7 Chapter 06

Luffy POV:

After setting sail, I was looking at the map and trying to remember what was the next island that I have to visit. There are three islands which are close by and only two of them have towns. One of the towns is called Blackmelon Town while the other is called Orange Town. I honestly had no memory of where exactly we should go, but my I had a feeling Orange Town is our correct destination.

When I made sure we are going the correct way, I noticed another small boat in the distance. Interestingly enough, the boat was slowly leaving our sights. How is it going faster than us, when we are going in the same direction?

I didn't get to think over too much as Zoro asked me regarding my rubber abilities. I told him it's due to a Devil Fruit that I ate when I was a kid and it made me a rubber man.

I made sure to tell him everything I know about Devil Fruits without hiding anything. I was contemplating on whether I should tell him about my second fruit when I got to the part where a person can usually only eat one Devil Fruit and if they try eating one more, they would die.

I couldn't bring myself to lie or deceive him, so I let him know about my monkey Zoan fruit. I made sure to make my point, that I have no idea how I survived and I attributed it to luck. I showed him my transformation as well and showed him my cloning skills.

He was quite helpful in testing out my skills. We threw one clone in the water to see what will happen and the clone dispelled when he was fully submerged. I made another clone which he cut a couple of times. After getting cut, my clone actually regenerated himself after a few minutes. He cut him again and I dispelled him to see if I will feel the pain when I receive his memories, which I did.

The last thing that we tried is cutting me. I was hoping I will have the same regenerative ability as my clone and indeed I did. Mine seemed to be even slightly faster.

After doing a few more tests, Zoro finally went to sleep. I still seem to be full of energy and have absolutely no desire to sleep. This could be quite helpful and I hope this doesn't become a problem in the future.

Throughout the night I was trying to replicate Geppo with one of my clones. In order to make sure I don't fall in the sea, I was throwing the clone in the air and he was trying to jump off the air one more time.

Everyone dozen or so minutes, I would dispell the clone and make a new one to make sure I am used to the surging memories. It took us the whole night to actually manage to do it once, I was honestly surprised when I saw the clone jumping one more time in the air.

For the next two days, I spent trying to perfect Geppo and talking with Zoro. Unfortunately, we ate all the food that we brought with us. I was also scanning the skies looking for a weird bird, however, I never saw one.

I was starting to doubt myself until I saw a small wreckage with three people. It was on our way so we stopped by to help them. They tried acting tough saying this is Buggy's territory and how they are pirates under him. Zoro quickly taught them a lesson and we made them roll the boat for us.

They told us how they were tricked by an orange haired girl, who stole their boat and summoned a storm on them. At least I know we are on the right track now.

It took us another few hours until we reached the island and we managed to dock our boat on the harbor. The pirates seemed to have recognized their ship and went to hide there and wait for the thief.

The town looks pretty desolate, however, I was able to hear a dozen or so people running around. I quickly made my way towards the rooftop of a house nearby, in order to get a better view.

I saw six people chasing an orange haired girl and six more people cutting her off. They surrounded her and were preparing to attack her. I didn't give the chance to do so, as I jumped right in the middle of them and told them "It's not very nice ganging up on a girl like this, maybe I should teach you a lesson."

Without giving them any time to take action I turned towards the girl and told her to duck. She quickly did so and I used my leg like a whip and knocked out the pirates. I turned back towards the girl and I told her "I told you we will meet again, shishishi."

I honestly did not expect to hear her to actually scream at me"I don't need the help of a filthy pirate, I was just about to knock them out myself." I tried to defuse the situation a little bit by saying "Ahh, I was just trying to act like a prince in shining armor, you don't have to be so mean".

I have to admit her response actually hurt me a bit, especially the look she was giving me. "With your looks and clothes, you are anything but a prince in shining armor. What are you even doing here?". I replied, "Well, I am looking for crew members and seeing this town, I figured I would go and beat the hell out of Buggy until he leaves."

That certainly got her attention and she was quick to even give me an offer "Well if you are here to duke it out with Buggy, I will be to cooperate with you if you can promise that I will receive 80% of his treasures." Damn, she is a greedy one, thankfully I don't care about money.

I didn't miss my chance and immediately asked "So you will join my crew then? Shishishi, I am Luffy, what is your name. what are your skills, what are you good at?". I was given the same hateful look "I said cooperate not join your crew!. My name is Nami and my skills are stealing from pirates and navigation."

She gave me another opportunity to tease her "Yaay, my second crewmember joined and it's a navigator, shishishi." She was livid at this point and started punching, that didn't stop me from laughing, after all, I am a rubber man.

Moments later Zoro found us and we were about to go to one of the nearby houses so she can tell us where Buggy is located and where his treasury is.

Before we can do so, I felt something and I heard a huge explosion right behind us. I wasn't sure what happened, but I immediately pulled Nami in a hug and positioned myself between her and the explosion.

We were thrown a dozen meters from it. While in the air I was able to turn around, in order to cushion the blow for her.

She was trembling in my hands and trying to process what happened. It took her maybe a minute or so to calm down and when she did, she started punching, while screaming how she easily could have avoided that without my help.

I have to admit I had no idea how to respond to that, so I simply apologized. That didn't help at all, in fact, she was trying to beat me even harder. I learned my lesson the first time, so I simply stayed quiet.

Once she was done beating me, I barely heard her say whisper "Thank you." If my sense of hearing didn't improve from the Zoan fruit, I was probably going to miss that.

I guess I didn't actually learn my lesson, as I immediately teased her again "You are welcome, I already told you I am your prince in shining armor, shishishi.". This time she pulled out a staff from underneath her skirt and started beating me again.

I had honestly forgotten about Zoro for a bit, until his remark "Could you two please stop flirting and help me out. The explosion slightly injured me." Looking at him, he doesn't have a spot on his body that is not bleeding. I didn't see any major injuries but with the amount of blood he is loosing, I won't be surprised if he dies of blood loss.

Thankfully someone else arrived shortly and he introduced himself as the mayor of this town. He was kind enough to let us bring Zoro to his house, in order for us to patch up his wounds.

Once we reached his house, I immediately noticed the dog that is guarding the pet shop right next to the mayors' house.

He told us the story about the dog and the owner. How the dog was instructed to guard the place while the owner was gone, due to being hospitalized. Unfortunately, the owner did not make it and the dog, who he introduced as Chouchou, has been guarding the place since then.

The mayor has been trying to get the dog to leave the town and go to the shelter where everyone is, however, Chouchou refused to leave this place no matter what.

The mayor believes the dog is very smart and knows that his owner has already passed away. Despite that Chouchou refuses to leave the pet store as this is his treasures. Listening to his story almost made me cry. I wanted to go a pet Chouchou and shower him with love, but we have to patch Zoro up first.