Chapter 04

As her ship sailed towards Shells town with the two unexpected passengers, Nami was desperately trying, for the sake of her own safety, not to comment on the stupidity of a person actually trying navigate the sea without a map, compass, or general sense of direction. But as Luffy casually estimated the chances that he would have made it to the island on his own without dying of hunger or thirst and washing up on shore as a corpse (and his estimation was very low), Nami couldn't contain her sentiments anymore. While Coby was sweating in exasperation, she abruptly turned to him with a scowl on his face.

"That's not something to laugh about you dumbass!" she screamed. Luffy stopped laughing and looked at her. Nami recoiled and covered her mouth with her hands. Crap, she thought as Luffy stared at her for a few seconds.

Then the strangest thing happened. A fond smile broke out across his face, and then he chuckled.

"No, I guess it's not," he said. Nami recovered, confused. Had she completely misread him? So far since they set out he hadn't made any move that could be considered hostile. He had just been chatting amiably with Coby the entire time. The only time the two of them had interacted was for introductions. When asked her name, Nami replied that it was Nojiko. Luffy nodded and accepted this without further question and Nami concluded that he was a bit dense, which was good to know. There was no point giving him any information that he could potentially use to find her, and the chances he'd ever set foot on her home island were slim, so the name she had picked was irrelevant.

But now she wondered if she had simply misjudged him. Sure, he was unnaturally strong (in fact she was pretty sure she'd seen her do a couple things that were 100% impossible, but it was hard to see from that angle), but strong people didn't necessarily have to abuse their strength, even if most did. She concluded from this that he wasn't a pirate at least, but she still had to be cautious around him.

Nevertheless, she was now comfortable enough to ask some simple questions. "Um, Luffy?" He turned to her.

"Hey, what's up?" he replied.

"Why are you heading to Shells town? What business do you have there?" She wouldn't tell him that she herself was going to steal a map of the grand line of course. That was something he really didn't need to know.

Luffy smiled brightly at the question. "Oh, I'm meeting up with a friend. Maybe you've heard of him. His name is Zoro."

Two sets of eyes widened at this new information. "As in…?" Coby started to ask but trailed off. Nami recognized the name too. It wasn't exactly common.

"Roronoa Zoro. He's known as the Pirate Hunter," Luffy confirmed.

Coby broke into a cold sweat. "He's a friend of yours, Luffy?" Luffy nodded to him. The thought of the Pirate Hunter having friends sounded very farfetched to him. Nami was thinking the same thing, but now she was also wondering if he was a bounty hunter. That would explain his strength, but then why didn't he turn in Alvida's bounty? Was it not high enough for his tastes? Nami started to frown at the raw stupidity of that notion while Coby silently wondered how someone who was aiming to be Pirate King had ever ended up friends with the most infamous bounty hunter in East Blue. That just sounded like a betrayal waiting to happen.

When they finally arrived on the island, Luffy locked onto Zoro's aura. It was easily the most profound presence on the island, towering above the others like a god amongst men. Was Zoro even trying to suppress it? Probably not, he decided. There were no other Haki users in East Blue, so this was basically a giant fluorescent beacon signaling for Luffy to come find him. He frowned for a second. Were they really the only ones? His thoughts drifted momentarily to Smokey. Luffy was pretty sure his Marine rival had awakened both types of Haki by the time of Marineford even if he couldn't utilize them very well.

He had done the same even if he didn't realize it, starting with Conqueror's Haki in Sabaody and Amazon Lily, Armament Haki in Impel Down, and finally observation Haki in Marineford. He found it interesting that they manifested in the order of his eventual proficiency with each of them. But he couldn't exactly tell when Haki users had awakened the ability if they had achieved it before him.

On the way to the bar he listened in on some conversations as he walked down the street, gathering information on recent events, one of which seemed to be the topic of almost every conversation he eavesdropped on. He pretty much knew what happened from the moment he sensed Zoro in a civilian environment rather than the Marine base, but what he heard confirmed his suspicions.

Zoro had managed, or more accurately, decided, to escape from the marines and raise hell in the base, plowing through unfortunate marine soldiers with his sword sheath and finally knocking an enraged Marine Captain Morgan out cold. The entire town had been stunned by the news. This marked the end of Morgan's reign of tyranny, and it had happened so fast. While the Marines were grateful, they were also slightly disconcerted at the level of strength he had so casually displayed, as if he had just been putting up with their crap the entire time.

Luffy knew that in reality he couldn't have escaped from the beginning, but Morgan's fate had been sealed the moment Zoro's mind had been flooded with the memories of his future self. When they asked him what he intended to do while in the town, Zoro had replied that he was waiting for a certain man to arrive, and couldn't leave until then.