Noblesse Privilege 20 (Patreon)

Noblesse Privilege
Chapter 20

-VB-

So while our dear Celestial Dragon has been punting Warlords and getting married, what has the true protagonists of this world done?

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Luffy

Zzz

Zzz

Zzz…

Zzz…

Zzz…

Clunk c-clunk

“Hey, what’s inside the barrel?”

“I don’t know, man, but it was heavy, so it must have a lot of stuff inside it, right?”

“Heavy enough to be gold?”

“No, but it could be food.”

“Dude, if we just hooked up breadtacks, I’m going to be pissed.”

“What if it’s rum?”

“... I like the sound of that.”

“Hey, Koby! You saw nothing, alright?”

“A-A-Ah, o-of course. Ahahaha! I just … passed by and saw three hard working sailors for our Iron Mace Lady!”

“Good. Okay, open it up already!”

“Come on, man. Let’s just op-”

Luffy, who’d waken up thanks to their rough handling of his barrel, decided that maybe right now was the best time to strike out.”

He grinned, fixed his straw hat, and punched out!

“I got out of the whirlpool and had a nap!”

And stared at the guys who thought his barrel was a rum barrel. Idiots, this was his whirlpool escape barrel!

Oh, and he just destroyed his escape barrel. Whatever.

He then looked around and saw four people, who were looking and gawking.

“What? Something on my face?” he asked as he brushed himself off.

“Y-Y-You-?! Why were you in a barrel?!”

“Hey, what if Alvida finds out?!”

“Oh G-!”

WhheeeeEEEEEE-!

Luffy ducked.

Whatever that had been flying towards them crashed into the warehouse they were in, and sent the other four flying and crashing!

The wooden shack and the rum barrels crashed and cracked, and when Luffy finally got back up, he saw nothing but ruin.

And a lot of spilled rum.

“Man, that’s so wasteful,” he muttered and scratched the back of his head.

“What is going on here?! Who’s taking a nap on their work shift?!”

Luffy turned around… and found himself looking at a massive woman with a mace that was only big as her arm but was big enough to outmass most men.

“...Damn, girl. You’re ugly.”

“...What?”

As the pirates around him gawked, Luffy shrugged. “I mean… You don’t even dress well. Your skin looks clammy, pores are all wide open, you have heavy make-up, and on top of that, you’re fat. Well, at least you look tough.”

All of the pirates around them gawked in fear. Luffy didn’t see why. Sure, she had some strength in her to be able to wield that lump of steel, but it wasn’t like she was that much stronger than them, right?

“H-How dare you?! Do you have a death wish?!”

Luffy stared at her for a moment before he opened his mouth.

And yawned.

“Sorry. Sorry. Just woke up from my nap.”

The ugly pirate captain gritted her teeth, lifted her spiked mace, and roared!

“DIE!”

Luffy… took the hit. And then shrugged it off with a grin.

“That didn’t hurt, because I’m a rubber man.” And then he reeled his fist back. “But this will!”

And slammed his fist into Alvida’s face and sent her sprawling onto her back, unconscious.

“So!” Luffy grinned as he looked around. “I need a dinghy and a crewmate to help me with it. Who’s the volunteer?”

The pirates all pushed a pink-haired boy forward.

“... Great! What’s your name?”

“I’m K-K-K-Koby.”

“Sweet. What do you want to be? I want to be the King of the Pirates.”

-VB-

Roronoa Zoro

The noise in the yard grated against everyone but him.

They used to call him the “Fiercest Bounty Hunter” in the East Blue, but his coworkers preferred to call him “Sleeping Rock” because of how undisturbed his periods of sleep usually were.

But that’s only when he was sleeping.

He clapped his boots together and stood at attention in front of one of the few men he respected in all of East Blue.

“You wanted to see me, boss?” he asked.

The man in question paused and hummed from behind the piles of paperwork he had to do.

“I have a request here from my boss’s boss.”

Boss’s boss?

…

Zoro felt his eyes widen comically because everyone knew who really owned everything in the East Blue Trading Enterprise.

“... What kind of request?” he asked quietly.

“He heard about you, apparently,” his boss hummed as he put another piece of paper on the “out” stack. “Makes sense. You are the best swordsman we have, and most of the bounties we collect are collected by you. You are, as I have put it repeatedly, overqualified for this sea. If I was looking to boost our numbers, then you would have never heard of this message and inquiry.”

“But you aren’t like that.”

“That’s a shitty move to pull, Zoro. Besides, you deserve the recognition. I think it’s time for you to join our parent company, the Grand Line Trading Company,” he said as he put down the paperwork and slid over a single badge. “Good luck.”