Chapter 2 Time Skip

10 years later

Sitting on the railing of his ship, Captain Monkey D. Luffy peacefully enjoyed the calm wind that was blowing in his face. He was wearing his usual red vest and blue shorts. He began to hum to the tune of a song that he had recently learned during his last mission.

"One of these days, you're going to fall into the ocean if you keep sitting there." warned a soft voice behind Luffy. He turned around and noticed that it was Commander Rei, the second in charge of this ship. She was thin, but fit from her training. She had straight black hair and striking green eyes.

Luffy laughed, "Then that just means you'll have to save me!"

She smiled and then sighed, "You're still singing that song too. Binks' Sake? You know that marines shouldn't be encouraging songs that are sung by pirates."

"Shishishishi! You know, I've always wanted to be a pirate when I was younger. I think I would have been a good one too!"

She sweatdropped, "That's not something a marine should say so lightly…"

He only laughed some more before asking, "So how's our new recruit doing?"

"Do you mean Coby? He's rather shy but I think that he'll do well with a bit more time and experience."

Luffy smiled, "Well that's good! He's a wimp so we'll have to do something about that…"

Rei laughed, "The only thing we're able to do right now is drop him off at a marine base. Then I can fill out the proper paper works (notice how she said "I" instead of "we" because let's admit it… Luffy would never do paper works) and the base there will decide where he gets positioned."

She looked over at Luffy to notice that he had fallen asleep. A vein popped out from her forehead before she struck him on the head with her fist.

"Woah!" Luffy shouted as he fell backwards. His legs wrapped around the railing, causing his body to hang upside down on it. "What was that for?! I almost fell into the ocean!"

"It was your own fault for not paying attention!" she shouted back at him.

"I just got bored! How much longer until we're there?" he asked, pulling himself back on deck.

She sighed, "If you would just look straight ahead, you'll see the island that we'll be stopping at; Shells Town, home of the 153rd branch and Captain Axe-Hand Morgan."

"We're almost there! There's gonna be lots of food there right? Ah, I can't wait!" he drooled.

She smirked, knowing full well about the kind of appetite that her captain had. "Don't worry, you'll get plenty of food…" Her jaw fell to the ground when she noticed that Luffy had already grabbed onto the railing, stretched his body to the other side of the ship, and flung himself into the sky ahead of them.

"I'll see you there!" Rei could barely hear him shouting from the distance. It took her a full 10 seconds before she got over her shock, started cursing at the sky, and then shouted at her crew members to go full speed ahead.

Meanwhile, in a small, closed off area in Shells Town, stood a man with a black bandana tied to a post. He glared daggers at the boy in front of him who had just stomped on a little girl's rice balls and then had her thrown over the fence.

The boy named Helmeppo only smiled at him and said, "You have some pretty good endurance. Let's hope it will last you the whole month." As he turned around and started walking away, Zoro couldn't help but notice a shadow flying above him. His eyes widened in shock when he realized that, that shadow was a person… who had just landed on Helmeppo.

"Hi, I'm Luffy. Who the hell are you?" asked Luffy, who was sitting on Helmeppo's back.

"Who the hell are YOU?!" Helmeppo screamed while getting out from underneath him.

"I just said that I'm Luffy. Are you stupid?" He tilted his head sideways.

Helmeppo's face turned red with rage as he could barely let out the words, "Do you know who I am?! Why the hell were you falling from the sky?!"

"I just thought I would get here before my crew did. Do you have any meat?"

"Crew?" Helmeppo sneered, "So you're a pirate, huh?"

Luffy only stared at him blanky. "You really are stupid." he observed.

Helmeppo's head started shaking violently before he noticed the blood that was dripping down his nose from the fall that he just had. He glowered at the boy who was making a complete mockery of his existence and the one next to him, Zoro, who had begun laughing at him and apparently couldn't stop. The marines by Helmeppo's side were profusely sweating at the thought of what might happen next.

"That idiot! I can't believe he would do something so reckless! Actually, I CAN believe it! I just can't believe that I didn't expect it sooner!" Rei paced back forth and from on her deck while her crew attempted, but miserably failed, to calm her down.

"Commander! We're here!" one of the subordinates shouted. Rei, who had been too focused on her ranting, looked up to the pleasant surprise that they were indeed, finally at Shells Town.

"Great! We'll split off in different directions to search for Luffy. Make sure you check the waters around here too to make sure he's not drowning somewhere. And Coby!" she shouted at the short, pink haired boy, who straightened at the sound of his name.

"Y-yes?" he stuttered.

"You're coming with me."

"Yes, Commander!" he said a little more confidently.

Together, the two of them walked around the streets of Shells Town, searching through every nook and cranny while calling out Luffy's name and asking residents if they had seen him. However, after an hour later, they still had no luck and ended up walking near the marine base.

"Geez, where can a loudmouth like Luffy even hide?" Rei asked, mostly to herself. "Well if he was in the waters, I'm sure that the others must have found him by now, so he can't be in too much trouble. We might as well drop you off at the base now-"

"Shh! I think I just heard something!" he shushed her, and then immediately turned a deep shade of red for doing that to the commander. "I-I'm sorry! I just heard a voice, so I thought it could be Luffy, but I probably just heard wrong…"

"It's okay! You need to be more confident in yourself, Coby!" she encouraged, "Besides, we're right in front of the base now, so there's a chance that Luffy could have gone in before us… Though I don't see why he would… Unless…" At the same time, both she and Coby looked at the closed fence next to the base with a sign that said in big, bolded letters "DO NOT ENTER".

"You don't think…" Coby began to ask.

"Oh, I know." she grumbled as she started storming towards the fence that was surrounded by tall, stone walls. With Coby following right behind her, she opened the gate that had been left unlocked.

The first thing she noticed when she walked into the courtyard was someone tied to the post. With a closer inspection, she realized that it wasn't her captain and then sighed in relief. 'He… looks just like Rornoa Zoro', she thought, 'Yes that must be him! He must be the one that I heard some of the citizen's talking about…'

Slowly looking up from the ground, Zoro glared at the two new people in front of him. "What do you want?" he asked.

Coby shivered from the intimidating person before him while Rei gulped and imagined all of the evil deeds that he must be capable of doing. With an even closer look at him, she realized that there was someone else tied on the other side of the post with him. 'Who's the poor guy who has to be stuck with this demon?' she wondered.

The rubber man with black hair and a scar under his left turned his head to look at them.

"Yo!" Luffy hollered while trying to wave his hand that was tied up. Horrified, Rei and Coby's jaws dropped to the ground at the sight of their Captain.

"…"

"…"

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!" Rei exploded, after getting over her initial shock.

"I got tied up." Luffy turned his head a full 180 degrees to look at them.

A vein popped out of her forehead. "I can see that! But why?! And why are you with Roronoa Zoro too?!"

Luffy tilted his head. "Huh? Is that your name?" he asked Zoro, who replied with a "Yeah."

"YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHO HE WAS?!" Rei and Coby both shouted this time.

Rei sighed, "Forget about it, that's not important right now. First off, who tied you up? Second off, why didn't you just stretch your fingers to untie yourself?"

Luffy laughed, "Shishishi, well…"

1 hour ago

"One hour." Luffy huffed stubbornly while Helmeppo's marine guards began to tie his arms to the post. "I'll only stay here for one hour."

Helmeppo gritted his teeth, "Listen here! I don't think you understand the situation you're in! I am marine Captain Morgan's son! So you're going to stay here for as long as I want or else I'll report my father to you!"

"Look, I'm sorry for falling on you but I can't stay here for too long. My crew is waiting for me! In one hour, I'm leaving to look for them!"

"Humph! I'm sure that petty little pirate crew of yours won't even miss you!" he turned around and marched away while calling out, "Let's see how long you can last!"

Present Time

"And that's what happened." Luffy finished with a big grin on his face.

"So let me get this straight…" Rei said slowly, "When you launched yourself into the sky and landed on top of that Helmeppo guy, he decided to tie you up here without any indication of how long he would leave you here?"

"Yep."

She frowned, "Even if you did accidentally hurt him, that is still a serious offense against an officer. Why didn't you say or do anything about it?"

He shrugged, "I didn't think it was important."

'Many other marines would think differently.' Rei mused, 'This guy… he surprises me every day.'

"Luffy, it's been an hour already. Aren't you going to untie yourself?" Coby pointed out.

"Oh, that's right! Shishishi, time sure went by fast…" Luffy stretched his fingers to untie the ropes that were binding him to the post. They were easy enough to untie due to the rope tying lessons that Luffy had to take part in during his training. Then, he walked over to the other side and began to untie Zoro's ropes.

"Hey, hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Zoro growled at him.

"Yeah, what are you doing?!" Coby and Rei both demanded.

"I'm untying him. He's a good guy, so he doesn't deserve to be here."

Rei wanted to stop her Captain from freeing the pirate hunter, but she was well aware of the good sense of morality that Luffy had. If he said that someone was a good person, even if it was a demon, then she wouldn't doubt him.

"Don't I get any say in this?!" Zoro complained, "I have my own pride too, you know! I'm not going to break my promise of surviving here for one month!"

Rei's eyes widened a bit, "What was that?"

"That damn brat let his pet wolf run wild, so I killed it. So he tied me up and promised me freedom if I can stay here for a month. Hey, stop untying me already!" he shouted at Luffy, who started pouting at him.

Rei shared a knowing look with Coby. "I don't think that's going to happen…" she said.

Zoro glared at her, "What did you just say?"

"Well… when Coby and I were looking for Luffy, we heard this guy, Helmeppo I think, bragging about how he was going to execute you in three days. But now that I know the full story, there's definitely a problem here… Luffy, I think we're going to have to investigate this town a little more before we leave."

"That little piece of shit! Hey, Luffy, you can untie me now."

While he continued to untie Zoro's ropes, Luffy asked, "Why do we need to investigate this town?"

"Use your head a little!" Rei scolded, "We've only been here for an hour and we've already seen more than enough corruption going on with the marine officers here. When Coby and I were walking around, we also asked some of the residents where we could find Captain Morgan. However, they all seemed terrified just from hearing his name."

Luffy frowned, "That's not right… Unless you're a criminal, you should feel happy and safe when there's a marine."

She began to wonder how her captain could have been a marine for so long, yet still be so ignorant of the world around him. She was going to ask him this, but Zoro beat her to it.

"How the hell can you be so naïve?" He demanded. "This world that we live in is full of horrible people and marines aren't an exception!"

Then, as if it was some fated coincidence that would prove his point, something unexpected happened. From the tall blue building nearby, a bullet was fired. Then another. And another. And another. In a split second, Zoro had gone from calmly standing firm with his two feet, to clutching his body and staggering on the ground. Everyone watched in shock as he began to cough up blood.

"Damn it, I let my guard down…" he grimaced.

Luffy was still startled as he continued to watch this man, who had been punished for helping the citizens of this town, fall to his knees with blood soaking through his clothing. While Coby and Rei quickly ran to Zoro's side, Luffy clenched his fists and glared in the direction of the marine base, at the man who was responsible for this. From the top of the building, Axe-Hand Morgan stared back at Luffy with cold and unwavering eyes.

5 minutes earlier

"Make sure that there's not a single scratch on it!" Morgan barked.

His subordinates, hard at work, struggled to haul the gigantic statue towards the perfect centered position on the roof.

"Why is something like this even necessary?" mumbled one of the newer recruits.

"What was that?!" Morgan immediately marched towards him and lifted him up in the air by the neck. The subordinate couldn't let out a single word as he grabbed onto Morgan's arm, trying to breathe.

"This statue is a symbol of my power and wealth!" Morgan roared at him, "Disrespect the statue and you disrespect me!" With that, Morgan lifted his right arm and with his trademark axe-hand, sliced the new recruit. The body went limp before Morgan dropped him on the floor with a heavy thud. "Let this be an example to everyone else! This is what happens when you question me!"

While Morgan slowly walked past everyone else, the other subordinates looked around frantically, trying to avoid staring directly at the dead body or Morgan's eyes. Morgan stopped at the edge of the roof, admiring the town that was completely at his mercy.

"With this axe-hand that I have, I have risen to the rank of a captain. And in this world, rank is…" Morgan stopped when he noticed some people that he had never seen before in the distance. "Helmeppo!"

Helmeppo, who was nonchalantly standing off to the side, quickly stood up straighter at the sound of his name. "Yes?"

"Did you sentence more people to the post?" Morgan asked, suddenly remembering a report of a marine ship arriving in town. He swore under his breath, regretting his decision to quickly dismiss the report to focus on his statue. With a closer look, he recognized the red vest and black hair that one of them had.

"Oh, yes, I almost forgot about that. I think his name was Luppy? Luffy? Well it doesn't matter, he said his crew was waiting for him, but I seriously doubt that they'll wait long for a piece of trash like him…" Helmeppo gulped when he noticed his father's face turn red from rage.

"Did you perhaps think he was talking about a pirate crew?" Morgan seethed. When Helmeppo gave a small nod, Morgan screamed, "DID YOU NOT PERHAPS THINK HE WAS TALKING ABOUT A MARINE CREW INSTEAD?!"

Everyone jumped at his sudden explosion, shaking from the menace that was their Captain.

"I-it n-never even crossed my mind!" Helmeppo weakly tried to defend himself, "He wasn't even wearing a uniform! He couldn't possibly be a marine!"

"YOU IDIOT!" Morgan used his left fist to punch his son in the face. Helmeppo was shocked that his father had laid a hand on him for the first time.

Morgan continued, "He's not just any marine either! The one down there is none other than Monkey D. Luffy, a captain just like me! And the one's surrounding him must be some of the people from his crew!" Helmeppo looked down from the roof, surprised that there were more people down there.

"Do you know what this means?!" demanded Morgan. "It means that once that they get out of there, they're going to report me to the higher ups! Then there goes all of the power that I've worked towards!"

"Then what do we do?!" Helmeppo asked, suddenly fearfully of the idea of losing his title as the child of a marine captain.

Morgan looked at his son and each of his subordinates in the eyes. Then, in a suddenly calm voice he said, "We don't let them go."

Everyone gulped, terrified at the idea of what their captain was implying. "Sir?" one of them asked.

Morgan walked back to the edge of the roof to look at the man who could potentially jeopardize his career. "Shoot them. All of them."

Thank you everyone for all of the reviews last chapter, I read all of them so keep them coming :) If you have any questions then feel free to ask and I will answer them to the best of my abilities! Also from now on, I will be posting a new chapter every 2-4 weeks on Saturdays.

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