Wishfull-star: o(ω)o
sulongmirko: Thank you!
IIRoxaII: Bruh in my other story that follows the timeline with Luffy as a dragon I butchered Sabaody so this one is fairly tame compared to that one.
The instant they went inside and seemed welcome, Zoro picked the best bottle of alcohol he could find behind the counter while Luffy and Brook raided the refrigerator. Zoro sat and leaned against a wall and drank silently. Chopper was the one bothered the most, but Shakky didn't seem to care at all as she and Hachi caught up with one another.
Chopper was gifted by a sudden cotton candy, much to his delight. "Neh, how do you know what Chopper likes?" Luffy asked, a cold chicken leg in his mouth. She stored random stuff here, not just stuff you'd serve at a bar. Zoro was on his second bottle.
"I've been following you guys for quite awhile."
"All of us?!" Chopper asked. Then he was sad about his bounty.
"Well, all of you but a talking skeleton. I didn't know that was possible. I've read about your Enies Lobby incident. How much of it was true?"
"Eh, do we gotta talk about it? It was a pain in the ass," Luffy said, taking a little piece of Chopper's cotton candy. His hand was bitten by the reindeer. "Ahahaha! Sorry, sorry, Chopper."
"That's my cotton candy! You didn't even ask!" Luffy laughed and apologized again, giving him the cotton candy. "But now it's not fluffy anymore! You ruined it!" Shakky brought out a plastic tub with more cotton candy. She offered it to him. "Yay! Thank you!"
Zoro eyed Luffy with a small smile. "You've got the same name as Garp the Fist, a marine."
"That's my grandpa," Luffy replied. Shakky smiled, and said that Garp had been after her before. "Hah? Why?"
Hachi said Shakky had been a retired pirate for 40 years. Luffy wondered how old she was, but she didn't acknowledge his question. "I'm rooting for you rookies. My husband has had his eye on you, too, for some reason."
Zoro asked who her husband was. "Rayleigh-san, a retired pirate. I don't know why he has his eye on you, though. But I quite like you from your escapades well." Luffy wondered why her husband liked him.
"Well, you're really likable, so," Zoro said. "Is he not here, then?" Shakky said he'd been gone for a while, and that they should check the gambling halls. "Not necessary. Luffy, you can find him, right?" Zoro said. Chopper was still eating cotton candy.
"Yup. Do you have something that smells like him?" Luffy asked curiously, eyeing the cotton candy but not taking any more. Shakky looked very unbothered. She gave him a coat. Luffy smelled it and easily had a scent. "Neh, it might be harder if he hasn't been here in awhile."
"He wouldn't have gone too far, from grove 1 to 9. Mostly to gamble and drink at the bars." Shakky was really chill, not seeming to think this was strange at all. "By the way, the places he is mostly at aren't frequented by the Celestial Dragons. An explosion or two won't be that big of a problem." Zoro narrowed his eyes. "I heard you from inside. Broken windows at a bar or gambling hall isn't that bad. Monkey-chan, you sure are interesting so far. If he's not in those places, check Sabaody park-"
"The amusement park!" Luffy cheered.
"Well, wherever you go, be careful. My sources tell me there are 11 pirates on Sabaody with bounties over 100 million right now."
"That many?!" Chopper exclaimed.
"9 others than Monkey-chan and Roronoa-chan," Shakky confirmed. They were all from the other paths on the Grand Line, so they'd never come into contact with one another. All of the routes met up at Fishman Island, including Sabaody. Luffy was shocked that Luffy wasn't the highest bounty. The names Shakky listed didn't ring a bell for any of them. Zoro looked mildly interested.
The highest bounty was 20 million more, to someone named Eustass "Captain" Kid. "Mountains of pirates enter the Grand Line, but most die out before making it this far. As if the first half is one grand survival tournament. Each survivor from each route proves themselves just by making it all the way to the halfway point. The fittest, the elite pirates. Your crew is a minority. And all of your members are still alive, too. Quite the feat," she said.
"One of them might be the person that inspires the next generation. At the very least, these rookies won't go unnoticed in the New World. And the reason Kid's bounty is higher is because he does damage to innocent citizens. So, I'm rooting for you Monkey-chan," Shakky said. Zoro was on his third free sake bottle.
"Well, I just want to have fun. But I'm worried about all the strong guys here for the guy that's supposed to do our coating. Hachi chose him especially, you know?" Luffy said. Shakky told him not to worry.
"He's about 100 times stronger than you boys," she added confidently. "But be careful of the marines, too. They know you're all here. But you're lucky, they're busy with another matter right now. As long as you don't make a ruckus, you should pass to Fishman Island just fine after finding my husband."
They walked out into the large open space, and Luffy was frowning. "What's wrong?" Zoro asked.
"I wanna go to Sabaody Park! But we have to find the coater," Luffy lamented. Hachi said the coating job took more than a few hours. "So we can go after finding him!" Everyone was happy with this, and they walked along the groves, Luffy following the scent in almost ridiculous zigzags. It really had been awhile since he had gone to Shakky's bar, his home.
Shakky sure was a laid back wife. They went to all sorts of bars and shady places when Zoro made a small grunt of pain. Luffy turned around and asked what was wrong, unable to help the worry in his voice. "It's nothing. Just a cramp." He rubbed the forearm of his left arm. His fingers were so stiff that his hand was trembling. There was the swollen vein up his arm.
Luffy looked at his own arm, his was fine. "Zoro… are you feeling my pain?" Luffy asked. Everyone was confused but Brook. He didn't react.
"What are you talking about?" Zoro asked, slightly defensive.
"When my arm hurt, when the blast went off and it didn't work anymore, that vein right there was really inflamed! Look at your arm!" Zoro scowled, and said Luffy wasn't going to press him. He'd agreed not to. "But-!"
"Stop feeling sorry for me!" Zoro shouted. Luffy flinched, and bit the inside of his mouth. He swallowed and followed the scent silently. His face and chest were hot in embarrassment. All he was doing was showing worry. Maybe he was really annoying after all. Chopper and Caimie were angry with Zoro, telling him to not be insensitive. "But I'm fine!"
"You were not fine!" Chopper shouted furiously. "Luffy is concerned about what to do next! Do you see that?! That's the Red Line! On the other side is where the strongest people in the world are! None of us want to go to the New World in a damaged state. He's the one burdened with making that decision. I thought you woulda' been the one to understand."
Zoro didn't say anything. Luffy felt very unsure, and did look up at the huge wall. Were they ready? They had nowhere to go instead. Luffy felt his arm heat up faster than usual. He felt it grow hot and bright. The other arm echoed, too.
He sighed and got on his back to shoot upwards. That way he won't be flung back. "Luffy?"
"They need to explode again," Luffy said in a flat voice. He closed his eyes, and perhaps this was not the best method either, as the impact slammed him into the ground in a crater, dazing him. He couldn't move, felt his head bleeding, his heart hammering in his chest. He felt like he'd been hit by something stronger than the sea train.
He was gasping for breath, and Chopper hurried over, everyone running over. He sensed people around watching. "Are you okay?! His eardrums burst again," he said Chopper's mouth moving. This… this power was absolutely terrible in every way. It definitely reacted to his emotions. It got hot and painful fast. The moment Zoro yelled at him, it shot through him like a hot iron.
"Take him back to the ship," Chopper said. "No, you're not giving him blood, Zoro."
"Blood?" Caimie asked. Zoro said they could talk about it later. They were not too far from grove 41, and it wasn't a part of the island overwhelmed with bounty hunters. Zoro had his swords drawn and Brook as well when they got back to the ship.
Luffy was given a bag of blood that fixed his ears and his breathing was returned to normal. He still had the jacket. They were supposed to find him soon. Luffy couldn't even handle his own power. How would he be captain in the New World? "Luffy? Are you okay?" Chopper asked. Those that stayed on the ship knew what happened.
Luffy nodded, sitting up and taking the wet washcloth to clean the blood off his ears and neck. "Chopper… I'm excited, and everyone is excited to go, but what if I'm not strong enough for everybody?"
"You mean Zor-"
"I can't even handle or control my own body! It's like some shitty devil fruit I never asked for! I've already caused problems with it here. And then it crippled half of my attacks against Moria. I'm supposed to be the strongest one, the captain. But I'm doubting." Chopper was shocked he told him that.
He kindly said, "Well, we can talk to the crew about it." That's right, this wasn't Zoro. But he couldn't talk to Zoro about it without offending him. It was Luffy's problem, not Zoro's. He believed in them and himself. So why didn't Luffy? It felt like some added layer of panic was on him, all day.
Something happened, but he didn't know what. A huge sense of panic welled up, sudden and strong. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. His heart was hammering painfully. Something was wrong. Deep breathing helped, and Chopper helped him out of the ship. Luffy wasn't injured, but he got out of the ship in a hurry.
"I'm not exploding," he said in a deep breath. "Okay," he mumbled to himself. The panic subsided. He wondered if it was something that meant things would go wrong, or maybe it was just him being weak. He wanted to do something productive. "Chopper? Do we have long rubber gloves?"
"Yeah…"
"Fill them with ice water. If I numb my arms maybe I won't blast." Chopper hurried inside and then came out with the gloves. When Luffy put them on, they were indeed very cold. He didn't know if it would work, but he remembered Makino once saying something about having something to fool yourself… it was hard to remember how it went. But since he couldn't control how strong they were, he was going to only depend on his mental strength. They needed to at least find the coater because Luffy said they would and it was productive. It was still barely one o'clock. They'd been there for four hours.
"Okay. Let's go find the coater. I hope Caimie and Hachi aren't too scared of me now…" he said sadly. But he pushed away any sadness. One emotion at a time. This was already exhausting. How would he be unerwat-
"Caimie-chan went for a swim. Kind of abrupt, though." Luffy looked over the side. "Hachie did, too." Luffy smelled and frowned. "What?"
"Are you sure they went on a swim? It kind of smells like those three fishmen kidnappers from before!"
"What?! Are you sure?!"
"No, not at all! And we have no way to check. Should we wait for them to come back? Neither said they were leaving for good, and they would show up there, wouldn't they?" he asked. He was thrumming his fingers.
He and Zoro hadn't spoken about the sharp outburst, but Zoro put his hands on Luffy's shoulders and rubbed gently, trying to calm him no doubt. Luffy wasn't exactly stable right now if he got too upset. Staying calm would possibly save lives.
They waited three minutes, Luffy stuck his head under the water, but unable to make out any helpful sounds. They called Nami and Robin to come with them, they were searching for them. "Caimie and Hachi said that merfolk and fishmen are enslaved and sold here. Should we search the auction houses?"
"How many are here? I can only search so many in a fast pace," Luffy said. "Hachi gave us a map of the groves, but none of them show where!"
"We know people who know their shit about this. The flying fish riders. Luffy, start searching. You can hear the buzzes of the fish. If we find her, we'll come pick you up, okay?" Sanji said seriously, getting the den den they'd gotten just that morning. Luffy agreed, and Zoro went with him.
"Zoro! If absolutely necessary, I give you permission, but it will be on somewhere other than your arms! Understand?" Chopper said sternly. "Absolute necessity! If Luffy can't function anymore!"
"I understand!" Luffy grabbed Caimie's bag and took a deep whiff, running along the shore of the island, smelling deeply. They were smart to go into the water where Luffy couldn't track them easily. Well, at all. The gloves were still cold, but once again, a single goal was focusing him, find Caimie or wait for the others to. This would mess everything up more if he got shot somewhere else. But he wouldn't.
He couldn't catch a scent of Caimie or the other two, and he worried that he chose the wrong direction, and they went to the right not the left from the Sunny. He smelled deeply, and they found themselves in the bounty hunter area. Neither could afford to fight, so Luffy stared at everyone with his disturbing expression, widened eyes, slightly open mouth with raised lips as a silent snarl.
Zoro shivered from it, and Luffy saw his cheeks were a bit red. He really thought scary Luffy was pretty attractive. "Shishishi, you're weird."
"You love me being in my bandana cause that's the scariest," Zoro commented. "Look, there's an auction house right there!" Luffy turned and ran to it, and smelled deeply. She wasn't there! "This is the closest one to the ship on this side! Wouldn't they choose the closest?"
"What about the furthest?!"
"Shit! We should have waited for a flying fish and flew over the island or between the trees." Luffy nodded, but there was no given he could have smelled her that strongly. Freshly out of the water would probably dull her scent a bit. Finding her by land would be the most reliable, but not the easiest by far.
Luffy asked if Hachi would be okay, too. If they were both kidnapped, they would be sold… "If they even make it to the slave houses or auction halls. Caimie would probably make it. Hachi and Pappag said fishmen were treated badly on the surface. That's why Hachi tried hiding himself! We need to find them soon."
"I don't understand how Hachi got taken or in trouble, too! He was once a pirate!"
"You were a pirate and I was a bounty hunter and we were pretty evenly matched. These guys might be good bounty hunters, and it's been months since Hachi was a pirate. He could have dulled." Luffy knew that was right, but the fishman kidnappers were easily dispatched by Hachi before.
So what happened to him?
He started smelling for blood, too. But ten minutes later, and they'd only found two murders and not merfolk of fishmen. Luffy didn't find her before they heard the flying fish from behind. "We found them! Well, we know where they are!" Usopp shouted. Luffy and Zoro jumped on the other two.
"Did you find either of them?!" Luffy demanded, hair flapping in the wind, the sound in his ears, though it didn't deafen him. Usopp said Hachi was missing an arm when they found him outside of Grove 3. "What?!"
"Chopper did emergency treatment, but he said Caimie was going to be sold! He got beat up and lost track of her. He's really ashamed." Luffy growled. Well, they would save Caimie. They got there quickly, flying right across the archipelago to the opposite side that Luffy and Zoro had been at.
When they landed, Chopper was with Hachi behind a dumpster, giving him pain medicine and bantaging and tourniquiting the arm. But he was only concerned with finding Caimie. "Hachi, what happened to your arm?!"
"A bounty hunter," Hachi said. "But I'm fine. It's just one arm. I have five more." Luffy nodded, and hurried up to Nami. He said they could just bust in there. Pappag that was stuffed in Hachi's shirt told them they couldn't because there were Celestial Dragons in there. Luffy smelled deeply.
"Yeah, I smell them now. And the coater is in here, too. The freshest place his scent has been. Well get him on our way out," Luffy said casually. Nami said they had to not make a scene. "But do we have enough to buy her back anyways?" Luffy asked. He smelled deeply. "I can just barely smell her, but she's here!"
They all let out a sigh, but they had to be careful. Especially if the coater was here, and if they got the place in trouble, he might be unable to coat their ship. They couldn't stay here longer than necessary. They would head to Fishman Island. A spike of that panic was there, but it was gone instantly, Luffy flipping a switch on it. His arms didn't ache.
The gloves weren't doing anything to help anymore. He pulled them off and stuffed them in his pants, hanging out the waistband. Usopp gave him the arm sleeve. Luffy thanked him and slipped it on over the mark. The sunglasses were long gone. Well, it was a dark hall. "No matter what, we can do anything to upset the Celestial Dragons," Hachi said. "Nyuu, I'm sorry. They ambushed me."
"We have a fair amount of money on the ship. Hopefully it's enough to buy her back," Nami said. She looked to Luffy and shook her head once. He knew that she knew her heart fluttered, she didn't believe they had enough, but Luffy said nothing.
"We have 200 million… hopefully that's enough."
"Nyuuu, I can never pay you back for that."
"You can pay us back by getting real treatment. That's how you'll pay us back, understand?" Luffy asked. The others nodded, and the starfish simply said Luffy's name in surprise. He was kind of sick at his constant surprise of Luffy being a decent person."You're all our friends, we'll do whatever we can to help."
The others nodded. Luffy smelled the slaves before he saw them, as they entered the auction hall. It was full of pompous, rich people, and it stunk of perfume and grime. The slaves hadn't been washed. At least, not some of them. At the moment, there were an assortment of people on the stage, all with bomb collars and cuffs on. They all looked miserable.
"Are any of them the coater?"
"No," Luffy said quietly. "He's back stage. Smells like alcohol, too. Shakky said we don't gotta worry about him. I'm not going to," he added. He slid his eyes to the side at a guy staring at him from across the entrance. Some makeup on, spiky red hair and an eccentric style. He was grinning at Luffy in a kind of mean way.
Well, he wasn't there to get in an argument or fight with strangers. There was one other person staring at him, but this one had a surprised smile. He had a white spotted hat, a yellow hoodie and spotted jeans. Some black facial hair, too. He smelled kind of off, but he couldn't pinpoint it.
Attention brought back to the stage by the horrible cries of the slaves. The women who all went to old men. The old men that went to women, and then the children who were sold to the Celestial Dragons. One earlier had said they wanted to start off easy with a child. It was sickening. Luffy felt his lips curl up in disgust.
"Calm down, we're here to get Caimie."
"I know, I'm fine. Promise," Luffy assured Sanji, who noticed the look easily. "We'll get her no matter what." It was lucky that Luffy could confirm Caimie's presence since the itinerary was less than helpful. At least it showed they had more than enough money to buy Caimie. Luffy kept his hearing on the slaves inside.
Lffy bit his lip. He could hear her voice lifelessly pleading for Hachi to save her. Well, they were there to get her. Money was just an object and you could always get more. Hachi asked how she was. "Crying. She wants you to save her," Luffy said quietly.
"Pretty sharp ears you got there," someone's voice said. He pinpointed it to the spotted hat guy. "Nice eyes." Luffy furrowed his brows at him. "Usually you'd hide something like that." This one was weird. But Luffy couldn't speak back without bringing attention. It wasn't like the hall was quiet either. People were talking all over the place, only able to hear the auctioneer by his microphone.
"Heads up, more bubble heads coming," Luffy told his crew. They tensed, all knowing what would happen if they hurt one. As long as they didn't do anything stupid… the bubble head did come in, not the one they'd seen before.
He walked in and looked absolutely stupid. Not just his appearance, but his personality. "I want a mermaid," he said simply. "I hope they have one here." Luffy's eyes narrowed.
"They said mermaids aren't caught often. It's unlikely for one to be here," who looked like his guard said. Luffy could hear marines outside. Coming from all over.
"There are marines surrounding this place, too. It's gonna be hard to get Caimie and out without incident," Luffy said. Everyone tensed, worried about the current situation. Hachi and Pappag apologized in shame. "I wish they'd bring her out already."
"They're no doubt leaving her for the end, she'll be the last to go," Franky hissed.
The man on the stage was going to be sold, a pirate captain, before he bit his own tongue off. They would kill him now. "He chose rather to die here rather than to live a life as a slave. Maybe it was the right choice," Sanji said softly.
By then, at least 20 people had been sold. Mostly regular people. "We can't make a profit off of this guy! Move on preparations for the mermaid! Take her out!"
Luffy said, "Caimie's next. There bringing her out." They all tensed, and Nami's hand holding the paddle board was shaking. She had it lifted to throw it up fast as she could. Luffy was paying attention to Caimie and the Celestial Dragons. He had the urge to hurt them. What if they were the one to kill Sabo? Granted it was eight years ago… he calmed himself.
He felt his arm pulsing, but instead of forcing it back and risking self destruction, as that was what it felt like, he imagined the painful power going throughout his whole body. Like applying pressure at all points bsides the exits of something. It was building, though. Robin asked if he was okay. "I...m fine," Luffy said, gritting his teeth. Hurry up, come out with Caimie! What if he went off and hurt all his crew? And were any of the people here innocent? Buying and selling humans like they were pets and just… it was wrong.
"And here we are, with today's prize!" the auctioneer - Disco? - said. Caimie was rolled out in a tank, a bomb collar on her neck. "Starting at 60 million!" Nami raised her paddle immediately, but they didn't stand a chance when the stupid bubble head shouted he would pay 500 million. The Straw Hats and friends paled, eyes widening. They didn't nearly have that much!