"What happened? What's that commotion earlier?"
Everyone including Nami and the villagers arrived at the Arlong Park. They were puzzled by the sudden earthquake and thunderstorms they felt from the village.
"OOHH! Everyone's here! Great timing! I'm starving!" Luffy happily ran towards the group. He suddenly got hungry after having bouts with Luke.
"Luffy made sure the tower was destroyed completely." Luke pointed at the compressed debris of the tower. This is the result of his clash with Luffy.
...
"Arlong Park has fallen!"
"W-We really won?" A villager still couldn't believe what just happened.
"Hahaha! Of course we won!!" Genzo, the Cocoyashi guardian laughed.
"Everyone! Spread the news! Arlong has been defeated!" Another villager shouted as he happily ran away to spread the good news.
"YEEEAH!!" The villagers cried with tears of happiness as they ran in every direction.
As everyone celebrated, a group of people entered the area in Marine uniform.
"Chichichi! And here I thought some bigwigs entered this island to defeat Arlong. Turned out you are some nobodies!" The leading marine started as he grinned at the group.
Some remaining villagers hatefully glared at the newcomers.
"I am Colonel Nezumi of the marines! I came here to capture Arlong! But since he fled, I will confiscate everything he owns in this area including money and other valuables!"
"As for you twerps, you will be detained since you are pirates! Anyone who resist will be- AAAAH!!!" Nezumi felt someone tugging his neck as he choke on his speech.
Bang! Pow! Bang!
It was Zoro together with Sanji beat up the marines.
Zoro, Usopp, Liz and Johnny came to know the grievance of the villagers and the situation of Nami after they arrived.
After Zoro's group got noticed by some fishmen roaming around the village, their battle started that lasted for hours until the other villagers arrived and helped.
Even Usopp performed more than expected in that hours of battle by using sneak attacks at distance. He used any kinds of things he could find just to distract the enemies.
After being threatened by Nami, Nezumi and the other marines left the scene along with some curses and threats.
And just like the original story, the Cocoyashi villagers and other occupants all over the island gathered in one place to celebrate the defeat of Arlong that lasted for three days.
In these three days, Nami did what she needed to do. She visited her adoptive mother's grave, Bellemere. She also planned to return the money she stole from pirates in the East Blue over the years to the villagers, and changing her existing tattoo to a new one with a deeper meaning to it as her tribute for Bellemere, Nojiko and Genzo, the Cocoyashi's guardian.
While the Strawhats were having fun, Luke was on the ship, casually gazing at the night sky. He didn't show too much exposure to the crowd since it's not his forte.
As he was doing his relaxing time while enjoying his wine, a visitor suddenly popped out of nowhere.
"Hmm? Oh, bird guy."
The newcomer who came to see Luke this time was none other than Laffitte, one of his contractee.
"Master." Laffitte bowed as he assumed an elegant bow.
"Cut the formalities. What news did you brought this time?" Luke waved his hand as he didn't shift his gaze from the stars.
"The new world is getting more and more chaotic. One of the four Emperors, Kaido have gone insane. He's causing more trouble in the new world." Laffite said.
"Hmm. That's to be expected. And who's stopping him this time?" Luke nodded.
"There are three pirate groups that are mixing the troubled waters there.
The Red Haired Pirates
The Whitebeard Pirates
and this new Dark Horse of the sea, Seven Deadly Sins Pirates." Laffitte replied.
"What about the Marines? Which individuals they sent this time?" Luke raised his brows with interest. These four clashing pirate groups can really cause too much devastation in the New World. If this continues, more residents there will surely get affected.
"Bunch of Vice Admirals. They also sent two of the Admirals namely Kuzan and Akainu. But there's also a Dark Horse in their team and he's terribly strong." Laffitte's tone became serious.
"Strong one? Who?" Luke got interested by this news.
"The reason why the New World got more chaotic is because of him. Apparently, even the Marines have little control over him.
His name is Saitama, the wandering Marine."
Crack!
Luke broke the glass of his wine as he stared at Laffitte in disbelief.
"You got to be kidding me, right?"
"Uh no." Laffitte's eyes shone. This is the first time his master have shown obvious emotion when hearing that Dark Horse' name.
"Heh.. No wonder." Luke returned to his calm demeanor as he prepared another glass of wine. He squinted his eyes at Laffitte and asked, "Anything else?"
"Captain- I mean Blackbeard have successfully escaped. He also have a message to pass."
Laffitte took a sealed envelope and passed it to Luke. He continued,
"Other than that,here's some Devil Fruits you've requested on the list. Some were harvested and stolen by Blackbeard while some are still missing. Names and details are inside the scroll."
He took a bag that contained with various Devil Fruits and a scroll.
"Alright. Great job." Luke received the bag. He continued, "I have a quest for you. Within a week, find a certain place for me."
"No problem master. What's the name of the place?" Laffitte bowed.
"A flying Island controlled by Shiki. I also need his fruit. After you find that floating island, inform me and Blackbeard. We'll raid that place in secret." Luke said. He also passed a runic dagger to the latter.
"It shall be done." Laffitte bade his farewell as he flew away.
After a few minutes of silence, Luke sighed.
"Ahh.. What a total mess..."
...
Meanwhile, Strawhats departed the village days later. Of course Nami boarded the Ship as their official navigator.
Surprisingly, Yosaku and Johnny also boarded the ship. They were admired by the show of power from Luffy. They realized their new goal is to become the strongest while being side by side with their aniki, Zoro.
In the middle of their journey...
"Well, looks like our crew is getting bigger. Soon, we will need a bigger ship." Luke commented as he smiled at Luffy.
"Nooooo!! Going Merry is irreplaceable!! Don't you dare replace our ship!" Usopp growled at Luke in a exaggerated way. Apparently, he had come to have close ties to it because of Kaya.
They Strawhat crew indeed got bigger.
Luffy, Luke, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, Nami, Liz, Yosaku, and Johnny are now boarded the ship.
"We'll see. I heard the Grandline is a pretty dangerous sea.." Luke didn't comment further. Going Merry is an old model ship. Sooner or later, it definitely won't be able to make it if they can't find a proper shipwright.
"Tsk. Why are you saying ominous things? Do you want us to drown that badly?" Sanji immediately got annoyed.
Yosaku, Johnny and Usopp quickly ducked to a corner as they didn't want to join in with this so called 'Civil War'.
"I'm just sayin. Come on. It's not that bad of idea if we get a bigger and tougher one." Luke shrugged. His good intentions got questioned to so he also reasoned out.
Additionally, he has other secret plan pertaining to their ship.
"Nani? What's going on?" Luffy got puzzled by this sudden tension of the crew.
Nami also found the atmosphere wasn't right. She was also missing at the confrontation of Sanji and Luke at Cocoyashi village so she now became curious about what's happening.
"Oy Luffy. Was it true that you believe to whatever Luke says to you?" Zoro stared at Luffy with dead serious look on his face.
"Eh? Yeah! Why?" Luffy had a question mark on his face.
"So if he command something, you also follow?" Sanji asked.
"Huh? Luke never asked me to do something outside of training. Why?" Luffy scratched his head in confusion.
"He didn't gave you any command whatsoever? Then what about now? He suggested to replace our ship." Zoro pressed on.
"Are you, Rooku?" Luffy glanced back at Luke in confusion.
"Probably?" Luke shrugged his shoulders as he sighed. He then stepped forward as he announced,
"Let me introduce myself again. I am Luke, Vice-Captain and the Crew Commander of Strawhats. My role is to maintain the crew's harmony of my comrades and can also impose a command if the captain is not around or unable to make decisions for himself."
"I'm also responsible for the training of the crew until they become strong enough to help and lessen the burden of the fellow comrades."
"In addition, Luffy is the closest friend I have. Anyone who question and disrespect his authority as a captain will also face my wrath and you may not like it."
Luke finished his words as he waited for the crew to digest his words. He didn't show any kind of aura suppression and his words are delivered with indifference.
Zoro and Sanji went silent.
Sanji knew what is a crew commander. Ghin at the Baratie ship incident is also a crew commander. Being a crew commander indeed puts a heavy responsibility on oneself.
Zoro didn't know the role of a crew commander but also internally agreed about it's detail. As a pirate group that's growing little by little will definitely need someone who can maintain the balance of the crew.
For some reason, Nami had a good impression of Luke. With what he mentioned, it is clearly good for the crew to have such a position with heavy responsibility.
"Although I have sketchy actions, I only meant for the better outcome of everything."
"Also, Luffy has the final decision. He can do what he want as the Captain. I'm at his side supporting him too not as a Vice Captain or Crew Commander but as his friend." Luke said.
"Hehehe! That's right!" Luffy made a cheeky laugh.
"Now you're all clear about my role here, feel free to voice out your concerns. If not, I'll proceed to organize your training schedules." Luke crossed his arms patiently.
"Tsk!" Sanji and Zoro simultaneously snorted. Apparently, the two hard headed men finally calmed down.
"Alright. Since everyone is paying attention, let's proceed to training schedules."
"Raise your hand if you want to be trained by me."
Luke smiled at the group as he specially paid attention to Zoro and Sanji.
'Let's see if you boys can lower your pride this time!'
*****
A/N : I've finalized Luke's height. Pre-time skip Strawhats are here too so we can make some comparisons. Age will be the next update.
Luke - 6'1" / 185cm
Usopp - 5'8" / 174cm
Luffy - 5'8" / 172cm
Nami - 5'7" / 170cm
Sanji - 5'10" / 177cm
Zoro - 5'10" / 177cm
Yosaku - 6'1" / 185cm
Johnny - 6'1" / 186cm
Liz - 5'4" / 162cm
*****
Drop any comments if you have any suggestions to the story.
Next chapter in 3 days approx.