A small port on an island.
Luffy was disembarking from a small ship. After stepping onto the dock, he thought to himself.
'I was born Monkey D. Luffy, and now I'm seventeen, but I'm different from the original Luffy.'
'I'm not the original whose seventeen-year-old self died in an accident and someone else took over; that's not what happened here.'
'Same name, different contents, so I have no choice but to do things the original Luffy never did.'
'After Anne left, I even visited islands around Fusha Village, caught a few pirates there, and followed my grandfather to the Marine Headquarters.'
'Maybe that's why I missed running into Roronoa Zoro, the first mate in the original story.'
He sighed and continued walking forward after stepping off the ship.
'It's a shame I didn't meet Roronoa Zoro, the strongest among the original Luffy's crew, but I can't help it.'
'I don't believe I have to recruit the same people the original Luffy did.'
'Life on a ship is tough. Unless you enforce a strict hierarchy like the Marines do, conflicts will inevitably arise because of people's temperaments.'
'And I don't want to be the kind of pirate captain who enforces such rigid hierarchy. If I did, I would have stayed in the Marines like Grandfather wanted.'
'My personality is different from the original Luffy, so his crew might not suit me… huh?'
Walking into a town lined with buildings on both sides, Luffy saw several people running toward him from a distance.
Among them, he focused on a woman with short, orange hair dashing ahead of the group.
'In my life, the only person I've seen with orange hair is Dadan—it's not common.'
'The original Luffy also met someone in Orange Town with orange hair… could that be her?'
"Hey! Stop right there, you thief!"
"We have to get it back! That's the map of the Grand Line!"
"Of course! If we don't, Captain Buggy will kill us!"
The orange-haired woman was being chased by armed men, and upon seeing Luffy, she shouted loudly.
"P-please help me, boss! I-I'm telling the truth, I stole the map just like he said!"
"Boss? He said to me—"
The woman who had yelled at Luffy ran past him and bolted into a narrow alley.
'She ditched it onto Luffy and ran off in the original too; now I'm on the receiving end.'
"Hah... hah... Are you the boss?"
"No, I'm not her boss... I mean—"
"Bring her back, you idiot!"
By the time Luffy turned his head, the three men chasing the woman had already surrounded him.
One shouted at Luffy, and just as Luffy was about to respond, the man swung his sword and yelled,
clang!
"Why won't you answer my question?"
"Th-the sword...!"
The blade struck the flesh of Luffy's raised arm, only to bounce off harmlessly.
"Who the hell are you?"
"I... um?"
"I said, what are you?"
"Well, that's—"
Glaring at them, Luffy made them lower their weapons and take a step back.
"And I know you're hiding someone back there. Come out."
"Wh-what are you...?"
"Come out now while I'm speaking nicely. If not, you'll be next."
As Luffy spoke and turned around, the three men followed his gaze and turned their heads.
"Hehe... How did you know?"
"Your footsteps got quieter, then closer again."
"Th-that woman is—!"
There she was—the orange-haired woman who had run away earlier.
Peeking from behind a wall, she spoke to Luffy, as Luffy glared back at the angry men and addressed them.
"What's your deal, drawing blades for no reason?"
"W-we're the victims! That thief stole our stuff, so we were chasing her!"
"You're a thief, huh?"
"I may be a thief, but they're pirates! They steal from innocent people and kill at will!"
"I'm nothing like those guys! So I might borrow a thing or two from them!"
"She's got a big mouth...!"
"Are you pirates? Bet you've killed a lot of people."
"Why are you even asking them!? They're pirates just looking at them rushing me with swords!"
"You never know—maybe they're good people and you just got mad because they took something important from you?"
'Honestly, in the original story, these three really were pirates. But I've lived differently than the original Luffy.'
'That's why I missed Zoro. A small action I take can influence a big event later on.'
'They call it the butterfly effect for a reason. I shouldn't expect the same events to play out with me.'
'I need to verify facts like this.'
While Luffy thought, the woman and the pirates continued shouting at each other.
Then the woman shouted at Luffy,
"Seriously! I'm telling you they're pirates!"
"Not just pirates! They're under Captain Buggy the Clown with a 15 million Beli bounty!"
"Y-yeah! We serve Captain Buggy!"
"Sudden confession… I like not having to ask."
"Don't act tough! Even if you're stronger than us, you can't beat Captain Buggy!"
"Exactly! The famous pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro was captured by Captain and us!"
"…Zoro?"
"Right! Zoro himself was caught by Captain Buggy. If you interfere with us, do you think he'd let you off?!"
"Captain Buggy has over thirty subordinates besides us!"
'I came here after passing through Shells Town, where the Marines have a branch, from Fusha Village.'
'In the original, Zoro almost died in Shells Town after picking a fight with Colonel Morgan, a corrupt Marine who was shaking down the townspeople and his son.'
'The original story had Luffy rescue Zoro there, and they became crewmates.'
Luffy recalled his past memory.
He had his arm wrapped around the back of a man in a white uniform, whose right arm had been replaced with an axe-bladed prosthetic.
'But I already beat Morgan up and handed him over to the Marines. That's why I didn't meet Zoro.'
'So Zoro is here? Not with Morgan, but captured by Buggy?'
"Oh, so he's here, huh? Great—you saved me the trouble of looking for Zoro."
"Yeah! So quit butting in with our business…!"
"But you know… you're not the only ones with bad attitudes."
shing!
At that moment, Luffy swung his right arm and sliced off the necks of the two men in front of him.
"My personality isn't so great either."
"Huh?"
"That's why you can't die a decent death."
Passing between the two heads, the remaining man's legs gave out, and he collapsed.
Immediately, Luffy grabbed the man's head with his right hand.
"W-wait a minute…!"
"Why swing your sword without hearing me out… though even if you had listened, I wouldn't have spared you."
"S-stop!"
With strength in his hand holding the head, Luffy opened his mouth in a fierce expression,
"Because evil humans aren't worth living."
crunch...
With a sound of bones breaking, Luffy dropped the head he was holding, and the collapsed man's body slid to the side onto the ground.
The fallen man's face was contorted, blood flowing from his eyes, nose, and mouth.
The woman walked to Luffy and spoke,
"No, why did you… go that far?"
"Like you said, they were pirates. They killed and robbed innocent people."
"So it's fine to kill guys like that."
"Ah…"
"And didn't I save you?"
"How could I not know? If those guys had caught you, we both know what would've happened."
"Well, yeah…"
The woman looked down.
She saw the two beheaded men and the pirate's corpse still bleeding from the face.
Finally, she glanced at the sword the last man had been holding.
'Right… these guys got what they gave others. No need to pity them.'
'If you're gonna hurt someone, you have to be ready to be hurt.'
With a firm expression, Nami—thinking—managed a faint, bright smile and spoke.
"By the way, you're really strong! Also, what was that orb in your hand?"
"But you only showed up after the fight was over?"
"Hey, don't say it like that."
The orange-haired woman walking toward Luffy with a smile had hair that barely touched her shoulders.
She looked about 170 centimeters tall, with a slender waist compared to her ample chest and hips.
Her features seemed around twenty, or maybe a year or two younger, yet sharply defined.
Her eyes, light brown in the sunlight, appeared the same orange as her hair, and she continued speaking to Luffy.
"A beautiful woman like me being chased by pirates, you could have—"
smack!
Luffy lightly swung his left fist at the center of her head.
"Ouch! What was that for?!"
"What do you mean, it was a love tap."
"Why did you hit me?!"
"You put a third party in danger—that's on you."
"You were stronger than them! You weren't even hurt...!"
"Because I was weaker than them, I could have died."
"No, that's not—"
"You said yourself you're different from those pirates."
"But if I had died by their hands, would you still be able to tell yourself that?"
"..."
Luffy glared at her, and after a moment's silence, she spoke.
"Sorry… for dragging you into this."
"In an emergency, it's okay to ask for help. If you ask, people might help."
"That's how we live, helping each other."
"…You're right."
"So from now on, when you need help, just ask."
"Say you need help."
The woman, with a slight height difference from Luffy, glanced up at him as he spoke.
The expression on Luffy's face wasn't his earlier fierceness but kindness, and seeing that, she blushed.
'"Ask me for help"... nobody's ever said that to me.'
'But why is it the first time hearing those words from someone I just met? I put you in danger…'
Hearing Luffy's words, the woman's face flushed, and Luffy thought.
'I've thought about it many times over ten years, but I doubt I could be as magnanimous as Shanks.'
'If I were Shanks ten years ago, I'd have broken Higuma's arms and legs, beaten him until he apologized, then killed him.'
'The original Luffy was generous, but being inherently petty, I just gave Nami a love tap.'
'By the way, the original Nami was really kind… did I go too far?'
"Why are you standing there? Did it hurt a lot?"
"Ah, no. I was just surprised... Thank you for saving me."
"See? From now on, just ask for help and say thank you when someone helps."
"So, um... What's your name?"
"I'm Monkey D. Luffy. What's your name?"
"I'm Nami, the thief."
'So this is how it happens: meeting Nami, the second member of Luffy's crew.'
'Now does she count as the first member… well, we'll see.'
"Nami, can you fill me in on the situation in this town?"
"Right now... let's go to the house where I stashed my stuff, and I'll tell you. Come with me."
"Okay."
Nami led the way, and Luffy followed.
At the same time, he looked at his bloodied right hand and thought.
'After Anne left, I've killed many people.'
'Of course, they were criminals deserving of death.'
'But I keep wondering, were they truly people who deserved to die?'
Luffy looked back over his shoulder at the fallen pirates and continued his thoughts.
'No one is purely black or white, I believe that.'
'I kill those whose gray is a bit too dark.'
'I have to keep questioning whether I'm in the right so I can walk the proper path.'
'That's how I'll keep moving forward.'