EDIT: I'll like to give a huge thank you to everybody who pointed out what a huge idiot I am to insert in that large chunk of history that has little to no relevance to this chapter. I'm not entirely sure what I was thinking either, but I thought it was a good idea at that time since it was due time for me to do some explaining of the new additions in this world, but yeah, maybe that wasn't too hot. Please pardon me for making such a amateur mistake; hopefully I won't do something like that again in the future. (I probably will, tbh)

Chapter 7: Bounty

They set off at the crack of dawn.

The slanted rays of gold that peeked over the horizon, however weak, chased away the gloom of last night's darkness. The town had the subdued quiet typically associated with the early hours of morning, but Luffy could still feel an underlying menace beneath the layers of silence. It was slowly making way, pulling back with reluctance as the growing illumination chipped away at it.

The rising ball of fire filled the sky with splashes of red and yellow, the clouds with rays of pink. The rivers and lakes were bathed in brilliant gold, leaving the group speechless with its beauty. Nami actually stopped and stared, spellbound for a long moment till Coby nudged her with his shoulder to move her along. She allowed herself to be dragged by him, just so she could stare awhile longer.

The trio were joined by only one of the townsfolk; his sole purpose of tagging along to be their guide through the dense forest at the edge of town that led to where the concentration of magic was at its strongest. The Devil Fruit appraiser of the town couldn't pinpoint the exact location, but had identified the area, a circle of radius roughly 50 metres or so.

Rasfer had offered to send along more men - strength in numbers, he had insisted - but Luffy had declined and would not budge on his decision. He reasoned that he was more comfortable with his current crew, and if things did go awry, he didn't want his hands to be stained red from the blood spilled. He will ensure protection of his crew, but might not be able to extend the same assurance to the townsfolk. After all, his foremost duty was to his crewmembers, and them only.

"We're here." The wiry young man reported to him when they reached the end of the road, looking nervous and jittery. "The forested area begins just North of here. I wish you all the best, Mr. Luffy. We will be waiting for your return with good news." He hightailed out of there with impressive speed for his stature.

"Well." Coby tugged at his neckerchief uncomfortably, staring after the disappearing figure with envious eyes. "We still have a distance to go and this place already gives me the creeps."

"Let's get it over with then," Nami grumbled, hefting the bag of supplies higher over her shoulder. "The faster we bring down that fella, the faster we can get out of here."

"Lighten up guys! Think of this as a field trip into the unknown!" Luffy said cheerfully, walking energetically off the marked path and onto the unkempt, dense long grass that tickled at their bare ankles.

Nami didn't deign that absurd suggestion worthy of a reply of any kind, so she kept her mouth shut.

Coby wasn't on the same page as her. "How could you be so chipper about this? We could actually die, Luffy. Remember what the Devil Fruit appraiser said? It reeks of danger and malice, and they're hardly wrong." The Berudians were virtually never wrong with their appraisals, a skill they have fine-tuned throughout the ages as a necessity for survival in their homeland. He wasn't certain of anything else past that piece of information, that little nugget being all he managed to get out of Shanks - his former captain had been strangely tight-lipped regarding the descendants of the ancient tribe.

"That's what make things interesting."

"That's also how people die," Coby snapped. "I'm sorry, captain, but you have this knack for walking headfirst into danger without caution and one of these days, it's going to cause all of us our lives."

"But not today." Luffy favoured him with a lopsided grin. "I have a good feeling about today."

"What kind of good feeling?" Nami asked, instantly wary. It's not that she didn't trust her captain – as a matter of fact, she trusted him explicitly – at least with regards to protection. She knew without a shred of doubt that she was in good hands and no harm will befall her as long as he's around. It wasn't like her to place so much faith in someone she hardly knew, but Luffy just elicited such a reaction. It simply felt… right.

Still, his premonitions were a cause for concern, mainly due to his poor judgement that rears its head time and time again.

"I don't know how to describe it." The raven-haired captain whistled leisurely. "There's something in the air that tells me things are going to go our way today."

Coby wasn't convinced in the slightest, and he made it apparent by picking up several twigs lying around and sticking them into the moist soil every few feet as they traversed further into the jungle as markings. He also dug the end of the stick deep into the ground and drew a line connecting the vertical sticks as a plan B in the event of a mishap that dislodges one, breaking the chain. He smiled somewhat shyly when he noticed Nami peering at him. "In case we have to make a run for it," he explained, holding one of his last few apparatuses out. "Always good to be well-prepared."

She agreed whole-heartedly. Despite her captain's assurances, she still felt apprehensive and on edge with nervous energy and every so often, she turned back to check that nobody was following them. She couldn't shake off the impression that they were being watched and it was wreaking havoc on her senses already working overtime.

As they progressed deeper forward to their destination, the foliage got exponentially thicker, obscuring their field of vision and forcing Luffy in front to start bashing through the heavy leafage to make a path for them. To make matters worse, the girth of the protruding branches were phenomenal and unyielding, in line with the abnormally giant vegetation. The thorns and barbs cut into every inch of their exposed skin, draining their vitality slowly but surely.

If the choice of location in the middle of the forest was a calculated form of deterrence, it was definitely doing the trick.

"Are we there yet?" Luffy called out without looking back, fanning himself with a large leaf he had plucked out. "This is boring."

"We're not exactly having fun back here either, Luffy," Nami grumbled, unravelling the map in her hands. Without any prominent landmark to determine their exact bearings, she could only estimate where they were by the speed they were walking and how much time had passed. "Shouldn't be far off now. Actually, if I'm right, it should just be around the corner – "

"Stop right there, straw-hat."

Luffy halted and stared incredulously at the leaf in his hand. "YOU CAN TALK?! COOL! WHY DIDN'T YOU DO THAT EARLIER?"

Nami and Coby ignored their captain's cringe-worthy reaction to pin-point the source of the voice for themselves, which was a long-haired man on the upper branches of a tree with a pistol aimed directly at Luffy. "I'm up here, you idiot!" he screamed.

Snickers came from above in all directions, and Nami gasped when she realized that they were surrounded by similarly dressed men atop of different trees. They had a bird's eye view of the area and weapons all at the ready to fire and incapacitate, leaving them severely disadvantaged. Beside her, Coby tensed and untied his neckerchief from his collar, re-tying it around his right wrist. He gave it a few tugs to verify that it's secure, a severe look on his face as he returned his gaze to the unwanted guests.

Luffy finally oriented himself and spotted the man above him. "Oh, there you are! I didn't expect to find anybody else here!" he frowned. "Why are you up so high? It's hard to talk to you like this."

A grin slowly spread across the man's face – one full of malice and killing intention. "I guess it's a good thing that we're not here to talk then. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Odren. I'm a bounty hunter that has single-handedly taken down multiple pirates with bounties as high as 5 million beli." He looked immensely proud of that feat. "You're next, Monkey D. Luffy. Prepare to feel the coldness of death!"

Their captain blinked up at the man, confusion in every line of his creased forehead. "For someone who doesn't want to talk, you sure do talk a lot."

The bounty hunter's eye twitched. "Why, you little brat – " He levelled his pistol, his finger curling around the trigger. "Let's see if you can still be snarky when you're DEAD!"

Nami screamed just as a deafening bang filled the air. "GET OUT OF THE WAY, LUFFY!"

She watched in abject horror as Luffy stood motionless for a few seconds, shadows cloaking his expression. There was no visible entry wound or splatter of blood, and if she wasn't mistaken, Luffy didn't even waver the slightest, which was impossible if the bullet had hit – the impact would have sent him stumbling back at the very least. Could the bounty hunter have missed?

Then, as if in respond to her musings, the person in question cursed loudly. "What the hell? Did I fucking miss? Impossible!" He glared at Luffy's form, and fired off another few shots one after another quickly, shouting die in tandem with each bullet. The rapid volley sent up a plume of dust around the raven-haired boy, and Nami covered her mouth with both hands to stop the squeal of dismay before it escaped. No human could have survived that.

A satisfied smirk on Odren's lips, he turned his attention to the two of them. Nami could feel her legs trembling, but she forced herself to remain strong. If she was going to go down, she wasn't about to make it easy for these bastards. Coby didn't look concerned about their captain's well-being at all. "Don't count him out just yet," he advised, pointing at where Luffy was standing a moment ago. "You'll need much more than that to even scratch him."

And as the dust settled, Luffy emerged in one piece (hurhur), yawning and rolling his shoulders forward nonchalantly. Nami's expression corresponded to that of Odren – blatant disbelief. The relief wasn't reflected on his face, however. That was all on her.

"That's all? I'm disappointed." He smiled, tilting his straw-hat at the dumbfounded bounty hunter. "Now, allow me to introduce myself. And unlike you…" Luffy cracked his knuckles and hunched down slightly. "I talk with my fists."

He pushed off the ground, and all hell broke loose.

Nami toed aside one of the many unconscious bounty hunters with disgust after failing to find any money on him. Again. Did none of these people ever heard of a wallet? Heck, she'll even settle for some spare change at this point; anything to reward her efforts like stuffing her hand down their sticky pockets. They called themselves bounty huntersyet they didn't have a single cent on them?

Outrageous.

"You could have left some for me." Coby's sulky voice. "I wanted to have some fun too!"

"I might have went overboard," Luffy conceded, bending over to slap Odren on his cheeks. He stirred with a groan, peeling back his eyes slowly. They widened instantly when he realized who he was next to and the bounty hunter tried to slither away. Coby snatched up one of his legs and held it up, stopping him from getting away, but that didn't stop him from trying. Odren tired quickly though, the futility of his efforts dawning on him and he sagged to the ground.

"Kill me. Save me the humiliation."

Luffy laughed. "Why would I want to kill you? I only introduced myself to you. All I want is some directions."

Odren stared at him with distrust. "You're just going to let me go?"

"Yep."

"And the rest of my men?"

"Yep."

"You don't want anything from me?"

"All I want is directions. Oh, and why you attacked me for no reason."

Nami cut in before Odren could reply as she walked over to join them. "Excuse me. Actually, some gold would be nice. My captain did spare your miserable lives, so I think it's only right if you express your gratitude in money."

"Uhm, Nami, your eyes… they're dollar signs. Are you okay?" Coby asked.

"I'm fine."

"We don't need any more money, Nami," Luffy protested, "you have so much in that bag of yours – "

"MINE!" Nami growled, and the animalistic sound had Coby stepping backward in surprise and Odren cowering with a subdued yelp. Luffy scratched his head. "Don't even think about touching that. And let me just inform you, you can never have enough money," she reprimanded Luffy and sent a scathing look the bounty hunter's way.

He threw his hands up into the air in surrender. "You can have all of it! Every last cent!"

She showed her appreciation with a brief smile. "Thank you for being so understanding." Her expression darkened. "Get the money for me. Now."

"Right away, ma'am!" Odren leapt into action, moving like he was being chased by a bloodthirsty wolf pack. "Just wait here!"

"But he hadn't told us where to – "

"Luffy," Nami interrupted with a beatific smile so wide that even Luffy's rusty sense of self-preservation kicked into gear to save him from being steamrolled over by feminine fury. "Whatever it is, it can wait. Money can't. You understand why now, don't you?"

He gulped and nodded.

"Wonderful. Now get to work and help that bounty hunter out. The faster I – I mean we – get the money, the better." She patted his cheeks lightly and motioned for him to go.

Luffy nodded mutely again, and trudged after Odren who was sprinting around from body to body like a headless chicken.

Coby was nowhere to be seen. That asshole.

The trio were back on their way soon enough, armed with knowledge of the base – Odren had been more than happy to pass it up, saying that he wanted nothing to do with the person that hired him – and a bag stuffed full of gold which Nami tasked Coby to lug along, quoting his little disappearing act when she "needed him most" when he tried to negotiate with her.

Of course, he failed.

"Be careful with all that money, Coby!" Nami warned, staring pointedly at the way he was dragging the grossly swollen sack along the ground, over tiny rocks and scraping audibly against the sand gathering in quantity as they approached the shore on the other end of the island. "That's all min – uhm, ours and I – uhm, we won't want it spilling out all over the place!"

"I'm trying," Coby insisted, out of breath and winded. He hadn't felt this tired since Shanks' training session all that years back, and that was something he didn't want to relive without a doubt. But damn it all, this thing weighed a fucking ton. He wasn't going to sling it over his shoulder, that's for sure. Not without suffering major skeletal and muscular damage, anyway. "How much is in this sack anyway?"

"Nowhere near enough," Nami answered simply, truthfully.

"Are you sure?" The pink-haired boy grunted in exertion as the sack snagged on a low-lying branch and he had to heave it with all his strength to escape its thorny clutches. "Because it sure feels like there's enough in there to solve world hunger once and for all."

"I know, isn't that great? And it's all mine." There was a long lapse in conversation before Nami amended her words, laughing nervously. "Ours, I mean. I would never dream of taking it all for myself."

"Right." Coby snorted. "Are you sure we can't just leave it here? We could bury it here beneath some weed and sand so we can come back and collect it later – "

Nami halted in her tracks so abruptly Coby screeched to a stop to avoid bumping into her rear. She then slowly turned around, and pinned him with a scowl that would have given Medusa herself a run for her money. He was surprised he could still move his limbs. "Coby," she began, her voice low and threatening, a gleam in her eyes that had him holding his hands out in front of him to protect himself, "I could also skin you alive, boil you and have a sumptuous meal for dinner. But I won't. Do you know why?"

"I don't think I want to know – "

Heedless of his reply, Nami continued. "Because there are some things that should never be considered. And leaving behind money is one of them." Her eyes narrowed. "Do. You. Understand?"

He sighed. "Fine."

"Good. Now let's go! Time's a wasting!" Back to her normal affable self, Nami skipped off to where her captain was spearheading their advance with the map in his hands, and even from where he was standing, Coby could see that it was upside down. Sighing again, and cursing all the Sea Devils for his luck with crewmates, he bent down and wrapped his hands around the mouth of the sack and resumed the herculean task of moving it to their destination.

The green-haired swordsman surveyed everything with a detached sense of amusement from his vantage point at the top of a tree. His attire helped him to blend into the surroundings somewhat – not that he was particularly concerned about being spotted. He knew he could hold his own, or at least he had thought he could, until he caught a glimpse of how the straw-hat boy wiped the floor with the other bounty hunters using just good ol' strikes.

He hadn't even broken a damn sweat.

Now, Zoro always welcomed a challenge. In fact, he relished and savoured such chances to prove himself, to push himself to the utter limits both physically and mentally. It was the only way to continue improving himself, to refine his techniques and achieve his aim of becoming the best swordsman alive. Pitting himself against someone of that calibre will definitely be interesting to say the least, considering how he could tell the straw hat was holding back quite a bit – which was even more impressive how he took the entire gang down, they weren't exactly push-overs, though they were arrogant and overconfident of their mediocre abilities – and could have much more up his sleeves.

He couldn't bloody wait. It had been a long time since he felt such delight, such anticipation thrumming through his being. There had been nobody around him close to matching him, and he was stagnating with nobody to pit himself against, which was unacceptable. That was what drove him to be recruited as a freelance pirate hunter: the opportunity to encounter opponents that are out of his league, so he will have to surpass the self-imposed boundaries and get better at his craft.

Thumbing the hilt of one of his three swords, he regarded the pink-haired boy grunting from time to time below him thoughtfully, then to the duo a fair distance away.

He unsheathed his sword with a flourish. Wouldn't hurt to warm up a little first.

TBC

A/N: I'm back, people! I know it's been awhile (almost 2 weeks I'm guessing, since someone just PM-ed me and requested I update ASAP :P) but I was sick the past few days and recuperating in bed, so I wasn't able to get too much shit done... Unfortunately. It's good to be uploading another chapter again, though it's kind of a filler one (gotta keep true to the anime, huh?) but on a brighter note, the next chapter is going to be... *drumroll please* ZORO VERSUS COBY. Heh, to those who thought it'll be Luffy versus the swordsman, who else will be the one going against the main villian?

So this is the first big arc, and I'm going to reveal some of Coby's abilities and what he learnt under Shanks as well as the extent of Luffy's powers. Despite it being seemingly infinite as it's dubbed the "Energy fruit", how strong a devil fruit is entirely dependent on the user's capacity to utilize it. So Luffy definitely isn't at the level to use the fruit to the fullest, and hence has limitations. Of course, the main antagonist of the first part of this story will also be touched upon and explained - the devil fruit hunters. There's a brief mention of them in the previous chapters, but before the end of this arc, you guys will understand what they're doing.

SO, anyway, thank you so much for the support guys. The reviews are all really encouraging, and I hope I'll continue posting great chapters to keep y'all interested!

Look forward to the next chapter, when shit really hits the fan.

REVIEWS!

oghren: Hullo. Luffy will DEFINITELY learn about love. I mean, despite everything about Nami, she just doesn't strike me as someone who will sleep around for no reason other than pleasure. At least, that's how I view her. She'll make Luffy figure it out before getting naughty with him, so... yeah, definitely will have that tricky emotion involved! :D

Davidteague3950: hmm, that's a good question. I haven't thought about that, but I am inclined towards a weapon change. Dual wielding pistols actually sound pretty awesome, with a back-up sling if he runs out of ammo, which will be a constant problem that he rectifies sometime in the future with a cool new source of ammo. HMM. Sounds pretty good to me. Thanks for the great suggestion as always ;)

devlindracul: That's funny, because I'm the furthest from a fan of politics you'll ever find :P nah, I won't say I despise politics (I kind of do have to keep track of it since I'm doing a little investing and these shit do affect it sometimes) but it's a bit of a pain in the ass to keep up and stay abreast of just because of how complicated and tangled it is. So much veiled meanings and indirect jabs that my head wants to explode sometimes. I don't think I'll ever write something like that again, so... yeah, hopefully that's the last of it. Actually, you made two mistakes, one of which has just been confirmed in this chapter. The other one... you'll find out soon! Ah, yes, Tashigi and Zoro. I do adore the two of them together, what with similar interests, her resembling his childhood friend and whatnot, so I will make it happen. Yep. SPOILER ALERT.

sarenemun: Thanks 3 hurhur sorry but no battle, it's the next chapter. (I'm not looking forward to writing it, as there'll be so much happening in the next few chapters it'll be a pain in the ass)

Void803: That's actually a brilliant suggestion, I might do exactly that. Besides, she's hot as fuck. I can always appreciate a girl that eats like she's been starved her entire life. Heh. I'm actually still unclear about her exact abilities, but I'll go search that up. It'll be a loooooooooong time before she shows up though, so don't hold your breath! XD

Annony: I've probably mentioned this in a chapter before, but I am more inclined towards a Luffy/Robin pairing just because I think they balance each other out. Rational, calm and mature Robin with a rash, zealous and absent-minded Luffy. A pair made in One Piece heaven. Well, I do hope the CD in this story can live up to your expectations, but I personally place a heavy emphasis on character development simply because without it, the story becomes empty and lackluster. I expect this story to go up to 500k words minimum, so I'm certain I'll have plenty of time to give each character sufficient limelight to bathe and be nurtured in. Hopefully, anyway, 'cos I'm absurdly lazy at times :P well, I guess you'll be able to come to a verdict soon - the show is about to get started. Thanks for the review btw!

Gmann: Firstly, thanks for the great compliment. Trust me, you won't want my brain. It's overused, filled with irrelevant and useless theories and thoughts and filthy. Yep. Hmm, and about the extent of his abilities, I explained a tad bit above that he is currently severely limited due to his body being unable to handle anything past a certain point (his threshold is still pretty low) and the type of energy is completely up to his imagination. As you could imagine, he's clueless about science unless it's the most basic or he had experienced it before, so he has no idea what he's capable of. Maybe Robin could help him with that!

Darth Prime: Hello, awesome name by the way. Okay, so that defecation analogy? Came up with it off the top of my brain. I realize it's actually pretty apt. Huh, go figure. Yes, now that you pointed that out, you're absolutely right. I'm going to go back and fix it. Probably bullshit my way out of it, like saying how she got lucky and the shoulder with the tattoo was conveniently facing away from Luffy. Three years in marketing really gifted me with the garb of tongue. Thanks for being so observant and giving me the heads up!

Well, that's basically it. Thanks for all the reviews, feedbacks, constructive criticism and compliments! Love y'all.

Ciao!