# Chapter 3: Point of Diverence

The newly named Strawhat pirates landed on a beach at the Gecko Islands. "Finally, land! Woohoo!" Luffy ezclaims as he runs around the beach.

"Luffy, why are we even here?" Nami gets annoyed at Luffy's childishness.

"We're are here to recruit our sniper. I know his father is the best. So he would be the better than him in the future."

"How do you know 'the best sniper'?" Nami gets sarcastic.

"His father's is a pirate. He came to ny village a lot with his crew and Captain and told me stories about his adventure. His captain is who gave me this straw hat as well."

"Luffy." Zoro interjects, his tone hiding a warning.

"I sense him too." The captain turns to look at the bushes, from where a teenager pops up. He had a long nose and curly hair and big lips. He wore a brown overall and a yellow checkered bandana. He held a primed and ready sling-shot in his hands.

Luffy sees this and tilts his head, his hat over-shadows his eyes. "Put your life on the line."

"Huh?" the long-nosed teenager asks.

"I said, since you've pulled that sling-shot, put your life on the line. These things aren't for threatening."

Zoro understands what his Captain is doing and smirks. He pushes his sword out with his thumb, making it glint in the sunlight.

The aura these two are radiating scares the teen, who drops his shoulders and his weapon.

"Man, real pirates are on a whole other level." the teen says with his head down.

"Shishishi. You know, I stole that line from someone, Usopp." Luffy grins

The teen's head shoots up, eyes wide. "How do you know me!?"

"You're Yasopp's son, right? I know your father."

Usopp stands up quickly but his feet slips and he stumbles down the small cliff, right at Luffy and Zoro's feet. But he quickly stands up again.

"You know my dad!?"

"Of course. He used to stay at my village to resupply with Shanks."

"You mean 'Red Haired' Shanks!? My dad works for one of the Emperors of the Sea!"

"Shishishi. Yup!"

"Why are you standing here then? Come, we can eat and talk"

Usopp takes the crew to the only restaurant in his village. The sign of which said "Food". They all sat at two tables joined together since the crew was large. A waiter dropped trays loaded with meat in front of them, as per Luffy's request. They kept eating as they talked.

"Man! I can't believe you challenged The Shanks like that!"

"Shishi. He's the one who gave me his Strawhat. Saying that this was his treasure that I would return once I achieve my dream."

"Amazing. Your stories are even more outlandish than mine." Usopp takes a bite of his steak. "By the way, why did you come here?"

"I want you in my crew as our sniper."

"What!? But I'm already a captain with eight million men under me!"

"So, he's a liar." Zoro points out.

"I'm not lying!"

"Sure"

"If you are going to expand your crew, you would need a ship, Luffy." Nami pointed a finger at the Captain.

"I'm sure those living in that mansion..." he points out the window to a mansion on the hill. "May have a ship we can use."

Usopp became uncomfortable with that. "You guys should not go there, you know. The girl there is very sick and... Look at the time! I just remembered I need to go somewhere. You guys can eat all you want. Its on me. Everybody knows me here." With that, he walked backwards awkwardly until he was out of the door and running towards the mansion.

"Something tells me he's hiding something." Satch interjects.

"You think?" Zoro asks rhetorically.

Just then, a trio of children barges into the restaurant. "Ready yourselves, evildoers! We will- Where's our Captain!?" the one with an onion hat on his head asked.

The other two were also vegetable themed. One with semi-closed eyes wore a carrot hat and the other one wore a Bell Pepper hat. Luffy would have dubbed them Veggie Pirates in his head.

"Ahhh. It was good meat!" Luffy exclaims, patting his stomach in satisfaction. This scared the kids. They then looked at all the other members of the crew, except Nami, either picking their teeth or chewing on their last bite. Each sight horrified them further.

Zoro realized their fears and decided to have fun. He looked them all in the eyes and smirk evilly. "Your Captain." his smirk widened. "We ate him."

The kids were horrified. But then they turned towards Nami. "Ugly hag!!!" screaming at her in fear.

The crew laughed merrily as Nami scolded the kids for being afraid of her instead of Zoro or Luffy.

Strawhats are all sitting around a fence, facing the Veggie Trio. "He goes there to lie." Onion explains.

"So, he's trying to con that girl?" Zoro raises his eyebrow.

"No! Captain Usopp goes there to cheer her up since she can't leave her room due to sickness.!" Carrot exclaims, defending Usopp's character.

"An honorable liar." Satch interjects.

"I like him. Shishishi." Luffy chuckles. "Let's go to that mansion! I want a ship!"

The crew follow their excited captain. They reach the main gate, but find it locked. Luffy decides to jump the hedges. He stretches one arm around his entire crew and uses Gum-Gum Rocket to launch himself and his screaming crew into the air. He then lands first over on the other side of the mansion, then slows down his crew's decent with his arm.

"Idiot! Don't do that again!" Nami bonks Luffy on his head which he shrugs off unharmed.

"Captain, there is only so much we can take before fainting." Hanta says between his breaths.

"Shishishi. Don't worry. I have experience falling from cliffs when I was a child."

"What sort of a childhood did you have!?" Nami screams at him.

"Who are you people?" A strained feminine voice grabs their attention. They look up to see a pale looking young girl in her window, looking at them with a worried expression. Usopp was standing on a sturdy branch that had grown close to the window.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy, future King of Pirates! And this is my crew!" Luffy waves a hand towards his crew. "We want to buy a ship from you!"

"I told you guys to not come here!" Usopp yells at them.

"It's alright, Usopp." The girl assure him.

"But, Kaya, you are not well."

"I can at least talk to-"

"What is the meaning of this?" A voice comes from behind the Strawhats. It is a man with round spectacles wearing a proper three-piece suit. It was basic suit, indicating he was likely a servant or butler. Luffy senses something's off about him. "Who are you people so brazenly breaking in to a private property?"

"We are here to talk to the owner of this mansion." Luffy says with an eery calm that Zoro picks up on.

"Klahadore. Its alright. These are guest-" Kaya tries to explain.

"Miss Kaya, you are not in any condition to meet anyone. How many times do I have to tell you?"

Everyone other than Kaya can feel how rude that statement was. Luffy decides to voice it. "Hey, Kaya. You're butler is rude. Could you shut him up?"

"I-"

"Don't you dare talk to Miss Kaya this brazenly, you thieves!" he sets his spectacles in a peculiar way.

Luffy's eyes narrow. "Hanta, Satch, Bufford. Shut him up." he commands the trio, who adorn a wicked smile while approaching Klahadore.

"Please! I beg you to stop!" Kaya screams from the window.

The trio looks at Luffy, who nods at them to step down. Usopp jumps to ground level. "Let's leave, guys."

"Oh. So the filthy liar son of a filthy pirate is also here." Usopp glares at Klahadore. "If I see you on this property I will have you arrested, son of a whore."

Usopp snaps and launches at the butler. He swings his arm, which catches the butler in the jaw.

"Don't you dare insult my mother again." Usopp growls.

"Usopp. You need to leave right now!" Kaya yells from the window. Her face had gone even more pale.

The crew and Usopp decide to leave, with Klahadore nursing his cheek where Usopp struck. Kaya leaned against the window sill, breathing heavily.

The crew gets back to the fence they had occupied while Usopp went on to somewhere.

"I don't like that butler guy." Nami says as she seats herself on the fence.

"He's not a butler. He's hiding something." Luffy explains.

"He looks like someone we saw on a bounty poster once." Bufford gives his two cents.

"Are you sure?" Zoro raises his brow at him.

Hanta makes a face before answering. "Yeah. It was an old poster. I remember his face, but not his name."

"Captain Kuro. That's his name." Satch reminds him.

"Captain Kuro?" Luffy asks, then looks at the sky. "I'll find Usopp. See what he thinks."

"Alright." Zoro waves slightly before laying on the grass and going to sleep.

Somehow, Luffy stumbles upon Usopp. But, he was up a cliff at the beach. Peering down at two people. It was Klahadore and a funny looking guy. Instead of alerting them, he hides behind a boulder to listen to what they were talking about in a suspicious manner at this suspicious place.

He learns that the butler is indeed Captain Kuro. And the guy he's talking to is named Jango. Jango has long flowing dirty blonde hair, pink heart shaped sunglasses. He wore a glittery jacket which was open with matching pants and a pair of very large bladed ring hung at his neck like a locket.

Kuro commanded his temporary replacement for Black Cat Pirates that some sort of plan needs to happen today. The plan is later revealed to be for Kuro to get Kaya's money and kill her afterwards, then set the mansion and the village on fire. Jango flinches at the plan.

Luffy could see that Usopp was going to do something rash. So he decided to do something rash himself. He used Gum-Gum Rocket using the boulder and launched himself at Kuro. The full body tackle slams Kuro in the cliff, knocking him out.

"Who the fuck are you!?" Jango yells, so Luffy knocks him out as well.

"How did you fly just now!?" Usopp screamed from the cliff-side to Luffy.

"I'll tell you if you become my sniper. Shishishi"

"But why did you do that?"

"So we can take both of them to Kaya and tell her the truth with proof."

Understanding dawns on Usopp and he fists his palm. They both tie the two unconscious criminals with rope that comes out of Usopp's bag and haul them up the cliff-side.

They take them to where the rest of the Strawhats were. The situation is explained and they all set off for the mansion.

At the mansion, the crew enter the open gates brazenly and knock at the door, which is answered by another servant with a sheep like head. "Can I help you?" he asks politely.

Luffy just stands aside to reveal the two unconscious people to the servant. "We just hauled this trash back to the mansion. We need to have words with Kaya."

The servant is stunned to recognize Klahadore (Kuro) tied up by them alongside another person who is dressed funnily. "What is the meaning of this!? Who are you people!?"

Instead of answering, Luffy just pushes the servant to get inside followed by his crew and captives. "Miss Kaya! We need to talk to you!" Luffy yells as he sits at the couch in the living room. The captives are thrown in front of him as the crew find seats for themselves. Nami is especially ticked off.

"Who is it, Merry?" Kaya asks as she is stepping down the stairs. She then looks towards the living room and is stunned to find the pirate group from earlier with Klahadore (Kuro) held captive alongside another person who dresses funny. "What have you done to Klahadore!?" She yells in a high pitch then gets a coughing fit. Merry, the servant, stabilizes her.

"Miss Kaya, you should rest. I can handle these people."

"No, I need to see to it myself."

"As you wish." Merry stands aside and Kaya walks to the living room to confront the crew. "Can anyone explain? Usopp?"

Luffy looks at her for a moment. "Your butler turned out to be Captain Kuro of the Black Cat Pirates."

"What!?" Kaya is stunned. "Impossible!! Stop these baseless accusation!"

Undeterred, Luffy continues, "He was planning on taking all your money, kill you, and burn this village to the ground. The other guy, is his subordinate, who lead the Black Cat Pirates in his stead."

"You lie. Why would you do this to him?" Kaya is hysterical now.

"Kaya, you need to calm down and listen to him." Usopp approaches her and puts his hands on her shoulder.

Tears appear in her eyes as she looks at Usopp, finally willing to accept the reality. This shows that even if Usopp is a masterful liar, he would never lie about serious matter to her. She leans into him, causing him to awkwardly embrace her.

Merry looks down at Klahadore, whom he considered his friend. He was having just as hard a time accepting the fact that Klahadore could be a criminal.

"Now that you know what he is, we need him to confess to his crimes. It won't be pretty so we need a secluded and hopefully sound proof room." Luffy turns to look at Merry, who looks at Kaya. She nods with tears still flowing from her eyes.

The crew takes the captives to the room Merry leads them to. Nami stays back to console Kaya along with Usopp. Distant screams of pain reaches their ears in muffled voice as Merry comes back into the room with lemonade for Kaya and the "guests".

Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, Bufford, Satch, and Hanta stood at the slope leading to the northern coast of the island, overlooking the ocean. They spot a ship coming from the horizon, its black sails emblazoned with Black Cat insignia. The dipping sun casted a looming shadow across the waving sail.

As the ship came closer and closer, Usopp readied his slingshot and many trick pellets he created.

He loads one up and aims at the man standing at the front of the ship. Right when the person is in range, Usopp fires his trick pellet, which turns out to be an explosive pellet, that fatally wounds the target's face. This causes chaos on the deck of the ship as everyone is running around in panic. Usopp rapidly fires many more pellets that achieve different results, but they are not as deadly.

The ship stops at the beach that also housed the boats that the Strawhats used. The many members of the Black Cat Pirates charge up the slope to attack their assailants. Everyone, excluding Luffy, jumps in forming a wall that cannot be surpassed. Many Black Cats fall. Until two particular members join and cause the Strawhats to make an opening in the corner.

Zoro is too busy to handle the stronger opponents, who consists of a tall skinny dude and fat short dude. They were pretty effective in their moves as they overpowered Bufford and Hanta. The two opponents climb up the slope intent on crushing Usopp and Luffy.

Luffy decides to intervene. The skinnier one goes for a quick slash, which Luffy dodged. The fat one went for a full body tackle. Luffy jumped over it and landed behind him. The thin one then tried another sneak attack. This time the raven haired captain grabbed his wrist tightly, enough to cause the cat themed pirate to yelp in pain. Then he swung the poor bastard to his partner, slamming both of them into the cliff-side of the slope they fought on. The damage to them wasn't enough as they tried to get back up, but Luffy used a Gum-Gum Bazooka to drive them further into the wall of earth. Usopp was stunned at the display.

That was the end of the weird duo. After that no one made it past the figurative wall that the Strawhats had made. The battle ended as fast as it had started. The Black Cat Pirates lay across the slope in various states of injuries. Some weren't breathing, especially the ones Zoro cut down.

"I've got everything!" Nami yelled from the Black Cats' ship.

"When did she get there!?" Usopp exclaimed in surprise.

"Shishishi. Don't underestimate the sneakiness of our crew's resident thief!" Luffy answered as he watched Nami happily skipping off the ship and over to the crew.

"Just a few millions short! I'm kind of disappointed they had so few on them." Nami twirled the noticeably small bag of looted treasure she held. "I estimate around five millions' worth."

"I'll take your word for it." Luffy just grinned and dismissed it. He mentally noted that Nami was clearly happy for being near her goal. He didn't mind her keeping her secrets from them, as she still wasn't officially part of their crew. Just a guide who is with them as temp.

But, he was determined to make her stay.

They decided to head back to Kaya's mansion. On the way Luffy took Zoro aside.

"Marines don't know you're a criminal right now. We can use that to our advantage." He remarked. His first mate got an inkling of an idea of what his captain wanted done. "As a matter of fact, even I'm just a random civilian still. We can go collect on Kuro's bounty, and possibly Jango's as well."

Zoro didn't hesitate as it was a fine plan. It would at least fill their coffer a bit. He nodded and went and grabbed both the unconscious "retired" pirate captain and his lackey and followed Luffy.

Turns out, Gecko Islands were actually a large archipelago. The bigger land mass there had a town, big enough to warrant a Marines Base, which was located near the southern road that led to the town proper.

Although a small amount of unsavory people could be seen here and there, it was a fairly peaceful town. The part where the base was located was bustling with activity. It was night by the time they arrived. Even still, many people were busy with this and that. As the two hauled their captives through the fairly busy street, the passerby gave them a wide berth, figuring that they were bounty hunters and heading to the base.

As Luffy and Zoro stepped into the base, the Marines soldiers and clerks narrowed their eyes. Though bounty hunters are doing their job of catching criminals for them, they distrusted, and sometimes even resented them. Zoro wasn't the least bit concerned and strode forward with Kuro on his shoulder and Luffy following with Jango.

"My name is Roronoa Zoro. I've captured Captain Kuro of The Black Cats Pirates. He's alive and mostly intact." The first mate said as he addressed the clerk at reception then pointed towards his captain, "This is my friend Luffy, he captured Kuro's lackey, Jango." Luffy gave a wave to the receptionist.

The receptionist, who was half asleep, jolted awake at hearing what Zoro said. He quickly scrambled inside a room, yelling "Wait here for a minute!" over his shoulder. The door to the room was labelled "staff only". Moments later, a fairly old-looking guy, probably a captain, came out with just his casual shirt and uniform pants on. He had a long white beard and shoulder cut hair. He looked like he was woken from his sleep. "So you are Roronoa Zoro I've heard so much about. The Pirate Hunter. And I see you brought some luggage." The old officer said as he looked down to the unconscious forms of both Jango and Kuro.

"I caught him in Syrup Village causing trouble. Then me and my friend Luffy took care of him and his crew."

"And where might that crew be, if I may ask?" The old captain asked suspiciously.

"I couldn't haul them all here on the little dinghy I used to get here. They are all lying dead at the northern shore of Syrup Village."

The captain stared for a couple of seconds before sighing in relief. "Truly, good deeds are seldom unrewarded. I helped a child get home yesterday and now something like this falls into my lap! I'm truly blessed!"

The weird scene of an old man crying tears of joy unnerved Zoro, but Luffy just grinned. "Can you just pay us so we can leave?" Zoro uneasily asked.

"Of course. Men, get the bounty posters of these ruffians!" The old man barked and two bounty posters were presented to him. "Thank you for giving me such an achievement right before my retirement. Here is 18 Million collective bounty of these two." He flourished his hands with a bow towards the bag of money a soldier brought and handed to Luffy.

The two Strawhats took the offered money and left. "I don't think he would care even if we told him we were pirates." Luffy mentioned with a big grin.

"I know. It's the first time I've seen that reaction. At least we got what we wanted. Won't work a second time, this trick."

"Yeah, cause next time we will have bounties of our own."

"You bet." Zoro smiled wide to match his captain.

Luffy and Zoro were now back and relaxing in the spare room Kaya had gotten prepared for them. Nami, Satch, Bufford, and Usopp were lounging around. Luffy suddenly sits up and faces Nami. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Nami blinked a few times before nodding and following Luffy to the connected balcony.

"How much money do you need for whatever you need to do?" Luffy directly asks, surprising Nami.

She stared a little before responding. "Why do you need to know?" She sounded skeptical.

"Just answer the question, Nami."

She was surprised by the seriousness and gentleness in his usually chaotic demeanor. "I guess I should tell you." She shivered trying to recall her life. But Luffy stopped her.

"I don't need to hear your story. I trust you will ask for my help if things go south. How much?" He insisted.

Nami felt a little conflicted about this. On one hand, she trusted Luffy enough to tell him. On the other, her pride, and disgust for anything related to pirates, made her hesitate. She knew Luffy was different, but he's still a pirate. She felt like she will betray herself and her village if she asked for his help.

Finally coming to a decision, she looked at Luffy. "100 Million." She finally said.

"How much left?"

"15 Million."

"Good. The bounty we collected was 18 Million so you can take all of it and set sail to your island." Luffy turned to leave.

She was left stunned at that. She had thought Luffy would have dangled money in front of her to make her do what he want. But he just gave her all the money he received to her clearly endeared Luffy to her. "Wait!" Nami stopped him and he turned back around. "I... I wanna sail with you guys some more. Can I?"

Luffy adorned a wide, sleazy grin. "You will have to join our crew for that! Shishishi!"

She mentally sighed. *To think he would dangle a promise of adventure in front of me instead of Bellies. This goof!* without hesitation, she reached out her hand to her new captain. "Accepted! From now on, I am a proud member of the Strawhat Pirates!"

Luffy's grin turned into a genuine smile as his eyes sparkled in joy. He grabbed her hand and gave it a firm shake. Then he released and raised his fists into the air. "Woohoo! We got another member!"

The rest of the crew heard this and shook their heads collectively. Usopp had already accepted the invitation even before fighting The Black Cat Pirates. The all decided to hold a celebration once they set sail again.

The next morning, Kaya and Merry greeted the crew. They then took the crew to the southern shore. There, floated a ship, a caravel to be precise. It's figurehead was a sheep head, crafted with precision and care, hinting towards the inspiration of it. It's polished deck and gleaming railings captured the crew's eyes. It wasn't a massive ship, but it was a step forward, a step towards the fulfilment of the promise of an adventure of a lifetime.

"As a token of my gratitude, I offer your crew this ship. It's a modest one, but this is the only one I possess at the moment."

"No. This for more than what I expected! I love it!" Luffy literally jumped onto the deck and started exploring every nook and cranny in earnest. The rest of the crew followed suit with the same enthusiasm. Except for Nami. She stayed on the shore, getting Merry, the servant, to explain more about the ins and outs of the ship to her.

The ship came stocked with supplies enough for a seven-man crew to last two weeks. Barrels of fresh water and booze were stacked in the storage hold below deck. The captain's quarters was designated for Luffy, with his nameplate and all. Nami tried to snatch the room from him but Luffy was stubborn, plus Zoro opposed the notion vocally. She sighed and took a corner in the crew's quarter, with all the men, with little to no privacy... She at least negotiated to keep her belongings in Luffy's cabin, so she could change in peace, and handle her more... feminine needs in relative privacy.

The Strawhats then set sail as Usopp shared a teary goodbye with Kaya, with him promising to return with real, yet unbelievable stories some day.

Author's Notes:*

Hi, Guys! I hope you are doing well. Sorry for the delay. Life just never gives me motivation for stuff I like. I've been juggling between a full-time job and education. Thank god that my graduation is about to be completed, so I won't have to set a time limit on my hobbies much.

I decided to not do the actual fight, since I had a more intelligent Luffy. I am cutting corners in this story by cutting out the crap, which makes the story less flavourful, so I compensate it with my meager writing experience. I had Nami join the crew officially to not have her in a dilemma over betraying the crew and asking for help. This step will cement her position in the crew and she won't be flaky when it comes to decisions.

Arlong fight will more or less be the same. Although Luffy's seriousness will make the battle fast-paced. But all that is for the future. Right now, I want you to enjoy this chapter. The next chapter will be available right when this one comes out.

Please drop a review as any words from you guys will only make my writing stronger.