The air in the bar, thick with the scent of spilled ale and smoke, turned to ice.
The kerchief-wearing pirate, Hongo, stepped aside with a grave expression. The fat man, Lucky Roux, stared into the small, ornate treasure box he'd just opened. His usual jovial grin vanished, replaced by a look of pure, unadulterated shock.
"It's… gone," he whispered, the words slicing through the celebratory noise.
The crew fell silent. Shanks, who had been leaning against the bar with a relaxed smile, slowly straightened up. "What do you mean, 'gone'?"
"The Gomu Gomu no Mi," Lucky Roux said, sweat beading on his forehead. He turned the empty box around for everyone to see. "It was right here when we looted that Marine ship. It's not here now."
A collective tension seized the room. That fruit wasn't just loot; it was a legendary Devil Fruit, a treasure worth a fortune and a target of immense power.
Luffy, oblivious, slurped the last of his stew from a bowl. "What's everyone so quiet for?"
Shanks's eyes, sharp as daggers, swept the room before landing on the boy. A terrible suspicion dawned on him. "Luffy. What did you eat earlier? In the back room."
Luffy blinked. "Huh? That weird, spotted fruit? It was gross! Tasted like old socks dipped in sewer water!"
Lucky Roux fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a weathered parchment, unfolding it to reveal a detailed, technical drawing of a spiral-patterned fruit. His hand trembled as he thrust it toward Luffy. "Did it look like *this*?"
Luffy peered at it. "Yeah! That's it! Was that not dessert?"
A deafening silence followed.
Then, Shanks was in front of him, kneeling down to eye level. His face was unreadably serious, all traces of his usual easygoing warmth gone. "Luffy. Listen to me. That was the Gomu Gomu no Mi. One of the Devil Fruits. It's one of the sea's rarest treasures. And its power comes with a curse."
"Curse?" Luffy echoed, his nose wrinkling.
"Anyone who eats a Devil Fruit gains a strange power," Shanks explained, his voice low and intense. "But the sea rejects them. They lose all ability to swim. They become an anchor. One foot in the water, and you're sinking like a stone. *Forever.*"
Luffy's eyes went wide. The spoon clattered from his hand. "I… I can't swim?"
"You idiot!" Shanks's shout wasn't angry, but laced with a profound, gut-wrenching frustration. "You stole a man's dream! That fruit was our ticket to the Grand Line! And you've thrown away your own future as a sailor!"
---
The next day, the weight of the curse felt like a physical chain around Luffy's neck as he trudged into Uo's fish market.
"Luffy! You look… bright-eyed today!" the shopkeeper's wife chirped, wiping her hands on her apron. "Did those pirates leave you behind again?"
Her husband chuckled. "Can't follow them out to sea now, can you? Not since you can't swim."
The words stung. Luffy balled his small fists. "I don't need to swim! I'm gonna be a pirate who never falls in the sea!" To prove his point, he hooked his fingers into his cheeks and pulled.
*S-t-r-e-t-c-h.*
His face elongated into a grotesque, impossibly wide grin, rubbery skin gleaming in the sunlight. "See? The Gomu Gomu no Mi is great! I'm way happier now!"
The market erupted in awed laughter and cheers. "Incredible!" "Look at that!" "So cool, Luffy!"
From atop a nearby loading crane, a voice cut through the admiration like a rusty saw. "What's so good about being made of rubber?"
Chief Woop Slap, the town's elder, glared down, his face a mask of disapproval. "You all cheer, but what use is it? Can it catch more fish? Mend a net? Protect the town?"
"Chief!" Luffy released his cheeks with a soft *snap*.
"Listen to me, boy," Woop Slap descended, his voice grave. "Hanging around with those pirates… it stains our town's name. That red-haired captain might seem reasonable, but he is a wanted man. A criminal. You want to be like that? To make *us* a target for the Marines? Stay away from him, Luffy. For your sake. For ours."
The words planted a seed of doubt, cold and heavy, in Luffy's chest.
---
Later, the newly repaired doors of Party's Bar swung shut behind Makino and Luffy. The place felt cavernous and empty without the pirates' roaring laughter.
Makino polished a glass behind the counter, the quiet *cling* echoing. "They've been out for a while today. Do you miss them?"
Luffy sat at the bar, spinning a glass containing nothing but three melting ice cubes. He didn't look at her. "No."
"Luffy…"
"I haven't forgiven them," he stated, his voice unusually flat. "For the bandit thing. They just… watched." He poked at the ice, making it clink. "I overestimated Shanks. I thought he was the strongest, coolest guy. But he's just… a pirate who lets kids get hurt and gets mad about stupid fruit."
The disappointment in the boy's voice was a tangible thing, filling the empty bar.
Suddenly, the door burst open. It wasn't Shanks. It was a panting, terrified fisherman, his face white as a sail.
"Makino! Luffy! You have to hide—now!"
Before they could move, a shadow filled the doorway—a massive, hulking silhouette flanked by others. A cruel, familiar laugh slithered into the room.
Higuma the Bear Bandit, his head bandaged, stood in the entrance, a sadistic grin splitting his face. And beside him, holding a gleaming cutlass to the fisherman's throat, was a tall, sleek man with a goatee and the cold eyes of a predator—a man wearing a Marine captain's coat.
"Well, well," the Marine captain drawled, his eyes locking directly onto Luffy. "We heard a little rumor. About a red-haired pirate hiding a certain stolen Devil Fruit in this village." His smile showed too many teeth. "And it seems we found the thief. Hand over the Gomu Gomu boy, barkeep. Or this whole town burns for harboring a demon."