Chapter 2

It took a few hours, but they had arrived at Shells Town. Luffy and Coby had gotten off and stared at the town while Nami tied up the boat. "Alright." she said as she glared at Luffy. "This is where we part ways pirate." She took her bag of treasure and stormed off, leaving them both to do whatever they wanted.

"She looked like she wanted to kill you when you said you're a pirate Luffy." Coby said as he watched Nami walk off. Luffy just laughed as he watched her leave.

"I like her." he said as he kept laughing.

"I still can't believe you wanted to come here." Coby said as they started walking into town.

"You wanted to join the marines right?" Luffy asked as he was looking at a fruit vendor. "Well then here's your chance."

Coby smiled at the thought of his dream coming true.

"Thanks Luffy." Coby said with gratitude in his voice. "But why did you want to come here as well?"

"I want to recruit Zoro" Luffy

As soon as he spoke Zoro's name, everyone in town backed away from him in fear. Luffy just grinned at everyone's reaction.

"Why do want to recruit him. You do know he hunts pirates." Coby

"So what. If he is strong I want him on my crew. Do you know who runs this base." Luffy

I think it is Captain Morgan." Coby said. Just like with Zoro, all the townsfolk backed against the walls of the buildings.

"I'd expect that reaction from hearing Zoro's name, but from Captain Morgan?" Coby said as they kept walking. Luffy just pulled his hat over his eyes as he frowned in thought.

"This Morgan guy is a corrupt marine huh." Luffy thought

"Here it is." Coby said, bringing Luffy out of his thoughts. They looked up at the the building, surrounded by a stone wall with an iron gate that read MARINES on it. Coby couldn't believe his eyes as he started saying his goodbyes, only to notice a moment later that Luffy was now standing on the wall"What are you doing Luffy?!"

I think Zoro is here." Luffy replied before jumping off the wall.Coby followed him.

He wouldn't be out in the middle of the base Luffy." Coby s

"Then who's that?" Luffy asked. Coby looked at where Luffy was looking before nearly having a heart attack at the sight of him. There, in the middle of the yard, tied to what looked like a crucifix, was Roronoa Zoro. He wore a white shirt, black pants, black combat boots, a green sash around his waist, and a black bandana covering his green hair with 3 earings on his left ear. Though he looked like shit, he was eminating a dangerous aura around himself.

"No way." Coby squeeked out. "It's really him. Pirate Hunter Zoro."

Luffy stared at Zoro with his smile

"Hey, you two." Zoro said, making Coby flinch. "You're bothering me. Beat it."

Luffy just kept smiling as he heard a ladder clack against the stone wall next to him and Coby. He looked to his side to see a little girl with big brown eyes and brown hair tied into little pigtails at the top of the ladder with a finger to her lips, telling them to be quiet before jumping over to the other side. Luffy watched her while Coby started freaking out, calling to the girl to stop. She walked over to Zoro smiling.

"You must be hungry." she said, clearly not intimidated by Zoro glaring at her. "I made you some food."

"Whatever it is, take it and scram kid." Zoro said.

"They're rice balls." she said as she opened the clothed item in her hands, revealing two big white rice balls. "They're my first time making them, so I hope they're good." Luffy watched as Zoro looked at them like starved animal before looking back at the girl. "I don't want those kid. Leave me alone."

"But." The girl

"Do you have a hearing problem or something?" he shouted, clearly losing his patience. He was about to say more, but was stopped when a group had started walking towards them both.

"This no need to yell at a child 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 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 spit 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 was 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 she tear up and 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 anyway are 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 Helmeppo sir. She's just a little girl." the marine said. Helmeppo grabbed him by the collar before pulling him face to face.

"I said 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 and picked the girl up and walked toward the fence. He threw her over.

Luffy used flash step to appear behind the fence he catches the girl.

"Are you alright kid" Luffy

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

"That's good. You should go home now.

" Luffy said as he looked back at the town. He waved her goodbye as she left

"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.

He laughed until he finally turned towards Coby and Luffy ,who appeared next to Coby

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

"I am just someone who was passing by Mister Ugly Face. " Luffy

"What did just call me." Helmeppo said angrily

"I said you got a charming face." Luffy

"Oh thank you. I thought you called me ugly." Helmeppo

"You are just imagining things." Luffy

After that Helmeppo and the marines went back to base.

"Well that is one weird guy." Luffy

"Luffy you should not antagonise people like that. " Coby

"You should relax Coby. " Luffy

"Who are you." Zoro suddenly asked

"I am Ichimaru Luffy or Ichimaru Gin a pirate. I heard about you Zoro.

Luffy said as he looked at Zoro

I heard you quite the swordsman and pirate hunter.

"What does a pirate want with pirate hunter. " Zoro

"I want you join my crew. " Luffy

"Not interested. I hunt pirates why would I become one." Zoro

"Oh well. I will give you some time to reconsider." Luffy said as he was about to leave

"Wait. Before you go, can you get that for me?" Zoro asked as he looked back at the crushed riceball. Luffy bent down to pick up the food. "You mean this?" he asked. "It's got more dirt than rice in it 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 mud ball 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.

"Quite a interesting guy. I like him. He is definitely joining my crew."Luffy thought

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." 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 of me." she said. She then went on to explain 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 as the wolf was about to attack her it got sliced up by Zoro, who was enjoying his meal at the time. Helmeppo saw this an act of aggression towards him and threatened to execute her mother and her unless Zoro stayed imprisoned for a month. "If anyone are bad guys, it's Helmeppo and his father." she finished.

Luffy stayed quiet as he listened. He heard it all before how corrupt the marines were, 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 there 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 table before knocking a bowl of fruit off of it and into the wall. Luffy looked over to see Nami again before smiling again.

"Gimme your food and best drink on the house woman!" he screamed in bit of a high voice. As they poured him a drink, he began talking. "That lousy guy with that fake smile. If he thinks he can insult 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 Luffy released his Spiritual pressure on him. Helmeppo fainted from Luffy's pressure.

"Big baby." 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 now."

To be continued