Chapter 8 The Captain and His First Crewmate

After eating and saying goodbye to Coby, the two pirates leave in their skiff. Before looking at the bird as before, the two were chatting

"Hey Luffy, can I see your sword for a second?" Zoro suddenly asked. Luffy handed Ashita no Tamashimi to him and Zoro took the sword out of its scabbard and examined it looking impressed.

"It's a named sword." Luffy said seeing Zoro's reaction. "A lower level than your white katana, though. That sword is called Ashida no Tamashimi (Tomorrow's Sorow)."

Zoro stared at him.

"So you're a swordsman?" he asked. Luffy nodded.

"You could say that. But I'm not very good at it." he says. "I can do things that you can't do."

Zoro raised his eyebrows. "Then how can you say you're unskilled?"

Luffy sighed.

"I'm only slightly better than you. All I know about swordsmanship at this point, you can learn it quickly, if you train yourself hard enough or if I teach you, even if I'm not good at teaching things. But..." Luffy said and stopped.

"But?" Zoro repeated with raised eyebrows.

"But..." Luffy continued. "I can easily take down most of the enemies we will encounter, bearing in mind, I am stronger and faster than the enemies we will encounter."

"So how did your skill become a problem?" Zoro asked, ignoring the arrogant sounding statement for now.

"If I were to fight someone with equal strength and speed, I would probably lose." Luffy answered. Zoro still didn't fully understand what Luffy meant because he was still looking at Luffy in confusion.

"*haaah* LISTEN!" he said louder now. "A swordsman at my current level of power, would be much more skilled than me."

"Oh." Zoro said simply.

"But how strong are you?" he asked after a brief pause. Luffy looked at him skeptically.

"I don't think I can tell you that." he said, sighing.

"Why not?" Zoro asked confused.

"You'd never believe me. You'd say I was crazy or delusional or something maybe." Luffy answered with a frown.

"Surprise me." Zoro grinned.

"*haaah* Okay." Luffy said and took a deep breath.

"I'm as strong as a Yonkou." he finally said. Zoro's jaw almost hit the floor of the boat when his mind was blown by that statement.

"Zoro?! Do you sleep with your eyes open?!" Luffy asked while waving his hand in front of the swordsman's face. His eyes widened and he stared at Luffy.

"That sounds really crazy." said Zoro. Luffy just grinned.

"That's true. I will definitely become the Pirate King with my strength." he laughed. Zoro held his head. Headaches coming, that's for sure.

"Let's just say that it's true-" Zoro started

"It is true." interrupted Luffy.

"Okay. But how did you get so strong?" Zoro pressed. Luffy sighed.

"I can't tell you that Zoro. Not yet." Luffy answered. "I'll let you know when all the crew is complete."

Zoro sighed but decided to leave the subject and replaced the question with something Luffy would answer.

"So who else do we need?"

"We need, let's see..." Luffy replied looking at his hands "We need a navigator, sniper, cook, a doctor, an informant and librarian, a shipbuilder and most importantly a musician."

"Priority, captain. We don't really need a musician." said Zoro with a single sweat appearing on his forehead.

"But pirates love to sing!" said Luffy with a frown and Zoro was sweating again. "Anyway, it's still possible for us to get more crew recruits, but I'm going to tell you all about my... past when all the crew were assembled. I already know where to get all of those members, but it's going to take some time."

"Then please enlighten my curiosity captain!" Zoro said.

"I didn't know you liked my voice so much, Zoro!" Luffy laughed and Zoro almost fell. "We'll get a navigator on the next island, a sniper on Syrup village, a cook on Baratie, a doctor on Drum island, an informant on Arabasta, a shipbuilder on Water 7 and a musician on Sir Gecko Moria island, the Royal Shichibukai. ."

"I understand." Zoro said while drinking a glass of sake. Luffy was sweating.

"...You don't know where those places are, do you?" Luffy asked with an even expression.

"....Nope." Zoro answered after a moment's delay. he laughed.

"CRAAA" came the sound of a bird.

"It's okay, because neither am I!" said Luffy while smiling like an idiot.

Zoro spat out his sake and Luffy laughed as he launched himself at the bird.