Luffy was awake before the first hint of dawn. The deck of the Miss Love Duck was silent, save for the gentle lapping of water against the hull. He stood over the three sleeping forms scattered near the mast.
Zoro. Nami. Alvida.
His new crew. His responsibility.
Too tired from their first day, he observed, his expression neutral. A good start. But they needed to be stronger.
A growl from his stomach broke the silence. He turned and walked to the galley, rubbing his stomach. In his past life, he'd been an outlaw at sixteen, forced from his home. He still remembered the first time he had shot someone, the wet, sickening pop of the pistol as he tried to save his uncle.
The memory surfaced, unbidden, as it often did when his hands were busy. His uncle had been crippled in that fight, becoming a new burden. All the household chores had fallen to him. Cooking. Cleaning. Running the books. Every task was a lesson in self-sufficiency and responsibility. It wasn't until he was twenty-four, with his own crew and established power, that he could move the old man into a long-term care facility. He'd ensured his uncle was cared for, his first major responsibility finally settled.
He found himself in front of the refrigerator, his mind already calculating the day's calorie allotments. He wasn't a sadist; he was a leader. And a leader who wanted to win couldn't have his people collapsing from overwork and starvation.
A short while later, a single, sharp shout cut across the deck.
"Breakfast."
It woke the three sleepers instantly. Zoro was the first to move, rising with a stiff grunt, his body protesting every inch. He looked as if he'd been pretending to sleep, already halfway to his feet.
"Hey! Pretty-boy!" Alvida's voice, usually vain and imperious, was a ragged croak. "Help me get up. I... I can't feel my legs."
Zoro shot her an annoyed look, a sharp "Tch" escaping his lips, but he dutifully turned and hauled the groaning woman to her feet.
At the table, a proper, hot meal was laid out. It was eaten in near silence. Luffy sat at the head, watching them refuel.
"Progress report," he said, setting his fork down. "How do you feel?"
"Nothing much," Zoro grunted, already on his third plate. His stoicism was a front; Luffy could see the tremors in the hand holding his chopsticks.
"I feel like HELL!" Alvida slammed her fist on the table.
BAM!
The plates rattled. "Every single muscle, every bone in my body is crying! I ache in places I didn't even know I had!"
Luffy merely nodded, his gaze shifting to the third member. Nami was eating her food in silence, her face pale and her eyes fixed on the plate.
"It will take a week to see if the manual is viable," Luffy stated, ignoring Alvida's outburst. "Until then, the training regimen continues as scheduled."
A look of pure, unadulterated horror flashed across Alvida's face.
Luffy's attention remained fixed on Nami. The fear was a problem. It was compromising her, making her a weak link.
"Nami," he said. His voice was not kind, not concerned. It was a prompt.
She flinched, her gaze lifting from her plate. Her eyes were hollow, not with exhaustion, but with despair having accepted her fate. "Captain," she said, her voice trembling but gaining a sharp, bitter edge. "Tell me... what's the point of this?"
"The point is to make you stronger. What else?"
"Stronger?" she scoffed, a desperate, broken sound. "You know we're human! We're weak! No matter how much we train, no matter how much pain we go through, how can we ever... fight something like... like a Fish-Man?"
The name was unspoken, but it hung in the air. Arlong.
"So what's the point?" she demanded, her voice rising. "What's the point of any of this if, in the end, we're just prey?"
The galley fell silent. Zoro paused his eating. Alvida watched, her own pain forgotten.
Luffy just laughed.
"Shihahaha..."
It was a cold, dry sound, utterly devoid of humor. It scraped the air like a blade on stone.
"There is nothing absolute in this world, girl," he said, his voice flat. "Your mistake is thinking your weakness is a permanent condition. What you fear, what you see as an unbeatable monster... is a mere fish in a shallow pond. I am going to be King of the World. A Fish-Man in the East Blue is not an obstacle. He's an errand."
His gaze swept over them. Zoro's mouth quirked into a satisfied, challenging smirk. Alvida's pained expression was replaced by one of grudging, fearful respect. Nami just stared, wide-eyed, her entire worldview shaking.
Luffy gave Nami a cold, sidelong glance. He turned back to her fully. "Let me tell you what, Nami. This isn't pointless. You master the 'Iron Body' technique from that manual. You make your body a weapon. You do that, and I will personally help you kill Arlong."
She stared, disbelieving. "You..."
"But you don't believe me," he stated. It was a simple observation. "You think it's impossible. You're still trapped by your fear." He leaned back. "Fine. You need a more tangible incentive."
He paused, letting the silence stretch.
"If.... you still want to believe it's hopeless, you can take half the money on this ship. We're carrying thirty million berries. That's fifteen million for you. With what you've saved, you could buy your village back, couldn't you? all you need to do is master a technique"
Nami's breath caught in her throat. Her eyes darted from his face to the locked strongbox in the corner of the galley. Fifteen million. With her savings it was more than enough.
"You... you'd do that?" she whispered. "Why should I believe you?"
"You have my word," Luffy said simply. "And you will believe it, because you'll believe the contract you signed." He tapped his temple. "It's a two-way street. It binds you to me, but it also binds me to you. Just as you are bound never to betray me, I am bound to fulfill my end of any bargain we make. It's all in the terms."
A slow, dawning realization spread across Nami's face, followed by Alvida's.
"Wait," Alvida said, her eyes narrowing. "You mean... that contract works on you, too? And here I thought I was just a slave to your orders."
Nami looked furious. "You never let us read it!"
Luffy picked up his fork and resumed eating. "You didn't read the fine print before signing," he said, his voice muffled by a bite of food. He glanced at Nami's furious expression, then at Alvida's. "I even let it slip yesterday. Looks like you're not as sharp as you think."
A short, barking laugh came from Zoro's side of the table. He leaned back in his chair, a thoroughly satisfied smirk on his face. He watched the panic and fury dawn on their faces. The captain had told him this part plainly in the courtyard: "You can never betray me. And I can never betray you." It was the core of the agreement, the only reason he'd even considered it. And these two, in their rush to gain power or plot their escape, had missed the most fundamental rule of their new lives. Amateurs.
__________
Two hours later, the Miss Love Duck was silent save for the lapping of water. On deck, the crew watched as the coastline of Orange Town grew from a smudge on the horizon into a clear line of docks and buildings.
Luffy stood at the prow, his hands in his pockets. A thin, unreadable smile touched his lips as he surveyed the island.
Zoro stood a few paces behind him, a silent, watchful shadow.
The women were not standing. Nami and Alvida were slumped against the mast, muscles trembling with a deep, profound exhaustion. The two hours since breakfast had been grueling. After the revelation in the galley, Nami's despair had calcified into a new, frantic greed. She'd immediately demanded to resume her strength training, her eyes fixed on the locked strongbox as she'd muttered, "Fifteen million... fifteen million..." Alvida, seeing her new rival's sudden fervor and refusing to be lapped, had snarled for Zoro to continue her "punishment" right then and there.
They were a thousand yards from the harbor when Zoro's head snapped up. His eyes narrowed. "Incoming." His voice was a low growl.
FSHOOOOOOM!
A black sphere was screaming through the air, launched from the center of town.
"We're being attacked," he stated.
Zoro's hand was already on his swords, his body tensing to intercept and cut the projectile from the air. Before he could take a step, Luffy's voice, calm and absolute, stopped him.
"Zoro. Wait." He stepped past his swordsman to the railing. "Let me."
Nami and Alvida looked up, their eyes wide with panic, expecting their captain to draw his pistol. Instead, Luffy took a deep, impossible breath. His entire torso swelled, stretching like a grotesque wineskin, the fabric of his red vest straining.
FWOOMP!
The cannonball slammed into his inflated stomach.
THUD!
It was a dull, anticlimactic sound. Nami's shriek died in her throat. The projectile sank deep into the rubber, its momentum completely absorbed.
"Gum-Gum..." Luffy grunted, the words muffled by his own taught skin. "BALLOON!"
With a violent, percussive P-TOOO!, his body contracted, expelling the cannonball. It shot back toward the town, a black streak reversing its course.
A beat of silence.
Then, from the center of town, a secondary explosion.
KABOOM!
Luffy let the last of the air hiss from his lungs, his body snapping back to its normal proportions. He turned, dusting off his vest. "Alright," he said, his voice flat. "I'll take their captain. The three of you will manage the subordinates."
He looked at each of them. "Ensure no one interferes with my fight."
He then smiled. It was a thin, sharp, predatory expression, utterly devoid of joy. It was the smile of a butcher selecting a knife. It sent a cold chill down Nami's spine, and even Zoro felt his own battle-lust freeze for a second. This wasn't a fight Luffy was walking into. It was an interrogation.
_________
15 Million
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Author here :
Hello people. How are you ?
Major decision from my side - From every chapter that I release from now on. Every single one of them will have an image attached.
It will be from one the scenes in the chapter or related to it.
This will be hard i know, and as i don't have money to hire an artist. I will be doing it with the help of Ai.
I am willing to spend time to bring my idea to life. All i need from you is support.