"Land hooooooo!" Luffy cheered, perched on top of Merry's figurehead. The girls all stopped what they were doing and gazed upon the island in the distance.
"Yep, that's Loguetown alright," Nami confirmed, "Alright, everyone start writing down what you're looking to purchase. Carina will have your money waiting for you when we dock. We cannot waste even a minute while we're here."
One by one, the ladies came up with requests. Kaya wanted to stock up on medical supplies, Reiju and Makino handled stocking the food and drink and Kuina needed a fresh set of whetstones for the Wado Ichimonji. The only real surprise of the group was from Moodie.
"Wait, you want to buy guns?"
"Yes, just a little something for self-defense. My Devil Fruit is better suited towards interrogation and distraction, so it couldn't hurt."
"Hmmmm… Don't get a minigun and we'll be good."
Luffy just sat on his special seat, eager to see where his predecessor came from. Plus, he could practically smell the Grand Line already. He was so close to finally getting his pirate quest underway!
And he was still grinning from ear to ear when his ship dropped anchor and the group walked into Loguetown. Everyone was looking around and taking in the truly impressive sight. Many of the Straw Hats grew up on islands with only small villages and towns so seeing cobblestone streets lined with multicolored estates lining the streets with people bustling in every direction.
Even weirder, nobody even seemed to pay the band of pirates any mind. The girls were even getting looks from men young and old, none of them the wiser at all of them being wanted for several millions of beri.
Nami took another look up at the sky. "Okay, the weather should stay pretty nice but I noticed some worrying patterns earlier. If you all start seeing clouds gather, you start heading back to the Merry, got it?"
"Got it!" the rest of the crew said before everyone split up. Luffy had to be held back from running off, Sally promising to escort him to the execution platform since her last trip here wasn't that long ago. The others all had a shopping list and a set deadline to get everything they needed.
Having the shortest list of the bunch, Kuina simply walked along any street in sight. There was bound to be several places to buy whetstones in a town full of pirates like this. She also got a kick at seeing the houses tower over her, on par with her father's dojo back home.
"Heh, funny, I haven't written to him since before Shells Town…"
She then saw two Marines in full uniform giving her odd glances. Kuina kept her head down as she walked away, remembering she was a wanted woman now. The last thing they needed now was to attract this infamous captain's attention…
The bluenette then spotted a store with a wooden sign overhead with a dagger on it. Figuring this was the perfect place, Kuina headed in. She admired the racks of blades on display only for something to slam on the store's counter.
"You again?!" the short, elderly man yelled, "You just checked two hours ago!"
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"Don't play coy with me, missy! I said your sword would be repaired at 1:00 and it's only 12:53! You think you can swindle me out of discounts just cuz you're with the Navy?!"
Now Kuina was getting annoyed. She marched up to the counter with her katana. "Listen, you geezer, I don't know what the hell you're talking about! I still have my sword, see?!"
"Excuse me, is my sword ready yet?"
Kuina was about to shout only to freeze. Standing in the doorway was a woman who could have easily been mistaken for her twin. They were the same height, had the same dark blue hair, they even had identical bodies! The only difference was the bright green tropical shirt, her hair cut into a simple bob, and the red square glasses on her face.
"Huh?! Tashigi, since when do you have a sister?!" the old man gaped. Kuina ignored and slowly stepped forward, the copy in the door doing the same. Their bodies moved in perfect sync as they walked up to each other, stopped a foot away, and held up a hand. They waved at each other before Kuina broke first.
"Huh, that explains all the sailors watching me…" She then noticed that Tashigi was still standing completely frozen, her glasses askew.
"Hey, you awake?"
"Huh?! I-WAAAAH!" Tashigi stumbled backwards in shock, crashing into one of the display racks and toppling over.
"Damn it all, Tashigi! Just take your sword and leave!" The show owner placed a green sheathed katana on the counter and went to the back with a huff.
"Hey, you alright?" Kuina offered a hand up, making the Marine girl pause and nod. Once they were both back to their feet, Tashigi walked up and took her sword back.
"T-Thank you!" she shouted back before walking outside with a serious blush on her face. Kuina, figuring she had nothing better to do, walked out to find her doppelganger walking away.
"Hey!"
Tashigi paused. "I'm sorry you had to see that! I'm such a klutz…"
"Eh, don't worry. Shit happens. Nice sword, by the way."
The bespectacled woman brightened up immediately. "Oh, thanks. It's the Shigure, a Grade Sword. I'm really honored that I can WHAT IS THAT IN YOUR HAND?!"
"Fuck, yell a little louder, why don't you…?" Kuina picked at her ear before Tashigi grabbed her wrist and yanked her sword up to her eyes. "HEY WHAT THE?!"
"This sheath… The age on the leather… Could it really be…?!" Tashigi instantly pulled out a tiny booklet and flipped through the pages before stopping and gasping. "It is! You have the Wado Ichimonji! How did you get a Great Grade Sword!?"
"Um, my father? I just inherited it…"
"No way! That sword is one of the twenty-one Great Grade Swords, crafted by the legendary Shimotsuki Kozaburo!"
"Hold on, you've heard of my grandfather?!"
Tashigi gasped hard enough to cause a tidal wave before shrieking in delight. "Oh my God, you're his family?! I'm so honored to meet you, please let me buy you something to eat! I already wanted to meet another swordswoman, but I never thought I'd meet a member of the Shimotsuki clan!"
And with that, Tashigi rushed off in excitement leaving Kuina with an open mouth. "The fuck?"
But once the shock faded, Kuina figured there was nothing wrong with a free meal and decided to follow behind. Besides, for a Marine this Tashigi didn't seem to pay much attention to the bounty posters… Like the ones for the Straw Hat Pirates plastered on the notice board just next to her…
Reiju took a deep breath as she entered the proper market of the island, smelling all kinds of fresh produce and spices. While she was in charge of inventory for the Baratie, now she could buy the ingredients she wanted!
Her navy blue sundress fluttered in the gentle breeze as she perused the stalls, bags quickly filling her arms until she noticed a sign. "4th Annual Loguetown Cooking Contest! Open Entry! Only Today!"
The pinkette was intrigued. She had never actually gauged her skills against anyone other than the chefs at the restaurant and she trounced everyone except Zeff. She was especially intrigued when the prize listed not only as a handy fifty thousand beris but also a freshly-caught elephant-blue fin tuna from the West Blue.
"Hmm, I've always wanted to try something more exotic…" Seeing as there were open spots on the docket, Reiju signed her name in and soon got chatting with the officials. But as she was escorted to a station to use, someone else decided to make herself known.
"A-ha! At long last we meet again!"
Reiju, along with most of the plaza, paused as a woman stepped up with her clacking heels marking her every step. From the deep red dress tied off at the waist with a huge pink flower, heavily made up face with ruby red lipstick and seafoam green eyeshadow, and bright pink hair that was blown back all around her head, this woman looked ready for a dance floor.
"Um, I'm sorry, do I know you?"
The woman in flamenco-gear pulled out a ruffled red fan and waved in front of her face with a haughty laugh. "Nice try, Reiju! You act as though you can dismiss my talents once again?!"
"You must have me mistaken for someone else. I've never met you…"
That same fan came inches from Reiju's face as the other woman pointed, utterly affronted. "So, you still play dumb?! As if you cannot possibly know the renowned chef Carmen!"
That name did strike a chord, making Reiju think long and hard before snapping up. "Oh, you're that woman who tried getting a job at the Baratie!"
Carmen then snapped her fan shut as she glowered. "Indeed. I arrived three years ago prepared to lend my services to such a restaurant, as long as I could outcook his sous chef… You, Reiju."
She then swept her arms open, her fan in one hand and a gleaming soup ladle in the other. "But now it is finally time! To prove that these past years of honing my skills have borne fruit! Today, I shall defeat you!"
Reiju simply shrugged, holding out a hand with a smile on her face and a gleam in her eye. "Is that so? Then I guess I'll just have to beat you again…"
"Ooooooooh!" the crowd around them said. Many of the other chefs who had entered suddenly felt a weight in their stomachs…
While it was known as a hotbed of pirate activity, Loguetown was still the last stop for anyone on inter-seas travel. Greengrocers, handicraft stores and of course boutiques of all kinds lined the weaving streets.
In one of the higher-end boutiques was the group of Makino, Nami, Kaya, Carina, Moodie and Nojiko who were having a blast looking through racks and chatting with each other. To the untrained eye, they would look like a gaggle of girlfriends on holiday instead of more than half of the East Blue's most notorious crew.
"Ooh, what do you think about this one?" Makino turned around to reveal a simple brown cotton blouse.
"It does suit you, and you never know if we may hit some cold weather," Moodie remarked, rubbing her chin in thought, "However, might I suggest something that compliments your hair more?"
"Wow, she is a professional…" Nojiko noted, folding up several of her purchases to bring to the register.
"Yeah, but it does feel super weird. This is the first time we've ever been able to really do anything together," Nami said, hugging her sister, "Makes you realize that we have to make up for lost time!"
"Since when did you become the sentimental type?"
"Since that jackass Arlong is gone!"
Both sisters high-fived at having that menace out of their lives forever, refocusing on their shopping. That left Kaya noticing some more… risqué options towards the back, pulling out something and blushing bright red before sticking into her pile on instinct. The poor girl wanted to get something more tantalizing for her captain but still made her feel so scandalous. Years of proper etiquette training didn't disappear after a few weeks, after all.
Carina, shuffling through several new bikinis, just sighed. "Heh, one of these days she'll get used to it…"
As the six left the boutique for the next one to catch their eye, they noticed the leers that some of the more rugged passersby were giving them. Even if they were the minority, the girls huddled together and acted like they were just going about their business instead of being easily capable of beating any one of them.
But strength in numbers was a very common idea, enough that soon the girls noticed a small party of guys in beer-stained shirts, smudges of diry everywhere and multiple pistols and cutlasses were tailing them from a few feet behind.
"Excuse us," Makino said, turning to face the group in the middle of the street, "Can we help you with something?"
"Hehehehe, what, can't we just say hi to a bunch of lovely ladies?" the lead creep said, booze on his breath, "How's about you all join us for a round o' drinks? I know a real nice place we just passed…"
Kaya had to resist gagging from the stench, Carina stepping in front of her to make sure nothing untoward happened to her. Nami and Nojiko waltzed up, looking thoroughly unimpressed.
"Sorry, boys, but we're on a strict time limit," the former said, "Go bother someone else."
Several of them glowered at the attitude. "Hey now, that's no way to behave!"
"Look who's talking," the older sister glared, "Why don't you go pass out in an alleyway somewhere before you embarrass yourself more?"
Moodie literally turned her nose up at them before palming the new flintlock holstered to her left thigh under her dress. The other girls all stormed off, the hooligans all grumbling before stalking after them. Several of them readied their weapons to teach these ladies a lesson only for a sudden wave of people to pour out of the alley.
The Straw Hat girls all paused to see what only be called a gang step between them and the bothersome brutes. Every last one of the crew were wearing brightly colored, loud clothes and had hair in every color of the rainbow that was wither gelled, spiked or some combination. And at the head of this band was a green-haired brigand in a long plaid coat with a ghoulish face and a woman with spiked pink hair, a sarashi underneath her long blue coat and a pipe hoisted on her shoulders.
"Oi, who the fuck are you all supposed to be?!" one of the drunkards yelled, "These bitches are ours, find yer own!"
The wild girl just gripped her weapon with a cocky grin. "Yo, Barto, I'm taking these clowns myself."
The green-haired gangster cackled, hands behind his head. "No prob, Desire. Show these mooks not to cross on our turf!"
"HAHAHAHAHA! Is this some kinda joke?! Like some stupid cow is gonna-!"
Desire's pipe swung into his teeth hard enough to send the swerving man flying down the street, making many civilians run for the hills as a full on brawl started. Despite being outnumbered ten to one, she was more than capable of throwing the jerks off of her, deflecting bullets by spinning her pipe like a propellor, and plenty of dirty fighting. Stomping on feet, smacking them between the legs, even grabbing one mook's half-finished beer to smash him over the head.
"Wow, she's impressive," Moodie noted, "I suppose we should thank you all…"
"Eh, no sweat, darling! That's how the Barto Club rolls! We keep our turf safe! Now then, that'll be 20,000 beri a piece!"
Nami and Carina both stared at the man's outstretched hand, then at the shark-teethed grin that made them flinch. Both stared at each other before gulping.
"Um, not that we don't appreciate the help," Makino stepped in, "But who exactly are all of you?"
"I'm Bartolomeo, head of the Barto Club! The biggest mafia operation in the East Blue!" Sure enough, the few remaining civilians noticed him and started shuffling into their houses or down the street to avoid him. The girls all looked at each other but no one seemed to recognize the name.
"Um, okay then…" Kaya said timidly, "Well, Mr. Bartolomeo, thank you very much for the assistance but we really must be going now..."
A line of goons said otherwise, forming a blockade of the street behind the Straw Hats. The leader's smile didn't fade but somehow his teeth looked even sharper. "Aw, come on now, that ain't right! This is what's called protection money, see? We protected you, so, now we need money!"
"And, talking purely hypothetically of course, what would happen if we said no?" Carina sweated.
"Then we're going to have to take our payment some other way…"
The girls all gulped before Barto blanched. "Oh, what, did you think…! Eugh, no! No offense to you all, you're all smoking hot, but the Barto Club does not condone any sort of creepy sex fuckery. There ain't anything cool about that shit! What I meant was having you work off your debt over a few days at our hideout. You know, cooking, cleaning, anything else we can think of like that."
Moodie blinked. "You are the most moral gangster I've ever met."
"Yo, what's the holdup?" Desire walked up, idly scrubbing the blood off of her pipe before pointing it at Carina, "I just saved your asses, yeah? So fork over the cash like my boss said."
Nojiko grabbed her sister by the shoulder. "Nami, stop being a cheapskate! We need to lay low like you said!"
"I-I know that! But… It's my money…"
"Tch, fine. Be a hardass…" Desire swung directly at Nami's face only for the navigator to catch it easily. On instinct, her Nimbus-Nimbus powers generated a tiny cloud in her palm which ended up colliding with the metal rod…
"GHGHGGHGHGHAAAAAAH!" Desire shrieked as lightning racked her body before collapsing into a heap. Bartolomeo immediately knelt down to check on his friend as Nami rushed past him.
"Nami, damn it!" Nojiko yelled before chasing after her sister.
"Come on, let's get out of here!" Makino urged the others, spurring Carina, Moodie and Kaya to make headway.
"Desire, get up!"
"Urrrggggh… The fuck hit me…?"
"Oh, phew, you're okay…" Barto then reached into his pocket only to find something missing…
"Hey! My wallet! Where'd it go?!"
Desire checked her own pockets on her baggy blue pants only to scowl. "That bitch! She robbed me, after I knocked out those scumbags for her!"
"Grrrr, they're gonna pay for this!" Barto spread his arms wide, "Find those skanks and shake them down for every last beri! Nobody crosses us and gets away with it!"
"YES, BOSS!"
As they all dispersed, Barto helped Desire to her feet. She grabbed her pipe from his open hand. "Thanks."
"No problem. Now come on, I'm gonna give 'em Hell for hurting my best friend!"
Desire just chuckled as they ran off together. "Sticking our necks out for each other, even after all these years… A shame he's as thick as tar…"
"Wow, this place is huge!" Luffy awed as he looked around the central plaza, a cobblestone circle surrounded by multiple streets. There was hardly an empty square inch as people went to and fro, out of the island's most famous shops and eateries.
"Indeed it is," Sally chuckled, admiring the crowd, "Reminds me of the palace of Goa whenever there was a banquet or a trade meeting."
"What was it like, living in a huge castle?"
"Well, it certainly made it easy to keep that lecherous bastard king at a distance. And I'll admit, the massive bath and servants on standby were welcome…"
She then took Luffy's hand, happiness radiating from her. "But I'd happily turn it all down again for this freedom, this peace of mind since I can live my own life."
"Hehehehe, thanks! I'm glad to have met you too, Sally!" The two shared a brief kiss before Luffy lightly tugged his crewmate to the side, just in time for a little girl happily carrying a large ice cream cone.
"Yu, come back!" a young man in glasses yelled after her, "Sorry about that, I usually don't get her a triple-scoop."
"It's fine," the pirates both said… Right in time to see the little blonde stumble over a leather boot and splatter all three scoops over a pair of slacks.
Luffy watched as the entire plaza suddenly froze in fear, the girl trembling as she looked up at the man she'd just bumped into. Standing just under seven feet tall, he was built like a brickhouse with his pecs and abs partially exposed by his open gray jacket. Stark white hair stood up around his grimacing face, worsened by the two cigars clamped to his scowling lips. A massive baton several feet long was clung to his back as he looked down.
The towering Marine knelt down, staring the tear-faced girl in the eye. "I'm sorry, my pants ate all of your ice cream."
He reached into pocket for a handful of beri coins. "Here, this ought to be worth five scoops."
"Eh?! Um, th-thank you Captain Smoker!" The father bowed before taking the money and his daughter away. The plaza then returned to normal as the captain stalked down the street.
"That's the Marine guy everyone was talking about?" Luffy asked.
"Yes, Smoker is supposed to be one of the best in the East Blue. I've heard he's never even been hit before, let alone defeated."
Luffy tilted his head, seeing an uncanny resemblance to his grandpa. Considering he was the first man in uniform to not be a corrupt jackass, he wondered what made the man tick. Oh well, there was time to look into that once he'd seen the execution platform. Sally led him out of the plaza, taking him down several more streets before arriving at the most open spot in the city. A yard several hundred feet around, white bricks lining the street where a several-stories-tall wooden scaffolded tower waited.
"There it is!" Luffy cheered, running up to get a good look before something made him stop. He turned to see someone with a bright pink shawl covered in hearts leaning against the far wall.
"Well, well, well… At long last I found you," a sultry female voice chuckled.
"Luffy?" Sally asked, "Who's that?"
"Oh, that's not the same woman you had. Where is that green-haired wench? I owe her for attacking me." The mysterious woman whipped off her shroud to reveal a picture-perfect hourglass body dressed in a striped pink and white bikini top, pink capri pants held up by a leather belt, and a long purple coat draped over her shoulders and down her back.
Luffy drew a total blank until he noticed the white hat with a red frill and the large, studded mace gripped in her left hand…
…And remembered nothing. "Who are you again?"
Her red painted lips creased before returning to a smug pucker. "Oh, look at you trying to play coy with me! As if you could ever forget me, 'Iron Mace' Alvida!"
Luffy just tilted his head to the side. "Who?"
Sally, however, put a finger to her chin. "Alvida… Isn't that the small-time pirate captain you and Makino ran into the day you set out?"
"Oh yeeaaaah!" Alvida smiled at finally being recognized only for Luffy to frown. "No, wait, this isn't her. Alvida was super fat."
The raven-haired beauty lost her poise, the briefest flicker of rage on her face before returning to normal. "Yes, we've met before, we've established that! Now then, Luffy, it is time I finally pay you back for defeating me."
She brandished her club at him, defiantly staring him down. "I have come here to make you mine!"
Luffy just looked even more confused. "Huh? Aren't you mad?"
"Oh, I was enraged at first. To think some upstart could possibly beat me so effortlessly but then… The more I thought about it, I grew excited! No man had ever proven my equal, much less my superior! It was a challenge, a goal I could aim for after years of remaining uncontested! And so I trained myself on that little island I washed up on, was rescued by the last few members of my crew, and then made my way here. All pirates aiming for the Grand Line stop here, after all. And now, I shall defeat you and-!"
"Nope."
Luffy then turned around and walked towards the execution platform, Sally following behind him without a word. Alvida, pointing her mace at no one, stood still for several seconds before shaking her head.
"W-Wait!" Luffy turned as she marched up to him, "Y-You can't just deny me!"
"I just did. Now go away, I'm busy…" He turned again only for her to grab his arm.
"Stop that! I've waited weeks to prove my worth and avenge myself! You can't just turn me away!"
"Yeah, I can. I can tell, even though you look really different, you've barely gotten any better. I'm not wasting my time…"
Luffy then yanked his hand free, glaring behind him to make it clear that this conversation was over. Sally just followed once again, making sure no one else untoward showed up. Seeing as she wasn't getting anywhere, Alvida slunk off to try again soon. All she needed was an opportunity…
Smoker sighed as he removed his jacket, changed his pants and lit up two fresh cigars. Honestly, did the people seriously think he was going to hit that little girl? Although he couldn't entirely blame the recent distrust in Marines given the scandals…
"Rot in Hell, Nezumi. I always knew you were a weaselly little shit… And Morgan's lucky I don't take off his other arm for the stunts he pulled…"
"C-Captain Smoker!" A private barged in, heedless of the cloud of smoke washing over him, "Sir, the bounty office has just issued these new posters!"
"At ease," Smoker said, "What's the big holdup?"
"Sir, HQ is extremely worried about these new pirates! You'd better take a look!"
Smoker quirked an eyebrow as he was handed a stack of papers. After some more typical small fry worth no more than two million, his eyes widened seeing some girl named "Kaya" wanted for 8 million.
"The hell is this?"
"That's one of them, sir! A member of the Straw Hat Pirates! And she's the least wanted of the bunch!"
The captain almost did a double take at that, but kept calm. He flipped through the rest of the sheaf and was awestruck. 25 million? 33 million?! 50 million?! That was unheard of in the East Blue! And who the Hell had an all-female crew aside from Boa Hancock?!
That was when he finally reached the bottom of the stack, the captain of this bunch. Smoker actually came close to dropping his cigars when he saw the title and the astronomical price.
"Chaos" Monkey D. Luffy – 75,000,000
"The fuck did he do, destroy an island?"
"According to intel, he's targeted all the biggest names in this ocean! Buggy the Clown, Pirate Admiral Krieg, and Arlong the Saw, in just about a month! He's even the one who took down Morgan and exposed Nezumi! It's like everywhere he goes, things just go absolutely insane!"
Smoker looked again at that goofy smile above the single largest price ever handed out to an East Blue pirate and felt a pit form in his stomach. This man… He had to be stopped at all cost. Who knows what would happen if he got out to the Grand Line?
"Wait a second…"
"Sir?"
"That hat… The plaza! He was there, I saw him for a split second!" Smoker threw the posters down, suiting up and gripping his jutte, "This is officially a code red! I want the port on lockdown, I want Tashigi back here yesterday, and I want a call for reinforcements from anyone who'll answer! Move, move, move!"
"Sir, yessir!" The young private flashed a salute as he dashed off, Smoker all put daring anyone to stop him. In all the months he'd been stationed in Loguetown, the captain had never let a pirate escape his clutches and he sure as Hell wasn't going to let this Luffy be the first.
Yeah, this ended up being a multi-parter! Next time, Luffy is going to live up to his epithet because the chaos is just around the corner!