Chapter 18: A Fateful Bite
Time, as it does, moved on. Luffy eventually came to accept that Uta was gone. He moped for a while, a cloud hanging over his usual sunny demeanor, but his resilient heart soon bounced back. He returned to trailing Satoru during training and, with renewed vigor, began pestering Shanks.
"Take me with you next time! I'm gonna be a pirate too!" Luffy declared, for what felt like the hundredth time, standing on a stool in Makino's bar.
Shanks, used to this routine, just laughed. "Hahaha! A pirate like you? Not a chance!"
To Shanks, Luffy was still just a loud, clingy, utterly naïve little kid.
"Why not?!" Luffy yelled, indignant.
"Being a good swimmer isn't enough to make you a pirate, Luffy," Yasopp chimed in, not unkindly.
"I can fight too!" Luffy insisted, throwing a few wild punches into the air. "My fists are as strong as pistols!"
"Really now?" Shanks mumbled around a mouthful of food, his tone dripping with amused disbelief.
"What's with that tone?!" Luffy roared, his face turning red.
"You're just too small, Luffy," Lucky Roux said simply, between bites of a massive drumstick.
"Yeah, you're about the same age as my kid back home," Yasopp added.
Shanks grinned, his eyes flicking to where Satoru sat quietly with his milk. "If you were as strong as Satoru over there, I'd take you aboard in a heartbeat."
His obsession with recruiting Satoru hadn't faded, a fact as stubborn as Luffy's own pleas.
"I am NOT a little kid! I've grown!" Luffy fumed, looking like his head might actually steam.
"Alright, alright, don't pop a blood vessel," Shanks chuckled. He reached behind the bar and produced a glass of Luffy's favorite juice. "Here. Calm down."
Seeing the juice, Luffy's anger evaporated instantly. His eyes sparkled. "Thanks!"
Satoru watched from his seat, sipping his milk calmly. He knew what scene was coming next. He considered Luffy his brother now, and for Luffy to grow into the man he needed to be, certain events couldn't be—and shouldn't be—stopped.
I'm sorry, Shanks, Satoru thought, a flicker of regret passing through him. Your arm is already fated.
His friendship with Shanks was genuine, but it didn't have the foundational, life-altering weight that Shanks's bond with Luffy was about to forge. Luffy's future drive to become Pirate King was inextricably tied to the sacrifice about to happen on this very day.
Just then, Satoru's Six Eyes perceived a group of rough, angry life forces approaching the bar. A moment later, the door was kicked open with a violent BANG!
The Red-Hair crew fell silent, their relaxed postures shifting into something more alert as they watched the newcomers.
The intruder was the local mountain bandit, Higuma—the man who would earn the infamous title "The Bandit Who Kicked a Future Emperor."
He strutted in, made his grand, foolish boasts, threw his drink in Shanks's face, and swaggered out, leaving behind a tense, sticky silence.
Throughout the entire spectacle, the Red-Hair Pirates did nothing. They just took it. To them, Higuma was less than an insect—a momentary nuisance not worth the effort to squash.
Luffy, however, was livid. His face was purple with rage. "Why are you all just laughing?! Why didn't you fight?! You're pirates, aren't you?!"
He couldn't comprehend it. This was shameful. This wasn't the free, proud image of pirates Shanks had painted for him.
Satoru, for his part, also didn't understand the inaction. In his philosophy, anyone who dared disrespect him to his face would receive a Black Flash as a lesson. Mercy had its place, but not for pointless humiliation.
"It's not worth getting angry over," Shanks said, wiping the wine from his face with a calm smile. "He just spilled some drink."
"I'm not talking to you anymore!" Luffy shouted, turning his back in a huff.
As he fumed, his eyes landed on a peculiar, swirling-patterned fruit sitting in a box on the bar. Thinking it belonged to Shanks and wanting to spite him, Luffy didn't hesitate. He grabbed it and took a huge, defiant bite.
The initial taste was so revolting it bypassed his taste buds and went straight to his soul. His face contorted into a mask of pure disgust.
By the time Shanks noticed, it was far too late. Luffy had already swallowed most of the mouthful.
"Hey! Did you just eat the fruit from that box?!" Shanks yelled, snatching Luffy up and holding him upside down, shaking him frantically. "Spit it out! Spit it out now!"
No fruit came out. Instead, Luffy's neck stretched like taffy, his face thudding against the wooden floor.
"Wha... what was that?!" Luffy gasped, bewildered, as Shanks set him down and his neck retracted with a sproing.
"You just ate the Gum-Gum Fruit," Shanks said, his face pale. "A Devil Fruit. Your body is rubber now. And you'll never be able to swim again."
"WHAT?!"
The horror on Luffy's face was absolute. Swimming was his greatest joy.
"YOU IDIOT!" Shanks roared, a mix of anger, fear, and frustration in his voice. That fruit... it wasn't just any Devil Fruit.
Satoru, who had watched the entire sequence with detached expectation, remained outwardly calm. But internally, his Six Eyes had seen something profound. The moment Luffy's teeth broke the fruit's skin, he hadn't just seen a strange energy transfer. He'd perceived something deeper, a layer of power hidden within the rubbery properties—a vibrant, liberated, almost joyful force that seemed to dance into Luffy's very core.
Was that just the Paramecia power of rubber... or was that the energy of the Sun God Nika itself? The question hung in Satoru's mind, far more intriguing than the comical scene of a panicking, stretchy Luffy.
(End of Chapter)
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