Snake Yokai Chapter 3 (Patreon)

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Chapter 2 

Chapter 3 Snake Eyes

Zoro was able to grab a shower and fill his belly. As he ate he kept getting distracted. ‘Luffy’s ability, if he could hypnotize, why didn’t he use the power on me?’ The thought kept eating at him, for reasons.

He could still see the marine’s zonked out faces as they fell under Luffy’s control, under his power. A shiver raced up his spine. ‘Shit!’

The zoan tried to focus on his food, eating plate after plate, and filled his belly. “Ahh man, I thought I was about to naw through my bootstraps!” He patted his belly.

“That’s all, lightweight!” Luffy teased, he had a more empty plates in front of him.

Zoro raised a brow at him. “How do you have more of an appetite than a man who’s been starved a month?”

Monkey shrugged, “I’m a snake yokai!” He stuffed his face, his jaw able to stretch and he swallowed meat and things whole.

Roronoa drank some booze, watching his captain stuff himself. This was the man he had hitched his wagon to. Luffy’s “little trick” had worn off so people could see him for what he was.

People were staring and were gathered around outside. News of Morgan’s defeat had lifted their spirits. They watched a monster eat, and though he was a monster in body, Morgan was more of a monster than Luffy was. Violent, cruel, egotistical, angry, and wicked.

Luffy...just looked like a mermaid, except he was part snake instead of part fish.

Zoro learned his crew was just them, a captain and his first mate. Their ship wasn’t even something grand, but Luffy believed they’d have a grander ship sooner or later. “We’ll get more crewmates to!”

“Luffy is a big dreamer!” Coby said.

Roronoa eyed the pink haired young man. “Are you part of the crew?”

Coby gripped his cup tightly. “Well...I actually wanted to become a marine...but…” Morgan wasn’t the best depiction of the proud and noble marine Coby had envisioned. Even Helmeppo was a spoiled brat, and was potentially just as twisted as his father. “I don’t know…”

When he first arrived he thought Zoro was the bad guy, but that turned out to be not the case. “Why do you want to be a marine?” Zoro asked.

“Well, I wanna help people.” He always heard of brave and noble marines battling against vicious pirates. When he was captured by Alvida and forced into servitude, it definitely darkened his look on pirates. He had lost all hope and all but given up on his dream.

Luffy had saved him, but his first view of marines was a sour one. The snake yokai patted his shoulder. “You don’t have to decide right now, you still have time to figure things out!”

Coby looked to Zoro. “Why did you become a bounty hunter?”

Roronoa shrugged. “It wasn’t my ideal career path or anything, it was just the fastest way to make money. Repairs and upkeep on my swords cost quite a bit, plus I needed to eat and drink.”

Coby looked to Luffy. “Why did you wanna become a pirate?”

Monkey smiled. “Well obviously pirates are the most free, they go wherever they want, and do whatever they want, exploring the great sea on grand adventures!” Kinda a romantic view of pirate more than an accurate one.

Zoro and Coby shared a look, as Luffy didn’t really seem like a pirate despite claiming to be one and wanting to be King of the Pirates. Yes he just picked a fight with the marines but they were doing bad stuff and Luffy protected them. He seemed more like a hero than a pirate…

His sense of justice was clearly better. It left Coby very conflicted.

“Move aside, move aside!”

“Hmm?” Luffy turned towards the door, and the civilians parted and marines entered. “What’s going on?”

Two men aimed their guns at the pirates. “Don’t move!”

Monkey rested his head on the palm of his hand, looking a tad cocky. “You know those won’t do anything right?” The men tensed and began to sweat.

The owner of the restaurant stepped out. “What are you doing put those away!” She snapped.

“Sorry ma’am we are just doing our jobs.” The marine in charged stepped forward. “You lot are pirates right?”

Luffy spared a look at Coby. “Well…”

“As marines, it’s our job to capture and arrest pirates.” The town’s people protested.

“Now you want to do your jobs!”

“You let Morgan do as he pleased and he was a tyrant!”

“That boy saved us and you, have you no shame?!”

“Quiet!” The marine snapped. “It is our duty to catch and report pirates, but given what you did, we are willing to look the other way this time.”

Coby smiled. “However…” Luffy rolled his eyes.

‘Here we go!’ Zoro narrowed his eyes.

“Given what you are, we must ask you to leave this town immediately.” The swordsman can see fear in their eyes.

Coby stood up. “That’s not fair!”

“Aww, are you big tough marines scared of little old me?” His tail wagged mischievously. The men flinched and did their best to not look him in the eyes. “It’s fine I won’t do anything to hurt anybody.”

“We can’t take your word for that. You are a pirate and you aren’t human.”

Zoro growled. “My captain has more honor in one of his scales then you bastards have in your whole body!”

“You have my word I swear to do no harm here.” Luffy said.

The men glared at him. “We can’t just trust you.”

“Trust me!” Luffy’s eyes glowed. “Snake Eyes of Hypnotism!” The light caught their eyes and drew their attention, and they were drawn into Luffy’s gaze.

Zoro watched them fall into a trance. “We will leave in twenty four hours, we need the time to prepare our ship with supplies. You will give us that time, knowing that all is well, and the town’s people are perfectly safe.”

The men saluted. “Yes sir!”

“As you were!” Luffy waved them off, and the marines left.

“Wow, you are so cool!” The little girl cheered.

Monkey chuckled and held up the victory sign. “Uh huh!”

They had time to kill and enough time to prepare. Luffy looked to Coby. “It’s your choice, you can choose to stay here or you can leave with us.” There were other marine bases after all. The only problem was the longer Coby stayed with them, the higher chance he’d be seen as a pirate.

Luffy patted his shoulder. “Think it over.” Zoro and Luffy left to do some shopping. Coby wasn’t sure what to do. He always believed the marines to be a symbol of justice in the world. Now he wasn’t so sure.

-x-

As the two pirates wondered around town and got supplies Zoro noticed people weren’t looking at Luffy directly. Their body language showed quite a few were on edge. “I don’t get it you saved them, why are they acting like this?”

“It doesn’t matter. At least they aren’t chasing us with torches and pitch forks.” He said with a laugh.

“Did that really happen?” Luffy nodded.

“My mother made the fools go away. The Snake Eyes of Hypnotism was the first thing she taught me. She said I’d need it to survive.” He raised his snake tail. “Snakes are often feared and distrusted, so it doesn’t surprise me that people are unnerved by my form.”

It was balanced by his human half. Luffy gave off an aura of trust. He was bad at lying and could be very blunt and honest when he spoke. “It makes it easy for my powers to work, on even the most difficult of minds.”

Zoro felt this was a good time to ask. “Luffy...why didn’t you use your powers on me. If you wanted me to join your crew you could have done so easily with your powers right?”

Luffy shook his head. “That’s not how I want to build my crew.” Monkey had a very complicated view of how he used his powers. “I’d prefer not to use my powers that way.”

‘Does he need permission or something?’ He coughed. “Well, so you know if the situation called for it, you can hypnotize me. You don’t need to hold back!”

Luffy eyed him. “Do you want to be hypnotized Zoro?”

His blush grew deeper and darker. “What?!” He gasped. “No! That’d be weird...right?”

Monkey shook his head. “I don’t think so, there were plenty of people in my hometown that liked to zone out.” With his abilities he could have someone tranced out and bliss out, while having their body do the tasks they needed to do. “They trusted me to take them down the snake hole, and bring them back when it was time. Some even found it a turn on, being in my power!” Zoro shivered.

In a flash Luffy was in front of him, hand on his cheek. The touch was so tender as it moved, caressing him before reaching beneath his chin. “Is that what you want?” Luffy scratched him and drew a purr.

“I uh…” He gulped. “I think it’d help with my mental training is all!”

Luffy chuckled. “I see, it should indeed. We can get stronger together.” They didn’t have much time for training as they had much to prepare...or did they? “Zoro...look into my eyes!”

The man nodded and gazed into Luffy’s pools, watching them turn a tantalizing gold. “Let’s call it training for now.” Ping! ‘You really are cute my Zoro!’ His expression was priceless. 

To be continued