Journey to Raftel Chapter 4 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Journey to Raftel! Sailing for the Gecko Islands in the large ship of the Buggy Pirates, I’m sure that might cause a stir. Syrup Village has never had to deal with a Pirate threat before, to suddenly see the flagship of an infamous crew in the East Blue heading their way might just make the townsfolk panic! Luffy and crew really need a ship of their own.

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So without further delay, please enjoy.

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Chapter 4 – Gecko Islands, Hidden Danger

Luffy, Nami, and Zoro were sailing on the open sea once more. They’d left Orange Town with the large ship of the Buggy Pirates, including all of their supplies, and the thanks and well wishes of the grateful townspeople. Luffy’s copies were not only manning the large ship, but also keeping watch over the brig where they’d stuffed the entire pirate crew. Eight copies constantly watched the beaten, broken, and burned pirates as they sailed. They gave them water and one meal a day, since they weren’t heartless, but the pirates weren’t really in any condition to try anything.

Inside the cabin on the upper deck, Nami was humming happily while counting the Beri and examining the treasure they had taken from the Buggy Pirates. The orangette grinned widely as she examined an ornate bracelet made of solid gold and studded with gems. “Well, I have to give that clown some credit, there’s not a single fake among all this treasure. All of it is real gold, silver, and gems. This haul is worth at least 8,000,000 Beri!”

“Shishishi~” Luffy chuckled at seeing how happy Nami was. He was currently stuffing his face with some of the food from the Buggy Pirates’ larder.

“Too bad their booze isn’t as good.” Zoro sighed as he finished off a bottle and stood up from the table. “I’m gonna go practice for a bit since we have the space on this ship.” The green-haired swordsman left the cabin a moment later to find a clear area to train.

“8,000,000 Beri from this treasure; when we turn in Buggy, Cabaji, and Mohji we’ll get another 21,500,000 Beri, and I bet we’ll get close to 10,000,000 Beri for turning in a ship this size too.” Nami was calculating in her head with Beri Symbols for eyes. “Divide all of that by three and then add in my current stash and I’ll have roughly 24,666,667 Beri!” The Navigator calculated out to the single Beri of her cut.

“I’m glad that you’re happy, Nami.” Luffy smiled widely at her. “You’re pretty when you smile.”

“How can I not be happy?” Nami grinned at him as she stood up from her chair. “Not only have you helped me collect so much money,” She sauntered over to where he was sitting. “But you gave me the power to fight for myself and my home.” Her eyes were half-lidded as she gazed into his and straddled him. “Thank you so much, Luffy.” She leaned forward and connected their lips in a soft kiss.

Luffy’s arms went around her waist and pulled her closer. Nami reciprocated by wrapping her arms around his shoulders. They separated for a moment, just looking into each other’s eyes, before their lips met again and they deepened their kissing. The two were slightly clumsy with each other, neither having had a relationship before, but they quickly found out what they liked together. Nami giggled when Luffy’s hands dropped from her waist to cup her ass over her skirt. She pulled his head down into her tits with a laugh and let out a pleasant mewl when Luffy started nuzzling them.

The two wouldn’t be seen on deck for a while, and Zoro only slightly noticed the disheveled clothing but didn’t think anything about it.

-Gecko Islands-

“PIRATES!!!” A long-nosed young man with black hair yelled as he ran through his village. He wore brown overalls and leather boots on his feet. On his head was a green bandana that kept his hair controlled. Over his shoulder was the strap of a satchel that was bouncing off his hip as he ran. “Pirates! Pirates are coming!”

“Shut the hell up, Usopp!” One of the men of the village yelled at the teen while brandishing a broom. “It’s every day with this! We’re sick of it!”

“Yeah!” Another villager declared, this one holding a frying pan in hand.

“Get outta the village, you liar!” A woman hollered at the long-nosed young man.

“Ahahahahaha!” Usopp laughed as he stopped at the edge of the village. “You’re welcome! I’ve once again livened up this sleepy little village for you all!”

“Get outta here!” One of the men tossed a boot at the liar. Usopp chuckled as he ran off to the grumbling of the villagers of Syrup Village.

Once well outside the village, Usopp hopped up into a tree and looked out over the peaceful fields of his home island. Warm weather with only a few passing clouds today. The gentle breeze across the island felt nice and brought with it the scent of the forests mixed with the sea. This would be considered by many people an idyllic little island to live on. His gaze strayed to the large mansion on top of the hill overlooking Syrup Village. He had a small smile on his lips as he thought about the one person inside that he cared about.

“Captain!” Two younger boys called up to the teen.

“Oh, Carrot, Pepper, what’s up?” Usopp questioned the two boys as he dropped down to the ground.

“Your Pirate Crew reporting for duty!” Carrot, a slim kid with a bandana on his head with a childish Skull and Crossbones that left the back of his hair poking out up top, spoke up.

“Good morning, sir!” Pepper, the other boy, wore rather plain clothes. But his t-shirt had a similar childish version of a Jolly Roger on it to match Carrot’s.

“Just the two of you?” Usopp looked curious. “Where’s Onion?”

“Still sleeping, maybe?” Carrot looked at Pepper.

“Probably,” Pepper nodded after a moment of thought.

“We’re doomed!” A different boy yelled as he ran towards the group.

“Oh, there he is.” Pepper cocked his head to the side at Onion’s fast approach.

“What’s he yelling about?” Carrot questioned, not able to hear everything the other boy was yelling.

“Pirates! Pirates are coming!” Onion screamed before stopping in front of Usopp and his friends. The bespectacled boy had glasses and his hair stuck up in one spot near the top of his head.

“Onion, I already did the morning lying.” Usopp waved the kid off.

“It’s true though!” Onion insisted frantically. “I saw it with my own eyes! A large ship heading for the island from the northwest! Its sails had the Jolly Roger of Buggy the Clown on them!”

“You’re not lying?!” Usopp’s eyes bugged out in shock.

“It’s true! We’re in danger!” Onion frantically nodded his head.

“Time for a snack!” Usopp declared as he turned in the other direction and started to power-walk away.

“Don’t run away!” The three boys yelled at his retreating back.

“But I have a condition…if I don’t eat on time, I’ll die!” Usopp declared while holding his stomach.

“LIAR!!!” All three boys screamed at the teen.

“Captain, don’t you want to become a real Pirate?!” Pepper demanded of Usopp.

“A real Pirate wouldn’t be scared of other pirates!” Pepper declared with his fists raised in front of him.

“We have to do something, Captain!” Onion exclaimed with fear in his eyes.

“You’re right!” Usopp nodded after a few moments to think. “You three head down to old man Lorz’s place and use his Transponder Snail to call the Marine Branch over on the other island. He should already be out fishing today to get his next shipment ready, so no one will be there to stop you. Tell the Marines that Buggy the Clown’s ship is approaching our island as fast as you can! I’ll go hold them off at the shore!”

“Yes, Captain!” All three boys saluted and ran off towards the docks on the other side of the village.

“That’ll get them as far away from the pirates as possible,” Usopp felt his whole body shaking even as he rushed to get to the old shore that wasn’t used much anymore. ‘I’ll protect the village! I’ll protect her!’ He repeated over and over in his mind as he ran.

-Shore-

“We made it!” Luffy cheered as a few of his copies leapt off the large ship with mooring ropes to anchor the commandeered pirate ship to the shore. They’d already dropped both anchors too, but it didn’t hurt to be sure.

“We might be able to find someone that’ll sell us a ship on this island.” Nami looked over the map. “Syrup Village, looks like they make their living off of fishing and trading the syrup they produce on the island.”

“We’ll need to borrow a Transponder Snail to call the Marines, let them know we’ve got a whole crew to turn in.” Zoro reminded as he looked over the large ship. “Actually, we should use some paint to draw big ‘X’ marks over the Jolly Rogers on the sails. That way the Marines shouldn’t fire on the ship as soon as they see it.”

“We already took down the Jolly Rogers from the masts though?” Luffy tilted his head to the side. “Isn’t that enough?”

“Better to be safe, rather than lose our payday.” Nami made her opinion known.

“Alright then,” Luffy shrugged before pointing at two of his copies. “You two grab paint and cross out the Jolly Rogers on the sails.” The copies nodded and headed below deck to retrieve some paint from the storage area.

“Should we take one of the lifeboats ashore?” Zoro looked at the distance between the ship and the shoreline. The size of the Buggy Pirates ship meant they couldn’t go any farther into the shallows without running aground.

“No need,” Luffy grinned as he swept Nami up into a bridal carry, much to the orangette’s laughter, and a large Somersault Cloud formed under his feet. The golden cloud spread out until it was under Zoro’s feet too and then lifted them up. They flew over the shallows and landed on the rocky shoreline in mere moments.

“That works too.” Zoro chuckled as he glanced at the poorly hidden guy watching them. “So…what do we do about that guy?” He pointed to the bandana-wearing guy.

“They saw me!” Usopp gasped as he ducked behind the log he was partially hidden behind. Getting his shaking under control as best he could, he stood up with his arms crossed and looked down on the group of three from atop the cliff. “I’m the notorious, Captain Usopp! Feared pirate and ruler of this village! You should think twice if you’re planning to invade! I have eighty million men ready to stop you!” The long-nosed teen stated as fiercely as he could manage.

“Liar.” Nami deadpanned making Usopp panic.

“Damn! She saw through me!” Usopp held his head with his hands.

“See? You just told me.” Nami sighed with a sweat drop.

“Crap! I admitted that I lied!” Usopp twisted his body back and forth in his panic at having been called out. He stumbled down the cliff side and landed on his ass on the rocky shore.

“Hahaha! You’re funny!” Luffy laughed at the reactions of Usopp.

“Hey! Are you laughing at me?!” Usopp demanded, shooting up from the ground to stand as tall as he could. “I’m a proud man! That’s why they call me ‘Proud Captain Usopp’!”

“Didn’t you just say you were the ‘Notorious Captain Usopp’?” Zoro questioned, making Usopp’s eyes bug out.

“Forget about that!” Usopp yelled before he found Luffy’s arm around his shoulders. He hadn’t even seen the other guy move.

“You say you’re a Pirate?” Luffy grinned at the other guy. “We’re Adventurers that’ve just dealt with the Buggy Pirates. We’re hoping to turn in their Bounties and their ship.” Usopp didn’t know whether to sigh in relief or tremble in fear at that statement. “I don’t recognize you at all, so if you are a Pirate; that means you don’t have a Bounty, right?”

“I…I…I…” Usopp stumbled over his words.

“Lighten up, Luffy,” Nami giggled at his antics. “It’s obvious he’s just a village kid playing Pirate.”

“Shishishi,” Luffy laughed as he let go of Usopp’s shoulders and the teen had a visible full-body tremble. “Don’t worry about it! You got anywhere to eat around here? We’ve been eating mostly preserved and dried foods during the trip, I want some fresh meat!”

“S-Sure thing…follow me.” Usopp nodded and led the three so-called Adventurers towards the town. “I actually sent some friends to call the Marines when one of them spotted the Buggy Pirates’ ship...is that going to be a problem?”

“Shouldn’t be, once my copies get done crossing out the Jolly Rogers on the sails.” Luffy shrugged without a care.

“Copies?” Usopp blinked confused until he caught sight of multiple Luffys moving around the deck of the large ship. “What the hell?!”

“I ate a Devil Fruit.” Luffy grinned as Usopp’s eye’s bugged out.

“Those’re real?!” Usopp demanded having always thought the stories were just that, tall tales of the sea.

“I’ll explain on the way.” Luffy laughed at the funny reactions of the other teen.

-Village Restaurant ~ Meshi-

“How can he eat so much?” Usopp stared in wonder as Luffy devoured his meal. That was enough for three men already and the straw-hatted man wasn’t even slowing down.

“Seconds please!” Luffy requested a short time later as he finished his first helping.

“More booze too!” Zoro called out as he took a swig from his bottle.

“So, you’re looking for crewmates and a ship for this ‘Adventuring Crew’ of yours?” Usopp asked getting a nod from Luffy.

“That’s right!” Luffy grinned as his second round of food was put in front of him by a waitress.

“Well you won’t find anything like a Galleon here, but there is one place you might be able to get a ship.” Usopp mentioned with his hand on his chin.

“Where’s that?” Nami inquired only to watch Usopp point out the window. Following the direction, her gaze fell upon a mansion sitting on higher ground than the rest of the village.

“That huge mansion that sticks out like a sore thumb, that’s where.” Usopp replied before he explained about the owner, a sickly girl called Kaya.

“Forget it; we’ll just check one of the other islands.” Nami shook her head, and Luffy and Zoro shrugged in agreement since they were both still eating and drinking.

“You’re still looking for crewmates, right?” Usopp asked Luffy.

“Yep!” Luffy replied with a nod.

“Not sure what an Adventuring Crew does, but if you’d rather be Pirates then I’m your man! I’ll be your Captain!” Usopp stated with a thumbs up and a grin.

“No thanks.” The trio rejected instantly.

“What kind of response was that?!” Usopp yelled with shark teeth.

“I’ll never become a Pirate.” Nami almost growled at Usopp, sending the long-nosed teen nearly scrambling out of his seat.

Seeing the anger in Nami’s eyes, Usopp rushed off after a quick goodbye. It was only a few minutes later that three young boys burst into the restaurant demanding the return of their ‘Captain’.

“That meat really hit the spot!” Luffy exclaimed happily as he patted his stomach.

“Meat?! What…what did you do with our Captain?!” Pepper stuttered out.

“Your Captain…” Zoro grinned ominously. “Just got eaten!”

“Ahh! Onibaba!” The three boys screamed while pointing at Nami.

“Why’re you looking at me?!” Nami demanded with a glare and sharp teeth. After the joke was cleared up, the three adventurers learned about Usopp telling the bedridden owner of the mansion tall tales to cheer her up.

“So her spirits must not be low then, huh?” Luffy asked Carrot.

“Yep! All thanks to the Captain!” Carrot nodded with a grin.

“Alright then, let’s go ask her to sell us a ship!” Luffy declared with his fist raised.

“Didn’t we already decide against that course of action?” Nami questioned with a raised eyebrow. She shook her head with a fond sigh as she followed after Luffy anyway.

-At the Mansion ~ A Few Minutes Later-

“Hey! We’re here to buy a ship!” Luffy called out at a normal volume for a conversation. The only problem with that being that the group was standing outside the mansion’s gate and no one was around to hear him. “Well, I guess we have to go in!” He chuckled as he held his hand up to the gate’s lock.

“I get the feeling he was going to do this regardless. What about you?” Nami sighed at the chuckling Luffy.

“Probably,” Zoro agreed as he watched Luffy point at the lock on the gate. The irons bars swung open after an almost instantaneous click.

The group of three young adults and three kids walked through the now open gates. They walked around the mansion grounds until they got to the back area and heard Usopp’s voice. Looking over to a tree near the mansion, the group spotted Usopp sitting against it while a pale-skinned, blonde girl smiled and laughed at what he was saying while leaning out of a window.

“Captain!” The boys called out and Usopp turned to them in shock.

“What are you guys doing here?” Usopp asked with a gasp.

“They told us to bring them here.” The boys responded while pointing at the trio of adventurers.

“Who’re you?” Kaya asked as Luffy grinned.

“You must be the Lady of the mansion.” Luffy approached. “I have a request for you.”

“A request for me?” Kaya asked curiously.

“Yeah! We were hoping you had a big, sturdy ship that you’d be willing to sell.” Luffy explained only to be interrupted by a man in a black suit.

“What is the meaning of this?” The man demanded as he stalked towards the group. “You all realize you’re trespassing, right?!”

“Klahadore!” Kaya exclaimed.

“What’s this guy’s problem?” Luffy wondered as he watched the man approach. “We came in through the front gate.”

“The guards must’ve forgotten to lock it before taking lunch.” Klahadore gave off an annoyed sigh at what Luffy had said. “What business could you possibly have here?”

“We want to buy a big, sturdy ship.” Luffy informed the bespectacled man simply.

“We can’t help you.” Klahadore denied him instantly.

Klahadore was apparently the Head Butler of the mansion and did not approve of them being on the premises. After insulting Usopp’s father for being a pirate and then getting punched by the long-nosed teen, all of them had been forced to leave by the butler. A few minutes later the three adventurers were a good distance down the road from the mansion and discussing what had just occurred and how it affected their plans.

“Something was off about that butler guy.” Nami mused as she thought over the encounter. She’d snuck her way into plenty of fancy parties to nab the expensive trinkets the wealthy wore like cheap baubles. In all the many times she had done so, she’d never seen a servant act with so much force and authority towards their employer.

“I feel like I’ve seen his face before, but a long time ago.” Zoro was trying to recall if he’d ever actually met Klahadore before.

“You three,” A gruff voice called out and the three turned to face a small group of Marines. The man that stood in front of the rest wore an Officer’s coat with the word ‘Justice’ written down the back vertically. He had a thick, grey mustache and a matching beard that fanned out around his jaw. They quickly noticed that one of Luffy’s copies was with the group too. “You’re the Bounty Hunters turning in the Buggy Pirates, right?”

“Yep,” Luffy answered plainly and the Marine Officer raised an eyebrow. “We were told you’d been called by the time we got to the shore, sorry for any panic we caused.”

“We were half expecting to find Syrup Village in flames when we arrived, so I’ll take some inconvenience over loss of life any day.” The Officer waved off the apology. “I’m Lieutenant Commander Brush, if you’d follow me back to the Buggy Pirates ship, we can get your things separated from the Pirates’ possessions and get the paperwork done. A transfer of funds this large will have to be done at our Base in Gecko Town, two islands to the east of here.”

“Sure thing,” Luffy shrugged as he, Nami, and Zoro followed after the Marines.

When they got back to the shore they’d docked at it was to the sight of a large Marine ship moored close to Buggy’s ship. Marines were leading the Buggy Pirates off their own vessel and into the brig of the Marine ship. A good number of the pirates had to be carried out from their injuries, but things were going smoothly. Buggy was vaguely heard shouting from somewhere within the Marine ship though.

“Clever idea to deal with him, I must say.” Brush chuckled as they’d found Buggy’s body trapped in a barrel with only his head poking out. The fractured bones in the pirate’s body had apparently made using his Devil Fruit power difficult. He’d been unable to separate himself enough to get out of the barrel, and the single time he’d attempted to float his head out of the cell, one of Luffy’s copies had punched it back inside. “We’ll fill it halfway with seawater to weaken him on the trip back. A few hours of soaking should shut him up.”

The three of them had quickly gotten their possessions from the pirate ship, including their Beri and treasure. As the Marines couldn’t prove that the money wasn’t theirs before they’d dealt with the Buggy Pirates, they were allowed to keep it. Lieutenant Commander Brush honestly just didn’t seem like he cared enough to pursue the issue. Not when he had one of the Top Five highest bounty Pirates in the East Blue under his custody.

“That went easier than expected.” Zoro mentioned as they watched the Marine ship sail away along with the Buggy Pirates’ ship.

The large pirate vessel was being manned by around fifteen Marines to take it back to their Base. The paperwork that was left with them, and currently being held in the care of Nami, had both Lieutenant Commander Brush’s signature and seal on it. Once they got a ship and headed over to Gecko Town, they just had to present the paper at the Base and their money would be given to them.

“So what do we do about a ship now?” Nami questioned as she looked at Luffy.

“Not sure…” Luffy shrugged as he thought about it.

“That butler made it clear that he won’t even let the Lady of the Mansion talk to us about a ship.” Zoro mused as to what they could do to buy a ship of their own.

“Worst case scenario, I’ll just fly us over to the Gecko Town place and we’ll try to buy a ship there.” Luffy decided with a carefree grin. “I’m gonna go talk to Usopp, I think I know something he’ll want to hear.” A golden cloud formed under his feet and he was flying off in less than a second to search for the village liar.

Luffy found Usopp sitting on the edge of a cliff at a shoreline that looked almost identical to the one they’d landed on that morning. Seeing the long-nosed teen brooding Luffy went and sat beside him. Usopp looked over but didn’t react much beyond the initial shock of being found. The two chatted for a bit and Luffy revealed that he knew who Usopp was.

“You’re Yasopp’s son, aren’t you?” Luffy asked and Usopp nearly fell down the cliff in shock.

“You know my dad?” Usopp asked incredulously. He hadn’t seen his old man since he was about four after all.

“Yep, he talked my ear off about you when Shanks and his crew stopped by my home island.” Luffy explained getting an even more shocked look from the liar. Luffy filled Usopp in on what his father had been doing ten years ago when he’d last seen him. Usopp couldn’t be prouder to know that his father was the Master Gunner of a Yonko’s crew. Luffy blinked when he saw two people below on the rocky shore. One unknown to him, but the other was the butler from the mansion.

The butler was talking to a strange man in a dark blue coat, a matching hat, and a pair of heart-shaped glasses. Listening in, the two young men learned of the butler’s true identity and his nefarious plan for Kaya. Needless to say, Usopp was freaking out, but how could he not be? That was Captain Kuro down there! Kuro of a Thousand Plans! He was an infamous pirate with a 16,000,000 Beri bounty that was believed to have been captured and executed three years ago.

“We should deal with them.” Luffy spoke as he stood up. “I bet they both have bounties on their heads!”

“You idiot! Don’t stand up, they’ll see you!” Usopp whispered at him harshly.

“Incoming!” Luffy jumped right off the cliff while pulling out the short staff he had in the belt loop across the back of his shorts. A tap on the staff and it returned to full size. Luffy landed between the two pirates, startling both of them from the yell and his sudden appearance. A swing of the staff caught the man in the blue hat and coat across the face. The stranger spun through the air once and hit the rocky ground hard. “So, you’re a Pirate, huh?” Luffy grinned at the butler widely.

“It seems I’ll have to deal with you to keep this quiet.” Kuro replied with a tone of cold indifference. He blurred slightly and stopped by a set of rocks dozens of meters away.

Luffy raised an eyebrow curiously at the sudden speed of the pirate. That was an interesting trick. It reminded Luffy of his Grandpa’s ‘Secret Marine Techniques’. The one’s that he’d refused to teach to Luffy until he became a Marine. It seemed that there were other ways to go about learning something similar. But Luffy had always been more interested in Garp’s ‘little trick’ that let him get around his Devil Fruit abilities.

“Die,” Kuro had pulled out a hidden duffle bag and from within removed a strange pair of gloves. They were black fur, and on the tip of each finger was a sword blade. The pirate blurred forward this time, aiming to slash Luffy with the claws.

Luffy leapt over the rush easily and lashed out with his staff. Kuro blurred again and the staff swiped through empty air. Another swipe came from behind and Luffy blocked with his staff. The five blades stopped dead against the staff no matter how much pressure Kuro applied. Luffy flung the pirate backwards with a swing of his weapon and Kuro’s shoes nearly dug trenches in the rocky ground.

“You’re fast…” Luffy grinned at the pirate. “But Grandpa was way faster.” The staff suddenly extended at the speed of a bullet, slamming into Kuro’s chest and carrying him down the beach. The staff retracted just as quickly and Luffy leapt after Kuro. He found the man hacking and wheezing, blood running from the corner of his mouth and his glasses missing, as he tried to get back to his feet. “Huh, you’re tougher than I thought.” Luffy remarked as the pirate got his feet back under him.

“I will kill you, my plans never fail…” Kuro huffed out as he let his arms drop to his side. The injured pirate started swaying left to right for some reason, but Luffy was ready to end this fight. “Shaku-” Kuro exclaimed only for Luffy’s staff to crack him across the head. The centrifugal force of the suddenly much longer staff connecting with the pirate’s head sent Kuro slamming into the cliff wall at speed.

“Hmm, he was better than Buggy, at least.” Luffy shrugged at the slightly more interesting fight. “Still, I thought pirates worth 15,000,000 and stuff would be way stronger.” He walked over to the downed Kuro and poked him with his staff multiple times to make sure he was unconscious. When Kuro didn’t react, Luffy grabbed him by the leg and dragged him along the beach, back to where he’d left Usopp.

“W-What the heck?!” Usopp gaped as Luffy walked back with Kuro’s beaten and unconscious body dragging behind him. “You beat Kuro of a Thousand Plans that fast?! He had a 16,000,000 Beri bounty three years ago!”

“16,000,000 Beri, for this guy?” Luffy lifted the unconscious man off the ground by his ankle, just letting Kuro hang in the air. “I wonder why?”

“He was a notorious pirate that planned out perfect pillaging raids against towns, villages, and ports all over the East Blue!” Usopp explained to Luffy. “He once slaughtered an entire Marine ship single-handedly with his speed and his special sword gloves!”

“So he’s fast then?” Luffy dropped Kuro bodily onto the rocks and lifted his foot. With a stomp and an audible crack, he fractured the pirate’s leg. “There, that should take care of his speed.” Usopp recoiled at the sheer brutal efficiency of the adventurer. “Do you know who the other guy is?” He pointed at the downed man with the swollen face from Luffy’s staff.

“No idea…” Usopp shook his head.

“Hmm, I’ll look through my stack of wanted posters then.” Luffy shrugged and pulled some hairs from his head. He blew on them and Usopp watched as in puffs of smoke four more Luffys appeared. “Transform.” He grinned and two of the copies disappeared into another cloud that cleared to reveal spools of rope. The remaining copies quickly tied up the two unconscious pirates.

Several minutes later, along with Luffy flying off to fetch Zoro and Nami, and the crew plus Usopp were looking over the tied up pirates. They needed to know what to do with them, whether to turn them in now, or interrogate them for any other information. When Usopp mentioned that the strange man in the blue coat had talked about the rest of the crew anchored somewhere nearby, it was decided to wake him up.

“Ow!” The man cried out in pain. “My face…”

“I didn’t even break anything,” Luffy retorted to the man. “Stop being a baby.”

“Jango ‘the Hypnotist’, right?” Zoro looked at the man’s wanted poster. “9,000,000 Beri on your head.”

“Bounty Hunters, huh?” Jango glared from behind his cracked glasses.

“Actually we’re Adventurers…” Luffy started but Nami placed her hand over his mouth.

“For all you need to know, yes.” Nami stared down at the man. “We have some questions for you before we turn you over to the Marines.”

“You can go to hell.” Jango immediately responded. His head whipped around as his non-swollen cheek was backhanded.

“So, we have some questions.” Nami continued as if she hadn’t just backhanded the pirate across the face. “If you answer them, then I’ll stop.”

“Stop what?” Jango suddenly felt heat as the orangette in front of him held out her hand with her palm facing him. A ball of flame appeared and began to grow in size. The flames snapped and flared as the ball grew and the heat became more and more intense. Usopp even staggered backwards at the sight.

Nami was focusing heavily on controlling her Devil Fruit. Even just conjuring this small ball of fire had made her enter her Hybrid Form. She could feel the warmth of the flames in her hair and knew her eyes were glowing yellow again. She slowly increased the size of the fireball and watched Jango try and scoot away from the flames.

“Hey, hey, stop it, stop it already!” Jango tried to move away from the growing fireball as the heat became unbearable and his felt his skin starting to turn red.

“You should answer our questions then.” Luffy reminded the pirate.

“What questions?! You didn’t ask me anything!” Jango felt his skin start to burn slightly and hissed in pain.

“Where is your ship moored? How many men are on your crew? Do you have any other crew members on this island?” Zoro asked in succession.

“The ship is moored next to some rocks jutting out to sea between this island and the next! You can’t miss them! The rocks are huge and have quite a few trees growing off the stone!” Jango spilled his guts as the fire continued to grow and he smelled his hair starting to burn. “They’re all on the ship, Captain Kuro wouldn’t let any of them stay on the island, they’re too bloodthirsty! There are roughly forty of us in total! Stop, stop, stop!”

“Was that so hard?” Nami smiled innocently as she drew in her Devil Fruit power and Jango’s hair and jacket left off small wisps of smoke. His face was lightly burned, sort of like a very bad sunburn with how red it was.

“So what do we do about this, Captain?” Zoro looked at Luffy curiously.

“One second,” Luffy slugged Jango across his less swollen cheek, sending the pirate back into dreamland. “Why don’t I fly you two out there and let you handle the crew? Shouldn’t be too much trouble, right?”

“Works for me.” Zoro shrugged without a care.

“I do still need to practice.” Nami mentioned as she looked at her hands. She needed to learn all she could about her Devil Fruit by the time they headed for Cocoyashi. She’d show Arlong just how much she hated him for everything he’d taken from her and her homeland.

“Umm…what should I do?” Usopp raised his hand as he looked between the three adventurers.

“Nothing, if you want.” Luffy shrugged simply. “You can stay right here and watch over these two with my copies, if you want.”

“I can do that.” Usopp nodded resolutely. After all, both Kuro and Jango were beaten, unconscious, and tied up. They wouldn’t be a threat to anyone for now.

“Then we’ll be back shortly!” Luffy smiled as a golden cloud formed beneath his feet. Usopp blinked at seeing where the cloud that Luffy had been riding when he found him had come from. Luffy sat down on the Somersault Cloud and Nami was quick to hop into his lap with a smile. Zoro sat on the back of the cloud and the trio quickly zoomed off towards the location Jango had told them about.

“I gotta get me a Devil Fruit when I go out to sea…” Usopp muttered amazed at what Luffy and Nami could do.

-Belzan Black-

The large ship of the Black Cat Pirates, with a matching figurehead to their name, was moored onto a large pillar of rocks covered in trees. They were just waiting for Jango and Captain Kuro to come give them their orders for that little island their Captain had been living on for the last three years. They’d all been getting rather antsy during their wait over the last week. They were a Pirate Crew well-known for their bloodthirst after all.

“What the hell is that?” One of the members looked up with his hand shielding his eyes.

The rest of the crew turned in his direction before following his line of sight. Approaching their ship at speed appeared to be…a cloud? As it got closer they noticed it was golden in color. A few seconds later and they noticed people riding the cloud!

“What the fuck?!” Half of the crew exclaimed with their eyes bugged out and their mouths agape.

“I’ll be watching, so don’t worry too much.” Luffy smiled as he dropped off Nami and Zoro and then floated higher into the air to watch the coming battle.

“This shouldn’t take long,” Zoro had already tied his black bandana around his head. With practiced ease he drew all three of his swords.

“Just don’t get too close to me in case I lose control, Zoro.” Nami warned her crewmate as she focused on her Devil Fruit power.

“I got it.” Zoro snorted as all of the Pirates finally seemed to collect themselves.

“Who the hell are you?!” One of them yelled at the new pair.

“Idiots, obviously!” Another laughed as the crew drew weapons. “But they brought us a pretty girl to play with.” This was followed by several wicked chuckles as the Black Cat Pirates eyed up Nami’s voluptuous figure.

“I might enjoy this more than I thought.” Nami scowled as her eyes began to glow bright yellow and her hair emitted fire. The pirates quickly stopped laughing and stared in shock. “Burn.” Nami waved her right hand and a wave of fire leapt from the limb. The flames engulfed a section of the deck and every pirate caught by the attack screamed as they were burned.

“What the fuck is she?!” One man screamed only to see a flash of steel before his chest was sliced and he went down in a spray of blood.

Zoro was ever moving, his three blades slicing into every pirate in range. A few tried to attack only to find themselves ridiculously outclassed. Bodies flew across the deck as Zoro cut his way through the numbers. One pirate tried to defend with a large stone hammer. Wado Ichimonji sliced through the stone with ease and the two nameless swords in Zoro’s hands left deep lacerations along the man’s torso. The pirate went down screaming before the shock knocked him out.

“Focus…” Nami concentrated and conjured two fireballs in her hands. Each of the blazing spheres was about the size of a volleyball and she hurled them at the terrified pirates. The men screamed as they were set ablaze and many of them leapt off the ship into the sea.

“Sham! Buchi! Help us!” One of the pirates yelled out before Zoro cut him down.

“The ship is under attack, Sham!” A voice came from within the ship.

“As the ship guards we’ll have to kill the attackers, Buchi!” A second voice replied.

Two men leapt out and landed facing Nami and Zoro. The duo was revealed to be a pair of men in more cat-themed outfits, one very large and round, while the other appeared more average in size. Both brandished claws at the two attackers. The green-haired man blitzed towards Zoro with claws raised, while the large man leapt at Nami to crush her.

“Tora Gari!” Zoro slipped past the pirate’s attack and three splashes of blood colored the deck as the man fell to the wood screaming. Zoro kicked him in the head to knock him out and stop the noise. “That’s Sham taken out.” He recalled the man’s face from the wanted posters that Luffy had. If he was brought in with the large one, then together they were worth 7,000,000 Beri, alive that is.

“Cat-tastrophe!” Buchi exclaimed as he prepared to land on Nami. The agile thief easily dodged the attack and noticed the wood on the deck crack from the force. “Come here, girly!” Buchi tried to rush her with his claws, uncaring of her odd appearance. At least he was, until he was engulfed in a torrent of fire! “AAARRRGGGHHH!!!” The pirate howled in agony as he rolled along the deck trying to put out the flames that clung to his clothing.

“Damn he’s loud!” Nami complained as Buchi struggled to his feet and shucked off the remains of his burning clothing. The rotund body of the prate was steaming slightly, his skin red and blistered. He turned with fear in his eyes to face Nami.

“I…I surrender…” He gingerly kneeled down and lay prone on the deck.

“Good, don’t move or I’ll set you on fire again.” Nami threatened and only got whimpers in return.

“Uh Nami…you wanna stop the ship from burning?” Zoro pointed out that the area around Nami was on fire.

“My money!” Nami cried out as she focused on the flames. If she could produce them, then why couldn’t she snuff them out? She tried to calm her heartrate, ease her breathing from the battle, when she started to calm down she noticed that the flames seemed to burn less intensely. She could almost feel them. It was a brand new experience and she reached out to them through her power. The flames that had burned a portion of the deck black began to die down. Luffy grinned from where he was watching as Nami got some more control over her Devil Fruit. “Haaah~” Nami exhaled slowly and the flames disappeared entirely.

“Barely a warm-up.” Zoro grimaced at the beaten and burned Black Cat Pirates.

“That was great, you two!” Luffy landed on the deck of the ship with a thump.

“Thank you, Luffy.” Nami gave him a brilliant smile which he returned with his own. “Now, let’s see what kinds of treasure they have onboard.” She rubbed her hands together gleefully as she went below deck with Luffy following after her. Almost a dozen copies of the straw-hatted young man were helping Zoro move the still living pirates down into the brig.

Nami would become disappointed to find out that the Black Cats were basically broke. The crew barely had 100,000 Beri on the ship and nothing of value to take to compensate. With the living pirates all in the brig, a rather tight fit with their remaining numbers, the three adventurers had to decide how they were going to handle this second Pirate Crew capture.

“Kuro faked his death three years ago, that’s going to complicate things.” Zoro mentioned as he vaguely recalled when one of the big names in the East Blue had been captured by the Marines. “The Marines don’t like to have their mistakes made public.”

“Maybe they’ll give us a little extra money to keep it quiet?” Nami had sparkles in her eyes at the thought.

“We need to figure out how to tell Kaya her butler was a pirate that was planning to kill her.” Luffy looked stumped by the delicate situation. It wasn’t likely that the young Lady would just take their word for it.

“Maybe we can ask one of the Marines to explain the situation?” Nami offered an idea. “The villagers would believe a Marine if they told them the truth, especially an Officer.”

“We can ask, but I don’t know how that’ll go.” Zoro shrugged since he’d never been put in a situation like this before. It had always just been defeat the Bounty and then turn them into the Marines since he’d started Bounty Hunting.

“I’m sure we’ll figure something out,” Luffy quickly went back to his carefree attitude. “First we need to go collect Kuro and Jango and then take them all in.”

“You’re the one that can fly…” Nami looked at him flatly.

“Oh yeah,” Luffy pounded his right fist into his left palm. “Be right back!” He laughed as another Somersault Cloud formed beneath his feet and he took off back towards the island where Syrup Village was.

“Bounty Hunting was never this complicated before I met Luffy.” Zoro sighed as he removed his black bandana and tied it around his upper arm.

“I can’t say anything bad,” Nami smiled fondly in the direction that Luffy had flown.

“Lovebirds,” Zoro shook his head and headed for the Galley. With any luck they’d at least have some food and drinks.

“Shut up, Zoro…” Nami shot back, but there was no heat in her words. What the swordsman had said was true after all.

-End Chapter-

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They turn in one Pirate Crew, only to catch another! The trio of adventurers is going to keep the Marines so damn busy!

Nami is gaining more control over her Devil Fruit! Zoro is still an absolute Beast!

Man…you have to wonder if Arlong has started hearing Boss Music yet!

With Kuro defeated and the Black Cats rounded up, the crew won’t be spending too much more time in Syrup Village.

How will the process of buying a ship go now? Will the Going Merry still become the ship of the crew?

Keep reading to find out!

Until next time, later!