The little boat swayed gently with the waves.
Luffy hopped onto the crossbeam at the bow and sat down cross-legged.
“Hey, Koby, what do you want to do after this?”
Koby’s hands, which had been straining at the oar, suddenly froze.
He pushed up his round glasses, and behind the lenses, his eyes flickered with a steadfast light.
“I…
I want to join the Navy!” His voice rose.
“I want to catch pirates like Alvida!”
“The Navy?” Nami paused her rowing, her short orange hair tousled by the sea breeze.
“Shells Town does have the 153rd Marine Branch…” She cast a meaningful glance at Koby’s scrawny frame.
Koby’s bravado wilted on the spot, his fingers twisting the hem of his shirt anxiously.
“Even though I’m this useless…
b-but…” His voice shrank smaller and smaller until it was barely a murmur to himself.
Seeing this, Nami’s expression turned a shade more serious.
“As far as I remember, the Navy doesn’t take in people who’ve done grunt work on a pirate ship.
You might even get arrested!”
Koby’s face went deathly pale at her words, beads of sweat the size of soybeans rolling down his forehead.
“Who cares about that!” Luffy suddenly stretched his arm out and slapped Koby heavily on the back, making him stumble.
“If you wanna do it, just go do it!” He flashed his signature radiant grin.
“Luffy-san…” Koby looked at him, deeply moved.
Nami scooted over and sat down beside Lucian.
“But right now, hasn’t the Marine base in Shells Town captured some bounty hunter?
I heard he’s scheduled for execution in a few days.” Sneaking a glance at the treasure bundle cradled in Lucian’s arms, her fingers crept stealthily toward it as she kept talking.
“Is now really a convenient time for you to go?”
“What’s that bounty hunter like?” Luffy and Lucian turned to Nami in unison.
Lucian had keenly detected Nami’s little maneuver and silently hugged the bundle tighter against his chest.
“Ahaha…” Nami sheepishly withdrew her hand.
“I don’t really know much about him besides his name, Zoro…”
At the mention of Zoro’s name, Koby shuddered, his voice trembling.
“Could it be…
that infamous ‘Pirate Hunter’ Roronoa Zoro…” He pushed up his slipping glasses.
“They say he’s like a bloodthirsty beast, collecting the heads of wanted pirates…
Some have seen him cut pirates to pieces…
Everyone calls him a demon in human skin…” By the end, his voice had dwindled to a mosquito’s whisper.
“S-Surely it’ll be fine…”
“But he got caught by the Navy…
so weak.”
Koby looked at Luffy, puzzled.
“Why do you ask, Luffy-san?”
“Crewmate,” Lucian said, at the same time hugging the treasure bundle fully against his chest and eyeing Nami warily.
Luffy grinned, showing his trademark big white teeth.
“Yeah!
If he turns out to be a decent guy, I want him to be our crewmate!”
“Are you insane?!
He’s the ‘Pirate Hunter’—he specifically hunts pirates!” Seeing Lucian guarding the treasure so securely, Nami plopped back down on the edge of the boat in resignation.
Sunlight spilled over Luffy’s beaming face.
“Maybe he’s a good guy!”
“Hm!” Lucian nodded firmly.
A flicker of anticipation passed through his somewhat hollow eyes.
“The next crewmate?”
“Luffy-san, Lucian-san, please don’t do anything reckless!
That bounty hunter might be a terrible person—why else would the Navy have arrested him?” Seeing the expectant expressions on their faces, Koby hurriedly tried to talk them out of it.
“How will we know if we don’t go see for ourselves?” Luffy answered, utterly unconcerned.
“No way, no way, no way—absolutely no way!” Koby shouted.
Bang!
Luffy chopped him on the head with the side of his hand.
“Why did you hit me, Luffy-san?” Koby clutched his head, aggrieved.
“Couldn’t help myself,” Luffy replied.
Nami watched the scene unfold, snickering on the sidelines.
Lucian glanced at his own hand, then at Koby’s head, wondering if he ought to give it a whack too.
In the end, after another look at the treasure bundle in his arms, he let the idea go.
The little boat traced a silver line across the azure sea, heading straight for Shells Town.
By dusk the following day, the setting sun had dyed the sea the color of amber.
As the little boat gradually pulled up to the shore, the outline of the town finally came into clear view.
“We’re here!” Luffy bounded to the bow in one stride, and his stomach let out a thunderous roar right on cue.
“Food!
I’m starving!”
Nami pressed a hand to her forehead and sighed.
“It’s only because you ate through three days’ worth of provisions in a single day…” Her gaze shifted to Lucian, who had not let go of the treasure bundle the entire time. This chapter was taken from novelping . com without permission.
“And you—do you seriously like that bag of stuff that much?
You even sleep clutching it.”
“I do.” Lucian’s reply was brief and firm, his hollow pupils glimmering faintly in the twilight.
The moment they stepped onto the stone-paved dock, the clamor of the bustling town rushed over them.
Lucian’s footsteps stopped abruptly.
He had never seen such a lively, vibrant scene before.
This young man, who had spent over half a year since his crossing confined to a tiny fishing village, stood frozen in place, clutching the treasure tightly to his chest, his eyes locked unblinkingly on the plump, deep-green watermelons at a roadside fruit stand.
“If you want one, go buy it,” Luffy said, already bouncing over to the stall and snatching up a red apple, crunching into it with a huge bite.
As if waking from a dream, Lucian followed and carefully lifted a watermelon with beautifully patterned rind.
The stall owner beamed and held out her hand.
“That’ll be 100 berries, please~”
Luffy rummaged through all his pockets before remembering they had given all their money to Captain Dikara.
He looked at Lucian.
After much hesitation, Lucian finally fished out a gold ring from the bundle.
“Hold it!” Nami dashed forward in a flash and snatched the ring right out of his hand.
“I’ll pay for you!” She slapped 100 berries onto the stall counter while swiftly stashing the gold ring inside her shirt.
The stall owner let out a disappointed sigh.
The four of them squatted on the stone steps by the roadside, sharing the watermelon.
Koby cradled his slice, too preoccupied to taste it.
“Luffy-san, looking for someone like that as a crewmate is far too dangerous…”
Luffy had already devoured his fifth piece and mumbled through a full mouth, “Nothing’s decided yet…
If he’s a bad guy, then forget it!”
Nami nibbled at her watermelon in small bites, her fingers ceaselessly caressing the gold ring she had just pocketed, though her eyes remained locked squarely on the bundle in Lucian’s arms.
Lucian, tasting watermelon for the very first time, was wholly absorbed in savoring the crisp sweetness spreading across his tongue, the seeds clinging to the tip of his nose left entirely unattended.
“It’s exactly because he’s a bad guy that he got arrested,” Koby declared, finishing his slice in one go.
“I wonder if that guy Zoro is still at the base,” Luffy said, ignoring Koby’s frustration entirely as he grabbed yet another piece and wolfed it down.
Between bites, he lifted his head and said to Lucian, “This watermelon is really good.”
“Mm, really good,” Lucian replied, his face equally full of contentment.
Perhaps their voices carried too loudly, because the nearby vendors suddenly began casting fearful looks their way, some even shrinking back behind their stalls.
The people shopping along the street also stared at them with expressions of sheer alarm.
“What’s wrong with them?” Noticing the sudden silence around him, Luffy looked up from his watermelon, bewildered.
“Do they want some watermelon too?” Lucian looked at the vendors and passersby, all of whom had their eyes fixed on the group.
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