Chapter 4: Meeting the Strawhats

8 months after the arrival of Harry on Gaimon's island, two small boats can be seen on the horizon. 

The big one, with black sails and a clown skull logo, and the other, a small sailboat with white sails.

In the smaller boat with the white sails, a young man with a scar under the left eye can be seen saying to his companions, "Hey, There's an island!"

The navigator of the team says to the man, "That island is no good! It's unpopulated, so it's useless. Let's just keep going."

Not listening to her, the man starts rowing towards the island and says, "Let's see if we can find someone who would join us there...And let's look for food too. You know, Nami was right, we seem to have no plans!"

"WAIT!" Nami yelled out after the two men in the small boat.

As the crew touched down, they were greeted by a scene ripped straight from a fantasy novel. 

The island was a madhouse of nature—creatures mingling together in ways that Mother Nature probably never signed off on. Imagine a dog's body with a chicken's head zooming by, followed by a snake sporting rabbit ears. 

Their reaction was the same as in the manga. Luffy was excited and Nami was a bit inquisitive. 

They were enjoying the weird animals and situation when they suddenly heard a loud voice coming from nowhere, "Don't come closer! Get out!"

Nami, a bit spooked, "What was that sound? Who are you?"

"Me? I am the forest guardian…."

And the rest of the situation goes the same as in the manga. Nami and Luffy meet Gaimon and instead of Luffy being shot and Gaimon trying to run away, something different happens.

"Stay away from me. If you dare to come any closer, I'll call my friend and he will kick your ass." Gaimon threatened them finally.

"Who is your friend?", Nami asked.

"His name is Harry. He is really strong. If you know what's good for you, go away from this island. Pirates are not welcome here." Gaimon replied with finality.

"I see, we'll have to leave then. No need to ruffle this guy for no reason. Luffy? Let's go. Oi, Luffy!"

And there was Luffy, right next to Gaimon, "Hey, Gaimon. Tell me more about this friend of yours. Why don't you call him? I want to meet him."

"He's on the island. HARRY! Where are you? Come to me."

Gaimon yelled out for his friend. 

"HARRY!!" Luffy also joined him in yelling for Harry. He was curious about meeting the guy.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, an ugly person can be seen walking towards two boats. 

In one of which, Zoro was sleeping.

Harry slowly sneaked up to him. And before Zoro could react, with a fast movement, Harry touched his hand.

Zoro instantly awakened. And drew his sword. But it was too late. There in front of him, was someone that looked exactly like Zoro, but was not.

"What the..who are you?"

Zoro asked the doppleganger. 

"What? I'm Zoro, who are you? And why do you look like me?"

Confusion was in the air. But it quickly turned to rage for Zoro. 

"Cut that out. Give me my face back."

Saying that he took out his swords. Getting ready to fight.

Harry took out a small knife of his as well. "And I'm telling you, this is who I am. Why do you look like me?"

For a second, Zoro did believe that this random guy on an island that looked like him was just a coincidence. But suddenly seeing a smirk on that guy's face, he realized that this was some devil fruit owner like Buggy or something supernatural. He was ready to go all out and fight to beat him.

As Zoro got into position to strike him down. Harry stood down. With a smile he said,

"Sorry, Mr. Zoro. I'm just messing with you."

And with that, he canceled the transformation.

"Ahhh, you monster!! What are you?"

Zoro got even more shocked and almost toppled over backward in surprise after seeing the 'beauty' of Harry for the first time.

Harry just stood there with his soul slowly trying to escape from the damage received.

"I'm just ugly,

 I'm not a serial killer,

Nor am I a monster. Why does everyone react like that?"

Harry drew circles in the sand while his depression kicked in and he started murmuring and lamenting his life.

Zoro had to do a sweatdrop and decided to change the subject for now," So, who are you? And how did you turn into me?"

"Hello, my name is Harry. Nice to meet you and I am a devil fruit user. And you are Mr. Zoro, aren't you?"

................

Harry extended his hand for a handshake. The purpose of meeting Zoro first was to get his face before anything else. He had been thinking about this meeting for a long while. But there was nothing better than meeting Zoro first. Zoro was inherently a suspicious person. If he got the approval of Zoro and Nami, getting the approval of Luffy would be easy as long as he is honest with them. 

Somehow, Luffy has this uncanny ability to know someone's character at a glance. Probably related to his ability to hear the voice of all things. 

So, since he harbors no ill will toward the crew or the normal people, he is sure that Luffy will have no issue with him joining the crew. 

Now all he has to do is get the approval of Zoro and after that, getting the approval or trust of Nami will have to wait for now.

"I am. And how do you know my name?" Zoro asked.

"Well, I happen to be well-informed and you are a prolific bounty hunter. Many people know about you. I'm also assuming that you are currently hunting the Clown pirates or have already hunted them."

"Hmm? Why would you say that?"

"Well, that's the flag of the Clown pirates in that sail, is it not? So, one of the two things I said has to be true. Or are you saying that you joined them?"

Harry displayed his knowledge and tried to make himself look useful.

"Yes, we did eliminate the Buggy pirates soon. But enough about that, why did you copy my face without my permission?"

Zoro asked, hoping to get more information from this suspicious person. 

"Well, as you can see, I am way too ugly. So, I needed your good looks. Otherwise, I was afraid that if you said no, I would be in a lot of trouble. But I assure you, I would never use it to cause any trouble for you."

"I see." Zoro did see the point in his words. Harry did seem to be acting weirdly. And he could tell that Harry was telling the truth. So Zoro decided to forgive him for the moment.

"I have something to request of you. I wish to leave this island. So, can I join you for some time, at least until I get to a bigger island?"

Zoro replied after having a bit of thought, "Hmm, you'll have to request my Captain. I am not the only one making the decisions."

"I see.", Harry had nothing more to add. He had done his task of introducing himself. Now he just has to introduce himself to the rest of the crew.

"I'm going to go to the island and meet with your captain. How many crew members do you have?"

Even though he knew, he decided to ask just in case.

"Just me and my captain. This is only the beginning of the crew. Others will join later."

"Ok, then, Are you not going to join the island searching party though? You look like you could use some supplies."

Harry asked him because he knew that they did need some basic supplies like food and water.

"No need to worry, Luffy can get them on his own. Plus he has Nami with him. No need to be worried."

Zoro added calmly and just went back to sleep, seeing that there was no more threat.

Harry, seeing that there was no more problem, decided to go meet them and maybe play a bit of a prank. No Strawhat ever joined the crew in a normal manner. So, why break the tradition?

.........…

On the island, while Gaimon and Luffy are looking for Harry, he goes back to his small hut on the island and packs up all the items that he decided to take. There was nothing much. Just a very small knife, a shirt, some dried and smoked meat, and two sacks of fruits. He knew that they would be needing them later. He also took some potatoes, because they are always welcome and you can use them in any dish.

After getting those ready, he decided on the prank.

.........….

Meanwhile, 

"Gaimon, where is your friend? Why is he not coming out? Don't tell me he's scared?"

"Ugh, definitely not. He is stronger than all the pirates I've seen. He is like a superhuman. He used to be very weak. But after training, he got super strong."

"Really, how did you meet other pirates? Don't tell me you were a pirate too?"

This time, Nami asked him.

Gaimon then explained how he used to be a pirate and how he got into his situation. After learning of the treasure chests, Nami excitedly asked, "So, did you find them? What were the treasures? Was it gold? Was it jewels?"

"Gaimon had to burst her bubble though, "No, they were all empty, someone had gotten to them before us. There was nothing to be done."

Nami was dejected hearing that. "I see. You seem to really like this Harry."

Gaimon replied, "Yes, he is my friend who has been with me during these last couple of months. But I'm sure that he will leave soon."

Luffy then said, "Why not leave with him? You know, we may be pirates, but we are not bad people, why don't you and him join my crew?"

Gaimon smiled but he said, "No, I need to take care of these animals and the forest. If I leave, then pirates will come and kill all these beautiful creatures. Harry helped these couple of months but in the end, I need to help these guys as well."

Luffy, though felt bitter about leaving someone alone on this island. But he did respect his resolve. 

Also, he had already decided to take Harry as his crewmate. 

Suddenly, a monkey with a dog's head took Luffy's hat and ran away with it. 

"HEY!!!!!" 

Luffy yelled and ran after the monkey. "Give me my hat back!!"

He stretched his arm and held onto a tree branch and used it to get up the tree. 

The monkey kept running and Luffy kept chasing after it. Sometimes the monkey would turn back and blow a raspberry at Luffy. 

"OI you stupid monkey!! Give it!!"

Suddenly Luffy turned his two hands into big slingshots and went after the monkey very quickly. The monkey could not go any faster and was caught by him.

As Luffy caught the monkey and retrieved the hat, it suddenly turned into a horrific and disfigured human.

"Ha ha ha, that was some really fun chasing. Your rubber rubber fruit is really interesting." 

"You....yo...yo....you. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! A DEMON!!!!!A DEMON!!!!! AHHHHH I'M GONNA BE EATEN. AN ONI…SOMEBODY, HELP ME!!!!!"