Chapter 4.
Sucker for Pain.
Sorry this is late, had chaos with my birthday. I’m going to be going on a short hiatus. At most it will be two, maybe three months. I just need to catch up on some irl stuff.
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No one’s bothered to move the ladder and rope, it's still there when we return to the courtyard where Zoro is tied up. I even spot my discarded thongs, which I put on before following Luffy, going over the wall using Rika’s setup.
“Hey!” Luffy greets casually walking up to Zoro.
“You again. Don’t you have things to do?” He groans. “If this is about me joining your pirate crew, my answer is still no!”
“Call me Luffy! And this is Tahi, he, uh she, they?” Luffy shoots me a questioning look, I shrug, tilting my hand in a so-so gesture not feeling gender inclined right now. “They’re my first mate. I’ll untie you if you promise to join my crew, ok!?” Luffy grins.
“You’re not listening! I’ve got my own ambition and it doesn’t involve becoming a Stinking Pirate!” Zoro snaps.
‘Talk about hangry..’ I roll my eyes, rummaging through my pocket looking for my knife. ‘Ok, knife, knife where'd I put it?’
“What’s wrong with being a pirate?” Luffy asks, offended.
“They’re despicable! Like I’d ever wanna join up with one.”
“Oh! Gimme a break! You’re a bounty hunter! Who everyone thinks is some vicious demon always out for blood.”
‘Why do I have so many fucking pockets!? Oh, hey I found my glasses! I totally forgot I had them on me when I went to the beach! I won't put them on just to have them get smashed in a fight, but good to know they're there.*
“I don’t care what people think.” Zoro grumbles. “I live by my own code.. I’ve never done anything I regret, and I don’t intend to in the future. I will make it through this challenge. And after that, I’ll accomplish what I want.”
“Yeah… that’s great.” Luffy looks at him blankly, then crosses his arms stubbornly. “I’ve already decided that you’re gonna be on my crew.”
“What!? You can’t do that!”
“Eh, there's no point fighting against this, when the captain's made up his mind there's no changing it.” I snort, finally finding one of my knives. “Just accept that you're stuck with us, buddy.” I smirk, getting to work on the ropes.
“I heard you can use a sword!” Luffy continues ignoring us.
“Yeah I can!” Zoro indignantly shouts. “But.. that captain’s idiot son took mine away.” He grumbles.
“Guess I’ll just have to go get it back for you.”
“So if you want your sword, you’re just gonna have to join my crew.”
“Now you’re really pissing me off!” Luffy ignores him and runs towards the outer wall laughing.
“Hey genius, the base is in the opposite direction!” Zoro calls out.
“Huh?” Luffy pauses, then grins, stretching his arm back towards the base.. “Gum Gum… Rocket!” and he goes flying into the base.
“What the fuck!?” Zoro exclaims, staring after Luffy.
“Oh, he ate a devil fruit.” I say distractedly. “The hell is with these knives being so blunt!?” I groan, hacking away at the ropes, cutting maybe one or two strands of fibre with every pass.
“What the hell are you doing!? Stop that!” He shouts at me.
“Cutting you free.” I reply with a shrug and he gives me an unimpressed look. “Oh shuddup, don't look at me with that tone of voice!” I huff, jumping when I hear a thunderous crash reverberate from inside the marine base.
“What the hell was that!?”
“Sounded like a slab of garnet falling over. Probably Luffy making a mess and stirring up the marines.” I take a moment to examine the knives, finding both to be completely blunt. “Boszmeg! Fucking fantastic!” I throw the knife on the ground and instead try to undo the knots by hand.
“Hey! Tahi, where's Luffy?” Coby calls out from the top of the wall, waving at us.
“Luffy went inside! Get over here and help me with these ropes!” I holler back waving him over. “And stop shouting!” I shout. “We don't want the marines up our ass.”
“Ah, right!” He nods, then scurries down the rope.
“Coby, you untie the knots over there and I'll work on these ones.”
“So where’s Luffy? I swear I heard you say he went into the base!” He laughs.
“Yep, he went in to grab Zoro's swords from onion head.” I tell him, grinning behind my mask when one of the knots comes loose. ‘I hope whoever tied these sits on a rusty nail!!’
“What!? Luffy went into the base!?” Coby cries. “Why is he so reckless!?”
“Yeah I've noticed that..” Zoro nods, then realises Coby had started helping me with untying the ropes, he growls at me. “He's not the only one being reckless! What the hell! I told you to stop so you go and rope someone else into helping! That maniac’s gonna kill you guys for what you're doin’ right now!”
“I can't stand to watch the Marines behave like this anymore.” Coby says, his voice thick with frustration and disgust. “A true marine should be honorable!”
“Look, I can't leave! I’ve got ten days left! And then they're-”
“And they're gonna kill you in three, the blond moron is planning on throwing a party and everything.” I cut him off.
“It's true! We overheard that guy Helmeppo bragging about it at the bar.” Coby pipes in. “Luffy and Tahere were so mad they just knocked him out.”
“They did?” I feel Zoro’s eyes on me.
“Now that the marines are mad, they're dead set on catching Luffy and Tahere.” Coby continues. “Don't worry, I'm not gonna ask you to become a pirate, though.”
“Speak for yourself, I'm one hundred percent here to ask you to become a pirate. We're just about your only chance to avoid getting executed.” I give a final tug, the rope comes undone and I look up at Zoro “But on the same note, you're the only one who can help me save my goofball captain-” I'm cut off by a blinding pain exploding through my shoulder and throwing me forward, barely missing Zoro. Heart racing, ears ringing, pain radiating from my shoulder “Mother fucking-!” I gasp, squeezing my eyes shut.
“Good, you’re alive…” I hear Zoro sigh in relief.
I give him a thumbs up, still laying face down on the ground. Then I grit my teeth and with a great deal of effort I roll onto my back, my hand flying to my shoulder. Touching it is so much more painful and makes my vision tunnel. “Shit!” I hiss, pulling my hand back, seeing a lot of blood. ‘That’s not great..’
“Tahere!” Coby cries out concerned.
“You two should get outta here.” Zoro says, arms crossed, looking over his shoulder. I ignore them, I just lay there for a beat, then drag myself up ro my feet, groaning.
“Tahi!? Are you ok!?” Coby tries to help me up.
“Peachy.” I mutter, waving him off, ignoring Morgan's speech as I scan the marines, zeroing in on one with a smoking barrel. “YOU!” I bellow, pointing accusingly at the trigger happy marine, stomping forward disregarding the other marines who had their guns trained on us. “THIS IS MY FAVOURITE JACKET!!! ‘YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG IT’S GONNA TAKE TO CLEAN ALL THIS GODDAMNED BLOOD OUT!! I'M GONNA SHOVE MY FOOT SO FAR UP YOUR FUCKING ASS YOUR GREAT GRANDKIDS WILL BE BORN CROSS EYED! YOU TRIGGER HAPPY DUMB FUCK!!” I see his eyes widen in fear and the other marines around fire a barrage of bullets, I barely have time to blink as Luffy suddenly appears, blocking the bullets and sending them ricocheting away.
“Shishishi, that won't work on me!” Luffy brags. Seeing him deflect the bullets is so bizarre and I have to physically wrench my eyes away.
“What the-” I hear Zoro gasps, “What are you!?”
“I'm the guy who’s gonna be King of the Pirates!”
“You’re gonna be King of the Pirates?” Zoro scoffs. “Right… You must be completely outta your rubbery mind. You have any idea what that means?”
“King of the Pirates means King of the Pirates. How could it mean anything other than that?” I notice pretty much every marine around is staring gobsmacked. Thinking quick, I take advantage of the distraction to slip off a thong* and send it flying with practiced precision at Trigger's* face. His squawk of pain and surprise, deeply satisfying.
“Yeah, when he first told me, it was shocking, but he's completely serious.” Coby says excitedly. “That’s how he is, I suppose. ‘Cause he actually seems to have every intention of becoming King of the Pirates and obtaining the world’s ultimate treasure, the One Piece!”
“Why do you say that like it's so unbelievable? He has a goal and is dead set* on achieving it.” I shrug. “Ah! Shit!” then swear ‘cause I forgot about the hole in my shoulder. ‘I’m gonna have soo much fun getting all this bloody* blood outta my bloody jacket…’
“Here’s what I promised you.” Luffy holds up three swords to Zoro. “There’s three. I couldn’t tell which was yours, so I just took all of them.”
“All of them belong to me.” He replies. “I use Sentoryu, Three-Swords Style.”
“Just know if you fight the marines with me here and now, you’ll be a government-defying villain.” Luffy grins cheekily. “Of course you could stay here and let them kill you!” I snort at Luffy's declaration.
“What are you, the son of the Devil? I’m not ready to die without a fight!” Zoro smirks, taking the swords. “All right, you’ve got yourself a pirate!”
“Really!? You’ll join my crew!?”
“If bullets don't work use your swords!” I hear Morgan yell, “Those who defy me must Die!!” sending a flood of marine’s our way.
Zoro, moving faster than I can follow, blocks the first wave, holding back at least twenty marines.
“Holy shit! Talk about OP!” I stare wide eyed.
“Make one move and you die!” He growls around the sword in his mouth, The marines look fucking terrified. “Today I officially become a criminal, having fought the Marines. So I’ll become a pirate. That, I can promise you.” He says to Luffy. “But I want you to know one thing, while I’m with you, the only thing I dedicate myself to is fulfilling my ambition.”
“Which is?” Luffy prompts.
“To be nothing less than the World’s Greatest Swordsman.” His eyes hard with conviction. “If somewhere along the way I have to give that up, then I want you to accept responsibility. After which you get to apologize to me.”
‘Holy shit I get to be a part of such a fucking awesome moment!!’ I clench my hands, burying the urge to jump around and squeal like a loon, grinning madly beneath my face mask instead.
“The World’s Greatest Swordsman.” Luffy says happily. “Sounds pretty good! The King of the Pirates wouldn’t have any less than the best on his crew!”
‘Why did he ask me to join then?’ my smile falling at the thought. ‘I’m honestly nothing special.. sure I have a stupid range of skills, but what can I genuinely offer these guys?’ I feel anxiety curl in my gut like a lead weight and shake my head. ‘I can offer my best! I’ve already committed to this, I’d be fucked* if I backed out without seeing it through!’
“-criminal or not, I will spread the name Roronoa Zoro throughout the world!” I catch the last half of Zoro’s declaration.
“What’re you standing there frozen for!?” I look over at Morgan’s shout. “I want you to kill all four of them right now!” He commands, sending another wave of Marines our way. Luffy cocks his leg back.
“You might wanna duck.” He tells Zoro. “Gum Gum… Whip!” Zoro ducks just in time as Luffy wipes out a good chunk of the marines.
“Wow!! He’s incredible!!” Coby exclaims next to me.
“Yeah. He is...” I spot Trigger coming at us, I see him see me seeing him. He stumbles to a stop, eyes wide with fear and I feel something feral and unhinged fill my mind. I rip my mask and I sprint past the other marines, dodging and weaving to reach my prey.
“Nononono!” He backs up a few steps. Then I lunge, tackling him to the ground, hooking my legs around his body and pinning his arms.
“Please, mercy!” Trigger begs.
“Take your asskicking like a man!” Using my remaining thong I make good on my threat and proceed to slap the shit out of him. Ignoring the other marines giving us a wide berth.
After a thorough thonging, I sit back admiring my work, taking stock of Trigg, his face covered in snot and tears, puffed up and swollen so much he barely looked human.
‘He reminds me of an heirloom tomato…’ I snort and stand up, patting off dust and dirt from the scuffle. I see the other marines had been taken out by Luffy. I go to walk away, but pause, seeing Trigg’s shiny military issued Daisies* and decide to take them. Pulling them right off his feet, tying the laces together and hooking the boots over my shoulder, tucking my mask in my pocket and discarding my lone thong somewhere, not arsed enough to retrieve its pair from the mosh pit of marines. ‘r.i.p.’
“Captain, we don’t stand a chance against them!!”
“Yeah! Just look at them! They’re insane!”
“We couldn’t even take on Zoro by himself!” The marines’ pleads fall on deaf ears as Morgan shoots them all a murderous glare.
“This is a direct order!” He snarls. “Every marine that just spouted weakness, pull your gun out and shoot yourself! I can’t do anything with weak soldiers!” Some of the marines move to follow his command.
“Somethings wrong with these marines.” Zoro moves to disarm them.
“Hey! I’m your opponent!” Luffy dashes forward dodging past the marines, throwing a punch at morgan.
“Rankless, low-life bums!” Morgan rips off his marine coat. “You have no right to defy my superiority! I am marine captain ‘Axe-Hand’ Morgan!”
“And I’m Luffy.” Luffy introduces himself. “Nice to meetcha.” He gives a little half bow and I snort. Morgan swings his axe at Luffy and Luffy dodges out of the way, enraging Morgan. Morgan swings wildly and Luffy jumps to avoid it, then while in mid air, he kicks out, both feet smashing into Morgan's face knocking the marine on his arse.
“Yes!” I let out a cheer as my captain dominates the fight.
“You runt! Now Die!” Morgan swings again.
“I don’t think so!” Luffy twists out of the way and kicks him in the face. The marines look on in disbelief.
“The captain’s getting pummelled out there!”
I grunt when something clamps down on my injured shoulder, tugging me roughly.
“Ow! What the fuck!?” I look up, blood running cold when I’m met with the trembling barrel of a gun. ‘Son of a bitch!’ I stand stock-still.
“Straw Hat! Stop right there!” Helmeppo calls out, holding me in place against his chest, tears and snot running down his face. “Look at what I got!”
“Tahi!” I ignore Coby’s panicked shout.
‘How the fuck do I get out of this?’ My eyes don’t leave the gun. ‘This fucking amature is way more dangerous than a trigger happy marine. There’s so many ways he can fuck me up that would be worse than death.’ My mind flashes through every scenario that could leave me hospitalised permanently.
“Are you stupid or something!?” Helmeppo cries. “I said stop. If you would pay attention to me, I have a hostage here you might wanna look at!” He waves the gun around. I start going over every piece of self defence that might work in this situation.
‘I could headbutt him, but that might cause him to pull the trigger… maybe if I grab the gun? No good, the way he’s holding me I’d have to use my bad shoulder and he might shoot me in the struggle…’ Thoughts going a mile a minute as I try to figure out a way out of this mess. ‘That might work..I just need a distraction..’
“Hey.” Zoro catches Luffy’s attention.
“If you value this psycho bitch’s life, you wont move a muscle!” The blond demands. “I’m serious! One move and I’ll shoot her!” Luffy meets my eyes.
“If you do shoot me you better make sure it's a killing shot.” I bare my teeth snarling at Helmeppo. Then turn to face Luffy, doing a one eighty, grinning brightly, speaking in a cheerful tone. “I’m good, Captain! Just need a bit of assistance”
“Of course! You got it!” he grins back, rolling his shoulders, “You hear that, you big idiot?” He readies his fist. “My first mate’s not afraid to die by your hand!” He starts walking towards us.
“Don’t you move!” Helmeppo’s shrill shrieking makes my ears ring. “I said don’t move or I’ll shoot! I swear it!”
“That’d be more scary if you hadn’t already proven that your word means nothing. Faszkalap.” I mutter.
“Why yo-” He loosens his hold for a brief moment of anger and I let my body go limp, dropping like a lead weight. I hear Luffy’s fist make contact above me. Helmeppo drops the gun as he flies backwards and I snatch it before it hits the ground, uncocking it.
“Thankfully flintlocks are pretty straight forward.” I pocket the gun and stand up, seeing Luffy standing next to me and Zoro standing triumphantly over Morgan prone form, Coby bouncing excitedly.
Hearing disbelieving shouts coming from the courtyard I look around,
“Any of you still want to capture us?” Zoro questions the marines, menacingly, the marines look around then as one starts cheering.
“MORGAN’S REIGN OF TERROR IS OVER!!!” The marines start cheering, throwing their swords and weapons to the ground.
“That’s weird…” Luffy mutters watching the marines. “Looks like they're all happy that their captain was beaten?”
“To be fair, unlike most crews, marines don’t get to choose who they serve under.” I say distractedly, eyeing off Helmeppo’s expensive looking jewellery. “You know what, fuck it.” I give into the urge to rob this guy blind and proceed to rummage through Helmeppo's pockets starting with taking his jewellery, although looking closer most of it seems to be fake. ‘What’s with all this cheap crap!? This moron got swindled big time..’ I snort, then choke and cough when I find his wallet. ‘Holy cow this thing’s almost bursting with how much cash the guy keeps on him!?’
“They must’ve been afraid of them for a long time!” Coby points out.
“Mmhmm, I’d say about three years...” I agree distractedly, putting the wallet away and moving onto another pocket. “What the fuck-” I pull a face when I find a pair of steel knuckle dusters.
“Where’d you get three years?” Coby asks.
“Who the fuck gave this kid brass knuckles?” I try them on, pleasantly surprised with how well they fit. I do a couple practice punches, liking the feel of them, then I reply to Coby “Eh that was around the time he got promoted for being the ‘brave marine that took down Captain Kuro, of the Black Cat Pirates’” The irony not lost on me that this jackass is so egotistical over false valor. “Yep, these are mine now.”
“Would you like me to check that out for ya?” Coby asks, gesturing at my shoulder.
“Ah yeah.. thanks” I nod, wincing when he touches the area.
“It seems to be a clean shot, through and through” He instructs. “But you should get it checked out by an actual doctor-”
“Zoro! Are you ok?!” Coby cries. “What's wrong?”
“I'm just…” Zoro groans out. “...hungry….”
----------------------------------------------
“Whew! I am stuffed!” Zoro lets out a satisfied sigh, patting his belly and leaning back in his chair. We were all camped out at one of the tables in Rika's restaurant, stuffing our faces, compliments of Rika’s mother Ririka. Word had spread fast about Morgan's defeat, probably because of the marines running around celebrating and singing something vaguely similar to ‘ding dong the witch is dead’. “Having not eaten for three weeks I was ready to gnaw through my boot straps!”
“I can't believe you’re finished.” Luffy says around a mouthful of food. “Lightweight.”
“Everyone’s a lightweight compared to you when it comes to food!” I laugh. Sitting back in my chair, pleasantly full, having finished well before Zoro.
“How the hell can you have a bigger appetite than a guy who hasn’t eaten in weeks!?” Zoro asks incredulously.
“It just tastes too good, I guess. Right Coby?” I think Luffy’s up to his thirteenth plate.
“Uh, yeah! It's great. Thanks for fixing it for us.” Coby thanks Ririka.
“It’s the least I can do! You four saved the town!” She smiles, collecting some of Luffy’s plates. “How are those clothes fitting by the way?” She asks me.
“They’re really comfy. Thank you again for giving me something to wear.” I smile, the simple t-shirt and trackies* fitting loosely ‘These probably belonged to Rika’s dad..’ “Honestly I really appreciate all the help!” I smile sunnily. She had lent me these when she had taken my soiled clothes to wash, giving me a backpack to keep my other stuff in.
“No trouble at all.” She pats my uninjured shoulder.
“Wow you’re the most amazing man I’ve ever met!” Rika stares at Luffy awestruck.
“Yeah, I am, I know!” He grins. “I’ll be more amazing when I’m King of the Pirates, and I have the One Piece!” He looks over at me and Zoro. “Oh, and the best crew on the seas.”
‘There’s that feeling again…’ I smile tightly. ‘How the hell do I get to call myself a straw hat pirate, I’m not even half as strong as Nami or even Usopp, nevermind the others...’
“So, how many others have you gathered for your crew besides me and this weirdo?”
“Rude.” I poke my tongue out at him.
“Hm?” Luffy looks up from the plate Ririka had just placed in front of him.
“You told me that you were in the middle of gathering together the crew for your ship.” Zoro eplains. “And if you’re gonna be King of the Pirates, I gotta assume you already have some waiting in the wings.”
“Nope, just you and Tahi.” Luffy replies nonchalantly, stuffing his face.
“Just..?” Zoro points, counting us.
“So the three of us is what amounts to an entire pirate crew?”
“What’s wrong with that? We’re a couple of strong guys. Plus Tahi knows a lot about the grand line.” Luffy slaps my shoulder.
“Ow! Dude!” I snap, wincing as my shoulder throbs.
“Hehe, oops, sorry.” Luffy apologises lightly.
“Okay..” Zoro leans forward. “But please tell me you have a ship.”
“Sure do. It’s right there.” Luffy points out the window, where we have a clear view of the dingy we sailed in on being pissed on by a passing dog.
“You’re kidding.” Zoro had moved to the window to get a better look.
“Nope. But we’ll have an enormous one before long. Just you wait and see!” Luffy throws his arms wide.
“Oh really?” Zoro laughs.
“With a great big pirate flag on top.” Luffy gets a dreamy look as he stares off into the distance, imagining his ship. “I can’t wait!” He grins stuffing more food in his mouth.
‘Fifteen plates now.’ I smile imagining the Marry. “Me neither.” I agree. “She’s gonna be amazing!” Luffy grins, nodding at my statement.
“I think Luffy was born without that part of the brain that allows the rest of us to plan out what to do.” Coby snickers.
“What’s wrong with that?” I rebuke lightheartedly. “Even the most thorough plans can fall through, being able to get by, by the seat of your pants is a talent.”
“I can’t believe I let myself get suckered into having him as my captain.” Zoro laments pinching the bridge of his nose. “And the First Mate is just as bad!”
“Hey! We’ll have a ton more crewmates in no time!” Luffy protests.
“Yep, there’ll be sexy magpie, Pinnoccio’s scared brother, horny narutomaki, Rudolf on steroids, handsy historian, Deuce Bigalow android gigolo, night of the singing dead and kung fu codfish*.” I list off on my fingers, using the nicknames me and my friends had come up with years ago for the characters. The room goes dead quiet so I look up seeing their confused looks. “What?” I ask, and Luffy bursts out laughing, fist pounding on the table, Zoro covers his face.
“I swear you’re a complete nutcase.” Zoro groans.
“Takes one to know one!” I shoot back.
“Luffy?” Rika inquires, once his laughter dies down. “Where are you and your crew planning on travelling when you leave here?”
“You mean it’s not obvious?” He wipes his eyes, still giggly. “We’re headed straight for the Grand Line.” Coby chokes, the juice he had been drinking shooting out his nose.
“That’s suicide! Have you completely lost your mind!?” He shouts. “There’s only three of you! If you go there, you’ll just be sailing to your deaths! The most ruthless bloodthirsty pirates in the world are there!”
“Well I guess if we’re after the One Piece, the Grand Line is where we have to go.” Zoro ponders, smirking.
“No! You can’t agree!?” Coby yells in shock.
“What do you care, you’re not going with us, are you?”
“Coby, we told you back on the boat that we’re headed for the Grand Line, why are you acting so surprised?” I lean back, crossing my arms and meet his eyes.
“I didn’t think you were serious!” He replies, fiercely. I raise a brow. “Can’t I worry about my friends? We haven’t known each other for very long but we are friends aren’t we?”
“Of course!” Luffy and I say at the same time.
“We may have to part ways but we’ll always be friends.” Luffy continues.
“You guys are the first real friends I’ve ever had.” Coby smiles sadly. “No one else ever stuck up for me! Even I wouldn’t stick up for me!” He straightens up, speaking with determination. “But the three of you have taught me a lesson I could never learn on my own! How to live for what I believe in! So I’ve decided to make my one childhood dream a reality and I’m going to join the Marines!”
“Then don’t you think you should be a little more concerned with your situation?” Zoro pokes him on the head with one of his swords. “I mean, you did spend two years on Alvida’s pirate ship, even if you were nothing but her cabin boy.”
“The Marines’ information gathering is top-notch.” Zoro continues. “They’ll find out about your time with Alvida and you’ll never join.”
“I… never thought of that…” He murmurs with a heartbroken look. The door to the tavern opens.
“Excuse me.” And with perfect timing a group of marines walk in, Coby gasps. “We heard that you people are actually pirates. Is this rumour true?” The leader questions.
“Right, and I just added another person to my crew.” Luffy says happily. I turn and whisper to Ririka already knowing why they’re here.
“Hey, can you bring me my things, we may need to leave soon.”
“Sure, I’ll be right back.” She nods heading to the back room.
“Um.. You saved our base and this town..and we are truly grateful to you.” He clears his throat, looking uncomfortable. I notice the crowd gathered outside, townspeople pressing their faces up against the window, openly eavesdropping. “However, we’re still Naval Marines…and we can’t shelter pirates.” He pauses, adjusting his cap then straightens formally. “I’m sorry but I have to ask you to leave. But to show our gratitude we won’t report you to Headquarters.”
“How do you find the nerve to talk like that!?”
“Before these pirates came along, you guys were as scared of Morgan as we were!”
“Without them, we’d still be under his reign! We owe them our lives!” the townspeople clamour, shouting their objections. Ririka returns from the back carrying a backpack, she opens it showing my clothes in a plastic bag next to my other items.
“Here you go Tahi, your clothes are still a bit damp so I put them in a plastic bag.” She whispers, handing me the bag with a smile. “Don’t worry about Rika’s old backpack and the clothes I lent, you can keep them.” She winks.
‘This woman is an angel!’ I smile gratefully.“Thank you.” I whisper back, taking the bag and tucking it into the backpack.
“Well time to go!” Luffy stands up adjusting his straw hat.
“Yep yep!” I stand up looping one strap of the backpack over my uninjured shoulder.
“Thanks for all of the food, lady!” He smiles at Ririka.
“Hey, wait a second.” Rika calls out sadly. “You’re leaving already?”
“Yeah.” Luffy nods as he starts walking away, carrying the bag of food Ririka had given us. I follow, pointedly not looking at Coby as I walk past with Luffy and Zoro.
‘Good luck little dude.’ I send a silent prayer his way.
“Aren’t you part of the crew as well?” I’m at the door at this point and bump into Luffy when he pauses in the doorway.
“Uh, well, I..uh..I’m..” Coby stammers. Luffy goes to keep walking.
“Hold it!” The marine calls out to us. “Is he with you or what?” I see Luffy tightens his grip on the sack of food, forcing a smile.
“What I can tell you is what he’s been doing up to this point.” He turns and I continue past, not wanting to see the next part. “Yeah, there was this fantastically fat pirate lady. I think her name was Alvida!” He continues, I stop next to Zoro, lean against the wall next to him, hugging the backpack to my chest. Zoro raises a brow at me. I give a sad half smile, shrugging, mindful of my shoulder this time and look up, waiting for Luffy to wrap up.
“Luffy..” I hear Coby’s betrayed whisper.
“She carried around this huge iron club and, boy, she was the nastiest looking woman I’ve ever seen!” Luffy goes on. “For two years, this wimpy kid was her own private cabin boy.” I flinch when I hear skin collide against rubber.
“Hm.” Zoro grunts approvingly next to me.
‘I know this is for his own good.. He can't achieve his dream if Luffy doesn't do this.’
“Now that was a dumb move!” Luffy laughs meanly, then I hear rubber hitting flesh repeatedly and Coby crying out in pain at each strike. I clench my jaw and tighten my hold on the backpack wishing for the onslaught to end already.
‘I hate this! I know it's necessary but it sucks, I like that little pipsqueak and this is bullshit! Fucking fuck!’
“Get out of here now!” The Marine finally calls out to break them up, I silently hand Zoro my backpack and go inside, grabbing Luffy’s hat off the ground where it had fallen off as I pass. “We can’t have you pirates ripping up this town anymore than you already have, you hear me?!” Luffy keeps going, mentally tapped out and moving on instinct.
“You can stop.” I say, grabbing his wrist before he can punch Coby again. He stands there panting as Coby falls to the ground, gasping for air and I meet his eyes. “We need to leave now.” He meets my eyes and after a beat, relaxes, nodding. I let go of his wrist and hold out his hat.
“It's obvious you’re not crewmates, so stop badgering the poor kid and leave our town this instant!” The marine shouts, looking ready to pummel us himself.
“Heh.” Luffy grunts, taking his hat, using it to cover the flicker of a smile at the marines believing the act. He starts walking away and I follow close behind, Zoro joining us as we cross the doorway, handing me the backpack that I had honestly forgotten about. I nod my thanks and we keep walking.
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We’re silent the whole way to the boat, townspeople now giving us fearful looks and a wide berth thanks to that whole song and dance.
“That was a thin act you put on there.” Zoro breaks the silence when we get to the dock. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the marines see right through it.”
“Coby should be able to handle the rest on his own.” Luffy stretches casually. “I have faith in him.”
“Yeah he’s gonna be an awesome marine.” I smile, then frown. “But that still sucked.” I lean against Luffy and he pats my back. “I don’t like seeing people I like getting hurt.”
“It was a fitting way to leave this place though.” Zoro says walking toward the boat. “Unable to turn back ‘cause everyone here hates us. Very pirate-like.” He nods approvingly.
“Yeah. It sure is!” Luffy starts unmooring the boat as Zoro and I climb in.
“Luffy! Tahere!” I look up seeing Coby waving at us from the pier and facepalm.
“Didn’t we just do a whole thing so that the marines don’t think we’re friends.” I grumble. “We can only beat him up so many times before the marines catch on or he gets brain damage..” Zoro snorts.
“I can never thank you enough.” Coby stands straight and fucking salutes us as he yells. “You’ve done more for me than anyone ever has!”
“I’ve never heard of a Marine thanking a pirate before. That’s one for the history books.” Zoro snorts, Luffy laughs openly.
“Gotta be a first for everything.” I chuckle, rolling my eyes fondly.
“We’ll meet again, Coby!” Luffy shouts, waving his arms.”Someday!”
“Good luck!” I call out, waving goodbye. “You better become a fantastic marine or we'll have to kick your arse again!” I spot a group of marines gathering behind Coby, I even see Triggsey in the back, face less swollen but still red.
“All hands, salute!” The head guy from Ririka’s bar calls out and every one of them stands at attention, saluting us.
“See ya!” Luffy calls out waving both arms. I watch as they shrink into the distance, Shells Town rapidly becoming less than a blip on the horizon as we sail off into the afternoon sun.
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* I definy didn't add this here because I forgot to mention anywhere that I/Tahi wears glasses.. Nope, 100% intentional.
* Thongs are mighty weapons, pretty much the aussie equivalent to The Chancla.
* Trigger-Trigger Happy. Will probably shorten again to Trig then, Trigs, Triggsey, Trigg-oh or Trigg-ah. Usual way Aussie nicknames evolve.
* This is a very Aussie thing, we give everyone and everything pretty dumb nicknames. My friends and I came up with most of these in highschool. Zoro and Luffy’s are Stab-aholic and Elastic band with ADHD respectively.
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Faszkalap- dick hat
Bozsmeg-fuck
Bloody- Less vulgar exclaimation of Fuck
I’d be fucked- I’d be pissed, in this context. I think its actually ‘I’d be Fucking Pissed’ shortened.
Daisies- Boots, specifically wwi slang similar to Cockney rhyming slang with an aussie twist; Daisies→ Daisy Roots→Boots.
Thonging - To smack someone in the face with a thong/flipflop repeatedly
Let me know if there's any saying or terms I've left out, it's kinda hard to tell which are universal or not (^-^;)
gummygunk
origamiaround
ellievsbear
jbbartram-illu
theartofmadeline
annaxmalina
yousharknotpass
kianamaiart
