31. Found It

Kaya giggled at Luffy and Izumi's stupid behavior. Then, they chatted a bit while waiting for Kuro, who was supposed to meet a man who looked like Michael Jackson.

They didn't wait long and heard two people talking which was none other than Kuro and a man who looked like Michael Jackson called Jango.

Izumi, Luffy, Usopp, and Kaya quietly listened to their conversation. And as expected, they were actually talking about a plan to get Kaya's wealth before killing her. What's more, they heard that Kuro's pirate crew would be arriving to slaughter the villagers of the Syrup village.

"No way! Kurahadol, he—" Of course, Kaya was surprised to hear that. Indeed, she was suspicious of Kuro's movements, but she also didn't expect Kuro to intend to kill her. And surprisingly, Kuro himself admits that he is a pirate.

"That bastard. Turns out he's after Kaya's wealth." Usopp couldn't forgive Kuro after hearing that. He felt that Kuro couldn't thank Kaya's late father for taking him in and giving him a job as a butler.

"Well, you can't blame him. After all, that's what a pirate should do."

"You're also a pirate." Kaya thought.

Suddenly, Luffy stood up and shouted.

"Oi, you! Don't kill the lady!"

Usopp immediately grabbed Luffy's shoulder and shook him.

"What are you doing, Luffy!?? Because of you, we got caught."

"Well, after all, he wants to kill this lady. So I asked not to kill her. It will be troublesome if no one can give me a pirate ship."

"Your stupidity is too deep huh?"

Usopp didn't expect Luffy to shout and expose himself from hiding. Then, Izumi suddenly threw a shuriken at Jango who wanted to hypnotize them from a distance.

"Luffy, let's go!"

Izumi stepped onto the cliff wall and used the cliff wall as a foothold to run downward as if the cliff wall had gravity in it.

Everyone was amazed, including Luffy.

"Whoa, amazing!"

Then, Luffy also jumped down, leaving Usopp and Kaya behind.

When Izumi already stood in front of Kuro and Jango, Kuro showed eyes filled with murderous intent.

"Kid, looks like you're with Usopp and the Straw Hat. You want to interfere with our plans?"

"Interfere? Not quite." Izumi shook his head. He continued. "However, that lady is the only person who can give us the ship. That Straw Hat will be in trouble if you kill that lady."

"So you're planning to stop us?"

"I'm planning to beat you up. Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"

It wasn't Izumi who responded to Kuro, but Luffy who jumped from the top of the cliff while throwing a punch at Kuro.

Kuro, who almost got a punch by Luffy, was able to dodge at the right time even though his cheek was still slightly scratched by it.

"Tch. Jango!" Kuro shouted at the person beside him.

When Jango wanted to use his hypnotic ability by using a pendulum shaped like a chakram, Izumi was already in front of him holding a Kunai in his right hand. The Kunai looked like it had been imbued with energy. Izumi swung his right hand to launch a slash.

Jango could not dodge. As a result, the slash aimed at Jango's pendulum instantly shattered the pendulum into pieces.

Jango launched a kick, but Izumi parried with his left hand. Jango didn't stop. Because his pendulum was shattered to pieces, Jango could only fight Izumi with melee combat.

Jango was very good at dancing, so his movements were quite agile when he threw punches and kicks at Izumi. However, Izumi did not lose to him. Using his magic, he was able to teleport and appeared behind Jango for a surprise attack.

Because of Izumi's unpredictable movements. Jango received punches, kicks, and slashes over and over again until he ended up getting heavily injured and exhausted.

Meanwhile, Izumi glanced at Luffy.

"Looks like Luffy could easily take care of Kuro since he doesn't have his weapon with him."

Luffy beat Kuro so badly that he fell to the ground unable to move. Later, Luffy asked Usopp to tie up Kuro and Jango.

However, before Usopp could tie up Kuro, Izumi dashed and stabbed Kuro's heart. And after confirming that Kuro's heart and pulse stopped beating, Izumi pulled out the Kunai that was stabbed into Kuro's heart.

"W-why did you kill him?"

Usopp asked in a stutter. Luffy just kept quiet while glancing at Izumi. Izumi replied.

"He's dangerous. If I didn't kill him, he might come back here again doing the same thing he had planned before. Luffy, you've also seen how Buggy took over the town. This guy is going to do something even worse. Well, you could say, this is my way of protecting someone."

Even though Izumi said that it turned out that Luffy didn't mind it. If that was the best way to protect his friend, Izumi could do whatever he wanted. That's what Luffy said.

On the previous island, Luffy beat Buggy until he blew off to another island. This made his men lose their spirits and fled from that island after they saw how powerful Luffy was. Knowing Luffy was so close to Shanks and felt humiliated after being defeated. No doubt Buggy will take revenge and chase after Luffy like in canon.

After waiting for a day, Izumi and Luffy, who knew about Kuro's plan, intercepted all the pirates who came. Then together with Zoro, the three destroyed them all.

In the afternoon, they were given a ship by Kaya called the Going Merry. Luffy was so happy that he finally got a ship to adventure across the ocean while pursuing his dream of becoming the Pirate King.

Izumi, Luffy, Zoro, and Nami boarded the ship. Usopp who initially wanted to go on his own adventure was finally invited by Luffy to get on the ship. Then, they sailed into the vast blue sea, thanking Kaya for giving them a ship, and bidding farewell to her.

Time passed by.

Izumi and the others arrived at an uninhabited island. Since they were starving, they had no other choice but to look for food on the island. The island was filled with vegetation, bushes, and shady trees. Undeniably, the island looked like a wilderness where there were certainly various kinds of plants, both poisonous and edible that could be found there.

Suddenly, they heard the voice of someone claiming to be an island god. The "god" intended to expel Izumi and the others from the island, but since Luffy was already starving, Luffy had no other choice but to fight back.

*Boom*

A bullet was fired from the gun at Luffy. However, since Luffy's body was impervious to bullets, the bullet bounced back and revealed a curly old man trapped in the treasure box.

Because he was caught, the old man told them the truth that the old man was trapped in a treasure box and abandoned by his friends for 20 years. He also said that there was a treasure on the island.

"Treasure!???" Nami's eyes suddenly changed to Berries.

"20 years?" Luffy was impressed that someone could survive alone for that long.

"That long?" Even Usopp wasn't an exception.

"It's surprising to see you're still alive." Zoro commented while crossing his hands.

They then look for food with the help of the old man. Izumi created two shadow clones to go around the island. While Izumi himself went to look for food ingredients along with others.

Izumi just thought it would be good if on an uninhabited island, there was indeed a hidden treasure. So he created two clones that might find the treasure.

In the middle of the night when Izumi was sleeping, he was awakened by memories that suddenly appeared in his head. He thought he found a treasure.

However, what he found from those memories was far more interesting than treasure. It was a fruit. The fruit was mango-shaped with an emerald green color and swirling patterns. His heart was beating fast because he didn't expect to find a Devil Fruit out of nowhere.

He immediately dashed toward that place.

Arriving at the place where the Devil Fruit was found, he immediately picked it up and stored it in the storage space.

Arriving at the camp, Zoro and Nami who woke up asked him.

"I found a treasure. Hehehe." Izumi grinned from ear to ear.

"TREASURE!!???" Nami cried out.

Nami's loud voice woke the others.

They asked Nami what happened, and she told them that Izumi found a treasure. However, the old man was dumbfounded, because he was certain that there was no treasure on the island.

Then, Izumi took out a mango-shaped fruit with an emerald green color and swirling patterns. When Nami found out it wasn't money or gold, she lost interest.

"What was that?" Nami didn't seem to know what a Devil Fruit was.

"A Devil Fruit?" Luffy exclaimed.

As soon as Luffy said that, the others were shocked. They didn't expect that there would be a Devil Fruit on this uninhabited island.