was me kicking the barrel out of the little hut, so that he would get hurt, and then clapped my hands together and slamming them to the ground, summoned a shield that engulfed my body, which protected me from the mace, and sighed in relief when it bounced off of the shield and in turn destroyed the little building that I was in.
"Phew! Thought I was a gonna there." I spoke before sneaking away before I was spotted and found Luffy several feet away, and he was still in the barrel. But thankfully he ended up somewhere that we won't be found out by those people, I had a feeling those guys were other pirates. I started walking in his direction when I saw him talking to a boy, the boy had pink hair, large glasses and looked to have a round face.
"Oi, Luffy! You ok?" I spoke up just as I was close to them, the two looked my way.
"Kasumi! Thank god you're okay!" Luffy spoke before giving out a goofy laugh.
"Who are you?" I asked, looking at the boy.
"I'm Coby, miss." He spoke politely, and I smiled at him.
"I'm Monkey D Kasumi, this idiot's older sister. But just call me Kasumi or Kas." I spoke, introducing myself.
"Sister? You two don't look alike." He said, confused as he looked at us both.
"Oh, I'm adopted, we aren't blood related." I explained. "So, where are we?"
"This is the breeding ground of the pirate "Iron Bludgeon Alvida", I'm the caretaker of the ship." Coby said, explaining it all to me, and I nodded.
"Do you have a boat? Ours got caught in a whirlpool." Luffy said, cutting into the conversation.
"Whirl… Whirlpool?! You both were caught in a whirlpool!" Coby spoke, looking at us in surprise.
"Yeah, that whirlpool was scary." Luffy spoke, I hit the back of his head.
"It was your fault we got stuck in it! I so need to remind myself to never let you decide on which way to go!" I spoke, feeling annoyed at myself.
"A normal person would've died already…" Coby stated, looking at us in interest.
"Yeah, but you can say, we aren't normal, especially this one." I spoke then pointed at Luffy with my thumb at the last part of my statement.
"What you calling this one?!" Luffy exclaimed, looking at me with a slightly annoyed expression. I sighed before giving him a smile, ruffling his hair.
"You…" Coby started, bringing our attention back to him. "You want a small boat? Well, I have one, but…."
"But?" I questioned but me and Luffy ended up following him since he didn't fully answer me. But then I saw a pile of wood but with a closer inspection, I looked like a boat, a badly made one but a boat none the less. I knew Luffy saw it too, as he look unimpressed and just looked at it.
"What's this? A coffin?" Luffy said. I would have laughed, but I knew It may have hurt Coby's feelings, so I did everything in my power to not laugh at Luffy's comment.
"That's a boat I built secretly for 2 years." Coby said, and I looked at him with wide eyes.
"2 years? Building this thing?" I asked, surprised.
"Don't want it anymore?" Luffy asked, curious.
"Yeah…. I don't want it anymore. I was gonna run away in this. But I don't have the guts to do it…. Looks like I'm gonna be a caretaker my whole life." Coby said, and I just stared at him. He was a bit of a coward, but he was just a boy amongst a bunch of pirates, so I couldn't blame him for that.
"Then you should leave." Luffy said and rather bluntly to be honest. I shuck my head, typical of Luffy to do just this.
"NO…. NO I CAN'T, IT'LL NEVER WORK! WHENEVER I THINK OF ALVIDA-SAMA FINDING OUT, MY LEGS TURN ALL MUSHY…!" I GET SO SCARED..!" Coby yelled, taking a breather, and I felt a little sorry for him.
"That day… I was only fishing but I accidentally walked onto this ship! And I had to become a caretaker on the ship these two years to stay alive….!" Coby said.
"You're pretty stupid and useless." Luffy stated.
"Says the idiot who rowed our boat into a whirlpool." I spoke, a little sarcasm in my voice, Luffy glared at me for a second before grinning back at Coby, he spoke again.
"And you seem kinda wimpy too. I don't like you." Luffy said, which made me hit upside the head when noticing that his comment made Coby cry.
"That wasn't nice. Idiot." I spoke, glaring down at my younger brother.
"But… He's right… If only I was brave enough…" Coby said, looking at the ground sadly before turning to look at us.
"Hey…. Luffy-San, Kasumi-San, why are you sailing?" Coby asked us.
"I want to become the pirate king!" Luffy spoke bluntly, a huge goofy grin on his face. I smiled and turned to Coby.
"And I want to be the world's greatest Alchemist to ever exist." I spoke, telling him my dream.
"Eh…..! Wha..?! WHAT?!" Coby yelled staring at us in shock.
"'PIRATE KING' WAS THE TITLE OF SOMEONE WHO HAS EVERYTHING IN THIS WORLD! ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR THE 'WORLD'S GREATEST TREASURE'… THE ONE PIECE!?" Coby yelled looking at Luffy before he turned on me.
"AND YOU…. YOU WANT TO BE THE GREATEST ALCHEMIST ALIVE?! THAT'S CRAZY! BEING AN ALCHEMIST IS ABSOULETY ILLEGAL ON SO MANY LEVELS, ONE OF THE MOST FORRBIDON THINGS TO BECOME!" Coby yelled. By now he was breathing hard and I stared down at Coby with wide eyes, looking surprised but I understood his overwhelming shock. We did have big ideas that most would think were close to impossible.
"YOU BOTH WANNA DIE OR SOMETHING?! ALL THE PIRATES ARE LOOKING FOR THAT TREASURE!" Coby yelled, switching back to yelling at Luffy, this kid just couldn't make up his mind on who to yell at.
"Well so am I." Luffy said.
"…Im.. Im-Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Utterly utterly impossible! To become the Pirate King in the pirate era. There's no chance! Utterly impossible!" Coby spoke, shaking his head continuously and the next thing to happen was that Luffy punched Coby in the face, and he did it before I could stop him, though I didn't expect him to do that.
"LUFFY!" I exclaimed going to Coby's side to make sure he was ok.
"OW! Why'd you hit me?!" Coby exclaimed, as I helped him to sit up.
"Because I couldn't stand you!" Luffy said, bluntly.
"Luffy! Quit it!" I scolded.
"It's fine… I'm used to it anyway…." Coby said, making me narrow my eyes at his words.
"I'm not afraid of dying!" Luffy said then, this made my anger disappear as I caught onto what he was doing, I smirked.
"Huh?" Coby muttered, looking at Luffy.
"Because it's my dream and that's why I won't mind dying for it." Luffy said, continuing his speech.
"W… Won't even mind death…?!" Coby muttered, looking at Luffy in astonishment and awe and yet I could tell he was a little surprised too.
"Besides, I think I can do it. Although it could get pretty tough." Luffy spoke, looking as if he was talking to himself on that part but I knew he was still talking to Coby. I looked at Coby and could practically see him taking in what Luffy said.
"Coby." I spoke up, get his attention.
"What I think Luffy is trying to say. It's not impossible, especially when it comes to what your dream is. When you have a dream, you'd willing use all your power and strength into trying to for-fill your dream not matter what happens. Like both me and Luffy are willing to die trying for ours." I spoke, explaining it to Coby in hopes that he'd understand better. I then saw tears in his eyes and I panicked.
"Ah! Sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry!" I spoke desperately while Luffy was laughing at me.
"Will I also… Be able to accomplish my dream…? If… I'm willing to die…" Coby said quietly, though I heard him and by the way Luffy looked at him, so did he.
"Hm? What?" Luffy asked as he looked down at Coby, a blank look on his face. Nothing new there.
"Will I be able….. To become a Marine?!" Coby asked, and I looked at him in surprise, not expect that to come from the boy.
"A Marine?" Both me and Luffy asked.
"Luffy-San, Kasumi-San, I know it means that we'll be enemies! But joining the marines and catching bad guys… HAS ALWAYS BEEN MY DREAM!" Coby spoke.
"Do you think I can do it?!" Coby asked us.
"I wouldn't know!" Luffy said.
"Only you can find that out." I said, but then I looked around, getting a bad feeling all of a sudden.
"I HAVE TO ATLEAST TRY! I'D RATHER DIE TRYINGTO GET OUT OF HERE AND JOIN THE MARINES! THEN STAY HERE AND BE A CARETAKER MY ENTIRE LIFE! AND THEN ALVIDA-SAMA…. I'LL BE ABLE TO ARREST SOMEONE LIKE ALVIDA!" Coby yelled, before taking a deep breath. It was then that I noticed something coming towards us at an alarming speed, or should I say someone was coming towards us. That someone being Alvida, I stood a little in front of Coby, ready to protect him if needed.
"WHO DID YOU SAY YOU ARE GOING TO ARREST COBY?!" Alvida screamed, smashing the boat Coby made into tiny pieces, that pissed me off royally.
"My boat…" Coby cried. I was annoyed and irritated. Who did she think she was? Destroying something that he spent building the past 2 years. Slaving over it, trying to gain his freedom, it angered me greatly and I glared at this Alvida bitch.
"Did you think you can… Escape from me?!" Alvida yelled, a sadistic grin on her face.
"Are those two who you hired to capture me? He doesn't seem to be Roronoa Zoro. Anyway, before you die, I'm gonna ask you… What's the most beautiful thing in the sea, Coby?!" Alvida asked. I looked at her, my eyes twitched in annoyance, how the hell was she beautiful, she big and fat, not to mention old looking.
"Eh…Eh heh heh…. Of… Of course that'll be…" Coby stuttered, trying to answer, but Luffy interrupted him.
"Who's this rude woman?" Luffy asked, pointing at Alvida, while most had gaping mouths and wide eyes as they stared at him, I laughed very hard, so hard that I was hugging myself, trying to hold myself together.
"L-Luffy, don't you mean, who's this fat whore?" I spoke up, still laughing very hard. And now I had people staring at me, but I just ignored them and tried calming down, which was hard to do with their expressions. I only calmed down when I notice Alvida's face, she was absolutely pissed and looked ready to murder us.
"Those kids…." A member of her crew said looking at both me and Luffy in horror.
"They dare to…" Another started to say.
"LUFFY-SAN! KASUMI-SAN! QUICK, REPEAT AFTER ME! IN ALL THE SEAS, THIS LADY IS THE MOST…" Coby yelled but seemed to stop himself at that point , then continued.
"THE…. THE RUDEST DAMN BITCH!" Coby yelled, and I smirked at him. I spoke then, I just had to.
"Okay!" I said and repeated his speech just as loudly as he did. I was having fun and Luffy was just laughing.
"YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Alvida screamed at him, full on angry. Coby screamed, and I pushed him behind me.
"Well said Coby! Now stay behind Kasumi, let me take care of this!" Luffy said, just as Alvida raised the mace above her head, ready to strike at Luffy.
"YOU THREE… HAVE TO DIE!" Alvida yelled just as hit Luffy with her weapon, it hitting the top of his head, but I knew I had nothing to worry about. Not even for a little bit.
"It's useless against me, because my body is rubber." Luffy spoke, and I could practically hear that grin that I knew he had on that face of his.
"TH…. THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! MY BLUDGEON!" Alvida screamed, looking at Luffy with wide eyes, as did everyone else minus me.
"NO WAAAAAAY!" All the members of Alvida's crew yelled, most if not all gaping.
"Rubber pistol!" Luffy said as he threw the attack at Alvida, hitting her in the face.
"…..! HIS ARM….. HIS ARM EXTENDED….!" The members of Alvida's yelled in shock, and I could tell they were looking at him in shock. And possibly scared of Luffy.
"CAPTAIN! ALVIDA-SAMA WAS BEATEN! BY THAT MONSTER!" They screamed.
"Tch. BASTARDS! YOU DARE CALL MY BROTHER AN IDIOT! DO YOU WANT TO DIE?!" I yelled, giving my best glare as I summoned a spear.
"AHHH NO, WE'RE SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE US!" They yelled bowing down at me.
"Fine then, by making it up to us, you can give Coby here a boat. Understood?!" I spoke demandingly as I glared down at them.
"Yeah. Coby wants to be a Marine, so stay out of his way." Luffy said, standing next to me, both of us were glaring at them and I swear they practically shit themselves as they nodded and went to do as we asked. The next thing just went quickly, I decided to get some sleep, though I heard Luffy and Coby speak about guy named Zoro, just we entered the boat, and Luffy was carrying me so that I could take my nap.
~Time Skip, next day~
"We're finally here at the Marines' base!" Luffy said excitedly, I had woken up at some point during the journey to both Luffy and Coby having a heated conversation, and soon Coby filled me in on everything. Luffy and I were escorting him to become a Marine all the while, Luffy being curious about this pirate hunter Zoro. By the look on Luffy's face, I had a feeling Luffy wanted to meet this Zoro, to see if he liked him enough to join the crew, he was too open to read.
"Yep, finally!" Coby spoke happily.
"You're great, Coby!" Luffy said happily.
"Huh?" Coby questioned, looking up at Luffy, but it was me who spoke.
"It's thanks to you that we got here and in one piece too." I said smiling at him.
"We've actually reached our destination!" Luffy said excitedly, he clearly didn't hear me answer Coby.
"Idiot." I muttered under my breath. I turned to Coby. "You better answer him, otherwise he'll do or say something stupid."
"Of course! That's the basics of navigation." Coby said, looking at Luffy, a serious expression on his face. "If you wander around at sea every time, you'll never become a pirate. You should at least find a navigator to join you." Coby said.
"Alright! Let's go eat!" Luffy spoke excitedly before walking away.
"Did he even listen to me?" Coby said, looking down at the ground.
"Probably. Probably not. You just never know with him. He just likes to do stuff his own way and at his own pace too. It can't get annoying. But there is something I should probably say." I said, my eyes not leaving Luffy, didn't want to lose him.
"What is it?" Coby asked as he looked up at me.
"You're the first person we've met since we left our hometown. How would we have gained a navigator in such a short time? Plus, my little brother is a bit of an idiot as you probably have noticed by now." I said, letting out a small chuckle. Then me and Coby started walking after Luffy but continued our conversation.
"I see. How do you put up with him?" Coby asked hesitantly. I chuckled again.
"Years and years of practice. Though I should probably say it come natural when having him as my brother." I spoke smiling at Luffy's back. That's when we saw Luffy head inside a shop, but then I noticed that it was a restaurant, I rolled my eyes but entered after him, Coby following close behind. But after several minutes of sitting down and having food in front of us, we had scoffed the food off of the plates in seconds.
"We'll go our separate ways here! You do your best to be a great Marine, alright?" Luffy said, a smile on his face as a he was casually sat there in the chair. Looking like a carefree idiot.
"Yeah, good luck Coby! I know you can do it!" I said, also giving my friend a smile.
"I will…..! Thank you so much." Coby cried, covering a part of his face with his arm. "Luffy-San, Kasumi-San, you both have to become great pirate too. Although we'll be enemies in the future."
"Coby. Calm down, even if we are on opposite side, we'll always be friends. Right?" I spoke, smiling at him, only for him to look up at me, smile with tears in his eyes and then nodded.
"Say, I wonder if Zoro is still being kept at the Marines' base." Luffy suddenly said making both me and Coby look at him but then we heard several crashes and yells making us look around the restaurant that we sat in. Everyone else seemed to have freaked out the moment Luffy spoke. Coby then hid his mouth from them and spoke.
"Looks like we can't yell out the name 'Zoro'…" Coby whispered to us, trying not to startle everyone else, then he spoke again but in a normal tone, putting his hand back down.
"I just saw a notice on the streets, there's someone called Lieutenant Morgan at the base." Coby said, and once again everyone freaked out, just as badly as Luffy's statement. I raised an eyebrow at their behaviour.
"What's going on? Why are they freaking out over two names?" I asked quietly making sure Luff and Coby were the only ones to hear that. Luffy shrugged as if saying 'I don't know', while Coby just looked at the people with a worried look.
"I think we should go, Come one Luff, Coby." I said leaving money on the table before leaving with the two boys behind me.
"HAHAHAHA! What an interesting restaurant! I gotta go there again." Luffy said as he laughed.
"Err, Luffy. I think it's because they're scared of something that possibly surrounds the subject of whatever has got to do with This Zoro or Morgan guy." I spoke looking at Luffy with a little bit annoyance.
"Kasumi-San is right. That was definitely strange…! I've got a bad feeling about this…!" Coby said looking at us siblings.
"Why's that?" I asked, being the one that sane out of me and Luffy.
"I could understand why they'd be scared after hearing Roronoa Zoro's name, since he could escape at any time. But why would they be afraid of a Marine Lieutenant's name too?!" Coby said, I thought about it for a second, Coby did have a point, not many would be scared of Marines besides us pirates. So for normal civilians to be scared of a Marine is definitely a worry but then again, even something can go wrong with them.
"Well, he could've done something bad, right?" Luffy questioned, and I looked over to him, a little surprised that he had actually been listening, which wasn't his strongest point.
"THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" Coby yelled at Luffy.
"I'm serious." Luffy said. That coming from him didn't fit right, yet at the same time it did if that made any sense at all.
"Coby. Even though Marines fight to protect civilians, fight us pirates and criminals. They are human too, like us. So don't you think they are capable off doing bad stuff too?" I spoke looking at him.
"Oh. I see what you both mean." Coby said before walking with us, and our destination being the local Marine base. When we did arrive, I just ended up staring at it. The building sure had an interesting appearance. I looked like a massive tube, a circular tower that was light blue with navy stripes covering it and surrounding it was this brick wall. We walked along the wall until we found a huge metal gate with the typical Marine name and logo on it.
"It looks pretty ugly up close." Luffy spoke bluntly, making me laugh a little bit.
"Go ahead, Coby." Luffy said, giving our friend a grin.
"B… But I'm not prepared yet…! Besides that incident at the restaurant got me thinking…." Coby said looking back at us nervously, he was shaking, literally. It was shortly after he said that did Luffy randomly stretched his arms up so that he could reach the top of the wall, only because it was three times taller than us, and jumped up so that he could look over it.
"Ah! Luffy-San!" Coby said, going to stop him, but I place my hand on his shoulder, stopping him.
"Give it up Coby, once he's decided to do something, he'll do it. Luffy is quite stubborn." I said as Coby looked at me.
"Monster… I wonder where he is?" I heard Luffy say and saw him look around before he jumped down.
"You can't find him that easily. He's probably being kept in a secret room." Coby said.
"Once again, Coby. Just give up arguing against Luffy, you'd never win." I said.
"No! I saw something over there!" Luffy said. "It could be Zoro!"
"See! He always finds a way to get what he wants!" I said, giving Coby a 'I told you' face. Then I ran after Luffy because when he said he saw something, he started running, so here I am, trying to catch up to the rubber idiot. As soon as I saw Luffy stop, I slowed down, coming to stand next to him.
"Here we go." I heard Luffy mumble as he got to the top of the wall this time.
"Oi Luffy. Give me a hand up will ya?" I asked feeling lazy. I knew that I'd be able to get up there without a problem but because of my lazy attitude, I just couldn't be bothered really.
"Can't you do it yourself?" He asked me, frowning at me . I knew that was a complaint.
"Maybe because I can't be bothered using my Alchemy and don't want to waste my energy using it. I may need it for a fight if we get into one." I spoke, frowning myself but that soon turned into a smile when Luffy nodded and pulled me up. I ended up having to help Coby up, though because I didn't have a rubber ability, I had a harder time doing it, but still managed. I then used my strength to pull myself up a bit further so that I could sit on the wall rather cling to it with my hands, and I didn't care if I was spotted or not.
"Look at that person." Luffy said, clinging onto the wall to my left, his usual goofy grin on his face and I followed his gaze to see someone tied to some kind of wooden cross. I wore black trousers, a white top and a green sort of cloth around his waist. On his head was a black bandana which just about covered his hair and part if eyes, but since this guy was looking down, most of his face was shadowed over so I couldn't tell was he looked like. I looked to my right to see Coby just starting to be able to look over the wall and when he saw what we were looking at, he freaked out like hell and fell off of the wall.
"What's wrong?" Luffy asked.
"You ok there, Coby?" I asked, looking down at him in concern. We were soon answered.
"It…. It's him! It's Roronoa Zoro! Th… Th…. That black bandana and cloth around his waist… And intimidating aura….! It's Zoro!" Coby said stuttering from his place on the floor and I could see him practically shaking in fear. I felt sorry for the guy, though I knew he was a bit of a coward.
"So he's Zoro, huh….? Looks to me those ropes are pretty easy to break." Luffy said looking back over at Zoro.
"S… STOP JOKING! IF YOU FREE HIM, HE COULD MAKE A MESS IN TOWN AND EVEN KILL YOU!" Coby yelled.
"Coby, calm down. And for someone who's scared of him, you sure are loud enough to gain his attention." I spoke causally, and then watched as he visibly gulped at my words.
"Hey! You." A new voice said, cutting into our conversation, it sounded rough and it was then that I noticed that it came from Zoro, we looked over to him.
"Could you please…. Come over here and untie me? I've been tied up for 9 days and I'm exhausted." Zoro said, looking up at us with a grin, blood dripping from his mouth and that was then that I notice that Zoro was indeed injured.
"Look, he's smiling." Luffy spoke out the obvious.
"I think we know that." I spoke sarcastically.
"He…! He talked….!" Coby stuttered after managing to get up the wall, once again with my help.
"I'll repay you. I could hunt down a fugitive and give you the rewards. I'm not lying. I'll keep my words." Zoro said still grinning. I looked at him, and thought to myself, this guy doesn't know he was talking to two pirates.
"No…. Don't do it Luffy-San, Kasumi-San! Don't be tricked by his words….! If you free him, he'll kill us and escape!" Coby spoke, as he looked at us in desperation.
"He won't be able to kill us." I said.
"Because…. We're strong." Luffy said, finishing off my sentence.
"Ah!?" I heard Zoro mutter, he seemed to look at us, probably with a new interest or curious as to what we meant. Shortly after that, I soon noticed a ladder, and then a little girl appearing to Coby's right.
"Huh?" Luffy muttered in surprise.
"Eh?" Coby also muttered. I just looked at her in surprise, not expecting someone else to join, especially a child who looked around 6 or 7 years old. The little girl shushed us, before climbing over the wall completely, and all I did was watch in interest.
"Ah…! Don't do it! It's dangerous!" Coby called to the girl as she approached Zoro and oddly enough, I just noticed she was holding food. I needed to check my eyes, I was either going blind or turning stupid like my brother. I hoped neither of those would be the answer I'd be looking for.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" Zoro asked looking down at the girl who had just stopped less than a metre away from him.
"Luffy-San, Kasumi-San, go stop her! She could get killed!" Coby spoke, trying to get us to get her out of there.
"Do it yourself. But you are worried, it's fine. Besides if he does go to attack her, Kasumi-Nee will be able to get her out of there in time." Luffy said, looking at me with a grin and I knew that was an order, not as my brother but as my captain. I nodded in reply, before turning back to Zoro and the little girl.
"Do you want to die or something…? Get lost!" Zoro spoke and rather rudely too. Though the girl didn't seemed to mind as she smiled up at him.
"Uhm, Brother, I made some rice balls for you! You haven't eaten for a long time right?" The girl said, smiling up at him, and I thought that was very sweet and I did happen to notice that she called Zoro 'Brother' out of respect.
"This is the first time I made rice balls…." The girl said, and that just made her even more sweeter than I originally thought and I noticed Luffy giving a look, his eyes narrow but not in annoyance, just warning me not to do anything, knowing full well I liked anything that was cute and sweet. I blushed and smiled rubbing the back of my head. I gave a nervous laugh.
"I'm not hungry! Go away!" Zoro said loudly glaring down at her, and I glared at him.
"But…" The girl mumbled, losing the smile.
"I don't want it! Leave me! I'll kill you if you don't!" Zoro threatened and I was debating on interfering, part of it to do with that order and the other just out of anger.
"Roronoa Zoro!" A new voice called and I looked over to see a man in a black suit walking in with two Marines following behind. He had blond hair, a strange looking chin, large eyebrows, he looked ugly and stupid. Not to mention cocky and arrogant looking too.
"Don't pick on little kids, or else I'll have to report to my Father about it!" The guy said and then I realised he is probably someone who relies on others mainly his parent reputation and all that. I hated people like that, so stuck up and think they owned the place. It reminded me of the Grey Terminal and Goa, a city back on Dawn Island, that were full of stuck up nobles that were very heartless and uncaring.
"Some weirdo came." Luffy said.
"Don't you mean some bastard came?!" I spoke angrily, and Luffy looked up at me and saw me glaring. When seeing the look I was wearing on my face, Luffy watched with a more serious attitude and didn't look happy himself. Coby looked at me in curiosity as if wondering why I'd say such a thing.
"He must be someone important in the Marine… Thank goodness the girl is safe now…" Coby said, looking back over at the scene before us.
"I wouldn't say that… Not with his sort of attitude and besides, I bet he just loves riding of his 'Father's Reputation'." I spoke through gritted teeth, it took a lot of my power to not jump in there.
"Tch… If it isn't the Lieutenant's bastard son…" Zoro said, glaring at the blonde in the suit. I smirked at the comment, that amused me a little but when Zoro said 'Lieutenant's son', it made sense why the blonde was over-confident and very arrogant.
"Bastard? Don't get cocky. My dad is a Marine Lieutenant!" The guy said, but looking at the little girl. I didn't like the way he looked at her, not even for a second.
"Well hello, little girl. These rice balls look tasty." He said, taking one for himself. That greedy bastard, I am so gonna kill him! A hand stopped me, grabbing a hold of my arm and I saw that it belonged to Luffy. I gritted myself and tried to calm down. I watched as the blonde bastard put it in his mouth started to chew and then he soon looked like he was choking, I would have cheered at that if he had not have spit it out. He was heartless and cruel too to add onto the list as to why I hate this guy.
"BLEGH, HORRIBLE! YOU PUT TOO MUCH SUGAR IN IT! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO PUT SALT IN THESE THINGS!" The guy yelled, this had me shaking, it was the first time the girl ever cooked and it should have been expected that it may not taste completely right.
"But… But I thought they'll taste better if they're sweet…!" The girl said, looking up at the arrogant bastard, a frown on her face.
"HOW COULD ANYONE EAT SOMETHING LIKE THIS?" The guy yelled, practically kicking the food out of her hands and when the food was on the floor, he stomped all over it.
"Luffy, let me kill him…." I spoke quietly, my voice dark as I was close to my limit.
"No. Can't do that, remember the last time?" Luffy asked. It was then I remember that I came close to actually murder a guy called Bluejam when we were younger, he had almost killed my brothers and I wanted to kill that guy to trying to do that. I knew Luffy was right for no letting me go, as I would probably do something we both knew that I'd soon regret.
"AAH! STOP IT! STOP! HE CAN'T EAT THIS ANYMORE!" The girl yelled in vain, trying to get the guy to stop.
"Th…That's cruel! That girl worked so hard to make them…!" Coby spoke, as he too looked upset.
"I wonder…. If this guy is heartlessly cruel, it makes you wonder how the Father's like." I said as I watched, my hands in fists and couldn't stop glaring at the stuck-up blonde.
"Don't worry! The ants will eat them all up!" The guy, said as he gave out a laugh, I'm fed up not knowing his name.
"That's cruel….! I.. I tried really hardtop make them…!" The girl said as she started crying. I had to close my eyes for a second and took a breather, but I had to open my eyes knowing that I needed to watch.
"Aww… Don't cry! It's no wonder why I hate little brats so much." He said, actually now looking troubled, and THAT made me a little happier, though that second part made me angry, you just don't say that sort of thing in front of kids.
"It's all your fault you know? Didn't you see what was written here?" The guy said pointing at a sign that I just noticed. I sighed, cursing at myself for that.
"'Anyone who helps a prisoner will be charged with the same crime, Marine Lieutenant Morgan'" The guys said, reading the sign out-loud for all to hear.
"You know how scary my dad can be, right? You would've gotten the death penalty if you're grown up!" He said, before standing and turning to one of the Marines. "Oi, throw this brat out!"
"Huh!?" The Marine said, unsure of what he heard.
"I'm telling you to throw her outta here! Are you trying to disobey me?! I'm telling my dad!" The guy said, grabbing onto the Marine in a threatening manner and practically proving that he relies too much on his Father's reputation.
"Ay… Aye sir!" The Marine stated in fear before grabbing the girl and literally throwing here out of the place, but thankfully she came flying towards us, mainly me and I caught her just as she was close by. But catching wasn't easy without falling off of the wall myself, was she was flying with a high speed, and before we hit the ground, I hugged her to myself and I took the brunt of the fall, landing on my back.
"Ugh." I grunted, I just knew that I was gonna have one large bruise there, but thankfully it only hurt for a few seconds.
"Kasumi!" Luffy said, alarmed by what happened and jumped down and landed next to me, Coby close behind him. I sat up, the girl still in my arms.
"I'm okay." I said seeing Luffy giving a concerned look but after I said that he nodded and gave me a goofy grin. And helped me and the girl up.
"Are you alright?" Coby asked the girl after I had set her back onto her feet gently, I stood close behind her, for reason wanting to keep on protecting her.
"Those bastards…" I muttered under my breath making sure no-one heard me say that and thankfully no one did. I then noticed Luffy climb onto the wall again, stay there for a few minutes before climbing over it completely. I sighed, but stayed for a few minutes to make sure the girl wasn't hurt anywhere before going after Luffy. Using my abnormal strength, I completely jumped over the wall without touching it, and looked towards my brother to see him talking with Zoro.
"… Hm? Don't tell me you're gonna set me free and force me to join you." I heard Zoro say just as I reached them both. He looked at me before turning back to Luffy.
"I haven't made up my mind yet. Since everyone thinks you're a bad guy." Luffy said, rubbing the back of his head, though he had a smile on his face.
"A bad guy, huh…? I'll never join you because I have something that I need to take care of!" Zoro said grinning, before continuing. "I could survive even if you don't help me. I just need to stay alive for one month."
"That bastard kid promised to let me go afterwards." Zoro said after taking a small breather.
"You do know that there may be a possibility he was lying to you." I stated just looking at him, a small frown on my face.
"I know, but…. I'm gonna do everything I can to stay alive and fulfil my dreams!" Zoro said, now looking at me. That grin of his never really left his face except for that time that blonde stuck-up blonde was here.
"Really? If I were you, I think I'd starve to death in a week." Luffy said.
"Luffy, you'd probably starve to death before half a day with how hungry YOU get!" I spoke, a grin on my face, and it turned into an amused smirk when Luffy glared at me.
"That's why we're different. Go find someone else to join you." Zoro said.
"Come on, Luff. Let's go." I spoke, patting Luffy's shoulder once before turning away and slowly started to head but stopped when Zoro called out to us both.
"Hey! Hold on." Zoro said, making both me and Luffy look back at him.
"Huh?" Both me and Luffy said at the same time.
"That… Can you pick it up for me?" He asked, looking at the dirty food the was trampled on earlier.
"You want to eat this? But the rice ball is all muddy. Well I guess you can't be picky about food when you're hungry…" Luffy said, picking up the dirtied rice and held it in his hands as he just looked at it.
"Shut up. Just give it to me, let me eat all of it!" Zoro said opening his mouth wide enough for Luffy to gently throw the food in there. Both me and Luffy watched as he ate the food, looking like he was in pain while doing so and yet swallowed it. I felt touched that he'd do this for the girl, even though she wasn't here to see this. It made me start to like him, Zoro seemed rough on the outside, whether it was his appearance or how he would first speak to someone but really he was one big softie on the inside, whether or not he'd admit it himself.
"Do you want to kill yourself?" Luffy asked bluntly and rather rudely, making me hit the back of his head.
"Idiot!" I scolded, glaring at him. Zoro coughed for a few seconds before he spoke.
"Tell that little girl…" Zoro started speaking, stopping for a brief moment.
"Tell her what?" Luffy asked when Zoro didn't say anything for a while, he clearly didn't realize that Zoro was struggling to talk a little.
"'The rice balls taste very good. Thank you very much.'" Zoro said, looking down at the ground, hiding his eyes from us. Luffy smiled and I knew that smile, this could possibly mean that Luffy wanted him to join but I was 100% sure as of yet, I watched Luffy leave and stopped to wait for me by the wall, I turned back to Zoro, wanting to say one thing.
"Oi." I spoke, making Zoro look up at me.
"Just so you know, is if that guy does want you to join us, then he won't give up until you say yes…" I said a smirk on my face, amused that Zoro's eyes widened a little.
"What?" He asked in surprise.
"Yeah… He's very stubborn and once he's made up his mind, it's just about impossible to change it. Just a heads up in case he does choose to have you join." I said, an amused smile on my face, then I left before Zoro could even say anything.
~Time Skip, 10 minutes later~
Both me and Luffy had completely left the grounds of the Marine base and had gone searching for Coby and that little girl but it didn't take long to find them, due to the fact this village was all that big. After approaching them, the little girl thanked us or mostly me for saving her earlier, and I smiled down at her and then Luffy gave her the message that Zoro gave us.
"Really!?" She spoke, seeming very happy with the news
"Yep! He ate it all!" Luffy spoke from where he sat, which was on top of a barrel and I was currently leaning against the building next to Luffy.
"I'm so happy!" The girl spoke, a huge smile on her face and I was happy to see it there.
"Hmm… Is he really that horrible person his reputation says he is…?" Coby spoke, confused by the news we had told them.
"No, I don't think so. He seemed rather nice, rough on the outside but a softie on the inside." I said a smile on my face as I looked at Coby.
"Brother didn't do anything wrong. It's just that the people in this town are afraid of him." The girl said, making me look at her in confusion.
"And why's that? What did he do that made them all scared?" I asked, I was very curious as to why they felt like that.
"He got arrested because of me. He killed Helmeppo's pet wolf. Because Helmeppo let his wolf run around and everyone got scared…." The girl explained and now I had that guy's name.
"So you're saying…. That Zoro's only arrested because he killed Helmeppo's wolf?" Luffy questioned, and I was a little surprised that he understood the situation but then again I'm still trying to understand what goes on in that head of his and I've known him for 10 years.
"Yeah." The little girl said.
"You're right. So maybe he had a bad temper, but chasing down fugitives…. Isn't that big a crime either." Coby said.
"The only bad guys are the Morgans! You'll get executed if you disobey them, so everyone is afraid of them." The girl said.
"That's a bit much though. Do a small thing and get executed? That's bad." I said, glaring in the direction to see Helmeppo walking down the street, some Marines following him close behind. He seemed to be talking and when he got into range I could hear what he was saying.
"Heh heh heh! Who dares raise his head? I'll tell my dad!" Helmeppo spoke as arrogantly as he could, I saw people go on all fours, bowing down to the guy. I saw Luffy look over now, he had clearly heard his voice too.
"Do you want to be like Roronoa Zoro? I'm gonna publicly execute him in three days. I'll use him to set an example for all of you! It's gonna be pretty interesting." Hellmeppo said, making me angry. So he did lie to Zoro like I had suspected, he was being completely unfair and was definitely a heartless bastard, I looked down at the ground in anger, making sure that my eyes were shadowed over.
"Three days. Didn't you say you'll give him a month?" Luffy questioned from beside me.
"Who are you? How rude. I was only joking with him! Only an idiot would believe that." Helmeppo said as he gave out a cruel laugh.
"Luffy… Can I?" I asked quietly, making my brother look over at me. He nodded, knowing what I wanted to do, and that made me glad that he gave me permission. I walked up to Helmeppo, my eyes still shadowed over.
"Oh? And who would you be?" He asked me when I stopped just in front of him.
"YOU BASTARD!" I yelled, and using quite a bit of my abnormal strength, punched him in the face with my right hand, and I was satisfied when I heard a loud crunch. I had broken his nose and I watched as he flew a few feet back and was soon lying on the ground.
"KASUMI-SAN! STOP PLEASE! CALM DOWN! YOU WANT TO MESS WITH THE MIARINES OR SOMETHING?!" Coby yelled.
"Coby… I'm a pirate, are you forget that detail?" I spoke quietly and rather darkly, but I knew that I needed to calm down. To be honest though, that punch did make me feel better.
"Coby, Kasumi-Nee, I've decided!" Luffy spoke up, and looked at him, curious as to what he could say next.
"Huh?" Coby questioned.
"I'm gonna asked Zoro to join us!" Luffy said, looking at me.
"Sure thing, Captain!" I spoke with a smirk on my face.
With that said, I knew that Luffy would give up. Zoro will definitely be our first crewmate, whether he likes it or not.
Author's Note: I hope that you enjoyed reading this chapter and I'm gonna apologize in advance now. For the past few days/weeks I've had a lot of time, having ended a christmas Job and all and soon I'll be starting a new job in a few days time, hence why I'm updating this story soon after the first chapter. I may not be updating the story all the time and it may be a while for the next update but that doesn't mean that I won't try to write and upload the next chapter.
Thanks to those those who have favoured and are following this story, it makes me happy to know people have already started to like this story and I hope that you continue to do so. And thank you for the two reviews that I have been given.
I do read all my reviews, they help to motivate me into writing more and it's does help when you give me your thoughts and opinions about the story, so please, please , PLEASE, continue to send me more of them!
Thanks for reading,
Doomedbex :)