Steve's POV
"We should split up," Zoro suggested, looking around the bustling town. "We could cover more ground that way."
"Absolutely not," I shot back immediately. "This place is crawling with pirates. We'd be easy targets if we split up."
Zoro gave me a disapproving look, but I held my ground. "Listen, it's not that I don't think you can handle yourself. It's just... this Captain Buggy guy sounds really familiar, and I don't want to get caught alone. Besides, we know he has a Devil Fruit power. What if it's an ability that makes him impossible to fight on your own?"
Zoro hummed in agreement, and we kept walking.
"So, tell me exactly how you met my sister," I said, giving him a suspicious side-eye. "And what kind of relationship do you two have?"
Zoro stiffened visibly at the mention of her name. He struggled to find the right words. "We both went after the same bounty once and ended up working together for a few weeks. Then she just... disappeared. I turned around, and she was gone. I was glad to hear she wasn't dead, though."
I raised an eyebrow. "So, it was just a working relationship?"
A look of discomfort crossed his face again. "Y-yes," he stammered.
"Good," I said with a sly smile. "Big sis shouldn't hang around with men like you."
"What the hell are you saying?" Zoro yelled, his voice rising. "You think I'm some kind of creep?"
"No, nothing of the sort," I replied, trying to hold back a laugh. "But let's get back to the task at hand. We need to find Luffy."
"Any ideas where we should look?" Zoro asked.
Just then, a massive explosion rocked the other side of town. I pointed to a large tent on the roof of a nearby bar, where a plume of smoke was rising.
"How about there?"
It didn't take us long to get to the roof, but what we saw wasn't reassuring. Luffy was tied up inside a massive iron cage with a cannon pointed directly at him.
That idiot!
An orange-haired girl stood next to the fuse, holding a matchbook, but she didn't seem like she had any intention of lighting the cannon. It looked like the other pirates were getting impatient because a man walked up, snatched the matches, and lit one himself. For some reason, that pissed the girl off big time. She pulled out a long staff and struck the pirate.
Despite her valiant effort, the fuse somehow got lit anyway.
"We need to hurry!" Zoro said.
"No duh," I responded. "He's gonna get himself killed!"
We ran toward the cage, but Zoro stopped. "We're not gonna make it. The fuse is too low."
Just then, the girl turned around and grabbed the burning fuse, trying to snuff out the flame with her bare hands. She cried out in pain but held on until the fire was gone.
Just who is this girl, and why is she helping Luffy?
There was still the problem of the pirates charging at her. Zoro quickly moved into position and blocked their attack, taunting them for ganging up on a lone girl.
I sprinted to Luffy's cage and started fiddling with the lock.
"Get me outta this thing!" Luffy begged.
"What do you think I'm doing, you idiot?!" I yelled, scolding him. "You got caught by a bird and now by pirates? You need to get it together, Luffy."
"I'm just glad you and Zoro found me!" Luffy laughed.
Suddenly, the pirates started whispering amongst themselves. "Zoro?" one of them said. "Do you mean the Pirate Hunter?" I figured they were pretty shocked to find Luffy's crewmate.
"Dammit, why won't this thing open?" I mumbled to myself.
I looked up at the orange-haired girl. "Hey, you, any ideas on how to free my friend?" She looked at me but didn't answer. I glanced behind me and saw Zoro in a standoff with the enemy captain.
"Who's that?" I asked Luffy's new friend.
This time she responded. "Buggy."
So, this is the Buggy I've been hearing about.
Luffy gasped and pointed out that Zoro was fighting Buggy. With one swing, Zoro sliced the man into pieces. Luffy and the girl were stunned, but Buggy's own crew just looked bored.
Why are they so calm when their captain just got cut down right in front of them? That was too easy... wait, he has Devil Fruit powers!
Zoro started walking toward us, and I tried to warn him. "Look out! It's a trap!"
But I was too late. Buggy's hand, floating in mid-air, held a knife that plunged into Zoro's side. The "Buggy Pirates" started laughing hysterically as Zoro hit the ground. He quickly stood up, pulled the knife from his side, and got ready to fight again.
"What the hell was that!?" Zoro demanded.
"I ate the Chop-Chop Fruit!" Buggy yelled as his body reassembled. "I'm a Section Man, so I can't be sliced!"
His crew started cheering for him to finish Zoro off. I could see the look on Zoro's face. He was ashamed that he'd been careless.
I turned back to the cage, determined to free Luffy so we'd have a fighting chance against this guy. That's when I felt a pair of eyes burning a hole through the back of my head.
"You with the red hair," said a voice I recognized as Buggy's. "Turn around."
I looked over my shoulder and saw a confused look on his face. He mumbled something and rubbed his chin. "Nah. Couldn't be."
Before he could say what was on his mind, Luffy interrupted, screaming that stabbing Zoro in the back was a dirty move. When Luffy called him 'big nose,' it really ticked Buggy off. I could tell by the look on his crew's faces that his nose was a sensitive subject.
Zoro and the girl both screamed that a knife was headed right for me. I quickly rolled to the side to dodge it, but then I realized I had been right in front of the cage.
"Luffy!" I yelled when I saw the knife enter the cage.
I winced, assuming Luffy had just been mutilated because I'd moved, but somehow he managed to catch the blade in his teeth. Then he looked up at Buggy and shocked me by saying, "I'm taking you down."
I only groaned at Luffy's threat. This is exactly why I wanted to find him quickly, so he wouldn't get us into a situation like this.
Of course, Buggy and his crew didn't take Luffy seriously at all. They just laughed. "Steve, Zoro, run away!" Luffy instructed.
"Your friends came to save you, and you're telling them to leave?" the girl asked, confused.
"Alright," we both answered. I see what you're doing.
Zoro and I made a break for it. Buggy launched his hands at us, but Zoro blocked them with his swords, giving me an opening to get to the cannon. God, that thing was heavy, but I managed to flip it over. When Buggy's crew realized what we were doing, they started to freak out. I guess they figured out the thing was still loaded.
I heard Zoro yell at the girl to light the cannon, and she complied. The entire crew was blown away as we prepared our escape.
"Now's our chance, let's go!" I demanded. "I doubt that killed all of them!"
"Yeah," Zoro agreed. He turned to the girl who had helped us. "Exactly who are you?"
"I'm a thief," she said.
Luffy chimed in from the cage. "This girl is our navigator!"
"You actually managed to recruit a navigator," I said, a smile spreading across my face. "Good job, Luffy." I just hope she knows what she's getting herself into.
"I told you I won't be your navigator!" she snapped angrily. "If you have time to say useless things like that, you have time to find your way out of that cage!"
"No, it's fine," Zoro said. "Stay in the cage."
He walked up to the cage and picked it up.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" I yelled.
"Stop, Zoro! You're gonna bleed out if you do that!" Luffy added.
"Both of you shut up! I'm doing this my way!" he snapped.
Is he trying to make up for getting careless in that fight with Buggy?
I opened my mouth to scold him and offer help, but he saw my mouth open and cut me off. "Don't butt in or say anything! I can do this myself!" After that, I kept my mouth shut.
We moved as quickly as you can when you have an injured man trying to carry an iron and cement cage. It seemed like we weren't being chased, so we rested on a roof far away from the bar.
"What the hell were you doing?" I yelled at Zoro. "Are you trying to die?!"
I was beyond angry. Who was he to order me around? It was my job to order him.
"We're in for a fight now," Zoro said, ignoring my complaints. "We need to finish what Luffy started."
I decided to let it go for now since we had more important things to focus on. "Yep," I sighed, shaking my head. "You really got us into a mess this time, Luffy."