"The weather is so nice!" Luffy exclaimed childishly from the front of the boat.
"Yes, it certainly is. The sky is pure blue whilst the clouds are fluffy and white. It's the perfect day for eating strawberry cake." Elissa commented with a blissful expression, pulling a strawberry cake out of nowhere.
"Alright you two, if we maintain course we'll reach the marines bases island soon." Coby explained.
"My, my, you have some good navigation skills there Coby. It'll only be a matter of time before we reach our destination." The red-haired female praised.
"Of course! It's the most basic skill for a sailor!" Coby boasted, quickly becoming flustered at her compliment but then realized she wasn't even paying attention to him and was too busy eating her strawberry cake with the same blissful expression.
Luffy suddenly started laughing from where he sat at the front of the boat from God knows what, "You shouldn't be laughing Luffy-san! That's where he is being held...the infamous 'Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro!" Coby exclaimed nervously.
"That guy we previously mentioned?" Elissa asked Coby to confirm her thoughts, turning her attention towards him as she sadly finished her strawberry cake.
"Don't worry Elissa-san, I'll give you more information on him." Coby 'reassured' her, "He pursues wanted men like a bloodthirsty animal and slices them up..people say he's a demonic beast disguised as a man!" Coby said already shaking with the mere thought of the pirate hunter with fear.
"He sounds like a decent individual." Elissa stated with her arms crossed nonchalantly, pulling out her logbook and wrote about their previous encounter with Coby and Alvida on how they beat her ass and how they escaped the marines.
"Shishishi, if that's what you say about him, then I definitely want him in my crew!" Luffy declared.
"What is wrong with you two!" Coby questioned loudly.
"We're here!" Luffy shouted as the trio docked their boat after a while of sailing on the sea.
"We should go and search for our future member as soon as possible." Elissa said in a strict tone, taking the role of the responsible one on this mission. 'Gently' grabbing their hands and walking, or more like dragging on Coby and Luffys part, she 'walked' with them towards the direction of the Marine base through the markets.
"Hey, Luffy-san, Elissa-san, please forget about getting him to join your crew." Coby pleaded meekly.
"We haven't even met him yet, now stop your squiggling. He may be a good guy, so don't be so judgmental."
"You know he was arrested because he's a demon!" Coby yelled at the siblings backs as Elissa let go of their hands.
"We'll need to purchase supplies for when we enter the Grand line, I'll go buy some." The female told Luffy seriously, ignoring Coby's nervous little comments.
"Yeah, make sure to get meat though!" Luffy demanded before reaching out to get a pear from a fruit stand and taking a bite from it
"Mmm... tasty!" Elissa tossed a coin to the store owner before going to scold Luffy, but before she could even talk he forced the fruit in her mouth.
"Here E! Try it" A dark aura protruded around her, smacking Luffy on the back of his head 'lightly' and making him instantly fall over. It only took him a few seconds to get back up acting like nothing happened causing Coby to sweat drop.
"I wonder if we could see Zoro inside the base..." Luffy thought out loud.
Immediately, everyone in the area besides the trio were shocked and silenced at the mention of Zoro's name. Once coming to their senses, they all began to run off and hide.
Coby scooted closer to the two siblings, "It seems Zoro's name is taboo here."
The red-haired female nodded her head in agreement. "We shouldn't mention his name around anyone anymore. As you said before, 'He's a beast disguised as a man'. People would automatically take caution around us, and we don't want to attract attention to ourselves." She analyzed smartly.
"Anyways, let's head to the base. You want to join the marines right?" Luffy asked Coby before they started walking in the same direction Elissa was leading them to.
"Y-yes, but I'm not sure if I'm ready..." Coby stammered nervously.
"Well then, prepare yourself. I've heard Captain Morgan is in charge of this base. He's quite ruthless." Elissa bluntly stated, oblivious to Coby's worries shooting through the roof by now.
The minute Captain Morgan's name left her mouth everyone had the same reaction to his name as they had to when Luffy mentioned Zoro's name, they were all scared and frightened, their hands practically being thrown in the air.
Elissa bowed down into a perfect 90 degrees in front of both Luffy and Coby, "I'm sorry for lecturing you, please hit me if you wish. I didn't mean to worry you anymore than I already did." Coby only sweat dropped with flushed cheeks as Luffy just laughed. All the men in town were staring at her with flushed cheeks. Eventually, the red-head saw them but disregarded them thinking they were just part of Luffy's new fan club.
"What a funny town!"
"That's strange though..." Elissa commented with her gauntlet covered fist on her chin in thought, standing straight up.
"I can understand them being scared of Zoro, but why are they scared of a Marine Captain?" Coby questioned, "This makes me worry even more!"
The strawberry-cake lover smacked the worried boy on the back of his head 'lightly', "Stop worrying and man up. People say he can crush your skull with just one punch, being nervous isn't going to help you in that situation." She scolded him with a poker face.
"Maybe they just act like that for fun!" Luffy suggested dumbly.
"Who would do that for fun!?" Elissa hissed with sharp teeth.
Before they knew it, they had arrived in front of a huge Marine gate "Yosh! This is it"
"I'm finally here!" Coby cried out with tears threatening to spill.
"This is where we part ways, Luffy-san, Elissa-san," Wiping his tears away with his hand, he sadly continued, "We've only each other for a short while, but-" In the midst of his farewell speech, Coby was suddenly cut off when he realized that Luffy was attempting to climb over the wall.
"Luffy, what are you doing?" Elissa questioned him strictly from her spot, staring up at him.
"Where's the demonic beast?" Luffy questioned as he looked over the wall slowly with slight caution.
"Is there even a possibility of him being out here?" Elissa questioned Coby.
"No, he wouldn't be out here. He's probably in solitary confinement deep underground." Coby replied sweating.
"There he is!" Luffy exclaimed taking their attention back to him as he was coming down towards them.
"Perfect!"
"How do you even know what he looks like?" Elissa questioned, sweat-dropping from his declaration, "For all we know, he could be the wrong guy."
"Look it's him!" Luffy assured, looking over the wall once again.
Elissa grabbed Coby by the back of his shirt as he unsuccessfully attempted to climb over the wall and jumped upwards, lifting them both on the safer platform Luffy was sitting on.
"It can't be him!" Coby shouted then gasped dramatically upon seeing what was over the wall, eyes wide like plates.
Looking at this..ahem..hot..male, Elissa felt a heat growing on her cheeks as she stared at him.
"If we unite him, he can escape!" Luffy suggested.
"D-Don't day such stupid things things!" Coby scolded angrily "Who knows what'll happen to us if we set him loose! He'd probably try to kill you and Elissa-san!"
"No problem, we're both strong." Luffy shrugged carelessly.
Coby was then dumb founded at Luffy's blunt answer.
"Hey guys," A new masculine voice was heard that made Coby squeak out in terror "You're an eyesore. Get lost." Elissa fumed a the male then remembered the situation they were in and calmed down.
A ladder was suddenly placed next to Coby as he looked at the object in question. A little girl with brown hair in pigtails and chocolate brown eyes was peeking over the wall, similar to the trio. She shushed the two pirates and wanna-be marine before climbing over the wall with a rope, carrying something in her hands.
Coby began to scream at Elissa to go help the young girl out as 'She'll get killed by the scary man!' Elissa replied with a firm "No, not yet. I want to see how this will all play out..."
"What is it?" Came the gruff, deep voice from the swordsman. Elissa found it quite sexy..not that'd she say that out loud.
"You must be hungry, I made you some onigiri." The girls bubbly voice spoke.
"You're gonna get yourself killed shorty. Beat it." The swordsman replied.
It may not seem like it, but the situation was clear to Elissa. He secretly cared for the girl, even though he didn't like to show it. The dude wasn't as bad as people made him seen, she could relate to that.
"You haven't eaten anything in weeks..Here! This is my first attempt but...I tried really hard!" She exclaimed very cutely. Zoro was caught off guard at the lengths this young child would go to for him.
"I'm not hungry!" He protested, "You're an eyesore! Get out of here!"
"But..." The young brunette attempted to reason.
"I don't want any! Don't make me hurt you!"
Suddenly, the gate began to open. The most obnoxious voice Elissa had ever heard resonated through the air. "You shouldn't be bullying little kids," The male let small cocky laugh "You've got more fight in you than I expected, Roronoa Zoro."
"There's another weirdo coming." Luffy concludes.
"Thank goodness. They must be the Marines." Coby mumbled relieved, "That girl will be safe now."
"Hm.." Elissa mumbled, examining the situation with seriousness.
"Hey, this onigiri looks pretty good." The ugly man with an obnoxious voice said.
"No!" Yelled the young girl.
"Gross!" The irritating man gagged "It's covered in sugar! Onigiri should be made with salt! Salt!" The man scolded in a tone that made Elissa frustrated, without realizing it she let out a dark aura that made Coby look over at her and shiver, nervously patting her armoured shoulder to remind her to calm her down.
"But I thought it would taste better sweet..." The young girl innocently said, sounding almost as if she was going to cry, which made Elissa clench her gauntlet covered fists tightly.
The ugly man started stomping repeatedly on the young girls rice ball. "Stop! Stop!" The girl pleaded.
"W-what a terrible thing to do...." Coby commented in disbelief.
"I worked so hard to make those..." The young girl sobbed, hiccuping.
"Haven't you read the posters?" The obnoxious male said in fake worry "'Anyone who attempts to aid criminals shall be executed, signed Marine Captain Morgan'." He quoted. The girl let out a gasp of worry, "Even little brats know to fear my daddy!" He laughed obnoxiously.
"Daddy?" Luffy questioned
"Does that mean he's Captain Morgan's son?" Coby questioned.
"That's the most likely possibility since he seems to enjoy boasting about him." Elissa calculated.
"Oi. Toss this brat out." The obnoxious man ordered one of his men which earned gasps of disbelief from them, "I'm ordering you to toss her over the wall!" He demanded "Are you deaf!? I'll tell my daddy!"
'Kinky..' Elissa thought.
The soldier left with no other choice only nodded "Right away, sir!"
"No!" The girl shouted in defiance.
"I'm sorry little girl. Tuck yourself into a ball." The soldier whispered.
The next thing the trio saw was a blur in the sky, abandoning her spot on the wall, Elissa jumped down and caught the girl then gracefully landed on the ground.
"Th-Thank you, miss." She gazed up at the beautiful female.
"Are you hurt?" Elissa asked her in a slightly angry tone that made her scared.
"No, I don't think so.." She replied examining her arms, seeming to be unharmed. Elissa let out a sigh of relief, delighted that the young girl wasn't hurt.
Coby came running towards the girls asking if they were fine which the older female replied with a curt nod. Placed the girl on the ground with Coby, Elissa looked towards Luffy who was still looking over the wall.
Climbing said wall, Elissa placed a hand on Luffy's shoulder, leading his attention towards the red-haired female.
"Let me deal with this, I have a few...words that I would like to say." She said angrily glaring at the obnoxious man
"Do not interfere, trust me with this." She said looking back at him with a smile. He stared at her for a second before replying with a nod and thumbs up.
The beautiful female looked back over the wall to see the green haired man who we now know is Zoro, growling at the other male.
"You sure are stubborn to have survived this long." He laughed obnoxiously with a hint of confidence.
"Yeah, I'll make it through the whole month." Zoro declared.
"Well, enjoy it while you can." He mockingly stated then proceeded to walk off with another obnoxious laugh.
"Only 10 days left!" Zoro reminded the man.
"If you live that long!" He walked off with another of his comments that further improved Elissa's anger.
"How could he do such a horrible thing, Luffy-san, Elissa-san?" Coby asked with slight terror then turned around to only face Luffy who was standing there picking his nose.
"Where's Elissa-san?!" Coby screeched.
"Up there." Luffy answered casually while continuing to pick his nose with his pinky.
Zoros stared at the ground, he seemed to sense the approaching female who he saw was staring straight at him once he looked up, "You seem like a reasonable man..." Elissa mumbled to herself, but he still somehow was able to hear her.
"Who the hell are you?" He looked at her with a small blush, then it began to die down once he realized that she was analyzing him for some strange reason.
Ignoring his question, Elissa casually asked "They usually would've executed a person such as yourself, so why did they just leave you hanging here?"
"Mind your own business!" He snapped at her, causing Elissa to look at him with a fearsome gaze.
"Do not say things such as that to me ever again, got that?" She asked in a threatening tone which seemed to frighten him a bit but he kept his tough persona strong.
"As I was saying before, you don't seem like a bad individual. You're actually a nice person Zoro, or would you like me to call you, 'The great pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro'?" She asked him in a teasing tone.
At first he was caught off guard at her first statement but then refrained himself from growling as he recalled her menacing look from earlier.
"What are you-"
She quickly cut him off, "It's quite impressive that you can sit out here alone for a long period of time. You've somehow managed to not be too wild or crazy. So you've got strong will. Interesting.."
"You're the crazy one redhead. I've been out here for twenty days." He replied with slight pride.
"Really now? Well done on that but what's your purpose? I'm guessing anyone could tell that you can easily break out, so why haven't you?" Elissa inquired curiously.
"I've got more willpower than you, I'm going to survive this! Don't you forget that!" He stated confidently, smirking at the female.
The short female sighed in annoyance at this situation, she'd let him go for now but will do something later, "Well if that's what you truly want." She muttered turning away from him.
"Hold on," He said in an almost desperate sounding tone "Could you bring me that?" He said referring to the squashed rice ball on the ground.
Elissa stared at him for a few minutes before glancing down to the dirty, barely stuck together rice ball, "You sure? It's quite unsanitary?"
"Are you my doctor!? Just give it to me!" He yelled irritated.
"Fine! If this is what you want." She said slightly irritated, stuffing the dirty onigiri into his mouth. He choked a little from the dirt and the fact that a stuffed it down his throat but Elissa remained oblivious and just thought of it as the taste of the dirt. "I suppose I can't understand your situation if I've never been in something of the sort..."
"It was delicious. Thanks for the food." He commented his eyes shadowed, not giving her the 'luxury' of seeing his full face.
She stared at him for a few moments before turning away, making up her mind. "We will encounter each other in the near future. I can guarantee it. So goodbye for now." Departing with those final words, she gave him a slight wave as a small grunt was given in return.
Timeskip
"Really!?" The younger girl exclaimed at the older female, someone she now saw as a role model.
"Yep, he didn't leave a single grain." Elissa replied happily, showing her a small smile.
"I'm so happy!" She said even happier than before.
"Is Zoro really evil as people say?" Coby questioned from the steps he was sitting on.
That seemed to make the girl snap, "No!" She exclaimed "They spared us and tied him up instead!"
Then she started to explain to the trio what happened and how it was all the ugly-haired dudes fault, and what they had said earlier was correct about him being Captain Morgan's son.
Apparently, about three weeks ago Helmeppos pet dog went with him around town for a walk and they ended up here at Rika's mums restaurant, Rika started attacking the wolf with a broom but she was struggling so Zoro ended up helping them. Helmeppo threatened Zoro into executing Rika and her mother then made a deal with Zoro that if Zoro was tied up for a month without any food all would be forgiven, Zoro easily agreed and surrendered himself for them.
"That was three weeks ago! Helmeppo keeps punching and kicking him while he's tied up there!" She shouted then her tone got sadder "I....I.."
"So that's what happened." Coby said finalising his opinion.
"See, I said he was a kind man but he denied it all." Elissa stated recalling their chat earlier.
Out of nowhere, the group heard the sound of glass breaking from Rikas mum restaurant, out of curiosity they ran inside to see what's going on to see the ugly man which name Elissa refused to say, was there causing a ruckus.
"I'm hungry! We're going to help ourselves to a free meal! Hey, hurry up and bring us some wine!" The obnoxious man whined like a five year old child demanding candy.
"What's taking so long hurry up!" Luffy and Elissa walked closer getting angry at his demanding voice, "Oh, that's right! Since I'm getting bored of this game, I've decided to execute Zoro tomorrow, get ready for a great show." That was the last straw for the red-head as she snapped.
With her hair covering her eyes she angrily stomped to the man and gave him a powerful undercut making him smash into the wall leaving cracks, usually she would've put more power but she wasn't looking to murder anyone today, also she didn't want to cause too much trouble for the diner owner, Rika's mother.
"You should learn to some manners, learn your place." Elissa said in a low tone.
"Wh-Who the hell are you!?" He stuttered, slowly getting out of the crack in the wall thanks to his marine soldiers pampering him like the princess he is.
"El-Elissa-san please don't!" Coby exclaimed slightly scared of her strength.
"He deserves it." She muttered angrily in reply.
"Y-You punched me!" Helmeppo exclaimed in disbelief that someone actually dared to attack him, "I-I'm Captain Morgan's son!" He protested tearing up, making the female angrier that he believed those crocodile tears would make people believe he's the victim.
"So what!? That makes no difference to me! He could be your Granmother! See if I care!" She argued back to him.
"I'll tell my daddy to have you executed!" He exclaimed now full out crying, pointing an accusing finger at the girl making her want to twist his finger till it becomes black and blue. But before she could finish of her 'innocent' thoughts, Luffy began to sticking up for her.
"Why don't you fight me yourself!" He exclaimed pulling her next to him, knowing she could protect herself.
"If you think your so good fight us both!" The sibling duo exclaimed together with angry glares.
"Calm down guys!" Coby scolded but his efforts remained fruitless "You'll have the Marines after you both!" Coby said attempting to reason.
"They're already after me." Elissa muttered quietly.
"I've made a decision!" Luffy shouted getting all of our attention. "I'm...making Zoro my nakama!" He declared confidently.
"I agree, I would've tried reasoning for you to make him our nakama anyways." Elissa explained to him, giving a subtle smirk.
Meanwhile, at the Marines base....
"I...am great!" Praised a large man sitting on a fancy table looking over at the view through his window of the town.
"Yes! Well said Captain Morgan!" Replied a soldier standing, back straight and doing a salute towards the man who had his back faced towards him.
"-And yet, the tributes to me have been decreasing lately.." The new character that's name was now known as Captain Morgan stated almost threateningly.
The soldier started to sweat and tried to not shuffle nervously in his spot. "S-Sir, the problem is that people only have so much money.."
"The problem is that they don't have enough admiration for me!" He exclaimed, intimidating the soldier standing behind him.
"Isn't that right?" He proclaimed confidently, taking his cigarette out of his mouth.
Suddenly the sound of loud and heavy footsteps could be heard from outside his office. His large wooden, double doors were pushed open harshly to reveal Captain Morgan's ugly, spoiled son - Helmeppo.
"Daddy!" He yelled obnoxiously, making the Captain only grunted in return. "There's this girl and guy I want you to kill!" He said angrily while holding a handkerchief on his now bandaged chin from the punch that was delivered to him before.