7 Mountain Bandits

I look at the man and don't say anything. After a while, he seems to get bored and just throws me away. He takes this as his win and begins to walk out of the bar with his goons. When he is about to exit he bids them goodbye. 

"Later, wimps!"

Luffy comes running to me and looks whether I'm unhurt. But I just smile at Luffy and ruffle his hair. And then I continue to clean up the mess. 

"Hahahahahahaha" "Hehehehehehe"

Everyone begins to laugh at the Captain. 

"Talk about lame, Boss!"

"He got you good!"

"Hehehehehe"

"Why are you laughing?! That was so uncool! Why didn't you fight them?! You're not men - or pirates - if you laugh after something like that!", Luffy screams.

"I understand how you feel, but he only spilt some booze on me. It's not worth getting mad over. And look at your brother, he's also not mad about what happened."

"Why aren't you mad Bad?", Luffy asks me.

"Mad? Why would I be mad about that? If Shanks wanted to he could have done something about it. He is a strong man. As for that little thing he did to me ... well as long as he doesn't touch you, I don't really care.", I say nonchalantly. 

Luffy huffs and then turns around to walk out of the bar.

"Hey wait Luffy.", Shanks says and grabs his hand. 

"I've had it! I don't want to be a coward like you!", Luffy says and continues walking. That's when they see that Luffy's arm stretches like ... rubber.

"His arm stretches!!", Shanks says.

"Don't tell me you ..."

"What's going on?!", Luffy asks.

"It's gone!"

"What?!!!"

"The Gum-Gum fruit, we robbed from our enemy! Luffy, don't tell me you ate a fruit like this!", Roux says.

"I-I did. It tasted so bad. The Gum-Gum fruit is a hidden treasure of the sea known as a devil fruit! Eating it turns your body to rubber, and makes you lose the ability to swim for the rest of your life!", Shanks says.

"Eh?! No way!"

"You dumbass!"

.

Makino comes storming in to the Mayor's house where we're currently playing cards. He is bad at this and I like to take all his money. Hehe, I'm joking of course. I don't take ALL his money. But you know, a man's gotta live. 

"Mayor, we have a problem!", Makino says. 

"What is it, Makino?"

"Luffy's in trouble with Mountain Bandits!", she says and my eyes widen at this.

"What happened?", I ask.

(Flashback)

"It's been a while since Captain-san and his crew went on a voyage. I bet you miss them Luffy.", Makino says.

"Not at all! I haven't forgiven them yet! I thought Shanks and the others were cooler pirates!", Luffy said.

"Yeah? I think it's cooler to pay no mind and laugh after someone humiliates you like that.", Makino said.

"You don't understand. There are times that men have to stand up and fight.", Luffy counters.

"I guess I don't understand these things."

"Make way for us.", a new voice says from the door, "Those damn pirates aren't here today, huh? We were walking by again so we dropped in.", the same bandit said and walked in with his gang. 

"Why are you just standing there?! Bring us booze!"

(Flashback end)

"... you didn't really tell us what happened now did you? But I can guess what happened after that. Let's go.", I say, while I grab my bat and we leave Woop Slap's house.

.

"Let go! Let go! Damn!", Luffy screams.

"What an interesting body ...", the bandit leader says as he pulls Luffy's cheeks.

"Say sorry for that!"

"What kind of animal is he?", the bandit leader asks and flings Luffy away.

"Damn, I'm gonna make you pay!"

"We can sell him for good money.", the bandit leader says and my fist clenches around the handle of my bat. I am using my full willpower to not run up to that prick and smash his brains in. 

Luffy grabs a stick and runs towards the bandit, trying to hit him. The man just kicks Luffy to the ground and stands on his head.

"Did I say something to offend you?"

"You did! Now apologize! Get your foot off me!"

This is the moment that Woop Slap intervenes. 

"Let the boy go! Please!", Woop Slap says and ... gets on his knees, "I don't intend to fight you! If you allow it, I'll even pay you! Spare the boy's life!"

"Leave it to the seniors to know how the world works... But no. It's too late for him now. After all, he's made me angry ... I'm irritated from being messed with by this rubber squirt!"

"You're the bad guys! You mountain apes!", Luffy screams.

"We're not gonna sell him. Let's just kill him!"

.

"Oi oi ... you better get your foot off my brother, before I smash your brains out.", I say as I walk towards them. 

"Huh? You're that brat I remember. You better piss off before I shoot you.", the bandit leader says.

I don't care about what he says and continue to walk forward. When I walk past one of the bandits he takes a gun and points it at me. 

"He said no closer! Don't make me blow your head off!"

I stop but don't look at him. I am holding my bat on my shoulders and addressing him. 

"Now that you have pointed your gun at me, you must be prepared to die ... right?"

"Huh? What the heck are you talking about?"

"I'm stating the fact that if you point your gun at someone... "

*BOOM*

My bat impacts with his head and cracks his skull wide open. He didn't even see it coming. 

"... you should be prepared to die as well."

Everyone has their eyes wide because they never thought that a boy my age would be this ruthless and have the guts to kill someone just like that. But I lived in the wild for two years. You either kill your food or die. My anger is what made me do this though. I am not a psychopath, I am angry that they threatened my brother and for that, they will pay.

"Punch me, kick me, spit on me, spill ale on me, curse me, laugh at me, I don't care. But the moment you touch my brother, you better pray for mercy, because I sure as hell won't give you any.", I say and look at the bandit leader with anger. 

"Huh? Hahahaha, what a brat you are. Kill him!", he says and two bandits attack me. 

I dodge their attacks with ease and smash my bat in their faces. I don't kill them, however. I got my point across and these are just cannon fodder anyway. I can use the exercise though. I block the slash with my bat, I move out of the way let him lose his balance and jump at him. My small stature is still a nuisance. I smash my fist into him and turn around while I am in the air. 

I swing my body around and hit another bandit. After that, I land on the ground again and start to use their numbers against them. They are far too weak and inexperienced to understand how to fight me best. I smash my bat against their knees and hips, hearing cracks as I do so and taking them all out one after the other. 

I can once again feel my fighting spirit rise as the fight drags on. But only about two minutes have passed since I started. I kick and punch those bastards in the nuts and break spines and all sorts of other bones. None of them will ever walk normally again if they will at all. The leader of the bandits has taken his leave during my fight. So I am left standing there, covered in the bandit's blood and breathing heavily. 

"Where did he go? Where's Luffy!", I scream but a hand stops me. I turn around and see Shanks looking at me. 

"It's alright, we'll get him back.", he says and has a kind smile on his face. But I don't care about that and start running. I don't know where that bastard took Luffy but I'm sure I'll find him at the port. My memories are betraying me because I feel like I should know where he is. 

.

It doesn't take long for me to reach the port. When I arrive there I see a small boat with the tall body of the bandit slowly leaving.

"LUFFY!!!!", I scream. I then run and jump. However, before I hit the water I am once again grabbed and held in the air. It's Shanks again. He has a smile on his face and tells me:

"Don't worry about it Bad. I'll go get him, you wait here, ok?"

"All right. I'll wait here."

He smiles and then jumps into the water. 

.

At sea, on the small boat, the bandit decides that he no longer has any use for Luffy and simply kicks him off the small boat. 

"So long."

"Dammit! Dammit! Those guys are scum, but I couldn't even hit them once! Dammit! Dammit!", Luffy says and then falls into the water. Since he has eaten the Gomu Gomu no mi, he is incapable of swimming.

"Silly brat!", the bandit says and doesn't realise that the water behind his small boat rises and a massive beast rises from the water. That's the Lord of the Coast as we call him here.

[Picture]

With one bite, the Sea King devours the bandit and the small boat as well. The beast then sees small Luffy struggling not to drown and begins to swim towards him. Just as he is about to eat Luffy as well, Shanks arrives and sacrifices an arm for him. The Seak King is not finished though and attacks again.

At that moment, Shanks looks at the Sea King and uses a slight burst of Haoshoku Haki to scare the Sea King. I can feel the small ripple of will that washed over the area. It already is that powerful and he only used a fraction. I can only imagine how powerful he will be in the future. 

"Get lost!", Shanks says and the Sea King leaves them. 

.

"I'm in your debt Luffy ... Makino-san told me everything. You fought for us.", Shanks tells Luffy.

Luffy is crying however and holds on to Shanks for dear life. 

"Hey don't cry. You're a man!"

"But ... Shanks ...! Your arm!"

"It's only an arm. It's no big deal. I'm glad you're alright ...", Shanks said. I thought this was suspicious. It felt like manipulation of the highest degree. Why else would Shanks sacrifice an arm for Luffy? It made no sense. It pretty much guarantees that Luffy will become a pirate and wish to become the Pirate King in the future. I will find out the true reason in the future, I'm sure.

.

"Shanks, aren't you gonna come back?", Luffy asks.

"No, it was a long stay, but now we part ways.", Shanks told him.

"Yeah, I won't ask you to take me anymore. I've decided to become a pirate on my own now!"

"I wasn't gonna take you anyway! You'll never be a pirate!"

"Will too. Someday I will gather a crew every bit as good as yours, and I'm gonna find the greatest treasure in the world and I'm going to become the King of the Pirates!", Luffy declared.

"You're gonna surpass us, huh? In that case ...", Shanks took off his straw hat and put it on Luffy's head, "... I'll leave this hat with you."

"It's dear to me. Come and bring it back to me someday! Once you've become a great pirate!", Shanks told Luffy and then set sail with his crew. I watched them leave together with Luffy and thought that it was good that he wasn't here anymore. Although the manipulation was done, I don't care. As long as my brother is safe, I'm fine with anything he will do. 

Luffy is 7 now and I am nearing 8, so I guess I should increase my training. I could ask Grandpa for some training. That old man is a monster.