Steve's POV
After hours at sea, we finally arrived at a small, Marine-infested island. Luffy and I were just happy we made it where we wanted to go. Neither of us had any idea how to navigate, so Coby had to do most of the work.
Note to self: We need a navigator as soon as possible. It's going to be important.
Coby kept complaining that we couldn't be good pirates without any navigational skills, but I eventually tuned him out. He wasn't wrong, but listening to him whine was just annoying after a while. We walked around for a bit before my rubber pal made the inevitable statement: "Let's go eat."
How are we going to pay for all this food? Luffy eats like a giant, and we don't even have money for scraps.
I opted to put it out of my mind. If worse came to worst, we could just skip out on the bill like normal pirates. Toward the end of our meal, Luffy asked if I thought Zoro was still at the Marine base. That sent most of the bar into a panic.
"Guess you can't just casually drop his name around here," Coby said, trying to calm down.
Coby then started talking about a guy named Morgan at the base, which seemed to freak out the other patrons even more than Zoro's name did.
"Come on, let's get going," I told my two friends. "We should go look for Zoro."
After we left the restaurant, Luffy wouldn't stop laughing about how exciting the place was, but it was the look on Coby's face that worried me more.
"What's wrong, kid?" I asked him. I had a feeling he was curious about the reactions of the other people in the bar when he mentioned Morgan's name.
"I understand why they would be scared of Zoro," Coby said, looking at me sadly. "But why did they panic over the Marines?"
"Well, you see, Coby…" I started, but Luffy rudely interrupted me.
"Maybe he's a bad guy," Luffy interjected.
Wow, thanks, Captain Obvious.
It didn't take much for me to realize that maybe this Morgan guy wasn't as straightforward as the Marines in Coby's fantasies.
"Not all people are as black and white as we'd like them to be, Coby," I told him. "There are bad Marines and good pirates. The world has a lot of gray areas."
I felt bad for crushing the kid's dreams like this, but it was bound to happen eventually. He needed to understand the world wasn't a fairy tale. I thought he would have learned that by working on Alvida's ship for so long.
"But that's impossible!" Coby yelled.
"He's serious," Luffy said. "The world is a rough place, Coby. There are no rules; people forge their own paths."
After that, we walked in silence, alone with our thoughts.
We finally arrived at the Marine base and were met with a large metal gate. I figured it was time for Luffy and me to part ways with Coby so he could go follow his dream, but once again, he kept making lame excuses about not being mentally prepared yet.
Whatever, the kid can go when he's ready; it's not my problem.
I watched as Luffy climbed up onto the wall to look into the courtyard, and I soon followed. That's when I saw him: a man tied to a mock cross. He was tall, probably just shy of my height if he were standing up straight. He was wearing a white shirt and black pants with a green sash around his waist. He had a black bandana and three earrings in one ear.
"That's him, alright," I said. "Zoro."
"Looks like those ropes will come off pretty easily," Luffy stated.
"Yeah, shouldn't take long," I said, getting ready to hop over the wall.
Coby started screaming that if we released Zoro, he might kill us and destroy the town. Then, Zoro looked up, spotted us staring at him, and spoke.
"One of you wanna come over here and untie me?" he said. "I've been tied up for a while now, maybe nine days or so."
This guy is already asking for favors, and he doesn't even know our names.
"I can repay you if you want. I always keep my word."
Now he's bargaining? I didn't even say no.
"Don't do it! He's lying! He'll kill you if you set him free," Coby said, starting to panic again.
"No, he won't," Luffy told him. "He can't kill us because we're strong. Well, me and Steve are. I'm not so sure about you, Coby."
"Wow, way to be nice to the kid, Luffy," I mumbled.
I looked over and saw a little girl at the wall with a ladder. "Shhh," she whispered and began climbing over the wall.
What is this kid doing? She's asking to get shot.
"Go help her, you two," Coby said, trying to order us around.
"Nah, you do it," Luffy told him.
"Luffy's right," I added. "You want to be a Marine hero, right? Well, go save the person in distress then."
The girl walked up to Zoro, who began telling her to get lost and leave him alone. I couldn't really tell what was going on, but it looked like she was trying to give him something. Zoro started yelling at the girl.
"Get lost, or I'll kill you!" he screamed.
"Wow, that escalated quickly," I remarked.
The gate on the side of the courtyard opened, and a peculiar-looking blond man stepped into the yard.
"What a weirdo," Luffy said, and I had to agree; the man was pretty strange.
"Oh, good, a Marine," Coby said, letting out a sigh of relief. "Now the girl will be okay."
The stranger spoke to Zoro before walking up to the girl and taking whatever she was trying to give him. He then proceeded to shove it in his mouth, which made me realize it was some kind of food she was trying to give Zoro.
Suddenly, the weirdo started gagging and then stomped on the rest of what I now saw were rice balls. He pointed out a sign that read, "Any person who helps criminals will be punished the same," and ordered one of the Marines with him to throw out the poor little girl. By the time I realized what was happening, the girl was flying through the air.
"Luffy!" I ordered, and he quickly grabbed the girl before she could get hurt.
When I looked back over the wall, the Marines had left.
"Come on, Luffy," I told him. "Let's go talk to this guy."
"Coming!" Luffy yelled. "Coby, you check on the little girl, okay?"
Luffy and I walked up to Zoro. "What are you two doing?" Zoro asked. "Why haven't you left?"
"Because we're looking for people to join our pirate crew," Luffy said.
"So you just gave up on life and became a pirate?" Zoro said, throwing out an insult.
"There's nothing wrong with being a pirate, and we only asked you because you came with a recommendation from my sister," I told him.
"Who's your sister, and why the hell would she tell you that I would be a pirate?" Zoro asked.
"Rose," I said.
"Oh, her," he scoffed. "Figures she'd say some crap like that. So what? I don't listen to her. Don't tell me you're just gonna set me free and force me to join you just because your sister said I was a nice guy."
I can't believe Rose said he was a good guy. All he's done so far is hurl insults. She probably only sent me here to free some guy she has a crush on.
"We haven't decided yet," Luffy told him. "I think you seem like a good guy, but Steve is still undecided, so we'll just wait on it."
With that, we started to walk away.
"Luffy, you know it doesn't matter what I think," I told him. "Both of us are allowed to ask people to join the crew."
"I know," he answered. "But since everyone seems to think he's a bad guy, let's just wait it out for a little bit. I'm sure we can figure it out later."
"It doesn't matter," Zoro yelled. "I will never join you because I have something I need to do, a dream to fulfill."
Zoro had a look of determination on his face. There was a part of the story he wasn't telling.
"Come on, let's go, Luffy," I said.
"Wait," Zoro asked, "can you pick that up for me?" He gestured to the smashed rice on the ground.
"You want to eat that?" Luffy said, picking up the muddy rice. "It's all muddy."
"Well, I guess you can't be too picky when you're starving," Zoro said, shoving the mixture of rice and dirt into his mouth. He ate it like he hadn't seen food in ages, then said, "Tell the little girl it was very good. Thank you."
With that, Luffy and I exited the base.