Volume4 : The Debt of a Straw Hat
The air in Orange Town tasted of dust and rage. A mob of villagers, armed with farming tools and burning fury, cornered the three strangers against the splintered wall of a ruined shop.
"You!" a burly man with a blacksmith's apron snarled, hefting a hammer. "Answer true! Are you pirates?"
Luffy, his straw hat tilted back, beamed as if offered a feast. "Yeah! I'm Monkey D. Luffy, and I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"
A collective roar of hatred erupted. Nami's face paled. "You absolute *idiot*!" she hissed, already turning to run.
The chase was on. Cobblestones echoed with the thunder of pursuing boots and angry shouts. Luffy, with the unconscious Zoro slung over his shoulders like a sack of rice, bounded ahead with impossible ease, his laughter cutting through the chaos.
"They're pretty good, these guys!" Luffy called back to Nami, who was sprinting for her life. "Ready to fight just to protect their own! A really good town!"
"They're trying to KILL us, you moron!" Nami screamed, ducking as a rock sailed past her head.
"Doesn't matter what they say," Luffy declared, his cheerful tone hardening into something unshakeable. "We're not stopping."
Their escape route toward the harbor was blocked by a small, trembling form. It was Chouchou, the scruffy terrier, baring his teeth at the oncoming villagers, a low growl rumbling in his chest. He stood his ground before the narrow alley, a tiny, furry dam against a human flood.
"Out of the way, mutt!" a villager yelled.
Chouchou didn't budge. He shot a quick, grateful look at Luffy—a silent acknowledgment of the debt paid for his master's ruined shop. *My turn*, the dog's stance said.
The moment of hesitation was all they needed. They darted past the loyal guardian, the sounds of the mob momentarily muffled by his defiant barks.
The harbor was in sight, their small stolen boat a beacon of escape. But standing between them and freedom were three familiar, bruised faces—members of Buggy's crew, their expressions twisted with vengeful glee.
"Well, well," the lead pirate, his nose still swollen from Zoro's fist, sneered. "Look what the cat dragged in. Or should I say, what the *coward* is dragging."
He swaggered forward and tapped the back of Zoro's hanging head with contempt. "Come on, swordsman. Don't be shy. Show us the face of the man who got beaten to a pulp."
A deadly silence fell, sharper than any blade. Nami held her breath.
Slowly, with a rustle of hair, Zoro's head lifted. One eye cracked open, a sliver of emerald fire in the shadow of his face. It wasn't the gaze of a beaten man. It was the cold, predatory glare of a wounded beast who had just identified its prey.
No words were spoken. None were needed.
The three pirates' bravado evaporated, replaced by primal, gut-churning terror. Their faces went ashen. A shared, strangled yelp escaped their throats, and they tripped over each other in their frantic, desperate scramble to get away, disappearing into the shadows like ghosts.
***
Back in the town square, Mayor Boodle groaned, pushing himself up onto his elbows. The concerned faces of his people swam into view.
"Mayor! You're awake!"
"We chased them out, the filthy pirates!"
"Good riddance! Scum of the sea!"
Boodle's old eyes, clouded with pain, suddenly cleared with a furious light. He shoved himself to his feet, swaying but unwavering. "You fools!" he roared, his voice cracking with emotion. "You have it all wrong! They saved us! They are *my* scum to insult, not yours!"
Ignoring their stunned cries, the old man took off toward the harbor, his heart pounding a desperate rhythm. *Please, let them still be there.*
He arrived just in time to see their small boat, a speck on the vast blue, pulling away from the dock. His shoulders slumped, a thank you dying on his lips.
On the deck, Luffy waved cheerfully. "Hey, Nami," he said, scratching his head. "I just remembered. I left that big bag of Buggy's treasure back on the dock. Figured they could use it to fix stuff."
The color drained from Nami's face, then flooded back in a tide of crimson rage. The image of gold and jewels—*her* gold and jewels—abandoned on a wooden plank, exploded in her mind.
"YOU… UNBELIEVABLE… IDIOT!" she shrieked, her voice reaching a pitch that scared nearby seagulls. She lunged at him, hands aiming for his throat. "I WILL DROWN YOU MYSELF! I WILL WEIGH YOU DOWN WITH ANCHORS AND WATCH YOU SINK!"
Luffy just laughed, dodging her furious grasp as the island of Orange Town shrunk behind them, its wounds beginning to heal.
***
Days later, under a calm sun, a needle flashed in Nami's skilled hands. She carefully stitched the torn brim of Luffy's straw hat, the one slashed by Buggy's knives. Luffy watched, utterly mesmerized, his usual boundless energy stilled by reverence.
"There," Nami said, biting off the thread. "Good as new. Now don't you dare—Luffy, don't poke it!"
*Poke.*
His finger went right through the freshly repaired weave, creating a new, perfectly round hole.
The *twang* of the thread snapping was followed by a beat of dead silence.
"GYAAAAAH!" Luffy wailed, staring at the hole in horror.
Nami said nothing. She simply raised the hand still holding the long sewing needle and, with terrifying precision and calm, stabbed it directly into the center of Luffy's forehead.
"OWWWWW! NAMI! THAT REALLY HURTS!"
The commotion stirred Zoro from his recovery sleep below deck. He stumbled into the sunlight, blinking. "Shut up. I'm starving. Is there food?"
"Food!" Luffy echoed, the needle still quivering in his skull like a bizarre feather. He spun around, and his eyes locked on the hazy shape on the horizon. "LAND! NAMI, LOOK!"
A lush, green island rose from the sea, promising cover and, more importantly to a ravenous rubber-man and a starving swordsman, the potential for a meal.
"Full speed ahead!" Luffy commanded, already salivating.
They made landfall on a quiet, secluded beach. The island was a tapestry of dense, silent forest, the air thick with the smell of earth and leaves. No signs of life, no smoke from chimneys.
"Zoro! Come on, let's explore!" Luffy yelled toward the boat, where Zoro had already slumped back against the mast, snoring. "Huh. Well, more for us! Come on, Nami!"
With a sigh, Nami followed her impulsive captain into the wall of greenery. The forest swallowed them whole, the sounds of the sea fading into a muffled stillness broken only by their footsteps and Luffy's loud calls for "MEAT!"
They pushed through a final thicket and stumbled into a small, sunny clearing.
And there, in the center, they froze.
It was a dog. Or it had been. It was monstrously large, its fur matted with old blood and dirt. But it was the eyes—clouded with pain, yet burning with a desperate, protective fury—that held them. And it was not alone.
Crouched behind its massive, trembling form were three children, their faces streaked with tears and dirt, clutching each other in terror.
The beast-dog let out a low, guttural growl that vibrated in their chests, baring teeth as long as daggers. It wasn't guarding an empty shop. It was guarding lives.
And standing in a loose, menacing circle around the clearing, emerging silently from the shadows of the trees, were figures clad in mismatched armor, their weapons drawn. Their leader, a man with a cruel smile and a scar cutting across his lips, stepped forward, his sword pointed not at the dog, but at the children behind it.
"Well, well," the scarred man said, his voice oily and cold. "More strays for the collection. The master did say he wanted a full set."
Luffy's hands curled into fists. Nami's breath hitched. The dog's growl deepened into a snarl, ready to sell its life.
But from the trees behind the armed men, a new voice cut through, lazy yet edged with a sleeping violence.
"You're blocking my way to lunch."
Zoro stood there, one sword already drawn, his single visible eye fixed on the scarred leader.
"And you're annoying me."
The air in Orange Town tasted of smoke and shattered ambition. Buggy the Clown, his grand plan to conquer the East Blue now a decade in ruins, felt the phantom ache of the Devil Fruit he'd lost. It was a hollow, hungry feeling. And then he saw her.
The girl with orange hair and a sack of *his* treasure slung over her shoulder, darting through the rubble.
"YOU!" Buggy's roar tore through the square. His upper torso launched from his lower half like a cannonball, a manic grin splitting his painted face. "THIEF! THAT'S MINE!"
Nami's blood ran cold. She heard the whistle of air, saw the disembodied horror rocketing toward her. She sprinted, the heavy bag of gold and jewels clinking a mocking melody against her back. *Almost to the alley, almost—*
"Gotcha!" Buggy cackled, a knife gleaming in his hand, inches from her neck.
A sandaled foot shot out, not at Buggy, but at his abandoned lower half, planted stupidly in the town square.
**THWACK.**
The kick landed with a sickening, rubbery thud right between the legs of Buggy's trousers.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAH!" The airborne Buggy's eyes bulged. His charge became a wobbling, agonized plummet. He crashed face-first into the cobblestones, a high-pitched whimper escaping his lips.
Luffy landed beside him, tilting his straw hat back. "Hey. Clown. You're fighting *me*." His voice was flat, devoid of anger, which made it infinitely more terrifying. "Nami! Drop the bag and run!"
Nami skidded to a halt, clutching the treasure sack to her chest like a lifeline. Her eyes, wide with fear a second ago, hardened into flint. "Drop it? I stole it fair and square! This is *mine* now. A pirate has no right to lecture me about stealing!"
From the ground, Buggy trembled—a tremor of pure, unadulterated rage. "You… you little street rat… You dare?!"
"I dare," Nami shot back, her voice shaking but defiant. "I haven't done anything a pirate wouldn't do! This is just business!"
"BUSINESS?!" Buggy shrieked. His fury became a physical force. With a series of wet *pops*, his body disassembled further. An arm shot off, fingers grasping a knife. A leg launched itself, foot aiming for her knees. He became a storm of vengeful body parts.
Luffy's eyes, however, were locked on one detail. The flying fist, the soaring head—but the feet, still in their boots, could only hop. They couldn't fly.
"Huh," Luffy said.
As a knife-wielding hand swooped at Nami, Luffy casually bent down and picked up Buggy's left foot.
"Hey! Put that down! That's premium!" Buggy's head yelled, swerving.
Luffy ignored him. He looked at the sole of the foot, then back at the furious clown head chasing Nami around a collapsed cart. A slow, mischievous grin spread across Luffy's face.
He wiggled his fingers.
And tickled the arch of Buggy's foot.
"Wah—ah? AHAHAHA! NO! STOP THAT!" Buggy's head convulsed in mid-air, his attack on Nami going wide as uncontrollable laughter hijacked his system. "THAT'S CHEATING! AHAHAHA! DON'T—!"
Luffy stopped tickling. He then proceeded to smash the foot repeatedly against a nearby wall. *Thud. Thud. CRACK.*
"MY METATARSALS!" Buggy howled, tears of pain and humiliation mixing with his greasepaint.
Seizing the opening, Nami swung the heavy treasure bag like a mace. "Stay down!"
Buggy's head ducked, and his disembodied hand shot out, snatching the strap of the bag. "Oh no you don't!"
They were locked in a desperate tug-of-war, Nami's muscles straining, Buggy's hand anchored in the air by sheer will. "Let… GO!" she grunted.
"My… TREASURE!" Buggy snarled. His other hand, still holding a knife, reared back for a lethal strike. The blade glinted, poised to plunge into Nami's heart.
Luffy was a blur of motion. "You're not listening."
His foot connected with the side of Buggy's head with a sound like a cracked bell. The clown's head shot forward, slammed into the overstuffed treasure sack, and ripped straight through the burlap.
Gold coins and gemstones exploded into the air like a glittering supernova, raining down around them. In the heart of that shower, something else fluttered free—a weathered, rolled-up parchment.
Luffy's hand snapped out, catching it. He unrolled it just enough to see the intricate, impossible lines. The Grand Line.
Buggy, momentarily dazed, shook his head. "Enough games! Reassemble!" he commanded. His scattered limbs began to fly toward him.
But only his head, hands, and feet snapped back into place. The rest—his torso, arms, legs—remained scattered in the square. He looked down, bewildered, at his horrifying new form: a floating head with hands and feet attached directly to it, like a grotesque toddler's drawing.
"What…?" He twisted in the air. Then he saw. While he was distracted, Nami had swiftly, efficiently, tied his remaining body parts together with strong sailor's rope, trussing them up like a bundle of firewood. A smug, satisfied smirk played on her lips.
Realization dawned on Buggy's face, followed by utter horror. He was defeated. Not by overwhelming force, but by a trick. A *clown's* trick.
"Gomu Gomu no…" Luffy stretched his arm back, fist aimed at the helpless, floating clown head.
"...PISTOL!"
The punch lifted Buggy into the sky. His shrill, fading cry— "I HATE THIS TOWN!"—was the last sound he made before vanishing into a twinkle above the clouds.
***
The dust settled. Luffy, Zoro (who had been leaning against a wall, looking vaguely bored), and Nami walked out of Orange Town. Nami, ever practical, had salvaged what she could, splitting the loot into two sacks.
"Here," she said, handing one to Luffy. "Your share. For the… distraction."
Luffy took it without looking, his eyes on the horizon. Zoro shouldered his three swords. Behind them, the townspeople were finally emerging, finding their mayor, Boodle, unconscious near the town square.
A brave villager approached Luffy. "What happened to Mayor Boodle?"
Luffy glanced back. "Oh. He was in the way. I knocked him out." He said it as casually as mentioning the weather.
The villagers stared, a mix of gratitude and terror in their eyes. Their savior was a pirate. A terrifyingly simple, brutally honest pirate.
As the trio reached the outskirts, Nami looked at her bulging sack of treasure, a calculating light in her eyes. It was enough. It had to be enough.
Luffy stopped, looking at the map of the Grand Line in his hands, then at the path ahead. He grinned.
"Alright! Next island!"
But as they turned toward the coast where the Going Merry awaited, a new figure stepped onto the road, blocking their way. He was tall, clad in a dark suit, with a face of cold, bureaucratic authority. Behind him, a squad of grim-faced Marines fanned out, their rifles leveled.
The man held up an official-looking poster. On it was a fresh, smudged but recognizable sketch of a straw-hatted boy.
"Monkey D. Luffy," the man intoned, his voice like cracking ice. "By the authority of Marine Branch 16, you are under arrest for the destruction of Government property, assault on a World Government-affiliated mayor, and piracy. The bounty of 30,000,000 Berries on your head is now official."
He crumpled the poster and let it drop.
"And the order is *dead or alive*."
The Marines cocked their weapons in unison. The *click-clacks* echoed in the sudden, deadly silence.
Zoro's hand drifted to his sword hilts. Nami's grip tightened on her treasure, her face pale. Luffy's grin didn't fade, but it sharpened, turning feral.
The man in the suit smiled, a thin, cruel thing. "Did you really think beating a second-rate clown meant you were free to go?"
He raised his hand.
**"OPEN FIRE."**