All of Cocoyasi Village was celebrating.
A village long shadowed by a crew of fish-men hadn't been saved by the Marines, but redeemed by a band of pirates.
If the islands all talked to one another, they'd know this kind of absurdity wasn't rare on these seas.
"Treating injuries this bad by yourselves—honestly. Are you really pirates?"
Dr. Nako tightened the bandage on the green-haired man before him.
"You don't even have a ship's doctor!"
"Actually, I'm the captain and the acting ship's doc!"
Luffy sat on the desk near Zoro, grinning. "Want me to handle it? I'm pretty good with my hands."
"Absolutely not."
Zoro rejected him on the spot.
Learn two tricks and you think I'm your lab rat? Not a chance.
"Is that wicked woman's trouble handled?"
"Nami is Nami. She's our crewmate. Can't you call her by her name?"
Luffy's hand never left the meat; his other hand kept scribbling. The feast was roaring outside, and he wanted to be there, but this was Devil Fruit development time.
"Honestly, I didn't expect Cocoyasi Village would end up saved by pirates. You have my deepest thanks…" Dr. Nako yanked hard to fix Zoro's bandage, then added, "But that doesn't mean you can bully Nami!"
"Easy—ow! That hurts!"
Zoro slapped at the bedside, nearly leaping up. Did this old man have any medical ethics?
"Don't worry, doc. Nami's the most important navigator on our ship," Luffy said.
"Then I'm entrusting Nami to your care." Dr. Nako nodded.
He'd taken a liking to Luffy—especially after Zoro and the others had just arrived and that curly-browed suit tried to rush Nami, only to be sent flying by one Luffy punch.
"Don't let that sort near Nami."
"Oh, you mean Sanji. Relax. I gave the chef's old man my word—if Sanji tries anything weird, I'll deck him."
Luffy meant it. Family of crewmates mattered.
"By the way, were those wounds from that man called Hawk-Eye?" Luffy glanced at Zoro's injuries.
"…Yeah."
Zoro fell quiet, remembering.
"I am Dracule Mihawk."
"No matter how many years pass, I'll be waiting for you in this strongest seat."
"Surpass this blade. Surpass me, Roronoa."
Today Zoro had seen the gulf between him and the world's strongest.
Becoming the greatest swordsman would take much more.
"Hmph. Wounds like these would kill ordinary folk, and two or three years wouldn't be enough to recover… but his recovery is terrifying," Dr. Nako finished, leaving the room to the two of them.
"That man is really strong," Luffy said. "When I saw your wounds, I was scared for a second."
"…He's strong. I don't want to taste defeat like that ever again."
Zoro propped himself up and looked Luffy in the eye. "Until I beat him and become the greatest swordsman, I won't lose again. Got a problem with that, Pirate King?"
It was a pledge to Luffy. With his sights widened beyond the East Blue, after meeting a peak of the world, he grasped the gap.
Luffy's goal was Pirate King. As a crewmate of the future Pirate King, his strength had to match.
One look was enough for crewmates to understand.
"Shishishi, no problem."
Everyone aboard the Going Merry chased dreams.
…
Not long after—
"…You don't have to sit here with me."
Zoro frowned at Luffy perched on the desk. The scene felt wrong.
Only Nami had witnessed Luffy "studying" with her behind closed doors. Say they were actually studying and Zoro wouldn't believe it once in a hundred tries.
He might believe the "study position" part, though.
But this, right now—this was uncanny.
"I'm only here because I've got nowhere else to go. If you're fine, rest. Don't bother me. I'm studying."
Half-day "crew-recruitment" time had ended.
After ending the fish-men and the reward window, it was back to hell-time.
Outside, Usopp had an arm around the villagers, already in full feast mode.
Sanji, punched sky-high moments ago, was courting pretty village girls.
Only the two "invalids," Luffy and Zoro, were stuck here.
"Luffy, did Nami slip you some kind of poison?" Zoro finally blurted. "Doesn't this all feel… off?"
"…Why can't I just like studying?"
Luffy couldn't help pushing back. Did he really look that much like a blockhead who hated learning? Once he mastered his studies, he'd stand tall among intellectuals and properly look down on these illiterates.
"You expect yourself to believe that?" Zoro took a long pull of beer.
Comfort.
"…"
Brutal truth.
Granted, something was jabbing him from behind, forcing him forward—so the line wasn't wrong.
But being pushed had its upside.
Luffy was the type who needed a shove.
"Right, that reminds me." Luffy turned. "Zoro, that black blade you mentioned—does it look like this?"
His fist darkened, wrapped in Armament Haki.
"W-what is that?!" Zoro's eyes bulged, his freshly wrapped wounds nearly splitting.
That power… very familiar.
When the duel began, Hawk-Eye had almost shattered his spirit with a tiny knife.
"Shishishi. Armament Haki."
"How did you learn that?"
"Uh…"
Reward time rewarded him and he… learned it?
It was too perfect a moment to waste. Seeing Zoro make that face was rare.
Before the warning voice could chime in, Luffy found a decent explanation.
"Remember our spar a couple days ago?"
"One punch each?"
"It was you ten punches, me one." Luffy corrected him.
Taking hits was key to awakening Armament. He really had trained it that way.
Zoro just didn't get reward time; maybe he needed more beatings?
He wasn't lying.
Zoro seemed to be weighing it seriously.
Let Luffy teach him?
They could trade in hand-to-hand, sure. In other areas, Luffy was hopeless. But that stubbornly rigid nature made him reliable.
The way he treasured that hat matched Zoro's obsession with his swords.
Wait…
"Luffy, where's your hat?"
Right. Where's my hat?
"Nami!"