"Yeah, I ate the Gum-Gum Fruit. I'm a rubber man!"
Luffy was double-fisting huge chunks of meat, shoving them into his mouth nonstop. Without a hint of shame, he even stretched out his arm and snatched the meat right out of Alex's hand.
Alex had just managed to settle his mood, ready to enjoy a proper taste of that fresh, juicy Sea King meat. But the second he opened his mouth, the meat vanished.
You've got to be kidding me! Tone it down, you damn glutton! That Sea King was huge, and you've already eaten like two-thirds of it!
Fuming, Alex picked up another piece of meat, determined to get at least one bite. But again—before he could take a single bite—it flew straight into Luffy's bottomless pit of a mouth.
At that point, Alex gave up. He resigned himself to picking through the food for whatever Luffy had zero interest in: mostly vegetables and leftovers.
"Speaking of which, our village also has a Devil Fruit."
The elderly Village Chief glanced over at Alex, then turned to the meat-devouring Luffy.
"You're trying to invite him to join your crew, aren't you?"
"Yup! He's reliable. I can tell. We get along really well."
Luffy gulped down his latest bite in one go, stretching his neck so far it looked like it might snap.
"Your name… is Monkey D. Luffy?"
The Village Chief stroked his long white beard. Though hunched over and wrinkled enough to squash a fly between his creases, his eyes suddenly flashed with a sharp, penetrating gleam as he stared at Luffy.
"Something wrong with my name?"
Luffy didn't seem to notice the sudden shift in the Village Chief's demeanor. Instead, he tilted his head and asked:
"By the way, what's his name?"
Before the chief could respond, Luffy extended his arm, grabbed a nearby pole, and flung himself across the square—landing directly in front of Alex.
Startled mid-bite, Alex choked and ended up spraying bits of half-chewed vegetables all over Luffy's face.
"What's your name?" Luffy asked cheerfully.
He casually shook his head, causing the veggie bits stuck to his cheeks to fly into the meat he was holding. Then he took another bite.
"Whoa… this actually tastes even better with those green things on it!"
Alex's stomach lurched at the sight. He barely managed to stop himself from puking directly onto Luffy.
With heroic restraint, he forced down the nausea and told him:
"Alex Carter."
"Alex Carter, huh?"
Luffy tilted his head, clearly mulling it over. Then he said with total sincerity:
"That's a weird name."
Weird?! Your names are the weird ones—long, messy, and smell like fish!
Alex cursed silently, resisting the urge to argue. He was just about to talk to Luffy about something important when the Village Chief spoke up again.
"Alex, come with me. There's something I need to talk to you about."
Staring at the old man's hunched back as he walked away, Alex frowned. What could the Village Chief want with him?
He followed the old man to a quiet, secluded spot behind the village, away from the noise and celebration.
The Village Chief turned to him and said:
"About a year ago, someone left a Devil Fruit in our village for safekeeping. That person said—if the right person ever appeared—we were to give them the fruit."
Alex's heart skipped a beat.
Could it be? Was this Devil Fruit the one Silvers Rayleigh left behind after saving fat guy a year ago?
Or... was Rayleigh's visit to the East Blue that year actually because of this Devil Fruit?
A hundred questions surged through Alex's mind.
By the time he returned to reality, he heard the Village Chief say:
"If you truly want to set sail with that young man, I can give you the Devil Fruit."
The old man's eyes blazed with conviction as he stared into Alex's.
"I can tell. Deep down—you long for the sea. You crave adventure."
His eyes sparkled even brighter, and there was a subtle boldness in his voice now, a hint of the fire he must've had in his youth.
"This world is vast. For a man, to yearn for the boundless, mysterious ocean is only natural. And you… you don't even belong here in the first place. If you do set out to sea, you just might find what you're looking for."
"Whether or not you sail with him—that's your decision. I won't force you."
Then the Village Chief gave him a knowing smile, as if he already knew the answer before asking:
"So… what's your choice?"