บท 3: Chapter 03
All doubts vanished from Coby's mind. Luffy was definitely trying to get them both killed.
Luffy's thoughts were elsewhere. Wait...does Laboon count? Nah, he's on the other side of Reverse Mountain, so that's not in East Blue. I guess there might be whales bigger than her in the eastern seas, but I've never met them, so it's not like I have any proof. So as far as I'm concerned, she's the biggest. He mentally pictured a certain orange-haired girl commenting on the idiocy of his thought process before he snapped back to reality, just as Alvida's shocked expression melted away to make room for an enraged one.
Before she could compose herself enough to act, Luffy turned to Coby with the same bored expression. "What do you think, Coby? I guess there might be bigger whales out there…" he said.
Comprehension dawned on Coby's face. It was a test. He was to become a Marine. Marines could not simply bow their heads in the face of insurmountable power. Their job was to protect the world from injustice when no one else would. How could he ever be a Marine if he couldn't stand up to a single pirate?
That's what it's about, isn't it, Luffy? The resolve to put your life on the line. His eyes hardened and something shifted within him. He snapped. "The fattest bitch-ass whale from here to Loguetown! Iron Mace Alvida!" He shouted it at the top of his lungs.
Alvida wordlessly swung at the offending stain of a child with all her might, only for him to disappear from sight along with the bounty hunter. When her perception of reality caught up with what had just happened, she recognized that there had been a crash directly above her. She looked up to see a hole in the ship's deck. The shitstain of a bounty hunter was standing above deck with Coby sprawled down beside him in shock. He was casually taking down pirates who had reacted with hostility to his sudden interruption of their pirating. As they kept coming, he seemed to get slightly annoyed and his arms seemed to blur out of sight.
As Alvida climbed out of the hole he had made, she realized that all of her henchmen were now unconscious. The rational part of her brain told her to be wary of this boy, the same part that was ruthlessly stomped into submission by the part of her brain that desperately wanted to process the image of his bloodied body dead at her feet. She screamed in frustration as she jumped into the air and came crashing down behind the boy, swinging down with her mace. Coby's eyes widened. He didn't even have time to shout a warning before the iron mace came crashing down on Luffy.
And shattered upon contact with his head.
Alvida started to back away as her brain registered that perhaps she wasn't a match for this boy at all. These insinuations, which were normally silenced by the part of her brain that dealt with treasonous thoughts, seemed to be roaring through her mind all of a sudden, unable to be suppressed. She continued to back away until the boy disappeared from her sight once again. A fist collided with the back of her head, robbing her of her consciousness.
Coby watched as his preconceptions of the world were shattered right before his eyes. He knew Luffy was strong from what he'd shown so far, but to defeat the pirate that had plagued his existence for so long so effortlessly…it left him feeling oddly inadequate.
Luffy was frowning. He had meant to demonstrate the practical use of his rubber body, but his reflexes had chosen a much more sophisticated method of defense. He was so used to fighting New World pirates. Should he even try to explain what just happened to the awestruck boy? He decided against it. Devil Fruits were one thing. But he wasn't sure how he would explain something like Armament Haki to Coby so early on even if he wanted to. He was no Rayleigh. He sucked at explaining things.
Instead, he addressed another issue. "The Marines will be here soon. You can try to join them, but it would be suspicious in this situation. In fact, they might just arrest you."
Coby nodded sadly at that. It was an accurate assumption.
"Why don't you come with me for now? I'm going to a certain island to meet up with someone, but I honestly don't know how to get there." He laughed sheepishly while saying it. "But there's a Marine base on that island. It would be a good starting place for you." Coby smiled and nodded with enthusiasm.
It was then that Luffy realized he didn't have a boat. He had abandoned his to its fate at the hands of the whirlpool. The thought saddened him. It was no Going Merry, it hadn't even come close to developing a consciousness from what he could tell (although admittedly he wasn't exactly an expert on the subject). Still, a pirate should look after his ship when he can. He idly considered stealing the ship he was on while avoiding the Marines, but he didn't want to risk Coby being sighted as an accomplice. And anyway, he had a threat to follow through on.
He lifted his foot up above his head and brought it down in an axe kick. The effect was instantaneous. The ship's hull split right down the middle and it began to sink. Coby, who wasn't that surprised at this point, decided not to comment on the pointless destruction. The Marines would have sunk the ship anyway.
Wondering what he was going to do now, Luffy reached out with his senses and froze. His eyes widened. This presence...how had he missed it until now? A quick scan with his Observation Haki revealed who she was. For all her stealth skills, she couldn't exactly escape his sixth sense. Only someone with similar training could attempt that, and this girl had none…for now. Her aura was radiating fear. That was likely a panicked reaction to what she had just seen, which, knowing her, was everything.
It's good to see you again, Nami, he thought, as sadness and nostalgia welled up inside him in equal proportions. He grabbed Coby and nonchalantly jumped off of the ship and onto her boat.
Nami's eyes widened comically and she gasped. She had been planning to get away while she still had a chance, but he had found her somehow. This guy…he was dangerous.
"Hello," the boy greeted. "Sorry for the trouble, but we're kind of stranded. Would you mind giving us a ride to Shells Town? We have some business there."
Nami calmly assessed the situation. She knew Shells Town was on the same island as the 153rd Marine Branch. She was planning to go there herself to investigate a lead she had acquired. Perhaps it would be best to take this guy there to appease him long enough to get out of danger. He just single-handedly defeated a notorious pirate crew and trashed their ship. She had taken down one of Alvida's cronies herself, but only because she'd been spotted. She would never attempt something so outrageous and stupid. She wondered if this guy was a pirate, but decided against asking. She simply nodded in response to his request.
The obvious signs of fear Nami was showing saddened Luffy. Her faith in him had never faltered even a bit after the events of Arlong Park, so this was kind of difficult for him to digest. He didn't want Nami helping him out of fear, but he needed to meet up with his other crewmate as soon as possible. Gaining Nami's complete loyalty was a bitch the first time around, and he didn't blame her, but he wasn't at all deterred. He resolved to turn this fear into a deeply ingrained trust, and not just in him. He owed her that much.
Keeping the hurt off his face, he flashed her a smile and thanked her. This was his second chance. A new beginning.
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