“What a scumbag!” Lucian lifted his foot and kicked Helmeppo, who was standing off to the side.
“That guy really is the worst,” Luffy said, nodding with deep conviction.
Koby clenched his fists in indignation too.
“So this is what the Marines here are like!”
“Onii-san, the rice balls are for you.” The little girl, Rika, suddenly remembered the rice balls she had been clutching, now somewhat squashed, and hurriedly held them out.
Zoro looked at her in silence for a moment, then said in a low voice, “Once I finish eating, you get out of here, fast.”
At those words, Rika’s face bloomed into a radiant smile.
She stretched up on her tiptoes and pushed the rice balls forward, but she simply could not reach Zoro’s height.
“I’ll help you,” Lucian said, taking the rice ball and gently bringing it to Zoro’s mouth.
Zoro glanced up at him, then finally lowered his head and ate it in large bites.
“It’s sweet,” he murmured indistinctly.
Rika immediately lifted her small chin with pride.
“Hehe, I added sugar on purpose.
I think it tastes super good this way!”
“Oh?
Sugar in rice balls?” Luffy’s eyes lit up as he stared at the rice ball, clearly tempted.
“If you like it, I can make some for you when we go back,” Rika said, growing even more pleased at Luffy’s reaction.
“Yes, yes!” Luffy agreed at once, delighted.
“Luffy-san, now really isn’t the time for that,” Koby said, casting a helpless look at him before glancing over at Helmeppo.
“What do we do with this guy?
We can’t just leave him like this forever.”
“Oh, right.” Luffy finally remembered the three zombies standing beside them, who had all but faded from notice, and scratched his head.
“What should we do with them?” He looked over at Lucian, who was still feeding Zoro the rice ball.
Lucian tilted his head and said, as if it were the most casual thing in the world, “Shall I kill them?”
“No, no!” Koby waved his hands frantically at once.
“If you kill him, his father will definitely come seeking revenge for Helmeppo, and then all these townspeople will suffer!”
“Then what do you suggest?” Luffy furrowed his brow, his tone carrying a trace of dissatisfaction.
“I…
I don’t know either.” Put on the spot by Luffy’s question, Koby wilted on the spot, his head drooping as he fell silent.
Seeing him like this, Lucian quietly pulled back his hand, which had been itching to act, and did not press the matter further.
Zoro had finished the rice ball by now.
Listening to their conversation, he merely kept his eyes lowered and said nothing.
“Zoro, I’m looking for crewmates—people to go out to sea and be pirates with me.” The silence was broken by Luffy’s voice.
He looked at Zoro.
How about being my crewmate?”
“Mhm, join us,” Lucian chimed in, looking at Zoro with a touch of anticipation.
“I refuse.” Zoro turned his head away, his tone resolute.
“You want me to willingly become a villain?
Don’t waste your time.”
“What’s so bad about being a pirate?” Luffy immediately argued back.
“Pirates are scum.
Who’d ever want to be one?” Zoro shot back without yielding an inch.
Lucian, Koby, and Rika stayed quiet, just watching the two of them go back and forth.
“What does it matter?” Luffy looked at Zoro with a grin.
“You’re already known as an evil bounty hunter, aren’t you?”
“No matter what anyone calls me, I’ve never once done anything I regret.” Zoro bared his teeth in a grin, his eyes steady with resolve.
“Whatever it takes, I’m going to survive and accomplish what I set out to do.”
“Oh?
Is that so?” Luffy, far from being put off, seemed to admire this Zoro even more.
He folded his arms across his chest and said bluntly, “Well, I’ve already decided.
You’re gonna be my crewmate.”
“Don’t just go deciding things on your own, you jerk!” Zoro couldn’t help shouting, his mouth agape.
He then settled back down, his tone carrying a hint of exasperation.
“And didn’t I just say it?
If you free me, that idiot son’s father will take it out on the townspeople.
Then what was the point of me being tied up here all these days?”
“Then we just take down the guy’s father too.
Problem solved,” Luffy said lightly, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
“How could it possibly be that simple?” Zoro rolled his eyes, utterly exasperated.
“It can,” Lucian suddenly interjected, pointing at Helmeppo and the others standing beside them.
“I can turn all the Marines into this.”
“That’s a great idea!” Luffy clapped his hands together and laughed.
“In what world is that a great idea?!” Zoro and Koby shouted in perfect unity, their faces full of disbelief.
“Don’t you use swords?
“You really are the most self-centered idiot I’ve ever met!” Zoro couldn’t help but fire off another jab, but he had already calmed down.
After a moment’s thought, the idea honestly didn’t seem all that terrible.
Only Koby remained standing off to the side, thoroughly dejected, unable to come up with any better solution.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Luffy said with a grin, then turned to Lucian.
“Lucian, untie him.
I’m going to get his swords.” With that, he dashed off in the direction of the Marine base.
“You really are a piece of work, you know that?!” Zoro shouted after Luffy’s retreating figure.
Lucian had already stepped forward in silence and begun untying the ropes binding him.
But before long, Luffy came running back.
Lucian, Zoro, Koby, and Rika all turned to stare at him in unison.
“Ah, I accidentally ran the wrong way,” Luffy said, adjusting the straw hat on his head with a sheepish grin.
He then switched directions and took off running once more.
“Straw Hat onii-san seems…
kind of unreliable,” Rika murmured.
She had been overjoyed that they were going to save Zoro, but watching Luffy’s antics, the quiet doubt slipped out before she could stop it.
“He’s really strong,” Lucian said, looking at the worried Rika with earnest eyes.
“I’ll help too,” Koby said, seeing that Lucian’s progress on the ropes was not particularly fast, and stepped closer.
The two of them worked side by side, each tackling one of the ropes binding Zoro’s hands.
Lucian finished his side quickly, but when he turned, he saw Koby drenched in sweat and struggling fiercely with the knot.
“Let me.” He walked over and, in just a few moves, undid the rope that had been tied into a dead knot.
“Sorry, I think I was more of a hindrance than a help…” Koby scratched his head, a little embarrassed.
Only the rope around Zoro’s waist remained, and Lucian untied that one with just as little trouble.
Freed at last, Zoro dropped to the ground and sat there, rubbing his reddened, chafed wrists.
“The prisoner over there has been set loose!”
Just then, a sudden volley of shouts came from the entrance of the Marine base not far away.
A squad of Marine soldiers was advancing toward them at a rapid pace.
“Who are you people?!” They spotted Lucian and the others standing there, as well as Zoro sitting on the ground, and barked out stern warnings, all of them pulling the guns from their backs and into their hands.
“So soon?
Dammit!
I don’t have my swords!” Zoro stared at the squad of armed Marines bearing down on them, feeling the soreness and fatigue still rippling through his body from being bound for so long.
His brow furrowed hard.
Lucian said nothing.
His eyes simply narrowed in focus as he silently took control of Helmeppo and the others beside him, sending them lunging at the squad of Marine soldiers with guttural howls.
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