The trip was quick and without many difficulties. The pirates took Boothill in the direction of the nearest populated island. They were still scared as they felt they were being constantly watched. The next stop was an island located in Goa Kingdom, East Blue.
The sea was calm, and this caught Boothill's attention. With the information collected from the pirates, he discovered a lot of things, such as how East Blue was full of smaller pirate crews and the villages nearby, but also about sea beasts and how huge natural disasters are for those who sail the sea.
Boothill remained seated in the captain's chair, enjoying the wind and some time to relax. The ship's kitchen had plenty of food, which he took advantage of to eat meat other than that of birds. "We've arrived at Dawn Island!" The boat's lookout warned, still tense about all the events, but he seemed to calm down. "Let's all get off the boat, if you don't listen to me, you'll get shot just like your captain." The scout trembled even more, and all his companions nodded, everyone starting to get off, people looked apprehensively at the pirate ship that was on the coast.
Getting up from his chair, he simply put his hat back in place and was the last to leave the boat, keeping a firm eye on those pirates. Noticing the fear of some people, Boothill simply turned to one of the people working on unloading the local boats. "You there, is there a navy base around here? I need to turn in some idiots." With Boothill's words, the man managed to calm down and gave the necessary information. Without complaining, the pirates went in the direction they were given, with Boothill right behind, pointing one of his guns at them. It wasn't too difficult for the marines to discover the pirates' identities, since one of them had a small bounty of 20,000 Bellies, which was an extremely low price compared to the bounty posters Boothill saw along the way. But Boothill was unable to obtain Ron's bounty at the time, after all, he did not bring it to them.
Counting the money he had obtained, the cowboy only returned his attention to the marines after remembering something. "Thank you very much, and good luck on your job, and one more thing, I still need to continue my travels, but I don't have a boat. Is there any way I can keep these idiots' boat?" Boothill, as an ex-police officer, had respect for those who worked in the same type of area, it was difficult for him to keep the boat since they would have to go through an investigation following what he remembered from his studies to work as a police officer.
The marines fell into thought, Normally it was not possible to get the boat in normal ways. "Well, the boat also comes with a reward too. You know where Ron is, right? If he didn't escape, we can send a small group towards the island and apprehend the suspect. The bounty will be given to you, and then we can find a way to compensate you with a smaller boat." Boothill just smiled, nodding, and said goodbye. Besides the bounty money, he took what was on the boat for himself.
With the information the marines gave, there was a small inn nearby for him to spend time in until Ron was apprehended. Boothill marveled at the architecture of the island, it was very different from the huge concrete jungle that was the cities. "The builders here are definitely great, haha. I wish they were like that where I came from, a bunch of lazy people." But Boothill felt uncomfortable, especially with a boy with a scar near his eye staring at him.
"What's up, kiddo? Are you lost or something? Better luck next time, it's my first time here." The boy continued to look at him approaching in a somewhat comical way, analyzing him from top to bottom, with his neck stretching in abnormal ways. "What in the world is wrong with your neck!?" Boothill stepped back, he was completely dumbfounded by what that boy was doing.
"Ooo, are you a robot!? How do you eat? How do you shit?" Boothill was sure the boy's eyes seemed to shine like stars, but the questions were getting stranger and stranger. "Well, maybe I'm a bit of a robot and all, but about the rest... I don't need it, at least I haven't needed it for a while now." Boothill put his hands up as if asking the boy to move away, but without aggression, the boy then began to return his neck to its normal place. "I am Monkey D. Luffy, and I will be the king of the pirates! Just wait; in two months I will finally begin my journey!" He said excitedly with his fist raised.
He listened to the boy talking with all the will and determination in the world, but his objective intrigued Boothill. "The king of pirates?...Kid, you know pirates are just a bunch of thieves, right? Why do you want to be something like that?" He felt that his question would lead him to a strange destination, but he preferred to continue, after all, it would be the same thing as hearing from a child that wants to become the leader of a mafia or something.
Luffy just smiled broadly at the cowboy's question.
"Thief? No! Being the king of the pirates is being the freest person! I'm leaving on a voyage in two months, and I want you on my crew!" Luffy was hopeful about Boothill's answer. "Sorry kid, but I'm not going to become a pirate." Luffy let out a sigh but remained happy; after all, he can't give up at the moment, can he? "I refuse your refuse!" He spoke triumphantly, placing his arms intertwined.
"What... you can't do that!" Boothill was irritated with the boy who was still trying to get him to join a crew. "Go find another chicken for your ranch! I'm not joining a bunch of crazy people!" And so Boothill continued to go to the inn, but he felt that the boy was much more than he seemed.