Chapter 8
The day after the pirate ship Red Force set sail for the rendezvous with Mihawk, Luffy and Usopp staggered into the ship's galley. Luffy was bleeding and bruised; Usopp was uninjured but exhausted.
"Meat! Gimme some meat!" Luffy called to Lucky Roux, who was sitting at the galley table chewing on an enormous rack of beef as usual.
"What happened to you guys?" Roux asked.
"Sparring practice with Zoro and Sanji," panted Usopp.
"Yeah, Zoro's pretty tough," Luffy admitted. "Next time I'll beat him. But now I'm hungry. Gimme some meat!"
"You like meat almost as much as I do. Here," Roux said, tossing Luffy a hunk of his meat.
"Yum!" said Luffy, devouring it in one gulp. Immediately, his wounds healed and he seemed full of energy again. "More!"
"Hey, how did you do that?" Usopp asked. "Just by eating meat you healed up completely."
"Beats me," Luffy answered. "I've always been like that."
"You have a special meat metabolism," Roux said. "Kind of like me. My digestive system works at high speed and I need to keep eating meat or I conk out. It's the price I pay for being fast."
"More meat!" Luffy demanded again.
"Here's a rack of your own," Roux said. He ran to the locker so fast that he was a blur. He tossed large pieces of meat on the bone to both Luffy and Usopp.
"Do you have any hot sauce?" Usopp asked.
"You like that stuff? I can't stand it myself," said Roux, but he snatched up a bottle and placed it in front of Usopp.
"It's not to eat. It's for a trick I want to try on Sanji the next time we fight," Usopp said.
Usopp took several small ceramic balls from the shoulder pouch he always carried. He carefully opened the stopper on one of them and poured in the hot sauce. "This is my Flaming Star. I can shoot it at an opponent and temporarily blind him. Nice trick, don't you think?"
"You fight dirty, like a true pirate," said Roux approvingly.
Usopp puffed with pride at the compliment.
"I want something to trick Zoro, too," demanded Luffy.
"I have an idea for you," Roux replied. "Just a moment, I have to get something from my sea chest." Seconds later he was back with two metal bands.
"What are those?" Usopp asked.
"I used to wear these wrist bands before I got too big for them," Roux told them. "They each have a secret compartments for holding dried meat. Here you are, Luffy. I loaded it up for you. You can use it for emergency healing."
Luffy took the bands, opened the compartments, and immediately ate the meat.
"Hey, that's supposed to be for emergencies!" Roux scolded.
"If I have meat, I eat it," Luffy responded cheerfully.
"Hmmm," Roux said. "Let me try a trick I learned from a shipmate when I was pirate trainee."
Lucky Roux tied a string to a shiny metal cup and swung it back and forth in front of Luffy's eyes. Luffy stared at it and was instantly hypnotized.
"When I say 'One, two, three, Jango,' you will forget that there is meat in the wrist bands except in emergencies when you need healing. You will wear the bands at all times. When you really need it you will eat one piece of the meat, which will be enough to heal you. You will replace the meat at the first opportunity and then forget it again until you need it. One, two, three, Jango!"
"What great wrist bands," Luffy said in a dazed voice. "I'm going to wear them all the time."
"Here's some beef jerky," Roux said, handing it to Luffy.
Luffy mechanically loaded the jerky in the compartments and closed them.
"Now you have a secret edge too, Luffy," said Usopp.
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Luffy. "But I guess these bands could come in handy when I punch something hard."
"You got it, kid," said Lucky Roux with a grin.