Chapter 4 - 4: A Chop-Chop Man and A Thief!

Luffy and Zoro were traveling towards Orange Town at about 80mph just about twenty feet above the water. Zoro was laying back in the cloud napping while Luffy was sitting on his throne with a glass of whiskey in his hand looking at up at the sky. Luffy then turned to the sleeping form of Zoro and spoke.

"Oi, wake up," Luffy said causing Zoro to turn over on his side while mumbling something Luffy couldn't understand. Luffy then took on an evil smirk on his face before pointing his right index finger at Zoro. At the tip of Luffy's index finger, electric blue sparks could be seen building up before a small bolt of lightning shot out of Luffy's finger and slammed into Zoro's behind causing him to yelp in pain. Zoro immediately sprang to his feet with all three swords drawn ready for an attack. Luffy had an amused look on his face as he looked at Zoro, He gave a small chuckle before speaking to his first-mate. "Relax Zoro, it was me," Luffy said making Zoro resheathed his swords before yelling at Luffy.

"Why the hell did you do that!?" Zoro asked/yelled.

"I tried waking you up the normal way but you wouldn't wake up so I had to get creative," Luffy said as he took a sip of his whiskey. He then tossed a cup towards Zoro before speaking again, "The barrel on your right has food and the one on your left has booze," Luffy said while pointing at the two barrels that Luckey Roo gave to him. Zoro thanked him before taking some meat from the barrel to eat along with a cup of booze to drink. While Zoro was eating Luffy thought it would be a good Idea to let him know the plan going to Orange Town. "We are going to arrive in Orange Two in about thirty minutes. The pirate who we are going there to see is Buggy 'The Clown', he has a 15,000,000 beli on his head," Luffy said making Zoro take on a serious look on his face before speaking.

"And why exactly are we going to meet him?" Zoro asked with a raised eyebrow. Luffy took a sip of his whiskey before replying.

"I've heard a lot about him from my mentor if he is as good a pirate as I expect him to be I'll ask him to join the crew. If he is not, however, we kick his a.s.s and cash in the bounty on him and his crew," Luffy said with a smirk. Zoro took a bite into the piece of meat he had in his hand before giving Luffy his opinion.

"And what if he is the pirate you expect him to be, but he doesn't want to join the crew?" Zoro asked.

"Simple, we kick his a.s.s and take his bounty," Luffy said making Zoro chuckle. "From now on anyone with a bounty on their head we are going to cash in. In this cloud right now there is 800 million beli that I got from a few pirates in the Grand Line," Luffy said making Zoro spit out all of the booze he had in his mouth and look at Luffy with eyes the size of dinner plates.

"800...800...million beli?" Zoro asked in a surprised voice to which Luffy nodded before speaking.

"Yea, I plan on clearing out the big bounties in the East Blue before we head into the Grand Line. I highly doubt we will find a suitable ship that will survive the Grand Line to a lot of that money will be spent on first buying a ship, repairing it, and then eventually we are going to need a new one. However, if we are lucky to find one that could survive the Grand Line then all we will need to worry about is the repairs," Luffy said earning a nod from Zoro saying he understood. "That being said, getting a ship and maintaining it is my responsibility as Captain so, any opponent the crew face that has a bounty on their heads gets to keep the bounty for themselves. The treasure looted is divided among the crew equally," Luffy said. Zoro drank the last of his booze before speaking.

"That sounds good, Captain," Zoro said with a smile making Luffy smile as well. The two of them traveled for about ten more minutes before they reached the shores of the Orange Town, or what used to be Orange Town. The entire town looked like a tornado pass through it. Zoro and Luffy stepped out of the cloud and began walking into the town. While walking Luffy sent a command to the cloud to stay in the skies about the island. When they reached the down they realized that it was abandoned, there was not a soul in sight. The only thing there was a lot of destroyed houses and vandalized buildings. Luffy sighed and tilted his hand down a bit to cast a shadow over his eyes before he spoke in a cold menacing tone.

"It would seem Buggy is not the man I thought he was," Luffy said as they continued to walk through the town, "Seems we will be 15 million beli richer than we were a few minutes ago," Luffy said causing Zoro to chuckle.

"Hopefully there is someone strong on his crew for me to face," said Zoro while placing his hand on his swords. Luffy and Zoro were brought out of their conversation by a group of people running towards them. It appeared to be three members of Buggy's crew were chasing a girl about Luffy's age. The girl had short hair with a particularly curled strand over the left side of her face and she was about 5'6 in height. She wore an orange mini-skirt with two white rings on each side filled in with orange and a short sleeve white shirt with blue stripes. Zoro and Luffy looked at the group with a curious expression on their faces, as the group got closer Luffy saw a rolled up paper in the girl's hand that was about to size to be a map of some kind. It was then Luffy understood why she was being chased, she must have stolen an important map from Buggy and now he is going to kill her.

'Oh well, that's none of my business' Luffy thought as they kept walking forward. When the group got even closer Luffy noticed the evil smirk on the girl's face as she looked at him and Zoro and couldn't stop himself from sighing, 'This girl is going to involve us isn't she?' Luffy asked himself. The moment Luffy finished his thought the girl stopped in front of him and spoke in a relieved tone.

"Oh hey, boss! Thanks for coming to save me," the girl said earning a raised eyebrow from Zoro and Luffy as well as the three pirates that were chasing her. Before Luffy had the chance to say anything the girl spoke again, "They're all yours now boss, have fun!" she said before taking off running. Luffy sighed before he looked at Zoro and nodded. Before the three pirates knew what hit them, they were laying on the floor in a pool of there own blood while Zoro stood behind them resheathing his swords.

"What a pain," Zoro said as he looked over at Luffy, "I thought you said I was the only member of your crew," Zoro said to Luffy.

"You are," Luffy said as the looked up on the roof of one of the houses and just kept staring there.

"Then who was that girl?" Zoro asked as he walked and stood next to Luffy and looked at the roof of the house to see what he was looking at.

"No idea,"Luffy said. As he said that the girl from before popped her head over the roof to peep and see if Luffy and Zoro were dead yet. To her surprise, they were still alive and the three pirates that were previously chasing her were laying on the ground an inch away from death. She then looked over at Luffy and shivered when her eyes met the cold eyes of the boy in the straw hat. She then took another look at the three pirates before speaking.

"You guys are really strong!" she said as she jumped down from the roof and landed on the balcony of the house. "Even though you were outnumbered and they had sabers, you were able to beat them," the girl said. Luffy kept the emotionless look on his face before he spoke.

"Its the girl who set us up a few minutes ago," Luffy said. "Who are you?" Luffy asked causing the girl to put on a wide smile before replying.

"I'm a talented thief who steals strictly from pirates, the names Nami!" She said happily. Luffy was about to speak, but before he could the girl spoke again in an excited tone. "Hey! Do you guys want to team up with me!?" She asked sounding very excited by the prospect. Luffy turned around preparing to walk away before he spoke.

"Thanks for the offer but I have no use for a thief, especially one who puts the lives to two innocent civilians in danger just to save her own skin," Luffy said before walking away with Zoro. Nami clenched her fist and looked down at the ground feeling a bit ashamed when Luffy said that. She then looked up to see Luffy and Zoro walking away, these were two really strong guys who could really help her in achieving her goal and she was not about to let an opportunity like this go to waste just because they saw a part of her that really wasn't her. She jumped off the balcony and yelled at them while running to catch up with them.

"Wait! Hold on! I'm not like that!" she yelled while running towards them, "At least think about my offer for a bit before you reject it, "She said as she finally caught up to them. Luffy and Zoro stopped walking and turned towards her before Luffy spoke.

"Listen Nami, I'm sure you are a nice girl and all but like I said before, I don't have any use for a thief. Unless you have some other skill that may be useful on the open sea, I don't see us working together," Luffy said with a sigh. He knew he couldn't judge her based on that first encounter, that wouldn't have been fair for her. Nami smile widely which told Luffy she had a skill that may be useful.

"I am the most skilled navigator you will ever meet!" Nami said proudly with a huge smile on her face. Luffy looked at her and smiled back before speaking.

"A navigator? Now that is someone I am looking for," said Luffy making Nami's smile grew wider, but her smile immediately vanished when Luffy spoke again. "How about you join my crew. I have been looking for a navigator," Luffy said. The moment he said that Nami stopped smiling and yelled at Luffy.

"No!" she said confusing Luffy, "I take it you two are pirates?" she asked earning a nod from Luffy and Zoro. Nami clenched her fist and yelled at Luffy and Zoro, "There is nothing in this world I despise more than pirates! I only like money and tangerines!" She yelled out causing Luffy to look at her with sad eyes. It was obvious that pirates did something to her or someone close to her. That was the common occurrence in the world, pirates raid a village and destroy the lives of many innocent people causing them to develop a sense of hatred towards all pirates. Luffy placed his hand on her shoulder before he spoke to her in a more comforting voice instead of his usual cold emotionless one.

"You know not all pirates are bad like the ones you met," Luffy said causing her to look up at him with wide eyes.

"How did you know I have met bad pirates!?" she asked/yelled. Luffy sighed and looked around before he spoke.

"Let us not talk in the open like this. I am sure you don't want Buggy's pirates to find you," Luffy said as he started walking towards one of the abandoned houses. Zoro, who had remained silent throughout the whole ordeal followed his captain into the house and behind him, a very confused and angry Nami followed as well. The group entered the house that a family had abandoned in hope of getting away from Buggy. There were pictures on the wall of the family of four along with a well stock liquor cabinet to which Luffy decided to examine. While examining the cabinet Luffy's eyes were as wide as dinner plates, Zoro noticed and decided to check on his captain.

"You okay there, Captain?" Zoro asked. Luffy took a bottle out of the cabinet and showed it to Zoro before he spoke.

"This is a bottle of Suntory Yamazaki 12-Year-Old Single Malt Whiskey!" Luffy said excitedly causing Zoro and Nami to roll their eyes at his behavior.

"Yea so what? It's just whiskey," Nami said earning a gasp from Luffy.

"Just whiskey? JUST WHISKEY!?" Luffy yelled out startling Namir and Zoro. In the short time that Zoro knew Luffy, he rarely if ever saw Luffy express any emotion. So, to see him here right now without the impassive look on his face was something Zoro knew he wouldn't see again for a while. "This bottle of whiskey cost 250,000 belies!" Luffy yelled out making both of their eyes widen at the price. Nami's eyes turned into beli signs at the thought of selling that bottle. Luffy noticed the look in Nami's eyes and immediately shouted at her. "Don't you even think about it Nami!" he yelled knocking her out of her thought. Luffy then walked over to the dining room table, sat down and poured some of the whiskey into a glass. He looked over to Zoro to see him with a bottle of sake in his hands as he sat down next to Luffy and guessed that Zoro prefers sake instead of whiskey. Luffy then looked at Nami who didn't sit down next to them opting to stand by the window and look out. Luffy took a sip of his drink and smiled at the taste. He was interrupted from his whiskey enjoyment by Nami's voice.

"So, are you going to tell me how you knew I met a bad pirate?" She asked. Before Luffy could answer her question she spoke once more again, "As far as I am concerned, all pirates are nothing more than sc.u.m. All they do is ruin the lives of innocent people and then leave happily," Nami said with a lot of anger and hate in her voice. Before she could speak again Luffy decided to say something.

"I'm guessing the pirates you've met were the sc.u.m of the earth and they hurt you or someone close to you. I can understand why you hate pirates so much, but you shouldn't judge all pirates based on your interaction with one," Luffy said as he looked at Nami from the corner of his eye. "It was ten years ago a group of pirates came to my hometown. At first we were all scared of them and thought they were going to raid the village and kill everyone but instead, they were nice guys who played with the kids and helped out around the village. They stayed there for about a two months and when they left they took me with them and taught me everything I know," Luffy said surprising both Nami and Zoro. Nami looked at Luffy with complete shock and jealousy written all over her face.

'why couldn't pirates like them come to our village instead of that...monster!' Nami thought to her self angrily. She was brought out of her thought by Luffy's voice.

"This straw hat was given to me by the captain of the pirate crew as a promise. A promise to meet each other again when I become King of the pirates!" Luffy said as he held the straw hat in his hand while smiling fondly at it, "I cherish this hat more than my own life. It's my treasure," Luffy said as he places the straw hat back on his head and turned to Nami and spoke. "So Nami, join my crew and let's turn this whole world upside down," Luffy said with a huge grin on his face. Nami saw his smile and couldn't stop herself from smiling back at him.

"I will never stoop so low as to become a pirate," Nami said causing Luffy to frown, "However," She continued making Luffy's face brighten up once more in hope of her joining, "I don't see why we can't team up in order to achieve our common goal," Nami said making Luffy smile widely at her before he looked to Zoro and raised his glass.

"Here is to our new navigator!" he said as him and Zoro drank what was left in their glasses. Luffy then stood up, took the expensive bottle of whiskey and placed it into his coat. Nami saw this and looked at him strangely, Luffy saw the way she was looking at him and spoke. "What? I'm a pirate," he said causing her to shake her head.

"So, what is the order, Captain?" Zoro asked as he stood up with his captain. Luffy dropped the smile on his face and took on his emotionless look once again before he spoke.

"Let's see Buggy and kick his a.s.s," he said as he began to walk out of the house. Zoro smile at the chance of a fight while Nami looked absolutely terrified.

"B-Buggy?" she asked in a scared voice. Luffy looked at her and spoke.

"Yea, he is the reason we came here. I was going to ask him to join my crew, but after seeing what he has done here I am going to kick his a.s.s," Luffy said as they continued to walk towards where Buggy and his crew were staying. The group walked for about three minutes when they finally arrived in front of a drinking pup which Buggy and his crew seem to have occupied the roof of the place. Luffy looked up at the roof and yelled out, "BBUUGGGGYY!" The music that was playing on the roof stopped and Luffy could see the silhouette of a group of people walking towards the edge of the roof. Finally, the group came into view and Luffy and the crew saw Buggy standing in the center of the group. Buggy was a slim, yet muscular blue-haired man with an appearance resembling that of a clown, he had a big red nose on his face which Luffy learned from Shanks is his real nose. Buggy's face was covered in makeup, he had crossbones going down his face forming an X; he also had two blue lines near both of his eyes, red lipstick and his jolly roger on his hat. In his pirate captain attire, he dons a striped white and red shirt with short sleeves, white gloves, a sash around his waist like many other pirates, and a pair of loose pants reaching to his calves, just above a pair of striped socks and pointy shoes. He also has a scarf around his neck. Hanging from his shoulders there is an orange, fur-lined captain's coat. On his head, he has an orange hat with his jolly roger on it, over a neckerchief with the same pattern of his shirt.

"Who is that shouting the name of the great Captain Buggy!?" Buggy asked as he stood on the edge of the building looking down at the group.

"Wow, Shanks was right you do have a big red nose,"Luffy said pointing at Buggy's nose. Everyone on Buggy's crew started to sweat a bit and looked at Buggy with a fearful look in their eyes.

"What did you say about my nose!?" Buggy yelled while pointing at Luffy, "And how dare you mention that bastards name in front of me!?" Buggy asked again even angrier than before.

"I said you have a big..red..nose," Luffy said making Buggy sake with rage, "And as for Shanks, I'm his apprentice," Luffy said proudly. Buggy stopped for a second before he started chucking making Luffy raise his eyebrow.

"Men! prepare the Buggy ball!" he yelled out to his men. His crew brought a cannon forward and aimed it at Luffy. Another crew member brought a red cannonball with Buggy's jolly roger on it and placed it into the cannon. "Now Fire the Buggy ball!" he yelled causing one of his crew member to lite the fuse. Zoro then stepped forward and spoke.

"I got this Captain," he said as he unsheathed one of his swords. As the cannon fired the Buggy ball was racing towards the group but was intercepted by Zoro who sliced it into two halves causing it to miss Luffy and Nami and hit the two buildings behind them. Buggy looked like he was about to throw a fit about his precious Buggy ball being so easily cut but Luffy spoke before he could.

"You know Zoro, I would like to avoid doing any more damages to this town. So, how about you let me handle the Buggy balls from now on. Okay?" Luffy said as he stared at the houses destroyed by that one ball. Luffy then turned towards Buggy and spoke. "You know Buggy, you are not what I had expected. From what Rayleigh and Shanks told me about you I expected you to be some legendary pirate with a 500 million beli bounty on his head. But instead, here you are in the weakest sea of them all terrorizing innocent civilians. And to think you were once a crew member on Gol D. Roger's crew," Luffy said in a disappointed tone while surprising everyone there from the members of Buggy's crew to Zoro and Nami. Buggy took on a fearful look before yelling out at Luffy.

"Hey! Be quiet about that! The Navy will execute me for sure if they find out about that!" Buggy said. Before Luffy could say anything Buggy's crew shouted out in unison.

"Captain! You were a member of The King of The Pirates ship!?" They all shouted out in unison making Buggy almost want to kill them. Luffy raised his eyebrow at their reaction before speaking.

"Didn't tell your own crew," Luffy said while walking forward, "You are a disgrace to call yourself a captain, Buggy," Luffy said as he stood next to Zoro. Buggy was beyond angry, Luffy could have sworn he saw steam come out of his ears. Buggy then turned towards his Crew and yelled out an order.

"Fire another Buggy ball!" he yelled out making a member of his crew load another one of the special cannonballs into the cannon and fire it at Luffy. Zoro was about to act but Luffy put his hand up making him stop to see what Luffy was going to do. Zoro then saw Luffy's forearm turn pitch black. Luffy then did something that made everyone present widen their eyes, he caught the cannonball with his b.a.r.e hand before tossing it into the air for it to explode. Buggy's eyes were almost popping out of its sockets and his jaw was to the floor, but somehow he barely managed to stutter out something loud enough for everyone to hear.

"H-haki!" he said causing Luffy to smirk before he replied.

"Did I forget to mention I am from the New World?" Asked smugly as he looked at Buggy's entire crew and sent a wave of Conquorer's Haki knocking everyone out except for Buggy, a man on a unicycle and a man who was trying to wake the unconscious lion. Buggy stared at his men as they fell one by one foaming at the mouth.

'The conquerer's spirit!' Buggy thought to himself before turning towards the man on the unicycle and yelling out orders.

"Cabaji! Kill them!" he yelled and the man now named Cabaji jumped off the roof with his unicycle and charged towards Luffy 's group. Luffy turned toward Zoro and nodded. Zoro then ran forward to meet him with all three swords drawn. Luffy stood back and watched as Zoro and Cabaji fought. Luffy immediately picked up that Cabaji wasn't a true swordsman instead, he is a trickster who uses a sword. As the fight was going on Luffy saw Buggy's hand was flying towards Zoro and quickly turned his body into lightning, surprising Nami and Buggy, and teleported just about Buggy's detached hand and stomped on it with his foot. He then looked up at Buggy and spoke in a voice that lacked any once of emotion.

"If you want to fight someone I'll happily fight you," Luffy said. Nami was watching the whole encounter with eyes the size of dinner plates. First Luffy catches a cannonball with his b.a.r.e hands, then he makes everyone pass out by just looking at them, then Buggy's hand detach from his body and now Luffy turned his body into lighting.

'These people aren't human' She thought to herself before yelling out to the group.

"What are you people!?" he yelled making Buggy and Luffy look at her. Luffy was the first to speak.

"I ate the Rumble-Rumble fruit. So, I'm a lightning man" Luffy said surprising both Buggy and her. Buggy then cleared his throat and spoke.

"I ate the Chop-Chop fruit. I'm a Chop-Chop man!" Buggy said proudly. Nami never thought devil fruits were real, she always thought they were just stories that the pirates told. Luffy seeing Nami's stressed-out look and decided to have her think about something else.

"Hey, Nami," Luffy said getting her attention, "Why don't you handle the guy trying to wake up his lion. Seeing as how badly he wants that lion to wake up tell me the lion probably does more of the fighting than him so it should be easy. Plus he is not paying attention so sneak up on him or something," Luffy said knocking her out of her worrying only to have her yell at him.

"And why should I do that?" she said. Luffy smile at her before speaking.

"Because, If you do I will let you keep all the treasure we take from Buggy," Luffy said making Nami's eyes turn into the beli sign before running off to the guy with the lion. Luffy then looked over at Zoro to see he had already beat his opponent and was now sitting against one of the buildings watching Luffy and Buggy. "Help her if she needs it," he said earning a nod from Zoro. Luffy then turned towards Buggy and unsheathed his sword allowing Zoro to see it for the first time. It was a pitch black katana with a think line of sliver showing the sharpness of the blade. The katana looked like it could cut through gold like a hot knife through butter. Buggy saw the Katana and smirked.

'The fool, didn't he hear me say I am a chop-chop man? swords don't work on me' he thought as he watched Luffy raise his foot releasing his hand from under it before he turned his body into lighting and appeared in front of Buggy with his sword in the air. Instead of dodging the attack, Buggy stood there unmoving. Luffy noticed this and changed his swing to only nick Buggy's cheek. When Buggy felt blood running down his face he immediately felt it making sure he was cut and not just feeling things, he then looked at Luffy with a fearful look and spoke.

"H-how?" he asked. Luffy smile and spoke.

"Because I am a lightning man I control lighting. There isn't a metal out there that can withstand my lightning and not melt. Well, there is only two," Luffy said surprising Buggy and Zoro, "Gold which my sword is obviously not made from and..." Luffy then took on a smirk on his face before continuing, "Sea-Prism Stone" Luffy said making Buggy's eyes widen. Luffy then touched the tip of the sword to Buggy's c.h.e.s.t causing him to drop to the ground feeling as though all the energy in his body just left him. Luffy then channeled his lighting through his sword causing it to light up with electric blue sparks before he spoke.

"Bind!" he said causing three bolts of lighting to sprout from the tip of his sword and wrap its self around Buggy holding him in place. He then walked over to Cabaji and did the same thing to him and the man who Nami fought. Luffy then looked over to Buggy who was struggling to get free of the binds and spoke.

"Don't try," he said getting Buggy's attention, "Those lighting are infused with haki effectively neutralizing your devil fruit power," Luffy said making Buggy's eyes widen in shock. He was about to scream but Luffy spoke before he could. "You see I have an ability that other logia users don't. I can infuse haki into my element without having it being connected to me," Luffy said confusing Buggy. Luffy saw the confusion and decided to elaborate. "For example, Navy Admiral Aokiji is an Ice logia user and he can infuse haki into his ice, but he has to be touching his ice to do that and the second he lets go of the ice the haki is gone from the ice as well. Me on the other hand, when I let go of my lighting my haki is still there," Luffy said surprising everyone there. Luffy then turned to his crew and spoke "We are going to cash in their bounty then head to Gecko Island," Luffy said earning a raised eyebrow from Zoro.

"Why are w going there?" he asked. Luffy smiled and spoke.

"To pick up our sniper," he said.

*CHAPTER END*