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Chapter 9 – Alvida and Zoro

He did continue: "Shishi, we'll have to find some friends first and then a pirate flag! Yosh, let's go! I'll become the king of pirates!"

"Hai hai, now start rowing," I merely replied, he pouted and sat down to row.

"Ah! The weather is pretty nice today," said Luffy and woke me up from my nap. I dozed of while he was rowing. I stretched and gaped at the trouble he got us in.

"On a nice day like this, who would've thought I'd get us into such a disaster!?"

"You, you idiot!" I screamed at him and started to stretch his cheeks apart. I then moaned and let him go. He rubbed them and said: "What a huge whirlpool, how careless of me. Shana, help?"

I kept saying in my mind, why me. Of all the people in the world, why me. I sighed and emptied the barrel we had our water in it and shoved him in with our duffel bags: "You stay inside until it stops rocking. And you better take good care of my bag!"

With enough said I closed the lid. I enforced the already present ki on the barrel so it wouldn't break from outside pressure and started to look for a way out for myself.

My, with ki enforced jump, could take me far enough out of danger but I couldn't take Luffy with me. Oh, well, I'll find him after we get out of this mess, I thought. So I prepared myself for a jump and not a moment to soon I jumped, as the whirlpool destroyed the boat. My jump took me far away from the whirlpool and I landed in water with nothing in sight. Luckily I was a good swimmer and so I closed my eyes to concentrate where Luffy is.

He was being pushed by the currents to a nearby island. I sighed thinking at least he is always lucky, especially in disasters like this. Well, no other choice but to swim if I wanted to find my wayward brother and god help me, my captain.

After two hours of fast swimming, I managed to reach that cursed, at least in my mind, island. Next time, I thought, I'm taking the barrel. I dragged myself to the shore and threw myself on the ground. I lied there for a while to catch my breath and tried to locate Luffy. Luckily he wasn't far. The island was pretty small, mostly covered with a forest I sensed only small number of humans and most of them were near the sea.

I found Luffy and a boy with pink hair, I mean pink hair, someone really doesn't like this kid. I found them on a clearing in a forest away from harbor and people.

"Luffy!" I shouted and ran towards him. My clothes were halfway dry but I still hoped for a change. He was just climbing out the barrel as I shouted.

"Shana, you okay?"

"I'm fine, is my bag okay?" I asked and he passed it to me.

"So, who's the kid?" I asked and looked the boy.

"I'm Coby as I said to Luffy-san I am…"

"Nice to meet you kid, I'm Shana," I interrupted him, I really didn't want to hear his life story, I was a bit cold and cranky because of it so I looked at my bag for a spare shirt and pants. I got them and glared at the boys: "No peeking!"

And I left to change my clothes. While I was changing I still heard the conversation between Coby and Luffy as he asked: "Do you have a small boat? Mine got caught in a whirlpool."

"Whirl… Whirlpool!? You were caught in a whirlpool?!" I heard Coby ask and by then I was already going back to them.

"Yea, that whirlpool was scary," he sighed and that, made my eye twitch a bit and I hit him on the head, saying: "Whose fault do you think it was?"

Coby was gaping at us with open mouth and said: "A normal person would've died already… You… you want a small boat? Well, I have one, but…"

"Good, can we see it?" I asked. He nodded and led us to it. When he uncovered it we just looked at it and Luffy asked: "What's this? A coffin?"

I laughed and Coby replied: "That's a boat I built secretly for 2 years."

"Spent 2 years? You… don't want it anymore?"

"It's clear that you have no ability in building boats whatsoever," I added. I mean, I wouldn't be found dead on that thing. I'm pretty sure the moment it reaches water it will sink.

Coby either ignored my comment or he didn't hear it and said: "Yea… I don't want it anymore. I was gonna run away in this but I don't have the guts to do it… "

He continued rambling on how he didn't have the courage to do it and things like that. I turned him off and went back to get our bags. We did leave them behind. This was after all an unknown island so I kept my senses high alert and when I noticed something large coming towards Luffy I sped up to meet with them. I merely had the time to shout, look out, when someone crashed that thing Coby called a boat.

"My boat…" I heard Coby faintly say.

I recognized her from wanted posters I read a while ago. She was a pirate called Alvida and she said: "Do you think you can escape from me!?"

I dropped the bags and stood beside Luffy and looked at her. I noticed that her crew was already gathered and I assessed their strength and I scoffed thinking that they were pretty weak. This is going to be a child's play; I thought and cracked my knuckles. Besides her size there is nothing strong about her.

"Is that who you hired to capture me? Either one of them don't seem to be Roronoa Zoro. Anyway, before you die, I'm gonna ask you… What's the most beautiful thing in the sea, Coby?" she asked while her crew smirked behind her. Coby seemed to get even more nervous and started stuttering: "Eh ..ehehe… Of course that'll be…"

And right as he was going to answer Luffy interrupted, asking: "Who's this fat old lady?"

Everyone sweatdropped and I started laughing and holding my stomach. Alvida's crewmembers started muttering something but I was too busy laughing to hear what they were saying and Coby seemed to panic about something.

I managed to calm down a bit as Coby shouted: "The… THE RUDEST DAMNED BITCH!"

That sent me into another fit of laughter and this time Luffy joined me. Alvida screamed: "You little brat!"

Meanwhile Coby was screaming and crying at the same time. Luffy looked at me and I nodded and complimented Coby: "Well said Coby."

At that I grabbed him and Luffy stepped forward. Alvida swung her mace towards him: "All of you… Have to die!"

It hit Luffy on the head and Coby seemed to grow pale, I merely smirked as my captain said: "Heh… It's useless against me, because my body is made of rubber."

"That's impossible… My mace," stuttered Alvida and grew pale as did her crew. Luffy merely grinned, "Gomu gomu no pistol!"

She was sent flying onto her crew while they were panicking and calling him a monster. I had enough of that on our home island so I clenched my fists trying to calm myself. It wouldn't do us any good if I went on a rampage. Luffy ignored the comments and said: "Prepare a boat for Coby! He wants to join the marines! So stay outta his way!"

They were still stunned from fear, so they immediately agreed. Luffy laughed and I passed him his bag and said: "Well, shall we go?"

"Luffy-san…" said Coby but followed us to the shore, where we got a boat quite bigger then the dinghy we had before. This one had a sail and I ordered some men to give us provisions. They complied without complaints, just how I liked it. I smirked and boarded.

Soon we were again on the open sea. I sat behind the rudder directing the boat. After all I didn't want to repeat the event that happened last time. Meanwhile the boys were talking and I was thinking of which route to take. I unfolded the map of East Blue and I quickly managed to find our location. I then heard saying something about Zoro so I asked: "Coby, do you know in where they keep Zoro?"

"In the marine base in Shell town," he replied. Luffy grinned and said: "If he's a good guy, I'd ask him to join us!"

"Whaaat?! You're dreaming again!!! You can't! He's like a monster!"

"We can't be sure about that yet."

"It'll never work!"

"Coby, just give it up. When Luffy get's something in his head no persuasion will stop him," I calmly said, adjusting the course a bit.

"But Shana-san, he's a demon!"

"And Luffy's a rubber man, aren't you going to run away?" I asked and he went silent after that. Thank god, I thought, no offence, he's a great kid, funny to. But has a really annoying voice.

"We'll be in Shell town in about an hour or maybe two. It depends on the wind," I said while Luffy sat on the bow and looked towards the distance. He grew quiet and then said: "A monster, huh?"

I remembered how some of the kids called him that, he merely smiled and didn't say a thing. Ace and I would often get mad at them for that, but he didn't complain or do anything. He didn't have to say anything, his eyes told the truth. Even though he acted like it didn't bother him we knew he didn't liked being called that way. We did tell him that no matter what kind of monster or person he was, he was still our brother.

And while I was in my thoughts I missed the conversation between the two of them. Oh well, if it was important Luffy would've told me, I thought and checked my compass if we were even going into the right direction. Don't get me wrong, I'm not as hopeless as Luffy is but I'm not all that great either. Find someone, sure, no problem but direct the boat to the direction on the map… Well, that's a bit trickier. Luckily we found it without trouble.

"We're finally at the marines' base!"

"Yep, finally," responded Coby, while I tied the boat to the pier.

"We've actually reached our destination!"

"Of course, Luffy, did you doubt me?" I asked, smiling. He grinned and said: "Nope, let's go eat."

"Don't worry Coby, he just doesn't know how to navigate."

"Huh? Really?" he asked as we followed Luffy. I just nodded and smiled.

"So you're his navigator then?"

"Haha, no, I know the basics but further then that, I'm equally hopeless as he is."

"I wonder sometimes if you two are just joking around," he muttered darkly. I laughed and ruffled his hair: "No, we're just taking it easy. You should try it sometimes. Ah, look, Luffy found a restaurant."

After a good meal, where Luffy devoured a mountain of food as usual, he patted his stomach and said to Coby: "We'll go our separate ways here! You do your best to be a great marine, alright?"

"I will…!! Thank you so much. Luffy-san, Shana-san, you have to become great pirates too!"

"Thank you Coby," I said while looking at the bill. I calculated how much supplies can I buy with what is left and asked the owner if the restaurant if she could sell it to us.

I was just about to return to the table when everyone jumped to the walls, I asked Luffy: "What happened?"

"Looks like we can't just yell out the name "Zoro"…" answered Coby with a whisper. My my, what an interesting reaction, I thought. The same reaction was with Morgan's name. And I had a bad feeling about what has been going on in this town. I put my hand on the table and unlocked my gift within myself. What I learned was, that Morgan was tyrannizing the whole town. I even saw what Zoro did, why he was imprisoned.

"Luffy, we'll meet at the base, I need to carry these crates to the boat," I told him. After using my gift I almost always needed some time to myself. Luffy looked at me seriously, he noticed what I did and nodded to me. I paid the owner and carried the crate down.

I took deep breaths to calm myself; I was literary shaking from anger against Morgan and his cowardly son Helmeppo. I secured our bags and then jogged towards the base.

I wasn't jogging fast so I took a good look at the town. It looked a lot like the town where mom and I lived, just bigger. And when my gaze fell on the marine base I scrunched my face. Talk about ruining the view.

I caught up with them just as a girl I noticed in the restaurant put a ladder on the wall and climbed it. She motioned to the boys to be quiet and climbed over. I jumped on the wall and asked: "What's going on?"

"Luffy, stop her. It's dangerous!"

"Do it yourself," he replied to Coby and pointed for my sake at Zoro. I saw him tied to the pole, wearing a black bandana and a haramaki. He was covered in dried blood, bruises and sweat. From my perspective he looked pretty bad.

"What do you think?" he then asked me.

I grinned: "He's definitely a good guy, Luffy!"

"You two are hopeless," muttered Coby and we just grinned. We were interrupted when someone came onto the courtyard where Zoro was tied.

"Some weirdo came," Luffy said and I looked over. I immediately recognized him. He was Helmeppo, the spoiled son of Morgan. I clenched my fists, if I hated something I hated spoiled brats who think they can do anything.

"He must be someone important in the marine… Thank goodness the girl is safe now."

"I wouldn't say so. I think she is now in bigger trouble then Zoro is," I told him. He looked at me and exclaimed impossible. I scoffed at him said: "Don't be naïve Coby. We're pirates, but we aren't rampaging around and killing everyone. Just like there are corrupt marines that only desire power. It all depends on what kind of people they are. So don't judge by status and title."

We watched as Helmeppo berated the poor girl and took the rice balls she made for Zoro, tried one and then stomped them because they weren't at his liking. He then proceeded to shout at the marines to throw her out. And just as she was thrown across the wall Luffy caught her and gave her to me. I hugged her, checked if she had any injuries and tried to calm her down.

"Coby, I'm taking her home… Tell Luffy to come to the restaurant," I instructed him and lifted her. She was around 8 years old and wasn't very heavy. When we reached the restaurant she calmed down and I lowered her to the ground.

"Thank you," she quietly said and wiped the remainder of her tears.

"Your welcome," I smiled and patted her hair. By that time Luffy and Coby already arrived. Luffy told her how Zoro ate he rice ball, even though it was all stomped and dirty. Rika as I later learned her name was told the story how Zoro got arrested and how Morgan and his son are terrorizing the whole town.

"So he isn't as bad as everyone calls him," said Coby.

"As I said Coby, you shouldn't judge people before you meet them," I added. Then we heard shouts from Helmeppo walking down the street all smug. He talked how Zoro was going to be an example and that he is planning on executing him in three days. Luffy then asked, isn't he supposed to give him a month, but he just arrogantly laughed and said that Zoro is an idiot for believing him.

At that Luffy punched him and would have hurt him more if Coby hadn't stopped him.

"I've decided! I'm gonna ask Zoro to join me!" said with his fist still clenched. I picked up his straw hat that has fallen of when he attacked and put it back on his head.

"Hai hai, captain. Shall we go pick up our new nakama?" I asked and smirked. Helmeppo ran away afraid he'll get hurt even more, as did the townsmen and Rika's mother dragged her inside. Coby kept panicking in how much trouble we are and I pulled my braided hair into a tail as I was expecting a fight.

"Shall we go?" I asked. He nodded cracking his fingers and started walking towards the base.

Chapter 9 is finished. Thanks everyone for your reviews and thanks for reading :)