Chapter 29
Zoro looked like a different man—shoulders squared, stride confident. With Sandai Kitetsu and Yubashiri now at his side, his balance had returned. The borrowed junk was gone. The swordsman was back.
"Finally," he muttered, adjusting his blades with satisfaction.
"Real steel again."
Silas spun a few berries between his fingers, red hair catching the late sun.
"Not bad for a shopping trip. Now you won't have any excuses when I beat you in our sparring match."
"Dream on, fancy boy," Zoro shot back with a smirk.
---
Loguetown buzzed around them—merchants shouting, children weaving between carts, tourists gawking at everything. The late afternoon light cast long shadows. Seagulls cried overhead. It was chaos, but familiar.
"Think the others made it back to the ship yet?" Silas asked, not sounding particularly concerned.
"Knowing our luck?" Zoro replied.
"Luffy's probably gotten himself arrested by now."
That's when the shouting erupted.
"FIGHT! HUGE BATTLE AT THE EXECUTION PLATFORM!"
"Some guy in a straw hat is fighting pirates!"
"BUGGY THE CLOWN AND IRON MACE ALVIDA!"
"He's fighting alone!"
Zoro stopped cold. Silas felt his stomach drop—not from fear, but from the implications.
"Did they just say—" Zoro began.
"Straw hat," Silas finished with a groan.
"Yeah. They did."
More voices joined the chaos, spreading like wildfire.
"At the execution platform!"
"Right in the middle of town!"
"Someone call the Marines!"
"Those are wanted pirates!"
Zoro's expression cycled through surprise, resignation, and finally that familiar grin.
"That idiot. Of course he'd pick the most public spot possible."
Silas looked more confused than worried.
"Buggy and Alvida? Who are they?"
"You're not concerned?" Zoro asked.
"About the fight? Hell no." Silas cracked his knuckles.
"About the fact that he's doing it at Gold Roger's execution site in front of half the town? That's a different story."
---
"ZORO! SILAS!"
They turned to see their crewmates pushing through the crowd—Sanji's cigarette glowing, Nami clutching her purchases, Usopp struggling under the weight of a massive fish.
"Did you guys hear about—" Sanji started.
"Luffy picking a very public fight with some has-been pirates?" Silas cut in.
"Yeah. We heard."
"WHAT?!" Nami shrieked—not from fear, but from financial panic.
"He's fighting them at the execution platform?! Do you know how much attention that's going to draw?!"
Usopp nearly dropped the fish.
"The Marines are gonna swarm this place! We'll be surrounded!"
Sanji took a long drag, looking more annoyed than worried.
"Buggy and Alvida… they're not exactly East Blue's finest. But fighting them there…" He shook his head.
"Exactly," Silas said, tactical gears turning.
"Luffy can handle those two clowns blindfolded. The problem is he's creating the biggest spectacle this side of the Grand Line."
The implications hit all at once. This wasn't about winning—it was about surviving the aftermath.
---
"We need to get there and drag him out before this turns into a circus," Zoro growled.
"Right!" Sanji stepped forward, crushing his cigarette underfoot.
"I'm coming with you."
"Wait!" Nami grabbed his arm, her navigator's brain already calculating escape vectors.
"If all of us go charging in, we'll just make it worse. Usopp and I should get back to the ship and prep for emergency departure."
She was right. Everyone knew it. Fewer Straw Hats on the scene meant better odds of slipping away.
Usopp nodded frantically, hugging his fish like a shield.
"Yeah! Someone needs to… uh… make sure the ship's ready for a fast exit! Definitely not because I'm terrified of getting arrested!"
"Smart thinking," Silas said.
"You two get to the Merry. Have her ready to sail the second we show up. We'll grab our attention-seeking captain and get out before the Navy throws a parade."
"Just… try to keep the property damage to a minimum?" Nami pleaded, already tallying the cost of this disaster.
"No promises," Zoro replied cheerfully.
---
The crowd thickened as they pushed toward the town center. Excited voices mixed with worried murmurs. Street vendors were already setting up snack carts.
"This is turning into a damn festival," Silas muttered.
As they ran, his expression soured.
"Still pissed that guy didn't have any seastone lying around."
"Seastone?" Zoro raised an eyebrow.
"What'd you need that for?"
"Special bullets," Silas replied.
"The kind that can hurt Devil Fruit users. Make them weak. Helpless."
He shot Zoro a look.
"Unfortunately, because someone has a terrible sense of direction, we didn't get to explore other dealers."
"Don't blame me for your weird bullet obsession, fancy boy," Zoro snapped.
---
"MOVE!" Zoro bellowed, shouldering through the crowd like a battering ram. People scattered before the three swords at his hip.
Silas and Sanji followed in his wake, the crowd parting like water before a ship's bow.
The sounds of battle grew louder—metal clashing, Buggy's body parts flying, and Luffy's voice bellowing cheerful threats that probably involved rubber-based chaos.
"Definitely him," Zoro confirmed, amused.
"At least he sounds like he's having fun," Sanji observed, lighting a fresh cigarette.
Silas's expression darkened.
"The fight's not the problem. The problem is every Marine in Loguetown now knows exactly where to find us."
A loud explosion echoed from the platform. Buggy screamed something about his "beautiful nose."
"Luffy's definitely winning," Silas noted.
"Of course he is," Zoro said.
"Those two couldn't beat him if they had a week to prepare."
"The question," Sanji added,
"Is whether we can get him out before the entire Marine garrison shows up."
As if summoned, Marine whistles began echoing—dozens of them. The city was converging.
"And there's our cue," Silas said grimly.
"Time to go collect our captain before this becomes an international incident."
"Too late for that," Zoro observed, noting the crowd's sketchpads.
"Half these people are probably drawing wanted posters already."
"Fantastic," Silas muttered, checking his weapons.
"Nothing like becoming famous in the worst possible way."
---
But even as the gravity of their situation sank in, he couldn't suppress a grin.
Leave it to Luffy to turn a supply run into a public spectacle that would echo across the East Blue.
"Come on!" he shouted, breaking into a run.
"Let's go save our gloriously stupid captain before he accidentally declares war on the World Government!"
The sounds of battle grew louder. So did the whistles. So did the storm.
Just another perfectly normal day with the Straw Hat Pirates.