Steve's POV
The little girl, who introduced herself as Rika, was ecstatic when Luffy told her that Zoro had eaten the entire rice ball. But something was still bothering me.
"Why was Zoro tied up?" I asked. "What did he do to deserve a punishment like that?"
"He didn't do anything wrong," Rika said. "He was arrested because he killed Helmeppo's wolf."
So Helmeppo is the weirdo from earlier, I thought.
"And he only killed it because it was running wild and terrorizing the town."
"Maybe Zoro isn't such a bad guy after all," Coby mused.
"The real bad guys are the Morgan family, who run this town," Rika said. "If you disobey them, you get executed. So everyone is scared."
Then I heard a familiar voice from earlier. It was Helmeppo, harassing some townspeople. I knew he was in trouble when I heard him say, "I'm gonna execute Zoro in three days."
I could tell by the look on Luffy's face that he was confused.
"Don't do anything stupid, Luffy," I told him, but he ignored me and walked up to Helmeppo.
"But didn't you say you'd give him a month?" Luffy asked.
"Oh, that?" Helmeppo said nonchalantly. "I lied. Hehe, he actually bought that lame story! Ha!"
BAM!
Luffy clocked Helmeppo right in the jaw.
"Luffy, calm down, buddy," I said with a smile. "I've decided Zoro is joining our crew."
"Good," Luffy answered as Helmeppo began yelling about how his dad was going to get us and we should be afraid.
"Why don't you just fight us yourself?" I said, holding Luffy's collar. "Tossing your dad's name around gets you nowhere in life. You have to learn to do things for yourself, because one day when Daddy's not around to protect you, things are gonna catch up with you real fast."
I know that from experience.
Luffy kept trying to break out of my grip and attack Helmeppo, but I held him back. "Don't waste your strength. It's not worth it," I instructed.
After that, Rika's mom came to scold her for hanging around with dangerous strangers. I couldn't blame her; pirates aren't really kid-friendly.
"Let's get moving. We better hurry," I said. "He'll kill Zoro if we don't get there soon."
We made our way to the Marine base. "What are you two doing here again?" Zoro stated angrily. "I already told you no. I'm not going to become some bad guy just because you ask."
Luffy was quick to provide a simple answer. "But everyone already thinks you're a bad guy anyway, so what does it matter?"
"It doesn't matter," Zoro yelled. "I've never regretted any of my choices, and I won't start now. I won't become a pirate!"
"Doesn't matter. You're joining," Luffy told him.
Idiot. You can't just force people to join you. Learn to take no for an answer.
"Luffy, Zoro has to make his own decisions," I told him. "You can't force the guy to join you. I hear you use a katana; where is it?"
"That damn kid took it," Zoro said. "That katana is the thing I treasure most, almost as much as my life."
"WOW, treasure!" Luffy exclaimed. "Well, if it's so important to you, we'll get it back, but I'll only give it back if you join us."
See, Luffy, that's how you bargain.
"That's ridiculous!" Zoro yelled, but Luffy and I were already off and running toward the main base.
"Be back soon!" I laughed.
"Luffy, we don't even know where to start looking for the katana," I asked. "How are we supposed to get it back if we can't even find it?"
Luffy looked like he was thinking. "There are people on the top. Let's just go ask them."
Holy crap, a logical thought!
With that, Luffy grabbed me and slung his hand toward the top of the base. By this point in my life, I had been flung so many places by Luffy that it didn't even faze me anymore. As we were flying toward the roof, I noticed a large statue that appeared to be in the process of being stood up.
"Uh, Steve, I think I overshot it," Luffy yelled.
"Well, grab something so we don't crash!"
Luffy threw his hand the one place he probably shouldn't have: right at the ropes being used to stand up the statue. We landed safely, but in the process, the statue snapped in two, and pretty much everyone freaked out. Even I was a little shocked.
"Um, sorry," Luffy stated, like that was just going to make it all go away.
A man with an axe for a hand and a metal jaw began screaming for the Marines to capture us and that he was going to kill us himself. I noticed that Helmeppo was on the roof and was telling the man with the axe hand that Luffy had punched him. I took it to mean that the axe man must be Captain Morgan, who all the townspeople were afraid of.
Luffy began getting ready to fight, but I stopped him. "Luffy, not now. We need to get Zoro's sword so we can release him. It'd be better to fight with larger numbers."
"Fine. I've been looking for you," Luffy said, grabbing Helmeppo and running into the building.
Marines were already following us. "Where's the katana?" I yelled, interrogating Helmeppo as we ran through the halls.
"I'll tell you, just make your friend stop dragging me, please!" Helmeppo cried.
"WHERE?" Luffy asked.
"There, in my room!" Helmeppo said, looking bloody and covered in tears. "You just passed it!"
"Why didn't you say that earlier?" Luffy asked.
"Put your hands above your head!" a small group of Marines told us.
I responded with a quick "No," then grabbed Helmeppo to use as a human shield to avoid being shot. I could have just used Luffy since bullets don't hurt him anyway, but I decided this way was more fun. The guy deserved it. The Marines all reprimanded me for using a human shield, but I just ignored them and backed into Helmeppo's room to look for the sword.
"Hey, there are three here. Which one is Zoro's?" Luffy asked, but the only one who could answer was out cold by this point.
"It doesn't matter," I instructed my friend. "Just grab them all so we can get going. One of them has to be right, so who cares if we take extra?"
"Steve, look!" Luffy yelled. "Coby's in trouble."
I looked out into the courtyard and saw that Morgan and his Marines had surrounded Coby and the tied-up Zoro.
"We better hurry then," I said. "They look like they need help."
"Quick, grab on," he told me. "Gum-Gum Rocket!" he yelled as we were catapulted out the window and into the yard below. I quickly ducked behind Luffy to avoid the impending gunfire heading my way.
I couldn't help but laugh at the faces of the Marines when Luffy bounced their bullets back at them. "That won't work," he told them.
"What the hell are you?" Zoro asked.
I quickly brought the katanas we had found upstairs to Zoro. "Which one is yours?"
"All three are," he stated. "I use Three-Sword Style."
Wow, three swords. That's pretty cool.
"If you resist the Marines here, you'll be labeled a criminal, but if you don't let me free you, you'll probably die on that cross," I said, offering Zoro only one true way out. "So what's it gonna be?"
"You and your sister must really be the spawn of that devil because you're both manipulative," he said. "I'm in. I'd rather be a pirate than die here."
Luffy and I both gave a big smile.
"YEAH! Our first crew member!" Luffy yelled. I could tell he was really excited to be making a new friend.
"Now quickly, get these ropes off!" Zoro pleaded.
Luffy and I began to try and untangle the ropes, but we were struggling.
It's always been so easy to untangle my whips. Why am I struggling with a simple rope?
"That's my finger, not a rope, Luffy!"
I looked up and saw that the Marines had forgone their guns in favor of swords, which would be a problem since Luffy is bulletproof, not sword-proof.
"HURRY UP!" Zoro screamed.
"Boy, these ropes sure are tight," Luffy said.
I looked over again and realized we needed to hurry; the Marines were almost within striking distance.
"Ah, I got my side off," Luffy said, and Zoro immediately interrupted with, "Quick, give me a sword!"
By this point, I was reaching for the whips on my side in order to defend us from the incoming Marines, but as quickly as I moved, Zoro had made it in front and was blocking each sword. I took a quick second to analyze his stance and saw that he had one katana in each hand and the one with the white-colored hilt in his mouth.
That can't be sanitary.
"Nobody moves, or I'll kill you," Zoro said, laying out his demands. "I agreed to be a pirate with you, but understand something," Zoro said, suddenly becoming incredibly serious. "My goal is to be the world's greatest swordsman. Either of you does anything to get in the way of that… I'll kill you as retribution."
"Sure," I said. I could tell he was serious. I didn't want to get on his bad side.
"Good. The world's best swordsman should be in the crew of the Pirate King," Luffy said.
"Ahem, Kings," I corrected.
"Oh yeah, right. Pirate Kings," Luffy repeated.
Morgan began getting irate and told the Marines to finish us off before he did it himself. I decided it was time for us to fight back.
"Zoro, duck," I instructed. Getting my whips ready, he quickly lowered himself a few inches, and I began to swing.
"Whip Lash!" I screamed, taking out about a dozen soldiers with one sweep. Luffy cleaned up the other few remaining men with his stretched-out legs.
"What are you?" Zoro asked Luffy.
"I'm rubber," he answered casually with a smirk.
The Marines began to panic, saying they couldn't defeat three monsters like us. That sent Morgan over the edge. He started ordering men to kill themselves, and they were following such an outlandish order.
"What the hell are they doing?" Zoro said, looking stunned at the Marines who were going to complete the order.
"Gotta admire the commitment they have, I guess," I joked.
Luffy charged at Morgan and began to battle him. Luffy dodged attacks but wasn't actively striking the axe-handed captain, who was on a rampage, cleaving everything in his path.
Luffy finally went on the offensive and began to attack with a series of Gum-Gum Pistols and Stamps. The Marines were stunned, and Morgan was in a violent rage. He took a large overhead chop at Luffy, who did one of the coolest evasions I had ever seen.
He spun to the side mid-air to avoid the axe blade and kicked the Marine officer in the face.
Luffy had Morgan on the ground and was about to deliver the finishing blow when Helmeppo reappeared and began using Coby as a hostage. I should have been paying attention; he shouldn't have gotten this close.
Coby told us not to worry about him and that he would be okay. I could tell Luffy wasn't particularly worried about the boy, and neither was I. I began to put a simple plan into action. Luffy was already cocking back for a Gum-Gum Pistol when I saw Morgan stand up from behind him. I quickly got my whips out, and Zoro got his swords ready to strike Morgan.
I pulled back for a big swing, and Zoro dashed forward. Neither the father nor the son saw the attacks coming.
"Whip Crush!" I said, slamming my whips into Helmeppo's face in conjunction with Luffy's Pistol, while at the same time, Zoro sliced Morgan.
"Good job," I said to my two partners.
"No problem, just following your lead, Captain," Zoro said.
With that, we walked away from the base, leaving a group of stunned Marines in our wake.