Chapter 7: Luffy's First Mate
Outside the docks of Shell Island, all three brothers and Koby were currently sleeping in each of their three boats.
As they were sleeping the sun was coming up and the sunshine that emitted from it hit all four directly in the face, but was only able to wake one of them up.
"Morning already?" Koby groggily asked while rubbing his eyes awake. "Oh well" he muttered before getting up, turning to his new friends, and shouting "WE'RE HERE!"
"What the hell!?" Each of the brothers groggily yelled while rubbing their eyes awake.
"Sorry, but if you wanna get to Zoro, you have to get up now before it's too late" Koby explained.
"Oh right!" Luffy shouted in remembrance before stretching awake and then getting up.
Once he got up, he turned to look at his brothers saw the two of them stretching awake too, and asked them
"You guys coming?
"Yeah, we'll catch up" Ace said before reaching into one of the crates filled with booze. "Just let me get a quick drink first."
"Oh me too" Sabo said before reaching into the same crate.
"Alright, I guess we'll go on ahead then" Luffy said before he and Koby both walked out of the boat they used to get there. "Lead the way Koby."
(Back with Koby and Luffy)
Koby and Luffy were currently walking through Shell Island and while they were, Koby couldn't help but ask Luffy something he's been wondering for a long time.
"Hey Luffy"
"Yeah?" Luffy replied.
"Is there any particular reason why you became a pirate?" Koby asked.
"Oh yeah."
"What was it?"
"You sure you wanna hear it?"
"Of course."
Luffy then stopped walking, took off his straw hat, and said
"It all started with this hat."
"The hat?" Koby asked, also stopping and at the same time, wondering just what a hat could do with anything.
"Yeah, you see back when I was a kid, there was always this pirate, a really good friend of mine, went by the name Red-Haired Shanks." Luffy started. "He used to visit the town I used to live in from time to time when I was a kid. He would tell me all about the world, how free he felt being a pirate, and how he's able to do whatever he wants whenever he wants. It wasn't just that, he taught me about lots of things in the world that nobody else ever talked to me about. Like the many fish in the world, the many different islands, and more. I looked up to him."
"So he was your role model?" Koby asked.
"More than that" Luffy replied. "He was like a father to me, and of course because I looked up to him so much and wanted to be free too, I would always ask him to take me with him on one of his journeys, but he'd always refuse."
"Oh, that must've stung."
"It did at first, but his first mate, a man with black hair that could never seem to stop smoking called Benn Beckman told me that he was only trying to protect me. At first I didn't believe him, but shortly after this some random group of mountain bandits came into the bar we were all in and disrespected Shanks and his crew. Shanks and his crew didn't fight back and instead just took all the abuse and laughed it all off. I was angry that they didn't do anything and all Shanks did was tell me that it wasn't anything to get so upset about. What he said didn't calm me down at all, so I reached into a nearby crate, grabbed the fruit inside it and ate it. Which is how I got this power" Luffy paused after this, then used his free hand to begin pulling his left cheek back and letting Koby watch as it stretched like rubber.
"It was a devil fruit?" Koby asked.
"Yep, the Gomu Gomu no Mi, it gave me a body of rubber" Luffy explained, before letting go of his cheek and continuing on with the story. "Anyways though, I went to confront those bandits myself for how they disrespected Shanks.
"It didn't go as you planned did it?" Koby asked.
"Nope, not at all" Luffy said nervously while pressing the hollow part of his hat onto his chest. "They beat me up and tried to kill me, but Shanks and his crew showed up and saved me." Luffy then looked at the sky with his hat still pressed on his chest and said "I'll never forget his words."
"What'd he say?"
"First a bandit pulled a gun on him and threatened to shoot him, and he said -Would you risk your life? Now that you've drawn your pistol are you willing to use it?- and when the bandit asked him what he meant he simply said -I'm saying that guns aren't for threats they're for actions- before one of his crew member's shot the bandit and killed him instantly. After his crew killed the bandit, Shanks told those bandits -Listen up bandits, whether I'm sprayed with alcohol or doused with food, hell even if I'm spit on, most of the time i'll just laugh it off and forget about it, but if you hurt a friend of mine, you'll pay for it, regardless of your reason.-"
"Really?" Koby asked in amazement.
"Yeah" Luffy replied.
"Sounds like a great guy."
"The story only gets greater."
"There's more?" Koby asked in surprise.
"Yep" Luffy said with a chuckle. "Shanks' crew killed all the bandits except the leader. The leader pulled a fast one on them and used a smoke bomb to run away, but he did so with me as a hostage. He took me to the sea, knowing I couldn't swim, and tossed me into it, trying to kill me. I was drowning and as I was, that bastard was laughing, only to get eaten by a sea king seconds after opening his mouth. I would've died had Shanks not appeared and saved me. At first I was relieved that he saved me, but when I took a closer look at Shanks, I started crying."
"Why?"
"The sea king... it took his arm."
"What?"
"He lost his arm saving me."
"Oh."
"He told me that it's no big deal and it was just an arm, but that didn't keep me from crying even more."
Luffy just let out a deep breath before continuing on.
"This was a lesson and it taught me that Beckman was right, Shanks was just trying to protect me and so the next day, Shanks and his crew got ready to leave, and before they did, I told them that I'd become a pirate myself, gather a crew better than their's and become King of the Pirates myself." Luffy smiled at this before saying "That's when Shanks gave me this" and bringing out his hat again. "He told me to give it back, but only when I become a great pirate myself, and that's exactly what I'm going to do."
"Whoah, really?" Koby asked in shock.
"Yeah" Luffy said before putting his hat back on. 'Thanks Shanks' Luffy thought while fixing his hat. 'And I promise, one day, I will return this hat to you.' "But anyways, where is that navy base they're keeping Zoro?"
"We must be getting clos-" Koby replied before the voice of a little girl interrupted him.
"I'm sorry for intruding but did I hear you mention Zoro?" Some random girl asked.
"You know of Zoro?" Luffy asked.
The little girl then flinched before turning her back and running as far and as fast as she could.
"Hey wait!" Luffy shouted before running after the little girl.
"Luffy-San!" Koby shouted before chasing after Luffy.
The duo chased the little girl for about five minutes before seeing her enter a bar.
"Hey, you shouldn't be going in there!" Luffy shouted.
Despite saying this though, Luffy didn't stop running till Koby caught up to him, put a hand on his right shoulder, and told him
"Luffy-San, we're probably scaring the little girl and if we barge into this bar like this we'll only scare her even more."
"Well then what do we do?" Luffy asked.
Koby just rolled his eyes at the dumb question and said
"We have to enter slowly and calmly, that way if we see the girl or the girl see us, we won't scare her away like before."
"Okay" Luffy said before walking super slowly to the doors of the bar.
Koby facepalmed at this and said
"Not that slow."
"Well then how slow?" Luffy asked.
"Just follow me" Koby said before casually walking to the doors of the bar and casually pushing one open and walking through it, Luffy followed behind him.
When they both finally entered the bar, they both walked up to the counter of the bar and approached who they could only assume to be the bartender of the bar. It was a grown woman, seemingly in her late twenties, and the more the two friends looked at the lady, the more they noticed that she bore a striking resemblance to the little girl they were looking for.
As the two continued to just stare at the woman for multiple seconds, the lady noticed their stares and asked them
"Can I help you?"
To which the two just shook their heads and then Koby asked her the question in both of their minds.
"Sorry, have you seen a little girl?"
"About yay big, with long light brown twin tails, and light brown eyes?" Luffy gave a description with his left hand at his hamstrings, indicating the height of the little girl he was describing.
"She kinda looks like you actually" Koby said before noticing from his peripheral vision, the silhouette of a little girl hiding behind an alcohol cabinet. "You."
"Mommy!" The little girl shouted before running to the bartender's side and tugging on her dress.
As she was doing this, Koby and Luffy looked at the woman and asked her
"She's your daughter?" At the same time.
"Yes, and I'm sorry if she caused either of you any trouble, please forgive her, she's just a kid after all."
"Oh no, it's not that at all Ms" Koby said while waving his hands nervously.
"Yeah, we just heard her talk about Pirate Hunter Zoro and wanted to ask her if she knew anything about him" Luffy explained.
"Oh, is that all?" The little girl's mother asked, her daughter still not leaving her side or letting go of her dress.
"Yeah" Koby replied before seeing Luffy about to tell the little girl something and coughing really loudly to get his attention.
"What Kob-?" Luffy began to ask before Koby gestured his pointer finger at him and then when Luffy leaned in close, Koby covered their lips with his hand so the girl and her mom wouldn't see and whispered
"Luffy, the little girl is probably scared, after all two strangers were chasing her and are now trying to ask her questions, so I think it'd be best to ease them into the situation."
"Okay" Luffy responded before standing up straight and looking at the girl and her mother, Koby did the same.
"What's your name Ms?" Koby asked.
"Ririka" the mother replied.
"Okay" Koby responded before turning to look at the girl. "What's your name little girl?"
"R-Rika" the girl stammered nervously.
"Okay, Rika, is there anything you know about Zoro that could help us?" Koby asked.
"Are you marines?" Ririka asked.
"No" Koby responded.
"Then why do you wanna know about him?" Rika asked in reply.
Luffy didn't even try to hide anything and said blatantly
"I'm gonna become King of The Pirates and wanted to recruit Zoro as part of my crew because he sounds strong, but I couldn't find him anywhere, which is why I'm asking you for questions" with a smile on his face.
It didn't even shock Koby how honest Luffy was being, so he just smiled and shook his head.
The girl and her mom though were shocked beyond belief by how honest Luffy was being, as just saying he wanted to be a pirate could get him in some serious hot water if marines overheard him. It didn't even end there though because Luffy then looked at the two and with both a smile and a thumb pointing to himself, he asked them
"So, do you know where he is?" Luffy asked. "The sooner I recruit him the sooner I can start on my crew."
The mother and daughter actually decided to trust him for two big reasons. The first reason was because of how honest Luffy was blatantly being in such a public area which as already stated, was not good if marines overheard him. The second reason is because he just seemed like such a genuine and kind person to them.
So Rika hesitantly said
"Yeah, I know where he's being kept at."
"Okay, before you tell me where he is though, there's one question I want answered first, and that's how was he detained?" Luffy asked. "He sounds pretty strong, so I'm wondering how a guy that strong could have been captured?"
The little girl just tightened her hold on her mother's dress and looked at the ground in nervousness.
"Want me to tell them Rika-Chan?" Ririka asked her daughter.
Rika didn't answer he mother and instead just looked up at Luffy and told him
"I'm the reason he's being held up."
"Why, what did you do?" Koby asked.
"Well you see, the chief of the marines here has a son, and that son was acting really cocky and was giving me a hard time. Zoro stood up for me and before he could kill the son, the son gave him a warning. The warning was that if he killed him, his father would order his men to kill me and my mom, and so of course Zoro wavered. The son then offered him an ultimatum, it was that if he survived for a full month tied up in their base without any food or water, he would let everyone go."
'He sounds like a good guy too' Luffy thought before asking her. "Where is the direction of this navy base?"
The mother just reached under her table and pulled out a map of the island before handing it to the duo and pointing somewhere.
"Here, it's right here."
"Okay" Luffy responded. "But where are we?"
"Here" Ririka said before pointing at another spot in the map.
"Okay thanks" Koby responded before he rolled up the map and put it on his pocket. As soon as he put it in his pocket, Luffy asked him "Hey Koby, do you know how to tell a map?"
"Yeah" Koby responded.
"Good, cuz I don't" Luffy replied.
"I kinda figured" Koby responded and both shared a laugh for a few seconds before beginning to leave the premises.
Right as they reached the doors of the bar though, the girl from before walked up to them and asked them
"Can I come with you?"
"No" Luffy, Koby, and Ririka responded.
"Why not?" She asked them all.
"It's too dangerous" Koby replied.
"Yeah and you'll only get in the way" Luffy added.
"But..." Rika muttered.
"No buts Rika, you're staying here" Ririka told her daughter.
Rika then dropped her head sadly and said
"Okay."
Luffy and Koby felt bad but knew it was for her own good. So they looked at each other, nodded, and then left the bar.
(With Ace and Sabo)
As Luffy and Koby were making their way to Zoro, Ace and Sabo were currently drinking their twentieth bottle of booze and were wasted beyond belief.
"What's in this shit -hiccup-?" Ace asked while bringing the now empty bottle of booze closer to his face. "This -hiccup- is that good shit."
"You said -hiccup- it Ace" Sabo replied, just as wasted as his brother.
It was then that Ace was hit with an epiphany.
"Wait, we're supposed to help Luffy and Koby" Ace stated.
"Oh shit, you're right" Sabo replied before the two of them then got up and started stumbling out of their boats. They managed to make it to the docks, but not without a face plant.
"Ow" they both muttered before picking themselves back up and walking further.
"We're coming Luffy, just wait" Ace and Sabo said in drunk determination before realizing... they had no idea where they were supposed to go.
"Wait, where is Luffy?" Ace asked Sabo.
"I don't know" Sabo said with a shoulder shrug in confusion.
Ace then looked around for anyone who might know where his little brother is before his eyes stopped on some man surrounded by tens of other men.
'Maybe that guy knows where Luffy is' drunk Ace thought before walking off to approach the random man. "Hey you" drunk Ace said before grabbing the stranger by the shoulder and groggily asking him "Where is Luffy?"
"Get your hands off me you drunk!" The man shouted before pushing Ace.
Ace then smirked with a drunk blush on his face before looking directly at the man and punching him right in the chin, knocking him clean out.
The men surrounding the previous one gasped in shock at seeing him knocked out cold.
"Don't you ever disrespect me" Ace said, still seeing things because of how drunk he was.
"Hey!" The group of men yelled.
"Huh?" Ace muttered with a yawn from drunk-induced exhaustion and a head turn to face the men who were yelling at him.
"Do you have any idea who you just hit kid?" One of the men asked Ace.
"No, and quite frankly, I don't care" Ace replied.
"Well you should" another said.
"And why's that?" Ace asked.
"Because you just hit Giriko Suzuki, a notorious gang leader with a bounty of five hundred thousand berries" one of the men explained.
"So?" Ace replied, uninterested and unthreatened.
"So" all the men seethed in anger. "He was our leader and since you hit our leader, you're gonna d-."
"Look, we don't care" Sabo said while walking into the picture. "We just wanna know where Luffy is."
"Who the hell is Luffy?!" One of the gang members asked in anger.
"Don't you dare talk about my little brother like that!" Sabo yelled before throwing a punch to the throat of the man who disrespected Luffy, which immediately put him out of commission.
"That's it, you're both dead!" The rest of the gang shouted before charging the two.
As the gang rushed upon the brothers. Ace and Sabo just smirked and said
"Nice, a warm up."
(With Luffy and Koby)
Luffy and Koby followed the map till eventually, they reached the walls of the marine base they were looking for.
Just to be sure though, they stood on top of a nearby dumpster and looked over the walls of the marine base to see if anyone was being held there, and sure enough, they saw someone tied to a stump in the center.
"Is that Zoro?" Luffy asked.
Koby just turned to Luffy with a blank look on his face and then sarcastically said
"Nah, maybe it's one of the other people there that are tied to a stump" before receiving a punch to the head from Luffy. "Oww, what was that for?"
"For being sarcastic" Luffy responded.
"Fine" Koby said before rubbing the top of his head and then saying "Now how do we free him?"
"Simple" Luffy said before getting ready to jump to Zoro, only for a voice stop him.
"Well hello there, Zoro-San" said a very unattractive young man with blonde hair and a butt chin.
"Who's that?" Luffy asked.
"Helmeppo" said a third voice.
This third voice caused Luffy and Koby to turn their heads to the right and see Rika, the little girl from before, right there next to them.
"What are you doing here?" Luffy asked
"No, how did you get here?" Koby asked.
"Well, you see..." Rika began to explain. "When you two left the bar, my mom said she was gonna go check the storage and told me to go to my room because she didn't want me around strangers. Our house is right in front of the bar so I would've just had to walk a couple feet and I would've arrived there, but instead, once my mom left and was too far away to see or hear me, I left the bar and headed straight for here."
"Well go home" Koby said.
"Yeah, this isn't the place for a little kid" Luffy added.
"No, I'm not going anywhere till I give this to Zoro" Rika said before reaching into her pouch and bringing out three onigiri.
"Why?" Luffy asked.
"He hasn't eaten or drank anything all month, I wanna give him something to eat" she clarified.
"Okay, just give them to us and we'll give it to him" Koby reasoned.
"No" Rika said while hiding the onigiri from Koby and Luffy's arms' reach. "I wanna give it to him, he's tied up because of me after all."
Both Koby and Luffy rolled their eyes but relented and said
"Fine just stay close to us."
Rika nodded, put the onigiri back in her pouch, got between the two, and joined them on watching what was going on between Zoro and the marines.
The blond man, now known as Helmeppo, was just looking at Zoro with a cocky grin on his face, proud of where he managed to get the famous pirate hunter.
"Oh, what's the big bad Pirate Hunter Zoro gonna do?" Helmeppo mockingly asked before bringing a finger closer and closer to his face.
"Angh!" Zoro roared while attempting to bite the man's finger off.
"Ahh!" Helmeppo screamed in fright before falling to the ground behind him.
Luffy, Koby, and Rika all had to suppress the growing urge to burst out laughing because of this, and managed to suppress it long enough to see Helmeppo get back up and yell.
"Don't you dare ever try that ag-!" He yelled with his finger pointing at Zoro, which Zoro took as another opportunity to bite the same finger off. This time though, Helmeppo brought his hand back, turned to his marines, and said "Okay, let's just go" before running away from Zoro, full of fear.
Zoro just looked at the small man and his marines as they ran off and laughed.
This is when the trio watching him couldn't contain their laughter anymore and started laughing super hard.
As they were all laughing, Zoro finally noticed them and said
"Who the hell are you three and what are you doing here?!"
Koby and Rika stopped laughing after hearing his voice but Luffy didn't. As a matter of fact, it only got worse, because Luffy was laughing so hard that his body fell in a curved position over the wall that they were using to look at Zoro (Think of how people are positioned for the 619 in WWE).
"Luffy" Koby whispered to Luffy but he still didn't stop. He repeated it three more times before eventually Zoro shouted
"Hey you with the straw hat, why're you laughing?!"
Luffy heard this and started calming down little by little till eventually, his laughter died down and he just started taking deep breaths to cool off. Once he finished cooling off, he hopped to the other side with a smile on his face and walked up to Zoro. Once he was two feet away, he looked him in the eyes and told him
"I like you Zoro. Even in front of the son of a marine chief you didn't show an ounce of fear or respect. I've also heard word of how strong you are. Most importantly though, you willingly gave yourself up to help a little girl and her mom.
"Why are you telling me this?" Zoro asked.
"Simple" Luffy began. "I want you to join my crew."
"Your crew?"
"Yeah my pirate crew."
"No thanks" Zoro declined.
"Why?" Luffy asked.
"I made a deal" Zoro responded.
"I know, if you stay tied up to there for a whole month without any food and water they'll let the girl and her mom go right?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?" Zoro asked.
"She told us" Koby said from behind Luffy before pointing at the little girl beside him.
"Dumbasses, why'd you bring the little girl I'm trying to protect here!?" Zoro yelled in anger.
"No, it's not their fault Zoro-San" Rika responded before walking up to Zoro. "I came on my own."
"Why?" Zoro asked
"To give you this" Rika responded before opening her pouch and pulling out the three onigiri she had in them. "I thought you might be hungry."
"Thanks, that's very generous of you" Zoro said. "I can't use my hands though."
"I'll feed you" Rika responded before grabbing one and putting it closer to Zoro's mouth.
Zoro opened his mouth, ready to eat it, but right as he was about to, the sound of a gun being fired startled the little girl so much that she dropped all her onigiri on the dirt.
The four individuals all turned to see the sound came from Helmeppo, who shot a bullet at the sky to get their attention. He was back with twelve marines behind him, all fully armed, ready to fight, and he was just looking at them all very cockily, as if he was invincible.
"Well lookie here" Helmeppo started to say, causing all four of the individuals to look at him with a glare, and see him along with the twelve marines behind him walking cockily over to them. "The little girl that disrespected me in my own town, the idiot who tried standing up to me, and two losers I know nothing about."
After he got done saying this, Luffy said
"Could you go away, I'm kinda in the middle of something here."
"Huh" Helmeppo said in confusion. "Do you know who I am?"
"Yeah, some bitch made daddy's boy hiding behind his twelve boyfriends" Luffy retorted.
"What did you just call me?" Helmeppo yelled in anger.
"You heard me" Luffy replied. "Or do you currently have something shoved up your-?"
"Luffy!" Koby yelled.
"Huh?" Luffy said with a head turn in confusion.
"There's a little girl here?" Koby reminded him.
"So?" Luffy asked.
"You shouldn't-" Koby began to explain before being interrupted by the sound of a gun being fired.
The bullet was fired by Helmeppo and it was aimed at Luffy, but when it hit him it just bounced off.
"What the-?" Helmeppo said in confusion.
"Oh yeah, I never told you" Luffy started before pinching his left cheek and stretching it out. "I'm a rubber man."
Helmeppo just gnashed his teeth before yelling at his men
"What are you waiting for?! Take him down!"
All twelve marines came at Luffy and when they did, Koby got ready to fight too, to protect Rika, but before he could, Luffy told him
"Leave these losers to me Koby, stay back and look after Rika."
"Uhm, okay Luffy" Koby responded, a little confused but understanding.
Luffy ran forward, shouted
"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" Then stretched both arms as far as they'd go till they collided with the bodies of eight marines that were instantly knocked out cold.
The remaining marines didn't last much longer either though because as soon as Luffy's arms retracted back, he began ran and jumped forward, and hit the remaining marines with a flying low kick to the faces of them all, instantly knocking all of them clean out.
After all twelve of his marines fell to the ground, Helmeppo just looked on, yelled
"You'll be sorry for this kid!" Before running away.
"Anyways" Luffy said before turning to Zoro. "Again, what do you say Zoro?"
"Still no" Zoro replied.
"Anything I could do to change your mind?" Luffy asked.
"Unless you can get me my swords back and make sure that girl and her mom stay safe then no" Zoro said back.
"Okay" Luffy replied.
"Are you serious?" Zoro asked.
"Of course, where are your swords?" Luffy questioned.
"In the building" Zoro responded with a neck crank to the building he was talking about.
"Okay" Luffy responded. "Koby" he added with a head turn. "Let's go."
"Okay" Koby replied before looking back at Rika and telling her "Go home."
"Okay" she said disappointedly.
After she said this, the two left to go find Zoro's swords.
Right as the little girl was about to go back to her home though, Zoro asked her
"Hey kid, would you mind still feeding me those onigiri?"
"Huh?" Rika said in surprise. "Are you sure, they're all dirty now?"
"It's fine" Zoro responded. "It'd be a waste, especially since you made it just for me" he added with a smile.
The girl smiled back, said
"Okay" then picked up the onigiri and fed them to Zoro.
Once he was done with his food, he looked at the girl and thanked her.
"Thank you for going out of your way to make this for me little girl, it was delicious."
"Thank you" the little girl said with a small blush before leaving.
'Now, I just wait' Zoro thought.
(With Helmeppo)
Helmeppo, who was just outside berating the -peasants- who tried to stand in his way, was currently making his way to his father's office in Marine HQ.
"Daddy, daddy, daddy!" He yelled as he opened the door and entered his father's office.
"Shut up Helmeppo" his father yelled back.
Helmeppo shut up instantly and saw that his father was currently talking to another marine.
"So what was it again before my son rudely interrupted us?" His father asked.
"Chief Axe-Hand Morgan, there are reports of two teenage boys beating up random civilians for no reason."
"Seriously" Morgan asked while rolling his eyes, annoyed more than anything.
"Yes, they're thought to be drunk and brothers, because they keep saying they're looking for their little brother, Luffy I think was his name" the marine continued.
"Daddy, Luffy is he-" Helmeppo began to say before his father cut him off with
"Shut the hell up Helmeppo!" Before turning to look at the marine who continued on again.
"One of the brothers is blonde and wears blue noble clothes, as well as a black top hat. The second brother has jet black hair, no shirt, wears shorts, and an orange cowboy hat."
"Where are they?" Morgan asked.
"The docks" the marine answered.
"Okay, get some of our men and meet me there" Morgan instructed.
"Hai chief" the marine said with a bow before walking off to go do as he was told.
"But daddy" Helmeppo whined before his father dropped his axe-hand to the ground and yelled out
"How many times do I have to tell you to shut up and leave me alone when the adults are talking!?"
"Sorry, Tou-Chan" Helmeppo apologized
Like that, Axe-Hand Morgan left to go do what he said he'd do.
Little did Morgan know, that right as he left his office, Luffy and Koby entered the HQ through the back entrance.
"Let's go" they whispered to each other before looking through every room for Zoro's swords.
(Half an hour later, with Axe-Hand Morgan)
Axe-Hand Morgan and his marines were all making their way to the docks of the island, ready to confront the two brothers who were causing a ruckus.
'Just wait till I get my hands on you two brats' Morgan thought while running to the destination with his marines behind him to back him up.
They all continued running and running, till eventually, they reached the docks, only to see that the brothers were no longer there.
"Where the hell did they go?!" Morgan yelled in frustration before turning to the marine who told him they were there. "You, you told me they were here but they're not here!"
"I'm s-sorry Chief, they must've left, it did take us half an hour to get h-" he began to mutter out before Morgan cut his head off.
"No excuses!" Morgan yelled after decapitating the marine.
"Ahh!" The other marines shouted in fear.
Morgan then turned his attention to the others and told them
"They couldn't have gone far, spread out and find them!"
"Yes Chief!" They all shouted with a salute before running off in different directions.
As they were running to go find the brothers, Axe-Hand Morgan just walked off and spotted three boats.
'Okay, there's three of them, and I'll find each of them, one way or another. They've gotta know I'm after them, otherwise they'd be here. They must know who I am so they've gotta be hiding somewhere very unpredictable and hard to track, somewhere I'd never expect. They wouldn't be sleeping on the job, knowing I'm after them after all.'
(With Ace and Sabo)
Ace and Sabo, who were completely oblivious to the fact that marines were now on their tail, were both out for the count, but not due to fighting, rather due to alcohol intoxication.
"How long do you think they've been out Kaa-Chan?" Rika, the little girl from before, asked her mother.
"I'd say at least half an hour, considering how red they are" Ririka, the little girl's mother, responded.
Ace and Sabo were currently laying on the floor of Ririka's bar, snoring the day away.
"I'm on my way" they both mumbled as a clear blue bubble kept growing and shrinking from each of their noses.
Said bubbles were popped not too long after they mumbled that though by one of Rika's very small and delicate fingers, and as such, they bolted upright.
"Muh!" Both mumbled loudly as they woke up.
"Are you okay?" Rika asked.
Ace and Sabo were still droopy, so they didn't hear the little girl who woke them up ask them if they were okay. It wasn't till they rubbed their eyes awake and let their eyes focus on the mother and daughter duo, that they noticed them.
"Who are you two?" Ace asked while continuing to rub his left eye.
"And where are we?" Sabo added.
"You're in my bar" Ririka responded. "My name is Ririka and this is my daughter Rika."
"I'm Ace and this my brother Sabo" Ace responded with manners.
"Ace and Sabo, you must be Luffy-San's brothers that he kept talking about" Rika said.
"You know Luffy?" Both brothers asked in unison.
"Yeah" Rika responded.
"Do you know where he is?" Both brothers asked at once. "We're looking for him."
"Well last I saw him, he and Koby were at Marine HQ, ready to recruit Zoro."
"Okay, can either of you give us directions as to where that's located?" Sabo asked.
"We gave Luffy-San our map" Ririka said.
"That's fine" Sabo responded.
"Yeah, we'll just find it ourselves" Ace added.
"Yeah" Sabo responded before looking around the room and growing curious as to why they were there at all. So he looked at Ririka and asked her "I don't mean to be rude, but why are we here?"
"Well we saw you two passed out on the street, as well as what we could've only assumed were your many victims laid out around you and some other people getting ready to call the marines, so we took you in before they could."
"Well, thanks" Ace replied with a bow.
After bowing, Sabo looked at the mother and daughter duo and asked them
"Can you give us directions?"
"Sure" Ririka responded.
(With Zoro)
Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro was currently waiting for Luffy and Koby to come back out with his swords.
'How much longer are they gonna take?' Zoro inwardly asked himself.
Then as if on cue, he heard the sound of glass shattering and looked up the building to see one of the windows in the top floor crack apart, as well as Luffy and Koby jumping out through it.
The two friends landed on the ground but thanks to the fact that Koby was holding on to Luffy's neck, he sustained zero damage from the fall.
"What took you so long?" Zoro asked.
"Well we kept running into marines when we were searching each and every room" Koby explained. "And the building is quite large."
"Anyways" Luffy said before bringing out the three swords he swiped from Morgan's room. "I didn't know which sword was yours so I got all three."
"All of them are mine, I practice an ancient sword art called three sword style" Zoro explained.
"Okay, well, here" Luffy said before tossing one at Zoro.
Zoro was able to catch it with his left hand and with a single rotation destroyed not only the rope that was tying him to the wooden post, but also the post itself.
"I'm free" Zoro said with a smile.
It was at this moment that Koby finally got off of Luffy's back and dropped to his feet.
Once he did, Luffy tossed the next two swords of Zoro to Zoro.
Zoro caught one with his right hand and the other with his mouth.
"So, does this mean you're on board?" Luffy asked.
"Yeah, I'll join you two and your crew" Zoro told Luffy and Koby.
Koby immediately waved his hands side to side and said
"Oh no, I'm not a part of it, it's his and his brothers' crew."
"Whatever" Zoro said before hiding all his swords away in their sheath and strapping them to the left side of his green haramaki. "Either way, we should get going."
"Right" Luffy and Koby said before running off with Zoro following behind.
(The Docks)
Axe-Hand Morgan was still searching the proximity for the brothers that were wreaking havoc earlier.
"Captain Morgan sir, we haven't found any men fitting the descriptions the people gave us about the brothers" a marine said.
"Well keep searching they gotta be here somewhere" Axe-Hand Morgan ordered.
"Yes sir" the marine responded before continuing to search.
Once the marine left his sight, Morgan kept looking around for the brothers, determined to bring them to justice, well... his form of justice.
'I'll crush those punks and show all these people and pirates why they shouldn't test me' Morgan cockily thought till eventually coming across three small boats parked in the docks. "Oh well would you look at that?" Morgan asked himself with an evil grin before cocking an eyebrow after noticing something. "There's three boats, so there are three brothers, I must find them, but first... just to make sure they don't get away." Axe-Hand Morgan then brought out his axe-hand, raised it as high as he could, brought it down, and right as he was about two inches away, he heard
"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" Before a hand came out from behind Morgan and grabbed him by the wrist of his axe-hand.
"Huh?" Morgan mumbled before turning around and seeing Luffy, with both Zoro and Koby by his side looking back at him with a death glare.
"No you don't!" Luffy yelled. "Those boats are me and my brothers' only way out of here!"
Morgan smirked at this and then said
"So you three are the brothers I'm looking for?"
"No" Zoro and Koby said in reply, Zoro casually and Koby fearfully and hastily.
"No they're not" Luffy chimed in. "I am, but they aren't."
"Oh well" Morgan said before whistling and as a result, summoning every marine the town had to his side. "Either way, you three all die now."
Before any of the fighting started though, Luffy turned his head to look at Koby and told him
"Koby, go away, leave this to us."
"You sure Luffy?" Koby asked.
"Of course" Luffy replied. "Wouldn't want them to get the wrong idea after all."
"Thanks" Koby replied before running away.
This time, Luffy and Zoro grinned before saying
"Bring it."
"Charge!" Morgan commanded while pointing at the two with his notmal hand.
Zoro put his hands on the hilts of two of his swords, Luffy readied his fist, and then they both charged forward.
(With Ace and Sabo)
Ace and Sabo were running as fast as they could without causing commotion in the town to make it to the Navy HQ where they knew Luffy would be.
'Just hang on Luffy' both brothers thought as they rushed to the Navy HQ at full speed.
Eventually, they reached the fence to the HQ and wasted no time at all hopping over it.
As soon as they reached the other side, they were about to begin looking around for Luffy... untill they saw the log that they just knew the marines were using to hold Zoro, which seemed to be cut into pieces.
It took them both a couple seconds to process this before a sudden strike of realization hit them and resulted in them both saying
"Ohhhh" before turning back, jumping over the fence again, and then running away from the HQ.
It was at this moment that Helmeppo came out from the main gate of the HQ, armed with fully automatic guns.
Two machine guns on both his hands, a shotgun attached to a strap which was wrapped around his upper body, and one more shotgun also wrapped around his upper body with another strap.
"I'm coming Tou-Chan" Helmeppo said with a look of determination in his eyes before running off to the docks.
(With Zoro and Luffy)
Both Luffy and Zoro were currently at the docks still fighting the marines led by marine captain Axe-Hand Morgan.
They were currently mopping the floor with all the marines that came at them, but in very different ways.
"Hah!" One marine who came charging at them with a sword shouted before Luffy punched him in the gut and knocked him out.
"Die!" Another marine who was armed with a gun yelled at Zoro while attempting to shoot him.
Zoro dodged the bullets easily by moving in a zig zag towards the marine till eventually getting close enough to slash his stomach with both swords.
After slashing that marine down though, another one armed with a sword tried to pull a fast one on Zoro by sneaking behind him with their sword drawn.
Zoro didn't even have to turn around to deal with this one though, he just flipped his left sword upside down and caught it by the hilt with the same hand.
The tip of the sword was now pointing backwards so Zoro simply thrusted it backwards and impaled the marine right then and there, through the stomach.
As the sword was lodged through his body, the marine croaked out,
"H-how?"
"I could hear the loud sound of your rapid footsteps dumbass" Zoro retorted before removing his sword from the marine's stomach and allowing him to fall to the ground, dead.
After doing that, Zoro just fixed the grip he had on his sword by tossing it in the air and catching it, allowing for the tip to now point forward again.
'That's better' he thought before assuming his stance and charging forward to take down more and more marines.
While Zoro was dealing with his marines in a very offensive and aggressive manner, Luffy was doing so in a more defensive and calmed manner.
Luffy was just parrying, catching, and evading every attack that came his way.
He slapped away every hand that was holding onto a sword by the wrist, he caught every bullet that came his way, and just straight up dodged any sword slash or bullet that was directed at him.
'These chumps are nothing compared to Ji-Chan' Luffy thought in boredom while continuing to evade and block every incoming attack.
Back with Zoro, as more and more marines came his way, he decided
'Alright, that's enough of using just two swords' before putting the hilt of one of the swords he was holding in his mouth and then using his now free hand to pull out the final sword from its sheath and ready himself for an attack that would require the use of all three of his swords.
Similarly Luffy also decided
'I guess that's enough playing around' before jumping high in the air.
"Gomu Gomu no/Oni-" Luffy and Zoro started to chant while bringing both their arms back. "Pistol/Giri!" They added before releasing their arms and going for their attacks.
Luffy ended up stretching his fist and striking down five marines, Zoro brought both his hands down as well as rotated his head in a diagonal rotation, slashing down five marines as well.
"Tch" both Luffy and Zoro spat in cockiness before continuing to fight.
Away from Zoro and Luffy, Koby was currently hiding behind a barrel and was just watching the two fight.
"Wow, they're really strong' he thought while looking on. 'And it's not just them, Luffy has two other brothers who are just as strong if not stronger than him. Which means that if I'm gonna become a marine, I'm gonna have to deal with two future big shot pirates, and one pirate king.' He then smiled while looking directly at Luffy's back and saying "Luffy-San, I know you can become King of the Pirates, no, you will, but it's because of that that I'm gonna have to stop you one day."
Luffy's ear picked this up, and so while still looking on at the incoming marines, he asked Zoro
"Did you hear that?"
"Yeah" Zoro responded with a grin. "I wonder if you're as good as he makes you out to be."
"I'm better" Luffy replied.
"Prove it" Zoro responded.
"Fine" Luffy said before staring at Morgan. Morgan stared back at him with an angry expression and Luffy said "Hey, Zoro."
"What?" Zoro questioned.
"You think you can handle these marines all alone?" Luffy asked.
"Light work" Zoro replied.
"Good" Luffy responded before turning his attention to Axe-Hand Morgan. "I'm going for the big one" he added before running towards Captain Morgan, punching away every marine that got in his way.
Morgan readied himself for what was sure to come and when Luffy got close enough, Morgan took a swing with his axe only for Luffy to completely dodge it without a problem and then retaliate with a straight punch that landed right on the chin and rocked Morgan back multiple steps.
Once Morgan steadied himself again, Luffy just looked at him with a cocky smirk said
"Whats the matter, too much for you?"
The cocky smirk combined with the even cockier retort enraged the marine captain, so he did not hesitate to run at Luffy and repeatedly try to slice him with his axe.
Luffy just dodged and dodged, parried and parried, and countered every single punch and slash that Axe-Hand Morgan threw at him.
He dodged the attacks like they were nothing to him, he parried them by slapping the wrist of the normal hand and the wooden tip of the other hand, he countered the punches by hitting them back with punches of equal strength while countering the slashes by punching the non-sharp sides of the axe-hand away (the cheeks).
After responding to every attack without any difficulty whatsoever, Luffy and Axe-Hand Morgan entered a stare down.
As Luffy and Axe-Hand Morgan stared each other down, Koby looked on and thought
'Luffy-San is gonna kick your ass' full of confidence. That is until he heard very loud footsteps and turned his head around to see Helmeppo, armed to the max with guns from the military base.
"Tou-Chan, I'm gonna-!" He began to shout only for Koby to tackle him to the ground.
"No you don't!" Koby yelled during the tackle.
"Oomph!" Helmeppo wheezed out as he was knocked to the ground by Koby who was giving that tackle eveything he had.
Once both crashed to the ground, Helmeppo sat up and looked at Koby who was on all fours, trying to pick himself back up.
"What are you doing, are you crazy!?" Helmeppo yelled with a question at the end.
"I'm crazy? You're the one who came here with guns trying to kill my friends!" Koby retorted.
"Well then how about I kill you instead" Helmeppo said before bringing out one of his two machine guns and pointing it directly at Koby.
Koby, without any fear whatsoever, grabbed the gun by the barrel and in one swift motion, lifted it up before punching Helmeppo in the throat, and then removed the gun from his hands.
Once the gun left Helmeppo's hands and was now in Koby's, Helmeppo brought brought out his backup machine gun and pointed it at Koby.
"Drop the gun kid" Helmeppo said while pointing and aiming the gun at Koby.
"Not till you drop yours" Koby replied while pointing his gun at Helmeppo too.
"Fine" Helmeppo said before pulling the trigger to his gun.
Five bullets were fired at once. One bullet alone would've killed Koby instantly but five and Koby's fate was sealed if any of them hit.
Thankfully though, Koby saw Helmeppo flexing his pointer finger, clearly looking to pull the trigger, so he managed to jump to the side in time and avoid the gunshots.
"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!" The gun sounded.
The sound of a machine gun being fired caught the attention all the marines, as well as Zoro and Luffy, who turned around to see Koby with a gun at hand, avoiding the bullets of another.
Of course, in retaliation Koby pulled the trigger of his gun too and both entered a gun fight.
Luffy, Zoro, and all the marines were expecting an epic shootout and blood bath to result from it, but of course, since neither Koby nor Helmeppo were experienced or skilled in the art of gunmanship, they missed every single shot they took, and absolutely none of the shots were even close to making contact.
Try as they might, Luffy and Zoro just couldn't resist the urge to laugh at the scene they were seeing, completely forgetting they were in the middle of a fight themselves, yet not caring to move from they're initial spot.
"Eat lead kid!" Helmeppo yelled while pressing the trigger, letting the bullets of his gun go flying, and vibrating
"Stay back!" Koby shouted while shaking uncontrollably as a result of the force being exerted by the gun, due to him holding onto the trigger.
"Ahhh!" Both yelled as the bullets began firing at a rapid pace.
This went on for about two minutes before finally, their guns ran out of ammo and when they did, Koby and Helmeppo just used one hand to toss it over the docks and onto the water.
Helmeppo then brought out one of his strapped shotguns before pointing it at Koby.
Helmeppo got ready to grab another gun, but Koby rushed in front of him, grabbed the extra shotgun before Helmeppo did, and with brute strength he tore the gun off its strap and then again, pointed it at Helmeppo.
"Damn you kid" Helmeppo said in anger and frustration.
"Just put the gun down, we don't have to have another shootout" Koby reasoned.
This time, the two were just five feet away from each other, but again, without any previous knowledge or experience on using a gun, they just blasted them and as a resulted got blasted away themselves from the power each shot exerted.
"Tohh!" Koby wheezed out as the stock of his shotgun hit him right in the gut while sending him flying back two feet.
"Argh!" Helmeppo cried in pain as the stock of his shotgun hit him right in the nose as he stumbled back multiple steps while grabbing his nose in pain.
Luffy and Zoro didn't see this as they were occupied with their own fights.
Luffy was currently just evading every attack Morgan was throwing at him.
After doing this for about ten minutes, Luffy decided maybe he should stopped playing defense and go on the offensive.
'Okay, but before I do' he thought before staring at the axe on Morgan's right arm. 'That has to go.'
With these thoughts out of his mind, he started it off by walking closer to Morgan.
Morgan welcomed this seemingly stupid move from Luffy as it gave him the perfect opportunity to slash him down.
So he got his axe-hand ready, and when Luffy was about three feet away, he swung at him.
The swing looked fast but surprisingly, Luffy caught it by the blade.
"What the-?" Axe-Hand Morgan muttered in confusion before attempting to pull it back but found that he was unable to.
As Luffy was holding onto it, he turned his head to look at Zoro and told him
"Hey, Zoro!"
This caused both Zoro and Koby to turn to look at him and see that he was holding the infamous Axe-Hand Morgan by the axe-hand, barehanded.
They could see his tan hand holding onto the sharp blade of the axe-hand, very relaxed, and seemingly without any difficulty. Meanwhile, they saw every vein in Axe-Hand Morgan's axe hand popping out in his desperate attempt to break free.
This left Koby and Zoro speechless.
"Is this enough to convince you?" Luffy asked before clenching his fist and shattering that famous axe-hand of the marine chief.
'Insane/I didn't know he could do that' Zoro and Koby thought together.
Once all the pieces of Axe-Hand Morgan's axe hand fell the ground, so did he. Seconds after falling to the ground, Morgan got on his knees and looked down at the pieces of his once famous axe-hand in disbelief.
"Nooo!" He yelled.
As Morgan yelled, Luffy turned around and asked Zoro
"Well?"
"Okay, you got me, I'm in" Zoro replied with a grin.
"Good" Luffy replied.
That's when Luffy saw a huge shadow casted over him and turned around to see that it was Axe-Hand Morgan who looked furious.
His look didn't change Luffy's though and so Luffy just casually asked him
"Ready for round two?"
Before Morgan went for a punch. The punch missed and Luffy's only response to that was
"I guess so" with a smile before fighting on.
On the otherside of the docks though, Zoro wasn't struggling in the least bit to deal with all the men coming his way.
He slashed one down with one sword and then another with the other.
After slashing down a total of fifteen marines, he saw fifteen more coming, jumped in the air, turned his neck and his arms to the left side, chanted
"Oni-giri!" Before thrusting his arms and neck in a diagonal motion and slashing down five marines.
"Argh!" They all shouted in pain before dropping to the floor.
"Damn it, you're all useless!" Axe-Hand Morgan, who was still fighting Luffy, yelled at his rapidly falling marines.
Funny enough, the only one on his side that was putting up a somewhat good fight against any of the heroes was Axe-Hand Morgan's own son, Helmeppo.
To be fair, he was facing the weakest of the three, but still, he was putting up a better fight than the others.
"Boom"
"Bang!"
Those were the sounds the two shotguns in each of their hands made when they fired them off for the last time and like with the other shots before these, these shots missed and hurt themselves more than they hurt the other person.
"Oww!" Koby yelled in pain
"Damn it!" Helmeppo screamed in pain.
They were both outta ammo, but they didn't realize it till they brought their guns back up to their faces, aimed at their target, shot, and saw nothing come out.
"Damn" Helmeppo exhaled in frustration.
"Good" Koby sighed in relief.
Both then tossed their guns to the water of the docks with one hand and one movement.
Once both guns splashed into the water, Koby looked Helmeppo dead in the eyes and told him
"Looks like you're all out of guns now."
"Am I" Helmeppo asked before reaching into his pocket, pulling out a small pistol, and aiming it at Koby. "Oh that's right, I'm not."
"Come on" Koby said in frustration.
"That's right" Helmeppo said with confidence before walking closer to Koby.
Helmeppo got closer and closer to Koby and once he was within two feet from him and the gun was making physical contact with Koby's face, he asked him
"Any last words?"
Koby was sweating profusely, terrified of what was about to happen, but after ten seconds passed and he still hadnt pulled the trigger, Koby took deep breath, let it out, and then told him
"Okay, do it."
"Huh?" Helmeppo said in confusion.
"Kill me, go on, do it" Koby repeated.
That's when Helmeppo started sweating and shaking profusely himself. Scared beyond belief of what Koby was saying.
"D-don't act tough, I kn-know you're sc-scared" Helmeppo responded.
"Guns aren't for threats their for actions" Koby responded. When he saw that Helmeppo still wasn't gonna pull the trigger, even though his pointer finger was already pressing on it, he brought out his left hand, very carefully, grabbed the pistol by the barrel, and took it away. After he took it away, he looked at the top and saw that the safety was still on. "I knew it."
"Kn-knew what?"
"You wanted to help your father, but you didn't wanna actually take a life" Koby began to explain. "You're nothing like your father. You act cocky and bratty, but that's only to get his attention. He's cold, insensitive, and merciless, but you're neither of those things. You pretend to be, but that's only to please him, try to get him to notice you. In the inside, you're actually a very warm, sensitive, merciful and kind person, which is why you couldn't bring yourself to kill me. Possibly killing someone is a lot easier to wrap your head around than definitely killing someone. Which is why you were able to shoot me without worry with your other guns, it was the same thing for me." Koby then brought his arms out. "You don't have to do this anymore, we don't have to fight anymore, I won't hurt you anymore."
Helmeppo walked up and hugged Koby before breaking down into his shirt.
"That's okay buddy, let it all out" Koby said while rubbing Helmeppo's back. 'Thanks Luffy-San, you gave me the strength to do what's right, not what's easy."
Like that, Koby and Helmeppo's fight was offically over.
Outside of their fight through, Zoro, who was watching this from afar, was taken aback by this.
'That's really how much of an impact he had on him?' Zoro wondered while avoiding the bullets and slashes from the incoming marines. 'Just what is it about him that's gives this kid the strength to do this kind of stuff?' He thought to himself while looking on at Luffy, who was just evading the hits Morgan was throwing at him without any difficulty whatsoever.
Morgan was just throwing rowdy and reckless swings as if he didn't know how to even punch properly, and as a result, Luffy just kept dodging and dodging and as he kept dodging, anyone looking could notice Morgan breathing in and out deeply and also sweating profusely mean whilst Luffy looked perfectly fine.
It wasn't till dodging Morgan's fiftieth swing that Luffy decided
"I'm gonna end this all in one move."
"And what's that huh?!" Morgan yelled while still throwing punches at Luffy.
"This" Luffy said before pushing Morgan back far, looking back at Koby and Zoro, telling them "Zoro, Koby, come here quick."
So they did and Helmeppo followed, once they were all there, Luffy shouted
"Gomu Gomu no Earthquake!" Before punching the ground and causing the ground beneath them to shake, like a mini earthquake.
"Whoah!" Everyone outside of the circle surrounding Luffy shouted as the earthquake started.
The earthquake was only taking up a fifteen foot radius, not counting the epicenter, and it was relatively relaxed compared to an actual earthquake.
Once the earthquake was over and all the marines Luffy took down with it were on the ground, Koby looked at Luffy and asked him the question in his, Zoro's, and Helmeppo's minds.
"How did you know to keep us close to you Luffy?"
"Well..." Luffy trailed off with a head scratch and sweat drop.
(Flashback, Five Years Ago)
"Hey, Sabo, Ace, I figured out a new move" nine year old Luffy told his brothers.
"What is it?" They asked.
That was when Luffy brought his fist, said
"Gomu Gomu no-" before bringing it down. "Earthquake!" And striking the ground, resulting in an earthquake.
The earthquake lasted for about one minute before Luffy got back up from the crouched position he was in, and saw his brothers weren't there.
"Ace, Sabo, where'd you guy-?" Luffy began to ask before hearing Ace yell
"Over here!" Which caused Luffy to turn around and see both his brothers on the ground, hurt.
"Oh, sorry" he said.
"Baka" Ace said weakly.
"Luffy-Kun, work on a way to not hurt your allies" Sabo weakly instructed.
"R-right" Luffy responded with nervously.
(Present)
"So I kept practicing and practicing and after lots and lots of attempts, I realized that the safest place to be when I do the attack, is near me."
"Oh" Koby and Zoro muttered in amazement.
"Anyways though-" Luffy began to say before what sounded like growling interrupted him.
The growling came from of course, Axe-Hand Morgan, who was pushing himself back up to his feet. Once he was finally back to his feet, he got his fist ready and ran at Luffy, fully intent on killing him. Luffy during the entire time of this happening, had his back turned to Morgan and wasn't turning around at all.
"We should start looking for my brothers, cuz they're probably searching for me, and I'm-" he kept talking till a very audible
"Onigiri!" Followed by three even more audible slashes was heard.
Luffy still didn't turn around, but if he did, he would've seen that Axe-Hand Morgan stopped dead in his tracks, with his eyes rolled all the way back, his mouth beginning to foam, and three large bloody sword slashes all throughout his body. Right behind Morgan, was Zoro, who was breathing in and out while crouching with all three swords out, biting the hilt of one down with his teeth and clenching the other two as tightly as he could with his hands, each sword dripping of Morgan's blood.
As a drop of Morgan's blood from one of the swords hit the ground, the scars carved by Zoro's swords began spewing out blood like a geyser, so much so that Axe-Hand Morgan fell to his knees, and stayed there, out cold on his knees.
Luffy, who still had his back turned, just smirked and asked
"So I take it you're in?"
Zoro also smirked, resheathed all his swords, and then told him
"Yeah, I'll join your crew."
"Wait a minute, did you know Axe-Hand Morgan was coming at you the entire time?" Koby asked.
"Of course, it was happening right behind me after all" Luffy answered.
"Wait a minute, Luffy-San if you knew Axe-Hand Morgan was right behind you, then why didn't you do anything?"
"Cuz he wanted to see if I would do anything" Zoro explained before turning around to look at Luffy.
"And you did" Luffy added, before both of then walked up to each other and shook hands. "Welcome to the crew Zoro."
After they shook hands, Luffy felt a hand on both of his shoulders and turned around to see both his brothers, who said
"Way to go Luffy."
"How'd you guys know where to find me?" Luffy asked.
"Well we were looking for you in Marine HQ at first but when we saw that the post that was supposedly holding Zoro in was destroyed we kinda pieced it together that you at the very least freed him, so we rushed here" Sabo explained.
"Why didn't you help?" Luffy asked.
"We figured this was your fight and it'd be a great way to show to Zoro why you were fit to lead him" Ace chimed in.
"Well that was a good call" said Zoro, with a grin on his face. "You've proven your worth to me, so I'll join your crew."
"Great, we have Luffy's first mate" Sabo responded.
"By the way Luffy, I never got to ask, who does your crew comprise of?" Zoro asked
"So far just me and my brothers" Luffy replied.
"Who's the captain?" Zoro asked.
"All three of us?" Luffy answered.
"What?" Zoro said in confusion.
"We each agreed to control a third of the crew, you're part of my third."
"Oh okay" Zoro stated. 'That actually doesn't sound too bad, considering they might make a fleet in the future and in that case having two others to help them with decisions might work out for the best.' "What now though?"
"I don't know" Luffy responded.
"Neither do we" Ace and Sabo added.
Then they all looked at Koby, who raised his arms and said
"Don't look at me, I'm not even part of the crew remember?"
They just shrugged their shoulders before pondering for a while. As they were thinking of what to do next, a voice from behind all the men told them
"You can stay the night at our bar."
"Huh?" The four men muttered before turning around and seeing Ririka and her daughter Rika right there.
'It's them' they all thought in unison. "Are you sure? We dont wanna be a burden."
"Yeah" the mother and daughter duo replied.
"Thank you" they responded.
"No need to thank us, it's the least we can do for you after saving me and my daughter" Ririka responded.
So the brothers, Koby, and Zoro stayed the night at Ririka's bar.
(The Next Day)
Luffy, Zoro, Ace, Sabo, and Koby were all awake and in Ririka's bar.
The brothers and Zoro were just sitting in a table at Ririka's bar, drinking some sake while talking.
Koby on the other hand was cleaning, as a token of appreciation for their hospitality.
As they were all enjoying shots of sake, Luffy noticed a shadow being casted down in front of him, so he turned around and saw Ririka with a rather large burlap bag at hand.
"What's in that?" Luffy asked.
"Enough food to hopefully last all five of you a week" she said with a smile.
"Oh no, we couldnt possibly-" Luffy began to say before Ririka cut him off.
"Please take it, not only did you save me and my daughter but you also saved our entire hometown by beating Axe-Hand Morgan" Ririka reasoned.
"Okay" Luffy replied before reaching his hand out and accepting the bag.
As soon as he took the bag, they all heard the doors to the bar open and turned to see a whole squad of marines fully armed, looking directly at them.
"Can we help you?" Ace asked.
"I am the lieutenant of the division of marines here and I am here to tell all of you that you must leave this island. We won't fight you, as a token of gratitude for freeing us from Axe-Hand Morgan's reign, but that means you must leave."
"Not like you could stop us anyways" Ace said cockily before putting down a shotglass and getting up from his seat.
"It's fine, we're leaving" Sabo added before they all began walking out of the bar.
As they were walking out, the lieutenant noticed Koby from the corner of the bar and told him
"Hey, you."
Koby began to sweat.
"Y-yes" he replied.
"I remember you were a part of that fight too, are you with them?" The marine asked.
Koby froze.
Luffy stopped after hearing the question that was asked and heard the same marine ask Luffy
"Hey, is he with you?"
Luffy grinned before putting the bag of food he had down, turning around, and saying
"Oh, I know all about this guy."
'Luffy-San, you wouldn't!' Koby inwardly yelled in panic.
"There was this really fat ogre looking pirate lady" Luffy said.
"Luffy-San!" Koby shouted in fear while continuing to sweat profusely. 'If they find out that I worked for a pirate, they'd never let me become a marine.'
"She had this really big club that she used to hurt and kill people" Luffy continued to say while walking closer and closer to Koby. "And this guy served her for two years" Luffy ended while poking the right side of Koby's forehead.
'Please stop, please stop' Koby inwardly repeated before turning around, yelling "Shut up!" And striking Luffy once in the face.
That punch rocked Luffy multiple steps back and caused Ririka, her daughter, and all the marines to flinch.
Zoro, Ace, and Sabo just smirked.
Luffy also smirked but followed that smirk up by saying
"Now you did it, bastard!" Before delivering a punch to the face.
After the punch, Luffy whaled on Koby while shouting "You bastard" for about fifteen seconds before eventually his brothers and Zoro subdued him.
"That's enough" they all said nonchalantly in unison. "Don't go overboard."
After they said this though, Koby's back hit the floor, and he was breathing in and out profusely, covered in bruises.
The marine who questioned both of them, saw this, pointed at Luffy, and yelled
"It's clear that he's not with you! Leave our town now!"
Luffy just smirked again before putting his hat back on, which fell off due to the punches he was unloading on Koby, and just walked away.
As he and his crew were walking away, Koby looked on from the ground and thought
'He... did that on purpose. For my sake, he made me punch him on purpose.' Midway through these thoughts, he began crying. 'I... received help from him, even at the very end! Nothing has changed at all... am I stupid!?' He finished his thoughts before getting up, wiping the tears off his face and telling the marine who was questioning him and Luffy "I want to... I want to join the marines!" He then bowed before continuing. "I'll do anything you want, to become a marine!"
Another marine behind the one Koby was talking to said
"Lieutenant, I can't say I fully trust this kid. I wouldn't be against the idea if there weren't clear cases of certain marines actually being pirate spies. I say, we should conduct a background check first."
Koby then lifted his head up, looked them all dead in the eyes and yelled
"I don't care what you say, one way or another I will become a marine!"
The Lt looked at Koby once more before walking past him, and asking him
"Do you have any idea how dangerous the role of a marine is?" This made Koby sweat. "I can't tell you how many of our comrades have been killed by pirates over the years. This is a big step you're taking."
This made Koby widen his eyes and ask
"S-so..."
"Permission to join the marines granted" the lieutenant said.
Koby was happy beyond belief, turned around, and with his hand raised in a solution, he said
"Sir!"
(With Luffy, Ace, Sabo, and Zoro)
"That was pretty ballsy what you did back there, not gonna lie, but it was risky" Zoro told Luffy as they were walking to the docks.
"Hehe, Koby should be able to handle the rest on his own, I believe in him."
Eventually, the group of four reached the docks where three boats were waiting.
"That's our boat?" Zoro asked
"Yep" Luffy said before jumping on it. "It'll get bigger, just you wait."
Zoro just shrugged his shoulders and stepped into the boat himself.
As Luffy looked to his side, he saw Ace and Sabo getting in their own boats.
Right as they were about to sail off though, they all heard a familiar voice shout
"Luffy!" Before turning around and seeing Koby saluting them all. "I just wanted to say thank you! Thank you for everything you've done for me! I can never thank you enough! You've done more for me than anyone else ever has!"
Sabo, Ace, and Zoro just looked on with a smile.
"Hehehe" Luffy chuckled before setting sail, and riding off in his boat. "Farewell Koby, we'll meet again someday!"
"Bye Luffy" Koby bid farewell.
"Hope to see you again someday!" Rika, who just appeared outta nowhere alongside her mother shouted back at them.
"All hands salute!" The marine lieutenant ordered all his fellow marines, who were right behind Koby to do, and they did.
"See ya!" Luffy shouted while waving his hands back and forth.
"That's a good friend you have there" the lieutenant told Koby.
"Huh?" Koby muttered before turning to look at the smiling lieutenant.
Koby just cried a bit before looking on at the three swimming boys and saying
"Yeah."
"Men, seeing as our current salute is in violation of marine law, we will all go without food for three days! Do we all understand!?"
"Yes sir!" All the marines, including Koby responded.
Speaking of Koby, he was just loooking on at the boat and was thinking
"I know that one day we'll meet again, so just wait for me you four, I'll grow strong enough to stop all three of you and whatever crew you three manage to create.'
Once they were away from sight, Luffy turned around, walked to the ledge of his boat, looked at the seemingly limitless ocean, and said
"Alright, our crew is finally setting sail again."
Zoro looked on at the sea with Luffy and with a smile on his face told him
"Looks like some pretty good adventures'll be waiting for us"
"I will be King of The Pirates" Luffy declared confidently.
This sentence peaked Zoro's interest/curiosity, which led to him asking Luffy
"You really seem obsessed with this whole King of the Pirates thing. Is there some sort of reason for it?" Zoro asked.
"No particualr reason.. but"
"But what?" Zoro chimed in.
"I swore to a certain man that someday I would gather a great crew, find the world's greatest treasure, and become King of The Pirates." Luffy then smiled at the sky and said "This straw hat knows."
"I see" Zoro responded while also facing the sky. 'Reminds me of the promise I made to you, Kuina.'
"Alright let's go, set sail for the grand l-" Luffy began to shout before someone interrupted him.
"Hey I just noticed something" Sabo said.
"What?" They all asked.
"She said the food she gave us would last all five of us a week, but Koby didnt come with us" he pointed out.
"Alright!" Luffy shouted to the heavens. "More food!"
To Be Continued...
Author's Note:
Holly shit this took a long time, I'm sorry that it took more than six months, life just kept getting in the way, but im trying my hardest to balance everything out, cuz I do wanna bring the three stories I've created to a conclusion in the far future.
Anyways tho, outside of that, what did you guys think of this chapter? Did you like it, think it was mid, hate it? Its all fine regardless.
I need your guys' help on my stories and the best way to help me is by giving me feedback and criticism on the chapters I make. Again, please do not sugarcot anything and just tell me straight up what I did bad and how I can get better cuz its the only way I'll learn.
Other than that, I'll see you guys next time.