章 17: Pain of being a Vice Captain
Liam collided against Paloo and broke his shield. Both were gravely injured but unlike Paloo, Liam still stood up. He faced Luffy and slowly raised his hand.
Thumbs up!
Thud!
As soon as he gave thumbs up to Luffy, his body fell to the ground. At this moment, he had lost his consciousness. Usually, it wouldn't have hurt him, but his bones were cracked because he couldn't sense Paloo and get struck by those shields.
"Liam!" Nami screamed as she rushed toward Liam. But, at this moment, a few pirates rushed in front of her with their swords.
"Metal Stars!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Splash! Splash! Splash!
Suddenly, three different shurikens passed by Nami as they slashed those pirates. Nami paused for a while and looked.
"Get Liam back, I will cover you."
Nami nodded her head with a severe expression and rushed next to Liam. She held his body and slowly dragged him.
'Damn it! His body has gotten heavier. I thought it was good that his body was becoming more chiseled but this is too heavy.'
Nami had to drag his body away from the battle. At the same time, Usopp used a few more shurikens to cover her.
Bang!
Suddenly, a figure burst out of the restaurant and collided against the ground.
"Tch! It was nothing more than that." Sanji walked out with a disappointed expression. The figure that collided against the ground was none other than Gin.
Sanji looked around and saw Liam getting dragged by Nami. His eyes suddenly got furious as he rushed next to Nami.
"Miss, how can you do such a heavy job? Leave this to me!"
His eyes turned back at Liam as he shouted "Bastard, how dare you let a lady drag you like that?"
Bam!
Suddenly, Sanji got smacked in the head by Nami.
"If you have time to complain, go fight those pirates!"
There were still more pirates coming toward them and Usopp's speed was getting slower. Seeing Sanji act like that made Nami furious.
Sanji acted, as usual, praising her anger as he rushed away to fight those small fries.
Splash! Bang!
At the same time, Luffy pushed through the spikes and his fist landed on Krieg's head.
"Oi, oi, just how reckless is this crew?" Sanji looked at Luffy's punch and became silent. He couldn't understand why the pirates like those existed.
Fighting without caring about injuries. It's not the best way to fight especially for a cook. Although injuries can't be avoided in the battle, you can still minimize them.
But, for Straw Hat Crew, the injuries only meant a way to get stronger.
Boom!
Suddenly, the spear tip exploded when it came in contact with Luffy. Don Krieg who was very confident in his spear used it against Luffy again and again, but not the five strike, the spear tip crumbled into pieces.
"Gomu-Gomu0- Gattling!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Luffy punched Krieg continuously. His punches were falling like a barrage until the last punch sent him flying toward the sky. For some reason, Luffy's expression was a bit serious.
He jumped toward the sky and elongated his leg toward the higher sky.
"Gomu-Gomu- Battle Axe"
Bang!
His feet crushed Krieg toward the boat. It broke the armor as Krieg's body fell toward the last layer of the boat. But, it didn't stop there. Luffy stretched both of his hands as far as they could go.
"Gomu- Gomu- Bazooka!"
Bang!
His fist smashed Krieg and pushed him towards the endless ocean.
Usopp and Nami watched him with shock.
"Hey Nami, don't you think Luffy was a bit angry while fighting Krieg?" Usopp whispered.
"I don't think he was angry. I believe he was just taking this seriously." Nami shook her head and answered. She was holding bandages. She didn't focus on Luffy and started bandaging Liam.
"Hush! I really can't understand. Why does he have to fight like a crazy man? From Orange Town to this place, he keeps getting injured." Nami sighed.
"But, he is getting stronger, isn't he? You said that before he was even weaker than you but now, he is slowly catching up to Luffy and Zoro." Usopp thought for a moment and spoke.
"Do you think this is good for him?" Nami turned her head at Usopp and shouted.
"Uhh… I was saying that it is how he gets stronger." Usopp got speechless by her anger and replied.
"And, that is not okay." Nami shouted but quickly kept her mouth shut. She just looked a bit sad as she didn't speak a word.
"Anyway, let's get him to the ship after you finished bandaging him. He needs some rest." Usopp sighed. He felt like Nami was speaking too personally.
Although they were crew, it felt quite different. He shook his head as it was none of his business.
"Gomu-Gomu- Rocket!"
Suddenly, a figure burst toward the sky and landed next to them, scaring them for a moment.
"Yo!" Luffy raised his hand as he spoke.
"Don't land like that!" Nami screamed and sighed. She was getting too tired of just shouting at others.
"Man, he got beaten like hell once again. I guess he is still too weak." Luffy looked at Liam and sighed.
"Don't compare him to you!" Usopp slapped his head.
"Huh! But I thought he wanted to be as strong as me." Luffy looked at Usopp with confusion as he asked.
"I mean, don't think that everyone will get stronger in a single day," Usopp responded.
Luffy nodded his head and said "I know. I have trained a lot to get strong as I am. But, man, he is really amazing. Even though he has only trained for a week, he is getting as strong as me."
"Does lifting weight really helps?"
Usopp looked at him with confusion and asked "How the hell did you train then?"
"I fought tiger." Luffy showed his fist and spoke.
"And, that's why we said don't compare him to yourself." Usopp slapped his head once more and replied.
"Well, anyway, I will go out and talk to the head chef. Hehe! I have taken care of that man for him, now, it's time for him to fulfill his promise." Luffy laughed and left.
"Usopp, help me!" Nami said as she held Liam on her shoulder. Usopp hurriedly lifted him as well as they took him to the ship.
At this moment, Johnny and Yosaku were taking care of Zoro.
"Ahh! Big Bro Liam, what happened to you?" Johnny screamed as he rushed in front of Nami and Usopp who were holding Liam.
"He is unconscious." Nami slapped his head and walked away. They put Liam on the bed.
"So, he got stronger once again huh!" Zoro spoke. He was still awake.
"Stronger? He got bloody injured by those pirates. You call it getting stronger?" Nami shouted at Zoro after hearing his words.
Zoro looked away and didn't reply to her.
'Liam is right. We are too weak right now. The difference between top powerhouses and us is too much. I have to train hard. Liam said that he has some ways to get stronger.'
'After he wakes up, I have to ask him. Normal weight training does help me get stronger but it wouldn't be enough.'
"Hah! I can't understand why does he have to fight like that? Even if he had stayed back, the chefs would have fought against those pirates, and wasn't that head chef a strong pirate, why didn't he even make a move?" Nami sighed with a visible trace of anger in her eyes.
"Nami, enough!" Suddenly, Zoro shouted. His tone was a bit overbearing and filled with anger.
Nami looked at him and just when she was about to respond, he continued.
"He is the first person to join Luffy. Even though our captain acts like an idiot and is reckless, he is still a captain. When Captain can't perform his duties, the vice-captain has to take his place."
"He isn't you or Usopp. Both of you have individual talents and have different roles. Nami, you are a navigator. Even if you don't have strength, it doesn't matter much to us."
"But, he is a vice-captain. He knows there will be a day when he has to fight when his captain can't fight. He knows this more than you, me, and anyone else on this ship."
"That's why he is doing everything he can to get stronger. You don't have the right to stop him from getting stronger."
Bam!
Suddenly, Nami slammed his head with her fist and spoke "I am not stopping him from getting stronger. I just don't like seeing him injured after each battle."
Zoro looked at her and closed his eyes.
"That's his way of getting stronger. He bore my pain in Orange Town. He bore Usopp's pain in Syrup Village. He bore those chefs' pain this time. Each time he suffers, he gets stronger."
"And, I don't think there is anything wrong with that."
クリエイターの想い 
Evil_Paragon
Evil_Paragon Hey, you know I have discord, right? Well, you can join if you just check out my link in synopsis. You can also read chapters in advance.
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