Nami had left at least an hour ago to go deal with things at this port. We made a deal that as long as I was on the boat when she left, then she would continue traveling with me. Although, waiting in a boat was no fun especially when you were on an island with a Marine base on it.
"This is so boring!" I groaned. I would play in the water like I did when I was younger, but a flaw in that now was my devil fruit power. I looked up at the sky for a moment, then over at the island we were at.
"I'm gonna go wander." I told myself. I climbed up and out of the boat before running for the Marine base, it was the biggest thing on the island. I ran past a whole bunch of markets and as I ran I could have sworn I heard Luffy's voice from inside a restaurant. I didn't pay any mind to it and kept running until I got to the gate of the Marine base. Connected to the gate was a tall concrete wall. As I looked around there wasn't a single person in sight which seemed strange. I ran along the wall until it got to a low point. I then climbed up and sat on the top of it with my legs hanging over the other side.
"Wow." Behind the wall was a giant courtyard and in the center of it was a man tied to a post. I jumped down into the courtyard and walked over to the man.
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Nothing that concerns you." He retorted.
"So, what's your name?" I continued talking to him.
"I'm Zoro." The man replied.
"Cool name." I awed.
"Would you go away." Zoro suddenly ordered.
"That's kind of rude y'know." I stated.
"Just leave me alone. I've had enough with people today." Zoro announced. I stood there a moment before continuing my questions.
"Why are you in here?" I questioned.
"None of your business." Zoro replied.
"Well, are you a pirate?" I continued.
"Not a chance. I'm a bounty hunter." Zoro said, adding more information.
"That's actually pretty cool." I told him, smiling. "What kind of weapons do you use?"
"Three swords." Zoro answered.
"Three swords? Like at the same time?" I asked, trying to clarify.
"Yeah." Zoro stated.
"Luffy would get a kick out of meeting you." I said remembering Luffy. "Of course, he'd also find a way to get you outta here."
"Does Luffy have black hair and a straw hat?" Zoro asked this time.
"Yeah, how'd you know?" I wondered.
"I saw him earlier." I felt my face light up at the statement.
"That means he's here on the island! Do you mind if I wait here for him?" I requested.
"What makes you think he'll show up here?" I walked around to the back of the pole and climbed up onto it. I sat at the top of the pole above Zoro's head.
"Luffy's quite persistent so he'll show up eventually to ask you to join his crew."
"Whatever yo-"
"TAKARA!" I looked up from talking down at Zoro to see two arms waving at me. Before I could do anything the person hopped over the wall and was running towards us. It was Luffy! Once he got to us he pulled me down off the pole and into a very tight hug.
"Hey Luffy! It's good to see you and all, but I need to breathe!" I yelled at the man who had suddenly appeared.
"Oh." He let go and stepped away, dropping me onto my butt. I glared up at him as he offered me a hand up. "It's good that you're here, help me convince Zoro to join my crew." He pulled me up and I shrugged.
"I can't just be the two of us." I said as I followed Luffy, who walked over in front of Zoro.
"You again. Don't you have things to do?" Zoro broke out of his thought and told Luffy.
"I'll untie you, but only if you promise to join my crew." Luffy told Zoro.
"Your what?" Zoro questioned.
"His crew." I stated.
"I run a pirate crew, and I'm looking for people to join up." Luffy declared.
"No way! I'd never stoop to joining up with a criminal. Screw that business." Zoro retorted.
"What's wrong with being a pirate?" Luffy asked.
"They're despicable. Look at everyone who joined up with one." Zoro replied.
"Pirates also have the most fun." I commented quietly as I crossed my arms.
"Oh, come on. Give me a break. Everyone already knows you as some vicious bounty hunter always out for blood." Luffy continued.
"People can say whatever they want about me, but I've never done a single thing in my life that I regret. I will make it through this challenge, and after that I'll accomplish what I want." Zoro grinned.
"Yeah, that's great." Luffy turned away from Zoro. "But I've already decided that you're going to be on my crew."
"WHAT!? YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" Zoro yelled.
"Well, he does it anyway." I told Zoro.
"I hear you're one of the best swordsmen around." Luffy looked at Zoro.
"Well I am, but that idiot Captain's son took mine away." Zoro calmed down.
"Guess I'll just have to go get it back for ya." Luffy declared.
"What?" Zoro asked, confused.
"So, if you want your sword you're just gonna have to join my crew." Luffy smiled a big, wide grin.
"Now you're really pissing me off!" Zoro yelled. Luffy then ran off laughing. "Wait, he's actually going to bust in there alone?" Zoro asked as Luffy ran off.
"Well I'm not going in there with him." I stated as I rocked back on my heels.
"Hey genius! The base is in the other direction!" Zoro yelled after Luffy. Luffy slowed to a stop and looked back.
"Gum-Gum Rocket!" Luffy then went flying across the courtyard towards the base.
"Wha-What the hell is this guy?" Zoro stammered.
"He's quite a lot of things so you might want to narrow down the question." I told him.
"Shouldn't you go after him?" He tried looking up at me the best he could.
"No way. He's gonna get in some kind of trouble and I don't want to be apart of it." I told him. "Besides, I'd just get in his way." I mumbled the last part. I looked up to see Coby running towards us, having recognized his pink hair immediately.
"Hey Coby!" I yelled out to him.
"You have to get out of here Zoro." Coby said as he went straight to untie Zoro's right arm.
"That maniac's gonna kill you for what you're doing right now." Zoro told him.
"I can't stand to watch the Marine's behave like this anymore." Coby kept trying to untie the ropes. "A true Marine should be honorable."
"Look kid, I can't leave. I got ten days left. And then they're-"
"Well, not quite. They're gonna execute you tomorrow." Zoro looked shocked.
"They're what?" Zoro and I questioned.
"Helmeppo never intended to honor your agreement. He planned on killing you from the start. Which made Luffy really angry, so he just knocked him out." I watched as Coby continued trying to untie the ropes holding Zoro to the pole.
"He did?" Zoro looked very serious now.
"Now that the Marines are mad they're dead set on catching Luffy. Don't worry, I'm not going to ask you to become a pirate though. But I hope you'll help him, you have a lot of strength you can offer. Luffy's the only person here that can actually save you from execution, and of course, you're the only one here who can save him from a very similar fate." Coby still didn't have the ropes untied. I quickly stepped over and started working on Zoro's other arm.
"End of the line." We all turned to look at the Marine Captain walking towards us. Lots of Marines followed him, all with guns.
"For the crime of treason against me, I sentence you all to die where you stand." The Captain held an ax on his shoulder, actually I think that was his hand. Who replaces their hand with an ax? Meanwhile, Coby stood there freaking out. I quickly refocused on the ropes. With one thought I felt my bones become harder. The Marines all got in position and cocked their guns. Coby was still panicking.
"You've been pulling some interesting moves around here. What is this? Some kind of poorly executed coup you planned with the Straw Hat?" The Captain yelled.
"I've always fought alone like a real man does." Zoro retorted. "Not like a coward who hides behind his wall of expendable cronies."
"Roronoa Zoro, don't you dare underestimate me." The Captain then raised his ax arm and placed it in front of him. "You may be a strong fighter, but under my authority you're just a rat we threw out with the trash. Take aim." He told his men. "Fire!"
I quickly thought of what I needed to do. A small rod of bone cut through my skin and stuck out a few inches from my left forearm. It then spread out into a body sized shield. I heard a crash from above. Luffy suddenly appeared in front of us blocking the bullets. I quickly retracted the bone shield back into my arm before anyone noticed. I felt blood drip down my arm from where the bone had been.
"What?!" Zoro yelled, looking over at Luffy.
"Luffy, no!" Coby yelled.
"Straw hat." The Captain said. Luffy hunched over and I heard him scoff.
"See ya!" He yelled as he straightened himself and sent bullets everywhere. A bullet flew past and barely missed the Captain's face. Luffy laughed. "That won't work on me. Told ya I was strong." Luffy yelled.
"What the- who the hell are you?" Zoro asked. Luffy turned a bit and looked at him.
"My name's Monkey D. Luffy," He turned and gave Zoro a thumbs up. "And I'm gonna be King of the Pirates." He grinned.
Chapter 2.
I like that I'm doing an episode a chapter.
Helps build anticipation.
Well, that's all for today.
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Thanks for reading.