Journey to Raftel Chapter 14 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Journey to Raftel! Welp, it’s about to go down! The Straw Hats are going to clash with the Treasure Pirates! I think we all know how well a certain Marine Captain is going to take this situation, right? But perhaps things will work out well enough in the end?

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So, without further delay, please enjoy.

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Chapter 14 – The Loguetown Incident

“What the hell is going on?!” Nami growled out at the sudden attack on Loguetown and the panic it was causing the citizens.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

Another round of blasts rocked the city and Nami looked towards where the smoke was rising from. “The port! The Going Merry is docked near there!” The orangette bolted in the direction of the ship. Sure, Luffy’s copies were there to defend it, but she’d still feel better seeing their ship safe and sound for herself.

-Zoro-

“What’s going on?” Zoro looked towards the port and the smoke rising from it.

“Pirates!” The yelled warning was heard from down the street.

The residents of Loguetown quickly rushed about, either heading home or towards some other location that could provide safety. The scramble made it hard to walk for Zoro, who was trying to head towards the smoke.

“Looks like I’ll be able to test my new swords out sooner than I thought.” Zoro grinned, his hand resting on the hilt of Yubashiri before he began pushing his way through the crowd.

-Sanji and Reiju-

“Are these guys serious?” Sanji wondered, letting some smoke escape his mouth.

“They’re making a nuisance of themselves is what they’re doing.” Reiju replied, her purple eyes looking at the horde of pirates rushing onto the docks that made up the harbor of Loguetown. The cover fire being provided by the steel and gem-coated pirate ship was letting the smaller vessels filled with the crew make landfall with little opposition from the defending Marines.

“Move if you don’t want to die!” One of the pirates roared as a small group headed towards the siblings.

“Die?” Sanji’s foot slamming into the pirate’s head was the last thing the small group expected. “Who’s going to die?” The dull thump of the pirate that had spoken hitting the stone wall next to the stairs leading into the town proper got a wince out of the other pirates.

“You’re in the way, and we have supplies and groceries to take back to our ship, please move.” Reiju smiled at the remaining men. The smile seemed pleasant enough, but all of the pirates shivered instinctively as the cold threat behind it came across in Reiju’s eyes.

“Wh-Who do you think you are?!” Another pirate roared, pointing his cutlass at the two.

“Don’t worry about that.” Reiju was suddenly in the man’s guard, her bags of supplies safely on the ground next to Sanji.

“Wha?!” The pirate didn’t even get to finish the word as Reiju’s palm heel slammed into his chin from below, lifting him off his feet from the force. He crashed to the ground unconscious with a faint purple color on his skin where Reiju had struck him.

“Next?” Sanji glared at the pirates, still holding the massive Elephant True Blue Fin on his shoulder.

“They’re just two people! Charge!” Another pirate yelled out, rousing his crewmates as they all let out war cries and charged the siblings.

“I need to get my fish into the refrigerator soon.” Sanji spit out his cigarette. “So, I don’t have a lot of time to waste on you all.”

“Take this! GAKH!!!” The pirate that had leapt at Sanji with his sword raised over his head nearly vomited as the cook’s dress shoe slammed into his gut. He dropped his sword as he went flying backwards, crashing into more of his crewmates like a bowling ball.

-Carina-

“Shit, shit, shit, shit!” Carina ran down the street, her bags in hand, trying to blend into the crowd of rushing people.

Behind the crowd that she was attempting to hide among, almost a dozen pirates were chasing them like wolves. Each of the pirates was wielding a sword and some were even firing pistols at the fleeing crowd, blindly trying to hit her.

“Get her!”

“Come here you damn thief!”

“The Captain wants to have a word with you!”

These yells and demands were all followed by mocking laughter as the pirates continued to chase the fleeing crowd. If there was one thing that the Treasure Pirates all shared besides greed, it was a love for the thrill of the hunt.

-Smoker-

“Damn pirates.” Smoker growled as he saw the damage being done to Loguetown.

“Sir! We’ve confirmed reports that the Treasure Pirates are the attackers!” A Marine saluted Smoker as others were already rushing to their assigned posts. “The pirates have already made it into the town and fires are breaking out all over the place!”

“Fires?” Smoker’s eyes demanded an explanation.

“The pirates are throwing firebombs randomly as they charge through the streets, sir!” The Marine clarified quickly.

“Squads One and Two are to set up a perimeter immediately at the North Main Street, no pirates cross it alive, understood?” Smoker started relaying orders to contain the pirates. “Squads Three and Four are to put out those fires! If the wind picks up much more it’s going to scatter the embers over the entire town and then everything will be on fire. Squads Five and Six are to focus on civilian evacuation above all else! Bring Squads Nine and Ten to the port to reinforce Squads Seven and Eight!”

“Yes, sir!” The Marine saluted and quickly ran off to relay the Captain’s orders.

“Captain Smoker!” Tashigi ran towards her superior officer quickly.

“About time that you showed up, Tashigi!” Smoker shouted at the Petty Officer. “You’re leading Squads Nine and Ten to the port to reinforce Squads Seven and Eight! Hurry it up!”

“What’re you going to be doing, sir?” Tashigi asked, even as she snapped off a quick salute to confirm her orders.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

Another salvo of cannon fire shook the town.

“I’m going to stop that ship.” Smoker’s legs turned into white smoke before the man blasted into the air, clearing the buildings and heading towards the Shark Emeralda.

-Luffy-

“Hmm, this is weird.” Luffy hummed to himself. All around him where the beaten and broken bodies of a dozen pirates. “They’re just running around causing damage. They’re not looting anything either. So, what’s the point of this attack?” He scratched his head in confusion. “You guys are nothing like Shanks’s crew.”

With a shrug, Luffy leapt up to the top of the nearest building to see the situation from a higher vantage point. Smoke was rising from multiple areas in the town, and the sounds of fighting could be heard emanating from the port as well as a few spots around Loguetown.

“They sure caused a lot of trouble already.” Luffy noticed just how far into the town the pirates had already pushed.

A streak of white smoke was heading towards the large pirate ship that was firing upon Loguetown. Luffy wondered what it was, his guesses bouncing between some type of weapon that the Marines had launched at the vessel or perhaps it was a Devil Fruit of some kind.

-Zoro-

“Hah…” Zoro cut down the last pirate in the group that he’d found chasing some of the residents of Loguetown. “These guys weren’t even a warm up.” The downed pirates were all down to just one of his swords. “Though I did find out how light you are.” Zoro smirked at Yubashiri. Just as Ippon Matsu had said, it was an excellent blade, light and sharp, emphasizing speed and finesse in its cuts.

Woosh

Zoro barely had time to react to the arrow that he only faintly heard. Yubashiri flashed upwards, splitting the strange arrowhead in two, and letting the now split arrow fly past him.

BOOM

Only for the strange arrowhead to prove itself explosive and send Zoro staggering a few steps.

“The hell?!” Zoro grimaced as the black smoke cleared a bit. “Explosive arrows?”

Far down the long street that Zoro was standing on, he could make out the silhouette of a person and what looked to be a bow. The distance was impressive for the archer to be so accurate, especially with the heavy-tips of their explosive arrows.

Woosh

“Like hell!” Zoro cut the arrow out of the air. The heavier arrowhead falling several meters behind him.

BOOM

The explosion might as well have been a starting gun as Zoro drew Sandai Kitetsu and Wado Ichimonji. He placed Wado between his teeth and Kitetsu in his free hand. Zoro bolted down the street towards the archer, looking to take them down quickly and hopefully get to test out Kitetsu a bit.

Woosh

Woosh

“Taka Nami!” Yubashiri and Kitetsu flashed out in streaks of silver. A combined flying cut sliced both of the incoming arrows in two before fading away almost a dozen meters further down the street.

BOOM

BOOM

The explosions went off, but Zoro had already cleared their blast radius by that time. Now that he was getting closer, he could tell that the archer was a woman. Unlike Sanji, however, Zoro didn’t have any code about not striking a woman. In a battle of life and death, gender meant less than nothing to the swordsman.

“Stubborn bastard.” Naomi nocked three arrows this time and released them towards the charging swordsman.

“Taka Nami!” Zoro unleashed his new technique again. The flying cuts split the arrows and set them off right after Zoro rushed past them.

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

“Shit!” Naomi abandoned her position quickly, running off down the connecting side street before Zoro could close the distance.

“Get back here!” Zoro yelled after the fleeing woman.

“Screw that!” Naomi stopped at the next corner, drew an arrow from her quiver as she spun, nocked the arrow and then let it fly, all before rushing around the corner without waiting to see the results of her attack.

“Damn it!” Zoro ducked under the hastily fired arrow, hearing it explode somewhere far behind him. He rounded the corner and had to bend backwards at the waist to avoid an explosive arrowhead to the face.

BOOM

The arrowhead exploded against a nearby wall and nearly knocked Zoro off his feet.

“Where?” Zoro looked down the street and didn’t see the archer woman at all. “There’s no way she’s that much faster than me.”

A whistling sound caught Zoro’s attention. Looking up, the swordsman narrowed his eyes as three arrows were coming down on him from above. Another Taka Nami split all three in midair, detonating them far from Zoro’s position. Looking into the air, Zoro saw three more arrows shot into the air from a nearby alleyway.

“There you are!” Zoro didn’t even worry about the arrows above. They’d hit his previous position, but that didn’t matter. “Tora Gari!” Zoro slashed all three swords through the corner of the building he was rushing towards. The wooden beam might as well have been paper against Kitetsu, the cursed blade passing through it easily.

“AAAUUUHHH!!!” Naomi cried out in pain. Zoro finally got a good look at the woman as Kitetsu sliced into her right shoulder, cutting the strap that held her quiver to her back. Blood flew through the air, and Naomi could only watch as her bow split into three pieces as Yubashiri and Wado passed through the weapon cleanly.

“Now you!” Zoro brought down all three swords on the fallen archer.

“AAAAHHHH!!!” Naomi screamed and felt the blades touch her skin before she lost consciousness.

“Finally.” Zoro sighed out, taking Wado from between his teeth and sheathing his swords. “Passed out in fear, huh?” He shook his head at the terrified look on the unconscious pirate’s face. With her shoulder injured, her bow destroyed, and her quiver out of reach, she wasn’t much of a threat now. “I wonder if this woman has a bounty?”

-Docks-

“Guh!” Another pirate rag dolled across the harbor from one of Sanji’s kicks.

“Uuugggh…” Two more dropped to the ground with groans, their bodies going limp. Reiju stood over both of them, purple bruises from her strikes transmitting a neurotoxic poison with a similar effect to a tranquilizer.

“How many of these idiots are there?” Sanji tsked at seeing the crowd of pirates further down the harbor. The Marines were fighting back against he pirates and seemed to be slowly gaining the upper hand now as reinforcements had arrived.

His answer was a cut across his back that made him stagger forward a step while instinctively lashing out with a mule kick strong enough to shatter boulders.

“Daauugh!” A man in a pink winter coat bounced off the ground, his sword flying out of his hands at the same time. “Ack…fuck…” The pirate that had been invisible hacked out a mixture of spit and blood. “Kicks like a mule.”

“Sanji.” Reiju was at her brother’s side in an instant to look over his injury.

“It’s not that bad.” Sanji glared death at the pirate that had cut him with a sneak attack from behind.

“Hold still.” Reiju’s grip on his shoulder became painful from the pressure and Sanji grudgingly stopped moving. “It’s not deep…thankfully.” She inspected the cut carefully. “The edge was sharp, but his angle was off, this probably won’t even need stitches.”

“Good, then I can go kick his head in.” Sanji stalked towards the pirate that had just gotten to his feet.

“You? Beat me?” Psycho P grinned at Sanji mockingly. “Not if you can’t see!” He pulled two spray paint cans from the pockets of his large coat. Sanji narrowed his eyes at the items, wondering what the pirate planned to do with them. “Behold the art of Psycho P!” He turned the spray paint on himself and before Sanji and Reiju’s eyes, vanished completely.

“You little!” Sanji ground his teeth as he leapt forward and sent a roundhouse kick through the air where Psycho P had just been standing. The kick struck nothing but air though. “Of all the Devil Fruits you could have, it had to be one of the only two I’d ever want!”

“You like my Iro Iro no Mi?” Psycho P chuckled as he moved towards his sword on the ground. “Makes it easy to fight when my opponents can’t see!” He grabbed his sword and lunged towards Sanji.

Crack

The blade of the sword snapped as Sanji’s dress shoe hit it from the side.

“Huh?” Psycho P gaped at seeing his sword destroyed.

“The sword isn’t invisible.” Reiju spoke as her palm slammed into Psycho P’s hooded head from the side, sending him bouncing across the ground twice. “You lost your element of surprise when you picked up your sword.”

‘Shit…my head…’ Psycho P stopped himself from making any further noise as he quietly moved away from where he’d fallen. He was lucky that he did, as Sanji’s hell shattered the stone where he’d been laid out for a second.

“Damn it.” Sanji cursed, the sting of his injury annoying him almost as much as missing the invisible bastard.

‘Back up weapon it is.’ Psycho P pulled a knife out of his jacket pocket. He preferred fights against tenacious people, he respected that in opponents, but he didn’t have a choice but to be underhanded as hell right now. ‘Pirate life.’ The invisible man shrugged with a grin, quietly and slowing moving to a position that would let him get the drop on Sanji.

“Reiju! Sanji!” Nami called out to her nakama, coming down the stairs of the harbor.

“Watch out, Nami!” Sanji warned the navigator loudly. “The enemy is invisible! He has a Devil Fruit!”

“We don’t know where he is at the moment!” Reiju informed as she was back-to-back with Sanji to minimize their blind spots.

“Is he around you?” Nami looked around for any sign of the invisible opponent.

“He’s a sneaky bastard, so he’s probably waiting for an opening when our backs are turned.” Sanji spat out, hoping to piss off the pirate and make him reveal himself.

“That’s more than enough.” Nami’s eyes glowed yellow and flames appeared within her hair. “Flare Ring.” Flames burst into existence around Sanji and Reiju’s position. The attack was a roaring conflagration that reached high and wide to strike at the unseen enemy.

“Hot!” Psycho P yelled out as he scrambled out of the fire, tossing off his burning coat even as the very air stung his throat from the heat.

“Mouton Shot!” Sanji’s foot crashed into Psycho P from behind, straight into the back, just as the pirate’s first attack had landed on Sanji.

The leaping kick packed so much force behind it that a cracking sound was heard before Psycho P went flying face first into the stone wall that separated the harbor area from the town proper. The wall cracked under the impact, a spiderweb of thin cracks leading to the center where the broken body of the pirate was imprinted.

“How do you like your own tactic turned against you?” Sanji questioned the unconscious pirate as he pulled out a cigarette and his lighter.

“You better not have made your injury worse.” Reiju’s voice was concerned, but with a cold warning in it for her younger brother. This wasn’t the first time he’d continued to fight after getting injured. Reiju had to patch up wounds that had gotten worse many times already, and she wasn’t keen on doing it again.

“I’m fine.” Sanji took a drag from his cigarette and exhaled the smoke a second later.

“Let’s get back to the Going Merry before you say that.” Nami looked between Sanji and Reiju, hoping that Sanji really was fine and not just putting up a brave front.

“We should probably tie that guy up first.” Sanji mentioned as he picked up the Elephant True Blue Fin, happy that it was wrapped up and hadn’t gotten dirty while they were fighting. “He might actually have a bounty on his head.”

“I’ll take care of it, while Reiju takes care of you.” Nami volunteered, unseen by Reiju and Sanji were the Beri Symbols that had replaced Nami’s eyes as she grabbed a coil of rope from a nearby crate and approached the unconscious Psycho P.

-Shark Emeralda-

“Hey!”

“What’s this smoke?!”

“I can’t move!”

“Damn it!”

The Treasure Pirates that were still on the ship were yelling and cursing as thick white smoke covered the deck and spilled into the lower decks. Every pirate it touched was engulfed and restrained. Much to the confusion of the pirates, they couldn’t grab the smoke, but it firmly held them in place.

“You pirates picked the wrong town to attack.” Smoker declared as he subdued the entire ship with his Devil Fruit.

“Screw you!” A pirate on the upper deck yelled, pointing a rifle at Smoker and firing round after round at him.

Holes opened up in Smoker’s body and one went right through his head. Not a single drop of blood hit the deck though. All of the ‘wounds’ let out wispy clouds of smoke instead. The pirate stared in growing fear as the holes all closed up seamlessly and Smoker just stared at him.

“Never fought a Logia, have you?” Smoker asked rhetorically as his fist formed out of the white smoke close to the pirate and drilled him right in the temple. “You’re going away for a long time, pirate.” The white smoke snagged the falling man and dragged him towards the rest of the captured and struggling pirates.

There would be no more cannon fire hitting Loguetown today as the Shark Emeralda was captured by the Marines.

-Carina-

“Fuck…” The thief cursed as she was looking up at a sheer wall easily ten meters high. She had managed to shake off her first group of pursuers, or so she thought, but that had turned out to be a lie. The pirates had simply left her alone so that their Captain could hunt her down once he arrived.

Speaking of which…

“Jararara…” Mad Treasure laughed as he walked down the alleyway that led into this courtyard between a bunch of tall buildings all connected together. “Looks like the hunt is over, little thief.”

“I haven’t stolen anything from you in years! How long are you going to hold a grudge?” Carina put her back to the high wall, hoping to find some way out of this mess.

“Grudge?” Mad Treasure shook his head with a wide smile. “Nah, you’ve got it all wrong. Jararara…you’ve just been the longest hunt, so far!” Chains emerged from the muscular man’s body and wrapped around his chest, fists, and forearms. “I’ll almost be sad that the hunt is over.” A single chain emerged from Mad Treasure’s right hand. He reared back his arm and lashed it at Carina.

“Gah!” Carina leapt to the side and the chain cracked the wall easily. She noticed the damage and a quick plan formed in her mind. It was risky as all hell, but if she could dodge a few more attacks like that, then Mad Treasure would probably put a hole through the wall which she could use to escape.

“Still quick on your feet, eh thief?” Mad Treasure grinned maliciously as he brought the chain around again.

Or he tried to.

“Huh?!” Mad Treasure turned to look at what had stopped his chain and spotted a young man wearing a straw hat holding the end of the chain in one hand.

“Could you not do that to my friend?” Luffy asked the pirate with a slat stare.

“Luffy?!” Carina exclaimed, relief flooding her tone at seeing him come to her aid.

“Who the hell are you?” Mad Treasure demanded as he turned to face Luffy. He hid the surprise that he couldn’t pull his chain back from the other man’s grip well.

“Luffy, an adventurer.” Luffy answered simply.

“Adventurer?” Mad Treasure cocked an eyebrow at the term.

“Yep.” Luffy grinned as he bent his knees. “Let’s take this somewhere else.” The ground shattered under his feet as he leapt away.

“AAAAHHHH!!!” Mad Treasure could only yell in shock and suddenly being dragged through the air far above the buildings below.

“Come on, Carina!” Another Luffy smiled as he dropped down from the high wall and landed next to her. He held out a hand to her and Carina took it without a thought.

“Was that a copy of yours?” Carina vaguely motioned in the direction that Mad Treasure had been dragged away.

“Nope. That was the real me. I’m the copy.” The Luffy in front of her smiled with a chuckle. “I’m here to keep you out of harm’s way.”

“Really?” Carina felt a smile pulling at her lips. “Ushishi…my hero~” She pretended to swoon. “Can we go pick up my stuff? I had to drop it while I was running away.”

“Shishishishi, sure!” The copy laughed and a golden cloud formed under his feet. “Hop on!”

“Is that a cloud.” Carina blinked in confusion.

“Yep.” The Luffy copy nodded to her.

“And you can stand on it?” Carina looked between the golden cloud and the copy.

“Uh huh.” The Luffy in front of her nodded again.

“How does that help us retrieve my stuff?” Carina cocked her head to the side.

“Like this.” The cloud lifted the copy higher into the air and slowly flew side to side in front of Carina.

“It can fly! You can fly?!” Carina nearly gaped at what she was seeing.

“Yeah, see?” The Luffy copy pointed at the Somersault Cloud like she had somehow missed it.

“Do you promise I won’t fall off?” Carina eyed the golden cloud warily as it lowered back to the ground.

“I won’t let you fall.” The copy smiled at Carina.

“Alright then…” Carina leaned forward, her new outfit left all of her cleavage bare and if she undid another button or two, her tits would easily free themselves from the shirt. She grinned when she saw Luffy’s eyes follow the bouncing of her girls. “Make sure you hold me tight…Ushishi.”

“Sure thing.” The Luffy copy agreed as Carina stepped onto the Somersault Cloud.

Carina snickered quietly to herself as Luffy’s hands gently took hold of her waist from behind to keep her steady as the golden cloud rose into the air. She could already picture Nami’s face if she saw them like this! ‘Maybe one more prank before we part ways?’ The thief suppressed a giggle while pointing the Luffy copy in the direction of where she’d abandoned her bags in her haste to escape.

-Polestar Island ~ Northwestern Beach-

“This looks good enough.” Luffy nodded as a sandy beach came into view below. “Hup!” He swung Mad Treasure by the chain he still had in his hand and drove the pirate straight into the ground with a crash. Luffy landed easily with a grin.

“Ugh…you little…shit.” Mad Treasure pulled himself out of the sand and shook out his dreadlocks. “Why are you interfering in my hunt?”

“Carina is a friend of mine.” Luffy stated simply. That was all the reason that he needed to act.

“You’re gong to die for that friend of yours.” Mad Treasure promised with a wicked smirk.

“Nah.” Luffy denied, pulling what looked like a chopstick out of his pocket before it suddenly grew into a staff. “But you have an 18,000,000 Beri bounty on your head, right?”

“So, that adventurer crap was a lie, you’re just a bounty hunter!” Mad Treasure pointed at him with a scoff.

“No, I’m an adventurer, the bounty hunting just pays for things, like funding treasure hunts and stuff!” Luffy grinned widely. “I can’t wait to get into the Grand Line and find some treasure! I’m going to be the Freest Man Alive!”

“Treasure, huh?” Mad Treasure chuckled while taking a threatening step forward. “That makes you a competitor of mine. Which is just another reason for me to kill you.” He couldn’t care less about the delusion of being the Freest Man Alive.

“You can try.” Luffy grinned at the pirate.

“Take this!” Mad Treasure produced a second chain from his left hand and swung both at Luffy from each side.

“Whoa, that was close.” Luffy hopped over the chains easily. The instant his feet touched the sand again, he launched forward and struck out with his staff.

Mad Treasure blocked with the chains wrapped around his forearm. He sent a punch with his opposite hand at Luffy, but the straw-hatted man wasn’t there anymore. A fist to the stomach sent Mad Treasure skidding backwards through the sand with a hacking cough Luffy stood back up to his full height and swung his staff around. The Ryu Jingu Bang lengthened under Luffy’s power and slammed into the staggered pirate, knocking Mad Treasure off his feet and across the sand.

“Chain Lock!” Mad Treasure attacked, his chains moving through the sand and bursting out around Luffy to wrap around him tightly. “Jararara…” The pirate laughed as he approached Luffy confidently. “Not so tough now, are you?” He raised his fist, wrapping it in more chains. “Chain Hammer!” His punch swung through air as Luffy disappeared in a cloud of smoke. “What?! Where are you?!”

“Behind you!” Luffy returned to his normal form with a laugh and kicked Mad Treasure in the back, sending him sprawling. Transformation was such a fun power! Luffy had just turned into a mouse, run between Mad Treasure’s feet and then returned to normal behind him. It had gotten his grandpa on a few occasions when he was a kid too!

“Mad Chain!” Mad Treasure flipped over on the sand and launched a mass of chains at Luffy. The ends of the chains morphing into heavy weights to bludgeon him to death.

Luffy proved to be very adept with his staff as he deflected each and every chain easily. Mad Treasure showed his own prowess with his Devil Fruit though as all of the deflected chains continued moving, circling behind Luffy to strike at him again. The ends of the chains shifted from the heavy weights and into sharp spear-like tips, each trying to impale Luffy.

“That’s a neat trick!” Luffy smacked each of the chains into the sand with enough force to bury them. Ryu Jingu Bang not showing even a scratch from the metal blades.

“Chain Hammer!” Mad Treasure reeled himself in with the previous chains, bringing his massive chain fist barreling towards Luffy like a cannonball.

“Hup, woah, almost…” Luffy weaved around the heavy chain-wrapped fist over and over again, his footwork and martial prowess leagues better than Mad Treasure’s.

“Chain Burst!” Mad Treasure roared, the chains on his fist turning a darker color before launching every link at Luffy like a shotgun.

Luffy wasn’t in the line of fire to take the attack though.

The chain links peppered the beach like rounds from a high caliber gatling gun, throwing up clouds of sand.

“Hey…you changed them!” Luffy pointed out the different material the chains had transformed into.

“Lead.” Mad Treasure whipped a chain at Luffy, cleaving into the sand as the Sun Wukong Fruit user dodged the blow. “I can turn these chains into any metal I need them to be!” He proved that by producing more chains that shone with a brighter luster. “Stainless Steel!”

“That’s cool.” Luffy still smacked away every chain that came at him with his staff, or just avoided them. “Can you make gold or silver? Nami would like it if I brought some chains made of valuable metals back.”

“Shut your mouth!” Mad Treasure was steadily losing his composure through the fight. More and more chains were produced and Luffy was slowly becoming hard-pressed to deal with them all.

“Well, if one won’t work…” Luffy grinned and leapt almost the entire length of the beach away from the swarming chains. He grabbed a few hairs and blew on them. In bursts of smoke, the hairs all transformed into copies of Luffy, each with their own copy of Ryu Jingu Bang.

“What the hell?!” Mad Treasure demanded as the group of Luffys all leapt back into the fray. The overwhelming number of chains was no longer and issue as the copies smacked them away and into each other to tangle them all together.

“Hup!” One copy lengthened his staff and caught Mad Treasure by surprise, knocking the pirate into the air.

“Toh!” A second staff lengthened and slammed into Mad Treasure from behind.

“Hah!” The third copy swung his staff like a bat and sent Mad Treasure back the way he’d come.

“RAAAAHHHH!!!” Mad Treasure roared as he latched onto the next staff to strike him, using his chains to wrap up the greatly lengthened staff. With a colossal strain, the pirate tore the staff out of the copy’s hand and swung it around at all the others on an ever-lengthening chain.

“Hey! That’s mine!” Luffy laughed and the copy along with the staff that was being swung around vanished in a burst of smoke.

“Mad Chain Lock!” Mad Treasure launched chains in every direction. There had to be hundreds of them and each one ended in a manacle. Each of the copied was eventually snagged on an arm or leg or even around the waist. “DROWN!!!” Mad Treasure used his control over the chains to tighten the manacles to the point of cutting into the skin. With a heave he swung all of the copies and the original Luffy into the nearby ocean.

Only for the copies to disappear in clouds of smoke and the original Luffy to land on a golden cloud well above the ocean waves.

“Shishishishi! This is actually kind of fun.” Luffy laughed at having an entertaining fight for the first time in a long while.

“You think this is a game?!” Mad Treasure roared in fury at the smaller man. “Get over here!” He mentally recalled the chain attached to Luffy’s ankle, trying to drag him off the strange cloud.

“Okay.” Luffy shrugged and let himself be pulled along at speed.

“CHAIN HAMMER!!!” Mad Treasure swung his fist straight at Luffy’s face. The huge fist made of chains slammed into an invisible barrier and stopped dead. “What?!” Mad Treasure growled in confusion; the sudden stop of his punch having jarred his shoulder fiercely.

“It’s a protective circle.” Luffy grinned, pointing down at the sand and the circle drawn in it. “I made it earlier, but it only works when I’m inside of it.”

“I’ll crush you and your circle!” Mad Treasure slammed his chain-covered fist into the barrier over and over again in a rage.

“Are you done?” Luffy questioned, even as the punches continued to rain down on his barrier. “I guess so.” He was kind of bummed that the pirate didn’t have any other tricks to show him. “You can stop now.”

“Huh?” Mad Treasure’s body frozen up against his will. “What did you do?” He barely forced out the words with his mouth immobilized.

“Body Freezing Spell.” Luffy replied as he stepped out of his circle and walked behind the immobile pirate. “Normally, I’d try to bring you in alive.” He mentioned as he placed the end of the Ryu Jingu Bang against Mad Treasure’s back. “But I’m not sure the Marines here could hold you, and I’d rather not take the chance.” The staff rapidly extended and shoved Mad Treasure forwards at speed.

“NOOOOOO!!!” Mad Treasure denied even as he was pushed out over the water and fell towards the sea.

He splashed into the ocean, still immobilized, and sank like a hammer, not only because of being a Devil Fruit user, but also because of the mass of chains on his body. Mad Treasure sank at least three meters below the surface and felt the water invade his nose and his still open mouth. With panic setting in, he tried to use his Devil Fruit, but could no longer muster the strength after being completely submerged.

“Good thing I didn’t take this off yet.” Luffy looked at the manacle biting into his leg. The chain it was attached to was still attached to Mad Treasure. In a cloud of smoke, Luffy transformed into a mouse again, though, like all of his transformations, the mouse still had his monkey tail. A second burst of smoke and Luffy returned to his normal form and took hold of the now free chain. “Just have to wait.”

Luffy wasn’t the most patient person in the world, but even he could wait just over five minutes to make sure that Mad Treasure was well and truly dead.

“The Freest Man Alive, huh?” A man’s voice spoke up and Luffy’s head whipped around to see a tall man in a dark green cloak with the hood up standing a few meters away from him. From beneath the hood, Luffy could make out a rugged face with a tattoo on the left side. The tribal looking tattoo went from the man’s jaw all the way up to his forehead.

“Who’re you?” Luffy questioned the man, keeping his guard up since this man had been able to sneak up on him.

“Fine by me. If that’s your decision, then follow it.” The man chuckled at Luffy.

“What’re you talking about?” Luffy asked with a tilt of his head. “I’m kind of in the middle of something…and then we’ll be shipping out soon afterwards. So, if you have something to say to me, just say it.” This old man was kind of weird, but every instinct Luffy had was also telling him the man was powerful and not someone to antagonize.

“What reason would there be to interfere with a man’s departure?” The cloaked man grinned before starting to walk off. Luffy side-eyed the man even as he walked past him. “It may rain soon; you should depart while the weather is still good.”

“Okay.” Luffy shrugged at the advice as the man disappeared over the crest of the beach, heading further inland.

A few minutes after the strange man had left, Luffy used the long chain in his hand to reel in the pirate’s body. Mad Treasure’s lifeless, waterlogged corpse was dragged onto the beach a few moments later. Luffy looked at the body and with a shrug, tossed it over his shoulder. A Somersault Cloud formed beneath his feet and he flew towards Loguetown again to turn in the bounty.

“Hopefully Nami won’t be mad about the thirty percent loss.” Luffy hummed as he flew across the island.

-Loguetown Marine Base-

“Here’s your compensation.” Smoker motioned one of his men to bring the suitcase forward. He didn’t like dealing with bounty hunters much, but after these so-called ‘Straw Hats’ had taken down the ringleaders of the Treasure Pirates, he couldn’t refuse their request for bounty payout.

“Let’s see…” Nami grinned as she opened the suitcase and looked at the stacks of Beri bills inside. The orangette quickly started counting it out.

“It’s all there.” Tashigi spoke up, seeing Nami actually counting the reward money in front of them. “12,600,000 for the dead Mad Treasure. 10,000,000 for ‘Blast Archer’ Naomi Drunk. And 8,000,000 for ‘Vanishing Color’ Psycho P.”

“And if this all adds up to 30,600,000, then we’ll be good.” Nami nearly shushed Tashigi without even looking at her, still counting the bills.

“Be quiet, Tashigi.” Smoker held his hand up to keep Tashigi from retorting. “They’ve cooperated and given their statements about the incident. We can’t begrudge them for a lack of manners.”

“What’d you say?” Sanji looked like he was about to leap out of his seat and fight Smoker for the slight against Nami.

“Sit down.” Reiju grabbed Sanji’s shoulder and forced him back into his seat.

“Pervert Cook.” Zoro scoffed at Sanji. He was pointedly ignoring the looks that Tashigi shot his way.

“Shut up, you shitty Marimo.” Sanji shot right back.

“What was that?” Zoro growled, the two men glaring at each other.

“Shishishishi,” Luffy laughed at his nakama brightly. “Do you have any snacks?” He looked at Smoker hopefully.

“No.” Smoker replied flatly.

“Aww…” Luffy grumbled at the lack of refreshments provided.

“And that makes 30,6000,000!” Nami declared with a beaming smile as she closed the briefcase. “Pleasure doing business with you!” She stood up, both hands holding the handle of the suitcase tightly.

“Escort them out.” Smoker ordered the Marine standing by the door.

“Yes, sir!” The man saluted and guided the Straw Hats on the path out of the base.

“Captain Smoker, the forms for the arrests of the Treasure Pirates, the form for the seizing of the Shark Emeralda, and the paperwork to begin the appraisal of the pirate ship and its contents.” An Ensign laid out all of the paperwork on Smoker’s desk.

“Hah…” Smoker exhaled a cloud of smoke from his cigars. He fucking hated the paperwork. “What’s this?” He picked up a form that wasn’t standard to the capture of a pirate ship.

“A request notice for a specialist appraiser, sir.” The Ensign replied after looking at the form for a second.

“What for?” Smoker questioned.

“The incredibly large gemstones embedded into the steel hull of the Shark Emeralda will need to have their own separate appraisal, sir.” The Ensign explained the situation. “We don’t have anyone with that knowledge, so we’ll need someone to come and inspect them for their actual value before we can record the total amount that we’ve seized from the ship, sir.”

“Of course…” Smoker had no idea who Headquarters would send for such a thing, but it would probably be weeks before they got here. To be fair, they were the largest gemstones that Smoker had ever seen in his life. Each one larger than a grown man at least.

-Loguetown-

“We made so much cash!” Nami was riding high on the money they’d made from this incident. Sure, it was a bad day for Loguetown, but the situation hadn’t gotten too bad before they’d dealt with it along with the Marines, so everything evened out in her eyes.

“We should get snacks!” Luffy declared brightly.

“Sure, why not?” Nami laughed brightly as they headed for some stalls that were starting to reopen after the pirate incident had settled down.

The walk back to the Going Merry was peaceful with lighthearted chatting as they enjoyed their snacks. It was only when they walked up the gangplank did the crew get a surprise.

“CARINA?!” Nami narrowed her eyes at the other thief. “What’re you doing here?!”

“Luffy’s copy brought me after saving me from Mad Treasure.” Carina smiled innocently. “Don’t worry I haven’t taken anything.”

“Like I’d believe that!” Nami walked towards Carina with suspicious eyes.

“She hasn’t.” The copies around the ship confirmed all at once.

“See?” Carina playfully stuck out her tongue at Nami. Seeing the orangette fuming made her giggle. “Ushishi…” This prank was definitely worth it! “I even brought my own snacks!” She picked up a bag next to the lounge chair she was lying on and opened it. “Eh?” She blinked as what she saw was not what she’d put in the bag originally. “What happened to my pear?” She pulled the fruit out of the bag to reveal a gray fruit with black swirls and a stem in the shape of a chain.

“That’s a Devil Fruit!” Nami pointed at the fruit in Carina’s hand, having seen her own for comparison.

“Really?” Carina looked at the odd thing her pear had turned into.

“The stem looks like a chain…” Luffy noticed and the relevance clicked for Nami and Carina instantly.

Chomp

Carina bit into the fruit and tore a chunk off, chewing it even as her face scrunched up in disgust and revulsion at the taste. “Bleagh!” She hacked and spit after swallowing the first bite.

“CARINA!!!” Nami was by the other woman’s side near instantly. “Do you know what you just did?!”

“Yep.” Carina forced a grin at Nami. “I just pulled off the greatest theft ever! I stole Mad Treasure’s Devil Fruit! Ushishi!”

“Uh…but…huh…” Nami didn’t know how to refute that statement. It wasn’t technically wrong…though the man was dead already.

“Hey, Luffy…” Carina looked around Nami to smile at Luffy. “I have a favor to ask for, will you hear me out?”

“What kind of favor?” Luffy questioned the thief with a tilt of his head.

“Let me join your crew!” Carina beamed at him.

“WHAT?!” Nami roared at her fellow thief, flames leaping from her hair.

“Say, ‘yes’, you shitty Captain!” Sanji yelled and started shaking Luffy back and forth.

“No!” Nami yelled at Sanji, making the blonde chef look torn between obeying Nami and getting another beautiful woman on the crew.

“Oh my~” Reiju giggled behind her hand, her purple eyes filled with mirth at the unexpected request.

“I’m gonna go get a drink.” Zoro headed straight for the galley/helm/kitchen cabin to grab a bottle of booze. With any luck the argument would be over by the time he finished it.

“Sure, I don’t mind.” Luffy agreed with a smile.

“LUFFY!!!” Nami turned her burning yellow eyes on her lover.

“Thank you, Captain~” Carina purred out the last part and Nami snapped her head around to glare at the purple-haired woman. “Ushishi!” This was already too much fun!

-End Chapter-

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

BOOM!

Carina has joined the crew!

The newest user of the Jara Jara no Mi has a lot to learn about her new power, but she’ll certainly get plenty of practice!

If Nami doesn’t throttle her first, of course.

The Straw Hats take down the Mad Treasure, Psycho P, and Naomi Drunk, netting them a cool thirty million! The Marines defeat and capture the rest of the crew, and seize the Shark Emeralda. That should fetch Loguetown Marine Base some commendations and a hefty boost to their budget for a bit.

Next stop, the Grand Line!

How will the Straw Hats entrance into the ‘Pirate’s Graveyard’ happen this time around?

Keep reading to find out!

Until next time, later!