"Where can I find Roronoa Zoro?" Luffy asked, and quite loudly I might add, and this brought nothing but fear.
"Shhh.. This is the place of Axe-hand Captain Morgan."
Those words caused more fear among the people listening to their conversation which made Luffy and made him more curious about this person. Soon they found the address where Zoro was kept captured.
Luffy took off running toward the Marine base. Coby yelped in panic and chased after him, while I could only sigh before following the two idiots. A few minutes later, we rounded a corner and entered the Marine courtyard.
There he was.
A green-haired swordsman stood tied upright to a large wooden cross beneath the blazing sun, his clothes tattered, yet his expression completely fearless. Even restrained, the man radiated a dangerous aura that made everyone nearby instinctively keep their distance. Luffy grinned from ear to ear.
"I like him already."
Just then, a small girl with light brown hair peeked nervously around the corner of the courtyard wall. Clutching a neatly wrapped lunchbox against her chest, she repeatedly looked between the Marine guards and the exhausted swordsman tied to the wooden cross.
Gathering every ounce of courage she possessed, she quietly climbed over the wall before carefully making her way toward Zoro, her tiny hands trembling with every step she took.
"M-Mister Zoro..." she called softly.
Zoro slowly opened his eyes.
"...What?"
"I... I made rice balls for you." The little girl smiled timidly as she held the lunchbox toward him. "Mom said I shouldn't come... but I wanted to thank you for saving me."
"Why are you here.. I don't want your food."
"Hey why is this guy being rude?" Luffy remarked as he was watching all of this from far.
"I told you he is a demon."
"I want to.." Meanwhile, when Rika was trying to explain loud footsteps echoed throughout the courtyard. A young man with blond hair and an absurdly oversized chin strode into the open, surrounded by several Marine guards. The smug grin on his face immediately told me exactly who he was.
Helmeppo.
"Oh? What's this?" he sneered, picking up one of the rice balls without permission. "You brought food for the criminal?"
Without hesitation, he shoved the rice ball into his mouth. His expression immediately twisted.
"BLEGH!"
He spat it onto the ground in complete disgust.
"It's so salty! Were you trying to poison someone with this garbage?"
Rika immediately lowered her head, tears beginning to gather in her eyes.
"...I-I'm sorry..."
Helmeppo laughed before cruelly kicking the lunchbox across the dirt.
"Throw the brat out of here." Two guards very reluctantly went to catch her and Zoro was almost mad witnessing this but before he could shout in protest, another voice said.
"...Let her go."
Every head turned toward me. It was I who intervened. Ghostly blue flames shimmered on my head, at the place where my hair should be. Partial Ceruledge transformation covered my arms in dark armor while twin spectral blades materialized in my hands, their blue flames dancing silently beneath the afternoon sun.
Before anyone could react, I vanished.
A blur of blue flames crossed the courtyard. The first guard never even saw me move before the flat of a ghostly blade struck his chest, launching him harmlessly across the yard. Spinning on my heel, I reversed my grip and drove the hilt of the second blade into another Marine's abdomen, knocking the breath from his lungs before he collapsed unconscious.
The remaining guards rushed together, believing numbers would overwhelm me. Instead, every attack missed empty air. My movements had become impossibly efficient under Ceruledge's instincts. One sword deflected a rifle stock, the other swept beneath a saber before striking its owner across the shoulder. A kick sent another tumbling into his companions, and within moments the courtyard echoed with nothing except groans from defeated Marines.
Less than a minute later, every guard lay scattered across the ground. Not one had suffered a fatal wound.
Only bruises... and thoroughly damaged pride. I kept the fire sword's temperature as minimum as possible for me and also did not apply enough strength. Helmeppo stumbled backward until his legs struck the wall behind him.
"W-W-What are you?!"
His face had gone completely white. I calmly extinguished the ghostly flames around my swords before pointing one of the spectral blades toward him.
"I'm the person telling you to leave children alone. They are not your toys to play with."
The ghostly flames slowly faded as I dismissed Ceruledge. The dark armor covering my arms dissolved into countless blue particles before disappearing entirely, leaving me standing there in nothing more than my ordinary clothes. The twin spectral swords vanished a heartbeat later.
Helmeppo stared with trembling eyes, unable to understand how a swordsman had suddenly become an ordinary-looking teenager again.
"You... y-you..." Helmeppo stammered, forcing himself upright despite his shaking legs. "Do you even know who my father is?! He's Captain Morgan! Axe-Hand Morgan! You'll regret this! My father will hunt you down, and you'll beg for mercy before he finishes with you!"
"...Then tell him I'll be waiting," I replied calmly.
Helmeppo's face alternated between anger and fear, but after glancing at the unconscious Marines littering the courtyard, he lacked the courage to say anything else. Grinding his teeth, he pointed a trembling finger toward me before turning around and running toward the Marine headquarters, shouting threats the entire way.
"This isn't over! You'll all pay for this!"
For several long seconds, the only sound came from the wind gently rustling through the nearby trees. Then the man tied to the cross finally spoke.
"...What are you?"
Roronoa Zoro stared at me with narrowed eyes, studying every inch of my body as though trying to understand what he had just witnessed. His gaze lingered where the ghostly armor had disappeared only moments earlier.
Before I could answer, Luffy enthusiastically raised his hand.
"Kekoa ate a Devil Fruit!"
Zoro slowly shifted his attention toward the grinning boy.
"...You know him?"
"Of course, My name is Monkey D. Luffy, and this is my friend Kekoa." Luffy answered proudly before stretching one arm several meters into the air. "I ate one too!"
Zoro's eyes widened ever so slightly as he watched the impossible sight.
"So you're both Devil Fruit users..."
His gaze returned to me.
"...Are you a swordsman?"
I shook my head.
"Not really. My Devil Fruit gives me different abilities. Those swords are simply one of them. I know enough to use them, but I wouldn't call myself a true swordsman."
"...Hmph."
For some reason, that answer seemed to satisfy him. He closed his eyes again, apparently deciding I wasn't someone pretending to have spent years mastering the blade.
"Hey!" Luffy called toward the little girl. "Why's this guy tied up anyway?"
The little girl quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks before clutching the damaged lunchbox tightly against her chest.
"My name is Rika..." she said softly. "A few days ago, Helmeppo's pet wolf escaped and tried to attack me. Mister Zoro saved me by killing it before it could bite me."
She lowered her head.
"Captain Morgan wanted to execute him... but Helmeppo said he'd spare Mister Zoro if he stayed tied here without food or water for a month."
"...That's all?"
Rika nodded sadly.
"He accepted because he didn't want anyone else getting hurt."
"...I've still got a few days left," Zoro muttered. "I'll survive."
I quietly looked toward the Marine headquarters where Helmeppo had disappeared.
"...No." Everyone turned toward me. "He isn't planning to release you."
Zoro frowned slightly.
"What?"
"Think about it," I continued. "A spoiled coward like Helmeppo just got humiliated in front of everyone. Do you honestly believe someone like him would willingly free the man who embarrassed him and killed his prized wolf? Once the month is over, he'll simply invent another excuse... or order your execution."
"N-No..."
Even Coby looked horrified as the possibility sank in.
"...He... he really would do that."
Luffy, however, reacted very differently. His cheerful smile disappeared.
"...So..." he said quietly, lowering his straw hat until his eyes were hidden beneath its brim. "...That guy lied?"
"I'd bet my boat on it."
A vein appeared on Luffy's forehead.
"I hate people who break promises."
"Well there is nothing we can do about others. But you Zoro, what do you wish to do?" I asked.
"Of course, I don't want to die here." Zoro replied.
"Then how about we free you and you join my pirate crew." It was Luffy who said that.
"What? Are you mad? I am a pirate hunter. Why will I ever join a pirate crew? Besides I have my own path. You will just be an hindrance."
"Hehe... You say that now.. How about we free you and you join my crew." Luffy said.
"I already said I won't join."
"I heard that you are a swordsmen, but I can't see the swords. If I bring your swords back will you join my crew?" Luffy doubled down.