Steve's POV
We walked for a while before we finally got far enough to feel safe.
"This is it, I can't go any farther," Zoro groaned, giving up on dragging Luffy's prison. I decided to take a break, too, and sat down on top of the cage.
"Please don't sit on my head," Luffy begged.
"Too bad. This is what you get for getting stuck in that thing in the first place."
"Oh, look, a doggie!" Luffy said, his tone shifting completely.
I looked down and saw a small, cream-colored dog sitting in front of the cage.
"Luffy, will you stay focused? We need to figure out a way to get you out of this cage. You can play with the dog later."
But Luffy ignored me, poking at the dog until it got angry and bit him.
"Ah, it bit me!" Luffy screamed.
"What did you expect?" I asked, shaking my head. "You were poking it in the face! Will you get serious for a minute?"
I looked at my team, feeling mentally drained. Zoro was barely conscious, Luffy was tired from his scuffle with the dog, and I was exhausted from trying to figure out how to free him and why Buggy seemed so familiar. I decided to give up and rest for now, hoping an idea would come to me later.
"What are you guys doing?" a voice asked. I looked up and saw the orange-haired girl from earlier. "If you sit in the middle of the road like that, Buggy will find you for sure."
"It's our navigator," Luffy said, noticing her.
She immediately got defensive. "I'm not here to join you, I'm just here to repay a debt." She threw a key on the ground. "That's the key to your friend's cell. Consider us even."
We all thanked her, and I went to pick up the key to free Luffy, but just then, disaster struck. The little dog snatched the key and swallowed it.
"YOU DAMN DOG!" Luffy yelled, enraged. "NO, THE KEY!"
Luffy, frustrated at being trapped longer, took his anger out on the dog.
"Luffy, don't hit the dog! That's not nice," I said, but he kept trying to choke it in an attempt to get the key back.
"Hey, don't hurt Chou-Chou!" a man in crude wooden armor yelled at Luffy.
"Who are you, mister?" Zoro asked.
"I'm the chief of this village, the mayor, Boodle."
"Speaking of introductions, I'm afraid I still don't know your name," I said, looking at the orange-haired girl.
"I'm Nami," she replied.
"I hate to keep bothering you, Mr. Mayor," I said, pointing at the half-conscious Zoro, "but do you have a place I can put my friend so he can rest? He needs to have his wounds looked at."
"Oh, dear, he's in bad shape," the mayor observed. "Bring him to my house. He can stay there."
After carrying Zoro into the mayor's house and getting him settled, I went back outside to talk with Boodle, Nami, and Luffy. I really needed some relief. I was glad Zoro was asleep; I was tired of fighting with him. First, he carried the cage despite his injuries, then he refused to have them looked at properly, insisting he would just "sleep it off."
Being a pirate is a lot more stressful than I thought.
"Why are you here anyway?" Luffy asked the mayor.
"I came to feed Chou-Chou," he said, walking up to the dog.
"Why do you come all the way out here to feed a dog?" I asked. "Why not just take him home with you?"
"It's because he won't stop guarding the store."
"I don't understand," I said, perplexed.
"Well, you see, this store belongs to a friend of mine, as does Chou-Chou," the mayor explained. "He's guarding the store because it holds many precious memories. Just look at the scars on his body. They show that he's been fighting the pirates to protect the store."
"Why doesn't the owner just come protect the store himself?" Nami asked. "If he's just at the shelter, he can come do it."
She's right. Who makes their dog defend something without helping?
"No, I'm afraid the owner has already moved on to the world beyond this one," Boodle explained, a look of sorrow on his face.
"So the dog is just trying to fulfill the last task he was given?" I asked. "To protect the store?"
"That's what a lot of the villagers say," he replied. "But I see it differently. I think he knows his master isn't coming back, but he guards the store because it's important to him. It's his treasure."
Suddenly, an earsplitting roar shook the air.
"What was that?!" Nami screamed.
"It's the Beast Tamer Mohji! We gotta get out of here!" Boodle said, running away with Nami.
I wasn't going to leave Luffy behind, so I tried pushing the cage.
"Just leave me, I'm slowing you down," Luffy said.
"No! I won't leave my friend behind to save myself! No true friend would abandon someone they care about in a time of need," I yelled.
"It's my own fault," Luffy fought back. "I'm the one who got myself stuck. Just go so I don't hold you back. I don't want you to get hurt because you were trying to help me."
"I'm not leaving, and that's final." Luffy didn't say another word.
"Well, look what I found," a man riding a large lion said. "Sucks to be you, getting caught anyway after all that running."
"What's with that weird hat?" Luffy insulted.
"This is my natural hair!" the man screamed back at him.
The man started rambling about being the great animal tamer Mohji and tried to demonstrate his skills on Chou-Chou. "Now, shake."
BITE
"OWWW!"
"Tell me where Zoro is," he demanded, acting as if Chou-Chou hadn't just mauled him.
"I don't want to," Luffy said, acting like a child.
"KILL HIM, RICHIE!" Mohji screamed.
In a pure stroke of luck, the attack missed Luffy and shattered his iron prison, but it also sent him flying across town. Mohji then turned his attention toward me. "Come on, Richie! Finish the job and take this guy down!"
"You got lucky, fur-guy," I taunted. "If Luffy hadn't been in that cage, he would've kicked your ass."
"GAH! What did you just say?! Richie, tear him to pieces!"
I got ready for a fight as the lion charged at me.
"I'll show you how to tame a beast," I taunted, "Whip Crack!"
I struck the lion directly in the side, but the creature barely flinched.
What the hell?! How did it barely feel that? I've swung hard enough to shatter stone!
Thinking back, why didn't I just crush the cage to free Luffy?
"You'll find that Richie is a very brave lion who takes commands from no one but me. Now, Richie, crush him!"
I was in a bad spot. I couldn't get the oversized housecat to back down.
"UGGHH!" I groaned as a claw collided with my side, sending me sliding across the ground. In the distance, I heard barking. I looked up and saw that Chou-Chou was attempting to defend his store, but he wasn't faring any better than I was. I wanted to get up and help him, but I couldn't move no matter how hard I tried. The poor dog was being ripped to shreds, and there was nothing I could do.
So this is what being helpless feels like. Dammit, I'm stronger than this...
By the time I was able to sit up, Mohji and Richie had walked away from the burning pile of ashes that had been the pet store.
"What happened to you?" I heard a voice I recognized as Luffy's ask me.
"I don't want to talk about it," I said.
"You sound like Zoro now, just doing your own thing, not listening to anybody."
"Since when are you the one who lectures me?" I joked, still not having turned to face my friend. "Just take care of it."
"I was going to do that anyway," he said, walking away. "I'll be back soon."
It wasn't long before Nami and the mayor showed up and saw the destruction.
I turned to face the mayor. "I'm sorry this place was destroyed because of me."
"Just like pirates to destroy everything others hold dear," Nami said, insulting a whole way of life.
"Shut up," I said calmly. "You don't understand anything."
"Oh, and look, here's his partner in crime," she said, alerting me to Luffy's return. "Did you come to help your friend destroy more of this town?"
Luffy said nothing and walked past Nami, up to Chou-Chou. He placed a slightly charred and misshapen box in front of the dog.
"I'm sorry. This was all I could save. That lion ate the rest."
"It's fine," I told him. "It never should've been taken to begin with. This was my mistake, and Buggy and his crew will pay for it. You fought well, dog. You lasted longer than I did, so please let me fight the next battle for you."
With that, our canine friend picked up his food and walked away, sending one last bark my way.
"Thanks," I answered. "I'll need all the support I can get if I'm gonna beat Buggy and reclaim your town."