Steve's POV
"I'm sorry for yelling at you," Nami said, her voice soft.
"It's fine, I get it," I replied, a small smile on my face. "You don't have to say it, but I can tell by the look on your face that pirates have taken a lot from you. It's okay. Besides, I snapped at you before, so I guess we're even." I took a moment to look over the village, mentally preparing myself for the fight ahead.
Suddenly, the mayor shouted, "I can't take this anymore! You guys and Chouchou are fighting, but why am I, the mayor of this village, forced to just stand by and watch everything we worked so hard for get destroyed by pirates?"
"Just come down, sir," Nami urged him.
The mayor ignored her, turning to Luffy. "To a real man, there are some fights you just can't avoid, right, kid?"
"You bet, old man!" Luffy said excitedly.
I sighed and shook my head. "Don't encourage him."
The mayor began to tell us the story of how the village was founded and built from the ground up, his voice filled with pride and sadness. "I'm the chief of this village. I'm going to stand and fight!" he declared, proudly picking up a spear.
Just then, another explosion rocked the village. A cannonball flew past us, annihilating a row of homes in its path. "GAHH! Even my house!" the mayor screamed, looking at the pile of wood that used to be his home.
My heart sank. Crap, Zoro! "Zoro was still inside!" I yelled, voicing my worry. A moment later, we all felt a wave of relief as some of the rubble began to move.
"Zoro, are you still alive?" Luffy asked, hoping our friend was okay.
"Yeah. That's a hell of a way to get woken up," Zoro grumbled as he emerged from the ruins.
The mayor suddenly began giving himself a pep talk, but before he could run off to fight Buggy, Nami stopped him. "I know it's reckless!" he yelled, and with that, he ran off.
"The village chief was crying," Nami noted, a hint of sadness in her voice.
Luffy just smirked. "Really? I didn't see a thing." I knew by that look that he didn't care what the mayor was feeling. Our path was set, and we had to deal with these pirates.
"This is starting to get fun," Zoro remarked, a grin spreading across his face.
"I agree," I said, laughing. The three of us got ready for the upcoming clash.
"How are you guys so calm?" our orange-haired friend asked, visibly shaken.
"Relax," Luffy told her. "I like that mayor, so we won't let him die."
It was time to find out if we could truly rely on Nami. "Our destination is the Grand Line, so we'll need to steal the map you had of it from Buggy. Since you need the map, will you be joining us?" I stuck my hand out, awaiting her answer.
"I won't become a pirate. Let's just call it… business partners," she said, slapping my hand away. We then began heading toward Buggy's base. I didn't like her answer, but for now, it would have to do.
On the way to the fight, Nami tried to convince Zoro to stay out of it and rest his injury, but he wouldn't hear of it. "I'll be fine. My body will heal on its own, but my pride needs to be recovered. All I did in the last fight was get hurt," he insisted.
"Exactly," I added as we approached the bar where Buggy was. "Zoro and I both got our asses kicked in our last encounters with his crew. We need to reclaim our honor."
"Men," Nami groaned. "You're all so... ugh."
As we got closer, I saw the mayor being held in a chokehold by one of Buggy's disembodied hands. "I'll take care of this," I said, running ahead of my friends.
Buggy was in the middle of a monologue about treasure and destroying the town, but I didn't care. I grabbed the hand and freed Boodle. That's when Buggy saw that I had arrived. "The redhead," he noted, giving me the stink eye.
"Hey, sorry I'm late," I said, a grin on my face. "I made a promise to reclaim this town, and that's what I'm gonna do."
"So you've come without any fear," Buggy started, returning his hand to his body. "YOU'RE ALL DEAD!"
"Listen, I'm just here for the map, not to fight them," Nami told us, leaving all the work to us.
Apparently, our arrival was just as unappreciated by the mayor. He was upset that we weren't letting him do the fighting and told us to stay out of his fight and not to interfere. Luffy wasn't too keen on his ramblings and proceeded to smash his head into a wall to shut him up.
There was no need to be so violent. We could've talked it out, I thought.
"Why did you do that?" Nami yelled at Luffy, scolding him for his treatment of the mayor.
I interrupted her tirade. "Because he would have just gotten in our way."
"He might have charged in recklessly if he was left alone," Zoro added. "It'll be safer if he's unconscious."
It was time for our long-awaited fight. "Hey, big nose!" Luffy yelled.
Without wasting any time, they fired the cannon again, and Nami ran for cover. Zoro tried to get Luffy to dodge, but he wasn't budging. "You think I'll move just because of some cannonball?" Luffy taunted. He used his Gum-Gum Balloon technique to bounce the explosive back at the men who fired it. The resulting explosion destroyed the bar and most of the pirates on it.
"Good, you lowered their numbers," I praised.
"How did you do that?!" Nami questioned, shocked.
"We're not done yet," I said, pointing out the injured bodies being used as shields by Buggy and another man.
"How cruel, using their own crew as a shield," Nami said.
Buggy began to talk to the other man, who had withstood the blast by using what I now recognized as Richie as a shield. I saw that Mohji was emerging from the rubble and was pissed that this other man had used his pet. The two began bickering until Mohji tried to tell Buggy that Luffy was rubber, which completely shocked Nami. Buggy, furious at Mohji for not informing him sooner, threw him at us.
"MOVE!" Mohji screamed at me.
"No, how about you move?" I answered, whipping him in the face. I was satisfied that I had gotten revenge for my earlier loss. "I can't believe I lost to you."
I saw that Zoro was blocking an attack from a man on a unicycle. Luffy offered to fight on Zoro's behalf since he was injured, but Zoro stood his ground. The man, who introduced himself as Cabaji, went straight for Zoro, breathing fire into his face and kicking his wound.
Zoro crashed to the ground in pain while Cabaji continued his assault. This guy's fighting style was all trick-attacks—things like kicking dirt, breathing fire, and spinning tops—he didn't make it easy to fight him head-on.
I was beginning to get worried that Zoro might actually die when he stood up and did the unthinkable. "Did you find attacking my wound that much fun?" Zoro asked. He then took his sword and cut his own wound, deepening it. "Is that enough of a handicap for you? I will become the world's greatest swordsman. Let me show you the difference in our skills."
"You can't possibly win with that injury," Cabaji taunted. "You can use that as the excuse when I beat you."
Nami informed Luffy and me that she was going to sneak into a warehouse to steal from Buggy since we were going to retrieve the map from Buggy himself. "If you manage to get the map, we may work together again in the future." She wished us luck and ran off down an alley in search of treasure.
I turned my attention back to Zoro's fight but saw no sign of Cabaji. That was until I looked to the sky and saw him flying through the air, throwing small tops at Zoro. He readied himself and performed a direct downward stab. I wasn't worried about Zoro blocking it, but then I saw Buggy sending a hand right for him to hold him still.
Luffy stepped up and stomped on the hand. "Don't interfere with their fight."
Zoro leapt out of the way of Cabaji's attack, moved his swords into position, and dashed at Cabaji. "Oni Giri!" With that, Cabaji fell to the ground, defeated. "I'm ashamed to have lost to a thief," he said, before passing out.
"I'm not a thief. I'm a pirate," Zoro corrected as he collapsed. Zoro fell asleep, leaving the rest of the fight up to Luffy and me.
"You mean you're pirates?" Buggy asked.
"Yep," I said, pulling out my whips and preparing to strike. "So hand over the map of the Grand Line. Nami said you had one."
"Why would no-names like you even want to go to the Grand Line? It's not like they offer sightseeing tours," Buggy scoffed.
"We're gonna be kings of the pirates," Luffy and I said in unison, a serious look on our faces.
"You two, kings of the pirates? Like hell! Next, you'll say I'm God!" Buggy yelled.
"Enough, let's get started. I'm ending this," I said.
"Seeing your disgusting red hair reminds me of that other red-headed guy," Buggy said, a look of displeasure on his face. There's that look again. Like he's seen me before.
"Red-haired? Do you know Steve's dad?" Luffy asked.
"I thought I told you to keep that information on the down low!" I said to Luffy.
"So you really are related to him. Yeah, I know Shanks. What's it to you?"
"Where are they? My parents?" I wanted to know so badly. I hadn't seen my mom and dad since I was little. I just wanted to know if they were okay. "Do you know something?"
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," Buggy said, holding the information over my head.
"I don't get it," Luffy butted into the conversation.
"I mean that I'm not nice enough to tell your friend what he wants to know. And I'll kill him before he can hear the answer."
"Luffy!" I yelled. "You stay out of this. I'm fighting this alone."
"But I'm the one who challenged him first."
"You took down the fur ball earlier; you already had your fun. Besides, this guy and I have some things to discuss."
"Fine," Luffy said.
"Here we go. I'll crush you and make you tell me what I want to know."