Luffy must have dozed off for quite a while as when he woke up again, his playlist had already ended and was now playing tracks from his recommendations. He looked up to the front of the bus where a monitor was displaying the scheduled route, thankfully, Shellstown was only a single stop away. He pressed his face against the window excitedly as he watched houses and buildings spawn more and more and pleasant hills, forests and rice paddies grew fewer. He grew excited as he saw all of the restaurants and convenience stores, offering so many deals and delicious options. The pretty lights, shapes and sights of the large town sent shivers of excitement running down Luffy's spine. As they drew to the centre of the town, he could see various power plant-like structures dotted in a circle with one large one in the middle of the town, each light blue covered with dark blue dashes. While they were once used to house the town's local militia, now they were home to several government offices.

The bus finally pulled into Shellstown Bus Terminal and Luffy excitedly leapt down the stairs, ready to explore. After almost forgetting that he had suitcases to pick up, the hyped-up teen trundled along into the shopping mall adjacent, hoping to grab a bite to eat. His bag (now back to a normal size) was now empty of the provisions he had packed, and his stomach was now growling for more, so he went to go browse around a bit before the Shuttle service. As he walked around, he could see many other teens doing the same, judging by their suitcases, he presumed that they too were Grand Line Hugh students. A sudden panicked yell from a while away caught his attention so he peered behind a wall to see what was going on.

A scrawny young boy with short pink hair the cut away at his jawline, large goofy blue rimmed glasses and a T-shirt with a sailor uniform design printed on it was on his knees backed against the wall, his face bowed in terror. He must have been… what? 16? 15? Something along those lines at least. Standing in front of him was a tall obese girl with long, scruffy black hair, freckles plastered over stretched face. She was dressed in a checkered pink shirt, a dark blue jumper, a wide brimmed hat with a wilting rose on it and had messily applied lipstick. She held in her hand a wooden baseball hat which had faint red splotches spattered all over. Behind her were two goons, one with a striped, blue bandana and the other with a flat shaved head and bushy brown facial hair.

"The hell are you doing here you little brat!?" the girl spat at the whimpering child, "How did someone like YOU get into Grand Line High? Are you following me you creep?"

"Yeah Koby!" one of her stupid lackeys continued, "Are you following miss Alvida?"

"N-no," the boy stuttered, "I-I-I didn't know that you enrolled too… miss Alvida. I wouldn't have applied if knew you were enrolling. I would n-never what to upset you." The boy finished his pathetic statement with a forced smile and notable tears building up under his eyes.

"Well," she began, "it wouldn't be too bad if I had someone to teach my new servants how to treat me properly. After all, I WILL become the queen of that school and I will have men fawning over me, willing to serve my every whim. I mean, who could blame them? My beauty is incomprehensible!" she struck a pose as she rambled on about herself before remembering she was talking to someone.

"Very well Koby," she said menacingly, "I will look past your act of applying to MY school if you do two things: 1, bow your head to the floor, you have no right to look at me!"

Koby complied, his whole-body trembling with fear.

"2, answer my questions, who is your queen?"

"Y-you, Lady Alvida,"

"who will you serve until the end?"

"You…L-Lady Alvida," the boy answered again each answer sounding closer to him bursting into tears, the girls smile twisted into menacing glee with each answer.

"And who, is the most beautiful woman in all of the Four Blues?" she said, her hand holding the bat positioning behind her head and her other hand resting on her hip, eagerly waiting the praise she desired.

"Y-you-"

"Oi, kid," Luffy called out walking towards the group having set is suitcases down, "who's the chunky old woman?"

Koby and the two goons stood aghast at Luffy's comment, their jaws hanging to the floor, Alvida stood in paralysed shock, her eyes bulging in fury.

"Who… do you think you are!?" the girl spluttered. "Is this one of your friends Koby? Did you ask them to fight me for you?" The girl shrieked at Koby, who's face grew more pale.

"N-never Lady Alvida, I-I've never seen him before in my life-"

He stopped stuttering as Luffy had reached down and lifted him up off of the floor by the back of his collar and set his feet on the ground.

One handed.

The pink-haired coward stood in awe as he gazed into the newcomer's determined eyes.

"Why are you helping him?" Alvida asked, her voice high and shrill.

"I just don't like you," the straw-hat boy replied bluntly.

The overweight girl turned her attention back once more to the boy she was tormenting, who hadn't moved and was still staring into his rescuer's face.

"You haven't answered my question yet brat." she snarled, "who-"

"Kaleb doesn't need to answer you, right Kaleb?"

The pink haired boy was snapped out of his momentary trance, at first annoyed by the boy getting his name wrong but grew increasingly nervous when he realised, he would have to answer.

"O-oh, w-w-well I, um," he stuttered.

In his mind he thought about it deeply, if he gave in to his old bully, he would forever consider himself a coward and his saviour would as well. If he finally decided to take a stand against her, she would bash him into a pulp and maybe the other guy as well. He thought back on his past, Alvida, had transferred to his school 2 years prior and right from the get-go had made his life miserable. She would parade herself around the school with a squad of her goons always following her and picking on and stealing from all the other kids. The one she bullied most of all however was him. Due to his shy and weak nature, Alvida had relished in teasing, yelling at, and forcing him to do menial tasks for her such as polishing her shoes or cleaning her house. None of the other teachers had known about this however and he and the other kids were too scared to report her so he just endured it, believing that he would be free of her when he finally left for senior high. But now, here they both were, ready to continue the cycle again. Could he take it for 3 more years?

"Koby!" the overweight girl snapped, "Answer. My. Question!"

Koby looked at the boy who had stepped in for him, his determination so strong that he could feel it radiating off of him. He had had enough, his life wouldn't be the same, no, never again would he be pushed around.

"Ko~by," Alvida sang, "who, is the most beautiful woman in all of the Four Blues?"

The boy clenched his fist and grit his teeth, his body shaking as he mentally prepared himself.

"Lady Alvida… Lady Alvida," he began. "Lady Alvida… IS THE UGLIEST HAG OF THEM ALL!" he cried out, much louder than he intended. The 3 bullies stood in shock as the notorious 'Cry-baby Koby' had finally taken a stand against them, what's more he had insulted Alvida's physique, a crime punishable by a severe beating.

"You brat!" she shrieked as she swung her bat down towards his head. Time slowed down for Koby as he watched the instrument barrel towards him, proud that in his last moments he had finally stood on his own two feet.

Quick as a monkey, Luffy dashed in front of him, swung his bag over his shoulder and blocked the bat before it could hit home. Despite the bag absorbing the impact, Luffy could still feel an immense force behind it. Whilst being quite out of shape, it seemed Alvida was strong enough to easily hit home run shots in baseball, (though he doubted she would be able to run around all of the bases)

Alvida, finding a new target, sound her bat horizontally towards his face, forgetting she could very well kill someone if she did so. The bat passed over Luffy's shoulders as his head sagged backwards, hanging downwards.

"Y-you broke his neck! You killed him!" Koby shrieked.

For a split second, Alvida thought the same, before realising that she hadn't heard the bat connect nor felt the impact of hitting his face.

"Wha-"

"Missed!" Luffy laughed as his neck swung back into place.

One of the two goons behind Alvida's fight-or-flight instincts kicked in and he rushed the formerly thought dead teen. Luffy in response swung his arm swiftly into his side and knocking him down to the floor.

"Who- ARE you!?" the girl cried in fear and desperation.

The straw-hat boy grinned, "I'm Monkey D. Luffy, and I'm going to become King of the Pirates!"

Alvida was flabbergasted as the teen announced his dream, her surprise turned into panic as she saw him winding his arm back.

"Wait, wait, WAIT! Don't, please don-"

"Gum Gum-" Luffy called out, his right arm reached out backwards and his left grabbing his shoulder.

"Stop!"

"-Pistol!" he yelled as he threw his fist straight into Alvida's stomach sending her back a meter before she slammed into the wall. He moved his arm back, stretched it around a bit and flexed his fingers before returning it to his side.

Koby and the two goons were shocked at what just happened though it was Koby who was taken aback the most. Alvida had been an unstoppable monster for the last two years of his life and no one had been able to stand against her, though now, here she was, almost unconscious after a single punch. He stared on once again at his saviour as he turned to look at him nonchalantly.

"Are you OK Kombu?"

"Koby."

"Right, Koby."

"Yes, I am fine. Thanks to you that is."

"Cool."

They both turned back to see Alvida being dragged away by her 2 minions, both of them struggling profusely to move her weight. Luffy then walked over, picked up his backpack and went over to grab his parked suitcases.

"So Koby, you want to go eat somewhere?"

"S-sure." The pink-haired replied, grabbing his own bags.

He only had one suitcase, and it was smaller than Luffy's which surprised him. One of his bags held all of his bedding items and the other held all of his clothes, belongings and school supplies. Since most of the kids who attended Grand Line High were either rich or would have a larger room than his orphanage dorm, he had expected them to have far more stuff with them. Finding a nice restaurant, the two boys walked in and sat down at a free table.

The waitress came over to bring them glasses of water and menus, Luffy eagerly grabbed one and began to skim through. Koby couldn't help but notice that she seemed to be a little shaken up, but he decided not to think about it. When the waitress came back, Luffy ordered 6 large meal sets for himself before asking Koby what he wanted, so Koby just ordered an Omelette on rice . The waitress asked Luffy is he was sure he wanted to order so much food which he said he was.

When the food came, Koby was surprised as the meal sets were much larger than he had expected; 6 large bowls of miso soup and servings of rice with plates of karage, hamburger steak, deep fried pork cutlet and many more. He wondered how he would be able to finish even two of the meals but as he tucked into his own dish, he glanced up only to see Luffy tearing through his food like an animal and drawing quite a lot of looks from the other customers.

"Sho," the black-haired teen began, the food in his mouth muffling his voice, "wfhy do you haf shuch a shmall bag?" ("Why do you have such a small bag?")

Koby, somehow understanding him, smiled while he answered, "Oh, when I applied, the school offered me a Student-Navy program, I get to live in one of the dormitories for free if I participate in the naval training extracurricular classes offered. Since the dorms provide the bedding and other necessary items, I only need my clothes, my school supplies and a few other things."

"Do you want to join the navy when you grow up?" Luffy asked.

"Yes!" Koby replied enthusiastically, "Joining the JSDF has been my dream since I was young, and I especially want to be part of the navy."

"That's good Koby, that's good. One should always have a dream to strive for." Luffy chuckled as he finished up his meal. While he waited for Koby to finish, he looked around the restaurant's interior before noticing a freshly broken chair in the background.

When it was time to pay and leave, Luffy asked the person manning the counter what had happened with the chair. The woman nervously glanced back at the chair before recounting what had happened a bit before they had arrived. Apparently, a notorious snobby rich kid had come in with his vicious dog and was terrorising the quests. A patron had stepped up to defend the woman's daughter from the animal, because of this, the kid called on his father, who was a member of the police force, and had him arrested.

"What was his name?" Luffy inquired.

"Zoro."

Koby was shocked, "Zoro? As in Roronoa Zoro?"

"Who's that?" Luffy asked puzzled.

The pink-haired boy looked back, confused, "What do you mean you don't know who Zoro is? He's a Kendo prodigy! He has won countless tournaments and is always on the news."

Luffy, looked excited, "Ooh, he sounds fun! Let's go see him."

"But he has been arrested," Koby protested.

"And?" Luffy chuckled as he paid for his meal and sprinted out of the store and down the hall, his suitcase wheels bouncing off the ground due to his speed. Koby sighed before chasing after him, trailing far behind as his couldn't match Luffy's speed.

The boy sat grumpily on one of the benches in the shopping centre, one of his arms handcuffed to the railing so he couldn't escape. His was a tall boy with lean yet muscular physique, his finely toned abbs visible through his shirt. He was wearing black shoes, black pants, a plain white shirt which was a size too small, and a black bandana tied around his right bicep. He had spiky, short-cut light-green hair and wore a stoic expression on his face despite having a bruised, black eye. To the side were his bags, he had a large suitcase, a hiking backpack with a sleeping bag attached to the top, a long, dark green sports bag and an equally long black metal box which had three heavy duty locks on it. A fair way away from him there was a police officer who was on the phone with someone and had his back turned to boy.

Luffy ducked behind the wall of one of the stores to get a good look at him whilst remaining hidden.

"Is that him?" Luffy asked a now heavily panting Koby who had finally caught up with him. Koby took a quick breather before readjusting his glasses and looking at the person he was pointing at. The boy shot back a menacing glare which sent shivers running down his spine.

"Yes," he confirmed, "that's him."

"He looks bored," Luffy commented as he looked at the boy, a goofy grin then formed on his face, "let's free him!"

"No," hissed Koby as he dragged Luffy back, "he's been arrested, we can't help him, or we'll be charged as well."

"I don't care!" Luffy whined "I- huh?"

A little girl in a checkered dress and with brown hair tied down into two plaids walked past the two holding a small plastic container used for shop-bought lunches. She paced up towards the handcuffed boy, whose attention turned to the newcomer.

"Hello," she greeted sweetly.

"What are you doing her kid?" the green-hared boy asked, a touch of concern in his voice.

"I wanted to thank you for saving me earlier and thought you might be hungry," she said, presenting the box to him and revealing the content to be some onigiri rice balls, "so I made you this!"

"That's nice kid," he began in a low voice, "but you can't be here, scram."

"But I made these for you," she said sadly.

"I know, they look lovely," he hissed glancing back at the officer who was still on the phone. "Go away! Before-"

"My, my, my, what do we have here?" a snooty voice called from the end of the hall. Zoro and the girl turned to look while Koby and Luffy's attention was drawn further down.

A boy of around the three boys age strutted towards them, he wore purple pants, a yellow dress shirt and a purple jacket. He had long blonde hair that was shaped into an awful bowl-cut, an unfortunate double chin and a hateable smirk that just made his face look so hittable.

"Little girl, did you make a snack for this boy?" he asked sarcastically as he took the box out of her hands.

"Hey!"

"He's still not allowed to eat anything yet so he can't accept it." He opened up the box to see the small meal inside. "Mmm, they do look lovely, almost seems a waste," he commented as he gleefully smirked at the green-haired teen who stared back with disdain.

"I know!" He began "I'll eat them, that way they don't get wasted!" he reached his bony hands into the box and lifted out one of the rice balls and popped the whole thing in his mouth and began to happily chew away.

He spat it back out.

"Yleah!" he retched as he tried to spit out the rest of it which was still in his mouth, "It's SWEET!" he exclaimed. "Stupid girl," he spat, "you're supposed to us salt when making rice balls!"

"B-but I like sweet things so I thought I would use sugar instead," the girl stuttered, on the verge of bursting into tears.

"These are inedible," the blonde boy said before emptying the rest out of the box onto the floor before stamping them into the ground. The girl looked distraught as she fell to her knees as her eyes began to moisten up and her lip quivered.

"I-I, worked… so hard on them," was all she could get out before burying her face in her arm so her aggressor could not see her cry.

The boy then crouched down until he was almost at her eye level, he gently reached out his harm towards her shoulder… before smacking the girl across the face. From their hiding spot, Koby gasped whilst Luffy's fingers gripped against the wall tightly. The girl, shocked out of her crying fit momentarily glanced back at boy, who had a cold expression on his face.

"Stop crying, it's not good for you." He said, his shoulder trembled slightly as his hand seemed to instinctively rub his cheek. "Now go away," He whispered darkly, and she did as she told, scrambling away, still whimpering slightly. Koby instinctively went to go and help her, taking out a small first aid kit he had in his bag.

"Hey, are you okay?" Koby asked, knowing the answer, the question was directed for her to open up a little.

"mhm," she mumbled, nodding he head whilst her lip was still quivering and her eyes still puffy. Koby took out an ice pack from his bag, which he had been using to keep his packed food cold, wrapped a towel around it before handing it to her.

"Here," he said, smiling kindly. The girl, calmer now complied and rested it against the red mark to ease the burning feeling.

"What's your name?" the pink haired boy asked.

"Rika, what's yours?"

"Koby, don't worry, you'll be fine."

"Where's your friend?"

Koby's head jerked up and glanced around, Luffy was gone. Looking back, he saw the straw-hat teen pacing determinedly towards the blonde boy who was now adjusting his shirt, looking oddly shaken up. The boy then noticed the new presence and turned to look at him.

"What do you want?" he asked rudely.

Luffy didn't respond and instead kept walking closer and closer to the blonde teen.

"I said," he began, "what do you wa-"

Luffy's fist smashed straight into the centre of the boy's face and set him stumbling backwards a fair way before collapsing on the floor.

From his confinement seat, Zoro stared at the occurrence in awe, seeing the boy flat on the ground, blood gurgling out of his nose was quite a sight to behold. He then noticed that one of the Onigiri that had been stepped on within arm's reach, it hadn't been as badly mutilated as the others and still looked somewhat edible. Plus, it had been 5 hours since he had last eaten anything, so it was the best for now, he bent over and plucked the ball of squished rice and popped it into his mouth. Shivers ran down through his spine as he ate it, he had thought that the blonde boy had been overreacting but tasting it now, it was clear Rika had added way too much sugar to the mix. The dirt from the bottom of the snobbish brat's shoes was grainy and scratched and grated against his teeth with every bite that he took and there was an odd aftertaste. After finally building the courage, he swallowed the less that edible but still heartfelt portion and gasped heavily as he swirled some saliva around to remove the taste. Suddenly, he realised that the straw-hat kid was standing right in front of him, wearing a huge grin on his face.

"Hey!" he greeted warmly, Zoro looked back at his face confusedly, "you're the great kendo fighter Zolo right?

"It's Zoro, Roronoa Zoro," Zoro corrected, "Is she going be, okay?" he asked, Luffy shifted his head to see Koby and the girl talking, she seemed to be smiling a bit more.

"Yeah, she seems fine," Luffy replied, "You, on the other hand, are handcuffed to a bench and just ate a rice ball of the floor, you don't seem okay."

"Pshh," Zoro scoffed at the boy's sympathy, "I've been in trouble with the law before, this will be no problem."

"But you look bored," the straw-hat boy commented, in a tone Zoro thought to be mocking but was genuine concern. Luffy then grinned again looking at his bags lying next to him, "So, are you going to Grand Line High too?"

"Yeah, though I couldn't find the place where the shuttle bus was arranged to come so I went to go and eat. Then, that bastard-" he motioned his head to the twitching figure of the blonde boy, who was caressing his face whilst trying to stand up. "-started making a disturbance before I could, so I made him shut up and here I am. I'm probably going to miss the bus because of him."

There was a small silence between the two as nothing was said for a few moments, the green haired boy looked back at over at the hurt teen who was starting to stand up, "You know, you shouldn't have done that, he'll tell his daddy over there and we'll both be in trouble."

"Then let's run," Luffy stated, a goofy smile stretched over his face as a light seemed to glint from his eyes.

"What?"

"You heard me, I'll set you free, and we can escape to the bus stop!"

"That's dumb, these are handcuffs, not ropes that you can untie."

Luffy reached into his right pocket and rummaged around a bit, feeling around several sweet wrappers before pulling out a paperclip. "I can pick the lock," he offered innocently.

"I don't want your help," Zoro stated firmly, "go away and that's final."

The blonde kid stood up and glared blunt daggers at the two conversing teens, all bark and no bite. He was clutching his nose which was pleading profusely but Luffy noticed he seemed to have what seemed to fear, not from him because his eyes weren't fully focused on him, perhaps from a memory.

He grit his teeth before screeching, "You-You hit my face, my beautiful face!" Zoro and Luffy's expressions remained blank and uncaring.

"My father will hear about this!" he yelled; Zoro mockingly mouthed his statement word for word. "You'll be sorry, just you wait!"

As he stormed off to his father who was still on the phone, Luffy looked back at the restrained teen and gestured the paperclip once more.

"He'll probably blame you too you know," he offered, "you sure you don't want to be free?"

"Heh," Zoro smirked at the boy's annoying persistence, "you don't let anything go, do you? Fine, get me out of this thing," gesturing the handcuffed arm.

As Luffy knelt down and got to work, the green-haired boy asked him, "What's your name?"

The straw-hat boy smiled back, "I'm Monkey D. Luffy, and I'm going to be King of the Pirates!"

A distant thud drew their attention to where the blonde kid had been walking, the police officer had side-armed him across the jaw and had just finished his call. He had tanned skin, stern eyes and a strong face except for a metal support for his jaw. He had short, almost shaved off blonde hair and a very muscular physique

"Helmeppo, what did I tell you about interrupting me on the phone!" he scolded. The blatant child abuse in front of them made the two notice that there was hardly anyone near the vicinity to notice the occurrence that had been happening for the last 5 minutes.

"B-but, father," Helmeppo wept, now crying pathetically, "that boy over there hit me," he complained, pointing at Luffy. The officer didn't even glance his eyes over in the direction.

"So?" he spat, "What do I always tell you? Take your hits like a man and hit them back, you're big enough to wipe your own bottom!"

"But you arrested that Zoro kid," the blonde boy protested.

"Because he threatened me with a weapon, yo-" He finally noticed Luffy attempting to free Zoro from his handcuffs. Reaching into his belt he pulled out his baton and stormed over to the two teens.

"Oi! You there! Stop attempting to free the prisoner!" he bellowed as he came closer.

"Hey, hey, might want to hurry it up a bit," the green-haired teen suggested, beginning to panic a little.

"Don't rush me, I've never done this before."

"What!?"

The officer was almost on top of the crew, one of his ripped, muscular arms reaching to grab Luffy and the other high over his head to swing down on the boy.

"Luffy!" Zoro yelled, "hurry!"

As the baton was swung down towards the straw-hat kid's head, a small 'click' sound could be heard from the inside the handcuffs. In an instant, Zoro's arm burst out of the tight, restraining metal ring and caught the weapon mid-swing, before his other hand formed a fist and slammed it into the attacker's face, which sent him stumbling backwards. "Like son like father," Zoro smirked.

"Wow," Luffy commented, "You're really strong!"

"Thanks, now let's get out of-oomph!" The air was blasted out of Zoro's lungs as the officer had gotten up and landed an uppercut into his gut.

The man then turned his attention to Luffy and stabbed at him with his baton, but the jumpy teen backflipped out of the way and onto the bench before jumping forwards with his hand in a fist and his arm wound back.

"Gum Gum-" the officer kneed him in the stomach before belting him across the face with the heavy bar, sending him tumbling to the floor and gasping for breath. Zoro got up to his feet and reached a hand down for Luffy to get back up again, their bones still aching from hitting the floor hard.

"Well," hissed the green-haired teen as he eyed up the opponent, "now what?"

"We beat his ass!" Luffy yelled with a smile as he rushed straight back at the opponent and began to trade heavy blows with him. Zoro smirked as he followed suit with the crazy teen. The police officer swung his baton around and threw hard punches left and right, but he was just outmatched. Luffy was too fast for him to properly get a hold of, and Zoro was able to block his strikes with ease, opening him up for quick strikes. As Luffy once again jumped out of the way of another strike, Zoro saw an opportunity and went for the back of his leg, sending the man toppling over.

"Zoro!" Luffy called out running towards him, "Give me a boost!" Zoro crouched down and waited until Luffy's foot just touched his back before rising up quickly and pushing the teen into the air as he wound up a roundhouse kick.

"Gum Gum-" he announced as the officer got back up again in time to see the boys leg approaching the side of his head rapidly, "-Whip!" his leg connected with the man's head and sent him smacking back down into the ground with a grunt.

"Nice work," Zoro commented with folded arms as he saw Luffy celebrate, "but did you have to yell out your attacks like that?"

"What, you don't do that?" Luffy asked, surprised.

"Well, I do, but I say it to myself, I don't scream it to the heavens."

"Huh… so, now what?"

Zoro reached over and took his phone out of his massive backpack and checked the time, "Our bus is scheduled to come in around 20 minutes so-"

With a swift 'Crack!' the heavy plastic bar contacted the green-haired teen's head causing him to yell in pain. Luffy looked back to see the man get back up to his feet having flung the baton at Zoro. His eyes where red with rage and Luffy took a defensive stand, he suddenly burst forward like a bull and slammed him against the wall hard before restraining his arms behind his back to handcuff him.

"You are under arrest for assaulting an officer of the law." He snarled as Luffy struggled to break free of his grip, "but before you're escorted to the station, I'm going to get some payback with you and your friend over there," he gestured at Zoro who was steadily standing back up and clutching the back of his head. Before anything more could happen however, from the other side of the shopping hall there suddenly came a…

"There they are, arrest them!"

A bruised Helmeppo and three more police officers quickly arrived on the scene to shut down the scuffle. One of the officers who was tanned, well built and had a short brown beard took charge of the situation.

"What is this, Morgan? Explain yourself!" he said in a commanding tone.

"These two degenerates attacked me and my son; I am restraining them on the charge of unprovoked assault and attacking an officer of the law," Morgan replied.

Officer Ripper raised an eyebrow, uncertain as to whether or not this was the truth, he himself didn't like Morgan as he had been accused of several cases of unprovoked attack in the past however no evidence had ever been brought in. All the same, the policemen had a job to do, the two teens would be restrained temporarily before being questioned. He signalled for the other officers he had brought to assist Morgan in their arrest.

Helmeppo walked up to his father, expecting a 'good job' and a pat on the head for helping him. Instead, he was met with an icy glare as the officer's face blazed with fury.

"Next time," he hissed, "don't call for help you little bastard."

Helmeppo's face fell into disappointment, years of his father's treatment and neglect echoing back again in his mind, of course he wouldn't praise him, he barely did even if he lived up to his 'perfect' standards. Why had he thought that this would be any different, Morgan never wanted to be interrupted by other officers when he was dealing with criminals so him leading them to him may have made the situation worse.

Just as the officers were about to help restrain the two teens, a voice rang out from behind them.

"Stop!" the group turned their heads to see Koby standing there, determined to make a stand.

"Those two are innocent! It was that Morgan guy who started the fight and was hitting them much harder than necessary," he declared to the officers who were slightly taken aback. Rika also stepped out from behind the store, her face looking better, and spoke up.

"Yes," she agreed, "the green-haired boy saved me from that jerk's dog." She said pointed toward Zoro. "Then that that mean man came in and beat him up, and then he attacked the other boy for trying to take his handcuffs off."

"Yeah," Luffy chimed in, his face still be pressed hard against the wall, so his voice was a little muffled. "And he hit us REALLY hard, I think I'm going to be sore for the rest of the month.

One of the officers communicated with Ripper before he turned to face the two newcomers.

"If you are willing to have your eyewitnesses accounts recorded, this is going to look a little better for these two, but we are going to need a little more evidence before we can just let them go." He said, lightly caressing his chin.

"Excuse me-," another voice called out from across the hall, the group collectively turned their heads. A tall man walked towards them slowly out of the store parallel to them, a slight shadow over his face. He was wearing plain sandals, red-brown shorts revealing unshaven but muscular calves, an orange dress shirt covered by an unbuttoned white, double-breasted coat which he wore hanging of his shoulders rather than his arms sticking through the sleeves. His long silver-white hair dropped below the back of his neck whilst a trimmed white beard with 4 streaks of hair running up over his chin pronounced his jaw out more and his round glasses twinkled under the store's lights.

"-but that man," he said, gesturing a Morgan, "is guilty of police brutality, attacking a minor and several other charges."

"Now", he began, pointing his finger towards the shop the entire fight was taking place next to, "if you want proof, use the cameras in that shop." He then pointed to a large changing mirror which stood to the side of the store's selections.

"Whilst the camera may look inside the building, using the reflection, you might be able to find footage from the entire fight."

Officer Ripper nodded and went inside with one of the others he brought, leaving one behind to guard the group. Whilst they waited, Luffy and Zoro occasionally shot glances at the man who had stepped in to help them. He was, well, not old, but definitely no longer in his youth but still seemed to have the energy of a young man. His tall posture and his constant slight smile and his eyes (which while slightly squinted with age) shone with determination and gave him a slightly menacing feel. The old man then noticed the looks he was getting and shot a glance back at the two, he looked over Luffy quickly, focussing most on his face before grinning and shooting him a wink before turning back to wait for the officers. Luffy was a little confused but chose to ignore it and boredly waited for something to happen.

After about 10 minutes, the two officers came out of the store, their eyes locked onto Luffy and Zoro with stern expressions on their faces. Morgan smirked in triumph at the two subtly as they were approached by the two men who grabbed their arms.

And undid the handcuffs.

"What!?" Morgan exclaimed before being restrained by the two other officers as the main one pulled his arms behind his back and slapped handcuffs on them. "Officer Morgan," Ripper began as the large man began to struggle against his restraints, "you are under arrest on the accounts of assault of minors and several other charges, as such you are temporarily removed from duty and will be present for trial within the next two weeks."

"Yargh!" Morgan yelled in frustration to no avail, as the corrupt officer was escorted away, he jerked his head around to look at Helmeppo.

"I'd better see I good school report from you, boy!" He snarled before being shut up by Officer Ripper.

Morgan mentioning school reports suddenly snapped the two teens back into reality as they remembered that they had a bus to catch. Zoro glanced at his phone and to his horror saw they had 6 minutes to get out of the shopping centre and back to the bus terminal.

"Luffy!" he yelled, hurriedly grabbing his very heavy bags as if they weighed nothing and slung them over his shoulder, "The bus! We have to hurry!"

"Crap," he exclaimed in response and run back to grab his suitcases with Koby joining him. As they were about to leave, Rika stopped the group for a second and though they were in a hurry, they stopped to listen.

"Thank you," she said sweetly, "I'll see you again I hope."

Zoro grinned deviously and bonked Luffy on the head, "This guy wants to be King of the Pirates, so I assume you'll be seeing us in the news very soon, kid."

Luffy rubbed his head before grinning, "You bet! Grand Line High, here we come!" he yelled as he began to sprint towards the bus terminal.

"Thanks for the food," Zoro called out hurriedly as he followed the straw-hat boy.

"Oh yeah," Luffy said remembering something and turned around. "Hey old man! Thanks for-" he stopped as the mysterious old man had vanished without a trace. With no time to wonder where he had gone, Luffy turned around and continued moving towards the terminal.

"Wai-huff, wait up!" Koby panted, struggling to keep up with the two, dragging his suitcase. Zoro rolled his eyes before dropping back, grabbing the boy's suitcase and carrying it one handed over his shoulder in a shocking, almost cartoonish display of strength as he was still able to sprint. With the extra weight no longer slowing him down, Koby was able to keep up better with the two as they ran through the halls laughing all the way.

They arrived, just as the driver of the coach was loading up the last of the baggage, and were able to board. Along the way, Zoro had repeatedly gotten lost by going in the complete wrong direction, running down other pathways, entering stores and even going down the escalator in the opposite direction, all of which delayed the group considerably. Along the way, they had picked up Helmeppo who had caught up despite hauling three large suitcases by himself, though no one had stopped to give him a hand.

The group, panting like wolves checked in their tickets and handed their luggage over to the driver and boarded the bus, the final leg of their journey about to commence. When they got on, Luffy recognised one of the passengers. Alvida sat at the back of the bus taking up two seats and wore a defeated and furious expression on her bulbous face.

Zoro sat down next to the window near the front of the bus, much to Luffy's annoyance but took the aisle seat anyway, Koby on the other hand walked past them towards the middle of the bus.

"Hey, Koby," Luffy called out causing the pink haired boy to stop momentarily and turn around.

"Are you gonna' sit with us?" Luffy asked, pointing at the seat opposite to him which was empty.

Koby hesitated momentarily before smiling.

"Luffy," he began, "you're truly an inspiration, you stood up to my bully, Rika's bully and that policeman without even second guessing yourself, and I will strive to become someone as great as you."

Luffy grinned at Koby, not because he was soaking up the compliments, far from it, but because he could see a glint of confidence in his eye that wasn't there before. Zoro, still plain-faced, listened to Koby, waiting intently for when the 'but' moment came.

He didn't wait long.

"But you say you're going to try and become King of the Pirates, that means you are going to try and cause trouble at school. I can't be a part of the Navy Club if I have a bad reputation for hanging out with people like you, so, I'm not going to be around you guys that often. I'm sorry."

Luffy sat silently for a moment, his expression blank and unchanging before he got out of his seat and walked over to Koby, his arms extended out. Koby obliged and came forwards to meet his hero's embrace.

Luffy smacked him in the face.

"Ow, what has that for!?" Koby cried out in pain as tears welled up in his eyes from the pain.

"Don't be sorry for perusing you're dream, Koby." Luffy scolded sternly, squatting down over his fallen form and raising a finger. His face then lightened back up to his bright smile as he beamed down over the hurt boy.

"And it doesn't matter if we see each other once a day or once a year, we'll always be friends Koby!" he glanced back to the green haired teen for affirmation, "Right Zoro?"

The stoic teen sighed before smiling a little and looking at the pathetic, pink-haired boy, "Yeah, you tell us if you ever get picked on, kid, okay?"

Koby's eyes glistened with saddened joy, Zoro meanwhile took out a large bottle of Mugicha (barley tea), leant back into his seat and began to chug it down like a professional. He then stopped for a moment and looked back.

"Or… I dunno, you could always be a man and deal with it yourself." He added on mockingly.

Luffy laughed as he went back to get in his seat as the bus driver finally got back to his cab and announced that they were leaving. Koby sat down and began chatting with a group of other students who were also interested in joining the Navy Club, and they were soon getting along like a house on fire.

As the bus pulled out of the local streets and onto the Grand Line Highway, Zoro then spoke up.

"Do you really mean it, that you're going to try to become King of the Pirates?" He asked.

"Shishishi," Luffy chuckled as lifted his arms behind his head and let it rest on them, "of course," he affirmed.

"Then I, Roronoa Zoro, will be there by your side all the way to help you complete your goal." The green-haired teen answered, his right fist laid over his chest in the pose of an oath.

"That's great Zoro, but what do you want to do?"

"I am going to become the greatest Kendo fighter in all of the Four Blues, then Japan and finally, the world!" he announced.

"That's great!" the straw-hat boy exclaimed, "A Kendo champion. The King of the Pirates would expect no less on his crew."

The two grinned at each other before returning to their own worlds, Zoro laid back and fell asleep and Luffy pulled out his phone to play some games as the bus drove them further towards their destiny.