Free Heart

Ch. 5 - I am Not My Past

"I apologize for my brother. Here you go. I apologize for my brother. Here you go," Emmy repeated, zigzagging down the street. She was hastily paying one vendor after another before they yelled at Luffy for just eating their food and then walking away, "I apologize for my brother. Here you go."

They had arrived at the town of the naval base that the notorious bounty hunter was supposedly imprisoned in. It was a busy town with at least five times the inhabitants as Foosha Village.

How they arrived was completely due to Coby's navigation skills as neither Emmy nor Luffy knew the first thing about steering a ship. Coby had tried to explain the process but Luffy didn't even bother paying any attention and as intuitive Emmy was with people, she was at a loss when it came to ships and mechanics. How to pilot a boat was way over the Monkeys' heads.

"Luffy-san!" Coby warned, running behind the rubber man as Luffy took a bite out of a pear, "You're crazy to want him to join you!"

"Like I said," Luffy replied with his mouthful, "I haven't decided yet. I want to see if he's a good guy or not.

"He's been caught because he's a bad guy!" Coby shouted.

"I apologize for my brother. Here you go," Emmy said breathlessly, finally catching up to Luffy and Coby. She pulled out a coin from her apron pocket and handed it to the fruit vendor before turning to the pink haired boy, "Coby-san, not all prisoners are bad people."

"Yep!" Luffy agreed and munched away on his snack while Coby looked confused by what Emmy had said.

Luffy grinned at the vendor, who seemed in pretty good spirits after being paid, "Oy! Do you know if Zoro's at the base?"

The townspeople within earshot from the three visitors jumped away from them and cried out in fear. "Eh?!"

Emmy batted her eyes and turned to Luffy. "It would seem that the name 'Zoro' is taboo here. We better be careful when mentioning his name."

"Then let's check out the marine base," Luffy said with a shrug. He continued to walk down the city street, "Coby, you could join the Navy from here, right?"

Slowly, the streetlife returned to normal. The citizens probably figuring that Luffy was just asking out of curiosity, which technically he was. Either way, Emmy kept a wary eye on the people around them. Having lived a life where every day depended on someone's mood, Emmy had gotten quite good at studying people's expressions even without having to use her Devil Fruit power. However, she could still feel an underlying tension that she couldn't shake off. She hoped she was just being oversensitive from living in the tranquil Foosha Village but she didn't want to take any chances.

"Y-Yes but I'm not really ready yet," Coby replied, "Rumor has it that a guy named Captain Morgan is at this base."

Once again, the people around them leapt back as if they just confessed to be plague carriers.

"Another taboo name," Emmy stated while Luffy laughed.

"What a funny town," he mused, not even pausing in his steps.

"I don't understand...I get Zoro but why would they jump from a marine's name?" Coby whispered.

"Maybe they're just doing it for laughs," Luffy suggested.

"No one would do that!" Coby shrieked.

When the three of them found their way to the marine base, Coby's eyes were glistening with tears. "I'm finally here!" he cried joyously at the closed off gate.

The base was surrounded by a large stone wall and the gate itself was made of hard metal with the Marine symbol engraved at the front. Wordlessly, Luffy scaled up the wall and hung over the top. He then reached down, wrapped his arm around Emmy's waist, and hoisted her up so she could take a look too.