# Chapter 2
"We have arrived, Captain." Satch, the skinny one shook Luffy awake.
Luffy yawned as he stood up and walked to the dock where his companions stood waiting on him. He passed the trio and handed them five 100 coins. "Go buy yourselves some clothes. I don't want you to look like ruffians. Also, buy anything you might need. I will be at the base."
The trio nodded and went off. Luffy nodded at Coby and they both began walking towards the base. In their walk, they bought some fruits and talked about what to do next. Luffy dropped Zoro's name and the people in ear shot backed away. Both of them laughed and continued on. Their conversation turned to the Base Commander Morgan. People similarly backed away, causing confusion for Coby.
"This means that the Base Commander is a dickhead hear."
Luffy's comment didn't register well with Coby who was in deep thought. *It can't be. Are the people so oppressed by the Marines that they fear them? But Marines are supposed to protect people.*
"Oye, we are here. You can finally join the Marines now." Coby's eyes watered at that looking at the iron gate of the base. Luffy then climbed the wall to peek. "I bet I can see Zoro from here."
"Mr. Luffy, there is no way he would be in the middle of the field-"
"There he is!" Luffy dropped down and ran to the side wall of the base to get a better look. He climbed the wall and Coby followed. "Look there, there he is!"
Coby looks astonished at the treatment of the prisoner. *That's inhumane.* He then looked at the prisoner a little more. *There's no mistaking it. Green Haramaki, dark green Bandana, black pants, demonic eyes. That's Roronoa Zoro.*
As they are staring at the bound Pirate Hunter, he looks back at them. "Hey, you two..." he speaks to them. Coby squeeks. "You are eyesores. Get lost."
Luffy is about to respond when a ladder clacks beside him. A little girl climbs up and drops a rope on the other side. She looks left and right, shushes Luffy and Coby, even though they weren't speaking, and climbs the rope down. She then runs to Zoro holding a small package to her chest. "Oi, pipsqueek. You wanna die that bad? Get away before I kill you." Zoro tells the girls who ignores him. When she reaches him, she open the package, revealing two rice balls.
"You must be hungry, so I made you rice balls. Its my first time making them so I don't know how it would taste."
"Hey, didn't you hear me? Get out of here-" Zoro tries to tell her off but someone from the main gate interrupts him.
"Hey, there. Roronoa Zoro. I see you got an admirer. What do youbhave here girl?" says a boy with blond hair parted in the center. He wore a purple suit with a pink shirt and frilly cuffs. He was escorted by two Marines as his guards and servants.
"Rice balls-" the little girls answers. The boy immediately and rudely snatches away both of her rice ball and eats one. Immediately he threw out.
"What is this garbage!? You are supposed to put salt in it! Not Sugar!" he throws the rest of the rice ball on the ground and stomped on it. "Furthermore, you are violating the law by aiding a criminal. I will see you punished for this. Guard, throw this girl over the fence!"
"But sir, she's just a child." the guard Marine protested.
"Did you not hear me? Or do you want me to tell daddy about you?" the guard hesitated before turning to the little girl.
"I'm sorry. Please curl into a little ball." he says before he picks her up. He turns to throw her but spots Luffy hanging on the the closest wall, he nods to the boy, who nods back, and throws the girl over to him.
Luffy quickly catches the girl, making sure she wasn't injured. Coby approaches them to make sure they are alright. He is in shock that Marines could be this cruel to the people they swore to protect.
"You see, Coby? There is no black and white. Good Marines can be bad and bad pirates can be good. You just have to remain yourself."
Coby looks at Luffy and acknowledges what he is told.
Back in the crufication field, the blonde boy starts walking out of the base. "You just hang in there, Roronoa. I will be glad to drag your corpse out on my horse."
"Just ten days remain, Helmeppo. I'll survive and get out of here." Zoro bites back. The now named Helmeppo gets out of the grounds to wander the town.
Zoro sighs in annoyance before noticing Luffy standing in front of him, arms crossed. "What are you looking at, idiot? Go away before I kill you."
"I'm seeing that you are not that much of a monster as people make you out to be. You're a pretty decent guy." Luffy gives him a grin.
"Shut it."
"I hear you hunt pirates. People call you the Pirate Hunter. I believe it fits you. Though I still
can't see you as the demon at all."
"I don't care what people think of me. I hunt the first bounty I come across and get paid."
"Alright, then. Enjoy your time here." Luffy waves at him over his shoulder as he turns around.
"Wait!" At Zoro's voice Luffy turns back. "Could pass that to me?"
Luffy looks at the stomped rice balls Zoro pointed at. "Those are more like mud balls now. you will still eat them?"
"Just feed them to me!" At his insistence, Luffy feeds the stomped on rice balls to Zoro, who quickly devours it. "Tell the kid that they were delicious. Please."
Luffy grins at that. He was liking this Zoro more and more. He then nodded and left to find that kid at again, who he finds at the bar.
Luffy told the little girl that Zoro liked her rice balls and she was happy. Then she tells them that Zoro was captured to keep her and her mother safe. She also tells them that Helmeppo and him had an agreement that he would be tied to a post in the field without food for a month.
Luffy thanks her for the information and get inside the restaurant/bar. There he finds Helmeppo.
"I'm getting bored so I think I will execute Zoro tomorrow." Luffy just listened this line and slammed his fist in Helmeppo's face. He was angry for Zoro's sake. "I will tell daddy about you! You will get executed!"
"Fight me yourself, coward." Luffy steps closer but Coby stops him.
Before Luffy could get free, Helmeppo ran away along with his guards. Luffy then decided to go recruit Zoro. He reaches the crucification field and approaches Zoro. "You're a swordsman, right?" The person in question nods, "Then join my pirate crew!"
"What? I will never stoop to the level of a pirate. "
"But I've already decided you will be in my crew."
"Don't just decided these things on your own, idiot!"
Luffy then notices something, "You use swords, right? Then I will get your swords. In return you will join my crew."
"What are you? Satan?"
"I'll get right back."
Luffy starts running towards the base. *is he seriously gonna get into the base?* Zoro thinks before Luffy stretches his arms towards the lip of the roof of the base. "Gum-Gum Rocket!" he yells before reeling himself up. He overshoots his target and had to stabilize by grabbing something, which was a rope, tied to a statue of the base commander being pulled by his soldiers. The roped loosens and the statue breaks in half before the upper half shatters completely.
The base commander is furious with this situation. "Arrest that man!" he commands. But Luffy had landed near Helmeppo, whom he kidnaps and runs into the base with.
"Tell me where Zoro's swords are, helmet guy!" Luffy strangles the boy until he point to a door.
"We just missed it. It's in my room right there." Luffy then takes him into his room by slamming him into the door and opening it. He goes inside and cringes at the girly room of Helmeppo. He sees three Katana resting against the wall. He goes to ask Helmeppo but he is out cold.
Meanwhile the base commander spots Coby trying to untie Zoro. He surrounds them both with his soldiers. "For treason against me, I order both of you to execution. Soldiers, Aim!"
Coby and Zoro are now scared facing rifles from over two dozen soldiers.
Luffy spots this and grabs all three swords, and, doing a Gum-Gum Rocket, launches himself in front of his friends.
"Fire!" Morgan shouts and the soldiers take their shots.
Luffy spread his arms to protect Zoro and Coby. The bullet hit him and stretch his body backwards before he flexes and send the bullets back in random directions. One bullet almost hitting Morgan, which he notices.
The Marines and even Zoro and Coby stare dumbfounded at Luffy. "Bullets don't hurt me! Shishishishi" He then faces Zoro. "Now that you are a declared criminal, why not become a pirate in my crew?"
"Just untie me." Zoro scoffs as Luffy and Coby both work on untying him.
Morgans and the soldiers snap out of the shock. "If bullet don't work, then cut him to pieces!" Morgan commands and the Marines charge them with their various swords.
Just then Luffy unties Zoro, who quickly grabs his three swords and blocks all the soldiers' attack in a single move. He give the soldiers an evil stare which freezes them with fright.
"I will join you. But know that I will only follow my own ambition. That is to become the greatest swordsman in the world. If you get in my way, I will make sure you commit seppuku."
Luffy thinks a bit, "Greatest Swordsman, huh? Alright. Pirate King would want nothing less than the best in his crew."
Morgan then snaps his soldiers back to present with a command. "What the hell are you doing? Cut them to ribbons."
"Zoro, Duck." Luffy calls out before stretching and swinging his leg towards Zoro and the soldiers. Zoro ducks and the leg sweeps the soldiers away.
"What the hell was that?" Zoro asks.
Luffy answers loudly, so that the soldiers also hear, "I ate the Gun-Gum Devil Fruit. I am a rubber man."
"we can't win against them, sir." one marines tells Morgan.
"They are too strong." Another one tells. him.
Morgan snaps. "This is a direct order. Everyone who said such cowardice, shoot yourself right now. I have no need for weak fools."
This command is met with frowning faces by the soldiers who don't follow through.
Luffy comes to their rescue with a Gum-Gum Pistol aimed at Morgan's stomach, which gets blocked by Morgan's axe, that is connected to his arm. In response Morgan swings his axe at Luffy who dodges and spins, before punching with the momentum of the spin, catching Morgan in the jaw.
The commander stands back up to swing again which gets dodged again and Luffy uses both his feet to stomp his face. Morgan is thrown on his back. Luffy stands over his chest and starts pounding his face left and right.
"Stop! Or I will blow his brains out-" Helmeppo shouts to Luffy who ignores him. "Hey, are you an idiot? I have a hostage right h-" he gets whacked o his head by a large fist from behind.
Luffy stops and looks at the new arrivals.
The large Bufford stands there with his biceps flexed. He is now wearing a dark blue T-shirt, an off white pair of pants, and a dark blue bandana and shoes. His cutlass hung at his waist. (Bufford is Bald)
Hanta, with his short stature, is wearing maroon pants with red suspenders, white tank top with a black opened jacket over his shoulders. (Hanta has long light brown hair)
Satch, the skinny tall guy, is wearing a yellow button shirt with half sleeves and brown pants. he is also wearing square sunglasses. (Satch has curly blonde hair)
Luffy grins at them, "Looking good, guys!" he gives an "OK" gesture.
Zoro looms at them and shrugs. He then notices Morgan standing up again. He is about to swing at Luffy when Zoro launches himself at him and deliver three slashes on Morgan's chest, which finally takes down the stubborn commander.
The pirate crew then gets ready to face the remaining soldier but are pleasantly surprised. The soldier, instead of attacking them, celebrate Morgan's defeat. The pirate crew leaves the grounds unopposed with chuckles.
.
.
"Ahhh... That hits the spot." Zoro as he pats his bloated stomach. "Three weeks of starvation really does a number on you, huh?"
"Shishishi. I can't believe you starve for that long. I would have died, I think."
"Yeah, probably, with how much you eat. But how can you eat more than me?"
"You never know when your next meal is gonna be, always eat to your heart's content whenever you can."
"Words of wisdom, Captain." Satch interjects himself while taking the empty plates to Ririka, the owner of the restaurant.
Bufford pours Zoro some ale as well as himself. "So, this is it? This is your crew, Captain?" Zoro asks Luffy who finally decides to spare the restaurant bankruptcy.
"Yup. This is Satch, Hanta, and Bufford" He points at each in turn, who give their own version of salutes. "This makes five of us."
"What about the pink haired pipsqueak there?" Zoro points to Coby who flinches.
"I'm going to join the Marines, Mr. Zoro. Its my dream to uphold justice." Coby has a fire in his eyes that resonates with Zoro.
"Oh yeah? But weren't you Alvida's lackey before?" Coby flinches again, "Don't underestimate the Marines' info gathering strength. You will be kicked out in no time if they find out about you."
Suddenly there is a commotion outside. A moment later Marine soldiers enter the restaurant, with a dark skinned man at the front. "Is it right to assume you guys are pirates?" he asked politely.
"Yup!" Luffy grins at him.
"You have our gratitude for liberating the people of Shells Town and us from our oppressive commander. But still, we cannot have you stay here any longer." the crowd behind him erupts in protests. "We won't report you to the head quarters. Please leave this island."
Luffy looks at the man for a moment, then at his crew one by one, silencing Bufford's protest before he can say anything. Then he looks back at the Marine and grins. "Okay. Guys, its time to leave." he turns to his crew and picks up the bag of supplies over his shoulder. On the way out, he leaves a pouch full of coins of unknown amount, before the crew leaves, The Marines giving them a wide berth.
"What about him? Isn't he with you?" Coby flinches when the Marine points at him while looking at Luffy.
The Captain of the still unnamed crew turn around. "I don't know him. He's just a wussy brat we picked up along the way." He then approaches Coby and bends to poke him in his temples. "He should probably get back to his mommy Alvid-"
Luffy is interrupted as Coby punches to silence him. "Shut up!" The punch doesn't do any damage but Luffy smirks. Then starts wailing on the kid.
After a moment of surprise, the Marine thinks its enough. "Alright, stop. Its clear that he isn't with you. Just Leave!"
Luffy straightens up, smirks and walks out again, picking up the bag of supplies he dropped at the doorway.
Coby stands up to fix his glasses and pats his clothes. The soldiers are about to leave when Coby stops them. "Wait!" The soldiers turn around. "I-I request permission to join the Marines. I can do anything, really. I can mop the floor, wash the dishes, and more. Just please let me join!"
The dark skinned Marine thinks about it. "What do you wanna become kid?"
"I..." Coby thinks back to everything that he has seen and what Luffy said to him, *There is no black and white. There are good marines who can be bad and bad pirates who can be good.* His eyes fill with determination, "I wanna become an officer who upholds justice and help the helpless and protect the defenseless. I wanna do something good for this world."
The soldiers whisper among themselves some against him joining and and the rest for allowing him. The man at the front tips his cap and walk forward a little. "You will see a lot of blood and death. Be prepared for that." Coby's eyes widen. "Permission to join granted!" the man barks.
Meanwhile, at the docks Zoro is stunned. "This little boat is gonna carry us?" he points at the boat Luffy and the trio used to get to Shells Town.
Beside them, a girl with orange hair climbs in another boat. The trio are lovestruck by her. Luffy slaps them awake. He doesn't bother the girl, whom he recognize from back at Alvida Pirates' raid.
The crew climbs into the boat which surprisingly holds their weight pretty well. The sails are dropped and the ropes are pulled as the crew sets sail for god-knows-where. A few metres away, a voice attracts them back at the docks. They turn to find Coby.
"Thanks for helping me, Luffy! We will definitely meet on the high seas again!" he screams and straightens out to give a salute to the retreating form of his friends.
Unknown to him, the Marine Soldiers stand behind him with the dark skinned man at the front again. "Marines!" he barks, "Salute!!" every Marine raises their hands in salute towards the pirates. Something that amusing the crew and astonishes Coby. Luffy and the crew chuckle as they sail.
The man at the front barks again, "Men, what we just did is violation of the Marine Code! For punishment, we will go without food for three days!"
"Yes, sir!" everyone yells back, including Coby, who is now a marine as well.
.
.
"We gotta go to the grand line, everyone." Luffy states. Zoro is indifferent to the statement, while the trio flinches.
"But, Captain, Grand Line is dangerous. Monsters live there. And the weather sinks ships faster than a stone. We can't make it there in this boat!" Bufford explains to which Luffy just shrugs.
"I gotta get the ultimate treasure, One Piece. It's there in the Grand Line. And about the ship, we will get one in due time. But there is one more inportant thing." Everyone leaned in close to listen what he was going to say. "I'm hungry!" All of the face fault at that.
"""You are the one ate everything!!!""" all four of them yell as one.
"But I'm still hungry!"
"Shut up and wait till we get to an island." Zoro says and lays back.
A gust of wind blows away Luffy's Strawhat. It flies up over the mast towards the front of the boat. Luffy, Zoro, and Hanta all follow it while staring at it. As the hat flies back down, Zoro extends him arm and grabs it. Luffy gives a sigh of relief and takes the hat back from Zoro and places it on his head.
"Something important?" Zoro asked Luffy with a solemn voice.
"More than my life." Luffy looked up in remembrance. "Its a promise between me and a dear friend. I have to return it when I achieve my dream." he remained silent.
Everyone looked at him and his hat. Zoro was about to say something but Luffy cut him off.
"I see a bird!" he exclaims.
"How are we going to catch it?"
"Leave it to me!" Luffy sends his arm to the horizontal beam of the sails and flexed. "Gum-Gum Rocket!" he retracted his arms fast, generating momentum, and left his grip when he reached the sails. The momentum carried him high into the air, stunning his crew, towards the bird.
But something went wrong. He didn't come back. The bird had caught his head in its beak. "Help!!!" Luffy screams.
"Idiot!!!" Zoro screams back and starts pedalling the boat himself, speeding towards where Luffy was going.
On there way, they found shipwrecked people. They couldn't stop for them so told the people to jump on as they pass them by.
The shipwrecked people did jump on. But then they threatened to take over the boat. The trio beat those three for their threats and tied them up.
An explosion sound came to them from above. Zoro saw the bird they were following getting blown up. He would have panicked seeing Luffy dropping from its mouth had he not remembered his captain was a rubber man. He calmly rowed until he reached the landmass from where the cannonball was launched that blew up the bird. He stowed his boat on the beach, beside another boat that had a cabin and its sail had a SkullBone symbol with clown hat and big red ball nose. He ignored the squirming of the rescued/tied people and ordered Bufford and Satch to look over them and Hanta to follow him.
He was about about to head in a random direction in thisbghost town when he saw another cannon shot absolutely demolish twenty buildings in a row. Both of them quickly ran in that direction.
.
.
A while ago, Luffy was dropped by the bird and landed in the middle of a commotion. Three pirates had cornered a girl. When the dust from his fall settled, he recognized the girl as the same one who left after them from Shelly Island. *She got here faster than us. Must be a good navigator. I want her in my crew.*
"Captain! I'm so glad you're here. Why don't you handle this guys for me, please?" the girl said and ran away without waiting for a response. Luffy just smiled at her antics.
"So, you are that girl's boss, huh?" one pirate looking ruffian said. Luffy ignored him.
"We will make you pay for what she did, then." Another one said, which Luffy again ignored, dusting his clothes.
"Oi, listen when someone speaks!" The third one went too far and snacked Luffy's head from behind, knocking his hat off.
This enraged Luffy. "Don't you dare harm my treasure!" he yelled and gave an uppercut to the guy, sending him flying backwards for a significant distance. Second one swiped his sword at him, which Luffy dodged and gave the guy a roundhouse kick to the neck, almost breaking it.
He didn't wait for the last guy to make any move. He just gave him a fast gut-punch and slammed his face down in to the road.
The girl climbs a nearby rooftop and sees that the ruffians were dealt with so fast. *It would be a good idea to have this kid on my side.* "Hey, what's your name?"
"My name Monkey D. Luffy." The captain replies.
"I'm Nami. Wanna eat something?"
"Yeah, I'm starving!" his eyes light up.
.
.
They brek into a house and eat the food they found there. "Do you live here?" Luffy asks Nami.
"I don't live on this island."
"So you're a sneak thief, huh?"
"I am a thief, but I only steal from pirates."
"Same difference. Say, you seem like a damn good navigator."
"I am. Its my dream to map the whole world. But I have more pressong matters, which require me to steal a lot of money."
"Why do you want so much?"
"None of your business." She sighs.
Luffy just shrugs while stuffing his face full of bread from a basket. "Wanna join my pirate crew?"
Her eyes widen then narrows. "So, you're a filthy pirate? Like I woukd ever join a fikthy pirate group. I hate Pirates."
She starts to leave but then sees another search party looking for her, through the window. An idea forms in her head. "I'll join you, but I have a condition." she devises a devious plan.
Luffy's eyes light up. "Anything!"
She proceeds to wrap a lot of rope around himand ties it of, one end of it in her hand, making Luffy look like her prisoner. "You will have to do this for me."
She then takes Luffy to the flat rooftop that was occupied by Captain Buggy "The Immortal" and his vrew. Both of them climb up just as Buggy release one of his crewmate from a choke.
"Whobare you two?" Buggy looks both of them up and down.
"I have caught the thief, Captain Buggy." Nami tells the clown pirate captain. "This is my former boss. We had an argument and I am just fed up with him. You can have him. And here's tour Map."
"I like your attitude, girl. What's your name?"
"Nami."
"What do you want in return for this?"
"I want to join your crew, Captain Buggy."
Silence falls on the rest of the crew as Buggy sits on his thrown and starts shaking. The crew thinks that he is mad at her. But, then he starts laughing. The crew nervously laughs alongside him.
"Alright! You're in!" Buggy announces. "Let's celebrate our new member!"
Luffy is put in a cage thatbhas two swuare slabs both up and down connected by bars. Frankly it was a strong and heavy cage. Around him a party ensues. The crew seems to follow a theme of a circus with many acrobats, ring masters, and whatnot. Nami is dribking, sitting opposite to Buggy on a table.
Luffy tries to stretch his hand to aplate to get something to eat. He is succesfull and grabs a plate of sliced ham which was grill fried. He silently chomps on the food.
Suddenly Buggy announces to prepare a Buggy Ball. Few of the crew drag a cannon to the edge of the roof facing a row of houses. A red cannon ball with Buggy's insignia emblazoned on it is loaded and fired.
The shot causes a large directional explosion that demolishes more than twenty houses. Nami is stunned at the display. Luffy is just curious as he eats hisbsecond olate thatbhe somehow grabbed.
"And now, we will blow that guy up- WHY DOES HE HAVE FOOD!?" Buggy screeches in surprise and anger.
"I stole it." Luffy simply answers.
"Grr... Oh, I wanna blow you up so bad. I've decided. Load another Buggy Ball and aim at that idiot!"
The crew complies and Nami is ushered close to the Cannon and handed a matchbox.
"This will be a punishment for him, as well as your test of loyalty. Blow up your former boss, Nami." Buggy commands.
Nami now faces a moral dillemma. *What do I do now?* A chant of "Fi~re! Fi~re!" starts. *Do I fire and drop to their level or runaway, giving up the map?* She looks at Luffy who doesn't show an ounce of fear facing the cannon. Suddenly the decision is taken from her hands as a crewmember snatches the matchbox and lights a match close to the fuse. Nami immediately take the three pieces of her Bo Staff from her right thigh, assemble it in a flourish and slams it on the offender's head.
"What's the meaning of this, Nami?" Buggy asks her with anger risibg in his head.
She goes to answer but notices that the fuse is lit. She vecomes indecisive when Luffy calls out. "Where is your resolve?"
Nami doesn't understand and yells back, "The resolve of a pirate!?"
"The resolve to put your life on the line."
This answer makes her decision. Few of the crew attack her. She manuevers around and junps over them to reach the fuse. With nothing to defuse it, she grabs it by her hands. "Aahhhh!!!" The fuse burns her hands before going out. Nami wipes swest of her forhead and sighs. But then realizes she is still surroubded by pirates. They are about to pounce on her when sudden Zoro jumps in between.
"Hands off mg captain." he says with his Wado Ichimonji, the white hilted blade, poibted at the crew.
One of the crew realizes who Zoro is. "Captain, that's The Pirate Hunter, Roronosz Zoro!"
Buggy walks forward and faces Zoro. "So, you've come for my head, huh?"
"I have left thatbline of work behind. I myself am a pirate now." Zoro turns aroybd and starts walkinf towards the cage Luffy is in. Hanta also appears througb the stair ways.
"But, you see, if I take you down, I will make a big name fornmyself." several knives appear in Buggy's hand.
Zoro notices and prepares to fight. Both of them face each other. Zoro takes out all three of his swords, placing one in hisbmouth horizontally and two in his hands vertically. His Bandana already tied on his head.
Buggy launches himself at Zoro, who dodges the initial assault, but blocks the second charge Buggy does. He then swings his swords in a seemingly random manner and slices through Buggy's stomach, arm and both legs. *No resistance at all.* he thinks before sheathing his swords again.
Buggy's crew then starts laughing. He gets confused and looks around. "He's floating, Zoro!" Hanta calls out, causing some around him to realize whobhe's with and try to grab him. Hanta starts his own battle with those Buggy pirates.
Zoro looks back and immediately takes out Wado Ichimonji and block a knife attack. *His hand is floating.* he is shocked but recovers quickly then looks at Luffy.
Buggy starts a monolougue. Luffy and Zoro share a look and Luffy yells, "Zoro, Run!"
The swordsman immediately understands. He sneakily runs to the cannon and flips it over, surprising Nami. "Light the fuse!" Luffy commands and Nami wuickly fires, realizing what will happen.
Buggy has lost his shit and scrambles to find cover. He grabs two of his men right when the explosion hits. Hanta appears behind Zoro and Nami and all three get to Luffy. They couldn't find how to open it so Zoro just grabs the bars and lifts it over his head like nobody's business. The four of them quickly run and find themselves in a barren street away fron the Buggy pirates. Zoro places Luffy down near a store, which is guarded by a snall dog.
"Doggy!" Luffy yells and strugglingly gets close to the dog, whos bites his arm.
Who's the witch?" Zoro asks Luffy.
"She's Nami. She is our navigator, now!" Luffy ezcitedly answet.
"I am not in your crew!" She yells then mellows oyt. "But I can work with you for some time."
"Fine for me. Why were you here, though?"
"I wanted to steal a map of the Grand Line from Buggy."
"Tbe one you returned to him. Good going, genius." Luffy comments, suddenly out of his rope bindings, but nobody notixes.
"I wasnted to save my life!"
"By sacrificing mine. What high moral you have for someone who hates purates." Luffy has slipped out ofbhis cage since he is rubber and the bars were just enough for him to squeeze through. Still nobody nitices.
"At least I don't loot villages."
"And I fight my own battles without sacrificing people!"
"You wouldn't-"
Zoro stops her to mention one most important thing. "Were you always able to do that?" he points at Luffy while looking him in the eye.
"Do what?"
"Get out of the cage."
"Yup!"
"And the rope?"qaO((
"Yup!"
"Then why the did you make me carry the cage with you inside!? You could've just gotten out and run with us!"
"Who are you oeople?" an old man interjectsbhimself.
"I'm Monkey D. Luffy. I'm a pirate. This is mt crew."
"You youngsters are pirates?"
"Yes. But we're not with Buggy." Nami exolains. "What's up with this dog?"
The old man, Mayor Boodle of this orange town, tells the dog's story as how he is still awaiting his owner, who is dead, and guards the store with his life, refusing to keave even when the townspeople ran away from Buggy's terror.
All of them are affected by the sad story. But since the dog refused to move from there, they decided to leavre after Luffy patted Chouchou, the dog, on the head.
Nami is trying to figure out what sort of people these pirates are. Suddenly a loud noise comes from where they left Chouchou.
All run back and find a large, pale green lion destroying the pet food store Chouchou was guarding with the dog unconsciously lying on his side. Two people stood close to the scene, obviously from Buggy's crew from how they dress. Nami scoffs. "This is what pirates do..." she looks to the side but finds the men gone. She looks back to the scene and find Luffyslamming his fist in the lions head abd Zoro slicing at its neck and Hanta swiping his sword at the lion's rump.
Suffice it to say, the lion didn't survive. Mohji, the tamer of the lion scream, "Ritchie!!!" he runs towards Luffy, who punts him in the head, slamming his head into the ground, knocking him out.
Zoro then charges the acrobat on a unicycle carrying a sword. The acrobat blocks and dodges Zoro's initial three slashes then sends a fire breath at Zoro, who dodges and flips back. Only then he charges again gives his three slash combo at the acrobat, catching him in the last one and ending the fight with one slash. "This is for destroying Chouchou's treasure!"
Namibis stunned at the display. Her thoughts changes about them a little. Mayor Boodle gives a speech and charges towards Buggy's crew.
"He's gonna die if we don't help him." Hanta says. Luffy nids at him and all of them run to follow the old man. Nami does so too.
They arrive with the Mayor telling at Buggy. Luffy knocks the mayor our.
"Why did you do that!?" Nami yells.
"He would've gotten in the way otherwise." he asnwer glaring Buggy in the eyes.
"Fire the Buggy Ball!" A command is given and the ball is fired.
"I git this!" Luffy says and starts inhaling sharply. "Gum-Gum Balloon!" he inflates into a balloon and catches the Buggy Ball in his stomach safely, which is sent back towards the rooftop, causing the Buggy crew to scramble but fall to the explosion ultimately.
"What the fuck was that!?" Nami screams at Luffy, demanding explanation for his bizarre feat.
"I'm a rubber man. I ate the Gum-Gum Fruit." comes the simple answer, then he turns back, sensing Buggy being still alive and two dead presences floating in front of him. *What was this feeling just now?* He ignores it in favor of facing Buggy. "He's mine. I will not let him destroy this townspeople's treasure."
Nami is stunned again by his determination. *He's different to other pirates. Just may be...*
Buggy pops up again and launches himself at them. Luffy spins in to a jumps and slams a fist into his jaw, sending his head flying. The Clown quickly cuts himself in to more pieces, each flying around Luffy.
"Chop-Chop Festival!" he yells and each piece starts hitting Luffy from random directions. But, the things about this is that the blows hurt. Like really hurt.
What's happening. Blunt force never hurt me before.* He shakes his head and sends his arms back. "Gum-Gum Gatling!" he exclaims and his punches seemingly multiply, randomly hitting Buggy's randon parts, causing him pain.
A knife flies from behind and takes Luffy's hat. Luffy sees red. He speeds up his Gatling and becomes more accurate. Beating up the various body parts of Buggy. A stray punch lands on Buggy's groin. This causes all parts to drop to the ground.
Nami sees an opening in this monstrous fight and ties up arms, legs, and torso in a pile. Buggy calls back his parts but only the head, hands, and feet come back. He looks like a miniature doll.
Luffy picks up his hat from the ground and places it on his head. He sends his arms back again then retracts them quickly to send them forward together. "Gum-Gum Bazooka!"
The blow throws Buggy far away into the horizon never to be seen again.
"Thanks, Nami." Luffy turns to the girl in their group. "You can take care of Buggy's treasure if you want."
The captain looks sullen as Nami skips happily towards where she knows is Buggy's treasure trove.
"Your hat is damaged." Hanta points out. "Its that valuable?"
Luffy nods simply and walks towards the beach. After waiting for half an hour, Nami comes back with two sack over her shouldersc "I calculate it to be almost a hubdred and fifty million Berri." She gushes while putting one sack towards Luffy. "You can have half, since you guys fought and all."
Luffy gladly acceots the treasure and puts it on the dock. "Can you guide us to the Gecko Island, Nami?"
The navigator thinks about it. "Well... I'm not gonna join your crew, but I can work with you. You guys are at least profitable."
"Good enough for me." Luffy's grin comes back. They all board their respective boats. "Are you gonna leave that like that?" Bufford points at the sail on Nami's boat.
"I will change it when I can. It does the work for now."
They sail only a little further when a voice catches their attention. "You youngsters!" The old Mayor yells, "Thank you for everything!" he yells agains with tears flowing down his face.
The crew grins and and waves back.
"Whats that sack on the dock beside him?" Nami accusingly asks.
"I left my share for then to rebuild their town. They will need it." Luffy answers.
He's really different.* Instead of gettibg mad for leaving behind such valuable treasure, she dons a contenplative look while looking at Luffy. "Give me your hat. I can sew it to look as good as new."
Luffy gives his straw hat to her with gratitude. "Thabk you!"
"Captain, I think it is a bit late to remind you, but..." Satch speaks but trails off. Everyone looks at him. "We don't have a name for our crew yet."
Kuffy thinks about it. Then he grins. "Strawhat Pirates. How does that sound?"
"I like it." says Zoro.
"It's unique." Nami responds.
"Understood." Satch says.
"We like it!" Bufford and Hanta exclaim.
Author's Notes: Hi there. new chapter. Don't have the energy to do anything rn. Just barely motivated myself to upload this. Enjoy!
Don't forget to tell me how it is. Leave critiques, suggestions, anything.