WINTER / DRUM ISLAND,
GRAND LINE...
Luffu glomp Zoro to the ground, happy to see him. Zoro pushed Luffy aside with a grunt and got up as he asked about stuff,
"How did you got here anyway, Marimo..?" Sanji ask puffing his cigarette,
"I was at the Village where Vivi and Ussop were at..
I asked them about you guys and they said you're here on this mountain,
Looking for an Old Witch call herself Doctor.." Zoro says immediately getting kicked on his jaw, send him fly away by Dr.Kureha,
"Just, go with the flow and don't call her old.. She like to say she's 130 years young.." Sanji says with a shrug,
"You damn right i am boys.." Dr.Kureha says with a smirk,
Zoro looked at Dr.Kureha with a grunt while Luffy just laughed,
Chopper on the other hand looked at Zoro in an awe like he knocked down Wapol like he was nothing yet he doesn't seems to be bothered about it at all..
Followed by Zoro,
Ussop, Vivi, Dalton and other villagers got to the castle to see that Wapol has been defeated and they all celebrate.
Luffy on the other hand chase Chopper around asking him to join his crew.
Although Chopper want to be a Pirate,
He's concerned about leaving Dr.Kureha and this island.
Chopper is sitting on top of a building while Luffy searching for him below elsewhere,
"You know, Racoon..!
You don't seem to hate the idea of being a Pirate..." Zoro says kinda startling Chopper as he freaked out,
"I AM A REINDEER, YOU IDIOT..!" Chopper says yelling and then backed away scared realizing Zoro is also one of Luffy's crew,
Zoro just smiled at the little Reindeer and he sat next to Chopper so he can get a little bit comfortable knowing Zoro's not gonna chase him around Like Luffy.
"You-- Do know that i am a Monster, right..? I am not a human, yet i can talk, walk in two legs and read books.
I even have blue nose... i can never be a normal Person or an Animal...
I'm just a monster." Chopper says with a sad tone sitting next to Chopper without fear,
"So what..?
You think our Captain is a normal guy..? He is made of rubber and can stretch his hands for a mile...
Besides, There isn't any rule saying only humans are supposed to be Pirates..." Zoro ask with a shrug while Chopper looked at Zoro in a confused look,
"All that matter to us is,
Our Captain consider you as his friend, so apparently you're our friend as well..
But hey, no one, not even Luffy can force you to do something that you don't want to do..
You're a Man, So man up and do what you think you should do..
If you really wanna stay here,
well, it's nice knowing ya...
But if you wanna be our Nakama, set sail with us, explore the world and travel the seas, then we all will be more than happy to have you as our new Ship's Doctor.." Zoro says with a smile patting Chopper's back and jumping down toward Luffy,
"Hey Zoro..!
Did you see that Reindeer guy..?
He's awsome and he's gonna join us." Luffy says with a grin looking for Chopper,
"No, i haven't seen that guy and besides, you can't force him to do join us, Luffy..!
He have to make his own choice.." Zoro says with a annoyed sigh,
"Awwww...!
but i want him to be our friend.." Luffy says with a childish look,
Chopper looking at all that from above with a tearful eyes as he saw how much they liked him and want him to join.
So he decided and ran towards Dr.Kureha to confront her about joining The Straw Hat Pirates,
She refused and tried forcing Chopper to stay with her by chasing him around but Chopper ran away with Luffy and the others... As soon as everyone on board The Merry, they set sail.
They all celebrate Chopper's welcoming as Nami gave Chopper his tool bag. Chopper didn't remember packing his bag then he realized Dr.Kureha must've prepared his bag for his journey knowing Chopper is gonna set sail even before he agreeing to join them. Chopper cried knowing how much Dr.Kureha cared about him and how proud she is now that Chopper is finally living Dr.Hiluluk's dream to live like a Pirate.
Nami smiled at Chopper comforting him as Chopper smiled and ran to Luffy and Ussop doing fun stuff.
Nami saw Zoro standing above the stairs with a smile watching Chopper playing with Ussop and Luffy.
"You convinced Chopper, didn't you..?" Nami ask with a smirk walking towards Zoro,
"Tch... I have no idea what you're talking about, Woman..!" Zoro says with a grunt turning his face away,
"Sure, whatever you say.." Nami says with a cheeky smirk nudging his arm with her elbow,
Zoro just grunt and avoid looking at her coz he's too embarrassed to face her.
Even though she wanted to talk about what he said that night when she was sick, she decided not to since he thought she was asleep while he said that and it will annoy Zoro even more if he knows Nami knew all along.
She let him have get comfortable on his own for now.
They all party and do fun stuff which clearly annoys Nami.
After days of journey, they made it to Alabasta... They stock their supplies but ran into Marine Commander Smoker and his Marine Soliders.
Smoker chase after The Straw Hats but before he catch them,
A strange guy with no shirt, black shorts and an orange hat saved them.
Luffy was surprisingly stunning looking at that person who saved them.
"Is that you, Ace..?" Luffy ask in complete shock,
"You haven't changed a bit, Luffy..!" Ace says with a sme looking at Luffy,
Luffy was happy and surprised to see Ace again after a long time.
He stopped Smoker and his men while Luffy and his crew can escape.
Luffy and his crew made it to their ship and set sail to the kingdom capital.
"Luffy..!
Who is that guy back there..?" Sanji ask with curiosity,
"Tell us who he is, Luffy..!" Nami ask with curiosity,
"You know him from somewhere..?" Vivi ask with curiosity,
"Whoever it is, he saved our lives.." Ussop says in relief,
"I could've sworn i seen him before." Zoro says with a confused look,
"Sheshesheshe..
He's my big brother...
Haaahahahaha.." Luffy says with a loud laugh as he grinned to his ears,
"Your-- BIG BROTHER..," Everyone says in unison with a shocked look,
"Hahaha...Yeah..!
His name's Ace.." Luffy says with a laugh,
"Ace..? as in Portgas.D.Ace..?" Zoro ask with a shocked look,
"Yeah.. That's him..
You know him, Zoro..?" Luffy ask with curiosity,
"No, Bounty Hunters all around the world heard about him...
Thr Infamous Pirate, Portgas.D.Ace..
Second Division Commander of The White Beard Pirates...
They call him Fire Fist Ace.." Zoro says shocking everyone,
"WHAT..!
WHI-WHITEBEARD PIRATES..?" Vivi, Nami snd Sanji says in absolute shock,
"Are they dangerous..?" Chopper ask with a curiosity,
"Yeah..!
WhiteBeard Pirates are the most Natorious Pirate group in Grand Line
And their Captain WhiteBeard is the also known as The Strongest Man alive who also happened to be the only considered Rival of The Pirate King Gol.D.Roger." Sanji says puffing his cigarette,
Luffy was shocked and thrilled to know that his big brother is a Commander at such a big shot Pirate group.
Suddenly Ace jumped in their deck surprising everyone..
He greet them and introduced himself, surprising them all completely.
"Wow..!
He's polite, helpful and gracious,
The polar opposite of Luffy." Ussop says with an Impressed look,
"One of em only cares about stuffed his face, there's no way these two can be brothers." Nami says with an Impressed look,
"While the other only cares about his brother.." Zoro says with an Impressed look,
"I wish i had a wonderful brother like that..." Chopper says crying,
"Brother..?
I wish i had a wonderful Captain like that..." Sanji says puffing his cigarette,
"Sanji..! Guys..! Come on...
They're just kidding..." Vivi says with a sweatdrop embarrassed by their complaints,
"See, Aren't they interesting..?" Luffy says with a grin,
They start their journey to the capital of Alabasta while Ace tagged along for a while.
On their way, Luffy and Ussop were playing with food while Sanji knocked some sense into them,
Chopper is with Nami listening to all their previous stories and looking at the map knowing about places,
Zoro and Ace having a conversation.
"So, Three Swords, huh..?
I take it you're that Infamous Pirate Hunter i heard a lot about from The East Blue.." Ace says with a smirk,
"Huh, it's not everyday i get recognized by big time Pirates in The Grand Line.." Zoro says with a smirk,
"Well, we all heard about you..
You even hunted down some of our men, Pops wasn't very happy about it.." Ace says with a smirk,
"Pops..? You mean WhiteBeard..?
Well it's all in the past since i am now a Pirate in your brother's crew.." Zoro says with a shrug,
"How did that happened..?
How did my goofy little brother convinced an Infamous Pirate Hunter to join his crew..?" Ace ask with curiosity,
"I think you already understand a part of the reason considering you're his brother and all..
Luffy have a weird way of bringing people in together..
I still don't know why but i feel like i was destined to be his First Mate.." Zoro says with a smile looking at Luffy playing with Ussop,
"First Mate, huh..!
Interesting.." Ace says with an Impressed smirk,
"You said earlier that you are after a Pirate named Blackbeard, right..?" Zoro ask with a curiosity,
Ace explained why he's after Blackbeard and also warn him about Crocodile..
"Crocodile is a Pirate,
A Pirate will never go conquering just one land and settling there by ruling it... I guess these are some other motives behind all this..
You guys better be careful.." Ace says tapping Zoro's shoulder and walked away,
Zoro can't help but agree with what Ace said. Pirates are used to thrive for adventures and life in the sea.
They never settle down on an island by conquering it. So it also concern Zoro.
They land on a shore and have to walk through miles and miles of desert to get to The Capital of Alabasta named Alabarna. On their way,
Ace found a lead to Blackbeard so he decided to follow-up on that. Ace bid Farewell to Luffy and his crew as he gave a viver card to Luffy so they can find each other in the future.
After a while, a heavy sandstorm hit and the gang was separated.
Luffy, Zoro and Chopper on one side and Sanji and Ussop along with Nami and Vivi riding on a pervert camel named ilash who only carries women on his back.
With Luffy, Zoro and Chopper,
Luffy drink water from cactus as he started having illusions.
So Zoro knocked him out and carry him while him and Chopper trying to find their way back to their Nakamas,
"Zoro..! Is being a Pirate always like this..? Climbing chilly mountains, crossing desserts..." Chopper ask with curiosity,
"I see what you mean..
Most people think Pirates are supposed to be lurking around the seas and robbing others and stealing treasures..
Can't blame them for thinking luke that since most Pirates do those stuff often, But we're not a normal crew..
And there's our insane Captain." Zoro says with a stuff face,
"I'm wondering maybe i got on board on the wrong ship..." Chopper says sweating from the heat and getting thirsty as he got smaller,
"Haha.. what do you know,
I was starting to think the same thing myself..." Zoro says with a chuckle and a shrug giving Chopper a water bottle.
"Hey Zoro..!
You're the first one to join Luffy's crew, what made you join in the first place..? I mean everyone on the ship does their own thing instead of having a common goal..
Especially you..." Chopper ask with curiosity,
"Haha..Yeah that's pretty accurate,
I have my own reason for joining this crew just like everyone have their own too. None of us have a common goal like Luffy does.
Most people would say teamwork is just protecting the crew helping eachother out..
But they're just fooling themselves,
The real teamwork is us individuals taking individual risks at our own sake for the good of our crew.
We work together by working separately, we do what we can for the fullest and expect the others to do the same thing.
I mean, you're a doctor, you can save all our lifes at desperate situations,
I'm a Swordsman, i can fight with Swords and protect everyone,
Ussop is a sniper who can take down enemies from a long range and he also can invent things, Sanji is a cook who keep us all healthy, Nami is a Navigator who navigate us through every situation. We don't have common stuff to do but we can do our own thing which benefit our crew.
When you think about that way what's wrong with our crew having their own agenda...?" Zoro says with a smile picking up Chopper and sat him on his shoulder,
"I think i understand, Zoro..!
So that's what Ussop meant when he said do what i can do.." Chopper says with an Impressed smile,
"Hahahah... Even though Ussop say that so he can avoid direct confrontation with the enemies,
He is not wrong...
But to answer your question on what made me join Luffy..!
Well that's something even I'm not sure about.. At that moment, i just felt like i was supposed to do that, so i did." Zoro says with a laugh,
In the Alabasta Kingdom,
On a place called Rainbase, under a secret base of Baroque works...
All the high ranked agents were assembled to meet with the boss Mr.0,
Mr.1 and his partner Ms.Doublefinger , Mr.2 and he have no partner,
Mr.3 and his partner Ms.Golden Week,
Mr.4 and his partner Ms.Merry Christmas.
They all been arguing but stopped once they saw Ms.All Sunday walking in,
As she introduce Mr.0 AKA Crocodile revealing himself to his agents for the first time.. He gathered this meeting because their ultimate final mission is gonna begin and Mr.0 issued their missions personally.
That is when Mr.3 inform Crocodile that The Straw Hat Pirates and Princess Vivi is still alive..
Mr.0 got mad and confused as Mr.3 informed earlier that they all been taken care off via transponder snail but Mr.3 refused the claim that he never used a transponder snail while in Little Garden.
"Sorry boss... The report only said Straw Hat is just a kid with some other rookies as his crew.
But they are hardly rookies,
And more than that, That Three Swords User have joined The Straw Hats aswell..He's their vice captain." Mr.3 says being choked by Mr.0,
They all including Mr.0 was shocked to know that The Pirate Hunter became a Straw Hat Pirate. But Ms.All Sunday just had her mischievous look since she knew all along...
"That is unfortunate,
If Princess Vivi is still alive, she can cause confusion amongst the rebels and the Civil war might end..
To think she got The Straw Hat Pirates to help her shows us she is a threat to Baroque Works.
Ms.All Sunday..! Make sure Vivi and her Pirate Friends do not set foot on the Alabarna, Under any circumstances...
She should not meet with the rebel leader Koza.." Mr.0 ordered with an irritated look,
"Yes Sir..!" Ms.All Sunday says with her mischievous smile and walked away,
With Luffy and others,
While they are in their way to meet with Koza to tell him everything about Baroque works and Crocodile,
Luffy suddenly sat on the ground near a tree's shadow with his hands crossed.
"Alright, i quit.." Luffy says with a stubborn look,
"WHAAT..?
YOU QUIT..?" Everyone shocked to what Luffy just said,
To Be Continued...
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°