Chapter 19

"A pistol? Wow… really?" Shanks asked, going back to his plate of food in front of him and the other pirates started laughing at him.

"WOULD YOU STOP LAUGHING AT ME?!" Luffy shouted at them and the Straw Hats couldn't help but laugh along as well.

"You're still just a kid," a man, Lucky Roo, said with a cheerful smile, enjoying a piece of meat.

"You're about the same age as my kid," Yasopp added and Usopp couldn't stop the proud smile on his face.

"I'm not a kid!" Luffy shouted out, gritting his teeth together as he glared at them all. "I'm a grown up!"

"Relax, it's nothing to be mad about. Here, have some juice," Shanks said, putting a small glass in front of him.

As always, when face to face with food, Luffy's anger disappeared like magic. "Oh, thanks!" he said, taking a sip before Shanks started laughing so hard that he was pounding the bar with his hand.

"What's so funny now?" Nami asked.

She got her answer at once when Shanks roared out laughing, "See? You are a kid! What kind of pirate likes juice?"

"But I like juice," Chopper said in confusion.

"Shank's is just teasing him, Chopper," Sanji laughed. "I like this guy already…"

"They seem like very good people," Brook added. "Like they have a lot of fun no matter where they go."

"That's a dirty trick!" Luffy shouted at him angrily. As everyone else started laughing he snapped at them all, "Stop laughing at me!"

"It doesn't seem like it took much to get Luffy angry," Franky laughed so hard that tears were in his eyes.

"Yes, he seemed to have had quite the short temper," Robin laughed. "These days, it takes a lot more to make him mad. However, at the same time, he still acts like this little kid right here."

"Yeah," Nami laughed, "Which just proves that he's an immature kid like I always thought."

"I prefer to think of it as being young at heart," Robin smiled.

"Luffy, how about you calm down and eat?" Makino's voice asked as she came out from the back, carrying another bottle of sake and put it in front of Shanks before beaming at Luffy. "How about it?" she asked.

"Oh, he's so lucky to be waited on such a kind-hearted woman!" Sanji croaked out, falling to his knees as he looked at Makino. "Oh, love… the likes of which I've never seen before… she's enchanted my like a spell… as we speak I'm falling deeper and deeper into her eyes…"

"Would you shut up you idiot?" Zoro grumbled.

"Are you ready to die yet you shitty swordsman?!" Sanji cried, jumping to his feet, fire starting to burn on his leg at once.

"You really think you can take me on?" Zoro shot back, his hands going for his swords again.

"Would you boys knock it off?" Nami yelled at them in frustration. "God, I can't hear myself think with you two around."

"Nami-swan…" Sanji began, swooning back at her, but she told him to shut up as Luffy was telling Makino that he'd pay her back with his treasure tab.

"Treasure tab?" Chopper repeated, you could almost see the question marks floating above his head. "What's that?"

"I think he means that he'll pay her back later when he gets some treasure," Sanji said, having recovered from his newly broken heart.

"The poor woman," Nami sighed with a smile. "Letting him eat at her bar without paying…"

"Makino-san's generosity knows no bounds!" Brook cried out happily.

"But how's he gonna pay her back with treasure when he doesn't have any?" Usopp asked, his eyebrows raised.

"What treasure?" Shanks asked, obviously thinking the same thing. "You shouldn't lie you know."

"Oh, I don't think he is," Franky laughed. "Luffy can't lie to save his life."

"That's for sure," Nami agreed as they all nodded.

"I am not!" Luffy said determinedly, before looking back to her and saying firmly, "I'm definitely going to be a pirate someday! And when I come across a lot of treasure, I'll come back and pay you with that!"

Makino smiled and laughed. "I look forward to it!"

"I really like her!" Chopper said at once as Luffy smiled at her. "I hope we get to meet her for real someday!"

Nami laughed, "I can tell she's got the patience of a saint."

"Hey, Shanks," Luffy said, his mouth full of food and Sanji sighed, muttering to himself, "I see that his manners haven't changed much."

"Hmm?" Shanks asked him as he enjoyed his drink.

"How long are you going to stay this time?"

"Well…" Shanks said, thinking it all over for a moment, "It's been a nice here. But we decided that we'll probably set sail a couple more times and then we'll leave this town for good and head back north."

"Only a few more times…" Luffy said softly, taking a long time to swallow as he glanced down at his food. Makino gave him a sad smile and sighed from where she was cleaning glasses behind the counter.

"Am I missing something here?" Usopp asked them.

"It's obvious that Luffy doesn't want them to leave, Usopp," Nami pointed out. "He's sad because he'll be forced to say goodbye to them all for good."

But just then, Luffy looked up and said to Shanks, "I'll be a great swimmer by then!"

At that, Shanks started to laugh again. "Sure… we'll see about that."

"In other words, no," Franky said knowingly.

Just then, the door to the tavern was literally kicked in and a group of men came inside. There were a large number of them, all of them dressed mostly alike with smug smiles on their suspicious-looking faces. As if they were plotting something…

"Who are these losers?" Zoro asked darkly.

"Look like bandits to me," Sanji claimed, remembering seeing bandits sometimes back when he was still a chief at the Baratie. The pirates fell silent, looking up, as if curious to see what these men were going to do.

"Sorry for the interruption," the man in the front said, obviously the leader of the group, before marching in. Luffy looked up at him in confusion as Makino stopped cleaning the glass and seemed to become tense, as if expecting a fight to break out.

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