The punch landed with a sickening *crack* that echoed across the silent Marine courtyard.
Koby stumbled back, blood already trickling from his nose, but his eyes burned with a fire no one had ever seen in the timid boy before.
"You hit me," Luffy said, his voice dangerously low. The usual cheerful tone was gone, replaced by something primal. "You hit my friend."
"Luffy, wait—" Koby began, but it was too late.
Luffy moved like a storm. His fist connected with Koby's jaw, then his stomach, then his shoulder—each blow precise, controlled, yet carrying the weight of betrayal.
"STOP HIM!" a Marine captain shouted.
A dozen Marines surged forward, grappling with Luffy as he continued his relentless assault. Zoro watched from the sidelines, his three swords still sheathed, his expression unreadable.
"Enough!" The Marine captain—a stern-faced man named Ripper—stepped between them. "You two," he pointed at Luffy and Zoro, "get out of this base. Now."
Koby lay crumpled on the ground, breathing ragged. Every Marine eye was on him—the boy who'd struck first, the boy now being beaten for it.
Slowly, painfully, Koby pushed himself up. Blood stained his Marine-issue shirt, but his back straightened.
"I want to join," he whispered.
Ripper frowned. "What was that?"
"I WANT TO JOIN THE MARINES!" Koby shouted, the words tearing from his throat. "Even if it's just to scrub decks! Even if it's just to clean toilets! I don't care about my past with pirates—I want to protect people!"
The courtyard fell silent. Ripper studied the trembling boy, then nodded once.
"Your past doesn't matter," he said. "Your courage does. Welcome to the Marines, recruit."
---
On the outskirts of town, Luffy and Zoro boarded their small fishing boat—the only vessel they could "borrow" without technically stealing.
"You didn't have to hit him that hard," Zoro said, untying the rope.
"He needed it," Luffy said, his usual grin returning. "He was holding back."
A voice called from the shore. "WAIT!"
Koby stood at the water's edge, breathing hard from running. He snapped to attention, bringing his hand up in a crisp salute. Not to the Marines—to them.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then, one by one, the Marines lining the shore raised their own hands in salute. Ripper stood at the front, his expression stern but his eyes shining.
"Remember this moment, pirates!" Ripper called as their boat drifted away. "You've just been saluted by the United Marines!"
As the shore faded into the distance, Ripper turned to Koby. "One week without rations for all of us. Saluting pirates violates code."
Koby's eyes widened. "Sir, I'm sorry—"
"But," Ripper interrupted, placing a hand on Koby's shoulder, "any man who earns that kind of loyalty from an enemy... he must be quite a friend. Remember that, recruit. The sea is smaller than you think."
---
Three days at sea.
Three days of empty horizons and emptier stomachs.
"Are you sure this is the way to the Grand Line?" Luffy asked, his stomach growling loud enough to scare nearby fish.
"I'm sure we're going somewhere," Zoro grunted, rowing with steady, powerful strokes.
"You're lost, aren't you?"
"Shut up."
"You've been lost this whole time!"
"I SAID SHUT UP!"
Luffy's laughter was cut short by a shadow passing overhead. A large pink bird—absurdly pink—flew above them, a sack clutched in its talons.
"FOOD!" Luffy shouted, his eyes turning to stars.
Before Zoro could stop him, Luffy stretched his arms skyward, grabbing onto the bird's legs. The creature squawked in surprise, carrying Luffy upward.
"LUFFY, YOU IDIOT!" Zoro roared.
"IT'S GOT MEAT IN THE BAG! I CAN SMELL IT!"
The bird flew toward the horizon, with Luffy dangling beneath like bizarre bait. Zoro rowed furiously, muscles straining against the current.
Minutes stretched into an hour. Just as Zoro's arms began to burn, he spotted figures in the water ahead—two men balancing on a piece of driftwood.
"HELP!" one cried. "PLEASE!"
Zoro didn't slow. "Grab on if you can! I'm not stopping!"
The men scrambled aboard, dripping wet and gasping. "Thank you," the taller one panted. "We thought we were done for."
"Don't mention it," Zoro said, eyes fixed on the shrinking dot that was Luffy and the bird.
"So," the shorter man said, a strange smile spreading across his face. "About this boat..."
Zoro's hand went to his swords. "What about it?"
"It's just that we're pirates," the tall one said, drawing a knife. "And we work for Captain Buggy the Clown."
The shorter one produced a pistol. "And Captain Buggy really hates it when people take what belongs to his crew."
Zoro's three swords slid from their sheaths with a whisper of steel. "Funny," he said, a dangerous grin spreading across his face. "I was just thinking the same thing."
The bird carrying Luffy disappeared over the horizon.
The two pirates lunged.
And Zoro realized, with sinking clarity, that he was now lost, outnumbered, and sailing directly toward a pirate captain's territory without his captain.
The last thing he saw before the fight began was the taller pirate's knife flashing in the sunlight—heading straight for his throat.