Hello everyone and welcome to Reborn: Return of the King! This chapter will be the re-introduction of Zoro! I don't know what to talk about anymore! Peanuts!
One Piece is owned by Eiichiro Oda
Shells Town
"We're finally at the marine base! I didn't know you were this good at navigating Luffy!" Said Lucy with Luffy at her side while Coby was docking the boat.
"It's just the basics Lucy. We need to recruit an actual expert at navegating." Said the black haired man, while already knowing who would fulfill the job.
The trio proceeded to enter a restaurant called Food Foo to eat. While they were eating Luffy the proceeded to speak.
"Well Coby, it looks like we'll be splitting ways here, so good luck on being a marine."
"Thanks Luffy-san. Although we'll become enemies in the future, I wish you good luck on your pirate career." Said the pink haired boy while wiping his eyes on his sleeve.
"Now we've just have to find Zoro!" Said the raven haired girl. However after hearing the girl's declaration every costumer suddenly jumped and started to get close to the wall like they wanted to be as far away as possible from that group.
"I've got the feeling that we can't just yell out the name Zoro." Whispered Coby with a hand close to his mouth. Attemptin to change the mood Coby spoke again. "So I just saw a notice outside, apparently someone called Captain Morgan is at the base." After hearing Morgan's name the crowd jumped back to the wall again. After witnessing the strange event happening for a second time they left. Now they were on the street with a laughing Lucy and Luffy and a confused Coby.
"Even though I've been through this it's still as hilarious as last time." Thought the man with the strawhat.
"What an interesting restaurant! We have to come back here again!" Said Lucy, while holding her belly has she laughed. Coby who was perplexed by the people's action decided to put his thoughts on the matter.
"I've got a bad feeling about this, I mean, I kind of understood their reaction to Zoro's name because of his reputation, but to react that way when hearing the captain's name."
"Maybe he also did something bad?" The girl questioned.
"That's impossible! He's a marine captain!" Coby shouted, like if it was ridiculous the idea of that happening.
"Coby do you consider me a bad person?" Asked Luffy with his hands behind his head.
"What of course not!" Said the small kid.
"But I'm a pirate, so by your point of view shouldn't I be a murderer who would rape women and pillage their homes?" Said the tall man. Coby was about to respond when suddenly he started to process the true meaning of Luffy's words. If Luffy was a good person even though he was a pirate there also was the possibility of the opposite happening, a marine being a terrible person. Coby obviously was disgusted by someone being that vile and swore to never become like that.
Seeing the determination and resolve on Coby's eyes Luffy smiled and headed forward to the marine's base, where his first mate was.
"Wow this thing is really ugly." Declared Lucy while looking at the base.
"I agree with you sis, so Coby ready to join the marines?" Asked the black haired man, while looking at the wall that he was going to climb, while taking deep breaths to steady his emotion levels. He didn't want Zoro's first impression of him to be a crybaby.
"B-But I'm not prepp- LUFFY-SAN, LUCY-SAN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Said Coby while looking at Luffy who was already on top of the wall and Lucy coming from behind.
"Now I wonder where Zoro is?" Asked the black haired girl.
"There's no way that they would keep Zoro on the open, he's probably on the dungeon (along with Bellemere HOOOOOOOOOO)." Said the pink haired boy.
"I see him over there!" Said Luffy while moving to a better spot. Having no other choice Coby also climebd and what he saw made him jump back in fear.
"It..It's him! There's no mistaking it! That bandana and that haramaki ( the green thing around his waist). It's Roronoa Zoro!"
"Those ropes look easy enough to break out of." Said Lucy while looking at Zoro.
Zoro was tied up to a wooden cross in the middle of the yard. He had his bandana on his head but his swords couldn't be seen. He also had blood running from his mouth and his face, giving him a devilish aura.
"Stop joking! He could kill you!" Said the short boy. He was later interrupted by a gruff voice.
"Hey you! Could you please come untie me? I've been tied up for 9 days and I'm exhausted. I'll even repay you by hunting a fugitive and giving you the bounty. I'm a man of my word." Said the man Zoro. If you just hear his voice you could consider him telling the truth. However with how he looked it was more like he was daring them to free him.
"Don't be tricked by him Luffy-san! If you free him he'll just kill us and escape!" Said Coby.
"Don't worry Coby, my brother and I are stronger than him, so he can't kill us." Casually responded Lucy.
"Huh?" Grunted Zoro. But before anything happened a ladder appeared next to the trio and a little girl climbed it. She then turned around and shushed them and leapt over the wall.
"What the hell is she soing? Luffy-san stop her!" Said the boy with the glasses.
"Do it yourself." Said Luffy.
"Hey brat what are you doing here? Get lost!" Said the tied up man in the most threating voice he could say.
"I thought you would be hungry since you've been here for a long time, so I decided to make some rice balls for you! It's my first time doing them." Said the little girl.
"I don't want it go away! I'll kill you if you don't go!" Exclaimed Zoro.
"Picking on little kids? How classy of you. Roronoa Zoro." Said a blond man that was entering the base with two marines by his side.
Zoro scoffed "If it isn't the captain's bastard son."
"Watch your tongue, my dad is a marine captain. Oh what's this? Rice balls? They look tasty." Said the guy whose name was Helmeppo.
"Wait! They aren't for you!" Said the kid. Helmeppo ignored her and started eating them.
"Blegh! Why is there sugar on these balls. You're supposed to put salt!" Exclaimed the blond man with the suit.
"But I thought that they would taste better sweet." Said the girl, starting to get teary eyed.
"How could someone eat this?!" said Helmeppo, who started stomping on the rice balls while laughing, ignoring the pleas of the little girl.
Seeing this Coby understood even better Luffy's words. How could a son of a marine do this?
"That's so cruel. I worked so hard on making them." Said the kid while starting to cry.
"No wonder I hate little brats, the only thing they know is to cry." Said the blond man with a hand on his forehead. "It's your fault you know? Didn't you read the sign? Anyone who helps a criminal will be charged with the same crime. Marine Captain Morgan. You know how scary my dad is right? You would've gotten the death penalty if you were a grown up."
"Oi throw this brat out." Helmeppo ordered to a marine
"But sir."
"No buts! Are you trying to disobey me? I'll tell my father!" Said the blond man while gripping the marine's collar.
"Ay..Aye sir!"
The kid was suddenly thrown out the wall but Lucy grabbed her in mid air, saving the kid from a hard fall. Coby rappidly started checking the kid for wounds, while Luffy was still on top of the wall, glaring and repeatdly thinking "He's going to be good, he's going to be good, he's going to be good..."
"I didn't think you had this kind of endurance Zoro! You still have to live for the rest of the month if you want to get released!" Said Helmeppo.
"You better keep your promise." Said Zoro. When he looked up he noticed a man with a straw hat right in front of him, with a beautiful girl that looked similar to him. "You still here? Leave or the brat will tell his father."
"I'm looking for someone to join my pirate fleet." Said Luffy while grinning.
"So, you decided to give up on life huh?" Said the man with the bandana on his head.
"It's my dream and I'll do anything to accomplish it so don't you dare talk about it like that." Said the black-haired man. Zoro's eyes glinted when he heard the word "dream".
"You're going to set me free and force me to join you then?" Said Zoro while grinning sadistically.
"Everyone here thinks you're a bad guy, so Luffy hasn't decided yet." Said Lucy with her hands crossed.
"A bad guy huh? I'll never join you! I still have a promise to fulfill. I'm going to endure this for one month and make my dreams come true." Exclaimed the tied-up man with conviction on his voice.
"Really? I probably would've starved to death in one week." Said the girl.
"Well that's one of the reasons why we're different, now go find someone else to join you!" He noticed the man trembled a bit, but maybe it was his mind that started to make hallucinations. Although he had the feeling that he saw the man with the straw hat somewhere before. When they started to leave Zoro quickly called out to them. "Hey hold on! Can you pick that up for me?"
Lucy looked where the man was looking and saw the remains of the rice ball.
" Are you sure you want to eat his? It's all muddy."
"Shut it and give it to me." Said Zoro. Lucy put the ball on his mouth, which Zoro proceeded to eat it. After coughing, sweating and crying a bit he managed to swallow it. "Tell that little girl that the rice balls tasted very good."
When they left Luffy approached Lucy "You go on ahead, I'll catch up later ok?"
"Okay Luffy!"
After making sure Lucy was quite a bit ahead Luffy went to a nearby alley while shaking. When he reached it, and assured himself that no one was watching, he opened the floodgates.
"BWWWAA!"
Luffy couldn't handle it any longer. Seeing one of his crewmembers alive filled him with such happiness that he could nearly burst. If it wasn't for his emotional training that he took so that he wouldn't freak them out when they would meet again he probably would've latched onto Zoro and started to cry. He got a little hurt when Zoro refused to join, but he remembered that apart from Robin and Brook, everyone refused at first. Cleaning his eyes, he then walked towards the place where Coby, Lucy and Rika were.
Meanwhile
"Really? He ate all of it? I'm so happy!" Said the little girl.
"Is he really that much of a horrible person like the rumors say?" Said Coby.
"He didn't do anything wrong. Everyone is afraid of him because he killed Helmeppo's wolf while protecting me. Helmeppo got angry and arrested him." Said the kid. "The only bad guys here are the Morgan's. You'll get executed if you disobey them."
"Heh, who dares to raise his head? I'll tell my dad and you'll end up like Roronoa Zoro, who's going to be executed in three days." Said Helmeppo. Looking back Lucy saw Helmeppo walking on the street with his marine bodyguards, while the people were bowing. But before she could say anything she heard her brother speaking.
"Three days? Didn't you say that you would be giving him a month." Said Luffy with his straw hat shadowing his eyes.
"Yeah I was just joking with him. Only an idiot would believe that." Said the blond man.
Luffy couldn't handle it any longer, so he backhanded Helmeppo through a wall. And another one. And another one.
"Luffy-san! Please calm down!" Said Coby while holding Luffy back, even though Luffy could get rid of him easily.
"I've decided! I'm going to get Zoro on my crew." Said the black-haired man.
"He...He knocked out the captain's son!"
"This is bad! Captain Morgan won't be happy!"
"But damn that man's strong, he sent Helmeppo flying through walls with just his hand."
"That was so cool!" Said the little girl.
"Ri...Rika! What are you doing talking to strangers! You could be mistaken by one of their friends!" Said what was probably Rika's mom.
"But mom he's nice! Just like Zoro!" Said Rika
"Did you go to the execution site again?! That's it! You won't leave the house now!" Said the woman, while Rika was looking with sadness to Luffy and his friends.
"Coby stay here and get a lot of food since Zoro will be hungry, then head towards the base. Lucy and I will be already heading towards it.
"Ok let's go pick up Zoro!" Said Lucy while jumping in the air.
Meanwhile at Morgan's office
"I am great." Said a blond muscular man with tanned skin and his back turned to the door, looking like a villain from a James Bond movie.
"Yes, you are Captain Morgan." Said nervously a marine soldier.
"But lately the offerings have been decreasing." Said Morgan, still with his back turned.
"About that, hum..., the citizens have their financial problems too sir." Said the soldier.
"It's not about the financial problems, it's because they don't respect me!" Said the captain.
"Okay sir. I've also received reports that your son has been knocked unconscious by a stranger." Said the marine.
"Was my son wearing the purple suit?" Asked Morgan.
"Umm yeah?"
"Then he deserved it." Said the marine captain.
At the execution site
"Oi what are you doing here didn't I say I wasn't going to join you?" Said Zoro, who still looked as dirty as ever.
"I'm Luffy and I'm going to break the ropes so that you can join me!" Exclaimed Luffy, who was already moving to free Zoro.
"I already told you I'm not going to be a bad guy!"
"Why do you care? Everyone already thinks you're a bad guy." Said Lucy, who was tilting her head while looking at the swordsman.
"I don't care what people think. I haven't done a single thing I regret doing." Said the pirate hunter.
"Well if you don't care what people think then you shouldn't care if you were a pirate. Mihawk is the best swordsman in the world and he's a pirate. He's a lone wolf though. Besides Helmeppo said that he would execute you in three days, so you have to join me if you want to make your dreams come true." Said the pirate captain, grinning inside his head because he knew that he got Zoro in the bag right now.
"WHAT? THAT BASTARD!" Exclaimed Zoro. After calming down he said "Well if what you said was the truth then I guess I'll join you. I need my katanas first though."
"No problem. Lucy can you go look for Zoro's katana? I'll give you meat." Said Luffy while looking at his sister. A second passed and Lucy was already running towards the door of the marine base.
"So, who's the girl captain?" Asked Zoro.
"Oh, she's my twin sister, so you better watch out your future actions." Said Luffy while looking at Zoro with the most threatening face that he could master. While nowhere near Nami's level he still managed to scare Zoro a little, which made him laugh. "Don't worry I'm just joking with you, I know you wouldn't be that stupid to do something like that. Also for your information she's really strong."
Laughing again and freak out Zoro even more, Luffy broke the ropes with pure strength, setting Zoro free.
"Ok now we wait for Coby to bring the food since you're probably starving right now." Said the tall man. After cleaning his clothes Zoro leaned against the pole, waiting for his feast.
Meanwhile at the marine base
"Now where are Zoro's katanas?" Wondered Lucy, who was opening every door and looking with the eyes of a falcon to find Zoro's swords. While looking for them she noticed a sign on the door that said "My Room".
"They better be here, I'm hungry already!". Opening the door, she noticed it was a room of a princess, except for the armory near the wall. Looking more closely she noticed three katanas there.
"Found them!"
Tying them to her back, she then started thinking about why there weren't any marines in sight. Activating her Observation Haki she sensed them on the roof, and decided to see what was going on.
Entering the roof, she saw a bunch of marines trying to lift a statue while what looked like the strongest of them all was sitting back ordering them.
"Oi what are you guys doing?" Asked the black-haired girl, getting all the attention towards her.
"Sir! She was with the group that beat up your son!" Said a random marine.
"Even though he deserved it you're still violating the law, so I'll have to catch you." Said Morgan while pointing his axe-hand towards her.
"Sorry no can do, I have stuff to do!" Said Lucy. She then started running towards the statue and jumped a little so that she could bring enough force to do a great leap. However, thanks to that she broke the statue in half.
Every marine including Morgan dropped their jaws at the sight of a girl breaking the statue with just her leg strength.
"Sorrrryyyyy..." Said the girl while falling down. When she fell she rolled on the ground and got up, surprising yet again the marines.
"That bitch! Arrest her!" Ordered a very pissed off Morgan.
"Well that was fun! Shishishishi!" Said Lucy while laughing. Behind her you could see the statue falling down and breaking.
"How the hell did you survive that fall?" Asked Zoro, who now could see that his captain wasn't lying when he boasted about the girl's strength.
"Oh, I ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi, which turned me into a rubber woman." Said Lucy while stretching her cheeks to abnormal distances, creeping out Zoro even more.
"So, you ate a devil fruit huh? No wonder you broke that statue." Said a man behind her. Looking back, she noticed that it was Morgan and his soldiers with their guns ready. "It's no use since you'll be dyeing right now. Men FIRE!" Ordered the marine captain. Hearing this Lucy quickly went to the path of the bullets and took them on.
"OI YOU WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" Exclaimed Zoro. He then shut up when he saw the bullets stretching Lucy's skin, only to be rebounded.
"Like I said, I'm a rubber woman, bullets don't work on me!" Said the girl.
"Humph, if guns don't work then attack her with swords men!" Said Morgan while trying to lift up the marine's spirit.
"What the hell are you?" Wondered the swords less swordsman.
"Are you deaf or retarded? My name is Monkey D. Lucy, rubber woman, and I'm going to become the strongest woman in the world! Here's your swords by the way."
"And I'm Monkey D. Luffy and I'm going to become Pirate King!" Said Luffy while grinning.
Zoro glared at Lucy for her remark and treatment of his swords, but then he started grinning. "Looks like I've joined a crew of weird people. I'm going to become the World's Greatest Swordsman and if you'll try to stop that I'll cut open your stomach!"
"That's great! It would be embarrassing if the pirate king didn't have the best." Said Luffy. "Well how about you show your skills Zoro while I'll wait for Coby back at the entrance. Lucy, you stay here."
"Roger captain." Said Zoro, while Lucy just nodded and started cracking her knuckles.
"Zoro duck!" Warned Lucy. "Gomu Gomu no Whip". After the attack, all the marines were knocked out.
"You bastards I'LL EXECUTE YOU!" Screamed Morgan.
"Onigiri"
Morgan couldn't say anything else because he suddenly was cut by Zoro.
"Nice Zoro!" Said Luffy, now with a stunned Coby and a large bag of food.
"No problem captain."
"A-Amazing!" Breathed out Coby.
"They defeated the captain so easily!"
"Then that means..."
"WE'RE FREE!"
The marines suddenly started to celebrate their captain's defeat, since they were also afraid of him. Zoro was also celebrating, but it was mostly because of the food and sake that he had in front of him.
Later at the restaurant
"You guys are really amazing!" Said Rika.
"Yep we are" Replied the future pirate king.
"So, captain, what's our plan now?" Asked Zoro, who now without the bandana you could see his green hair.
"It's obvious, we're going to the Grand Line! After getting more crucial crewmembers first." Said Luffy.
The celebration was interrupted when the marines entered the building.
"Are you pirates?"
"Yeah we are." Said Lucy.
"While we are extremely happy that Captain Morgan was defeated we are still marines, so we demand that you leave this town. Since you helped us we won't be reporting this incident to Marine Headquarters." The marine voice was steady but you could see the slight tremble of his knees. Wanting to test something Luffy stood up and what he saw proved his theory true. The marine stiffened and started sweating when he saw Luffy stand up, which only meant one thing.
He had been recognized.
"Well I appreciate that you won't be denouncing us to the headquarters, so we'll leave. Let's go Zoro, Lucy."
As they were standing up so that they could leave, Coby stayed behind. Seeing this the marine quickly asked Luffy
"Isn't he with you?"
Luffy looked back and said "That wimp? Just look at him. As if I wanted a shrimp like him on my crew."
Coby started to tear up, wasn't Luffy his friend? But when he was about to speak he saw Luffy winking at him without any marine noticing it.
"Well then leave." Said the marine.
After they left Coby proclaimed to the marines that he wanted to join them. One of the soldiers quickly opposed to that idea but the commander stopped him, saying that he would let him join, even though they already knew of his past.
As they were about to leave the island, they heard Coby calling them, while he was saluting them. He was later joined by the marine group.
"Never thought I would see marines saluting pirates." Said Zoro.
"Don't worry Coby I'm sure we will see each other again!" Said Lucy while waving her arms.
"Next time we meet Coby we'll be at the top got it?" Said Luffy. Coby nodded, and that's how the departing of the soon to be Strawhat pirates went.
After the departure Luffy looked to the horizon "I've got Zoro, now next thing to do is recruiting you..."
"Nami."
And that's that! I've seriously reduced the Morgan fight since it was boring and it ended quickly. If you've noticed I still haven't shown Luffy's powers since I want Luffy to keep them as a secret during the East Blue (Because it would be overkill). Also tell me what do you think of Gin joining? I know it has been done a lot but it has its reasons. Also leave suggestions for new crewmembers (they can't be OC).Thanks everybody for your support and reviews, this has been PortugueseRonaldo and I'll see you on the next chapter. Bye!