[Chapter Size: 1285 Words]
Third Person POV
Orange Town, East Blue.
...
...
"What's your name?" This was the first thing Luffy asked as he greeted the girl in front of the cell.
"Na-Nami," she replied with a hint of nervousness.
"Well, Nami, you're free now," Luffy said as he unlocked her cell and opened the door.
"Hey, why is everyone already defeated?" A frustrated Zoro's voice echoed as he rushed in, ready for a fight, scanning for any standing enemies.
"Hahaha, sorry, it seems we were faster," Luffy said, freeing the girl with an embarrassed smile.
Seconds later, the place was filled with the entire crew, appearing one after another.
"It looks like you took care of everyone without any problems," Kuina grumbled, observing about 30 unconscious bodies on the ground and some damaged buildings.
"So strong...? Luffy-Sama and Yamato-Sama took care of all the bad guys?" Shirahoshi asked in amazement. She hadn't witnessed their battle.
"A mermaid?" Nami noticed Shirahoshi, who had flown in with the group.
She recognized her as a mermaid because Shirahoshi's tail was partially visible beneath her dress at the moment. Nami studied the princess for a moment before she noticed the other peculiar members of the group, such as Bepo, the bear dressed in beach attire, and Megalo, the shark that floated in mid-air, encased in a bubble of air, seemingly breathing oxygen just like any land-dwelling animal. Nami's full attention remained on the timid girl with a tail, as her previous experiences with fish-men had not been positive, and she had heard the stories about the mermaids that Arlong and others had told.
Seeing a hint of anger in Nami's eyes as she glanced at Shirahoshi, Luffy decided to speak up.
"Yes, she's one of our crew members. We are the Straw Hat Pirates," Luffy confidently declared with a smile, expressing his pride.
Nami, now outside the cell, couldn't help but give the peculiar group an odd look before Luffy's words sank in. She realized that, aside from the mermaid, there was a bear walking like a human and a shark floating in the air in a bubble of air. The shark seemed to be breathing oxygen just like a land-dwelling creature. When Luffy's declaration about being pirates finally registered, Nami's gaze turned icy, but the earlier confusion had left her too disoriented to process it properly.
"Wait, where do you think you're going?" Luffy asked as he suddenly interjected with an amused smile, sensing Nami's desire to distance herself from the group.
Nami stopped for a moment, expecting the pirates, including Luffy, to do something to her. With a mischievous smile, Luffy continued, while the others observed the interaction, curious about their captain's intentions.
"Don't worry; you can go, but you have to go in that direction. Everything related to the pirates is now ours," Luffy declared, well aware that Nami had been heading toward the pirate ship to steal their treasures.
"But the pirates have my things!" Nami protested, raising her voice in alarm and dissatisfaction.
"As I said, the pirates' belongings are now ours. You're free to leave, and we'll take their things as our spoils of victory. That's how pirates operate," Luffy stated matter-of-factly.
He didn't seem to care much about what Nami thought. He was convinced that, no matter how noble her cause might be in saving her village and its inhabitants, she would betray him in the end. Luffy thought the original Luffy had been too soft on her.
Kuina and Lami raised their eyebrows at this, as they had heard Luffy mention earlier that Nami would be a member of their crew. However, before they could raise the issue, Nami spoke up.
"Wait! You are pirates, right?" Nami suddenly found herself with only one option.
Luffy looked at her indifferently, but there was a hidden gleam of amusement in his eyes.
"Yes, I just said that," Luffy said plainly.
"Why don't you let me join your crew? I'm a great navigator!" Nami announced.
This piqued everyone's interest.
Some could see that Nami was more interested in the treasures, but they kept quiet, waiting for Luffy's response.
"A navigator," Luffy mused, rubbing his chin.
"I don't know... I think we actually need a housekeeper... If there were one around, maybe I'd take them under my flag and onto my ship, where we could conquer a lot of gold and money," Luffy muttered aloud.
'We clearly need a navigator!' the entire crew thought simultaneously but refrained from speaking out, hoping to see what Luffy had in mind.
"A housekeeper!?" Nami's face contorted with anger.
"Anyway, everyone, let's gather all their treasures," Luffy ordered as he redirected his attention to his crew, seemingly dismissing N
ami.
"Lami and Bepo, collect all the treasure from the ship. I heard they have a map of the Grand Line," Luffy instructed, and they headed to Buggy's ship, which was parked at the port and hadn't been damaged by cannon fire.
"I'm a great housekeeper!" Nami quickly shouted when she heard this, rushing toward Luffy.
"Great, we have a new crew member!" Luffy announced, his voice dripping with irony. But nobody said anything, patiently waiting for their captain to reveal his plan for the girl who obviously had her eye on their treasure.
"Show more enthusiasm!" Nami scolded him, noting the sarcasm in his voice.
"We have a housekeeper!" Bepo was the only one who spoke, earning an angry glare from Nami.
"Sorry!" the bear quickly replied, cowering under her disapproving gaze.
"Why are you apologizing so easily!?" Nami was bewildered, shouting as she wondered why this talking bear was so quick to apologize just from her glare.
Kuina sighed, wondering whether Nami was really seeing anyone as normal in this group. Luffy had now "recruited" this woman as a housekeeper, but it was clear he was teasing her while she clearly had her sights set on stealing their treasure. Nami couldn't decide who was worse among them.
Luffy received no system notification, realizing that Nami hadn't genuinely joined the crew but had merely spoken in the heat of the moment.
'That's good. It means that everyone who has joined the crew has genuinely put their faith in our flag... Will you eventually put your faith in me and our crew, Nami?' Luffy pondered internally, even as he looked at the girl in front of him.
"Now, while Lami and Bepo are getting the treasure, Yamato, Zoro, Kuina, and Nami, you should tie up all the pirates, including Buggy. Zoro, he's a Devil Fruit user, so I want you to lock him inside a reinforced barrel, as simply tying him up won't help much," Luffy said.
Luffy could have purchased Sea-Prism Stone handcuffs in the system's store, but they were expensive, and he wanted to save money.
"Yes, Captain," Zoro replied, and everyone nodded in agreement—well, almost everyone.
"Wait! Let me help collect the treasure!" Nami exclaimed, earning dubious looks from all of them who were aware that her real intention was to steal the treasure.
Luffy smiled at the woman, who was nicknamed "Cat Burglar" in the original series.
"No, you're the housekeeper now. I'll leave the treasure to the ship's doctor and the crew's assistant," Luffy said calmly.
"Wait..." Nami was about to speak, but Luffy ignored her and continued.
"Shirahoshi, come with me. Let's visit the town so you can see how humans live on the surface!" Luffy declared as he walked ahead.
"Yes, Luffy-Sama," the excited mermaid followed her captain, eager to visit a human town for the first time. Megalo followed closely behind.
---------
Fallow me on Patreon!
🌟 RaccoonLeague | Patreon🌟
Visit our Patreon for more: https://www.patreon.com/RaccoonLeague
[Chapter Size: 1285 Words]
Third Person POV
Orange Town, East Blue.
...
...
While the crew was organizing everything at the port related to the captured pirates, Luffy, Shirahoshi, and Megalo were walking through the empty town at the moment.
"So this is how a human town works? It's different, but it reminds me a lot of the houses on Fish-Man Island!" The 1.70-meter-tall mermaid spoke, admiring the surroundings.
"I don't see much difference between humans and fish-men, to be honest. Apart from the respiratory system for breathing underwater, you seem to have the same physiological conditions as humans..." Luffy said as he walked with the princess.
"Although I have no idea how mermaids reproduce..." Luffy couldn't help but murmur as he curiously examined her tail.
"Sharky Sharky!" Megalo exclaimed while munching on some plants in a house's garden.
"That's not seaweed, Megalo. It's better to wait and eat it when we get back and have a big feast," Luffy warned him, as Megalo didn't seem to like the plants he had tried and promptly spat them out.
"Shishishishishi," Shirahoshi laughed alongside, amused by her finned friend's antics.
"Why is the town so empty? Did the bad men drive away the other humans?" She innocently asked.
"Yes, unfortunately, that's how things work everywhere in the world. The strong prey on the weak..." Luffy spoke calmly.
"Hm? What's that up ahead, Luffy-Sama?" Shirahoshi said, looking a few dozen meters ahead, where there was a destroyed house. In front of it lay an injured dog with blood matted in its fur, lying on the ground amid the wreckage.
"Did this happen before I got here?" Luffy commented to himself, a bit surprised, as he knew that in the original story, Mohji's giant lion, Richie, destroyed the pet shop, and Chouchou fought back bravely. However, it seemed that this event occurred while he was on his way to the Marine ship.
It appears that with my presence in this world as the new Luffy, many things are changing, including characters with different genders and ages, as well as some events unfolding differently.
"It seems I can't rely on my previous knowledge anymore, or trust it too firmly," Luffy mumbled internally.
"What's wrong, Luffy-Sama?" Shirahoshi couldn't help but ask when she heard Luffy speak softly.
"Nothing, Princess. Let's go; that animal needs help if it's still alive..." Luffy said as he hurried forward.
"Yes, Luffy-Sama!" The mermaid followed him closely.
Upon reaching the scene, the first thing Luffy did was remove some debris from on top of the dog. Shirahoshi stood in shock, her hand over her mouth, seeing the animal in such a wretched state.
"Well, he's still alive, but he needs treatment quickly," Luffy said, speaking to no one in particular.
He opened the system store and retrieved some healing fluids to prevent infection of the wounds at this moment. Luffy had no medical expertise, but he figured it was the basic step before having Lami, who would take care of fully healing the dog.
"WHO ARE YOU, AND WHAT... HMM? WHAT IS THAT WOMAN WITH A TAIL????" A new voice appeared nearby—a shocked elderly man who had observed Luffy tending to Chouchou and had dropped a bottle near the injured animal.
But he was even more astonished by the beauty of Shirahoshi, who had a pink tail instead of legs. He had no idea what a mermaid was in this world.
"Who are you, old man?" Luffy asked, looking at the elderly man seriously.
While he might know who this man was, Luffy knew he couldn't trust his canonical knowledge too much.
The elderly man before him matched the anime's description, but he looked quite wretched now, injured, with a broken arm, and hanging onto a spear he was using as a makeshift crutch. This indicated that he had a tough fight before Luffy and the others arrived.
"I'm the mayor. I was fighting against Mohji and his lion with this dog at my side, but we lost miserably. I woke up recently from the sound of a loud explosion. Are you responsible for that? What happened to Buggy the Pirate?" the mayor asked.
"That's terrible!" Shirahoshi couldn't help but comment with a sad expression before Luffy spoke.
"We defeated them and intend to claim the bounty on their heads," Luffy said.
"So, you're bounty hunters?" the mayor asked, somewhat relieved.
"No, we're pirates," Luffy said simply as he picked up Chouchou.
"Hm? What will you do with Chouchou?" The mayor couldn't help but ask.
Luffy turned to him and said, "I'm going to recruit him into my crew, of course!" Luffy smiled confidently after those words.
"What????"
"Luffy-Sama?"
"Sharky?"
"Quiet down, Megalo; you're not much different!" Luffy couldn't help but grumble in response to the shark, who was breathing outside the water.
"A SHARK THAT CAN FLY AND BREATHE OXYGEN!?" The man had huge eyes, much like Shirahoshi, after hearing about Megalo.
'This old man is quite clueless!' Luffy exclaimed internally.
"What's the use of those glasses, old man, if you can't even see a shark flying next to us since the moment you saw us..." Luffy mumbled.
"You say that as if it's normal!" the mayor exclaimed indignantly.
In any case, Luffy returned from his stroll with the mermaid to the pirate camp that Buggy's crew had set up, half of which had been destroyed. At the same time, an old man followed Luffy, wanting answers about why he was taking his friend's dog.
"Old man, I'm not going to force him, but I'm confident he'll come with us," Luffy said simply before meeting the others.
"You finally came back," Kuina said, watching him arrive with the others.
"I see you've finished everything here," Luffy commented, surveying the area.
There were tied-up bandits in one corner, still unconscious, a giant lion with the man who tamed it, and the swordsman from Buggy's crew in another. Meanwhile, a chest was constantly bouncing beside Zoro.
"Release me! You have felt the wrath of Buggy!" They could hear the muffled voice of the clown inside the object.
"Hahahaha. Good job," Luffy praised them with a small laugh.
"There were quite a few treasures on their ships as well..." Lami said, raising two bags filled with them, while a woman with orange hair stared at the bags with dollar signs in her eyes and drool dripping from her mouth.
"Good job."
"Hm."
"THANK YOU, CAPTAIN. I'm sorry..."
Ignoring the bear's apology, Luffy brought Chouchou to Lami.
"Can you take care of him?"
Lami looked at the dog's condition and nodded.
"Of course."
Leaving Chouchou with Lami, Luffy walked over to the treasures. A girl was still gazing greed
ily at the bags, her eyes shimmering with the thought of all the money.
Zoro looked at her with disbelief, wondering if she had any idea what she was doing in front of everyone.
Before the girl could react, Luffy moved next to her and touched the bags; the treasures vanished instantly.
[You've added 10,000,000 Berries to the system store!]
"WHAT??? WHERE'S THE TREASURE? WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?" Nami cried out in shock, as if someone had taken a child from its mother right in front of her.
"The treasure has been stored in the crew's funds," he simply said.
The others who witnessed it simply thought that Luffy had shrunk the valuable items, as he hadn't explained the system yet.
Sighing and ignoring a very desperate Nami by his side, questioning what he had done, Luffy turned to the rest of his crew, who were now paying attention to their captain.
---------
Fallow me on Patreon!
🌟 RaccoonLeague | Patreon🌟
Visit our Patreon for more: https://www.patreon.com/RaccoonLeague
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT