A/N: ZareEraz here! This is probably one of the most frustrating and golden scenes that I love. Now, while all the fights and beatdowns are epic, this scene in the Jaya pub is one of those rare times where Luffy doesn't fight, he lets his lack of action speak for him and that's powerful in its own right. I hope you enjoy reading this chapter and all the undertones that I have come to find while watching One Piece for a second time, things I didn't notice at first just make Oda that much more of a genius. Happy reading!
(Updated October 2024)
Chapter 15: A Fight Not Worth Fighting
To say it happened suddenly was an understatement. One moment, Luffy was having a drink with Bellamy the Hyena in a seedy pub on Jaya, and the next moment, Bellamy had Luffy's head smashed through the counter, splintering the wood to pieces. Bellamy was smiling, smiling like the Hyena he was as he doled out punishment.
In the next breath, the bastard found a steel blade at his throat, poised to kill. Zoro was sitting on the counter, having moved instantly when his captain was threatened. His eyes narrowed in a cool gaze that would've had most men running for the hills, but Bellamy gazed back with a slightly unhinged look in his eyes. Despite the control he portrayed on the outside, Zoro was raging on the inside. He was pissed that someone had laid a hand on his friend, had hurt the man he loved, and they were going to pay for it dearly.
"HAHAHAHA! Brilliant move, Bellamy!" Sarquiss howled, his laughter echoing across the pub. He was Bellamy's first mate and always enjoyed such games. "Just brilliant!"
That was about the time that Bellamy noticed the blade at his throat.
"What do you think you're doing...punk?" the man's smile was back, that sick twisted smile paired with those wild eyes that really made him look like a beast. Zoro tightened his grip on the Wado Ichimonji, ready to cut his head off if he made one wrong move.
"That's the question you should be asking yourself," Zoro hissed, his voice low and cool. If looks could kill, Bellamy would've been dead ten times over.
"Zoro! Don't do it!" Nami said from behind him, just as startled at the rest of the pub minus Bellamy's cronies. "We still need to get some information!"
"Be quiet!" Zoro snapped; his eyes were still trained on his prey. "If this guy's looking for a fight, I'll give it to him!" And then Luffy stood up. Zoro would never admit this to anyone, but his heart leaped at seeing him standing again. It's not that he didn't know that Luffy would be alright after that attack (in fact, he was rubber, so he was mostly fine to begin with), but seeing Luffy on the ground was never a good sight, especially when Luffy flattened anyone he was pissed off at. The only time he should be on the ground was when he was sleeping when Nami wailed on him, or when Zoro was the one fighting him. Any other time he was down was enough to cause a bit of worry.
"Is that all you've got for backup?" Bellamy sneered, watching Luffy wipe the blood off his chin with the back of his hand.
"Now, are you ready to take me on? Or not?" Luffy asked, raising his fists, his voice low and growling, like a lion who's just found his dinner. Just like Zoro's, in fact. Bellamy smiled as if he was amused by the challenge.
A Bellamy crony jeered whooped from somewhere in the pub. "No way! The kid just challenged Bellamy!"
"He'll be slaughtered!" The pub broke out in wild laughter, the signature of the Hyena's crew. Bellamy was laughing too, his eyes wide and mocking.
"You've got it all wrong, kid! This isn't a fight, it's a test! Now come on! Let's see how strong you are!" the blond goaded the rubber man, his smile widening. The fight was about to break out, the atmosphere roiling with tension, and then everything changed again.
It started when Nami turned to the bartender and asked about the Sky Islands, the whole reason they'd come to Jaya,
"Luffy! Hold on!" she shouted, turning to the bartender. "Hey, mister, we're trying to get to the Sky Islands! Do you know anything about that?"
The whole pub got quiet. You could hear a pin drop for just a moment, and all three Straw Hats were confused as to why everyone was mumbling things about being crazy. But they'd literally seen a ship fall from a sunny sky not too long ago, and there was no other way to explain something like that except that the Sky Islands must be real in some way. Nami looked out over the patrons of the pub and decided that she would just continue to ask her questions even though she was feeling embarrassed by their stares and the whispered comments.
"Like I was saying: if you know how to get to Sky Island-" her request was cut off by the riotous laughter that erupted from the Bellamy crew and the few non-affiliated patrons. The woman's mouth dropped open at the reaction, confused by what was going on. She glanced over at Zoro and Luffy, but they didn't seem to be too shocked, so at least she felt like she should be able to keep her cool too, but that's not the way it worked out.
"Did she just say what I think she said?!"
"What an idiot!"
The navigator visibly shrank back at the ridicule, but then she got mad. "What the-? You can look at the Log Pose yourself!" she held up her left wrist to display the pointer of the Log Pose tilted nearly straight up. It wasn't a joke at all! "It's pointed at the sky, plain as day!" Everyone paused for a moment, but then they just broke down into laughter again.
"Hey, check it out!" one man shouted, smiling like a goon with one arm straight up in the air. "Do I look like the Log Pose now?! Hahaha!"
"No one trusts those things anymore!" another man started yelling. "They break if you breathe wrong!" Nami bit her lip as she was bullied, and she couldn't stop the embarrassing blush that heated her cheeks now. This was horrible!
It was at this moment that Bellamy, in between laughing fits, got onto his soapbox and began preaching about and ridiculing the dreams of pirates, the search for the One Piece, or anything else that resembled a great conquest for something seemingly unattainable or fictional. He said that these types of pirates were fools chasing after illusions. And as he went on and on, Luffy knew that no matter what he said or what he did, Bellamy wouldn't change and there was nothing he could do to defend himself when this man was so set in his ways that he refused to dream. What a sorry existence, not to have anything to dream about.
As he listened, Luffy was pulled back into one of his memories, the actions taken that he hadn't understood at the time finally becoming clear. This situation they were in was just like that time with Shanks and the mountain bandits when they mocked the redheaded man and dumped booze on him. Now, it was like Luffy had just gotten booze dumped on him and Shanks's words rang in his head.
The guy just spilled some booze on me, there's no use getting bent out of shape.
Bellamy was just like those mountain bandits, no use getting bent out of shape for him. He wasn't worth the fight and the fight itself wasn't worth getting into. He finally understood why Shanks had acted the way he did, something little Luffy couldn't understand and had gotten mad about. Luffy's fists uncurled, the desire to fight gone.
"So, when I see people chasing dreams of One Piece…I get DISGUSTED!" Bellamy punched him right in the face, knocking him to the ground. His trusty hat hit the floor with him, staying by its protector's side.
"Luffy!" Nami yelled, her expression dropping from embarrassment to confusion. Zoro blinked, confused as well, as he watched his captain fall to the ground again, seemingly by his own choice. The punch itself hadn't been forceful in the least; Zoro had seen Luffy take on much stronger attacks and stay on his feet, so what was going on?
"You're a weak pirate, just like they were." Bellamy was still yammering as Luffy lay on the ground. "And as long as you're hanging around, you'll make us – the real pirates – look like trash." Someone threw a glass of booze at Luffy, shattering it next to his head, and splashing his face in alcohol. Jeers and insults were thrown his way, a call for a beat down rose above the noise and shattering glass as more bottles were thrown at the Straw Hats. Bellamy smiled, agreeing to entertain by ripping into the pirates he considered weak.
"Luffy! Zoro! Forget about all that pacifist crap I was talking about earlier and take this jerk out!" Nami called, as the pub howled for their heads. She hadn't wanted to fight on this island at all and had made her stance known on it, but now that she was threatened along with her friends, a fight sounded great.
Luffy sat up, realizing that Nami was like he used to be, like that little kid who had no idea how to back down from a useless fight. But not anymore. Despite what most people thought of him, Luffy was smart, in his own way. Shanks would've been proud of what he was about to do, and it made Luffy proud too, knowing that he'd learned at least one lesson from his hero.
"Zoro, whatever happens, don't fight back," Luffy ordered, looking up at the man he trusted more than life itself. He didn't want Zoro to get hurt, but this battle wasn't worth the effort that the swordsman would put into it. This fight would tarnish Zoro's pride if he participated in it, and Luffy wouldn't allow that to happen, no matter what the cost. Zoro was strong, he could handle it. He just had to be alright with letting Luffy get hurt.
Zoro stared into his boyfriend's eyes and saw something there that made him sheath his sword as Luffy stood up. They made no move as Bellamy laughed at them. They made no move when he punched them. They made no move when bottles shattered against their bodies. They stood, side by side, taking the brunt of the attacks, their very presence quietly pushing Nami back, so she didn't get hurt. This was how they fought.
"Look at them! How are they still standing?!" a pub-goer laughed. Another round of howling ensued, followed by more flying bottles.
"Yeah, Bellamy! Wipe the floor with that green-haired freak!" Another jeer, another insult. Luffy's arm twitched unconsciously, wanting to deck whoever made a move at Zoro or Nami, but he'd made Zoro promise not to fight back, so he had to promise that himself. Another bottle shattered against his shoulder, tearing into his skin, and another chair splintered against Zoro's back. They didn't move.
"Luffy! Zoro! Why are you letting them beat you like that?!" Nami's voice pierced through the laughter and the insults, raw and hurting. "Go ahead and fight back! You guys can take them no problem!" She'd picked up Luffy's hat when it had fallen on the floor, holding the precious treasure against her chest so it wouldn't get damaged or destroyed. It was the only thing she could do right now, the only thing she could hold onto as she watched blood running down her friend's faces, cuts and bruises littering their bodies.
"HAHAHA! It's no use, lady. They're too smart for that." The one named Sarquiss was talking again, his huge mouth running itself. "They've come to the realization that they're way out of their league. Refusing to fight a stronger opponent is disgraceful, but it is smart."
"Clearly, the runt lacks any dignity as a captain," another Bellamy crony chuckled.
"The Marines sure are generous these days, willing to fork over thirty million for the head of a worthless, smart-mouth child."
Nami's pride and confidence in her crewmates burned and prickled. They'd just beaten Crocodile and saved Alabasta! These runts were nothing compared to that! But still, Luffy didn't lift a finger to protect his pride, and it frustrated her! That bastard! What an idiot.
Zoro, no matter what happens…don't fight back…those words echoed in the navigator's mind and her grip on Luffy's hat tightened.
"Come on…fight back…" Her voice almost broke as she stared at her captain and her crewmate in horror. What were they thinking?!
"Sounds nice, huh?" Bellamy chuckled over his drink, having let the crowd do his beating for him up until now. "The doctrine of non-resistance." He finished off the rest of his glass in one go, smiling evilly when he was finished. "So, you're weak and you have no pride, you refuse to get into a fight and your head is swimming with silly daydreams." The Hyena wiped his mouth off, his tongue lolling out to lick up some stray booze. "They sound like children!"
"More like little girls!" Laughter broke out again, louder and crueler than before. Bellamy started a monologue again, saying how his work here was finished and how he was disappointed that such a big bounty had turned out to be a spineless brat. He downed half a bottle of sake when he was finished, only to spray it onto Luffy. Nami gasped, horrified that Luffy still wasn't doing anything, still not moving or retaliating.
"Quick! Get them out of my face!" Bellamy ordered, finishing with a taunting, "Bye, ladies!"
The Bellamy pirate with the silly pompom hat leaped up and kneed Zoro in the face, sending him careening across the pub, his back slamming into tables and chairs and lying limp on the floorboards under the debris. The Bellamy pirate with the baseball cap grabbed Luffy's head and whirled him around, running across the bar and slamming the rubber man's head through the front window, blood dripping down the wall as he collapsed to the ground. Nami ran to them, their names on her lips.
Sarquiss then called out to her, trying to buy her onto their crew and Nami refused, stating that she was too good for them. The crowd laughed, but Nami was above it all after that. Even if she still didn't understand, even if her ego and pride still raged at her to fight back – she didn't. Luffy sighed in relief, glad to know that Nami still held onto their pride for them while they refused to fight. She was a good friend.
"Take your two friends and get out of my sight!" Bellamy ordered with a wild smile still on his face. "Before I decide otherwise. You got that, weakling!?"
Nami did as she was told, knowing that Luffy didn't want them fighting back for a reason, whatever that reason was. She slammed Luffy's hat back on his head and left the pub, bottles flying and shattering after her, the jeers continuing even after they left.
As Nami dragged both of their asses out of the pub, one shirt collar in each hand, Luffy's fingers came up behind her heels and brushed Zoro's fingers, silently apologizing for putting him – all of them – through that. As his hand fell back down to the ground, Luffy felt Zoro's hand reach out and brush his back, saying that he understood and that all was forgiven.
To be Continued...
A/N: And there you go! See you all later! :3