8 Chapter 8: Gift For You

Josh's PoV:

I inwardly smirked at the reactions of the people below me. Outwardly though, I kept my calm face, as if a person flying around was an everyday normal thing. I can't wait until they meet Manni!

"What the.. how is that even possible!?" Exclaimed Alvida, although she had heard rumors of devil fruits being able to give all sorts of abilities, seeing a rubber man and a flying person in a single day was a bit much for her.

"That's so cooool!! How are you doing that!??" Before I could retort back to Fatvida, the future pirate king stared at me, wide eyed. Mouth still slightly opened and eyes shining like stars.

The rest of the people were just speechless. Man, if these guys ever went to the Grandline, their mouths would tire from having to open them so often.

"I can teach you if you want, kid." I said as I stopped using Geppo to keep myself afloat and slowly fell down towards the open deck of the merchant ship.

"Really!? Tell me tell me tell me.." Luffy didn't even try to hide his joy and eagerness as he rapidly approached me.

"Hold your horses, cowboy. Isn't something happening right now?" I asked, hoping to diverge his attention back to Alvida. I idly wondered if I should have even worried about Luffy being interested in having me join his crew. With reactions like that, it's pretty much settled, he probably wouldn't let me say no even if I wanted to now.

"Oh that's right.. we're leaving. Come on, Coby." The hyperactive teen did as I hoped and went back to the situation at hand.

Fatvida wasn't having any of that though, with a war cry, she lunged at Luffy, hoping to surprise him with her "speed".

"Gomu Gomu no...", Luffy stretched his hand as far as it could reach and thrusted it forward. Hitting the fat pirate right in the solar plexus.

"Pistol!" His hands automatically went back to normal with the sound of rubber being released from expanding too far.

"Shishishi.. Get us a boat and just let Coby leave quietly. He's going to join the marines." The strawhat wearing boy stated towards the remaining goons of the Alvida pirates while ruffling his nose.

"Ahh.. there's no need. If you guys want a ride, I got one." I proclaimed loud enough to be heard with an eerie smirk plastered on my face. No one seemed to noticed that as Luffy and Coby approached me.

I put my hands in my mouth and whistled as loud as I could. For a while, we were just staring at each other, with me wondering if Manni had ran off.

Soon enough though, everyone nearby could feel tremors from underneath us and Coby, along with the remaining pirates lost their balance. I almost lost my balance as well because this was the first time I've ever been on an actual ship even before I was transported here.

The only one unfazed by this was Luffy as he was looking around frantically for the source of the tremors.

"Is it an earthquake!?" Asked one of the goons in panic and fear.

Seriously? An earthquake on the sea? At least word it properly. Do they even get natural earthquakes on islands?

My musings were cut short by the head of the giant sea turtle that poked itself out about 10 meters away from the ship, dangerously coming close to crushing the tiny thing. Manni's single Iris was even bigger than the two ships combined, not to mention his entire head let alone his body.

Everyone onboard froze stiff, even Luffy tensed up. I bet he's never seen a seaking so big before.

Manni doesn't look particularly menacing, he just looks like a normal turtle, just too ridiculously oversized.

Just his head looming over us can block the entire sun away from us.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Luffy getting ready to fire another pistol and a bunch of grown men pissing their pants with their butts on the ground. I could've sworn I heard the squeak of a female voice from a bit further away, but I paid it no mind.

"Alright, our ride is here! Guys, meet Manni. He's my pet turtle." I said as cheerfully as I possibly could sound. This, in turn, made every single head in the near by vicinity to snap towards me and when they saw that I wasn't joking, dropped their jaws even harder than when I first showed up.

I quickly jumped on top of Manni's head and turned my head backward while my body is still facing forward,

"Well, are you coming or not?" I asked again.

Luffy, after a moment of confusion, just shrugged and was about to hop on until he noticed Coby not even daring to breathe. Tears and snot coming out of his face and nose soundlessly.. how that was even possible was beyond me.

With another shrug, Luffy grabbed a Coby who didn't even respond. Looking even closer, one would notice that his eyes were rolled back and he had seemingly fainted.

I inwardly felt kind of guilty for doing this to the poor normal guy who isn't yet used to things like this. It was a good thing that Manni didn't bellow loudly or that might've made his heart give out and he could've died right there and then.

Grabbing Coby, Luffy stretched one of his hand and reached out to Manni's head fearlessly. I have to admit, the kid's pretty brave to be able to do that. Some pirates in the New World might not even be able to react the way he did.

The strawhatted boy clumsily put Coby down and promptly sat down himself.

"So where to, kid?" I asked, I obviously know his name but have to keep up appearances and all that.

"No clue. I'm just looking for crew members right now." An etherial light bulb went off near Luffy's head and with a *POP* sound, he put his fist down on his open palm and turned towards me. I knew it was coming and I was excited.

"Be my Nakama!" He exclaimed. Already knowing that he was going to ask, I didn't want to make it hard for him so I quickly agreed.

"Alright, but tell me, what do you wanna do? Depending on your answer, I might decline." I questioned him, fully knowing the answer. Luffy might seem dumb but I just want to confirm for myself, his convictions and ambitions.

"I'm gonna become the Pirate King and be the freest person in the world!" There was no hesitation. Those words, if they came from any other Blues idiot, I would've bonked that person over the head but I could feel the sheer confidence in his voice.

To him, I'm sure those aren't just words or a promise. It's his way of life. The reason of his being. There was no other way to describe it and I wanted to help him along the way.

"Pirate King, ehh? That's a hard one but I have a dream of my own as well." I said, purposefully creating suspense so he could ask me himself, and he didn't disappoint.

"Really? What's your dream?" As expected, he asked not even a second later.

"I'm the man who's going to adventure all over and be the person that has the most fun in the world!" I said as I stared right into his eyes.

"Shishishishi.." "hahaha" we both just laughed. Those dreams might sound like they are stupid or unreal even, but we were going to keep our word and he and I knew that.

"My name is Joshua but my friends just call me Josh. What's your name?" I was too busy enjoying the reactions of everyone that I had almost forgotten to introduce myself.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy. You can just call me Luffy I guess.." The strawhatted boy introduced himself as well. With those out of the way, I had officially joined the Strawhat Pirate crew.. to my amusement, even before Zoro.

I sat next to Luffy and stayed quiet. The reason for my silence was that I was having another conversation inside my head.

'System, I want to buy a gun with infinite ammunition of seastone bullets. Is that possible?'

[Ding! It is possible. As seastones are rare, and with an infinite amount, that will cost you 5 million points. Would Host like me to proceed?]

'Yeah, just make the pistol look cool and golden in color. Also, if possible make it unbreakable and add a function where only I can use it.'

[Ding! Worry not, Host. System can imprint a special insignia on any items purchased from the store to allow only Host to use it. With the additional function of Unbreakable, that will be a total of 6 million system points. Does Host wish for System to proceed?]

'Yes, that'll be all.'

With a blinding light that came as abruptly as it went. There was a golden Glock in my hands. It was longer than most pistols in this world and underneath it, was the holster.

I forgot about that, wouldn't want to go around carrying this gun in my hands wherever I went. After thanking the system for her insight, I strapped the holster on me and placed the gun inside.

I turned around to see Luffy staring at me curiously. Oh crud, I forgot they were still here.

Thankfully for me though, I turned around before I did anything and all he saw was a brief flash of light.

"Luffy, I got a gift for you." I said. He looked like he wanted to know what it was and inched closer.

I took off my captain's coat and slung it over his shoulders. He seemed surprised by my actions.

"I originally wanted to become a captain of my own crew but decided to join you instead. Your the captain so you should wear the captain's coat." He came to an understanding.

Oddly enough, it didn't look weird on him at all. In fact, it was as though I bought it for the sole purpose of giving it to him.

About an hour later, Coby stirred and woke up soon after. He did not realize where he was or what he was doing before but when he did... it wasn't pretty. The same thing as before was about to happen so I quickly grabbed his mouth with my hand and shushed him.

With his attention on me, I assured him that Manni wouldn't hurt anyone unless I ask him to and that he was absolutely obedient to me.

Speaking of Manni, I feel like I should find out exactly how or why he came to the East Blue. He is physically bigger than the average Calm Belt seakings. Most seakings tend to be a hybrid of different animals.. sea creatures or otherwise. Which is why I found it a bit weird that he is just a giant turtle. I'm getting off topic again....

It was a hassle convincing Coby that he was safe and wasn't in any danger.. Luffy just laughed the entire time, much to my displeasure.

I had Coby point us out to the nearest island which just happens to be the island with Shells Town. After Coby's story of the scary pirate hunter, the decision was quickly made to "sail" that way. I can only think to myself 'we're coming for you Zoro..'