After the fight with Arlong, the villagers were still trying to wrap their head around the fact that Arlong was defeated and they were now free. It didn't feel real because since Arlong came to the island they all thought they were going to be stuck under his control for the rest of their life. Then Luffy and his crew came along and gave them their freedom. As Luffy was walking through the villagers making his way back to the village he heard a weird sounding laugh coming from behind him.
"Chichi chichi!" Luffy heard causing him to turn around to see who it was. When he turned and looked he saw it was the marines who he spotted with Genzo earlier. Luffy narrowed his eyes and stopped walking towards the village and started walking towards the marine captain. "Okay, hold it right there," said the marine captain to all the villagers while all of his marines pointed their weapons at them. "What a lucky day today is, I saw the entire fight and I must say good work and I can only assume this victory here was some bizarre accident. I never thought the fishmen would lose to some riff-raff like you and your crew," He said with a c.o.c.ky smile not noticing Luffy slowly making his way to the front of the group. "However, now that Arlong isn't here, I will be taking all of the money I was supposed to give to him and all of the treasure in Arlong Park," he said loudly with a smirk on his face causing the villagers to gasp and look at him angrily. "Now drop your weapons! Captain Nezumi of branch 16 gets all the credit!" he yelled. Just as he said that Luffy reached the front and immediately slammed his fist on top of the marine captain's head sending crashing into the ground. Upon seeing their captain being hit all of the marines aimed their weapons to Luffy and a few of the villagers. Thinking fast Luffy sent a wave of Conquers Haki to the marines causing them to pass out foaming at the mouth.
"Sorry, but that money is for the village," Luffy said before he turned to Nami and asked her a question. "If there a marine base around here?" he asked. Nami thought for a second before she replied.
"Yes, just North East of here is branch 16," he said while pointing in the general direction. Luffy nodded his head before turning towards Sanji.
"Sanji," he said getting Sanji's attention. "I want you, Johnny, and Yosaku to go raid that Marine ship over there," he said while pointing to the vessel behind them. "whatever you find on the ship give it to the village and bring the marine ship back here to me...and do as you please with the marines on board," Luffy said causing the three of them to nod their head. Luffy then summoned a thundercloud for them to ride on. As they hopped on the cloud took off to the ship. Luffy then turned towards Usopp and Nami before he gave out more orders. "Nami, Usopp," Luffy said getting their attention. "You two go raid Arlong park..." Luffy said before turning towards the pile of ash that is now Arlong park before he spoke again, this time with a nervous chuckle. "...or never mind," he said causing everyone to sweat drop. He then turned to Zoro and spoke. "Zoro can you fight?" Luffy asked. When he asked the question Zoro looked as though he had just been insulted.
"What kind of stupid question is that? Of course, I can fight," he said causing Luffy to chuckle. Luffy then turned around and saw the marine ship was making its way to the island letting everyone know that Sanji and the guys and succeeded. When the ship had docked Johnny and Yosaku were the first ones out. They were carrying a large black box that has money sticking out of it and from the way they were walking Luffy assumed it was extremely heavy. Right behind the two were five marines each badly beaten with tears running down their face while carrying a large sack over each of their back. Behind the marines was Sanji walking out empty handed with his hands in his pocket and a cigarette in his mouth. Luffy chuckles and shook his head when he saw Sanji. The group arrived in front of Luffy and villagers and dropped everything down in front of them. By now Nezumi had woken up from his dirt nap and was staring at everything from his ship with wide eyes. He was about to yell at everybody immediately stopped with he spotted Luffy staring at him with cold emotionless eyes. Luffy then turned back to Sanji's group and spoke.
"I did not expect your raid to be so... fruitful," he said in a surprised tone.
"Neither did we, but these bastards had a lot of treasure and money on board. The black box is filled with a lot of money and jewels while those sacks are only filled with gold, diamonds and other precious stones," Sanji said before he took a pull from his cigarette. Luffy nodded before he turned towards Genzo and spoke.
"That's for your village," he said causing everyone's eyes to widen.
"Bu-buts that's way more than we need," Genzo said earning nods from a lot of the villagers. "At least take some for yourselves," he said to Luffy. Luffy just smirked deviously before turning towards Nezumi.
"Oh don't worry about us, we will get paid," he said before he bent down and grabbed Nezumi by the collar and started dragging him towards the marine ship. "ZORO, SANJI, with me!" Luffy yelled out causing the two of them to smirk before following their captain. The three of them along with a screaming Nezumi boarded the marine vessel and began sailing off in the direction of the marine base.
"Where are we going captain?" Zoro asked causing Luffy to smirk before he replied.
"Oh we are going to raid the marine base," Luffy said causing Nezumi's eyes to widen along with Zoro and Sanji's. Luffy then turned towards Nezumi and spoke. "And if you behave yourself I'll let you keep your life," he said while staring at Nezumi with the cold eyes of a killer. Nezumi almost wanted to piss himself when Luffy spoke to him. He quickly nodded his head in agreement as he spoke.
"Yes, Yes, anything you want," he said in a scared voice. Luffy smile and stood him up and dusted him off before he spoke.
"Good now you are going to lead us into the base as your guests and take me directly to the vault," Luffy said in a calm tone while he placed his hand on Nezumi's shoulder. He then turned towards Zoro and Sanji and gave them orders. "While I'm emptying the vault you two go search for gunpowder and ammo for the ship," said causing the two of them to nod their head. After sailing for five more minutes the group came upon the marine base island. It was a small island that was completely occupied by the marines, there were no civilians there at all. The marine ship docked and Nezumi began to lead them off the ship and began walking ahead of them towards the base. As they were walking towards the base a group of marines came out from the base to greet their captain.
"Captain Nezumi!" A marine officer shouted as he saluted his captain. "Welcome back, Sir!" he shouted once more causing Luffy's eye to twitch. Nezumi sighed and saluted back to his men before he spoke.
"Okay, okay, stop shouting damn it," Nezumi said in a tired tone. Luffy was impressed by his acting. So far, not one of his men had suspected anything. "I have a job for you," he said getting the marines that were there to perk up. "These gentlemen are our guest and are in need of gunpowder and ammo. Please take them to storage and give them all that we have," he said surprising the marines.
"All of it, Sir?" the marine asked in a surprised tone. Nezumi got angry and yelled at the marine.
"Did I speak with a stutter, Marine!?" he asked/yelled causing the marines to immediately jump back before he started apologizing.
"No, Sir! Very sorry, Sir! We will get right on it, Sir!" he yelled out before he turned towards Sanji and Zoro and spoke. "If you would follow me we could get going," he said causing Sanji and Zoro to nod their heads before they started following the marine. Luffy turned towards Nezumi and spoke in an amused tone.
"You have one loud and energetic marine," he said causing Nezumi to sigh before he spoke in a tiresome tone.
"You have no idea," he said while rubbing his temple before he straightens himself up and spoke in a disgusted tone towards Luffy. "Let's just hurry up and get this over with, pirate," he spat causing Luffy to nod his head before the two of them began walking into the building. Luffy summoned a small thundercloud to put all of the money on and to also ride back towards the island on. The cloud was following the two of them closely behind Luffy as they entered the building and began descending a staircase towards the bas.e.m.e.nt. When they finally reached the bas.e.m.e.nt they came upon a long hallway and at the end of the hallway Luffy could see a giant safe with a door as big as the hallway itself. The two of them walked towards the end of the hallway and Nezumi then walked up to the door and placed a key into a keyhole before he walked over to a knob on the safe, what Luffy assumed to be a combination lock, and began entering the combination before walking back towards the key and turning it four time. On the final turn, Luffy heard a click from the safe before Nezumi walked over to the right side if the safe and grabbed the handle and pull. the large door of the safe came open and inside Luffy could see a large pile of gold at least 10ft tall. Luffy was absolutely surprised, he did not expect the marines to have this much money. He turned towards Nezumi and spoke.
"How much is in there?" he asked in a surprised tone.
"500 million the last time I checked," he said surprising Luffy.
"Just where did you get all this money from?" Luffy asked in a disbelieving tone. "I mean we're in the East Blue of all places, if it was the Grand Line I would understand, but this is the East F.u.c.k.i.n.g Blue," he said.
"We collected this in a span of 5 years. Usually, we would need to send half of it to HQ but we just keep telling them we only have enough to keep the base afloat. The fact that we are in the East Blue made them believe us even more," he said causing Luffy to chuckle.
"Very well," he said before moving to the side and allowing the thundercloud to enter the vault. "After today you won't have to lie anymore," Luffy said in an amused voice causing Nezumi to growl. The cloud entered the vault and began to increase its size. Soon the cloud had covered the entire vault itself, swallowing everything that is inside the vault.
"What is it doing?" asked Nezumi as he stared at the cloud.
"It is storing everything that is in the vault inside itself," he said surprising Nezumi. A minute later the cloud began to shrink until it was about twice the size it was before it had entered the vault. After it finished shrinking it came out of the vault showing the two of them what was left. Nezumi and Luffy looked inside the vault and saw a single gold coin laying on the floor. Nezumi's eyes were as wide as dinner plates, Luffy had cleaned the entire vault leaving him with a single berry. Luffy laughed before he placed his hand on Nezumi's shoulder and spoke in his usual emotionless tone. "I think our business has come to an end," he said causing Nezumi to growl. He wasn't going to try and attack the pirate, he had seen the fight against Arlong. This single pirate slaughtered Arlong's entire crew before he toyed around with Arlong and they destroyed Arlong park with a single attack. He knew if he tried to attack Luffy he would meet a painful death. Playing it safe he decided to just leade the pirate out of the base before he contacted Navy HQ.
"If you would follow me, we would be on our way. I am sure your friends are finished with their business," He said before began walking through a different hallway from the one they came from.
"That's not the way we came," Luffy said while narrowing his eyes at Nezumi.
"Yes, I know that. The door leading into that staircase cannot be opened from the inside and no one is allowed to open from to outside in order to let someone out. Anyone who enters through that door has to leave through the door by the prison section of the base," he said. Luffy shrugged before following him through the hallway. At the end of the hallway, they made a left before they came upon a row of jail cells. Some were empty while some had prisoners inside of them. As they were walking by the prisoners were screaming at Nezumi and Luffy and it was starting to piss Luffy off. Finally having enough of them he sent bolts of lightning shooting out of his body into each cell shocking every prisoner. When they reached the end of the hallway they came upon a staircase leading up towards a door, Luffy was about to start climbing the stairs but was stopped in his tracks by a scream for help coming from his right.
"PLEASE HELP ME!" a woman screamed causing Nezumi and Luffy to turn to their right. What Luffy saw made his blood boil. Laying on the ground in the middle of the cell was a woman with her clothes torn exposing her u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r, her face was swollen showing that she was obviously beaten, her entire body was covered in cuts and bruises, and her eyes were filled with tears. Standing over the woman were three marines staring at her with lecherous grins on their faces and a hungry look in their eyes.
"Shut up, bitch!" one of the marines said before grabbing her by the hair and pulled her up to his level. "No one is going to save you. You're our little toy to do as we please," he said before shoving her back down to the ground. One of the marines looked out of the cell and saw Nezumi and Luffy looking at them. He immediately straightened up and saluted Nezumi.
"Sir!" he said while saluting getting the other two attention. When they saw their captain the two of them saluted as well. Nezumi smile and nodded his head before he continued walking up the stairs ignoring the woman's scream for help. As he took one step on the staircase to start heading up a loud booming thunder sounded outside causing the entire building to shake. Nezumi immediately went pale and snapped his head around to see Luffy staring at the three marines with nothing but rage inside his eyes while electric blue sparks surrounded his body.
"You marines have the audacity to call us pirates sc.u.m and this is what you are doing to a poor defenseless woman," Luffy said in an icy tone that sent chills down the spine of the marines and every prisoner in there. He then pulled out his pistol and fired three shots.
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
Three bolts of lightning came out of his gun and hit all three of the marines in the head causing all of them to drop dead on the floor. Luffy then turns towards Nezumi and spoke.
"You Marines are far worse than sc.u.m itself," he said before he extended his left arm and a rope of lightning shot out and wrapped around Nezumi as he was trying to escape causing him to fall face first on the stairs breaking a few teeth. Luffy then walked over to the wall and place his palm on it before he left lightning through the walls of the entire bas.e.m.e.nt. Three seconds later all of the cell doors came open and the prisoners began running out thanking Luffy as they ran past him. Luffy then walked into the cell where the woman was, she had her back towards him crying as she stared at the dead marines on the ground. As Luffy stood directly behind her he noticed something on her left shoulder that made him even angrier. It was the Hoof of the Flying Dragon, the mark that the world nobles put on their slaves. He immediately took off his captain's coat and placed it around the girl. She turned around and saw Luffy staring at her with a warm smile on his face. "You're safe now," he said causing her to cry some more. Luffy then bent down and picked her up bridal style causing her to let out an 'epp,' Luffy carried her out of the cell and placed her on the cloud before he began walking up the stairs with the cloud carrying the girl following behind. As he was walking up he grabbed Nezumi by his hair and started dragging him up the stairs not bothering to take his time with him. When they reached the door Luffy kicked it off of its hinges knocking out two surprised marines in the process. He then walked through dragging Nezumi with him while the cloud followed behind and began heading towards the exit. As they exited the building they saw nothing but utter chaos. All over the ground was burn marks from where lightning had previously struck while marines were running all over the place trying to capture the escaped prisoners. Luffy spotted Zoro and Sanji standing by the docks with a large set of gunpowder and cannonballs in crates. He began walking towards the two not bothered by the lightning striking everywhere around him and the loud thunder booming overhead. Zoro and Sanji saw their captain walking towards them without his coat on. It was the first time either of them had seen him without his coat. Looking behind him they saw riding on the thundercloud was a girl who had obviously been through some stuff. Zor and Sanji looked at each other before they nodded their head in a silent agreement that they will wait until the captain tells them about the girl. As Luffy was walking towards them bolts of lightning would come down from the sky and strike any marine who would try and attack him in order to save Nezumi.
"What got you all pissed off captain?" Zoro asked causing Sanji to smack him across his head. "What was that for you shitty cook!?" he screamed causing Sanji to point at the girl behind Luffy. Zoro then realized what he had done and immediately shut up.
"Enough you two," Luffy said before he summoned a large thundercloud out of the sky. The cloud came down and swallowed up the cargo that Zoro and Sanji acquired before it went and line up behind the cloud with all the money. Luffy then dragged Nezumi onboard the marines' ship they came on soon being followed by Zoro and Sanji. As they got onboard Sanji raised the anchor and released the sails causing the ship to start to sail away from the thundercloud infested Island. When they were a safe distance away Luffy face an order to Sanji and Zoro. "Stop the ship right here," he said causing Zoro to raise the sails while Sanji dropped the anchor. Luffy unbinds Nezumi and kicked him in the stomach causing him to cough up some blood.
"Please, please don't kill me!" Nezumi begged Luffy. Luffy just stared at him with the cold emotionless eyes of a kill for a while before he spoke in an icy tone.
"Give me one good reason why I should let sc.u.m like you live after what you let your men do to that poor girl," he said causing Nezumi to turn pale and shake in fear. "However, I won't kill you," Luffy said surprising everyone there. "If I kill you who is going to tell Navy HQ about what happened here. Dead men tell no tales after all," he said before he walked to the front of the ship and stared at the marine base Island for a while before he spoke. "I am, however going to kill your men for they did to this girl," he said before he looked at the skies above the island. Nezumi snakingly crawled to the side of the boat and looked out of the railing, Zoro and Sanji went and stood behind Luffy and girl wrapped Luffy's coat tightly around herself before she hopped off of the cloud and went to stand off to the opposite side of the ship away from Nezumi and looked out to see what was going to happen. In the skies above the marine base island, the thunderclouds began to swirl around. The wind was starting to pick up and now instead of just the island being covered in darkness, a large part of the ocean surrounding the island was covered in darkness as well. Luffy's eyes started to glow with power and air around began to thicken making it hard to breathe for Sanji and Zoro, two of them took a few steps back in order to breathe again. Luffy's body was then surrounded by electric blue sparks of lighting and the crackling of lighting filled the ears of those who were close enough to Luffy to hear. Luffy then raised his right hand in the air before he spoke in a loud booming voice as he brought his hand down in one swift motion.
"Raijin's Sacred Judgement!" Out from the center of the swirling clouds, a giant pillar like the one Luffy had summoned at Arlong park came down and swallowed the entire island. As it in cased the entire Island, it produced a bright white flash blinding everyone for a few seconds. About three seconds after the light appeared a loud booming thunder was heard. It was the loudest thunder everyone had ever heard. It forced Zoro, Sanji, Nezumi and the girl to cover their ears. That thunder and that whit flash were heard and seen throughout the entire East Blue. When everyone regained their eyesight what they saw caused their eyes to widen in utter disbelief. The pillar of lightning was gone and clouds in the sky were starting to go away as well, but the thing that has everyone's jaw on the floor was the fact that in the island had completely disappeared. In the space of where the island was if a hole in the middle of the ocean rapidly being filled with water. Zoro and Sanji were staring at something they didn't even think were possible. They had known Luffy was powerful, but they never thought he could wipe an entire island off the face of the earth in under five seconds.
"He...He...just...Wow," was all Sanji to stutter out while Zoro could only nod dumbly in agreement to whatever Sanji just said. Luffy then turned around and began walking towards the girl leaving Zoro and Sanji to continue to stare at the hole that was filling up with water. when Luffy reached in front of the girl he spoke getting her attention.
"Hey there," he said in a calming tone getting her attention. "What's your name?" he asked. The girl looked up at Luffy for a while before he answered in a nervous voice.
"My name is Dian," she said while looking at her feet. "Thanks for saving me," she said with some tears in her eyes.
"Nice to meet you, Dian, I'm Luffy and you don't have to thank me for anything," Luffy said as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "Where are you from?" he asked.
"I'm from right here in the East Blue, Cocoyasi Village on Conomi Islands," she said causing Luffy to smile at her warmly.
"That's good cause we just came from there," he said causing her to look up at him with wide hopeful eyes. "And we are heading back there to pick up the rest of my crew. So, we could drop you off," he said. She started crying and immediately wrapped her arms around Luffy and began to sob into his shirt. Luffy smiled and hugged her back before he turned towards Sanji and Zoro and spoke. "HEY! You two!" he shouted getting their attention. "Time to go. Zoro, destroy the rudder and cut the anchor," he said earning a nod for the two of them. Luffy then picked Dian up bridal style and place her back on the cloud before he hopped on with her. Sanji then hopped on behind them soon followed by Zoro after he finished cutting the anchor. When everyone was on the two clouds that contained the money and the cargo began to rise into the sky with its passengers leaving Nezumi on a ship in the middle of the ocean that had no way to steer or stop it. Luffy then pulled out his pistol and fire a shot at the base main mast causing it to explode who the bolt of lightning hit it. The main mast of the marine ship then fell over causing Nezumi to take cover. When the mast had fallen Nezumi came out from where he was taking refuge and screamed at Luffy.
"You will pay for this straw hat! Mark my word!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. Luffy ignored him and focused on carrying everyone and the cargo in the two clouds. Realizing he wouldn't be able to hold the weight of everything for long he turned to everyone and spoke.
"Hold on," he said before bolts of lightning shot out of the cloud and wrapped around everyone holding them in place. The two clouds then shot off to Cocoyasi Village at blinding speed. After Flying for about two minutes the group arrived in front of Arlong Park. Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku were there waiting for them while it looked like the rest of the villagers and Nami had gone back towards the village. They all hopped off the cloud and saw Luffy was sweating a bit.
"You okay there captain?" Zoro asked causing everyone to look at Luffy.
"Yea just took a lot of effort to carry all of you plus all the cannonballs and gunpowder," he said causing them to nod their heads. Luffy then sent the cloud with all the cargo towards the Going Merry which was docked right next to Arlong Park and have it drop the cargo on deck. He then turned towards Johnny, Yosaku, and Usopp and gave them orders. "Bring the ship to the rear of the Island, next to the village, Usopp," he said earning a salute from him. "And you two take all of that cargo below deck and place it in storage," he said to Johnny and Yosaku. He then turned towards Sanji, Zoro, and Dian and spoke, "We are going to the village, I need a drink and Zoro needs a doctor," he said. Zoro was about to protest but the look he got from Luffy told him to shut up. Before they left Luffy sent the cloud with all the money up in the sky to wait until he was ready for it. The group then began heading towards the village they hear the sounds of laughter and cheering from the people in the village.
"It sounds like they are having a party. I wonder what the occasion is," Dian said while walking beside Luffy. Luffy chuckled before he spoke.
"It's a long story, But before we tell you that story or I'm sure someone in the village will...I have a question I want to ask you," Luffy said making her a bit nervous. "Were you one of the slaves who Fisher Tiger freed?" he asked causing her to flinch. "Don't worry, you are never going back there and no one isn't going to hurt you here. I just wanted to know," he said trying to calm her down. Zoro and Sanji decided to walk closer to the two in order to hear her story.
"Yes I was," he said causing Sanji and Zoro's eyes to widen while Luffy showed no reaction. "I was captured when I was a just a little girl and was sold to one of the World Nobles. I remember thinking I was going to die a slave, but one night a Fishman saved me and a bunch of other slaves. Since then I was trying to find my way back to the East Blue, it wasn't until a few months ago I was able to return here, but right after I entered the East Blue Nezumi and his men found me on a passenger ship. When they saw my mark they took me away and locked me up at their base," She said shakily. Luffy placed his hand on her shoulder before he spoke.
"It's okay now, you're back home," he said while pointing at the village. She hadn't realized it but while they were taking they had already arrived in the village. It was the same way she remembered it. Upon seeing Luffy the entire Village began cheering and running towards him with bright happy smiles on their faces. Just as they were about to surround Luffy he held out his hand stopping them. "Before anything else," he said before he grabbed Zoro by the back of his shirt and push him forward. "He needs a doctor asap," he said causing an old man in a white coat to step forward.
"I'll take care of him," he said causing both Luffy and Sanji to push a grumbling Zoro towards the man. Luffy then placed his hand on Dian's shoulder before he spoke again.
"This is Dian," he said making everyone attention turn their attention towards her. "She is from this village but was kidnapped a long time ago. I found her being held prisoner by the Marines and brought her here," he said causing everyone to start whispering among themselves. All the whispering was interrupted by a woman steps forward and speaking to Dian.
"D-Dian?...Is it really you?" an older woman said with tears in her eyes while holding on to an older man. Dian looked at the two of them and began to cry before she ran towards the two of them and hugged them. Genzo was the next person to speak.
"I can't believe it," he said while staring at Dian. "It has been almost 15 years since she was taken," he said causing Luffy's eyes to widen along with a lot of the younger people of the village. Before anyone else could say anything more depressing Luffy spoke.
"HEY!" he shouted causing everyone to look at him as he pulls out a bottle of whiskey. "I thought we were having a party," he said with a rare smile on his face. Everyone then began to party.
**FOUR DAYS and ONE BIG PARTY LATER**
It had been four days since Luffy defeated Arlong. The entire village celebrated their freedom for three days straight with no work and a three-day long party with an all you can eat buffet. During those three days, Zoro had gotten his wounds treated and everyone on the crew got a long-awaited well-deserved rest. Dian had given Luffy back his coat on the second day after she washed it. She and her parents thanked Luffy over and over for bringing her back home. Luffy kept telling them they didn't need to thank him but they just wouldn't listen. Currently, Luffy, Sanji, Zoro, and Usopp were on the Going Merry packing up the food supplies the villagers gave them along with a couple of tangerine trees Nami placed on the ship last night. Standing on the docks beside the ship were all of the villagers, Dian, and her parents along with Genzo an Nojiko. No one had seen Nami all morning, but Luffy knows she was going to show up eventually. He looked at his crew who was on board and spoke.
"You guys remember the plan right?" he asked confusing Sanji who Luffy left out of the plan. Zoro nodded his head along with Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku.
"huh? What plan?" Sanji asked with a confused look on his face. Luffy chuckled before he spoke.
"You'll see," he said before walking to the back of the ship and looked at the villagers more specifically Nojiko. "Hey Nojiko," Luffy called out getting her attention along with everyone else's. "Your sister can be a pain in the a.s.s sometimes," Luffy said with a smirk causing Nojiko to smirk as well. "I might need some help keeping her in check," he said. Everyone was staring at the interaction between the two with a smile or in Genzo's case, he looked like someone just shot his cat.
"Oh and you want me to help you keep her in check?" she asked.
"That's right," Luffy said before taking his hat off and running his hand through his hair before putting it back on. "Well, if you're interested," he said. She then went into a thinking position before she answered.
"Okay, you got yourself a new crew member," she said before she hopped on board the ship. Luffy looked at her strangely before he asked her a question.
"No clothes or anything?" he asked. Nojiko smiled before he answered.
"Nami is getting it," she said causing Luffy's jaw to drop. It was then Luffy heard Nami shouting.
"SET THE SAILS!" she shouted causing him to turn and look at her. He saw her standing some distance away from the villagers. As the villagers were pleading with her to say goodbye Luffy turned to his crew yelled out orders.
"You heard the lady! Set the Sails! Raise the anchor! Sanji man the rudder!" Luffy yelled out causing all of them to scramble to get everything done. Usopp and Johnny released the sails while Zoro and Yosaku pulled up the anchor while Sanji took command of the rudder and began Steering the ship. Nojiko ran over to Usopp and Johnny to help them tie the sails in place while Luffy stood there with a straight face staring at everyone. Luffy turned towards Nami and saw her running towards the ship weaving in and out between people.
"You don't think she is going to do what I think she is going to do right?" Zoro asked from beside Luffy.
"I think she is," Luffy replied. Nami reached the end of the dock and made a giant leap and jumped from the dock on to the ship surprising Luffy. When Nami landed on the ship the first thing she did was pull her shirt up causing Luffy's eyes to widen while Sanji began to get excited. Out of her shirt fell a bunch of wallets and purses that she had stolen from the villagers while running past them. Luffy shook his head an started laughing.
"Thanks a bunch!" she yelled at the villagers causing their jaws to drop. Luffy then looked to the guys and nodded signaling it was time to start the plan. As they sailed some distance away from the island Luffy was sitting on his throne made of clouds, Zoro was up in the crow's nest, Sanji was in the kitchen making lunch, Usopp was sitting on the floor next to Luffy doing something with his inventions, Johnny and Yosaku were playing cards off to Luffy's left, and Nami and Nojiko has just finished tending to their tangerine trees and were walking up to the rear deck with lawn chairs to sit with Luffy.
"What do you think you're going to do Nami?" Luffy asked while he looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm going to relax for a bit," she said while opening the lawn chair. By now Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku went into position to carry out the plan along with Zoro.
"Relax?" Luffy asked before he started to laugh which puzzled Nami and Nojiko. "You committed treason on a pirate ship and you think you are just going to come back on board that very same ship and relax?" Luffy asked causing her eyes to widen. "In a normal situation that crime would be rectified with your life," he said scaring her a bit. "But you see you had never actually joined the crew if I recalled correctly we only teamed up to achieve our goals," he said causing her to relax for a bit. "That does not mean you are off the hook. You stole my ship that carries my symbol so you must be punished. BOYS!" Luffy shouted. As he shouted that Zoro, Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku all dumbed four large buckets of some mud all over the deck except for the rear deck were Luffy was on. Sanji then came out of the kitchen wearing an apron and screamed.
'What the hell are you idiots doing!" he screams while looking at Zoro. Luffy walked over to Nami and handed her a mop and bucket.
"From this day forward you are on clean-up duty until I say otherwise," Luffy said causing Nami to take the mop and bucking. "And no one is to help her!" he yelled while looking at Sanji and Nojiko causing them to nod. Nojiko nodded with a smile who Sanji looked like he wanted to protest but thought otherwise. Nami then went down with her mop and bucket and began cleaning the ship. After about three hours Nami finally finished cleaning the ship. She came climbing up the steps looking all tired and covered in sweat, she walked over to Luffy and spoke.
"Done," she said. Luffy smiled and nodded his head telling her she could take a break. Sanji then showed up with three drinks on a silver platter. He handed a glass of whiskey on the rocks to Luffy and took the other two drinks over to Nami and Nojiko. Luffy took a sip of whiskey and smiled before looking up at the sky. It was there he saw a News Coo flying overhead. He whistled getting its attention causing the bird to fly down to the ship. Luffy paid it and took the new paper and went back to his throne. As he opened the paper and began reading he spoke out loud.
"Hmm this world sure is a turbulent place," he said while flipping through the pages. "There had been another coup in Villa," he said before turning the page again. As he turned the page a piece of paper fell out of the newspaper. "hmm what's that?" Luffy asked as he stared at the paper flying around the before it finally landed between Luffy and Usopp. When he saw it his eyes widened and Usopp screamed.
"AHHHH!" Usopp screamed causing Everyone else to come over and see what the commotion was. When they saw it they all stared at it with eyes the size of dinner plates.
*At Navy HQ*
Gathered inside Navy HQ in the Agenda Room were all of the Vice-Admirals of the Navy discussing a major threat that has arrived in the world.
"So, even a conservative estimate of their power they are still too much for our branches to handle to handle?" Asked one the vice admirals as he poured himself some sake.
"Yes, even before forming this pirate group he killed Marine branch captain Axe-Handle Morgan single-handedly. Since then he showed no signs of slowing down, Buggy 'the clown' 15 million, Kuro 'of a 1000 plans' who apparently faked his death the first time 16 million," Brannew said surprising everyone in the room. "Pirate Admiral Don Kreig 17 million, Fishman pirate 'Saw-tooth' Arlong 20 million," he said pointing to each wanted poster in the board. "Every one of these pirates had a bounty over 10 million and he took them down, but that was to be expected considering who he is," Brannew said getting the attention of the marines. "From the reports we gathered, he has a logia class devil fruit and a powerful one at that," he said earning a few gasps from a few vice admirals.
"Logias are believed to be the rarest and most powerful class of devil fruit there is," said one vice admiral. "Do we know kind of Logia it is?" he asked. Brannew looked at the paper he had in his hand and spoke.
"It is believed to be a lightning logia devil fruit. We have a report from Captain Nezumi of branch 16 saying that this pirate completely wipes Branch 16 of the face of the earth killing everyone who on the Island with just one attack." Brannew said causing all of the eyes of the marines to widen at that. He then looked at the paper before he spoke again. "It was also reported that he is a master of all three forms of Haki," he said causing everyone's eyes to widen.
"A Haki user!? In the East Blue!?" one vice admiral shouted/asked.
"Did you just say all three?" asked another. "He has conqueror's Haki?"
"This isn't good," commented another marine.
"It gets worst," Brannew said causing everyone to stop talking and look at him with eyes the size of dinner plates.
"Just how can this get worse?" asked one of the vice admiral in a tone that sounded like he was very scared of whatever Brannew was about to say.
"He is also the apprentice of Red-Haired Shanks," he said causing the entire room to go silent. Before anyone could say anything about that he spoke again. "Ten years ago Red-hair came to the East Blue if you all recalled," he said earning nods from everyone. "It was reported that he took a kid back with him and now we have reasons to believe….No scratch that we are certain that this is the very same kid. Reports go as far to say at one point the kid was a high ranking officer on Shank's crew and he left to start his own crew with Shank's blessing. And because of that, we are giving him a bounty of *******" Brannew said stopping to let that information sink in.
"I can't believe it," said one vice admiral
"Where is this boy now?" asked another immediately going into the marines mode.
"He is currently heading towards Logue Town. We already sent reinforcements to back up captain Smoker," Brannew said.
"That's good, we cannot allow a pirate of this caliber to re-enter the Grand Line," one Vice Admiral said earning nods from the rest.
*Syrup Village*
"Miss! Miss!" screamed Merry as he ran up to the stairs with a piece of paper in his hand. He pushed open the room to her study and spoke. "Miss Kaya did you see this?" he asked as he held up Luffy's wanted poster for her to see. She took it and smiled before she spoke.
"Looks like they are really doing it huh, Merry?" she asked as she stared at the paper.
"Yea, they are," he replied. Kaya then turned to him and smiled before she spoke again.
"That's great news, Usopp is moving towards his dreams so I better start working harder to achieve my dreams," she said with conviction.
*Shell Town*
Sweeping the halls of the marine base in Shell two is Coby. As he was sweeping he noticed a wanted poster on the wall. When he looked at it he smiled widely when he saw it was Luffy.
"Luffy you're out achieving your dream, but when we meet again we will meet as enemies," he said while smiling all too happy.
*Some Random Island in the Grand Line*
Hawk-Eye walked ashore on the island and was immediately greeted by the weapons of a bunch of scared pirates.
"What do you want, Hawk-Eye?" Ask a very scared pirate with his sword drawn. Mihawk just looked at him with a bored expression on his face before he spoke.
"Oh relax, take me to your superiors," he said causing the pirate to run off into the woods. "Camping out on a deserted island, what a carefree man," he said before he followed the pirate into the woods. After walking for a few minutes he came upon the camp of the Red-Haired Pirates. They were all sitting around under a large umbrella nursing their hangover.
"Boss! Ha-Ha-Hawk-Eye!" the pirate screamed at Shanks while pointing behind him. Shanks who was sitting on a log didn't even look at Mihawk when he spoke.
"Hello, Hawk-Eye, to what do I owe the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e? Have you come to fight me? Cause you know I'm not feeling so good at the moment" Shanks said in a low voice.
"I have no intention of fighting a drunk man, I'll settle the score some other time," Mihawk said while looking down at Shanks. "I recently came across a mutual friend of ours in the East Blue," he said getting everyone's attention as he began walking towards Shanks with a rolled up paper in his hand. "I just thought you might want to see this," he said as he unrolled the paper showing Shanks Luffy's bounty poster. Shanks' eyes widened when he saw it along with the rest of the crew, he then chuckled to himself before he spoke.
"Well, in that case, I just can't let you leave, Hawk-Eye," Shanks said in a dangerous tone causing Mihawk to narrow his eyes. He then brought out a mug and began pouring booze in it while laughing. "Hawk-Eye, come on drink up," Shanks said with a large smile on his face.
"Weren't you just hungover?" Hawk-Eye asked.
"Don't be crazy, we have to celebrate. Our student just got his first bounty, Everybody lets Party!" Shanks shouted before he raised his own glass. "To Luffy!" he yelled.
"To LUFFY!" the rest of the crew yelled as they down their drink.
*Foosha Village*
Meanwhile back in Foosha village, everyone was celebrating the fact that Luffy was out achieving his dreams. Inside Makino's bar, the main celebration was happening with everyone drinking and celebrating Luffy's first bounty.
"Who would have thought a big-time pirate came from our village," said one of the villagers.
"I know right it's amazing," said another.
"Shut up! What is so great about a no good criminal coming from our village!" the mayor said
"Aww just look at him Mayor, he is so cute," said Makino from behind the bar. "He's really out there going after his dream," she said.
"His dream or his fate?" the mayor said to himself.
*Back on the Going Merry*
Back on the Going Merry, everyone was staring at the wanted poster laying on the ground with shocked faces while Luffy was just smirking.
"Would you look at that I'm a wanted man," he said smugly as he stared at the poster. The picture they used was just after he destroyed Arlong park. It was him standing in the middle of a pile of ash that was Arlong Park with dark thunderclouds and lightning in the sky behind him as stared what looked to be directly into the camera with the cold eyes of a killer with the torn up flag of the Arlong Pirates laying off to the side of his feet. And just below the picture, they had his name and moniker along with his bounty. It read:
WANTED!
Dead or Alive!
Monkey D. Luffy
Moniker: The Thunder Demon: 'Straw Hat Luffy'
Bounty: $100,000,000.
"Wow," Johnny and Yosaku said.
"100 million!?" Usopp yelled in surprise. "That's amazing!" he said. As he said that Nami smacked him at the back of his head.
"Shut up you idiot, this is bad!" she said. "This means really strong marines will come after us," she said with a worried look on her face.
"100 million? With a bounty like that Navy HQ will sure to take action," Zoro said in a low voice. "Not to mention it is going to attract a lot of bounty hunters, and these bounty hunters are going to be good," he said scaring everyone except Luffy. Luffy saw everyone was starting to panic and decided to ease their worrying.
"All of you!" he yelled from his throne getting their attention. "Relax and calm down. Unless they send Navy Admiral Kizaru we're fine," he said calming them down a bit.
"What's so wrong with this Kizaru guy?" asked Nojiko.
"Let's just say he is the only person who will give me a hard time in a fight," he said surprising them. "Now with a bounty like that it means that the Navy is aware of my relationship with Shanks and my power. " So, they are going to try their best to prevent us from entering the Grand Line," he said earning a nod from each of them. He then turned to Nami and spoke. "Nami, plot a course to Logue Town. We will stop there and resupply and from there we head straight into the Grand Line," he said in an authoritarian voice.
"Right!" she said before heading to grab her map.
"Why do we need to stop at Logue Town?" Sanji asked with a curious look on his face. "Can't we just go straight into the Grand Line? We have enough supplies," he asked causing Luffy to chuckle.
"We could, but stopping at Logue Town before entering the Grand Line is more of a ritual for pirates," he said earning a curious look from everyone there. "You see Logue Town is the place where Gol D. Roger was born and where he died," Luffy said causing everyone's eyes to widen. "It also the place where the Great Pirate Era started. It is known as The Town of the Beginning and the End,"
**CHAPTER END**