Another Puss!

A/N: Have Early Access to my stock on Patreon. Do consider supporting me there? https://www.patreon.com/Axelwheel

======================

"Temper temper Zoro." came a whiney voice. Everyone looked to see a few marine soldiers around a blond lanky kid with his hair in an oval shape on his head. He wore a purple suit, white shoes, and a smug grin as he walked towards them. Zoro sneered as the man looked at the girl. "Oh. Rice balls? Don't mind if I do." he said as he took one and started eating it.

"Hey! That's for Zoro, not you." the little girl said before the blond teen spits the food out in disgust. "What is this?! It's got sugar in it. You're supposed to use Salt! Salt!"

"But I thought it would taste better if it were sweet," she said, sounding sad.

"Well, you thought wrong, you little brat!" he screamed as he knocked the other rice ball out of her hand and started stomping both into the dirt.

"Stop!" she screamed, trying to get him to stop, but failed as he kept stomping until it was nothing but a white pile with his shoe print on them. She stared at it as her eyes tear up, and she sniffled. "But I...I worked so...so hard on those."

"Ugh. This is why I hate kids." the teen said. "Don't you know the rules of this base kid? Anyone who helps criminals in any way is to be executed on sight. By order of Captain Axe Hand Morgan." He watched the little girl pale before ordering one of the marines to throw her over the fence.

"But...but Helmeppo, sir. She's just a little girl." the marine said. Helmeppo grabbed him by the collar before pulling his face to face.

"I said to throw her over the fence. If you're not gonna follow my orders, I may have to tell my father of your insubordination," he said. The marine looked frightened but lowered his head as he walked over, picked the girl up, and walked toward the fence. He told her to curl into a ball before lobbing her over screaming.

Coby looked horrified as he watched her get tossed over and head for the ground. He closed his eyes, waiting to hear her smack into the ground. Her screaming stopped, and both Coby and the girl opened their eyes to see that Luffy was standing there, holding her up. Coby looked at where Luffy was a moment ago, then back at where he was now, blinking few times.

'How'd he get over there that fast?' he thought as Luffy set her down, asking if she was okay.

"Yeah. I'm fine," she said, looking up at Luffy, who just smiled.

"That's good. You should go home now. Your mother must be worried about you." Luffy said as he looked back at the town. He waved her goodbye as she left with a small smile before he turned back to the fence and climbed back up to hang on it and look at Zoro and Helmeppo.

"You really are a stubborn one. Aren't you Roronoa Zoro?" Helmeppo said in a smug tone.

"That's right," Zoro said as he glared back at him. "I'm gonna survive a whole month, then leave as our agreement. And you better not back out of your part."

"I wouldn't dream of it, Zoro," he said with a laugh. His laugh died in his throat as he felt a chill run up his spine.

He and the other marines were rubbing their arms as if cold as they looked around, confused as to why they felt cold when it was warm and sunny. Zoro felt it too and looked around until he saw Luffy and Coby on the wall again. His eyes widened a bit as he looked at Luffy.

'Is that guy doing this?' he thought as Helmeppo finally spotted them as well.

"Hey, you!" he screamed. "Who are you two? This is a marine base."

"He's spotted us, Luffy," Coby said as he looked at Luffy. Luffy didn't look away from the group in the yard as he traced a circle the size of the palm of his hand on the stone wall and found a slightly loose stone. "What should we do?"

"Hey, Oval Head," Luffy called at Helmeppo, who just gawked at him for insulting him. Luffy pulled his hand away from the wall before smirking. "You're wide open," he said before slamming his hand on the wall. Faster than any of them could blink, the stone shot out of the wall and hit Helmeppo straight in the groin.

Helmeppo just stood there for a few moments before his face slowly twisted into one of pain as his eyes crossed before rolling back in his head as his mouth slowly fell open, yet no sound came out.

He was trembling and sweating profusely as the pain finally reached his brain before he slowly fell forward at an agonizing pace and hit the ground with a thud.

"HELMEPPO!" the marines shouted as they hoisted him into the air and ran back towards the base. Coby just gapped at what happened while Luffy smirked. Zoro was cracking up laughing as he hung from the post he was tied to. Luffy then jumped over the wall and walked towards Zoro before stopping a few feet away from him. Zoro slowly stopped laughing but kept the smirk on his face as he looked at Luffy.

"I don't know who you are, kid, but I'd give just about anything to see that again," he said as they both shared a laugh. "So, who are you, kid?"

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy, a pirate. I heard about you, Zoro," he said as he looked at Zoro. "They say you're a swordsman, along with being a heartless pirate hunter."

"I am a swordsman, but anything else is just rumored," he said as he looked at Luffy.

"Hmm. You don't look like either if you ask me."

"No one asked you," he said as his face slowly fell back to a frown. "Anyway, what does a pirate want with a pirate hunter anyway? Never mind, I don't care." Luffy just faked a pout as he turned to leave, but stopped and smiled as he heard Zoro speak again.

"Wait. Before you go, can you get that for me?" Zoro asked as he looked back at the crushed food. Luffy bent down to pick up the food. "You mean this?" he asked. "It's got more dirt than rice in it now." It really did. Anime, after all, does not look real, but this world was real now.

"I don't care. Give it to me! Every grain of rice!" he said as he opened his mouth. Luffy looked at him as he threw the mudball into Zoro's mouth. He watched as Zoro choked the food down before coughing a bit.

"Told ya."

"Delicious," Zoro said in a quiet voice with his head down. "Tell her I enjoyed the food." he finished. Luffy just smiled as he headed towards the wall.

...

Back in town in an alley, Luffy and Coby were talking with the little girl named Rika.

"He liked it?" she asked with a big smile.

"Yep. Every grain." Luffy said as she sighed in relief. "I'm glad," she said.

"I don't get it. He doesn't seem like the bad guy that everyone says he is." Coby said.

"He's not a bad guy at all!" Rika screamed. "He's in there because...because of me," she said. She then explained how about a month ago, Helmeppo owned a wolf that he used to terrorize the town with.

He waltzed into her mother's restaurant, letting the wolf scare everyone there. She then told them that it tried to attack her when she tried to shoo it out of the building, only to be sliced up by Zoro, who enjoyed a meal at the time.

Helmeppo saw this as an act of aggression towards him and threatened to execute the mother and daughter unless Zoro stayed imprisoned for a month. "If anyone is bad, it's Helmeppo and his rotten father." she finished.

Luffy stayed quiet as he listened. He heard it all before, but it still left a bitter taste in his mouth. Coby also couldn't believe that a marine would abuse his power in such a manner.

Both were brought out of their thoughts as they heard crashing coming from inside the building next to them. Rika ran inside, screaming for her mother as Luffy and Coby followed her inside.

They watched as Helmeppo came in, his face in a scowl as he sat down at the table before knocking a bowl of fruit off of it and into the wall. Luffy looked over to see Nami walking down the stairs before smiling again.

"Gimme your food and best drink on the house, woman!" he screamed in a bit of a high voice. As they poured him a drink, he began talking. "Lousy straw hat bastard. If he thinks he can strike me and get away with it, he's so very wrong. After I execute Zoro, he's next."

"Who will you execute tomorrow?" said Luffy as he appeared behind Helmeppo. Helmeppo froze as his eyes widened before he slowly turned around to see a grinning Luffy standing behind him with his arms folded across his chest.

He slowly turned blue in the face as his mouth hung open for a few moments before his eyes rolled back again, and he fainted, leaving Luffy to howl with laughter.

"Another Puss," he said as the marines who accompanied him carried him off towards the marine base. Luffy stopped laughing as he muttered. "Zoro is definitely joining my crew and family."