Chương 14: Chapter 14 [BONUS]

After walking up hill four about five minutes later, the group arrived at the mansion where Usopp led them around the side of the fence and pulled a piece of the fence making a hole big enough for a person to walk through. Nami looked at Usopp and spoke.

"Why do I feel that you are not welcome here, Usopp," he said making Usopp laugh nervously before answering.

"Actually, a maid here didn't really like me. So, I had to sneak in to talk to Kaya," he said. Luffy and Zoro couldn't stop themselves from laughing making Usopp's face turn red with embarrassment.

After Luffy and Zoro calmed down, the group went through the hole in the fence one by one and entered the courtyard. The group then stood under a rather large tree beside the house.

Usopp bent down and picked up a pebble, then started climbing the big tree. He threw a pebble at one of the house's windows, then it suddenly opened and a brightly smiling girl stuck her head out and spoke to Usoop.

"Usopp, you coming?" she said happily. Usopp smiled back before answering.

"Of course I came, and I brought some friends who came here to join the Usopp Pirates and meet you," Usopp said pointing to Luffy and his crew standing at the bottom of the tree.

"Kaya, this is Luffy, Nami, and Zoro" he said pointing at each one as he spoke. "And guys, this is Kaya" As he said that, Luffy and his crew waved at Kaya, causing her to smile and wave back.

Kaya is a slender, pale-skinned girl with blonde hair. She had wide brown eyes that were a lighter shade, and she wore a long white dress. Kaya looked at Luffy and spoke with a warm smile on her face.

"Nice to meet you all," he said. Luffy smiled at him and then spoke in a friendly tone of voice, as his crew didn't even know Luffy could speak like this, they had never seen Luffy act like this during the trip..

"Nice to meet you too, Miss Kaya. However, this time I'm meeting you more for business than social," said Luffy making Kaya raise an eyebrow before answering.

"And what business do you want to talk to me about?" Kaya asked. Luffy took a step closer to the house before he spoke again.

"We got the info that we can buy a ship from you" Luffy said while looking at Kaya. Kaya watched carefully before turning around in her room and starting shouting someone's name.

"Merry!" he shouted, "Could you come here for a minute." Ten seconds after he shouted, Luffy heard someone open the door to his room. Luffy watched as a strange looking man came and stood next to Kaya and spoke.

"You called Miss Rich?" he asked while looking at Kaya, oblivious to the people outside. Kaya smiled at him before she answered.

"Yeah. I'd like you to meet Usopp's friends," he said before gesturing out at Luffy and his crew. "This is Luffy and company. He is interested in buying a boat. Can you take him to the pier and show him our ship?" asked Kaya, making Merry look at the group with a bit of skepticism first before nodding.

Merry then exited the room and headed outside where Luffy and his crew were, wanting to take them to the pier. Merry arrived outside and met the group and spoke to them.

"If you all follow me, I will take you to the ship," he said. Luffy turned towards Nami and Zoro then spoke.

"How about you guys stay here and keep Kaya and Usopp company while I inspect the ship," he said. Zoro nodded following the captain, while Nami also nodded her head because she thought it would be boring to just look around the ship.

Luffy then looked at Merry and nodded his head slightly telling her to go ahead. Merry then guided Luffy to the back of the mansion where they had their own private dock for their use.

At the pier, Luffy saw a beautiful ship anchored, Luffy looked towards Merry and saw her with a proud smile on his face as he looked towards the ship. As they got closer Merry turned to Luffy and spoke.

"This is The Going Merry," he said, pointing to the ship. "It's a ship I built myself," he said proudly. Luffy turned and looked at the ship, inspecting it every inch.

The Going Merry is a caravel class ship designed by Merry and has a central rudder. The ship's armament consisted of four guns, one in the bow pointing forward, one in the stern, and two pointed either side and to top it all off, at the head of the ship was a sheep's head.

After checking all parts of the ship, Luffy came back and stood next to Merry once more and spoke.

"That's a beautiful ship," he said, looking at Merry, "how much is it?" he asked. Merry gave a thoughtful expression for a few seconds before he answered.

"80 million," he said, surprising Luffy with how cheap it was. "We don't use him as much for cruising as we used to and he just sits here gathering dust. So if you're wondering why it's that cheap that's why" Merry said causing Luffy to nod his head.

"I understand" said Luffy before he walked over to the ship and placed his hand on the hull before he spoke. "However, I plan to go to the Grand Line, and a ship like this won't survive the Grand Line under the current conditions," said Luffy making Merry nod her head in an understanding manner.

Merry was about to speak but Luffy spoke before he could. "I will pay 100 million for this ship if you can do some upgrades for this ship," said Luffy surprising Merry.

"And what kind of upgrade do you have in mind?" Merry asked. Luffy looked at him and spoke.

"I noticed this ship doesn't have a captain's room, I want you to add one like that," said Luffy and Merry nodded her head.

Then, the cannons that are on this ship are old model cannons, I want them to be replaced with new models. I also want the rudders to be replaced. The current rudders will break when going through strong currents, said Luffy. Merry noted down everything Luffy asked for before speaking.

"I'm also going to check the wood on this ship to see if anything needs to be replaced. This won't keep her in the Grand Line, however, it will extend her life a bit longer, allowing you to find a stronger ship," said Merry. Luffy nodded before speaking again.

"And how long will it take to upgrade this ship?" he asked. Merry put his finger to his chin and thought for a moment before answering.

"About two weeks or so. I'll ask the workers to work on it soon" Merry said making Luffy smile at her before he replied.

"I would really appreciate that, thank you" said Luffy before the two of them walked back to the mansion to meet up with the rest of the crew. As the crew came into view, Luffy and Merry noticed that there was some sort of commotion going on between Usopp and a well-dressed man whom Luffy assumed was a servant who disliked Usopp.

Luffy looked at Merry as they walked there and spoke in an amused voice "I guess that's the maid Usopp said he didn't like?" he asked causing Merry to laugh before answering.

"Yes, that is Klahadore," said Merry. As they got closer they could hear Klahadore insulting Usopp and his father, Yasopp, which caused Luffy's smile to quickly disappear from his face.

Luffy saw that Usopp couldn't bear to punch the man, and decided to let his presence be known by those around him by speaking.

"You know some people might think you're tired of living for daring to insult a Yonko crew member," said Luffy as he and Merry got closer.

Klahadore and Kaya turned to look at him with wide eyes. Klahadore quickly regained his composure and spoke to Luffy.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't do anything like that" he said looking at Luffy. Luffy walked up to him and looked him in the eye and spoke once again.

"Usopp's father is a sniper and left hand of Shanks The Red Hair," said Luffy surprising everyone there including Usopp. Usopp knew his father was in Shanks' crew, but he never thought his father would be the third under Shanks' command.

Usopp was out of his thoughts as Luffy spoke once again. "So let's be honest here, do you really want to piss off a Yonko, BUTLER?" Luffy said emphasizing his voice at the mention of butler.

Luffy could easily see in Klahadore's eyes that he was scared even though he kept his face calm and emotionless.

"So what?" The maid said surprising Luffy. "Even if he was the son of a Yonko crew member, I highly doubt that a Yonko from the Grand Line would come here to East Blue for something like this," said Klahadore arrogantly. Luffy then chuckled which made the maid's back feel cold before speaking.

"Why did Shanks have to come when I'm already here" said Luffy before pulling his coat back and lifting up his red shirt on the left, making everyone there see his 8 square abdominal muscles. However, what caught everyone's attention was not her stomach, but the tattoo on the left side of her stomach.

When Klahadore saw him, he immediately started sweating. On the side of Luffy's stomach is a Jolly Roger tattoo, but not just any Jolly Roger, It's the Jolly Roger from The Red Hair Pirates.

"T-that..." Klahadore stuttered as he pointed at Luffy's tattoo. Luffy smiled before speaking.

"Jolly Roger from The Red Hair Pirates, right," said Luffy before he pulled his shirt back on and looked over at his crew to see Zoro smirk on his face thinking about how strong his captain was while Nami blushed slightly when she remembered Luffy's stomach.

Luffy turned to Klahadore and spoke once more. "You know Shanks is practically my godfather because he and his crew raised me for the past ten years, and I eventually became part of his crew too, which is why I have that tattoo" Luffy said before he turned to Kaya and spoke.

"I'll take the ship, Miss Kaya. I've talked to Merry about a few things I want to do with his ship and we've agreed on a price. I'm sure Merry will tell you everything," said Luffy as he turned around. to leave with his crew and Usopp.

As Luffy walked away he turned and looked at Klahadore and spoke coldly, "If I ever hear you insult a member of The Red Hair Pirates again, I will kill you with my own hands, Butler," said Luffy before walking away with his crew.

After leaving Kaya's house, the group was currently walking down the hill to return to the village. While walking, Zoro realized that Luffy was deep in thought and decided to ask his captain what was wrong.

"Are you all right, Captain?" he asked snapping Luffy out of his deep thoughts. Luffy shook his head slightly before turning to Zoro and speaking.

"Hah?" that was all Luffy said indicating that he wasn't paying attention to what Zoro was saying. Zoro raised his eyebrows and spoke again.

"I asked if you were okay. You looked like you were thinking about something" he said making Luffy nod his head before he answered.

"That's right. There's something about that Butler that makes me feel familiar, but I can't figure out what it is," he said in a frustrated voice. Zoro then started thinking and tried to help his captain find out what was known about the butler but he couldn't think of anything either. Nami who saw the two of them sighed and spoke to them.

"Maybe you're thinking too much about it," said Nami, getting their attention. "Why don't we check into one of the local inns and get some rest. Maybe that will help you figure it out" he said making Luffy nod in agreement.

Usopp took the three of them to a local inn and Luffy checked everyone inside and ordered dinner for the three of them and Usoop before they all went to bed that night.

"Maybe a good night's rest will help me figure out why that butler feels so familiar" thought Luffy before he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.