บท 291: Close Call
The two captains narrowed their eyes at one another. The tension in the air was palpable and black spark started to crackle through the air.
"What the hell is Luffy doing?!" Usopp hissed quietly to the others. "That's Whitebeard! One of the Four Emperors and the strongest man in the world!"
"What else is he meant to do?" Zoro replied, draining a cup of sake. "He's our captain. If he doesn't stand up when somebody tries to poach his crew, then he doesn't deserve us following him; let alone chasing after the One Piece."
"It'll probably be okay. His brother is one of Whitebeard's commanders, after all." Franky added.
"Mm, he'll probably spare your life after taking an arm or a leg, Usopp." Robin assured him.
"That doesn't make me feel better AT ALL!" Usopp cried.
"Hey, should we do something about this?" Sanji piped up.
"What do you mean?" Cabernet asked, resting her chin atop Cherry's head who was sitting in her lap per Robin's insistence that Cherry needed a 'babysitter' not to get into more trouble.
Sanji continued "Normally it's Nami-swan~ who acts as Luffy's common sense since he doesn't have any, but she isn't here. So what's to stop him from doing something stupid like-"
*Bang!*
A pistol shot interrupted Sanji's words. Everyone looked to the source and saw that Luffy was the one holding the pistol whose barrel was still smoking after being shot straight up into the air.
"I challenge you to a Davy Back Fight!" Luffy declared.
"-Like challenging Whitebeard to a Davy Back Fight. Haaaah, I need a smoke…" Sanji groaned, attempting to light a cigarette. The lighter wasn't doing him much good, though, so he went to look for someone who could light it for him.
Law's jaw hit the floor. Zoro did a spit take. Franky asked Robin what a Davy Back Fight was. Cherry wondered how the pirate on Whitebeard's side didn't notice Luffy stealing the pistol off his hip.
Usopp was so outraged that it overwrote his instinct to curl up into a ball and sob. He marched over to Luffy and started throttling him (which did nothing because he's made of rubber).
"Why?! WHY?! Why must you do this?!" Usopp begged for an explanation that would never come whilst shaking Luffy by the neck. "What do you even get out of this?!"
Luffy was obstinate, though.
"GURARARARA! I like the cut of your jib, kid. I'll take you too." Whitebeard took the pistol that Luffy offered to him.
This time it was younger members of Whitebeard's crew who were shocked. Certainly they didn't believe they could lose so easily, but at most they expected Whitebeard to laugh off the challenge as a joke.
"It's been a long time since anyone dared to challenge Pops to a Davy Back Fight." Marco commented. Other older members nodded their heads.
Ace shook his head with pity. "Luffy, you've messed up this time. Pops has never lost a Davy Back Fight."
"Neither have I. I've defeated the undefeated before too!" Luffy said and crossed his arms defiantly.
"Maybe we should put it off, though. Straw Hat doesn't even have his whole crew here, and it'd be better to do a clean sweep." Whitey Bay suggested.
Whitebeard paused at that. "Hm, she has a point, young man. It wouldn't be honorable to contend with you without the full strength of your crew either. I'll let the matter rest for now if you're agreeable to it."
"Hmmmmmmmmm…" Luffy looked incredibly unwilling to back down, but the old man's words made sense too.
"You're bound to run into him again, Luffy. Just take a rain check. I bet Brook would be thrilled to participate in a Davy Back Fight too, you know?" Cherry said.
The moment Brok was brought into, Luffy's decision was sealed. Brook spent half a century all alone, so an old fashioned Davy Back Fight was the perfect thing to stoke his nostalgia. Luffy wouldn't want a friend to miss out because he was impatient.
"Fine… but I'm gonna be even stronger next time we meet, old man! I'll kick your ass harder than Roger ever did!" Luffy promised.
"GURARARARA! You'd better, brat! Nothing is more annoying than a pup that's all bark and no bite!" Whitebeard laughed.
The Whitebeard Pirates were kind enough to have brought a lot of good drinks with them, so the festive atmosphere quickly returned.
"T-that was so cool…!" Bartolomeo fanboyed a short distance away over his hero standing up to Whitebeard and promising to battle another day.
A few of the Straw Hats were relieved to have this particular battle postponed as they were fairly tired after a long day of fighting. The rest were simply bemused or looked forward to the day that it would come so they could test themselves against the world notorious crew.
"Luffy-dono! There you are!" Kin'emon made an appearance, by his side a red haired man familiar to Zoro. "I was searching for you. As you can see, I found my comrade safe and sound."
Kin'emon looked around and locked eyes with a slightly buzzed Whitebeard and froze in place.
"You are…?" Whitebeard searched his memories whilst looking at Kin'emon and Kanjuro. He felt the two men were familiar somehow, but couldn't quite place it.
'Good thing I disguised myself and Kanjuro in the local style just in case. I haven't decided whether or not to reveal my true identity to Luffy-dono yet…' Kin'emon thought to himself.
"Oh! Ki- Ouch! Why'd you pinch me with haki, Cherry?! That hurt!" Luffy complained.
Cherry leaned in close and whispered "He doesn't want Whitebeard to know who he is for some reason. Don't call his name."
Luffy didn't really get it, but went along with it anyway. "Come join us, Koby!"
He just called him by the first 'K' name that popped into his head.
Kin'emon appreciated the assist and pulled Kanjuro along with him and sat where Whitebeard couldn't see them clearly with their backs turned.
"Thank you, Luffy-dono." Kin'emon said, thinking that Luffy was actually pretty clever for being able to read his body language; even if it was technically Luffy that he was actually trying to hide his identity from.
"Greetings." Kanjuro said politely
Cherry looked at Kanjuro closely.
"I don't like you." Cherry declared bluntly to Kanjuro.
"Oi! You've only just met the guy, how can you already dislike him?" Usopp asked, thinking that was terribly rude to say to someone you're meeting for the first time.
"I don't know. I just don't like him." Cherry said.
As Cherry went to take another drink, Robin snatched it away from her. "You've had too much."
"Maybe I haven't had enough." Cherry mumbled, glaring at Kanjuro in suspicion.
That was how Cherry truly felt; she didn't even want to pretend to like him. She couldn't see anything about him that was particularly bad, but her instinctual reaction towards him was disgust and she didn't know why.
"I apologize if I've offended you somehow. I am unfamiliar with cultural norms outside of my home country." Kanjuro said, seemingly perfectly genuine.
"You don't need to say sorry, Kanjuro. You've done nothing wrong." Kin'emon turned a critical eye towards Cherry. "I am grateful to you, Cherry-dono, but I cannot stand by if you insult my comrade."
"I didn't insult him, I just don't like him. Better to get it out of the way now than to pretend to be friendly." Cherry said.
Unknown to anyone, even Kanjuro himself, the deepest recesses of Kanjuro's mind were in turmoil for reasons he wouldn't understand until much later.
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