The boy, suffering from the inability to get his treat and full of disappointment, had lain his cheek on the counter and only then noticed a small chest. In fact, the chest had been on the counter even before Higuma's arrival, but Luffy had had other concerns, so he only now noticed it.
"Ha-ha!" Shanks laughed drunkenly, who, during the boy's absence, had managed to bathe and change clothes somewhere "Want to know? I bet you've never seen anything like it! Have you ever heard of Devil Fruits?"
"Like a sea treasure that grants the power of the devil?" Luffy replied with a voice full of skepticism.
"Treasure, yes, but 'power of the devil' is complete nonsense!"
"Then why treasure?"
"Because the power granted by Devil Fruits has nothing to do with the devil!" Shanks raised a finger to the ceiling in a dramatic gesture… being quite drunk, he looked like a complete fool.
"Then who does it have to do with? Angels, maybe?" the boy snorted.
"It doesn't matter who it's related to," Shanks waved his hand. "The important thing is that Devil Fruits can grant people the most incredible powers. Of course, in return, a person loses the ability to swim, but many don't care. And the fruit we found is called the Gomu Gomu no Mi (Gum-Gum Fruit), it can turn an ordinary person into a 'Rubber Man'!" With these words, Shanks opened the chest and let Luffy see the legendary Devil Fruit.
"It looks weird," the boy commented after barely glimpsing the contents of the chest.
Devil Fruits did indeed look strange. Even if their appearance might resemble ordinary fruits, like an apple or a bunch of bananas, their strange swirls created peculiar patterns on the fruit, making them look somewhat artificial and unnatural.
"It really is strange," Luffy said again, as he took the fruit in his hands and inspected it from all sides. "And what does 'Rubber Man' mean? How should I understand that? If I eat it, will my fingers stretch like rubber bands or something?" his voice was once again filled with overt skepticism.
"Everything will stretch!" Shanks laughed again. "You could bounce on yourself like a trampoline! Even your eyes would be rubbery!"
"Nonsense!" the boy shook his head, returning the fruit to the chest.
"Nonsense or not, but even a fruit with unknown power is worth over a hundred million beri, and with a known power, even more! Mwa-ha-ha-ha!" Shanks threw his head back and laughed again.
Alcohol affects people differently: some fall into depression, some start getting angry at everyone, and some, on the contrary, confess their love to everyone they meet. Drunk Shanks, in turn, became a sort of talkative, laughing fool.
"Captain!" Lucky groaned. Except for Benn, who always drank in moderation, Lucky, with his ability to eat and drink in unlimited quantities, was the soberest pirate on the crew. "Why did you tell him about this?"
"Bwa-ha-ha-ha!" the other pirates, led by Yasopp, began to laugh openly when they realized how their captain had made a fool of himself.
Benn sighed heavily. He had understood from the beginning where Shanks' conversation with Luffy would lead, so he had already resigned himself to the consequences. Benn knew for sure that his captain was not a fool, but sometimes he really wished he would think with his head more often, instead of just eating and drinking.
Then the village was shaken by the furious roar of drunk Shanks:
"LUFFY, DAMN IT, COME BACK IMMEDIATELY!!!"
By this point, the boy, who had been running at full speed with his eyes shining with full beri, had already reached the edge of the village and, as expected, didn't even think of stopping. On the contrary, upon hearing Shanks' roar, he, adjusting the Devil Fruit more comfortably, pushed even harder, heading straight for the mountains where he had the best chance of escaping Observation Haki.
"Greedy!" half an hour later, Luffy complained to Shanks from behind the bar counter, his voice full of indignation. "Can you believe how stingy you are? Hoarding one measly fruit like a miser!" he couldn't stop grumbling. "How can the earth even support someone as greedy as you? You couldn't spare a single fruit for a child! Do you even have a heart? What a scrooge!"
The mentioned 'fruit,' taken from little Luffy - Shanks had to personally chase him down as none of the others bothered to move from their seats - was hidden back on the ship and securely stashed away to avoid tempting the boy further. Nonetheless, none of the pirates doubted that this was not the end. Despite Luffy's accusations, everyone in the bar understood who among them was actually suffering from acute greed. Otherwise, the boy wouldn't have acted so straightforwardly and clumsily. Just grabbing and running away? Totally not Luffy's style! All of this was merely a consequence of his excessive greed.
The Devil Fruit story did indeed continue.
For starters, a couple of days later, Luffy attempted to sneak onto the ship to steal the fruit. He managed to infiltrate, but with almost the entire crew possessing Observation Haki, and some members at a very high level, there was no chance for an outsider to go unnoticed. Luffy, having learned to use Observation Haki himself, should have understood this perfectly, but his wild greed wouldn't let go. Then, the 'Red-Haired' pirates set out on another voyage, and upon their return, they found Luffy once again.
The little rascal was caught by Makino setting explosives in her bar. Though, perhaps 'setting up' doesn't quite capture what happened. Most of Makino's alcohol reserves were stored in a large basement directly below the bar. And Makino only caught Luffy after discovering that a barrel of wine was filled with explosives instead of wine. After a brief inspection, Makino immediately found that the boy had managed to hide several tons of explosives among her alcohol supplies. Moreover, when he was caught red-handed, Luffy immediately tried to make Makino his accomplice. Indeed, even if the whole bar blew up, the money from selling the Devil Fruit could have built several more bars. And if, after the explosion, they could find Shanks' body with an intact head…
Makino was not impressed by the boy's arguments, so he immediately received a month-long ban on ice cream - the longest ban of his life. This turned out to be an incredible psychological blow for Luffy. By the time Shanks and his crew returned, the boy had been 'dead' for three whole days and, at this rate, might soon lose the quotation marks in 'dead.' Nevertheless, Makino had no intention of lifting the ban. For the first time in a long while, she could not gauge how serious Luffy was about his intentions. She could not tell whether he really intended to blow up Shanks and his crew along with her bar or if he was just pretending. On the other hand, the pirates, upon learning the details of the boy's plan, retaliated by drinking all the finest and most expensive wine from the bar's storage, as Luffy was once again paying for their revelry. With his insatiable greed, it was hard to come up with a better punishment for him… Except, of course, the ice cream ban, but Makino had already done well on that front.
After that incident, the 'Red-Haired' pirates went to sea and returned two more times. However, despite all his concerns, Luffy took no further action, seemingly overcoming his greed… Or, more likely, being genuinely smart, he clearly understood that he had no chance of stealthily stealing the fruit from such a crew - open combat was out of the question - and had no choice but to admit defeat. Although the boy completely lost touch with reality when it came to money - especially large sums - he was not so mad as to forget reality entirely.
Then came the time to say goodbye.
"So, you're leaving?" Luffy asked the frowning man with the green face, in whom it was difficult to recognize the ever-smiling Shanks.