Demons, Swords, And Other Things That Nearly Killed Me

The Hatred for Bounty Hunters and Mountain Bandits Runs in The Family

     

  "Hey hey! Let's drink and celebrate!"

"--To Luffy's craziness! And to our greatness!"

Men cheered and raised pints of booze.

"Ga hah hah!! Drink! Drink!"

"Sake! Bring out some more sake!"

"Can we get another round over here?"

"Sake!!"

"Idiot– that's MY food!!"

"Shut up– It's MINE!!"

"Yo– Cut it out! Brawling while you're drunk is shameful!"

Makino put a bandage over Luffy's cut cheek. The young boy had injured himself –almost stabbing out an eye– when he was fooling around on the Red Hair Pirate's figurehead. He had been begging to be taken along on their next pirate adventure.

There were still a few others poking fun at the boy. That's when he turned around to face them, still slightly teary eyed with a forced smile on his face.

"D-Didn't hurt at all!"

The man with a straw hat almost whacked him over the head with a spoon. "You liar! Don't do anything so stupid like that again! I swear, it's like you're trying to die...!"

"I'm not afraid of pain at all!" He replaced his tearful look with an actual smile. Somehow. "I wanna be a pirate too!"

"Heh."

The ravenette whipped his head towards Shanks. He was the leader of the Red Hair pirates after all. And after he had been caught laughing, Shanks looked away.

Luffy thought that pirates were incredibly cool. He wanted to be one so badly.

"Hey, bring me out to sea when you come back!"

The redhead laughed at that. This time, he didn't care if he was caught.

"You can't handle being a pirate!" he continued to chuckle. "You can't even swim– that's a pirate's greatest weakness, you know!"

"I'll be fine if I stay on the ship!" Luffy argued, "I can fight really well anyways! I've trained rigorously– My punch is as strong as a pistol! A bullet too!"

Shanks rested his chin on his palm as he gazed at Luffy through half-lidded eyes. "Pistol? Wow...Really?"

"What's with the tone?! Stop making fun of me!"

Some of Shanks' crew came over, seeing the boy's 'saddened' (he was really just angry) state. Then they proceeded to tell Luffy that he could explore the world if he became a pirate. Go on nice adventures– a pirate's life was great.

"Luffy, you seem sad!"

"Be happy to face anything!"

"A pirate's life is great! Come on!"

"The sea's so wide and deep– you can go to any island and seek out adventures!"

"There's nothing greater than freedom!"

(This was said before half of the men around them started kicking each other or getting into fights over food and sake)

"Why don't we just bring him with us next time? It's no problem, Cap."

"I agree!"

Luffy threw his hands into the air. "Yeah! Take me with you, Shanks! Come on!"