So, did you get what you wanted?" Nami asked Zack as they climbed the stairs and reached the top of the deck.
"Yep!" Zack brightly smiled as he replied.
"Then, we got nothing to do here. But, I feel like we will be in huge trouble for attacking the Marine Base." Nami spoke with a worried expression.
"Indeed! I wonder what kind of bounty will they give me. Since I told that I am the vice-captain of Straw Hat Pirates, I'm pretty sure that they will give a higher bounty to Luffy even if he wasn't here." Zack answered.
"I wonder if they will try to search your information and find out about your background," Nami questioned.
"Well, I don't think marines have so much leisure time to go through all that trouble." Zack shrugged his shoulders. And, it's not like this person has a powerful background.
Or, is it that Oda never really thought about it? Sometimes, Zack wonders if this person has some complicated background because of that insane boost in a healing capacity.
But, he looked more like a filler character so Zack never thought much about him. The only reason he remembered it was because this guy appeared in the first episode.
When you watch One Piece too many times, you will eventually memorize the first episode.
'Anyway, it doesn't matter much. If this person has a complicated background, I will eventually learn about it. For now, I should just focus on my current problem.'
'Since I literally destroyed the Marine Base, I will definitely get a bounty. This time, Luffy's bounty might be higher. That means our trouble will be much higher as well.'
'If I get the bounty, I need to work even harder to catch up to Zoro. Currently, I am only a few steps away from reaching his strength. If I master Tekkai and Soru, I will have the same strength as him.'
'That being said, Zoro's strength will also grow continuously. So, I can't take a break.'
"Zack, hurry up and unfold the sails! We need to leave." Nami shouted for the cabin which woke him up. Zack immediately unfolded the sails and finally, they moved back to Cocoyasi Village.
After two hours, they finally reached Cocoyasi Village. As they landed on the island, they could hear the villagers cheering and singing. Hearing this voice, Nami suddenly dropped her gold and turned around.
She wrapped her hands around Zack and tears fell down her eyes.
"T-tt-thank you so much... They have never been this happy before."
Zack sighed and patted her head.
"You should thank Luffy. After all, he is the one who defeated Arlong."
Nami nodded her head and left his embrace. Just when she was about to run away, she got closer to Zack and kissed his cheeks.
Her face turned red and the next moment, she ran away leaving the money behind.
Zack stood there with shock and disbelief. His right hand slowly reached to his cheek as he covered it and laughed.
"YES!"
A roar resounding the entire island rang. At the same time, a strange aura burst out of him. Zack who was unknown to the burst of this aura took the bag of money and ran toward the village.
Thud!
After he left far away, a bird fell to the ground unconscious.
Nami dashed toward the post-Arlong Park where she saw people laughing and dancing. When they saw Nami, they all tried to talk to her but she didn't listen.
She entered the post-Arlong Park and saw Luffy sitting over the rubble while Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp were just standing.
"Ah! Nami!"
Luffy raised his hand with a big smile when he saw her. Nami rushed toward him and hugged him.
"T-t-thank you, Luffy!"
"You are my friend, Nami." Luffy separated her from his embrace and spoke with a serious expression.
Nami wiped away her tears while nodding her head. Soon, a bright smile appeared on her lips.
"You guys took long enough. Did you encounter some problem?" Zoro asked as he saw Zack with bruises and wounds.
"We encountered someone from Grandline." Nami spoke with a serious expression.
"Grandline?" Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp widened their eyes as they looked at Zack.
"Don't think too much! Although Grandline is known as Pirate's graveyard, not everyone is strong as Mihawk. Some are truly weak. Of course, the main reason I won was because of a dumb mistake from the marines. By the way Luffy, we might get wanted tomorrow." Zack explained as he put the baggage on the ground.
"Really?" Zack's eyes twinkled like the stars as he asked.
"Since I basically attacked Marine Base under your command, you would also get a bounty, probably more than mine. Although I am not sure how much?" Zack answered.
"Hooray!" Luffy raised both of his hands and went to the crowd while cheering.
"How strong was he?" Zoro asked with a serious expression.
"You could probably defeat him with your current strength if you find two more swords. Of course, he didn't complete his training before heading out from Marine Headquarters so he was quite weak."
"But, on other hand, I managed to get my hands on something. Nami, can you knock out Luffy and bring him here?" Since only Nami could show her dominance over his idiot captain, he immediately asked her to bring Luffy back.
Nami showed an exhausted expression but still went there. Zack sat down and so did the others. After a few minutes, Nami returned with the marks of a few punches on Luffy's face.
"Luffy, I know something about you. I don't know much but I do something. So, before I make any mistake that might offset you, I want to confess something to you."
Hearing his words, Luffy looked at him with confusion while others' expressions turned serious, especially Nami.
"Luffy, I don't know how your mind works. I truly admit my defeat about that which is why I want you to be frank. Well, you are truly frank so, let me ask you something."
Zack took a deep breath and asked "Am I allowed to kill our enemy for the purpose of benefit?"
Luffy looked at him with a weird expression and said "Of course! We are pirates, not saints. If it is your enemy, then you are allowed to kill him."
Hearing his words, Zack suddenly remembered the scene with Luffy, Shanks, and the bandits. Beckman said something just like this at that time.
He smiled and said "I know we are not heroes but it doesn't mean we will simply kill innocent people. I am not a murderous beast but there is a person that I want to kill. Of course, it has a reason but I am not going to tell you now."
"Once we go there, you will eventually understand why. Of course, if we go there, he is bound to be our enemy."
Luffy nodded his head and asked, "Can you tell me where will we go?"
"I just said that I won't tell you. We eventually find out." Zack rolled his eyes and answered.
"Come on, tell me!" Luffy continued to force him but Zack didn't answer.
"Now, there is another thing that I wanted to say. I said that I fought a Marine Captain from Grandline, right? I won by dumb mistake of my enemy and after that, I did something cruel for the first time in my life."
At this moment, Zack's expression turned sour as he lowered his head. Seeing his expression, others also made serious expressions. They looked at Nami who also had the same expression.
Zack took a deep breath and said "I told you guys before there is an exercise pattern created by the marines to train their soldiers in a short time, right? These exercises are called Rokushiki."
"Of course, not every marine can train these but those who can are quite strong but it also depends on how much you practice them. There are people who have been training these six styles from the moment they can remember and they are truly strong."
"But, then there are people who have barely started. These people are quite weak just like that Marine Captain. These six styles are 'Soru' 'Tekkai' 'Geppo' 'Shigan' 'Kami-e' Rokuogan' 'Rankyaku'."
"For now, I managed to get 'Soru' and 'Tekkai'. Soru is a simple technique where you need to kick the ground ten times in a blink of an eye. Doing so, you will be able to move so fast that you can easily do most of the attacks."
"Then, there is Tekkai that allows our body to be strong enough to block the sword. Yes, our body would be strong enough to block the sword. This is an extremely powerful technique but it is also very hard to try."
"I don't think both of these suit Luffy. You need to figure out your own way to train these. Soru would be best for Sanji. As for others, we also need to train both."
"We don't know what's coming for us in the Grandline. So, let's get stronger!"
"Yesss!" Everyone raised their hands and shouted, even Luffy did the same.
"But before that, let's eat something!"