Le Me: Hey I can get Syrup village banged out in 1 chapter styll.
Also me 8k words later: :(
Yeah I'm splitting this one up lol. Prolly gonna be a double update since the monkey turning the cogs in my brain wants the happy chemicals from what's to come.
This is probs going to make the Fate fans very unhappy considering my stuff is 99% Shirou inserts and 1% Luffy being stupid (this story exists in a vacuum amongst everything else that I write). Good thing the monkey isn't cognitively developed enough to pick up on fanfic community social cues.
Thank you to Gregguto for beta reading this one and thank you to everyone on P atreon who voted for the illustration (available on my discord server, SB and QQ).
Toei, Bandai and Oda stole all my money through Yamato merchandise so I demand that my cope be vindicated. She'll join the crew fr fr ong no cap.
:(
AAAAAAAAAAAA doesn't let me use special characters so either pretend that it does or read this on QQ/SB.
X
Sengoku's worst enemy of late had been nothing but his own thoughts.
It was Garp's fault
He had instilled this particular nagging trepidation into the back of his head. Monkey D. Luffy, no matter his heritage, was a boy who could have never set foot off his home island in the East Blue until just recently. His bounty was a result of Kaido's interference, not his own abilities, and yet…
He glared at the report on his desk. Smoker hadn't caught the boy yet. It hadn't been that long—and nothing about the man's track record would suggest that he wouldn't catch the boy soon—and yet every day that passed with Garp's grandkid roaming free was another day he could let his brain rest.
Monkey D. Luffy was nothing right now, but Kaido's inexplicable fascination—or even knowledge—of the boy was just one of many indicators pointing toward the kid becoming just like his father.
The World Government did not have the facilities to deal with another Dragon.
There was probably nothing more that he could do, nor was there anything else that he should do. He wasn't about to mobilise a force from all the way out here; the grand line's dangers were much more pressing, after all.
But would any other marine in such a weak ocean be able to handle Garp's progeny? No.
Between a rock in a hard place, then. Putting his faith in that Smoker boy was all that he could really do.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku! Sir!"
His eyes tracked upward until they landed on the door to his office, behind which the voice came.
"You may enter," he responded.
A marine saluted dutifully.
"Sir! The day's reports."
Sengoku nodded silently. A fresh stack of papers detailing unpublished recent happenings were added to his pile.
Wonderful.
"Thank you. You're dismissed."
The marine saluted once more and left.
Sengoku could only stare at the pile blankly for a moment before sighing.
"Might as well get started," he grumbled, picking up the first printed sheet and skimming it.
"..."
With every line that he read, his eyes widened more and more.
"This…"
It might work. He didn't know why that man was so close to the East Blue, but…
Fleet Admiral Sengoku grabbed the den den mushi and dialled a number.
X
「Lady [Kaya] (LV2)」
"Hey! You're Kaya, right? Can we have your ship?"
I called out to her excitedly. She looked caught off guard though. She blinked down at us with big, wide eyes.
"My—my ship?" she repeated dumbly.
Nami made a sad noise of some kind. What was that about?
"Yeah!" I shouted. The sun was in my eyes so I had to tilt my hat forward a little. "I heard you had one and you weren't using it."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Long Nose exclaimed, standing between me and the big house. "Look, man. I don't have anything against you—I don't even know you—but… hey, yeah! We don't even know who you are! Who just approaches a stranger and asks them for something that's as big of a deal as a ship?"
I thought about what he said for a moment.
…Ah! He wanted us to pay her, right? It made sense.
「Checking [Inventory]」
How much did a ship cost, anyway?
"Can I buy it off of you for a thousand beri?" I asked the girl.
She still looked confused.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand—"
"How about five hundred?"
"That's even stingier!" Long Nose squawked. "A ship costs millions of beri! What's wrong with you!?"
I froze and my jaw dropped.
"Hah!? No way!"
"Captain…" Nami moaned.
"It's okay, Usopp," Kaya spoke softly. It was a little hard to hear since she was all the way up there.
She was smiling when she turned back to face me. "Please, take the ship. I'd feel awful if it never had the chance to set sail even once. It's not like I can do much with it."
"Seriously!?" It was my crewmate's turn to freeze up.
I stuck a pinky in my ear to clear it out a little. I hummed.
"Mkay. Thanks!"
I didn't know why anyone would buy a boat if they weren't gonna use it—it sounded kind of stupid like cooking meat and not eating it—but it wasn't like it was any of my business.
"Hey!" Long Nose shouted again. He looked a little angry, actually. "I'm sorry, but you can't have the ship."
Hoh?
Nami stepped forward and put a hand on her hip.
"Look. She already said that we could take it, pal. It's not yours, is it?"
"Usopp," Kaya called out to him again. "Please, be nice. Like I said, it's okay."
"It's not!" he shouted back. "You are going to set sail! You're going to explore the world, and when you do, it'll be aboard the Going Merry! So please… don't say something like that!"
Kaya got teary-eyed.
"Usopp…"
I exchanged a look with Nami.
Mm. There was probably a story here.
"Hey, Captain!" she whispered into my ear. "I think he's talking her out of it! If we don't get things rolling our way, we might as well kiss that ship goodbye."
I pouted.
"What do you think we should do, then?"
She sighed but tried to smile reassuringly.
"Leave it to me for now, okay?"
I nodded and she stepped forward.
"We're really sorry to have bothered you about this, Miss Kaya," Nami apologised. Her smile didn't feel like a smile at all. "This isn't the sort of thing that you can decide on the spot, is it? Even if you're not using the ship, it's still a tall order—especially if strangers approached you with no prior warning or explanation."
"I—"
The girl didn't have the chance to get a word in. Nami powered through.
"So how about you sit on it, then? For a little while, at least. You don't have to give us an answer right away; we'll get out of your hair for now. I promise!"
Long Nose didn't seem convinced, but Kaya didn't look as uneasy as a moment ago.
"...Thank you for your understanding," she eventually said, sounding relieved. "I—didn't catch your names, did I?"
Nami gave me a thumbs up behind her back. I didn't understand what she was trying to do—it was better to get the ship now, right?—but I went with it.
"I'm Nami!" she introduced herself. And this is my captain: Luffy."
"We're—"
"Sailors," she finished for me. "We're from a small fishing village south east of here. Maple village. Have you heard of it?"
I hadn't.
Kaya's eyes lit up.
"Isn't that where Merry gets his plum wine?" Long Nose asked the rich girl.
Huh? This was a real place? But I was from Foosha, not Maple-place. What was going on!? So confusing…
"We're fishermen ourselves," Nami said. "But… our old ship's keel was damaged irreparably. We need a new one and quickly or else everyone's going to be in trouble. There aren't many of us to begin with; if we can't work, our local industry will be in ruins."
Really!? That sounded really bad!
"Miss Nami…" Kaya said her name sadly. "I…"
My crewmate shook her head.
"No, no. Please. Think about this carefully. We don't want to seem like we're begging, but it's true that you deserve to know why it is that we're here. Captain is a man of many talents, but…"
She trailed off.
Kaya smiled.
"Yes. I understand. I hope waiting isn't too much of an inconvenience… I will discuss the matter with my attendants and I'll have a definitive answer for you by morning. Mister Luffy, Miss Nami: I will do what I can to help."
Her eyes widened.
"I'm so sorry! I should have come down to greet you properly. You must find me terribly rude."
"Not at all!" Nami pulled on the side of my vest. "We'll be back tomorrow. Please have a restful evening, Miss Kaya."
"To you as well!"
She waved at us as we left. My eyes were on Big Nose, though.
He had a strange look on his face. He wasn't talking. He wasn't smiling. He wasn't frowning. He was just looking at us.
I was about to ask him what was wrong but Nami just pulled on my vest again.
X
Kuro of the Thousand Plans was no idiot. Being smart, however, was not the reason why he earned his moniker. He was meticulous.
There was no such thing as overthinking. Every outcome, every variable, every pawn and player in every circumstance had to be accounted for. If he didn't at least do that much, then he wouldn't lie to himself by saying that his actions were adhering to any sort of "plan".
Planting himself as the submissive butler of a sickly girl for the better part of a decade in an effort to "inherit" her fortune was, without a doubt, part of a plan.
It was his most ambitious plan to be sure, but it was by no means his riskiest. If one could identify all possible variables, risk would naturally be eliminated as those variables were dealt with. It went without saying that he did as much in preparation for the plan in question.
That's what he thought until just recently.
Monkey D. Luffy was a variable that couldn't have been accounted for because the chances of something like him existing at all were astronomically slim. An East Blue pirate? He could handle those. Everything—short of Arlong, but Arlong was wholly sedentary—could be dealt with discretely, either with the help of Jango and the rest of them or through his own effort if such a thing needed to be wasted.
A pirate with a bounty in the hundreds of millions could not be called an East Blue pirate.
He'd seen the boy. Him and that skittish girl who followed him around. Did he have the air of a hundred-million beri man about him? Of course not, but that wasn't the point. The point was that he was cautious enough to know that Monkey D. Luffy was a man that he needed to know everything about before deeming him to be a "measured variable".
He simply did not have the time to look into him; his plan should be and would be put into play in a matter of hours. Sooner, even, if he thought better of it.
Such thoughts brought him down to the tavern in the middle of the hamlet. The pirate-in-hiding wore his best troubled expression and clutched the bounty poster in his hand tightly as he walked in.
"Klahadore!" the owner greeted him. "What brings you in? You're not much of a drinker."
"You haven't seen a strange boy wearing a straw hat pass by here, have you?"
The question drew the attention of the bar's patrons. The owner frowned confusedly.
"Aye. But why—"
The bounty poster was slammed down on the counter loudly.
The onlookers were thrown off. "Klahadore" was seen as a patient and even-keeled man. For something to elicit such an exaggerated reaction would mean that it's quite serious. That was how they would interpret it, surely.
"He's a pirate!" he said loudly. It wasn't quite a yell, but it was the most that this perceived character could muster.
It would do. He heard the gasps he was waiting for.
The three children that followed the liar boy everywhere—why they were here, he didn't know—approached to get a better look at the poster. While he'd normally direct them elsewhere, their involvement in this current instance would not be put down.
One of them gasped.
"Wa… wa… wa…"
"One hundred and fifty six million beri!?" another screamed.
"That Big Sis is a pirate too, then…"
For a moment, there was silence.
When the next moment came, the room erupted in gasps and nervous murmurs.
"What!?"
"That girlie pulled the wool over our eyes!"
"What should we do?"
"What do you think, Klahadore?"
Once more, they all turned to him.
Kuro's palms slid up his cheek to adjust his glasses.
The image that he crafted of himself was perfection. In this village, he was the utmost figure of respect, and therefore, authority. He could do no wrong. He was God.
He could direct these people like pawns on a chessboard.
"We should drive them both out," he answered.
The suggestion was met with uncertainty.
"...But, Mister Klahadore… this is a very high bounty, isn't it?" one of the men pointed out.
"He's just a boy. It doesn't matter who he is or what he did," he responded evenly. "We must find him, rally our forces and drive him out."
Murmurs stirred up once more. They grew more and more confident by the minute. Their God had given the rabble his sanction.
Yes. Everything would go according to plan.
X
"Hey, Nami, what was all that stuff about Maple town?"
We were walking back down the hill that led to the village. It was a really pretty place at this time of day; even Nami, who always looked like she had a bad stomach ache, looked like she was enjoying the orangeness of everything. She seemed a little less jumpy than before, even.
She looked at me with a raised brow.
"Maple village?"
"Yeah! You were talking about how we were fish people and that our ship broke and—"
"I lied, obviously."
"Seriously!?"
She stared at me as though I grew a second head.
"What? You didn't think that any of that was real, did you?"
I was glad. No one was starving, then.
I frowned.
"Isn't it bad if they find out then?" I asked. "They must know that place a lot better than us since it's that close."
It took her a little bit to find an answer.
"Everything is relative. For a sailor, it might not be that far, sure, but most people have never left their home village before and probably never will. You saw that girl, right? Her arms were practically trembling just to hold her head out her bedroom window that long. She's not going anywhere."
Then Nami laughed. It was a strange laugh. Like she was telling a joke that she didn't even understand herself. It wasn't a real laugh.
"..."
I didn't say anything.
"Hm? What's wrong, Captain?" She tried to keep pace with me. "You should be in a better mood, right? I got us that ship! Sure, she said she wanted to talk things over with her people, but it's in the bag. We appealed to her empathy so I doubt she'll say no. The final decision is hers to make, after all."
"It's really sad."
"...Huh?"
I stopped walking which made Nami stop walking too.
I looked at her.
"Not being able to see the world even once. Being stuck in the same stupid house until the day you die… is there anything worse than that?"
Nami stared at me like someone forced her to swallow a lemon whole and she was trying to keep a straight face, but I threw my hands out to point at the everything in front of us as I kept talking.
"Look at how cool this place is! The houses look so silly and there's this giant hill that lets us see all of it from up here! If I stayed in Foosha village, I wouldn't have known that a place like this existed. Never. I hate the thought of that!"
…I wish Yamato could have been here. She would have understood. When she was trapped in that padoga and her dad wouldn't let her leave, there wasn't anything she wanted more than being able to explore the world. Hearing that there were people who could go do that whenever they wanted but just didn't kind of made me mad.
Nami looked like she was about to say something but her attention turned to something behind me. There were torches and pitchforks. A lot of people were climbing the hill and walking toward us. They didn't look happy at all.
Neither one of us knew what was going on, so we waited in place for them to get a little closer.
"You!" someone shouted. I recognized him from the tavern. "You're that kid from earlier!"
I pointed at myself confusedly.
"Me?"
"Yeah!"
"You're a pirate!"
"We're not afraid of you!"
"Get out of here!"
"Never come back!"
They seemed angry, even.
Ah… this was bad, right? We had to come back to get the ship! I really wanted this one…
I turned to Nami again. For whatever reason, she was frozen in place.
I waved a hand in front of her face. That snapped her out of it.
The colour of her skin flushed out of her. She looked super panicked now. She trembled.
"I…" I could barely hear her voice, let alone what she was trying to say. "I'm not…"
"We gotta go!"
I grabbed her arm. She went from "out of it" to "just about to scream".
"Lu—"
We rocketed into the trees of the nearby forest. The angry mob made silly, bug-eyed expressions when we did.
I landed on a sturdy branch and let Nami down gently. I knew from growing up with Ace and Sabo that we were far enough that they wouldn't be able to find us right away but still close enough that we could keep an eye on them for a moment longer.
"Hmm! HMM! Mhmhmmm…"
Nami was being really loud so I covered her mouth for a second. It was tough to hear what the villagers were saying otherwise.
"What the heck is that kid?"
"Pirates are sons of the devil. Haven't you heard? They say if you eat its fruit, you've sold your soul to the seas…"
"He went into the forest. Should we chase him?"
"No. Stay in your houses and keep away from the shores. We have the advantage in numbers but we don't want to give those two the opportunity to catch anyone by surprise. Please stay safe. In the meantime, I'll call the marines."
…Huh? Didn't I recognize that voice from somewhere?
Nami quieted down a lot. She tapped me on the shoulder and I let go of her face.
"That's the butler from the mansion!" she whispered. "It's likely that he's seen your bounty, Captain."
I put on a wide smile.
"My bounty? Really!?"
She clamped her hand on my mouth this time. It fell down a second later, though.
"Be quiet… please. I don't understand why you're—not important. Nevermind. We need to get back to Koby and Zoro and tell them that we won't be able to go into town anymore. With any luck, they'll all do as the butler said and stay away from the shores while we figure out what to do.
"..."
Something awful just came to mind.
"...Nami…"
"Yes?"
"What… what about food?"
She sighed.
"There are other towns that we can drop by if we really have to. One thing at a time, though!"
I whined.
X
Nami and Zoro were standing all serious-like; Koby looked flakey as usual and I was a little worried that he would pass out.
"It's obvious, right? What we should do," Zoro spoke up, breaking the silence.
Koby and Nami looked at him confusedly, but I knew what he meant.
"Yeah. We gotta steal the boat."
「[Set Sail!]
The ship you took from Buggy the Clown is in no condition to challenge the seas. Find a way to repair it or, alternatively, find a new ship.
[Event!]
The villagers have been set against you! Steal Lady Kaya's caravel and make your escape before the marines arrive.
[Bonus]: (?)」
「Time Limit: 15H:59M:59S:」
"That's ridiculous!" Koby shouted. "That's so awful! That poor girl sounds so nice. She doesn't deserve—"
"She doesn't," Zoro cut him off. "But she's not using it and we will. You don't want to be stopped by the marines, do you? I promise you it'll be a bigger loss for us than it will be for her if things don't go well."
Koby fidgeted more.
"I… I don't!"
Nami sighed.
"I feel bad about it, but I agree. It's a race against time now."
I nodded.
"Right! Let's go take that ship, then. We have sixteen hours before the marines get here."
All three of them stared at me blankly. I blinked.
"Huh? Is there something on my face?"
"Where did 'sixteen hours' come from?" Nami asked. "Did the butler say something along those lines? I didn't think he did…"
"No."
"Then you're just making stuff up!?" Nami and Koby shouted.
Zoro facepalmed.
"Nevermind that. Let's just do it. Should we get on with it now?"
Nami shook her head.
"It will take the marines time to respond if they do at all. They'll be here tomorrow morning at the earliest. We should take advantage of that period to steal it overnight."
Zoro clicked his tongue.
"We'd be stuck navigating a ship that none of us have even seen before with close to no light. It's asking for trouble."
"Just leave that to me," Nami assured him. "At least this way we'd have time to circle the island and pick everything up from Buggy's ship before heading out.
"Hah. You sure have an awful lot of confidence in yourself."
She huffed and ran a finger under her nose.
"Of course."
I dropped onto my butt and crossed my legs.
"Hm…"
Was I forgetting something?
Nami blinked and looked left and right.
"Say… where's Buggy anyway?"
Right! That's what it was, maybe.
Zoro silently walked over to a pile of debris and picked up the head by the hair. It was making all kinds of noise but no words were coming out since something was jammed into his mouth.
"I put him over here."
"Hm! MMMMhmhmhm…"
"He's awake. Was he being annoying?" Nami asked.
"He was scaring the kid."
Koby blushed.
"N-never mind that! We have to wait a little while, right? What should we do in the meantime? Should we prepare somehow?"
Something sparked behind my eyes.
"A bonfire."
"Huh?"
"We have to start a bonfire!" I repeated, shouting. I got to my feet and started jumping up and down. "We're on a beach at night planning stuff. It's obvious that we can't do that without a bonfire!"
"I don't think that's a great idea…" Koby whined. "Even if you don't think the villagers will come here…"
"Sure it is!" I countered. "We can even get Long Nose to help us."
None of them looked like they understood what I was talking about so I turned around to face the forest and cupped my mouth with my hands so that I could make my voice louder.
"Hey! Long Nose! Quit hiding and come help us make a bonfire!"
There was a bunch of noise as he fell out of a tree.
He scrambled to his feet.
"I—I—I won't let you t-take Kaya's ship, you pirates! I don't know what you're all talking about over there, but you've been outed! Me and my thousand men will fight to the death! You won't stand a chance!"
"How long has he been here?" I heard Nami whisper to Zoro, who didn't seem to be listening.
"Did he hear that stuff we said about stealing the—" Nami slapped a hand over Koby's mouth halfway through his sentence.
My smile dropped. I tensed up.
This was serious.
I had no idea that Long Nose had that many followers. I didn't know where they were, but that meant that they were really good at hiding. Stealing the ship would only be easy as long as no one could stop us, but a thousand people could definitely get in the way.
I squared my shoulders.
"Captain?" I heard Nami's voice. "Is something wrong?"
I took a deep breath. I had to take care of this guy quickly and find his other thousand guys.
「The Colour of Conquerors swells within you!」
Black lightning came slamming down from the skies. I focused the whole of my Haki on Long Nose, ready for him to fight—he passed out.
I ran up to where he was sleeping and shook him.
"What did you do!? Nami and Koby screamed. I turned my neck around with wide eyes. All three of them were staring at me with open jaws and pale white skin.
"Hm! Hmm HMMMM!"
Big Nose was trying to say something too.
I picked my ear.
"I dunno. I was gonna fight him. He said he had a thousand men."
"He was obviously lying!" all three of them snapped.
"Hmhm!" Big Nose agreed.
"Seriously!?"
Zoro sighed.
"I'll go put Buggy away."
"Hmm!"
X
Usopp's eyes fluttered open.
Man… everything hurt! Did he pass out? What was he doing before that? He couldn't really remember.
The boy tried his best to take in his surroundings as he slowly came back to the surface.
This was the beach. Someone had started a fire a little bit away from him. Why was he here again?
The face of the straw hat pirate hung over him.
"Ah!" he screamed. Usopp jolted upward and slammed his forehead against the pirate's, which didn't seem to hurt the other man much but did a good job of knocking him back onto the sand.
"You're awake!" the pirate cheered.
The lady from earlier was here too. There was also a kid and a really scary-looking guy with green hair. There were more of them!?
Usopp's words weren't coming to him. Knowing what he did about the unassuming and cheery guy in the hat, he couldn't help but to be afraid.
"So," the girl started. She was sitting on a log with her chin resting on the palm of her hand. She was staring at him with a bored expression on her face. "What are you doing out here tailing a group of big, bad, pirates? Your friend's butler made sure to tell everyone how dangerous we are."
Usopp gulped. He spewed the first thing that came to mind.
"Ah, well, I'm a merman, you see. During the day I'm fine living amongst the people of this fine village, but at night I need to return to my home at the bottom of the ocean. I wasn't following you at all! Honest! We were just going the same way, so if you'd let me go…"
Straw Hat made a sound of understanding.
"I see, I see."
He believed that!?
"He's obviously lying," the green-haired man told him. Straw Hat made a face of shock.
"No way!"
There was no way that Straw Hat was actually that dim, right? He had to have been joking… right?
Still, the long-nosed boy knew that pirates were nothing to mess with. Though he had grown up hearing of their adventures on the high seas, by no means was he one to hold on to the misconception that a whole lot of them weren't scum of the Earth.
He had a bad feeling earlier when that girl was talking to Kaya. He could tell that she was lying, no matter how good at it she happened to be, and he really hated the idea of someone taking advantage of his friend like that. If the sob story was nonsense then he just had to know the truth.
He followed them using his super-developed stealth skills—far enough to be unnoticed yet close enough to know what was going on—and was there to see Klahadore and the villagers run them out of town for being pirates.
He was scared, but… he had to go one step further and follow them back to their den of evil. He couldn't really overhear much at that distance, but… they must have been up to something, right? Trying to figure out new ways to trick Kaya, probably!
Straw Hat grabbed him by the head and he froze.
What!?
The pirate was staring at him with narrowed eyes.
"Hm…"
"W-what's going on?"
No one answered him. The other pirates looked just as confused, actually.
Suddenly, Straw Hat smiled.
"You look familiar, Long Nose! Could it be that Yasopp's your dad?"
…Huh?
"You know my… dad?" Usopp repeated unsurely. The uncontrollable fear buzzingunder his skin couldn't be controlled, but the words still came out somehow.
"Mm! I owe him a lot. His crew visited my village when I was a kid; I admired them! They're the reason why I became a pirate in the first place."
A thought occurred to him. In some treacherous corner of his mind, Usopp knew that he could relate to that sentiment. But for the sake of his own safety—and the safety of the village—he couldn't allow himself to fall down that rabbit hole.
He blushed.
"Can you… tell me stuff about him, maybe?"
Screw that!
These were pirates! Real pirates! Oh… how he yearned to hear of what it would be like to live out his dream of being one himself. Until now, all he had to keep himself company with were the lies and tall tales that he went to tell Kaya every day.
And it wasn't like they were that dangerous, right? They couldn't be. The Straw Hat guy barely looked any older than he was. Besides: if they talked about pirate stuff he could distract them until tomorrow morning and they wouldn't be able to come up with anything before they met with Kaya! Their plan would be foiled then! Right. That was what he was gonna do.
The three older pirates looked at each other. Just like Usopp, the younger pink-haired one didn't seem to know what they were thinking.
"I don't know…" the girl moaned unwillingly.
Usopp panicked. But this was his only chance to hear about his dad!
"Maybe if you brought us food?" Straw Hat suggested.
"And booze," added the green-haired one.
Usopp didn't have to think twice.
"I'll be right back!" he shouted, jumping to his feet and rushing back toward the village. He definitely had foodstuffs back home. Maybe he could get Piiman to steal some of his parents' wine for him?
…He had a nagging suspicion that there was something wrong about the way that exchange went down, but he was too excited to care.
X
"And then… Shanks poured the booze over his head!"
Captain and Usopp laughed like children as the pirate boy finished his story. They each had a leg of ham in hand and a pile of bones strewn in the sand at their feet, the ones closest to the fire sporting a char. Koby wasn't doing much to participate in the conversation, removed from any personal attachment as he was, but he seemed to enjoy spectating nonetheless.
Nami and Zoro watched them silently, both with a tankard of ale in hand, bemused by the realisation that the boys had quickly forgotten their initial conflict as the night went on.
Exasperation aside, Zoro was happy that things were going as well as they were. None of the villagers had come to bother them despite the large fire, this Usopp kid had stopped giving them grief and he even had brought them food and drink to boot.
Neither he nor Nami knew of this pirate crew that Captain kept talking about—the one that Usopp's father had supposedly joined—but they sounded oddly… merry. It made for good campfire talk, but it didn't really leave a proper impression of pirates. He was sure that Nami felt the same way, seeing her complicated expression.
The two of them spoke of the group positively—or in Usopp's case, his father specifically—and it wasn't difficult to see why. If your impression of pirates was a group of friends sailing the seas, having fun and doing whatever they wanted, then of course you'd want to be one.
It could be chalked up to naivete… on Long Nose's end, at least. Captain felt like he had a stronger grasp on how the world worked, somehow, despite his generally childish antics. Honestly, he wasn't sure that he would ever really understand how Captain's brain worked.
Nami put her drink down.
"Hey, Usopp. Would you mind if I asked you a question?" she asked.
He paused mid-laugh.
"Ha-huh? Uh, sure. What is it?"
"What do you think of Kaya's butler? Klahadore, was it?"
The boy got suspicious immediately.
"Why d'ya wanna know? Thinking of getting an in with the retainers?"
Zoro scoffed. As much as he liked hearing about his father, it was clear that he wouldn't be forgetting about the ship anytime soon.
She shook her head.
"Not at all. If anything… there's something off about that guy. He had it out for us from the get-go. He knew that we were pirates, even: he's the reason we were chased out of town."
Usopp frowned.
"Yeah, Klahadore never liked me much either. The feeling's mutual, though. They guy's got a big stick up his ass." His eyes widened. "But hey, now that you mention it… do one of you have a bounty? That's the only way that he would have known, but I don't remember seeing any of you in the bounty pile down at the tavern. That's the only place anyone could see something like that around here."
Koby got up in a panic and fell flat on his face.
"Gah! Do you think he thinks I'm a pirate!? I—"
"No one would mistake you for a pirate," Zoro muttered. "Trust me. You're safe."
But if anyone had a bounty… it could only be Captain, right? He was sure of it.
The swordsman looked at the man in question and almost had to do a double take.
"Is he sleeping!?" he asked incredulously.
Captainwas slumped over the log he was sitting on, lights out and snoring loudly. A normal person would wake up hurting if they slept in such a strange position.
He should have been surprised that he could fall asleep in circumstances like these so easily, but he really wasn't.
Usopp laughed. Nami and Koby buried their heads in their hands.
"Really? Now?" the girl complained.
The local boy got to his feet and dusted off his ass.
"Well then! If there's nothing else… I'll be going, I guess. Tell Luffy I said thanks when he wakes up. Ah! Don't think I'll let you pull a fast one on Kaya though, you hear?"
"Yeah, sure," Zoro answered flatly, waving him off. The other two were a little more polite in their goodbyes.
This guy knew they were pirates still, right? Telling a pirate crew that you were going to inconvenience them at the next possible opportunity was a stupid idea. It had barely been a few days and they were already being disrespected. Hah.
The three of them—four, if one counted their sleeping captain—sat around the crackling fire silently for a little while longer.
"Hey, shouldn't we wake him up?" Koby asked.
…Well, now was as good a time as any.
"There's no rush," Zoro told him, speaking before Nami could. She looked at him questioningly.
Koby furrowed his brow.
"Zoro-san?"
"I'm surprised you haven't turned tail and run off yet, Nami."
Her immediate reaction was an indignant scoff.
"It sounds like you have something to say. Why don't you just say it, then?" she told him.
Looking past his relaxed composure, it was clear that he did, in fact, have something to say.
Koby looked panicked, clearly unsure of whether a fight was going to break out between them. He directed a teary-eyed glance at Luffy's sleeping form, wishing for the man to wake up.
The swordsman laughed sardonically. He picked up the sheathed Wado Ichimonji from its perch against a nearby chunk of beached wood and tapped it against his shoulder idly. It wasn't a threat, exactly, but he wouldn't mind if the girl felt a little intimidated.
"I just did, didn't I?"
"I don't understand—"
"Yeah, you do. You understand very well, even." Zoro smiled mockingly. "I'd even ask you to fill in some blanks for us. Back in that last town—when we saved you from the clown—you were adamant about having nothing to do with us, and yet, one look at Captain's bounty had you changing your tune. You must think you punched one hell of a ticket, huh? So much so that you'd rather tear yourself apart here with us than risk him getting away before you can use him."
Her expression was stoney.
"...What makes you think I saw anything like a bounty, let alone his?"
Zoro chuckled. That was the part she felt like focusing on, huh?
Koby stuttered.
"H-hey, do you think—"
"Shut up for a second, Kid."
"Okay!" he snapped back without wasting a breath.
Zoro pushed himself to his feet and walked back to Buggy. Ignoring the angry glare he was being given, he picked him up by the hair and pulled out his gag.
"Puah! You flashy—"
"Hey. How much did you say our Captain's bounty would be? A hundred million?"
Nami didn't say anything, but the way her shoulders locked up was enough to give it away.
The clown grumbled something incoherently before speaking up.
"Something like that, yeah."
"...Six."
Nami mumbled something but it was too quiet for anyone to hear it properly.
"A hundred and fifty six million beri," she repeated, quickly looking down at the sleeping man to make sure that he couldn't overhear any of this.
Hah. No wonder she was scared shitless of him. What a stupidly high number. What did a guy have to do to pick up a bounty like that?
Zoro chuckled. It quickly gave way to a full-blown laugh. He tilted his head back and laughed even louder, a tear in his eye, when it became evident that she was worried that the noise he was making would wake the captain up.
"I can't believe it," he started goadingly. "You would really stoop so low just to get Saw-Tooth Arlong's bounty?"
That got to her. What an easy woman to rile up.
"You don't know anything about me," she snapped, eyes narrowed. Koby released an eep and took a good few steps back. "You think I would rob a sweet, kind, sickly girl blind for a bounty!? Arlong took everything from me! I want him gone! Dead! I will never be able to live with myself—with what I've done to get rid of that monster. Ever! But as long as I can get Monkey D. Luffy to kill Arlong, I'll be as awful of a person as I need to be to keep him happy and to get us to where we need to go."
And so it all came vomiting out. Who was she fooling with that annoyingly fake personality that she kept defaulting to? Other than the captain, maybe.
Zoro was about to throw in another quip, but before he could…
"Nami-san! I think… I think you're misrepresenting Luffy-san. Just because he's a pirate doesn't mean that he's someone so.. so… awful!"
Koby's words came as a surprise to Zoro. In part because it showed that he had enough balls to get in the angry woman's face, but mostly because it showed that he had developed some sort of respect for the pirate despite being adamant on wanting to join the Navy.
"How do you explain his bounty, then?" she shot back without a second thought.
"I have an explanation for you flashy morons."
All heads turned to the talking one still hanging from Zoro's grip.
Buggy had a sneer on his face.
"If you want me to talk, though, I expect a—"
"I'll throw you into the ocean."
"Fine! Fine! I'll talk! You flashy—" he coughed. "You ever felt a murderous aura around the kid? It's the same thing that knocks guppies out when they pick a fight with him."
Zoro didn't need to give it a second thought. He knew exactly what the clown was talking about. It had happened that very night with Long Nose: the kid didn't even have the chance to do anything before he dropped to the ground like a sack of bones.
"You're saying Captain can just… make people pass out?" the man tried to clarify. "Is this a devil fruit thing?"
"Hah! No. It's not a skill you can eat, nor is it a skill you can learn. It's called the Colour of Conquerors, and only monsters are born with it. The World Government is scared of these people. They either want them under their thumb or dead. A humongous bounty is to be expected."
Zoro wasn't convinced. From the looks on Nami and Koby's faces, neither were they. It sounded incredible, but was it really enough of a reason to put a hundred and a half million beri price tag on someone's head?
Buggy chuckled eerily.
"Ya remember what I said about the New World? This just confirms it. Even in that place, only the ones at the top of the food chain have that power."
"What is he talking about?" Nami asked the other two, talking over Buggy. He didn't take it very well.
"Shut up, Woman! You have no one to blame but yourself for your ignorance. Suffer in silence when I'm speaking and don't interrupt me again."
If looks could kill…
"You—!"
"In the entirety of this world, there are maybe a few dozen who possess the Colour of Conquerors. Don't take my words lightly! I don't know how your captain slid under my radar, but make no mistake: he stands amongst the Warlords and Emperors."
Zoro stiffened. Despite his own nature, a cold sweat ran down his spine. Koby went white as a sheet, and even Nami seemed to have temporarily forgotten her grievances.
Warlords. Those were the pirates that were so influential that the government would rather sanction their activities than expend the resources needed to stop them.
Them, plus the four most dangerous pirates in the world.
The clown had to be exaggerating. Being able to make people lose consciousness at will was powerful and borderline nonsensical, yes, but it wasn't that far beyond what he'd recently learned devil fruit users were capable of. Was it really so special? He couldn't believe it and he wasn't about to take Buggy's words at face value.
"And that's why his bounty is so high, you're saying," Nami concluded unsurely.
Buggy looked genuinely frustrated.
"Yes! Are you slow? Do you think I'm telling you all this because I like the sound of my own voice, you flashy bastards? I'm trying to save my own ass here!" He growled. "You! Green Hair! Pinkshit! You remember what I was saying about your captain planning something? How there must have been a reason for him to be in the East Blue?"
Nami wasn't present for that conversation so she was in the dark, but Zoro and Koby definitely remembered. It left a strong enough impression.
"What about it?" Zoro asked.
"He just told you the reason! Red-Haired Shanks!"
That name…
"Shanks" was the pirate captain of the crew from his captain's story. A gang of doofuses that seemingly existed as slap-stick gags to entertain him and Long Nose as they spoke. He wasn't even sure if Long Nose's father was really a part of their crew, let alone whether they were a real pirate crew or not.
"Ah… Ah…!" Koby was making strange noises. He started shaking. "Shanks… Luffy-san was talking about that shanks? The Emperor of the Sea?"
"..."
"..."
What?
Buggy rolled his eyes.
"They're in cahoots! Pals! Partners in crime!"
Nami put a hand on her hip, quickly regaining her wits.
"For what?"
"How should I know!? There's something in the East Blue that they want, otherwise there would be no reason for the kid to be here."
"I don't know…" Koby mumbled out. "It sounded more like a 'childhood idol' thing to me. Didn't Luffy-san mention that they haven't seen each other in over a decade?"
"That's a load of—do you even hear yourself right now!?"
The more that Buggy spoke, the more it sounded like he was just talking crazy. Maybe kicking it as a head for so long was getting to him.
There was one major flaw in his argument, after all.
"Captain doesn't want to stay here," Zoro informed him. "He wants to go to the Grand Line and find the One Piece."
That was what he signed up for. He had his own dreams to chase on the way, after all.
"You flashy—just...Huhuhu…"
Buggy was done. He just started to sob pathetically.
"Hmgf!"
He was gagged again. It sounded like something obscene was thrown his way, but it was honestly too muffled for him to make it out.
"So there you have it," Zoro stated, putting the clown's inputs to a conclusion. "We know that Captain is strong—maybe a little stronger than we first thought—and if we can put any stock in what Buggy was saying, we know why his bounty is as large as it is. Call it the hunch of a former bounty hunter but Arlong isn't going to have a great time dealing with him."
"And?"
Nami looked fed up.
"And is that enough to satisfy you?"
She clearly didn't understand what he was getting at. Maybe if he were a little better with his words, he could have driven his point home more effectively. Hopefully she'd come around.
The woman huffed.
"What's that supposed to—"
"Pirates! Hah… Hah… Pi-pirates!"
The distant sound of Usopp's voice cut her thought. All three of them turned their attention to the forest through which Usopp burst out in a sprint and wholly out of breath.
Once the boy made it to the beach, he dropped his hands on his knees and started panting.
"What are you getting at?" Zoro asked him with a quirked brow. "Of course we're pirates."
"No!" Usopp screamed, voice hoarse. He didn't have the energy to look up at them. "Pirates are attacking the village!"
