Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball or One Piece
Up in the high mountains of the historic location Mount Paozu, the world's strongest trained to his heart contented.
And trained.
And trained.
And trained.
In fact, it seemed all he was doing these days was training ever since putting an end to Demon King Piccolo and his reincarnation's plans for world domination to perfect his form and technique. That had been two years ago now and nothing of interest had spurred the battle-hungry martial artist into action.
A deep sigh escaped his lips once he dropped his stance to muse on memories of happier, more exciting times with his friends, "I'm bored," The wild-haired jungle-boy said, frowning at his small shrine house and reminiscing of the very day he had begun his adventures in the great, wide world. It seemed like only yesterday since one of his best friends had accidentally stumbled upon him all years ago looking for his grandfather's four-star dragon ball and in doing so led him into a world filled to the brim with adventure and discovery.
How his heart yearned for those days once more.
Tucking his arms behind his head wistfully, Goku ventured back inside his home, "Man, If I would've known being on my own again would be this boring I'd have tried the marriage-thing with ChiChi." It wasn't for the lack of trying. After he'd informed her of his misunderstanding about marriage, he was intent to put things right and offer himself to her for life right there and then, but ChiChi - whether from extreme embarrassment – didn't let Goku get a word in edgewise from that point, storming out of the stadium.
Goku hadn't seen her since.
Exhaling in defeat as he reached his grandfather's four-star dragon ball, Goku peered into his own reflection as if trying to divulge answers to overcome his crushing boredom in the ball's reflective surface, "If only I could go somewhere to fight strong guys." A copied blink signified the flashing lightblub lighting up Goku's brain, "That's it! I'll just ask Shenron to wish me somewhere!" He beamed, snatching up the four-star before flicking it up and catching it with a snicker, "Yeah! Then I can test myself against the strongest again."
He honestly couldn't wait.
XxX
(A little later that day)
XxX
"Yo, Bulma!"
A young, blue-haired woman wearing a white V-neck shirt and red pants which hugged her shapely legs gazed up at the sky just as Goku landed before her in an audible thud. The fact that he had literally jumped from a four-story height from a cloud didn't bother her none really showed their familiarity, "Oh, hey Goku!" She said, greeting her old friend with a hug, drawing a sheepish smile from him, "Fancy seeing you! I haven't seen you since the last World Tournament."
"Yeah, about that," He began, at least having the decency to look sheepish over not paying his friend a visit in the past two years. He would've tried to communicate with her in some way, but he didn't know how to dial a phone to save his life, "But I need you to lend me the dragon radar so I can gather the dragon balls and summon Shenron."
Shaking her head in a roguish manner as if to say 'I knew you only came over because you needed something' Bulma said, "I should've figured this wasn't just a social call." A wryly smile curled her lips all the same at Goku's shameless, carefree laugh. "C'mon you. Tell me all about it inside."
xXx
Goku proceeded to explain all about his desire to travel a new, far off place in the known universe to satiate his advantageous and competitive urges in an enthusiastic manner in Bulma's Lab. The woman showcased remarkable patience to hear Goku out before giving her two cents.
"Only you could come up with the idea to ask Shenron to send you to another world," She snarked, sipping on a warm cup of tea one of her butlers had brought her, "You're so selfish."
Goku had no qualms about his childhood companion seeing right through him as he just loosed his trademark insouciant laugh before proposing his favour once again, "So you'll lend me the dragon radar, right?"
"Sure." Bulma smiled, gently lowering her cup of tea and moving elsewhere in her workstation, "After everything you've done for us, this is the least I can do for you."
"Awesome. You're the best, Bulma!"
Bulma retrieved a small, pocket watch-styled device from one of her cabinets before flashing Goku with a brilliant cheeky smile which appeared to illuminate the lab, "I know," She admitted, basking in the praise. As she threw the dragon radar over to her childhood friend, a thought occurred to her, "Oh, don't be gone too long. That creep Piccolo might try something when he realises you're not around."
Goku's countenance exuded the calm confidence of that of a naïve optimistic soul, "I'm not worried about that." He assured, casually plucking his friend's convenient locator of all things holy, "I don't think Piccolo's a bad guy."
A fond roll of the eyes greeted his optimism like a regular customer.
"Of course you'd think that."
XxX
It didn't take any time for Goku to gather the remaining six dragon balls. Having access to the power of flight both under his own power courtesy of Tien and his faithful yellow cloud, combined with a world at peace from all the misadventures Goku had, accumulating the dragon balls was almost frighteningly quick. The time nightfall had fallen Goku had all seven spheres before him, continuously flashing.
He was trembling in pure excitement looking down at the brightly glowing orbs beneath nimbus's fluffy surface. He would've waited until he could get a good night's sleep but he found he just couldn't wait any longer to plunge headfirst into new adventures. He gathered up everything he'd need in a capsule case Bulma had been kind enough to prepare for him and even fetched a bag of senzu beans from Korin and headed home to embark on his new journey.
He was figured it was only fitting to begin a brand-new trek from the very place he'd originally started adventuring from.
Shaky hands hovering over the luminescing spheres, Goku called forth the mythical creature from his deep slumber in an empowering voice, "Rise, Shenron!" With that command uttered, the orbs all ceased flashing and turned a perpetual gold. The skies, often becoming dark with Shenron's presence, showed no visible change with the night sky already in place. A pillar of brilliant gold shot forth from the spherical wonders, towering over even the highest mountain before it shaped itself in a gigantic twister. As Shenron's emerald-green scales and crimson pupiless eyes flared to life out of it's previous glowing shell, Goku cracked a smirk.
"You, have summoned me, name your wish." The Eternal Dragon commanded in a thunderous, booming yet calm voice.
"Shenron!" Goku yelled up at him, "I want you to send me to a place with strong fighters! Can you do that?!"
A deafened silence which seemed to last for an eternity echoed in a void before the mighty dragon spoke once more.
"You have to be more specific."
"Send me to another world!"
"Okay," The Dragon responded. Then another silence, "That is within my power." He registered Goku's delight before he began working his magic, cladding the astounded martial artist and nimbus in an otherworldly shell-esque aura of immense power.
The cloud-riding boy vanished in a flicker, leaving the world entirely.
"Your wish has been granted." Shenron intoned, eyes fading. The orbs hovered around his imposing figure before he dissipated in a display of explosive fireworks. Each orb shot off in opposite directions.
XxX
A Warrior on the Unknown Seas
C
H
A
P
T
E
R
ONE
Right Place, Right Time
Goku could wholeheartedly say dimensional-travel was an experience he never wanted to go through for as long as he lived, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" The most unmanliest scream thankfully no one was ever gonna hear echoed thunderously off the walls of an endless rabbit hole-like pit.
Goku fell for what felt like hours down an incredibly long pitch-dark void of sorts only partly lit up by the glowing kanjis the meaning of which Goku didn't care to ascertain. Not when he was falling at such a ridiculously fast pace. He felt like his eyes were burning as his eyelids were pulled back at the intense wind the speed of his fall picked up.
His skin and Gi flopped in the accelerated winds.
To say day light couldn't come quick enough wasn't giving Goku's torment any justice.
His heart leaped in his mouth when the light of the sun hit his eyes, 'FINALLY!' When he entered surprisingly clear blue skies considering it had been nightfall when he left his world, he found himself plunging directly downward to a mouth full of crystal-clear ocean, "Wahhhh!" He straightened, "Nimbus!" The yellow cloud darted underneath him, firmly stopping his fall, "Phew."
Goku took a moment to gather his bearings and namely, his breath, panting heavily from the great exertion of going a full ten minutes shouting like an absolute lunatic. His chest visibly rose and deflated with each deep breath he took. After a minute of simply catching his breath the wild-haired boy sat up, checking himself over. To his relief, neither did his bag of senzu beans nor his did rear container containing his capsule case fall from his hip and rear respectively in his insane freefall through the rabbit hole.
Heaving one more sigh, this one born more from relief than exhaustion, Goku flipped up to his feet, "Now let's see." He murmured, extending his senses far and wide over the horizon of the seemingly all sapphire blue ocean that he could see ahead of him. A few seconds passed before a smirk quirked his lips, "Now this is exciting!" There was no shortage of decently high energy signatures that he sensed just passed the small area he was in. He held up a clenched fist, relishing the challenge of taking on the best the world had to offer, "I can't wait to meet them." And fight them mainly.
He just had to leave this small region. Where "here" was Goku could easily make out he was the biggest fish in this very small pond.
A loud grumble like that of a monstrous growl reverberated tremendously through the air, making Goku knelt over and cradle his crying stomach with an infectious grin across his lips.
"But first I gotta get some grub in me!"
The flying nimbus carried him to the nearest island at a blindly quick acceleration, leaving a lengthy trail of yellow steam trailing in it's wake.
A few moments later found Goku hovering over what appeared to be a deserted town on a small island, "Doesn't like anyone's around," He observed. If he were a lesser man he would've assumed the island was abandoned riding above it on cruise mode on nimbus, but he wasn't. He identified a plethora of energy signatures, mostly belonging to ordinary civilians but they were a few abnormal ones, too.
He soon began putting the pieces together. Most of the regular-sized energy signatures were held in one place seemingly indoors like a pack of sardines while the abnormal levels of power were freely spread out. Having had many similar scenarios throughout his dragon ball collecting days, his mind could only reach one conclusion.
Goku narrowed his eyes in realization, "This looks like the work of a bad guy." As if right on own cue, a frighteningly loud blast echoed across the vicinity, startling the wild-haired warrior, "What the heck was that?!" He snapped his head in time to see a cannon ball plough into a building, effortlessly toppling it over before Goku's horrified eyes, "That monster!" He growled underneath his breath, visibly shaking at the sight of such mindless destruction. "What if that had killed someone?!"
Thankfully, only ONE of the abnormal energy signatures appeared to be in the aforementioned establishment before it's eruption and much to Goku's relief, the individual hadn't even taken the slightest bit of damage despite rubble and wood heavily collapsing on their head.
A heaved sigh of relief preceded a hardened glimmer of conviction which lit up Goku's onyx-coloured eyes, "I've gotta put a stop to this," Even if he wasn't the sort of man who went out of his way to perform heroic, selfless acts daily, he still couldn't just stand by and dismiss injustice. If he happened to be nearby, he wouldn't hesitate for a moment to bring it to an abrupt and painful end.
He leaned forward on his trusty cloud and sped forward like a rocket. As he travelled, he noticed a heap of other unfortunate victims of the cruel demolition the person wrought and it motivated him all the more to speed up and put an end to it all. He reached his destined destination within moments and found the person – or people – responsible preparing for another round of bombardment, with one peculiar red-nosed individual directing the traffic.
"Load her up, boys!" The red-nosed man commanded, relishing in cruel delight at the destruction he wrought.
"You got it, Captain Buggy!" One of his lackeys obeyed. Assisted by two other nondescript members of Buggy's crew, the nameless man dumped the weighty black object of fiery destruction into the cannon as the sounds of it dropping into their metal contraption of sickening joy sounded out. Snickering in victory at the first part of his job done, the man lit the wick before facing the cannon at another building.
Goku's eyes shot open, 'Oh no, you don't!"
Unaware of his cannon's impending doom, Buggy looked away from his mass weapon and pointed to the next establishment he wanted to see burn to the ground, "Fire!" He ordered and immersed himself in the glorious explosive scene soon to flash before his eyes with an sickeningly cruel grin across his lips. Engrossed as he was that he didn't even the violent sounds of crushing metal thundering so closely to his ears.
His smile became increasingly more strained the longer he didn't hear the sweet detonation of his piece of artillery. He frowned in irritation.
"Uh, Captain?"
Buggy was far too annoyed to register his subordinate's frightened tone as he began to wheel around to face them, "What's the hold-up y-. Oh...?" He stopped his enquiry when he completed his turn and found that the "hold-up" was right before him; a muscled young man around his late teens or early twenties, dressed in an eye-catching sleeveless orange Gi over a dark blue coloured short-sleeved top with a black kanji emblem on his back and a smaller one on the front side of the left peck. He also wore shin-high navy-blue coloured boots and a matching sash around his waist.
And he appeared to be holding up the remnants of Buggy's armed weapon, completely crushed down the middle by one solid, inhuman grip alone.
Huh.
So that was why his crew were stunned into silence. Buggy couldn't say he blamed them bearing witness to the feat now. He was, for a lack of better term, bug-eyed at the young man's display of pure strength, "...Well now, I don't know what to say about this." He admitted, still yet to pick his jaw off the ground from the seemingly spontaneous appearance of this superhuman young man.
"That's enough!" Goku issued in an empowering voice, leaving no room for argument.
Buggy shook off his stupor first, "Is that so? And I suppose you're gonna make us?" He challenged. As the captain of his vessel it was his duty never to show weakness toward his enemy. After all, if he couldn't be strong then how could his crew respect and follow him?
The red-nosed captain jumped in fright when the young man turned his head over his shoulder and presented him with a stare of lethal intent.
"What's with that look, brat?" He asked despite the fact he was close to dropping his bravado from the freakishly powerful boy's enraged gaze. Such intensity. Buggy was sure even a giant would balk from it. Still, he couldn't let on that he was rattled, "Does it bother you that I'm destroying this town?" He raised his shoulders, barking out a boastful laugh, "Well too bad! Because the great captain Buggy-sama stops for no man, so if I were you I'd assume the fatal position. Maybe if I'm feeling generous, I might decide to make you my new jester."
Everyone balked at the sudden audible drop of Buggy's very much formerly crushed military weapon. The clown-themed pirate felt his animosity rise dangerously staring at his beloved destroyed cannon through bloodshot red eyes, but the young man paid him no consideration. Wild, unkempt gravity-defying hair swaying in a breeze, Goku advanced in on his foe one threatening step at a one time, causing the clown to stumble near clumsily back.
"What? That not good enough for you!?" He roared in defiance, his nerve fading the closer the silent man drew closer toward him. "I'm warning you! Cabaji!"
A dark green-haired man sporting a sleeveless long, dark purple open coat, white trousers and matching shoes emerged from the crowd of the shell-shocked fleet, racing forward n a unicycle, "Leave him to me, Captain Buggy," He assured as his long white checkered scarf billowed in the winds the speed of his charge on Goku picked up, "I'll have him beat in no time."
Seeing Buggy's second-in-command rush into action restored some of the bluster the background members of Buggy's crew had lost, "Yeah! Commander Cabaji will have that weird guy beat in no time at all."
Cabaji had no qualms attacking Goku from behind, swinging high at his head with his katana.
He ended up passing right through the young man as though he were a ghost.
Buggy blinked blankly, "What the hell kinda Devil Fruit is that?" His expression darkened in visible annoyance before a bead of nervous sweat ran down his cheek, "So, you're a Logia-type, are you?" His crew audibly whined with tears of fear leaking from their eyes hearing him say those words.
"He's a logia-type!"
"We're finished!"
"No one can touch a Logia-type Devil Fruit Eater."
"I don't know what that is," The apparent Logia admitted.
Everyone blinked.
"...You're not?" Buggy asked, earning an honest nod from the martial artist whose expression never eased from it's hardened look of intent. The admittance renewed Buggy's bravado, "Hahahaha. You idiot! You shouldn't have told me that because now you won't be able to bluff your way out of this!" He chuckled raucously, "Kill him, Cabaji."
Cabaji lunged forward once more feeling secure with the knowledge that he could hurt his opponent. Goku effortlessly evaded his wild overarching strike with a sidestep to his other side, bringing his arm to his neck and driving him toward the ground with enough force to crater the very floor, which quickly fell in on itself.
0_0
0_0
0_0
0_0
0_0
The sheer display of physical prowess left jaws on the floor and eyes extended completely out of their heads. A void of deafening silence encompassed everyone as realization of the hot water they all were in dawned on them.
Goku flipped away from the hole he made in the roof scratching his head with a frown, "Guess I don't know my own strength."
…
Another silence.
Then - "What!" A simultaneous high-pitched roar, "He did that by accident!"
"I think I may have miscalculated," Buggy murmured, every last ounce of bravado sapped away from him witnessing but a portion of the wild-haired boy's physical power, "...Uh, what's say we hash out our disagreement?" He tried lamely, flashing the boy a thumbs-up, "Whaddya say? Bygones be bygones?"
Goku's focused glare of purpose returned, eliciting a flinch from Buggy, "Now it's your turn." He said as if his foe had never even extended his offer of a truce, rushing his opponent in a burst of speed.
"Wait! Wait! Wait! Chop-Chop Escape!" Buggy panicked.
By some divine miracle he would make certain to pray to everyday in eternal gratitude Buggy's reflexes were just quick enough to avoid a cataclysmic punch. He absolutely had to avoid the powerhouse teen's punch too because as Goku powered his fist just over his now severed, hovering torso it generated a calamitous shockwave the likes of which he had only ever heard of one man capable of producing. The sheer power behind the invisible wave of force decimated the entire building of their downfall, carving the ocean in two as though he were a messiah sent from the heavens above to reap retribution on their sorry asses.
XxX
The Village Chief was rooted to the spot from his initial, inspired charge, gawking at the Jesus-esque sight before his stunned-filled bespectacled gaze, "My word..." He murmured, limply dropping whatever he was holding; the weapon clattering nosily to the ground beneath his feet. All the resolve he had gathered from witnessing his old friend's dog and the straw-hat youngster battle the notorious lion tamer disappeared as though he was robbed of his strength.
He barely registered the approaching footsteps of the three youngsters, even when the moss head swordman spoke up, commenting on the godly display of power in a nonchalant manner. It was actually rather impressive that anyone could hold their composure after seeing such a sight if one were to ask the elder.
"Someone beat us to it," The green head noted, fixing his palm over his forehead as if it would zone in on the glorious sight. "That's impressive."
"So cool!" The starry-eyed straw hat-wearing teenager gushed excitedly.
"...I feel like I'm in a dream," The orange-haired girl said in a shellshocked murmur, eyes completely dilated gaping at the otherworldly feat and the actual solid ground they could all see between the two sides of the separated ocean, "How could anyone split the ocean like that!"
That was the million-dollar question playing on the minds of the young woman and village elder, each feeling incredibly nervous at the show of such extraordinary power. The teenage boys felt more carefree than they had any right to be having long since come to the conclusion Buggy wasn't powerful let alone mighty enough to carve the ocean in half. His ability just made him a tricky opponent to deal with.
Common sense told them Buggy's current place of residence wouldn't have been destroyed if the ocean-splitter was on his side.
The scarred eyed boy plopped a finger on his chin thoughtfully, "Hey, you think that guy would like to join my pirate crew?"
"Are you an idiot!?" Nami raged.
Luffy blinked, "...No?"
The orange-haired girl grimaced at his blank stare, "How can you want a monster who can carve the ocean in two to join up with you?!" She asked, "What if he turns out to be a bad guy?"
The starting captain of a recently formed crew gave a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders, "We won't know unless we ask him." He answered, much to the girl's gaping horror. With that in mind, he calmly strolled forward to the scene of devastation.
"I agree with Luffy," Zoro said, falling into step with his captain. As someone who also had his character wrongly defiled by word of mouth when he always tried to position himself as a good guy, he could empathize with the enigma powerhouse being harshly judged by the cat burglar.
"What's wrong with you?" Nami exclaimed, throwing her arms up in exasperation. She was ignored entirely by the three katana-wielding swordsman.
A sigh came from the previously inspired elder, "Well I might as well see this through to the end."
"Not you too." Comical tears cascaded down Nami's cheeks at his insistence. The elder had the decency to flash her an apologetic smile before taking off himself, this time at a far more reserved pace. Nami huffed in contempt, "Those idiots," She muttered underneath her breath, massaging the space in between her eyes, "Fine. If they want to face that monster, they can be my guests. I've got treasure to steal and they're going to be my bait." She smirked before shadowing after them.
Several minutes found the trio, shadowed by Nami, arrive at what was left of Buggy's chosen place of occupancy. To the village chief's dismay, nothing but wood and debris messily stacked in a small hill-like pile remained of the town's pub. Even the sign was cracked in half down the middle, sitting just below the heap of decimated debris.
Luffy adjusted his hat with a single hand propped on its surface, monitoring the ruined battlefield, "Where'd everybody go?" He searched, not spotting hide nor hair of Buggy, his crew members nor the mysterious warrior who apparently led to their downfall.
The three looked around for several moments until Zoro caught sight of a brilliant shade of orange coming from a small alley in between two other mostly unharmed buildings, "Look there. Someone's coming," He declared, alerting the others.
Luffy's head shot up like an arrow, eyes instantly filling up with amazement at the sight of such wild, untamed hair that seemed to defy the laws of physics; every edge standing on air, "Wooooow! Look at the hair. He's like a hedgehog!"
"I'm more concerned with the type of clothes he's wearing," That and the well-defined muscles bulging from his arms, "Looks like he can fight. Since he's the only one here I'd wager he's the one who beat Buggy," He specified, smirking at the prospect of the young man being hostile. "We should be guard. He migh-."
Luffy instantly darted forward to engage the super powered youth in friendly conversation ignoring all warning signs that he may be hostile.
"LUFFY!"
Hey, Hedgehog-guy!"
Goku looked up curiously at the odd nickname he was seemingly given by another teenager around his age, "You mean me?" He queried, taking one hand off his sack to point dumbly at his face when the energetic teen was in front of him.
"Uh-huh!" Luffy nodded rapidly, looking like he drank ten cups of coffee to Goku, "You're the one who beat that Buggy-guy, right?"
Goku blinked blankly, "Buggy?" He might have been referring to that clown-based pirate he fought. He hadn't cared for his name, not after he heartlessly decimated quite a significant portion of a town for his own sick amusement. He did recall what he referred himself as, though, "Oh! You mean that clown-guy, right?"
Luffy smirked with expectation, "That's right. You beat the snot of him, right?"
Goku's dumbfounded expression hardened in a sobered glare, "Yeah I did. I couldn't stand back and watch such mindless destruction." Luffy nodded in understanding with a subdued expression of his own. He wasn't the sort of man who stood idly by watching injustice either. Much like Goku, he didn't go out of his way to be heroic, but if he happened to be passing through he wouldn't hesitate for a moment to spring into action.
The two perked up when the village elder and Zoro made their way over to them, "Is Buggy gone?" The Village Chief asked, narrowing his gaze in suspicion but not necessarily directed at Goku.
Goku nodded blankly, "Uh-huh. He just left. He gave me his treasure and this map to some place called the grand something. He said that's where all the strong guys are." He explained, taking out a map stuffed into the back of his obi which drew a look of awe from Luffy and a horrified gasp echoing from somewhere in the distance.
"Whoaaaaaaaaa. You got the map to the Grand Line!" Luffy stated, starry-eyed. That sealed the deal as far as he was concerned. A content smile warmed his face before he situated a hand on the young man's shoulder, "Join my pirate crew."
"Pirate crew?" Goku stared vacantly at Luffy's eager nod before laughing slightly, "I hadn't thought about joining a crew." A smirk, "I just want to fight the strongest guys around."
"You can totally do that in my crew!" Luffy insisted vigorously, getting right up in Goku's face who backed up with his hands up in a defensive posture, "C'mon! Join my crew."
A rapidly approaching trail of dust provided Goku with a perfect distraction to dodge the straw hat-wearing teenager's question, "Hey, what's that?" He asked, alerting Luffy and the others to the onrushing individual.
Nami all but flashed in front of Goku, a look of panicked desperation painted across her delicate features, "Wait a minute!" She requested and Goku expressionlessly did just that. She took a moment to catch her breath from the burst of acceleration before steeling her features, "That's the treasure Buggy had, isn't it?" She paled when the muscled teenager nodded in confirmation.
"That's right," He clarified and surprising the village chief with his consideration he admitted, "I was gonna give this load to whoever runs the place since I kind-. Hey, where're you going?" He asked mid-sentence because before he had finished the young woman was already frantically galloping past him to the original treasure vault he had come from. Goku blinked oddly at her departure.
"Guess she really wanted that treasure," Luffy shrugged in explanation.
The village chief made his presence known again, "Is that true that you plan to give us some of your stolen treasure from Buggy, youngling?" He enquired, gaining Goku's attention.
"Oh. You must be the guy who runs this place." He brightened.
"That would be me." He confirmed with a strict nod.
While in the process of removing the village's share of Buggy's former treasure, setting it at the elder's feet, Goku's mood significantly dampened, "Sorry about this," He offered, gesturing to the ruins of the village's pub, "I don't know how to hold back my own strength sometimes."
The village chief gawked at the sheer size of the bloated bag Goku had presented him before looking at the sincere gaze of the youth in front of him, "You're giving all this to us?" He asked, referencing his villagers. Goku nodded. "I can't take all of this," He said, shaking his head, "Youngling, you've already done enough ridding my village of that despicable pirate. Please, some use to fund your own journey."
"Hey, It's fine," Goku reassured, swinging his arms up behind his head in a relaxed manner, "I've already taken my share."
The elder looked back and forth between Goku's easy-going grin and the massive bag of loaded jewellery and other valuable gold in curiosity, trying to ascertain where the young man's share was. He might have been referring to his ship.
"Let the man be generous if he wants," Zoro yawned.
Goku flashed him an appreciative grin and pointed a thumb at him. "What he said."
After a moment of contemplation, the chief eventually decided, "As long as you're sure..." He said, reaching down to grab his village's gift.
"Sure I'm sure," Goku breezily insisted.
"Then I thank you," He said in gratitude. With a bit of a strain, the elder heaved the huge sack over his shoulders with both hands as Goku nodded, "Just wish there was some way I could repay you."
A pair of simultaneous grumbles echoed throughout the air, instantly putting Zoro and the village chief on guard, the former grabbing all three handles of his katanas.
"The hell I-?"
"You can repay me by getting me some grub."
"I'm hungry!"
Zoro and the elder shared looks of complete bewilderment at the two boys mirroring each other's action and expression; a hand cradling their stomachs and the other hand propped on the back of their heads and massive carefree smiles of insouciance lighting up their faces. When the lovers of all things edible in the world turned and realised they had copied each other with a simultaneous blink, they doubled over in laughter.
"You're funny, hedgehog-guy."
"Yeah, same to you, straw hat guy."
While Zoro continued to stare in absolute disbelief, the village chief shook his head with a sigh.
"That's the least we can do for you after everything you've done us for us. Come on. Follow me. We'll have a feast to celebrate the village's emancipation." Why he was getting the odd feeling he had just signed his own death warrant when the hungry lads turned to him with equally starry-eyes and drool dribbling down their lips?
They were only starving.
Surely, they weren't going to eat as much as his gut-feeling was telling him they were, right?
...Right?
Goku - 19
Luffy -17
Nami - 18
Zoro - 19