Italics indicate thinking

Bold is for attacks

Steve's POV

We started to walk away from a group of cheering marines when suddenly Zoro collapsed. I had a feeling that he was just tired from having participated in a major fight despite barely eating for over a week. Luffy and Coby were freaking out about the passed-out man on the ground of course.

"Let's get him to someplace he can rest." I said.

LATER

"I'm full. That was great." Zoro said patting his stomach to illustrate the point.

"Your barely lasted nine days how did you expect to make it a whole month without food?" I asked.

"I don't know if I could even make it a day." Luffy added on.

"Of course not cause you eat your body weight in food twice a day." I rolled my eyes

Coby was worried about not being able to afford the meal but Rika's mom said the meal was no charge since we had saved the town.

"So, what exactly are your plans." Zoro asked.

"We're going to the Grande Line!" Luffy exclaimed.

"No we're not you moron!" I yelled.

"Why if we're going after the One Piece we need to head there eventually." Zoro responded acting calm.

"We can't go to the Grande Line with just three people. Especially when none of us have any navigational skills." I answered.

"He's right you know." Coby said agreeing with me.

"Why would you care it's not like you're coming with us." Zoro said.

Coby than shocked us all by saying "I know but it I can still worry, you are my friends after all. I never had friends before. Growing up I was always picked on and no one ever stood up for me. "

I wasn't too surprised the boy had clearly become attached to Luffy and I.

"Don't worry Coby," Luffy said "we'll always be friends."

"Yeah Luffy is right Coby even if you don't see each other for a long time you can still be friends." I added tapping my chest "It's what's in here that connects people, not anything like distance."

At that Coby smiled.

"You have bigger things to worry about than us kid. You need to worry about yourself." Zoro started "Even though you were just a chore boy on a pirate ship you were still a pirate, if the marines find out about your past, they'll never let you join."

I could see the devastation on Coby's face.

Poor kid I didn't even think about that.

Just then the door burst open and the marines from the base appeared in front of us. One marine who I assumed had become the new leader addressed us.

"Is it true that your pirates."

"Yes, and we just got our first crew member." Luffy answered like it didn't matter.

"I see" the man started "if that's the case although we are grateful to you for saving our town since you are pirates and we are marines we must ask you to leave."

The town's people weren't happy with the marines for forcing their saviors out of town.

"Well let's go then." I instructed "We got Zoro so our business here is done anyway."

Luffy, Zoro, and I got up to leave when I heard the marine start questioning if Coby was with us.

"I'm not with them." Coby answered.

Smart just pretend you've never seen us before today.

"Actually, I know what this guy used to do," Luffy interrupted "he used to be with this fat pirate Alvida or something."

What are you doing you idiot…

"This kid spent two years…" Luffy didn't get any further into his speech before Coby punched him right in the face.

Where did this courage come from?

"You deserve a beating!" Luffy yelled and then punched Coby back.

Oh, now I see.

Luffy then started to lay down a beating on his much smaller opponent. When I decided Coby had enough to get the point across, I went to get Luffy.

"That's enough, back off you made your point." I said very seriously "No reason to turn the kid into a stain on the floor."

"I get it he's not your friend so please just leave." the marine instructed.

We started to make our way toward the docks so we could get out of town. All along the way Zoro harassed some marines on patrol.

"Please stop picking fights." I sighed.

"That was a good show you put on there." Zoro remarked.

"I think Coby will become strong one day." Luffy said with a smile

"Let's get going before we get roped into something else." I said climbing into our boat.

We began getting the boat ready to sail when I noticed that Coby was at the street behind us calling out our names.

"Thank you!" Coby yelled "I'll never forget what you've done for me!"

"Never seen a marine salute a pirate before." Zoro laughed.

"We'll meet again someday Coby" Luffy said waving.

We pushed the boat off the dock and headed off toward our next adventure when I notice that all the marines from the base were saluting us with Coby. I watched as they faded out into the horizon.

LATER

It wasn't long after we left the island that Luffy began to complain about being hungry.

"You just ate suck it up." I told him.

"So where are we headed next?" Zoro asked.

"Don't know wherever." Luffy responded.

"So, neither of you have any navigational skills you just wander" Zoro said looking confused.

"Yes, this is why we need to recruit a navigator a soon as possible." I told them getting serious "Without a navigator well be doomed and never make it where we need to go."

"We also need a cook and a musician." Luffy added.

"Let's stay focused on one thing at a time Luffy. A navigator has to come first if we ever want to get to the Grade Line. Probably a Doctor too."

"I don't care where we end up as long as we find the man I'm looking for" Zoro said.

EVEN LATER

"UGGH I'm hungry" both Luffy and Zoro complained.

Again, am I putting together a crew of competitive eaters or pirates?

I looked up and saw a bird and got an idea "Look you two a bird. Luffy you think you can catch it."

"I'll get it just watch" he shouted before catapulting off the mast and into the sky.

But for some reason Luffy was taking an awful long time getting down.

"HELP! I'M STUCK!" he screamed.

"YOU IDIOT!" I yelled at him as the bird flew away with Luffy in its beak.

"Row faster Zoro we have to catch up to that bird. If it drops him in the water he'll die for sure."

Zoro and I began rowing as fast as we could to try and get to Luffy but the bird was just too damn fast. While attempting to reach Luffy we came across three men treading water in the ocean and asking us for help.

"We don't have time to stop you'll have to try and get in on your own" Zoro told them.

The three men barley managed to cling to the boat due to the speed we were paddling at.

The three new arrivals in the boat were very rude. They attempted to hold us up and steal our boat saying we were in the territory of a pirate by the name of Captain Buggy.

Why does that name sound so familiar? It sounds like a character from a story Dad used to tell.

After Zoro and I dealt with our new friends and I used my whip to 'convince' them to row for us as we began heading for the nearest island.

"Speed it up you three. Because of you I lost track of my friend. Now row faster unless you want me to whip you again." I threated.

Hang on Luffy I'll be right there…

"Yes Sir." they all said together and began rowing with renewed vigor.

Zoro asked the men why they were drifting like that when we found them and they said that they were tricked by a girl who stole their ship and the treasure they had just obtained.

Sounds like someone we need to keep an eye out for.

They insisted that the girl was capable of predicting the weather to which Zoro started saying that maybe she should be our navigator.

"Don't know we may never even meet this girl" I responded.

I won't deny it though having someone who can predict the weather would be a useful.

The three new pirates kept going off about this girl and how they were going to turn here over to this Captain Buggy.

"Who is this Buggy?" I asked.

"He's a great pirate who ate one of the devil fruits. Haven't you ever heard of Buggy the clown?" the one wearing a hat asked.

Why can't I shake the fact that I know that name from somewhere?

It wasn't much longer before we arrived at the nearest island where this mysterious Buggy was.

"Let's go Zoro we have to find Luffy before he gets himself into trouble." I said starting to layout our goal.

"You worry about him a lot, don't you?" Zoro asked me

"Well when you've spent as much time with him as I have you know what he's capable of. I just don't want him to do something that ends up biting us in the ass down the line." I answered "Sides it's my job to worry about him."

And with that Zoro and I entered the town in to begin our search for Luffy.

AN

Thanks for reading. Feedback is appreciated. Feel free to message me any questions or concerns.

Till Next Time