After a wild dash, the three of them stopped on the main street of the small town.
"We... we escaped..."
Facing the panting Nami, Roman calmly spoke while seriously preparing a fitness plan for her.
"Even if you're our navigator and don't need to fight, your stamina is too poor."
"Who's your navigator—"
Hmm?!
Facing Roman's suddenly cold gaze, Nami had to close her eyes and nod with tears in her heart.
"Yes, yes, it's all my fault for holding you back..."
However:
This guy named Roman is so strong!
Facing the notorious Buggy Pirates, he came and went freely, seemingly invincible. And he ran all the way, holding her with one hand and carrying a big iron cage with the idiot 'captain' inside with the other, without even breaking a sweat.
Maybe, I can trick this guy into dealing with...
"Wow, look at this dog, it's not moving at all."
Having escaped from the ropes during the run, Luffy, now out of danger, started his usual antics again. — This time, his target was a dog by the roadside: just an ordinary village dog, squatting motionlessly in front of a small shop.
"Is this dog dead? Could it be a statue~~"
"Gomu Gomu no... Two-Finger Zen!"
He stretched his arm out of the cage, poking the dog's eyes with his index and ring fingers. Then:
Crunch,
"Ahhh, it hurts!"
Ah, this...
Watching the heated battle between the man and the dog through the cage, Roman began to reflect again on whether he had fed Luffy too much.
"What an idiot!"
Nami, beside him, was also speechless at the 'man-dog war' unfolding.
"But the more I think about it, the more I feel like I'm just an idiot too."
She patted her clothes, took out a key, and threw it to the side of the cage.
"While you were fighting, I stole the key." The orange-haired girl pouted unhappily, "Seriously, I didn't steal any treasure or navigation charts..."
"Haha, great."
Luffy, who had been 'AFK' in the cage, cheered, "This cage has caused me so much trouble~~"
"Hmph, it's your own fault for being stupid."
Roman snorted speechlessly, but considering she 'recruited' a navigator...
Picked up—
Gulp~!
"Ahhh, stupid dog, spit out the key!!"
?
"Luffy, be honest with me, are you sure you ate the Rubber Fruit and not the 'Dumb Fruit'?!"
Not only lowering his own IQ but also the IQ of surrounding creatures...
Rubbing his temples, Roman sighed.
"Alright, let's have some dog meat hot—"
"Hey!"
"You guys, stop bullying Shushu~~"
An old man wearing leather armor and protective gear, with a long spear on his back and glasses on his face, ran over angrily.
"So, you're the mayor of this small town?"
"This dog is called Shushu?"
"Then why is it squatting here~~" Faced with Roman's group's question, the old man sighed.
"This shop," the old mayor pointed to the small shop behind him, "was opened by an old friend of mine and Shushu together."
"To them, this shop is their most precious memory..."
"But the pirates have come." Nami asked in confusion, "Didn't the townspeople evacuate? Why leave this dog to guard the shop? Isn't your friend afraid it will be killed by the pirates—"
"He is already dead."
The old mayor sighed again,
"A few months ago, my old friend fell ill and went to the hospital, and then..."
"So this dog has been guarding here, waiting for its owner to return?" Faced with Nami's sentiment, the old mayor smiled.
"No, Shushu is a smart dog. It must know its owner will never come back."
"It's just that this shop is its most precious memory, so it keeps guarding here." As he spoke, the mayor covered his forehead, his voice trembling.
"What a foolish dog!"
"Heh, old man, you're not much different, are you?"
Leaning against the shop door with his arms crossed, Roman lifted his eyelids, "You came to check on the town at this time because you can't let go of it, right?"
"In the end, you're not much smarter than this dog~~"
"Hehe,"
Faced with Roman's 'sarcasm,' the old mayor smiled and shook his head.
"That's right, this town was built bit by bit from desolation by us—a group of refugees whose homes were destroyed by pirates! It carries our efforts, sweat, joys, and sorrows! So, so..."
As he spoke, he took off his glasses, and when he put them back on, his eyes were filled with determination.
"So, I'm old! I can't run anymore."
"If I have to die, I want to die in my own home..."
...
"Roman,"
Luffy in the cage pressed his straw hat, a stark contrast to his usual carefree self.
"We're going back."
He looked up, his eyes serious! As if he had become a different person.
"I'm going to beat that red-nosed guy!"
What a stubborn guy...
"As you wish,"
Roman stood up and stretched his muscles.
"Captain."
"Hey, hey, you three young people should go take shelter~~" Seeing the three... no, two of them looking like they were about to 'start a fight,' the old mayor hurriedly advised.
"And one of you is still locked in a cage—"
Snap,
Roman, half-squatting, grabbed the thumb-thick iron bars of the cage with both hands, and then:
Crack,
In an instant, Roman's arms bulged with veins, his muscles swelled, and his originally loose sleeves burst open!
With muscles rippling, he forcefully bent the thick steel cage, creating a hole big enough for a person to crawl through.
"Done."
"Thanks, Roman!"
Freed, Luffy stretched his shoulders, looking excited and eager.
"Let's go beat up that red-nosed guy and his men!"
"Sure."
Boom,
The old town mayor, dressed in leather armor, was so scared that he fell to the ground! Even though Roman was just a handsome, sunny boy, he possessed inhuman strength that could bend steel...
Amazing!
On the other side, Nami gained a deeper understanding of this boy named Roman. Such strength was already on par with those guys, right?
If, if this straw hat-wearing guy had the same strength. If she could trick them into coming to her hometown, maybe she could...
But, looking at the two 'pirates' who were ready to go back and mess with the Buggy Pirates, Nami's eyes flashed.
Two pirates ready to 'act chivalrously', how stupid!
I can't stand it...
"Alright!"
The old town mayor beside her also felt his long-lost 'blood boiling', "As the mayor, if I don't protect the town, who will? I'll go too—"
Bang,
Unfortunately, before he could finish his heroic speech, Luffy pressed the back of his head and slammed him into the door of a nearby shop.
His eyes rolled back, and he fainted on the spot.
"Luffy, what are you doing?!"
Before the fight even started, he knocked out an ally, instantly making the girl named Nami furious! If Roman wasn't beside her, she would have made this straw hat-wearing idiot taste her fist...
"Haha, this is a fight between pirates."
Luffy turned to the dog at the shop entrance, "Shushu, protect your owner's friend! We're going to take care of some business—"
"Woof woof woof!"
"Do you think a dog can understand what you're saying?"
"Haha, the old man said Shushu is very smart..."
Luffy and Nami's bickering continued all the way, making Roman shake his head with a smile. This strange atmosphere, compared to the killing intent and greed before battles in the past:
Not bad.
————————
"Hehehe, I thought you had run away."
In front of the ruins in the center of the town, a group of dark pirates faced the trio who had returned, their eyes almost spitting fire!
"Red nose,"
Luffy stepped forward, eagerly rubbing his fists.
"I've decided, I'm going to punch you away!"
——————
Dead silence!
Then:
"Ahhhh, what did you say, straw hat kid!"
"Don't you know Captain Buggy hates it when people mention his red nose?"
"Yeah, the red nose is the captain's taboo. When he hears it, he goes berserk..."
"And what's wrong with a red nose? Isn't it still a nose? You're being appearance discriminatory—"
...
"Red nose, red nose, red nose..."
The clown-like Captain Buggy, with veins popping on his forehead, waved his hands: with a series of thuds, the pirates who were jumping around just now fell to the ground.
"If you wanted to anger me, you've succeeded—"
!!!
A wave of fiery aura swept across the battlefield, and the boy named Luffy looked at the pirates on the ground with knives in their backs, his face full of anger.
"Casually harming your own companions, someone like you—"
Whoosh—
In a flash, he suddenly rushed in front of the clown Buggy, his clenched fist launching the first attack!
"—is not fit to be a captain!"