It took a few hours, but they had arrived at Shells Town. Luffy and Coby had gotten off and stared at the town while Nami tied up the boat. "Alright." she said as she glared at Luffy. "This is where we part ways pirate." She took her bag of treasure and stormed off, leaving them both to do whatever they wanted.
"She looked like she wanted to kill you when you said you're a pirate Luffy." Coby said as he watched Nami walk off. Luffy just laughed as he watched her leave.
"I like her." he said as he kept laughing.
"I still can't believe you wanted to come here." Coby said as they both started walking into town.
"You wanted to join the marines right?" Luffy asked as he was looking at a fruit vendor. "Well then here's your chance." he said as he bought a pear before taking a bite. Coby smiled at the thought of his dream coming true.
"Thanks Luffy." Coby said with gratitude in his voice. "But why did you want to come here as well?"
"I want to recruit Zoro as my first mate." Luffy said. As soon as he spoke Zoro's name, everyone in town backed away from him in fear. Luffy just grinned at everyone's reaction.
"Why would you want to recruit that guy?!" Coby yelled as they started walking again. "Haven't you heard what they said about that guy? He's a Pirate HUNTER. Know why they call him that? It's because he HUNTS PIRATES!"
"So?" Luffy asked with his pinky up his nose, leaving Coby to gape at his blatant stupidity of all this. "If he's strong, I want him in my crew. Besides, he sounds cool." he said before he looked forward again as he asked "Who runs the marine base here again? Moron?"
"No. It's Morgan." Coby said. Just like with Zoro, all the townsfolk backed against the walls of the buildings. Luffy burst into laughter, remembering how funny all this was.
"I'd expect that reaction from hearing Zoro's name, but from Captain Morgan?" Coby said as they kept walking. Luffy just pulled his hat over his eyes as he frowned in thought. Morgan was one of many 'honorable marines' that Luffy had encountered. He remembered when all those marines had come after him and his crew, throwing wave after wave at them, all in the name of upholding their twisted sense of justice.
"Here it is." Coby said, bringing Luffy out of his thoughts. They both looked up at the the building, surrounded by a stone wall with an iron gate that read MARINES on it. Coby couldn't believe his eyes as he started saying his goodbyes, only to notice a moment later that Luffy was now hanging off the wall, peering over it. "What are you doing Luffy?!"
"Looking for Zoro." Luffy replied before jumping off to move further down to the wall and jump up to peer over it again. Coby walked over to him.
"He wouldn't be out in the middle of the base Luffy." Coby said as he started to climb up next to Luffy.
"Then who's that?" Luffy asked. Coby looked at where Luffy was looking before nearly having a heart attack at the sight of him. There, in the middle of the yard, tied to what looked like a crucifix, was Roronoa Zoro. He wore a white shirt, black pants, black combat boots, a green sash around his waist, and a black bandana covering his green hair with 3 earings on his left ear. Though he looked like shit, he was eminating a dangerous aura around himself.
"No way." Coby squeeked out. "It's really him. Pirate Hunter Zoro."
Luffy stared at Zoro with a smile under his hat, happy to see his first mate and friend again. He couldn't help the smile that seemed to take up his whole face as memories came back to him. He was so happy, he almost didn't notice Zoro call to them.
"Hey, you two." Zoro said, making Coby flinch. "You're bothering me. Beat it."
Luffy just smile as he heard a ladder clack against the stone wall next to him and Coby. He looked to his side to see a little girl with big brown eyes and brown hair tied into little pigtails at the top of the ladder with a finger to her lips, telling them to be quiet before jumping over to the other side. Luffy watched her while Coby started freaking out, calling to the girl to stop. She walked over to Zoro smiling.
"You must be hungry." she said, clearly not intimidated by Zoro glaring at her. "I made you some food."
"Whatever it is, take it and scram kid." Zoro said.
"They're rice balls." she said as she opened the clothed item in her hands, revealing two big white rice balls. "They're my first time making them, so I hope they're good." Luffy watched as Zoro looked at them like starved animal before looking back at the girl. "I don't want those kid. Leave me alone."
"But-"
"Do you have a hearing problem or something?" he shouted, clearly losing his patience. He was about to say more, but was stopped when a group had started walking towards them both.
"Temper temper Zoro." came a whiney voice. Everyone looked to see a few marine soldiers around a blond lanky kid with his hair in an oval shape on his head. He wore a purple suit, white shoes, and a smug grin as walked towards them. Zoro sneered as the man looked at the girl. "Oh. Rice balls? Don't mind if I do." he said as he took one and started eating it.
"Hey! That's for Zoro, not you." the little girl said before the blond teen spit the food out in disgust. "What is this?! It's got sugar in it. You're supposed to use Salt! Salt!"
"But I thought it would taste better if it was sweet." she said, sounding sad.
"Well you thought wrong you little brat!" he screamed as he knocked the other rice ball out of her hand and started stomping both into the dirt.
"Stop!" she screamed, trying to get him to stop, but failed as he kept stomping until it was nothing but a white pile with his shoe print on them. She stared at it as she tear up and sniffled. "But I...I worked so...so hard on those."
"Ugh. This is why I hate kids." the teen said. "Don't you know the rules of this base kid? Anyone who helps criminals in anyway are to be executed on sight. By order of Captain Axe Hand Morgan." He watched the little girl pale before ordering one of the marines to throw her over the fence.
"But...but Helmeppo sir. She's just a little girl." the marine said. Helmeppo grabbed him by the collar before pulling him face to face.
"I said throw her over the fence. If you're not gonna follow my orders, I may have to tell my father of your insubordination." he said. The marine looked frightened, but lowered his head as he walked over and picked the girl up and walked toward the fence. He told her to curl into a ball before lobbing her over screaming. Coby looked horrified as he watched her get tossed over and head for the ground. He closed his eyes, waiting to hear her smack into the ground. Her screaming stopped and both Coby and the girl opened their eyes to see that Luffy was standing there, holding her up. Coby looked at where Luffy was a moment ago, then back at where he was now, blinking few times.
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