Hey guys and welcome to chapter two, I gotta say I was pretty overwhelmed with the amount of people who've read the story. Thanks so much to anyone whose followed or Favorited the story so far it means a lot.
Also, really quickly I want to give a big thanks to TheDemonFoxHiddenWithin, kingdavidtt, and ChunkyFunkyMunky for letting me know that the formatting of my story was messed up. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I'm gonna be far more careful with it from now on.
Please R&R
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, Oda-sensei does.
Chapter 2: Shell Town, Mystery powers, and the Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro!
-O-O-O-
Luffy sighed in relief as he and his younger companion Coby sailed peacefully through the quiet waters of the East Blue. They had just barely managed to escape from the ship of the previously "undefeated" Iron Mace Alvida. After the short rather one-sided fight, the Marines had arrived shooting off a completely unwarranted number of canons. Thinking quickly 'borrowed' a small rowboat, the Alvida pirates had previously owned and with that the two booked it; barely managing to make it out unscathed.
Now they were simply floating in the ocean, with no clear destination. Luffy enjoying the afternoon sun and Coby having a small panic attack. The pink haired boy whispering under his breath about 'Running from the Marines, I'm a criminal!' and 'I'll never be an A-A-Admiral, w-what was I thinking?' Luffy suddenly sat up as if remembering something a broad grin stretching across his face.
"Coby!" He shouted, startling the other boy from his mutterings.
"Y-YES ALVID-... Oh, yes Luffy-san?" Embarrassingly, Coby had yet to adjust to the situation of being freed from Alvida's cruel reign. But then again, it had been a traumatizing several months for the young boy. "ZUBO, that's it! I've been trying to think of his name, the guy Whale-san mentioned, right?"
The younger boy blinked scratching his head in confusion, "Zubo? I've never heard of any...!" He reeled back in shock, almost as though he had suddenly been struck by lightning.
"ZORO!? No no no no, Y-you mean Z-Z-Zoro?!" Coby's face was the picture of fear as his eyes comically bulged from his head and he begin sweating buckets, Luffy however, seemed not to notice, and nodded yes enthusiastically. "Who is he? Is he famous? Shishishi, he's gotta be strong, right!" The former cabin boy gulped hard and clasped his hands to stop them from shaking, silently he sent out a pray that Luffy would at least listen for once. Unfortunately, he underestimated the pirate's stubbornness.
"You mean you've never heard of him? R-Right his full name is Roronoa Zoro! H-He's a pirate hunter, so strong they say he's a demon living in human flesh! Zoro only goes after the strongest of pirates, and always brings them in the same way. C-C-Cut into pieces!" Coby looked up from his speech to see Luffy looking at him with a little bit of interest and... Excitement?!
"Hm, he must be strong to be called a demon, reminds me of an old friend of mine!" At that moment Coby made a mental note to never meet any of these 'old friends' of Luffy's, "Well, where is he Coby? I think I'm gonna need to meet this guy."
"W-Well," The younger boy fiddled with his hands awkwardly, praying beyond all hope that the straw hatted boy would give up on the swordsman. "I think Z-Z-Zoro got captured by the Marines in S-Shell Town the last I heard..." Luffy grin faded and, disappointed, sat back down picking his nose with his pinky, and stating blandly, "Ehhhh, so he's weak?" He heaved a loud over-exaggerated sigh, "Man, what a disappointment..."
Strangely enough, Coby seemed to take offence to this quickly assuaging his worries with another long rant on the terrifying power and jaw dropping skills, of the infamous Roronoa Zoro. Foolishly, the wannabe Marine had thought reminding his companion of the terrifying strength of the Pirate Hunter would dissuade him from trying to meet him.
Oh, how wrong he was.
Luffy turned away from Coby and grinned, "So he is strong, eh? Coby, bring take us to Shelby Village I want to see this Demon myself. And if I like him," His grin grew wilder, scaring Coby out of his mind. "I'll have him join my crew! Sounds fun, right Coby? Coby... COBY?" The boy lay in the bottom of the small boat foaming at the mouth unconscious, the idea of finding Zoro just too much for his mind to handle.
After Coby had regained Consciousness and was no longer hysterical, he and Luffy begin rowing to Shell Town, well Coby was rowing, Luffy it appeared could not keep them on course to save his life, continually somehow spinning them in the wrong direction. As they were rowing, Coby recalled the brief, but amazing, battle between Luffy and the Alvida Pirates.
*Flashback*
Luffy stood and looked at the fifty some pirates surrounding him, instead of fear though there just a look of boredom on his face. The edges of his Straw hat covered his eyes and he sighed, "So all of you against me, eh? Do you guys need a handicap, I'm not sure if this is really a fair fight?"
The pirates didn't respond instead they simply roared and ran at him. The young man smiled and looked up from the shadow of his straw hat, saying in a quiet voice, "Why don't you guys take a nap?"
An invisible bubble of pure willpower went out from him like a shockwave. The pink haired boy having finally regained his senses flinched as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up and a shiver ran down his spine. Time seemed to stop for a second before, as one, their eyes rolled back into their head and they all crumpled to the floor unconscious. Coby looked up in shock as without lifting a finger Luffy had defeated the entire Alvida pirate crew. "Wha-What was that?" He thought shocked.
*Flashback End*
He glanced at Luffy nervously as he continued to row, 'What was that, I only felt it for the briefest moment but it felt like my soul itself was being crushed. And what was that other thing he used where his arm turned black for a second?' Gathering up his courage he spoke, interrupting the other boys hideous attempt at singing a sea chantey,
"Luffy-san?" The other boy went silent tossing a curious glance at him,
"Hm, you need something Coby? Did you see some meat?! Are we there yet?" Luffy excitedly asked
"No... I-I just wanted to ask you something." Luffy frowned his gaze turning serious for a moment, "If this is about me changing my mind about getting Zoro to join my crew then the answers still NO." Childishly he crossed his arms and looked away pouting,
"What was that thing you used on Alvida!?" Coby blurted out. There was a moment of silence before Coby realized what he had said and quickly grabbed his mouth horrified. Luffy just blinked and stared for a while then surprisingly, just burst out laughing,
"That's what you want to know? Shishishi, that's easy it's..." Coby leaned in closer excitedly, not expecting it to be this easy to learn. "It's a Mystery Power!"
Coby face vaulted, barely stopping himself from falling over the side of the boat.
"WHAT KIND OF ANSWER IS THAT?" Coby screamed enraged, his eyes turning pure white and magically growing a set of shark teeth.
Luffy just laughed, "Well, I'm not really sure what it is... but when I really want something all I gotta do is concentrate and it'll work! Cool, right?" He adopted a thoughtful pose, "Gramps could do it too, he called it... ah it was... um, HAM! That was it!"
Coby slumped back in the boat, obviously disappointed his traveling companion had the power to knock people out with just a look and didn't even know what it was? He shot the pirate a betrayed look before retaking his oars and rowing with noticeably less enthusiasm.
-O-O-O-
They arrived at Shell Town without much trouble, no thanks to Luffy's constant bugging, and irritating questions like "Are we there yet?" or "Hm Coby, do you think mermaids poop?" The two quickly got out of their boat and secured it at the dock, before heading in to the town. The town was very lively filled with multitudes of people buying and selling merchandise. More than once Coby had to pull an overly excited Luffy from a meat stand. The both of them were sadly dead broke, and Coby had already broken enough laws to last himself a lifetime, not that Luffy seemed to care.
"Hey Coby?" Luffy said getting the boys attention. "Where's this Zoro guy?" Before Coby could respond, everyone around them had jumped away trying to hide against the wall shaking in fear. Both of them sweat dropped, and Luffy laughed no doubt thinking this was hilarious. Coby quickly responded,
"Z-Zoro is most likely inside the Marine base, Luffy-san. The legendary Captain Axe-Hand Morgan is holding him there!" Coby grinned stars of admiration in his eyes thinking of the Marine Captain, the villagers on the other hand screamed in fear and ran back down the street or into their houses in fear. Coby blinked several times, before turning to Luffy with a questioning look who in turn just shrugged and ultimately deciding it wasn't worth their time, they continued toward the Marine base.
It was a massive structure stretching high into the air, around stretched a large wall protecting the base from any intruders there might be. Coby was already crying tears of joy at seeing it, images of grandeur already growing in his mind. He turned to Luffy and saluted, "Th-Thank you Luffy-san! I'm here now at the site of my dreams!" Only to realize Luffy was gone from beside him and was now standing on the edge of the wall looking into the courtyard. His jaw hit the floor and he screamed out in shock,
"LUFFY-SAN!?"
"Eh?" Luffy turned to look at him, "Hey, Coby come look, It's Zoro he's here!" Coby skeptically told him it probably wasn't him, that they definitely would keep a man that dangerous in a cell. His eyes bulged out of his head when he saw him. It was a man a couple of inches taller than Luffy. He was tied to a post in the middle of the courtyard, his face and body was bloody. He looked half starved to death. But the green sash and bandanna gave it all away, this man was most definitely Roronoa Zoro the Pirate Hunter. The only thing missing was the telltale three swords.
"Shishishi, I wonder if I untie him he'll escape?" Luffy grinned fondly as he stared at the swordsman. Coby blanched and fearing for his life quickly begged him not to, "Luffy-san, don't He'll kill us!" Luffy's grin just widened immeasurably almost like he knew something Coby didn't, "Nah there's no way he'd kill us, he's a really nice guy!"
Before Coby could question the mysterious statement, the swordsman shifted raising his head slightly to glare at the two onlookers.
"Who the hell are you?" The man spoke his tone gravely from lack of food and water, "What do you think this, a zoo? You're annoying leave!" He glared fiercely causing Coby to nearly piss himself, and cry tears of fear. Before either of them could respond though, a ladder was suddenly placed next to them, and up it climbed a small girl in a striped dress. She hopped over the wall and glancing left and right to make sure it was clear, seeing that it was she ran over to Zoro and held out something in her hand.
"Here big brother. I made some Onigiri for you!" She proudly held out the food to him. He looked own at her and glared heavily, looking quite like the demon he was known as. "Leave brat." Coby screamed out in terror for her and tried to get her to come back,
"NO DON'T DO IT! He screamed comically his eyes gushing water, "HE'LL KILL YOU! DON"T WASTE YOUR LIFE!" Luffy shifted awkwardly looking rather embarrassed for the pink haired boy.
The girl ignored him and continued to hold out the Onigiri, Zoro growled, "You've got two options Leave now or I'll make you kid and trust me you won't like the second one." Suddenly the front gate opened with a crash, and in swaggered a young man flanked by two Marines. He was pretty damn ugly, and appeared to have a massive sick up his ass called an ego, with an even larger cleft in his chin, and a pudding bowl haircut. Coby sighed in relief, his tears having dried instantaneously "Whew, It's the Marines that poor girl will be saved!" The arrogant boy walked up to the prisoner and the girl smirking slightly,
"Hmm? What do we have here?" He reached in to the girls open hands and took one of the Onigiri, and biting into it. He immediately spat it out gagging, "WHAT IS THIS?! Onigiri are supposed to be salty not sweet idiot!" He smacked the rest of them onto the floor and stepped on them, causing the girl to tear up. "Hey! Those weren't for you!" She shouted angrily.
Coby was shocked and Luffy looked on with silence, a single eye visible the other shrouded by his hat. Zoro glared at him hatefully, looking like if he wasn't tied up he'd be throttling the other boy.
"You there!" He shouted at one of his Marine attendees, who immediately stood at attention.
"Yes Helmeppo-san!"
The newly named Helmeppo grinned savagely, "Throw the girl out."
The Marine looked startled before protesting weakly, Helmeppo would have none of this stating that as the Captains son, which shocked Coby even more, he would be obeyed. Anyone who attempted to help the Pirate Hunter would be executed, so it was either throw her or kill her. Having no choice, the Marine picked her up and whispered a quiet apology, then tossed her over the wall. Before she could hit the ground Luffy, in an impressive display of acrobatics, jumped from his perch and caught her, landing hard on his back, but protecting her from the fall. Coby also crawled down the wall, and after making sure she was not injured Luffy had, him take her back into town.
He hopped over the wall and only Zoro was left there. The pompous Captains son, having left. Luffy walked forward until he was only about five feet away from him. They stared at each other with blank unreadable expressions. Suddenly without warning, both of them grinned, excitement and nostalgia portrayed on their faces.
"So, you were the pirate hunter, huh. Never would have guessed, Zoro."
"It's been a while, almost didn't recognize you there, Captain."
Chapter End
And that's a wrap!
Well like the last one, not much was changed over all, other than adding dialogue, correcting grammar, and adding a few new scenes. I have no beta reader or editor, so if I'm still making any mistakes I'll be glad to hear of them.
Luffy and Zoro are going to have an interesting dynamic throughout this story, you could think of them like brothers constantly competing to see whose stronger, but always having each other's back no matter what. Also in case you noticed Luffy, in this version, still has no idea what Haki is, he simply knows how to harness it. This'll be pivotal in future chapters as he still doesn't quite no how use this 'Mystery Power' to its full potential. In the previous version he knew exactly what it was and how to use it but I feel like that would leave very little room for growth other than a getting a future devil fruit which is not going to happen. This Luffy is going to be swimming the calm belt and fighting giants with nothing other than his fists and unbreakable will. Think of him as Garp 2.0, just a thousand times weaker.
Anyway, really quickly on the subject of pairings, in the previous version of this I know I put up a poll to decide what the pairings would be. However, unlike last time I've decided that if at all there will be romance, I'm going to at least try and shy away from harems (IMO they are a little overdone and unoriginal, not to knock people who enjoy them they're just not my thing). The one pairing I would really be interested in including would be Luffy/Robin simply because I feel it's rather underappreciated in the community. But if you're interested, I'll put up a poll to decide on whether this'll just be a gen fic with no pairings or we'll throw in a dash of romance.
Anyway, though thanks so much for reading and if you're enjoying it please leave a review, whether it be nice or letting me know what I've done wrong, they're really what inspired me to come back and restart this fanfic. I'm not sure what it is, but hearing that you guys enjoyed it, really strengthened my resolve to finish it! :)
One final note, this is a pretty quick upload simply cause this chapter was pretty easy to edit. I'd expect the next chapter sometime next week.
Who do you think the final villain of the series is, Akainu or Blackbeard?
Have a great week,
Adkop
