"This one's the last pirate!"
The frightened boy's face turned completely pale as he frantically shook his head.
"W-Wait! I'm not a pirate!"
Luffy barely glanced at the trembling boy before immediately looking past him toward the merchant ship's kitchen.
"...Do they have meat?" he asked with complete seriousness, already sniffing the air. The frightened pink-haired boy practically vanished from his attention. I, however, stepped forward and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder before looking toward the merchants.
"I'll take care of him."
The merchants exchanged relieved glances before breaking into grateful smiles. One elderly merchant clasped both of my hands tightly while another bowed repeatedly toward Luffy and me.
"You've saved all our lives! Please, let us repay you somehow!"
"We've prepared food inside. Eat as much as you want before continuing your journey."
Luffy's eyes practically turned into stars.
"MEAT!"
He vanished into the galley before anyone could say another word. Less than a minute later he reappeared with a mountain of roasted meat balanced in both arms, happily stuffing his mouth before he had even reached the deck again. I simply sighed while Coby stared at him with complete disbelief, clearly wondering how one person could possibly eat that much.
Unfortunately, the celebration didn't last long. A lookout suddenly pointed toward the horizon.
"Marine ships!"
Several sails bearing the Marine insignia rapidly approached the merchant vessel. They had probably responded to the earlier gunfire. Luffy swallowed a mouthful of meat before immediately pointing toward our boat.
"We're pirates! We gotta run!"
Without waiting for anyone's opinion, he scooped up even more meat under one arm and sprinted toward the Menehune. I grabbed Coby by the wrist before he could panic and followed close behind, quickly casting one glance toward another small boat drifting nearby. A young orange-haired girl was quietly observing the chaos from a distance before slipping away the moment the Marines approached.
Nami.
Our eyes met only briefly before she disappeared among the surrounding vessels. I made no attempt to stop her. This wasn't the time, and forcing fate rarely ended well.
The Menehune caught the wind almost immediately after we cast off. Behind us, Marine soldiers boarded the merchant ship while the grateful merchants enthusiastically pointed toward the unconscious pirates instead of chasing us. Within minutes, we were already putting distance between ourselves and the growing commotion.
"Why.. Why did you run?" Coby asked.
"Didn't you hear what Luffy said? We are pirates. Of course we will run away from the marines."
"...Y-You're..." He looked from Luffy to me, his face becoming increasingly pale. "...Pirates?"
"Yep!" Luffy answered cheerfully with his mouth still full of meat.
"I'm gonna be the Pirate King!"
Coby looked utterly devastated, as though his rescuers had somehow betrayed him, and had tears roll down his yes. Before panic could fully take over, Luffy pointed a greasy piece of meat toward him.
"Hey, Kekoa. Why'd you bring the crybaby?"
I smiled slightly while adjusting the compass Boro had given me.
"Because he might be useful."
"Huh?"
"I've been learning navigation, but another pair of eyes never hurts. Besides, I had a feeling there was more to him than hiding behind crates."
Coby lowered his head before quietly clenching his fists.
"...I... I was scared." His voice trembled, yet he forced himself to continue. "But... thank you. Thank you for defeating Alvida. I thought... I'd spend the rest of my life on that ship."
Luffy swallowed another bite before grinning.
"Who is Alpida?"
It was not surprising that Luffy didn't know the name as he never gave much attention and it was less surprising that he pronounced the name wrong. In fact, I was surprised that he had gotten my name right in the first time itself. There was a theory around that Luffy would always take team mates where he would pronounce the name right in the first time itself.
It was a very niche theory but I was glad that he did pronounce my name right.
"Hahaha. The ugly woman whom you blasted away." I said.
"Oh! Well she was trying to hit me when I was searching for meat. She deserves it."
Coby found the whole conversation very weird as they were supposed to be pirates and I could literally see his eyes over us trying to figure it out.
"Uhh.. Excuse me.. If you want I can clean the ship for you.. Just please let me live.. I will also eat less. I promise."
"Huh.. Why would a cry baby want to work for us? I didn't invite you to my crew." Luffy declared. This made Coby confused. Didn't this guy just kidnap him and now he was saying that he wasn't part of the crew.
"Don't mind him. It was I who took you. We are going to Shells Town and you can get down there. I just wanted another pair of hands in handling the vessel."
"Huh! Uh.. I can just leave in the next town?" Coby asked.
"Yes. I was just tired and need an extra pair of hands for the time being." I replied. Coby looked at me with an odd expression, almost screaming the fact that "dude you just defeated so many of those guys with that weird fire swords. Do you really need my help?"
I didn't bother explaining. Coby was one of the few future marines who would be inherently good. Not like Akainu and that hypocrite Kizaru. So it was alright to give him a hand. Luffy meanwhile got my point and was glad that Coby would help them maintaining Menehune.
As long as someone was helping them cleaning the vessel, he was fine with it and besides it was temporary.
The conversation gradually became more relaxed as the waves carried us farther from the merchant vessel. Coby soon realized that we were very normal and not like normal pirates.
"Do you really want to be the King of the Pirates?" Coby asked sheepishly.
"Of course."
"But you.. you would die." Coby replied and then the iconic interaction happened where Luffy hit him and said that even if he died on the way, it was all fine and dandy. This made Coby courageous a bit and then declared that he would one day want to be a marine admiral and catch all the pirates.
Luffy was impressed and finally asked him his name and Coby spoke of his. I was happy that this interaction happened, especially the fact when he said that death was fine but he would still go down the same path he had already decided.
"Kekoa, what is your dream?" Luffy asked.
"Idiot! I have been your friend for months and you have forgotten already?" I said.
"Hey! You never spoke your dream sincerely." Luffy said.
"Do you even know how to spell the word sincerely?" I said.
"Hahah.. C'mon tell me." Luffy said and even Coby was intrigued by the guy who just took him out of whim from that horrible situation.
"My dream is to return to my home. Someday." I replied.
"Huh? Home? Is it in the Grand Line?" Coby asked.
"No. It is somewhere more remote. But I will find my home someday and meet my parents again." I replied. Coby was confused about this as he didn't understand where could a place be more remote than Grand Line.
But Luffy was happy and assured that I would find the place and even promised to finish that voyage to his home together. I just smiled at his optimism. This guy had no idea what kind of promise he just made.
Three days later, the outline of a new island finally appeared on the horizon. Compared to Foosha Village, it was far busier, with dozens of fishing boats, merchant vessels, and Marine patrol ships constantly moving in and out of the harbor. The moment I compared the coastline to Boro's charts, I nodded to myself.
"Shells Town." Luffy immediately sprang onto the bow. "So this is our first stop! I'M HUNGRY!"
"...You've been eating since we left the merchant ship." I reminded.
"I know! But now I'm hungry again!"
Coby could only stare in disbelief while I expertly guided the Menehune into an empty berth. Between Boro's lessons and weeks of practice, docking the vessel no longer felt intimidating. After securing the mooring lines, the three of us stepped onto solid ground, leaving the Menehune quietly rocking against the pier.
There was no pirate flag yet so it was completely safe. As we wandered through the streets looking for supplies and, in Luffy's case, more food, Coby suddenly lowered his voice.
"There's... someone you should avoid here."
"Hm?" Luffy tilted his head.
"The Pirate Hunter... Roronoa Zoro. They say he's like a demon. He hunts pirates for money, and everyone around here is terrified of him. I heard the Marines captured him recently, but... honestly... even tied up, he still scares people."
"A strong guy?"
"...Yeah."
"I wanna meet him!"
This did bring a smile to my face.