"And then after the others were done with their fights, I beat Arlong up and that was that," Luffy narrated, sitting on Merry's figurehead late in the night, long after everyone had gone to sleep. "And then the party started. I didn't forget to eat as much raw ham melon as I could… It was delicious, and I made sure Sanji learned the recipe too! So now, I can eat it whenever I want… I wonder if you can eat? And if so, would you eat normal food or something like…" Luffy tilted his head from one side to the other, "If ships could, what would they eat? Wood and nails? Algae?"
He obviously got no response from Merry but was interrupted when a door burst open and Nami walked out on deck. Luffy saw her scan the surroundings in a bit of a panic, but she quickly calmed down. Her eyes then fell on him, and she let out a sigh of relief with a small smile before walking up to him with a questioning look.
"What are you doing up so late?"
"Just telling Merry of our adventures"
"You're calling Merry and Kaya? Let me say hi too."
"No, no, not Butler Merry. I meant our Merry. The Going Merry," Luffy said, patting the figurehead.
"…You're talking to the ship?"
"Yeah"
Nami stared at him for a couple of seconds before walking closer with a concerned look and wrapping an arm around his neck, hugging him. "Umm… if you want to talk to someone, I'm all ears, you know. I'll listen to anything… You don't have to pretend to talk to inanimate objects…"
Luffy amusedly rolled his eyes. "Really?"
"Yeah!"
"But I want to talk to Merry, though."
"You can talk to me too…" she said, patting his head gently.
"Hmm…" Luffy made a big show of thinking hard before shaking his head, "No, I prefer Merr.y"
"Is that so?!" She huffed instantly, getting irritated and releasing him, "Well, enjoy yourself then!"
She turned her back, but Luffy chuckled, grabbing her hand and pulling her back. "Shishi you know I was kidding. Stop stop"
Nami smacked him lightly before grinning and leaning on the railing next to him. "Sooo…. you talk to the ship"
"Yeah, you should try too. It's fun."
"Right… umm, Hey Merry, the ship. Our captain has apparently gone crazy and is asking me to talk to you… I don't know what to say here…"
"Just tell her why you're up."
She slightly flinched, and Luffy looked at her questioningly. "You had a nightmare or something? You were looking around the ship as if making sure you were actually here earlier…"
Nami glared at him for a couple of seconds before hanging her head low with a sigh. "… you know… just woke up suddenly in the room and thought it might have all been a dream…"
'Trauma just doesn't disappear overnight, huh?' "Ahh… well, you are all alone in your room."
"Yeah… It's not a big deal. Just gotta look around a bit and I know this is real…"
"Or you could just look at your tattoo…" Luffy said, eyeing her shoulder, "I haven't gotten the chance to see it yet. It looks good."
"Right?!" Nami brightened up, showing it off with a proud smile. "It's a pinwheel and a tangerine…" Her happy expression then morphed into an annoyed one before she smacked him. "The reason you didn't get a chance was because you kept avoiding me!"
"Well, you kept bugging me by asking and asking about what I did with Noji."
"Stop calling her Noji!"
"Why?"
"She's my sister! You're not allowed to sleep with her!"
"I didn't, though. As I keep telling you, Genzo was with us too. So unless you're insinuating that Noji, Genzo, and I had a thr-"
"Ew, ew stop stop!"
"Shishishi, stop asking then. Your sister is her own person and I can have as many secrets as I want with her."
"…Ugh fine," she hung her head low with a pout, "I was just curious as to what happened, that's all… I know you didn't sleep with her or anything. Genzo would have bitten your head off if you really had done something like that."
"Shishishi, that's true."
A comfortable silence fell between them before Luffy remembered something he wanted to tell her. "Oh hey, wanted to talk about something."
Nami yawned, rubbing her eyes, "What?"
"Well, it can wait. You go to sleep now."
Nami just hummed as she nodded. "You should go to sleep too, idiot. You keep dozing off during the day because you don't sleep much at nigh.t"
"Eh, it's fine, it's fine." Luffy waved her concerns off, and she sighed before going back to sleep.
Luffy spent the rest of the night training his Observation, Conqueror's and also activating and deactivating Gear 2. With no strong opponents to fight, he was afraid of getting rusty. Just like Arlong. Maybe he was stronger when he was in the Grand Line, but being in East Blue for eight years with no one to challenge him had made him hilariously weak. While fighting him, he had paused and given him chances to fight back but Arlong just couldn't and Luffy could clearly see that Arlong had become too unused to fighting.
'I hope Crocodile will push me a bit at least…' he thought with a sigh as he trained through the night.
—
"WHOOAA!" Usopp loudly gasped from below deck which made the three other men, who were sparring on deck the next morning, come to a stop. The hatch to the men's quarters soon opened from the inside and Usopp popped out with an excited expression with a black duffel bag in hand.
"Oh Murphy, you son of a bitch" Luffy facepalmed.
"Who's Murphy?" Zoro asked confused and Luffy just shook his head with a sigh.
"Luffy! Guys! Have you seen this?!" Usopp exclaimed showing them what was inside the bag and Sanji and Zoro's eyes widened when they saw the large amount of stacks of bills.
"Holy crap! How much is that?"
"Around 200 million…" Luffy answered.
"What?!" Sanji and Usopp gasped.
"What's going on?" Nami came out of the kitchen and when her eyes landed on the bag full of cash, she moved faster than even Luffy's eyes could follow, and the bag was in her hands as she gaped at it.
Her eyes slowly became crazed as she seemingly counted the amount. "One-Ninety-Eight Million, Six-fifty-four thousand and nine-eighty berries!"
"…Wow, you could accurately estimate that in just a couple of seconds?" Luffy said impressed.
"Where the hell did this much money come from?!" Nami yelled while hugging the bag.
The three men looked at Luffy causing Nami to also look at him and he sighed deeply massaging his head.
"First of all, I'm curious how you didn't see it until now"
"Huh?"
"I've had that bag even before I met you, even when we were in the one cabin boat… you didn't snoop through my bags back when we first met?"
"I did," Nami admitted shamelessly, "But I didn't see this then… Oh! Makino was with us back then. I didn't check her bags"
"Who's Makino?" Sanji asked.
"Someone we travelled with for a while. She's Luffy's friend slash sister slash mother slash nanny" Zoro answered.
"Huh?"
"They had a weird relationship" Nami added.
"…Anyway," Luffy continued not commenting anything, "Even after she left, that bag was inside the cabin where you slept"
"You mean I was sleeping with this much money just a few feet away from me?!"
"Yeah"
"I'm so sorry!" She apologized to the bag of money hugging it tightly, "You must have been so sad that I didn't notice you! Don't worry, you're all mine now!" She drooled with a crazed look in her eyes.
"…I thought she was obsessed with money because of Arlong…" Usopp sweat-dropped, "But guess not huh"
"YOU!" Nami suddenly turned on Luffy with a glare realizing something, "YOU HID THIS FROM ME!"
"No no, I was gonna tell you soon. This is what I wanted to tell you last night"
"You hid it from me for all these days though!"
"Well, you did have the whole Arlong thing… Would you have been happy if I just showed you that I had the remaining amount you needed?"
"…well, guess not. Ah well, who cares! This is mine now! I'm rich! I'm rich!" She danced around twirling the bag in her hands.
Luffy sighed resolving himself before he did something unthinkable. He walked up to her, snatched the bag right out of her hands before she could respond, looked her straight in the eyes and said "This isn't for you"
Nami blinked dumbly, his words echoing in her mind like a death sentence as her fingers kept clutching empty air… Something snapped in her mind at that moment and the next second, she erupted like a volcano and lunged at Luffy trying the grab the bag of money back. "RAAH! GIVE IT BACK! THAT'S MINE!"
Luffy held the bag behind his back with one hand while his other hand kept Nami at bay while she clawed and screamed at him like a rabid cat. "THAT'S MINE! GIVE IT BACK!"
"Down girl!" Luffy said grabbing both her wrists with one hand but she just shifted to using her legs to kick at him while shrieking and cursing him out. "Listen to me fi-"
"Give it back! My precious money! It's mine!"
"Liste-"
"GRRR! It's mine! Don't worry, little ones! You'll come back to Mommy in no time! Give it back!"
He sweat-dropped before looking towards the others. "Umm, guys? Help?"
"I'm not going anywhere near that… thing," Zoro said with a scowl.
"I'm not afraid to admit that I'm too much of a coward to face… that," Usopp said with a gulp.
"Don't worry, Nami-swan! Your knight in shining armour will get you your money back!" Sanji declared with determination turning on Luffy but before he could attack, Zoro and Usopp thankfully held him back saying 'Don't make things more complicated'
Luffy shook his head with a sigh not getting any help from the rest and looked at Nami who kept yelling as she kicked and squirmed under his grip.
Looked like the money being snatched away from her had triggered some instinctive and primal part of her brain that could only focus on getting it back. Not having any other choice, Luffy let go of her hands and brought the bag closer to her, which was instantly grabbed and hugged by her. Luffy didn't let go either, resulting in both of them hugging the bag while staring off at one another.
Nami still tried to wrench the bag away from Luffy but she seemed to have come back to her senses at least as she glared at Luffy. "Let go! This is mine!"
"Looks like you're back to your senses at least"
"Let go!"
"No"
"How dare you?! Let go of my precious money!"
"Listen, I've gathered this money even before I started this journey with the sole purpose of spending it somewhere"
"There's no way in hell I'm letting you spend 198 million, ya bastard! What could you possibly need it for?!"
"To save a dying friend"
That brought her rampage to an abrupt stop. She slowly calmed down, the crazed look in her eyes subsiding too before she became normal again. "…what?"
"I need this money to save a friend"
"…The whole 198 million?"
"Maybe it'll cost less or maybe way more. I don't know"
Nami bit her lip in frustration as she looked down at the bag. "From where did you even get this much?"
"Back on my home island, there's this Kingdom with really scummy nobles. I just slipped into multiple houses and stole whatever was lying around. Hit enough places and I managed to gather this much"
Nami's eyes widened with shock, "Lying around? You didn't even break into safes?"
"Didn't have to. 5 to 10 million was lying around as its chump change to them. And I stole it. I hit a few wealthy shops too and that covered it. I'm pretty sure none of the places even noticed that money was missing"
"…How long did it take you?"
"…A day"
Nami hung her head low in frustration. She had struggled like hell for eight fucking years and barely managed to make half of what Luffy had made in a day… "Strength is everything huh…?"
"That's how the world works"
"Ugh fine…" Nami sighed reluctantly letting go of the bag with tears in her eyes. "Luffy, this better be for a good cause or else!"
"It is…"
"Why did the witch act like she had anything to do with getting that money?" Zoro grumbled, "Luffy had it way before he met us, so what he does with it is entirely up to him"
SMACK!
"Gakh!" Zoro fell.
"What's his is mine!" Nami snarled.
"Ooh just add 'what's mine is also mine!' and you'll become a certain bully from a show about a future robot cat"
"The fuck does that mean?!"
SMACK!
"Gakh!" Luffy fell.
Luffy and Zoro both got up rubbing the growing bumps on their heads and saw that Nami had settled in a corner on deck with a depressive air around her. Sanji was trying to cheer her up by singing praises and offering drinks, but it didn't work.
Usopp sat beside them and bowed slightly. "Sorry. I had no idea we had such a terrifying monster on board. If I did, I wouldn't have shown her the money"
"I was going to show her anyway… after explaining first though. Even I didn't think she was that crazy"
"Neither did I," Zoro added, "Well, a lesson for the future I guess. When it comes to money and the witch, you gotta be careful…"
"Agreed"
Half an hour later, she was still sulking in the same position and not being able to take seeing her so sad, Luffy went to sit next to her. She just glanced at him with teary eyes, pouted, and then buried her head into her knees.
"Can't you steal that much money again?" She asked softly.
"Well, there are certain… criteria, I guess. The people have to be scummy, they have to be filthy rich to the point that whatever we steal shouldn't even dent their finances"
"…What kind of pirate are you, ya bastard…"
"Money's really important… normal people struggle a lot without it… I can't in good conscience just steal from them when it means their livelihood is affected…" Luffy softly said reminiscing how hard life was for Leo and the other kids without money.
"Yeah yeah…" Nami sighed. "Well, if we come across such people, you're helping me steal from them"
"Of course… well, segueing from that, let's talk a bit about finances"
Nami perked up and looked at him curiously, "Go on"
"We haven't talked about this officially but you know you're the treasurer of the crew, right?"
"Obviously"
"Okay, what do you think are good practices we should follow?"
"What?"
"Well, for example, the orphanage my brother grew up in always had a reserve fund kept aside for emergency situations. Like if the government stopped sending money or the donations fell short, they could still survive for four months with the reserve fund. So something like that"
"Ah okay… Hmm, the reserve fund is not a bad idea. But we don't have enough to make one right now""
"How much do we need?"
"Hmm… how many members are you planning to invite to join the crew"
"Hmm well, not more than 10"
"Really? That low?"
"I set out on my journey with a plan of making 10 people join me. A few more maybe but we'll never have more than 15-16 members. And in the very near future, like two or three more might join, that's all"
"Well okay… given your appetite… Around 30 million"
"Let's make do with 20" Luffy said as he picked out that amount from the 198 million and handed it to Nami, who just looked surprised.
"Really? Won't your friend need it?"
"It's complicated… But you're all my responsibility too. Having enough money is important"
"Luffy, it's fine. We can manage for now"
"No no, keep it for the crew. This is enough for now. If this isn't, I'll gather more sometime later"
"…If you say so"
"So any other suggestions?"
"Hmm keeping the 20 million aside. If we ever fall below 10 million, we'll need to immediately start looking into getting more"
"Okay"
"No unnecessary expenses. Especially you! You spent so much on unnecessary things back in Syrup Village! Nothing like that anymore!"
"Hmmm well, we'll see"
"What does that mean?!" She snapped, "You should say yes!"
"I said we'll see"
"Say yes!"
"Other than that," Luffy quickly changed the topic, "Let me regularly know how much our spending and all is"
"What? Like expense reports?"
"Not that official. Just let me know how much we have, how much we spent and how much we'll last if we keep spending at the same rate"
Nami stared at him for a second. "Why?… Don't you trust me?"
Luffy gave her a deadpan look and she coughed taking back her statement. "Okay, that was a stupid question. But then why?"
"I just don't want to leave everything up to you… Feels I don't know… like I'm leaving all the menial responsibilities up to you"
"Hmm… well okay…" she said, albeit a bit hesitant.
"Hey," he got her attention and made her face him, "You can spend as much as you want on anything you want, you know. I'm never ever gonna step in and say you're not allowed to or anything like that… unless you go too crazy, of course… Ooh! Let's do it like this! I don't like being told what I can and can't spend money on, and neither do you. So let's keep each other in check. If either of us goes too overboard, the other person will stop and reprimand them. How's that sound?"
Nami blinked in surprise for a few seconds before nodding. "Hmmm… that does sound good… Define too crazy"
"Like we don't have any money for food, and you still go buy Criminal products"
"I can agree to that. And you really can't buy unnecessary stuff like toys and all"
"Okay"
"Okay then, I agree"
"Okay good"
Luffy and Nami both grinned as they shook hands.
"Hey! We can listen to everything you guys are cooking up!" Usopp interjected. "What about the rest of us?! We can spend as much as we want too then!"
"Hell fucking no!" Nami snapped, "The rest of you will be given fair shares sure, but anything extra and expensive will be reviewed and given only if it's required"
"No fair! Let's just divide everything we have equally. Then there will be no problems"
"No arguments!" Nami snapped. "We can't just divide everything equally and spend all we have! We have to take care of common needs like food and other essentials first for the whole crew…"
"…Then ship repairs, medicine, clothes…" Luffy added.
"…Then we have to think of future expenses too!" Nami concluded.
That made Usopp stop and actually think about it. "Huh, guess that's true…"
"It'll be fine!" Sanji swooned, "Nami-swan is always right!"
"As Luffy said, they'll keep each other in check," Zoro interjected while he trained, "As long as the witch isn't solely responsible, our money's safe"
"Fuck you!"
Sanji attacked Zoro for that comment and they began their usual spat.
"Well, don't worry too much," Luffy waved it off, "We'll never have a big enough crew for this to actually cause problems… and," he looked at Nami with a smile, "Remember what I told you the first day we met?"
"That you'll give me 1 billion berries?"
"Wow, you don't forget huh? Shishi well, yeah. I did accept that challenge so yeah, I'll fulfil that"
"And how many years will I have to wait for that?" She asked with a pout.
"Guess you'll have to wait to find out" Luffy grinned getting up.
"Ah wait… give me the money for now" she said grabbing the bag.
"Hm why?"
She looked at the others before getting close to Luffy's ears and softly whispered "I want to roll in it…"
"Oh," Luffy chuckled imagining her cheering as she spread all the cash on her bed and rolled around in it. "Sure, go ahead"
Nami brightened up as she took the bag and was about to get up to go to her room but Luffy stopped her. "Ah wait…"
She looked questioningly at him and Luffy stared back at her seriously, got close to her ear and whispered, "I don't want the money to get wet… so keep your pants on at least"
Nami's face immediately turned crimson and she swung the bag at his head. "What are you saying, idiot?!"
"You understood what I meant way too quickly, Nami… It's almost like you were planning to do ju-"
"IDIOT!" Nami squawked, her face turning even more crimson and before the others could ask what they were talking about, she ran to the storage deck to get to her room while Luffy chuckled.
It was only hours later when everyone else had gone to sleep that Nami came out on deck, fresh out of the shower. Luffy was playing a soft tune on the piano when she dropped the bag at his feet and he paused giving her an amused smile before saying "You can keep it until I need it"
Nami blushed again but got close to his ear and growled, "You mention this again and I'll disembowel you"
Luffy just made the action of zipping his lips and went back to playing the piano. She walked away with a lightly flushed face… but a few seconds later, came back with a heavily flushing face, wordlessly grabbed the bag and started going back towards her room.
"Think of me"
"Go to hell!"
"Shishishishi"
———o——o——o———
"You raised the prices again?!" Nami complained, glaring at the News Coo which just looked tired and worn out.
"Hey Nami, don't take it out on the poor bird. Morgans is probably the one who sets the price," Luffy said from where he was lying in the crow's nest before holding out a corn cob he was eating towards the bird. "C'mere, buddy"
The News Coo happily flew and landed on his arm before it started nibbling on the corn and Luffy chuckled as he pet it saying, "Sorry for the mean girl"
"Don't call me a mean girl!" Nami instantly snapped from below while the bird just made a wave-off motion as if saying 'Don't worry about it'
"It's just a few berries for a newspaper. Who cares?" Usopp interjected from the side where he was creating his special pellets.
"It adds up over time!"
"So? We have 20 million just in reserve"
"Idiot! It's called a reserve because we should use it only during emergencies! We should save and collect as much money as we can. I don't want to be a penniless pirate!" She rebuked shutting Usopp up.
Luffy bid the News Coo farewell after it had its fill before looking down at Nami who sat on a beach chair and opened up the newspaper. He felt a sense of deja-vu looking down at the scene and only when a flyer fell out of the papers did he remember that this was where he was going to see his first-ever bounty!
He instantly jumped off the crow's nest and landed on the deck with a loud thud startling everyone.
"Don't jump like that! You're gonna give me a heart attack!" Nami snapped but he ignored her and immediately snatched the bounty poster that had fallen out. He turned it over in bubbling excitement wondering how much higher his bounty was going to be compared to the story… but froze stiff when he saw his bounty poster.
'Oh no…' His face paled.
45 million was his bounty and he wanted to be happy about it but his mind wasn't even on the amount. His eyes were fixated on the image that was used, memories of the time Reiju had taken a picture of him while he was petulantly pouting and him chasing her around to grab the camera flashing in his mind.
~~~
"Give it here! I'm the future Pirate King! The Pirate King shouldn't have pouting pictures of him!"
"PFFHAHAHAHA… I didn't even think about that! Oooh now, I'm gonna treat this like treasure. HAHAHAHEHE… I-I'll give this picture to the Marines and… Pffttt hehehehe, a-and tell them to use it for your bounty poster when you eventually get one… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA… IMAGINE THAT! It's the bounty poster of the Strongest Man in the World, THE PIRATE KING!… And it's this cute picture of you pouting. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"DON'T YOU DARE!"
~~~
"What's wr-" Nami said, sensing something wrong with his reaction but was cut off when Luffy dropped to his knees and let out a loud anguished scream.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
———
MARINE HQ
All the high-ranking Marine officials were being debriefed about the state of affairs and new threats in East Blue by Lieutenant Commander Brannew. And that day's debrief was about a new pirate threat.
"So this new pirate crew is too much for our branch units to handle?" One of the captains asked.
"Yes!" Brannew said and then pointed to a board having a number of bounty posters, "Buggy the Clown, Don Krieg, Arlong the Saw each having bounties of 15, 17 and 20 million respectively were all defeated by this new crew. This is not official but Kuro of Hundred Plans who had a 16 million bounty had apparently faked his death and was still alive in a small village. Kuro was also defeated by this new pirate crew. On top of that, we have confirmation that Ganzack, Leaper, Eldaraggo and a few small-time pirates were also taken out by this newbie crew. And by small-time pirates, I mean pirates with more than than 5 million bounties… You should understand how dangerous this crew is given that the average bounty in East Blue is 3 million"
"How many thousand pirates are on this crew?"
"It varies from different accounts, but at the start, there were just two people, then it became four and at their maximum, they had five people!" Brannew informed shocking everyone.
"That's preposterous!" / "No way that's true!"
Brannew put a stop to the chattering by simply raising a hand. "We couldn't believe it either, but we have checked and rechecked everyone's testimony and it's true. This group of five is the strongest crew currently in East Blue! Even that Bomby and Lizz sisters, who destroyed a few Marine Bases, are nothing compared to this new crew"
He continued, "We only have confirmation of the Captain. The other four members' identities are unclear… Doesn't matter anyway since we have the Captain"
"This pirate also threatened and attacked Captain Nezumi of the 16th branch who seems to be mentally shaken currently… Given his danger, we have decided to pin an unprecedented bounty amount of 45 million on his head! Captain MONKEY D. LUFFY!" He declared dramatically pulling down a slide board and revealing the bounty poster of the new Pirate Captain that was shaking the very foundations of East Blue. Next second, the very serious atmosphere that had been built up vanished instantly as the entire room burst out laughing.
"PFFFHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Brannew became confused at the reaction, so he looked back at the poster and did a spit take. "Pfftt~ HAHAHAHA! Looks like someone messed up. Hahaha Hey, put up the correct poster" he ordered a nearby Marine.
"Haha, But sir… That is the correct poster"
"What?! You can't be serious! Is this a joke?"
"No, sir!" Another Marine piped up, "We did get a picture from Captain Nezumi, but we got orders from higher up to use this image instead"
"Is that so…?" Brannew trailed off accepting the answer. He tried to keep a straight face as he tried to continue the meeting, but one Marine cracked a joke about the cutely pouting pirate which opened the floodgates for others to do the same, and laughter echoed in the base for hours.
———
CLOCKWORK ISLAND
"You sure have become a leader to these people," Woopslap said as he watched Makino dealing with yet another crisis that happened on the island.
"Well, they come to me to solve it. I can't just turn them away," Makino said as she sat behind a desk and went over food expense reports. "Silk, Chrissy and Lestrade are more concentrated on science research and inventions… They already looked at me like I was one of their leaders the last time I was here as Silk and I led the attack against the pirates back then. And now that I brought Garp's influence here, I kinda sorta became like a mayor to these guys"
"This isn't a small village or town for you to be called a Mayor. This is a whole island, so it isn't a stretch to call you its Ruler"
Makino chuckled shaking her head. "As if. This is just temporary until things stabilize here…"
"It's good though," Woopslap grinned. "I was worried when you came back after adventuring with Luffy where it looked like you didn't have the motivation to do anything. Now, you look like you have a reason again"
"Yeah," Makino lightly chuckled, "Well, I learned some things when I was with Luffy"
"And you won't tell this old man what"
Makino shook her head as she put down the pen and leaned back into the chair. "It's not my secret to tell… And it isn't just because of that. You remember how miserable I was when Luffy disappeared? Not able to do anything but scream at Garp and Sengoku over a call. That feeling of powerlessness… I hated it so much"
"True"
"And I don't know… just felt like doing something else with my life… I don't know what I'm doing here either, but it's something"
Woopslap just nodded with a smile. "Well, as long as you're happy. People back home miss you, but they'll come to visit from time to time like me"
"Mm thanks"
They kept chatting when sudden loud laughter came from outside and a couple of seconds later, Silk burst into the room laughing uncontrollably while clutching her stomach and tripping over herself.
"Silk, what happened?"
"HEHEHEHEHEH LUF- HAHAHAHAHA LUFFY'S BOU-HAHAHAH!" She wheezed not able to complete her sentence and just handed a bounty poster to Makino.
Confused, Makino took one look at the bounty poster and spluttered out a laugh. She immediately covered her mouth and her shoulders shook as she tried hard to suppress her laughter but when Woopslap looked over her shoulder, saw the bounty poster and fell to the floor laughing his ass off, she couldn't control herself and lost it too.
———
BANDIT HIDEOUT, DAWN ISLAND
The bandits were just doing boring menial jobs when Dogra came in bursting with laughter.
"The hell happened, Dogra?" Dadan questioned with a glare.
"HAHAHA It's Luffy! He finally got a bounty! HAHAHAHA!"
"Really?!" Dadan's face lit up with joy but was confused at his reaction. "Why are you laughing then? Did he get a super low bounty or something?"
"No no! He has the highest ever in East Blue! 45 MILLION!"
"Wow!" The other bandits cheered with awe and happiness. "But why are you laughing?"
"Everyone at Foosha is laughing too! TAKE A LOOK AT HIS POSTER!" He said and finally revealed the poster with a Ta-Da!
And the whole hideout broke down in hysterical laughter.
———
SYRUP VILLAGE
Kaya was at her desk, reading a new book tilted 'The Lucifer Effect' when there was a knock at the door, and she tilted her head in confusion when she heard light snickers coming from the other side of the door.
Confused, she said "Come in" and Merry entered clutching his stomach, looking like he was holding back laughter.
"What happened, Merry?"
"Pfft… It's Luffy, Miss Kaya. His bounty poster… pfft… came in the papers today"
"Really?! Show me!"
"Pffft… here"
Kaya looked at it.
Aand broke down into a fit of giggles which broke down Merry's restraints too.
———
BARATIE
"GAHAHAHAHAH!" Patty's loud laughter reverberated across the restaurant in the middle of lunchtime rush, getting the attention of all the cooks and customers.
"Patty! What are you doing?! You're disturbing the customers!" Carne yelled angrily but that only caused Patty to laugh harder. He tried to say something but couldn't, so he just shoved the bounty poster into Carne's hands. Carne took one look at the poster and guffawed. More cooks came forward trying to scold them, got the bounty poster shoved in their faces, saw it, spluttered out a laugh and soon, all the cooks were laughing hysterically instead of cooking or serving the customers.
Zeff heard the loud commotion from his room upstairs and immediately came down only to find all his cooks wheezing on the floor but more importantly, not working. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YA SHITTY EGGPLANTS?!" he roared in anger but one of the cooks just shoved the poster into his hand.
Zeff looked at it.
Aaand promptly fell down guffawing.
———
GARP'S SHIP, EAST BLUE
"Can you believe it?" We are on Garp the Hero's ship!" Coby exclaimed in joy as he mopped the decks.
"As chore boys though," Helmeppo said rolling his eyes.
"C'mon, Helmeppo! This is our chance! We can get personal training from Garp hims-"
Their conversation was cut off when the whole ship literally rumbled because of loud roaring laughter.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Garp suddenly burst out of his quarters (breaking the doors in the process) and went up on deck while completely lost in howling laughter. Coby and a few others went up to him to see what had their Hero so amused and saw that he was looking at a bounty poster.
Coby tried to peek but the height difference made it impossible, but Garp just threw the poster at him. He, and a few others who peeked over his shoulder, took one look at the poster and did a spit take.
"Pff-" Coby instantly covered his mouth. 'NO! I must not laugh! He's my saviour! I must not laugh. I must…not…'
His surroundings didn't help though as they were all passing around the poster, making fun, and laughing at it, Helmeppo being the loudest, other than Garp of course.
Things only calmed down half an hour later when Garp managed to compose himself. He sat on the deck staring out into the sea thinking about his grandson. 'At least you're alive and well, Luffy…'
He had gotten messages from Makino that Luffy had returned safely when he finally came back from his mission in the New World and had immediately called her back, only to be met with rage. After he appeased Makino enough and asked where Luffy was for the past two years, she refused to tell him anything and told him to ask Luffy himself. She just let him know that he had been through something horrible. As to what, he had no idea…
———
LOGUETOWN
Smoker could hear each Marine splutter out a laugh before letting out a soft gasp of realization as they recognized the pirate in the bounty poster which they had just received from HQ. Luffy's bounty poster had reached Loguetown as soon as it was set because the higher-ups wanted Smoker to capture the unprecedented 45 million worth pirate. He was a Logia and arguably the most powerful Marine Captain stationed in East Blue, so he was given direct orders to capture him.
Smoker left his snickering and bewildered subordinates and went to his office where he sighed deeply. 'Was everything he said to me a lie?'
He grumbled remembering the last time they had met. It was in Flint where all the people in the village had disappeared and Strawhat had come there to find his friends who had also disappeared. The Marine Captain in charge of that place was Captain Getyin, who was one of the most unpleasant and clearly corrupt Marines he had met.
When Strawhat took the weird panda-like bird called Balloon from right under their noses and escaped, Getyin wanted to issue a bounty on him. Smoker had stepped in and confronted Getyin saying that he would report him if he lied about Strawhat. He had stood up for the teen even though technically, Getyin had a valid reason to call for his arrest as he had technically stolen the bird.
He had done that because Getyin had clearly forced Strawhat's hands. He wasn't blind to all the corrupt assholes who somehow made it to the Captain rank, so he understood where the teen was coming from. And he knew he had made the right decision when all the villagers in Flint came back a few days later safe and sound. He had personally followed up and called to see if a person called Luffy had helped them and a girl called Silk had sung his praises, telling him how Luffy was her guardian angel and how he had saved them all.
On top of that, Getyin was stripped of his title and was imprisoned just a week after that incident. Smoker remembered how Makino had said 'Enjoy your last days as a Captain' to Getyin just before they ran away and he knew that she had something to do with his imprisonment.
He had a good impression of Strawhat… at least until that morning. 'He's a pirate now…' his face scowled in disgust and he began going through all the crimes that been listed as his doing. Took out all the big names pirates including Arlong the Saw and Don Krieg - which caused destruction of villages and collateral damage, looted and pillaged a few places, threatened Captain Nezumi and the whole base, attacked Captain Nezumi so bad that his mentality is still broken…
He sighed when he finished and Strawhat had done lots of heinous crimes according to the reports. He took out pirates sure but also left a trail of destruction where the battle had taken place and people had suffered.
He remembered Silk's words about him saving them and understood what kind of pirate Strawhat was. The kind that was kind to his friends but looted, killed and destroyed every other place. He hated that kind of pirate more as they clearly had a morality compass as they protected their own and yet, they could do heinous crimes on anyone they considered 'not a friend'
"I'm gonna catch you, Strawhat…"
———
UNKNOWN ISLAND, GRAND LINE
A pirate ran through the town with a worried look on his face while repeating the sentence "Have to tell the captain!" over and over again. He finally reached where he had last seen his captain and found him to be still there drunk and in a brooding mood.
"Captain!" he yelled and the Red-haired captain, and also the surrounding crew who were also drunk, groaned in response.
"Captain! Someone bad showed up just now!" the pirate yelled frantically and only then did the Red-haired man lift his head to look at him.
"Who?" Shanks asked with a scowl.
"Me" came a calm response from behind the pirate and he jumped in fright.
Shanks just sighed. "Hawkeye… You chose a really bad time to come pick a fight… We're not in the best of moods right now"
"As if I'd want to settle things with a one-armed man," Mihawk scoffed, "I'm here because I came across a couple of interesting pirates and was reminded of a story you once told me. About an interesting boy in a certain village in East Blue." He then reached into his coat, pulled out a bounty poster and handed it to him while adding, "…He is quite cute"
Shanks saw the poster and his bad mood instantly melted away as he burst out laughing. "DAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Benn, Lucky Roux, and Yassopp who had all realized that Mihawk was talking about Luffy couldn't understand why their captain started laughing.
"It's anchor, right?" Roux asked walking up to Shanks and taking the poster from his hand. He saw it and fell.
Yasopp followed next.
And soon, the place was filled with howling, joyous and amused laughter. Benn was the only one calm but he too had an amused smirk as he looked at the poster.
"So he's come at last! Luffy!" Shanks exclaimed with an excited grin which soon morphed into an amused one, "But… DAHAHAHA! You sure got stuck with one hell of a picture, eh anchor? THIS CALLS FOR A CELEBRATION! You join too, Mihawk!" Shanks and crew again started drinking with gusto and Mihawk reluctantly joined in.
"The boy was intriguing," Mihawk said as he sipped wine.
"Intriguing? How so?"
"He asked for your transponder snail number"
"What? Anchor wants to talk to the captain?" Lucky Roux said confused, "I was sure he wouldn't want to until he became a great pirate"
"I don't think he wanted to talk. His exact words were 'Better to have it and not need it rather than to need it and not have it'"
"Wow, anchor said something like that? Guess he's grown up a bit"
"He also said that he could have prevented the tragedy that happened on Whitebeard's crew a year ago"
That made Shanks stiffen up in shock and his mood changed. "What? You mean Teach?"
Mihawk nodded and Shanks and Benn exchanged a look.
"He said he could have prevented it?"
"Yes"
"Prevented it?"
"Yes"
Shanks became dumbfounded and so did Benn as they thought hard about how Luffy could possibly have known about it.
"Here's his number by the way. In case you need it." Mihawk gave Shanks Luffy's number before silently and quickly leaving.
Benn immediately pulled out a transponder snail. "Should I call him?"
"Will it even connect?"
That was a yes and Benn dialed his number, but sadly it didn't connect.
"You think he knows about the destructive path his brother is on currently?"
"If he said he could have prevented it, then he must somehow know what Teach is capable of. So, maybe he does"
"That begs the question… how does he know?"
"Hmm," Shanks scratched his chin but came up with no answer. "Well, it has been almost a decade since we last saw him. Who knows what kind of life he's lived"
"True" Benn nodded.
"Well, not much we can do for now. Let's just celebrate his first bounty!"
———
MYTE ISLAND, SOUTH BLUE
——RECAP: Luffy's Adventure in South Blue——
After Reiju dropped him off in South Blue, Luffy got lost navigating and landed on Myte Island.
There, he found a cargo ship that would take him to East Blue, but it was scheduled to leave in 8 months. When he was thinking about what to do, he met a woman called Claire at a hotel. (And also a local cat who he named Tabby)
Claire was a journalist and was the one who informed him of the Beasts Island and after Luffy coerced her, navigated and dropped him off at the Beasts Island.
Luffy spent around 7 months training there. There was a tribe of hostile humans who lived on the Beasts island (who worshipped a god called Wyllia) and he avoided them for the most part. There was one family of outcasts that he managed to befriend though. The outcast Wyllian family had some friction with their tribe and Luffy saved all their lives during a fight. After that, the outcast Wyllian family decided to leave the island along with Luffy.
So Luffy came back to Myte Island along with the Wyllian family and introduced them to Claire. Before Luffy left for East Blue, he learned that a Mafia Family had control over Myte and a few more surrounding islands. Claire's freedom was being suppressed by the mafia, so in a single afternoon, Luffy dismantled the entire mafia organization and gave Claire her freedom back. He also left the massive horde of treasure that the mafia family had to Claire, who used that money to begin preparations to launch her own newspaper agency.
The outcast Wyllian family was a family of four -
Sol - The father who ate the Hound-Hound Zoan devil fruit. Luffy helped him control his powers.
Allana - The young daughter who took a liking to Luffy and calls him Aniki. Luffy has infected her with the 'I want to become a pirate' virus.
Katie - The mother who was pregnant with her second child when Luffy was on the island. She got hurt during a fight with their tribe and Luffy arrived just in time to save her and her unborn child's lives.
Allie - Katie's sister who's a doctor. She treated Katie when she was hurt in the battle and with Luffy's help managed to save her sister and her unborn child.
(The family did welcome the fifth member when Katie gave birth a few months after Luffy left.)
Sol, Katie, Allana and their new child live together in one house on Myte Island currently, while Allie lives with Claire (and also Tabby, the cat).
——RECAP End——
"And I achieved all this in just a short few months. Tomorrow will be the launch of my new newspaper!" Claire declared happily into a transponder snail that had taken on the appearance of a seagull.
"Yes, that is quite impressive…" Big News Morgans, the President of the World Economy News Paper and one the emperors of the Underworld said in a bored tone. "But if this is the reason you've been hounding my secretary to get a single call with me, I'm afraid you're wasting your time. I run a newspaper that is distributed throughout the Whole World! Your cute little newspaper that covers just South Blue is insignificant to me, and I do not see as you a rival. Sure, it is impressive that you managed to open a newspaper agency in such a short amount of time, but I don't think it's worthy of my attention. You're also using my News Coos, so I don't understand why you're mouthing off"
Claire just grinned. "I'm not planning on becoming your rival. Are you crazy? As you said, I'm still using your News Coos to have my papers distributed after all. There's no way anyone in this world can rival you as long as you're alive"
"Then, I fail to understand the point of you gloating"
"I'm not gloating. I'm showing you what I'm capable of"
Morgans finally showed something other than boredom. "Explain"
"Let me be straight with you - I basically want a job. I want to work for you but I don't want to start as some low-level journalist. I want to become someone who makes major decisions and has a lot of power… And so, I did this. I didn't open a small one-island paper agency and started expanding from there… I'm starting by covering all the major islands in South Blue at once. The first issue of my paper will be distributed to the whole of South Blue tomorrow. That's never been done before… Even you started small with a single island before expanding to what it is today"
"You want to work for me, so you started your own paper company? I fail to see the connection here"
Claire's grin only widened, "You know how in a job interview, you ask questions that gauge how far one is willing to go, what their abilities, morals, and values are, right? So, consider this paper agency I started as my job interview. Consider how well I run this paper as a test of my abilities. Consider what I print as a test of what my journalistic values are and how far I'm willing to go to get to the truth!"
Claire finished and Morgans stayed silent for a few seconds before he burst out laughing. "Kuwahahaha WOW! This is certainly a unique way of asking for a job… What's your name again?"
"Claire"
"Well, Claire, you have my attention. Show me what you can do. I'll observe your paper for a year and if I'm impressed, you can have a job at my HQ as one of my highest executives"
"Good. See you in a year then! I want an office with a good view"
"Kuwahaha! I'm looking forward to it!"
KA-LICK
Claire collapsed on her desk with a deep and tired, but happy, sigh. "Hehehe…hehehehe… man, that sure was nerve-wracking…"
"Everything you hoped for?" Allie, who was sitting across from her the whole time, asked passing a cool drink of lemonade.
"Yess~" Claire drawled happily.
"I still don't get it. I thought you wanted to create your own paper agency? But all this is just so you can get on Morgans side?"
"You still need to learn more about the world," Claire said as she sipped the lemonade, "There's no one who can rival Morgans… What will anyone use as a paper distributor? Humans on ships? It's fine for an island or two sure, but if you want to expand and be fast, birds are the only way. And Morgans is the only one who can employ birds. We have to make a contract with his team about borrowing the help of those birds… and it's one hell of an expensive, tiring and complex contract which makes sure any new newspaper dies before they even launch. Unless someone can employ News Coos like Morgans, no one can oppose him. It's a losing battle no matter what you do"
"You can open printing presses on each island?"
"That's even more expensive than using News Coos. Buying land, building a printing press, and employing each place? There will be no profit for a long time and one wouldn't be able to sustain such a business"
"Hmm… I guess it's not possible"
"Exactly… Believe me, if I could I would open my very own agency and reign as the Supreme Empress of Media. But it's just not realistic when Morgans exists in this world. So, I'll pick the next best thing and aim to become his second in command one day"
"I see…" Allie just nodded.
"Mrrroow~" Tabby jumped up on the table they were on and Claire hugged and buried her head on the cat while it just pawed her forehead.
"I'm so tired…" Claire sighed, "I'm been up for days dreading this conversation. Thank god he liked my confidence… he could have just as easily dismissed me and laughed in my face too…"
"Well, take rest now. Your first issue is gonna be released tomorrow"
"Hehehe yeep~" Claire giggled sleepily as she dozed off.
Hours later, she was awoken by what sounded like a shriek. She panicked for a second as she got up but realized that it was the sound of Allie laughing. Tabby didn't even bother moving as it slept peacefully and she went into her home office to find Allie holding a piece of paper and laughing at it.
"Allie?"
"Ah, Claire! You won't believe what just came through!"
"What?"
"Someone just called and said that a guy called Luffy just got his bounty in East Blue"
"Oh!" Claire's face brightened up, "I had asked a contact in East Blue to keep an eye out and let me know. Looks like he finally got one! And this is perfect! He's the main reason I got my freedom back and any of this is possible, so it'll be like honouring him! I'll have this bounty poster inside the first-ever issue of my paper!"
"Oh, he's gonna hate that! Hehehe"
"I won't call him a hero or anything. Even though it would be fun to call him that just to mess with him hehe"
"No, not because of that"
"Then? Low bounty?"
"No. Apparently, it's the highest in East Blue- 45 million!"
"Oh wow! That's amazing!… So why would he hate it? And why are you laughing?"
Allie just giggled as she passed her the bounty poster.
"PFFTT~ HEHEHE WHAT THE HELL?! HAHAHAHA!" Claire collapsed to a nearby chair clutching her stomach.
"He's so cute!"
"Oh, he's super cute!" Claire laughed before having a bright idea, "Oh oh! This deserves more than just to be included in the paper. I'll have this bounty poster printed in the newspaper itself! CAPTION- THE CUTEST PIRATE EVER?"
"Hehehe poor Luffy!"
"Eh I feel a bit bad, but it's not like I gave him this bounty picture! Hehehe oh man, this is a great omen! Call the printing press. Need to make some small last-minute adjustments"
While Allie began calling the printing press and informing them of the changes, Claire opened a desk drawer and stared at a file with 'The Laughing Pirate' written on it. 'Should I publish this…?' She wondered.
She say quietly pondering over it, agonizing over wanting to publish it but also knowing that her life would be over if she did… She sighed as she closed the drawer. 'Can't do it now…'
The next day, the first issue of Claire's new newspaper - South Blue Truth Chronicle got distributed all around South Blue with Luffy's bounty picture covering half of the back page.
The World Economy News Paper picked up the same caption and image the next day and published it in their paper too, albeit a much smaller image on page 7. And that was distributed throughout the world.
———
JEWELRY BONNEY'S SHIP, PARADISE
—RECAP: Kell—
Kell is a doctor who Luffy met when he was enslaved in Mariejois. She was the first person in months to talk to Luffy like he was a person while she treated him and Luffy took a liking to her and befriended her.
The slavers saw that the two were amicably talking and to break Luffy, they enslaved Kell too. Luffy was horrified to see that Kell was being tortured because of him and just as they were branding her with the hoof, Luffy unleashed his Conqueror's for the first time and tried to do a prison break with Kell. That was his First escape attempt which failed and both were enslaved again.
During Luffy's Second escape attempt, he led a rebellion by freeing many slaves including Kell and did a prison break. Although Luffy himself wasn't able to escape, Kell and a few other slaves managed to escape the underground slave camp.
Jewelry Bonney was in Mariejois at the time to infiltrate the Reverie and instead ran into the escaping slaves. She helped them escape the place and Kell later joined her crew.
Kell and Bonney were in South Blue when they heard the news of a man in a straw hat taking down an entire mafia family. They went to inquire and met Claire on Myte Island, who told them about Luffy. Only then did Kell learn that Luffy was still alive. Claire asked about Kell's history with Luffy too and Kell told her everything about Luffy's Second escape attempt, a story which she called 'The Laughing Pirate'
Kell is currently the Doctor, Quartermaster and First Mate of the Bonney Pirates.
—RECAP END—
It was the same dream again.
"Luffy!" / "Laughing Hero!"
"Shishishishi you guys are great! And I'm not a hero, I'm a pirate"
…
…
…
"Now what?! Laughing Hero, what do we do now?"
"Stop calling me a hero already! I'm a pirate! And let's go this way!"
…
…
…
"BAHAHAHAHA!" / "GUFUFUFUFU!" / "DAHAHAHA" / "HAHAHAHA!" / "HEHEHEHE!" / "JEHEHEHEHE!" / "SHISHISHISHI"
…
…
…
"LUFFY, COME BACK TO ME! WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW! LEAVE THAT BITCH ALONE AND LET'S GO!" She saw herself scream at a bloody and panting Luffy that stood across from her.
"But these two will be killed! I can't just leave them here!" Luffy wheezed coughing up blood as he held an unconscious bubble-helmet-wearing woman with one hand and with his other, supported a bubble-helmet-wearing kid who was hugging his neck while trembling with fear.
"Laughing Hero!" Another slave standing by her side yelled, "You led us here until now! This is your victory! Why are you suddenly protecting our enemies at this last moment?!"
"I'm not a hero, I'm a pirate! And I'm not protecting my enemies! I'm protecting this kid! She gave me food! She begged me to save her mom, so I'll do it!"
"She's a Celestial Dragon! They're heartless monsters who don't give a fuck about anyone except themselves! Doesn't matter if they're kids or not! You should know that better than anyone here! There's no reward for you if you save them! All they'll do is turn on you once they're safe!"
"Ahh, I don't care! You guys go on ahead. You said this is a straight route right?"
"Luffy! No, stop!"
"Go on, Kell. I'll catch up!"
"Wait! Lu-"
"Kell, let's go. He's suicidal if he wants to go back!"
…
…
…
"Guess this is the end of the line… I really thought we could escape…"
"Let's just kill ourselves and be done wit-"
BOOM!
…
"Damn, he's still alive! And he's come to save us!"
"Luffy!" / "Laughing Hero!"
…
…
"IT'S FINE, I'LL FIND ANOTHER WAY ACROSS! YOU ALL GO THAT WAY!"
"BUT THERE ARE GUARDS THERE!"
"DON'T WORRY! YOU'LL BE SAFE IF YOU GO THAT WAY! I'M SURE I SAW GRAMP-"
BOOM! FLASH! CRACK!
Kell sat up with a start in her bed and sighed when she realized she had had the same dream again. More of a memory really.
"That dream again?" Bonney asked and Kell saw that her Captain was sitting at the desk in her room.
"Yeah…" Kell sighed.
"The one where you and Luffy spend the night in a wild night of passion?" Bonney asked with a teasing smirk.
"That joke is just as funny as the first hundred times you said it"
"Hehe well, today's different. I can finally assign a face to this Luffy… and I have to say, you like 'em young huh, Kell?"
"What does that mean?"
Bonney just threw a newspaper at her. "Page 7"
Kell opened it and froze when she saw him. A small smile spread across her face as she touched his face. "Hehe he's pouting"
"Well, says there that he's the highest bounty in East Blue. So, shouldn't be long before he enters the Grand Line"
"Yeah"
"And we're already at our fifth island on the Grand Line. We are not going back to Reverse Mountain"
Kell just gave her captain a deadpan look. "I wasn't gonna ask us to turn around. I'm a Bonney Pirate and my loyalty lies here. I just respect Luffy and want to meet him that's all. Not some love-struck fool as you seem to think"
"Aww it's fun to tease you though"
"Yeah yeah… what are you doing in my room anyway?"
"Oh, the food's run out… So… go get more"
Kell just sighed "You damn gluttonous bitch…"
———
MARIEJOIS, INSIDE A CERTAIN RESIDENTIAL HOUSE
It was the same dream again.
"You lowly lesser being! Unhand me! How dare you touch me with those filthy hands of yours!"
"Ah calm down, bubble-lady! I'm trying to save you here. Everyone wants to kill you"
"No! Do not touch me! I'll have you whipped a million times and hanged!"
"Fine, do whatever you want later but first, let's get your daughter to safety, okay?"
"Mommy, I'm scared! I don't want to be here. I want to go home!"
"Yes honey, don't worry. These lesser beings can't do anything to us"
…
…
…
"LAUGHING HERO! HAND OVER THAT CELESTIAL BITCH! I WANT TO RIP HER IN TWO!"
"WHY ARE YOU PROTECTING HER, LAUGHING HERO?! SHE'S THE ONE WHO HAD YOU BRANDED!"
"STOP CALLING ME A HERO! I'M A PIRATE!"
"You all are filthy beings!"
"Ah shut up, bubble-lady"
…
…
…
"Stop, all of you! Luffy's the one who led us here! Just follow him and we'll be able to leave this place!"
"Don't be delusional, Kell! As if anyone can get out of here! This momentary freedom is all we'll get! Let's kill as many Celestial Bastards as we can and then die!"
…
…
…
"Slave, slave! Are you okay? Get up, slave!"
"Honey! What are you doing?! Don't touch that filthy thing!"
…
…
…
"Ah… glad you're okay… Hey, thanks for the soup. It was tasty… And you, bubble-lady, I don't like you… but take care of your daughter at least. Just carry her and run straight. There are guards there"
"How dare you order me, you filthy lesser being?! I'm going to wait here! My guards will come for me!"
"Mom, just listen to him. We can't stay…"
"Don't worry, honey. These beings can't hurt us. We are Gods!"
SLAP!
…
…
…
BOOM! FLASH! CRACK!
A woman in a luxurious oversized bed woke up with a start and sighed massaging her head. "That same memory again…"
She clapped her hand once and a procession of servants came in who got her out of bed, bathed her, dressed her up and an hour later, she was sitting at a dining table along with her husband and daughter. It was a silent breakfast and only when they were done and a servant came and handed her daughter a newspaper did her husband speak up.
"You're still reading those things, honey?"
"Yes, Father! It's fun to read how the lesser beings live!"
"Well, okay, but do not forget the etiquette lessons you have in the afternoon"
"Yes, Father"
The woman silently finished her breakfast and went to her room again, not having said a word the whole time. A few minutes later, her daughter walked in with a stiff face and the woman noticing it, glanced at the few servants in the room. The servants understood and left, closing the doors behind them.
Only once the two were all alone, did their facades drop and both gave a genuine smile.
"What's wrong?" The woman asked picking her daughter up and sitting on the bed. "You looked stiff"
"I was just trying to hold back!" The daughter excitedly yelled as she opened up the newspaper.
"You went through it without me, again?" The woman pouted, "I told you that we should read the paper together"
The daughter was too excited to listen as she turned the pages and grinned as she pointed at a particular image on page 7. The woman froze as soon as her eyes fell on him.
"He's alive! He's alive!" The daughter cheered jumping excitedly on the bed while the woman was too busy reading about him.
"Luffy… so that's his name…" she traced a finger over his face and a small smile spread across her face.
———
ACE'S BOAT, PARADISE
"PFFF-cough- HAHAHAHA-cough cough- HAHAHA!" Ace coughed spitting out the food he was eating when he saw his brother's image printed in the newspaper. "Oh man, this is so funny! HAHAHA! Luffy must be fuming right about now! HAHAHAHA!"
He calmed down only a few minutes later and smiled lovingly at his little brother's picture before tearing it out. He was near the starting islands of Paradise so he hoped he would run into him and tease the hell out of him with the pouting picture.
"Wonder how much stronger he's gotten?" He muttered with a chuckle but didn't think he would have grown that much. As far as he knew, Luffy had stayed on Dawn Island for the past three years and nothing too exciting would have probably happened…
———
LIZZ'S SHIP, PARADISE
Honey Queen panted as she dodged by making only her waist fluid and leaning back more than a normal human could, just as a fist passed over her head. She was about to laugh but she felt something hit her knee and she screamed in pain.
Another yell of pain followed and Honey turned to see that Ann had also been hit harshly on her midriff.
"GAH! You bitch!" Honey glared at Lizz who was standing across from them and was responsible for hitting them.
"What did you just say?" Lizz growled.
Honey groaned as she collapsed on her back, and Ann soon followed too. "I called you a bitch"
"Oh ho? Getting comfortable, are we? Do you want me to send you back to Clockwork Island so that they can hand you over to the Marines?"
"Well, If I'm disrespectful, you hit me… and if I'm respectful, you still hit me! So, what does it matter?"
"…"
"…She's got a fair point" Kicky phased out and agreed.
"Well, as long as you train, I don't care," Lizz said sitting next to her and Ann.
"I understand you hitting me without restraint given our history and all… but you're just as harsh or maybe even harsher with your own sister?" Honey said as she eyed Ann who was panting hard.
"Well, our enemies won't go easy on us. She wanted to come to the Grand Line, so this is the least she should be able to take. If not, I'll take her back right this instant"
"No…" Ann groaned, "This is… nothing… I can take it…"
"Good. Take rest now. We'll continue in an hour"
Ann nodded while Honey rolled her eyes at them.
"You're getting good," Lizz suddenly complimented Honey, "You're learning to use your devil fruit in better ways"
"Yeah yeah…"
Lizz scowled not liking her response. "You are a Logia user. People will tremble before you if you just used your fruit effectively and I'm helping you achieve that… If you really don't want that, if you really want nothing more in life other than wanting to harass normal people, then get off my ship. Someone like me or Luffy will again come to kick your butt and you'll end up in prison"
Honey just glared at her for a couple of seconds before averting her eyes.
"Now now, calm down, Lizz…" Ann placated before the atmosphere could get any worse.
Luckily, a man came running in while holding the newspaper. "Captain! Cap-Guh!" The man got a nosebleed when he saw Honey, who wasn't wearing any clothes, and fell.
"God, do you have to be naked?" Lizz sighed.
"Hey! This is a lifestyle choice! I'm a nudist!" Honey said offended, "If your men can't handle it, it's their fault! I'll only wear clothes when I feel like it"
"Okay okay," Lizz said as she looked at the man. "What's up, Cane?"
"Ah, captain…" Cane got up wiping his nose, "Bomby kept saying to keep an eye on news or bounties of a person called Luff-"
Bomby jumped out of Lizz and lunged at the man snatching the newspaper from him. Her eyes excitedly scanned the newspaper and she gasped loudly when she spotted him. "OH MY GOD! THIS IS AMAZING! Ehehehehehe! Kahahahaha!"
"What's gotten into you?" Lizz asked coming up to her and saw the picture too. She spluttered out a laugh before becoming just like Lizz. Ellie, Maddy and Kicky also phased out and fell to the floor cackling.
Ann soon followed the same fate and Honey lost it even more.
———
MARINE HQ, SENGOKU'S OFFICE
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Sengoku slapped his desk in joy and laughed as he looked at Luffy's bounty poster. "Serves him right! Tsuru, did you see this?!"
"Yeah, saw it the morning and got all the laughter out of my system," Tsuru smiled as she studied the bounty poster, but seemed to be in a bit of a distressed state.
"HAHAHAHA! Whoever took this picture, give them a raise! I'm promoting them!"
"Uhh, that would be kinda hard"
"Hm?"
"Well, no matter what, having an image like this for a pirate is a bit… unconventional. So I asked Brannew about it. And apparently, he got orders from here to use this image"
Sengoku's laughter died down and he finally noticed Tsuru's distressed state, becoming confused. "From here? What, Garp did this?"
Tsuru shook her head with a sigh. "No. Apparently, the Germa did this"
"…what?"
"The Germa asked us to use this image"
"…Is something wrong with my hearing? Are you saying The Germa Kingdom from North Blue did this? The Vinsmokes? Why? How do they even know Luffy?!"
Tsuru sighed deeply. "I called and asked. Judge had no idea what I was talking about so he asked his kids and apparently, the princess did it"
"Vinsmoke Reiju? Why?"
"She said it was just a prank. Then I asked her how she knew Luffy and she said," Tsuru paused and took a deep sigh before continuing, "and I'm quoting her here, 'He was my cute little sex slave'"
"WHAT?!"
BANG! CRACK!
Sengoku stared dumbfoundedly at his desk which had just broken because he had slapped his fist on it too hard.
"Heh, guess you do need a desk guy"
"Forget that! What did she mean he was her sex slave?! When?!" His eyes widened as he came to a conclusion with the information he had. "Oh god! When he disappeared! He was sold as a slave and ended up with the Germa?!"
"That's what I think too"
"Oh no! Don't let this information get to Garp! Who knows what he'll do! Cover it up!"
"Calm down, already did all that. A few know that Germa asked for some random pirate's image to be changed, but they don't know why. Only Judge, his children, me and you know about the sex slave part. And if anyone asks in the future, they'll think I assigned the picture."
"Good…" Sengoku sighed. "So that's where he was… Poor boy. Good thing he escaped."
"He didn't escape," Tsuru said, and with another deep sigh added, "I thought he had escaped too, so I asked the Reiju brat why she was letting him be if she knew where he was, and her answer was that she let him go."
"Really? Hard to imagine that given their ruthlessness"
"Yeah. I asked why and she said, and I'm again quoting her, 'He deeply satisfied me in bed, so after a few months, I rewarded him by letting him go'"
"…"
"…"
"…You're being serious?"
"Completely serious"
"…"
"…"
"Garp should never find out"
"Garp should never find out"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…You need a desk guy."
"Sigh… I need a desk guy…"
_________
GERMA SHIP, SOMEWHERE IN PARADISE
Reiju groaned burying her face into her pillow in her room. "What the hell, Luffy? Why the hell did Vice Admiral Tsuru of all people call me asking about you?!" She grumbled hurling curses at him.
It was just supposed to be a prank. There were systems in place if the Germa ever wanted to interfere with a bounty poster of someone. They just had to call a faceless Marine, tell him their request, and that faceless Marine would officially take down the request and then execute it. If the request was something outrageous like changing Kaido's bounty poster, the faceless Marine would run it up his superiors and Sengoku or someone high ranking would learn of it and call them to ask why they were requesting that.
But for some random nobody, nothing much would have happened. The faceless Marine would just tell other faceless Marines to comply with the request, and it would be done. They did it a lot with bounties of certain people in North Blue, like changing the epithet or changing 'Dead or Alive' to 'Only Alive' if they ever wanted, so it shouldn't have been a big deal.
Even if some high-ranking Marine came to know about it, they wouldn't care much. So all that should have happened was for the faceless Marine to take down her request, tell their bounty assigning branch that the order came from higher-ups and they would just execute it. And that is what seemed to have happened. But after the bounty was released, people like Tsuru seemed to have finally noticed it, found out that the Germa had asked for it and called to inquire.
"Tsuru is close to Sengoku, isn't she?" Reiju wondered and was starting to regret pulling the prank, realizing she had been too rash and stupid. Luffy had so many secrets, so she should have been more careful…
She was in Paradise currently on a mission when Judge had suddenly called her and asked about this matter. She was shocked to find that Tsuru of all people had called to ask about it.
She, of course, had a story ready and confessed it was she who had requested the change as a prank to her sex slave. It was a well-known story among the servants in the Kingdom and also her brothers that she had had a sex slave and some still remembered Luffy's face. No other explanation would have fit the persona she had, and Judge wouldn't be tolerant of any other reasons either.
He escaped - Hunt him down!
He's my friend - A friend with a non-noble and compassion for him? You're like Sanji! I'll lock you up in a dungeon!
He's my boyfriend - A non-noble as a boyfriend?! Dungeon!
He's my Captain and I'll escape this hellish place and go spend my life with him and Sanji! - Dungeon!
At least with the story of him being her sex slave, she could say something like 'He was so good in bed and I was so satisfied that I granted his request' and even her father would back off not wanting to have in-detail conversations about such matters with his daughter. So, she had gone with that story and told the same to Tsuru too.
Judge had asked a bit more about it but when she purposefully made it too sexual, he stopped asking midway. Her brothers didn't care much and the topic was dropped.
She sighed only now seriously thinking of the implications. It was fine now as Luffy was a nobody but when he becomes famous, wouldn't this become a problem? Wouldn't Judge ask more questions then?
She picked up a transponder snail and called him but as always, it didn't connect. She sighed as she pulled out Luffy's picture- the cute pouting picture- from under her pillow and scowled at him. "You bastard. This is all your fault… Who the hell are you? You should've told me high-ranking people in the Marines know you…" she trailed off staring at his picture for a long time… her face slowly morphing from irritation to a look of longing. "…I miss you…"
———
GOING MERRY, EAST BLUE
Luffy sighed darkly and almost crushed the transponder snail in frustration when it didn't connect to Reiju. 'Is she okay?'
He knew of the system in place with which the Germa requested changes in bounty posters and if he was a nobody, nothing would happen. Well, he was almost a nobody currently but Sengoku surely had an eye on him. He was under no delusion that Sengoku was on his side and if he ever publicly did something, he would be the one of the first to order his capture. And having this link between him and Reiju known by him seemed bad… 'No wait! Wouldn't he have already called Judge to ask about the poster?!'
He started panicking as he tried to call her again and again but to no avail. 'Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!' He circled around in the crow's nest with a blank look on his face, his fingers running through his hair, for a few seconds before he took a deep breath and calmed himself down. "She's a smart girl…"
He sat back down calmly. 'If I was Reiju and was suddenly ambushed by Judge and Sengoku about this, what would I do?'
He thought for a few seconds before his lips curled up into an amused smile. 'She'll tell them I was her sex slave…' That story was already well known among the servants so she would definitely use that story. He thought about it a bit more and came to all the correct conclusions that she would have said that he had satisfied her in bed so she let him go; If Judge or Sengoku pried too much, she would just start going into explicit sexual detail which would deter any further questioning.
"Okay okay, she's safe she's safe" he repeated to calm himself down. Everything would be fine. At least for now.
Once he gets famous enough though? 'Hm… She should still be fine as she could probably explain it away by saying 'Wow, I had no idea he would get this strong'… But once Sanji gets his bounty too? That's when the real problem begins…' Even if Sanji's poster is the same as in the story which depicts a drawing, Judge would still pay attention to the name and the similarities. And the coincidences would have piled up too high for Reiju to feign ignorance then…
'Man, this is gonna blow up in our faces one day huh?' Luffy sighed. "Well, I guess I gotta save her way before Whole Cake then…"
He just sat in the crow's nest thinking about the future until Nami yelled from below. "Luffy! Come back down!"
He sighed shelving away his thoughts and jumped down. "Done laughing?" he asked sternly.
Nami giggled grabbing and dragging him into the kitchen, "Yes! Now come inside. Everyone's waiting"
"Hey Luffy!" the others chorused and Sanji pushed a plate of delicious meat towards him with a smile. "As an apology for laughing in your face like that"
They all had, of course, completely lost it when they saw his poster and heard his anguished scream. Luffy sighed but smiled as he sat down at the table and began eating.
"So what's the story with the poster?" Zoro asked. "How did that happen?"
"The inventor genius crewmate. She's the one who took that picture."
"Really? How did the Marines end up with it?"
"She kinda has contacts and can influence bounty posters, the Marines issue. She had joked about making this picture as my bounty poster when I become the Pirate King."
"Pftt~ That would be hilarious!" Usopp laughed.
"Yeah, at least she got it out of her system now. She won't do it for my future bounties… I hope"
Everyone chuckled.
"So she can just influence bounty posters? Is she someone in the Marines? And she's someone that powerful?" Nami asked.
"No, not in the Marines. You'll understand when you meet her"
They sighed but accepted the answer.
"Anyway, the amount is amazing! 45 million! That's the highest in East Blue!"
"Shishishishi Yes!"
"Don't be happy about that idiot!" Nami snapped, "We'll have Marines and bounty hunters after us now! We cannot stay in East Blue anymore."
"Good thing we're leaving then. One last stop, and then we head to the Grand Line!" 'More stops if Apis is real…' he added in his mind.
"One last stop? Where?" Zoro asked.
"The Town of the Beginning and the End, Loguetown!" Luffy announced reverentially.
"Beginning and End? What's that supposed to mean?" Usopp asked.
"It's where Gold Roger was born and also executed," Nami explained, "It's the last island before the Grand Line."
"Gol D. Roger," Luffy corrected.
"His name was Goldy Roger?" Sanji asked, confused.
"Not Goldy. It's Gol D. Like Monkey D. Luffy, it's Gol D. Roger."
"He was your family?!" Usopp yelped in shock.
"No no, it's just an initial…"
"So it's not important then?"
"No. It's very important"
"Why?"
"No clue"
"…"
"Moving on," Nami sighed, ignoring the infuriating conversation, "We'll be there in a couple of days."
——o———o———o——
"Wow! This place is huge!" Usopp exclaimed as they docked the Merry at the port in Loguetown and took in the sights.
"So this where the Age of Pirates began…" Sanji commented looking around the bustling streets.
Zoro looked at the place too before his eyes fell on his captain who was wearing a black jacket with the hoodie up, essentially hiding his face. "What's with the getup, Luffy?"
"He has a bounty. Of course, he has to hide his face" Nami interjected.
"Actually, I'm kinda famous here in Loguetown. I was here a few months ago and had a lot of fun with the Marines… now that I have a bounty, there's no way they will not recognize me"
"Oh no… What did you do?"
"Shishi I'll tell you some other time in detail but the Marine Captain here knows me. You two saw him too," Luffy said pointing at Zoro and Nami, "He was on Silk's island when we went to investigate there along with Tash"
Zoro internally gasped remembering the Kuina look-alike.
"I don't think he saw you two, but still, be careful"
"Right right"
"Alright, I got some ingredients to buy…" Sanji said before adding, "And some ladies to woo!"
"I have to buy some equipment"
"I have to buy some clothes"
"I need to buy some swords" Zoro said before turning to Nami, who gave a bright smile in return, "Sure! At 300% interest~"
"Damn witch!"
"Nami… Zoro's swords fall into the necessary category"
"B-but Luffy! It's Zoro!"
"…Fair point. Okay, you can extort money from him"
"Yay!"
"Hey!"
"Shishi anyway, listen!" Luffy clapped his hands getting all their attention, "We need a few things. First," he took out around 500,000 berries from the bag and handed it to Usopp, "Get a few good guidebooks for ship repairing and then buy all the tools we'll need to fix the Merry in case of damages. Get high-quality tools… Wood too"
"Ooh, that's a good idea. Leave it to me!"
"Next, anyone knows how to make bug repellent?"
"Bug repellent? I do," Usopp and also Sanji said, "But why?"
"We'll need it for the Grand Line. Buy ingredients to make it or if they're readily available, buy it. Just enough for a day is all we'll need"
They didn't fully understand but agreed.
"Next," he handed a 100,000 to Nami, "Buy all the cartography tools you want"
"Oh… alright"
"Next," he handed another 100,000 to Sanji, "Any cooking utensils you want"
"I already have most things. Don't need this much"
"Really? I was wanting new kitchen appliances all the time. A better oven? A deep-fryer? A juicer? Ice-cream maker? Nothing?"
Sanji thought about it for a second before snatching the 100,000.
"Luffy!" Nami snapped. "This is unnecessary spending!"
"It's fine. It's the last island before the Grand Line. Splurge a bit. You buy good clothes and whatnot too" he said handing her another 10,000 which had her smiling again.
He next handed another 100,000 to Zoro. "This is for weights and anything else you want. For your swords, go to Ipponmatsu's Arms Shop and look in the barrel of cheap swords"
"I don't want cheap swords. I want more to buy good ones"
"Just look in the barrel. You'll find what you want"
"Luffy!" Nami complained. "You said I could extort him!"
"Shishi don't worry, you'll get more chances in the future"
"Hey!"
"What else…?" Luffy pondered but couldn't think of anything more. "Alright, that's it, I guess. Disperse!"
———
'Now, how do I find Dragon?' Luffy wondered as he walked through the streets. He could meet him if everything played out like in the story but it was only when they are leaving that Dragon shows himself. And Luffy wanted to have a long talk with him.
He jumped up on buildings and looked for high vantage points from where one could have a wide view of the place as Dragon would probably be observing him. He waved in all directions after getting on top of a tall building hoping Dragon would see it and show himself. But no one came.
As he ran through over the roofs, he spotted a few people he recognized like Daddy Masterson and Carol, and also many people in full-body cloaks who turned out to be Buggy's crew. He also spotted Alvida - the slim version - but it didn't look like Alvida and Buggy knew each other. He had taken out Alvida much earlier than in the story and also had sent the whole body of Buggy flying, so looked like the two hadn't run into each other yet. But both had probably come to Loguetown to look for him once they saw his bounty. 'Maybe they'll meet now and join up?' He didn't care too much either way and moved on to find Dragon.
He kept searching and it wasn't long before he finally found something that could lead him to Dragon. Or rather, a someone that made him visibly jump in surprise and happiness.
It was a young orange-haired woman sitting at a cafe reading a newspaper. She was wearing a plain white shirt and a short black skirt with thigh-high boots. On her head sat a crimson newsboy cap with gold goggles and she had distinctive roundish eyes. It was Koala!
'Is Sabo here too?!' He wondered with unbridled excitement and ran to her, but just as he got close, she disappeared without a trace.
Luffy came to a stop looking around everywhere but couldn't spot her. 'Ugh… they're like spies, aren't they? She probably spotted me running at her and thought I was an enemy…'
He waved in all directions but seeing the strange looks the passing people gave him, stopped. 'Right… shouldn't attract attention…' He stood in place thinking for a while before he decided to just walk around. Koala had definitely seen him, so she would make contact with him or even let Dragon know that someone had spotted her and maybe Dragon would then see him. So, he just slowly walked waiting for them to make contact.
———
Koala was tailing a person of interest who was associated with a kidnapping case. An entire town of more than a hundred people had disappeared, and clues were pointing to a particular slavers group. Months of investigation by many members of the Revolutionary Army had led them to find many players involved in the kidnapping - a few Marine officials, a few pirates, an underworld broker, and plenty of footmen, which further led them to believe that the kidnapping of entire villages/towns was done regularly.
A lead had been found as to where the kidnapped people were being taken - A man who was apparently responsible for paying footmen off was found, and if they could just catch him in the act, they could capture and interrogate him. And Koala had been tailing that man for a week. He was sitting in a restaurant currently and Koala was at a cafe right across the street with a clear view of him. She had been at this for a week already and was bored out of her mind as the man followed the same dumb and normal routine every day.
"Are we even sure this is our guy?" Koala tiredly whispered to herself. The face matched the description they had gotten from interrogating a pirate, but they still had to be sure and catch him in the act before they interrogated the person of interest.
Just as she was sipping a cup of coffee, a new person caught her attention. A man in a jacket with a hood on suddenly stopped midstep when he saw her, and the next moment, he was running at her. She quickly used the crowd to slip away from his sight and hid behind a building. She then peeked from around the corner to see what the man was doing, and she found him looking in all directions, looking for her. He then sighed and crossed his arms as if he was thinking before he began… 'Is he waving?'
She just observed him as he saw people giving him strange looks, stop waving, think for a second before he pulled up his sleeves as if to show he had nothing to hide, while also exposing the cuffs he wore, before quickly hiding the cuffs again and started walking randomly.
"Hmm…"
Her transponder snail started ringing and she picked it up.
"Want to go?" A voice that belonged to another Revolutionary called Bunny Joe came through.
"Yeah"
"Go on"
KA-LICK
After the very short conversation, Koala discreetly started following the man in the jacket just as Bunny Joe, who was keeping watch from a distance, took her place in keeping an eye on the person of interest.
Koala saw the mystery man randomly walk around, enter a woodwork shop, order something to be made, stop at a snacks store to buy some snacks, and gobble it all up in a second before resuming the aimless walking. She could tell that he was aware that he was being followed and was also keeping his arms in plain view, showing that he was unarmed. He clearly wanted to talk, so Koala finally decided to make contact to see who he was.