Chapter 21
"Man, it's like I'm looking at Luffy here," Zoro chuckled.
"I know," Nami said shaking her head, "Looks like Shanks was more of a role model to him instead of just a friend."
"But Luffy doesn't look to happy," Chopper pointed out, seeing Luffy jump up onto his seat, looking furious at them all with his fists clenched tightly at his sides.
"WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?!" Luffy then yelled and caused everyone to look over at him. "THAT WASN'T COOL!" he went on angrily. "WHY DIDN'T YOU FIGHT BACK? NO MATTER HOW MANY THERE ARE OR HOW STRONG THEY LOOK, IF YOU DON'T FIGHT BACK THEN YOU'RE NOT A MAN! NOW I SEE I WAS WRONG ABOUT YOU GUYS!"
"Really?" Chopper asked worriedly.
"Nah," Zoro smiled, waving his hand down at him. "It's one of the first rules you gotta learn out here. Sometimes there are fights that aren't worth getting angry over." He looked over to Nami as he said that, remembering the bar fight they had in Jaya over two years ago, and how angry she had been at them for refusing to fight. But this time, he could see that she was frowning slightly, as if thinking about what he just said.
"I know how you feel, Luffy," Shanks said calmly, looking up at him from the floor, "But all he did was spill sake on me. It's not worth getting upset over."
"I know that we've never met this man," Brook said, looking at him with new respect, "But I already like him."
"He's a man among men," Franky said proudly, his eyes watering a little at how strong-willed the captain of the Red-Haired pirates was.
"Whatever," Luffy huffed at him as he looked over to the chest sitting next to him and then reached in to grab something. The Straw Hats leaned over to see what it was he had taken and saw an unusual fruit in his hands.
"Yow!" Franky asked in surprise. "What's that? It's the funniest looking fruit I've ever seen."
"That's because it's a Devil's Fruit," Robin informed him with a smile.
"Really?" Nami asked curiously. "I've never seen one."
"Is it…?" Usopp said, but before he could finish speaking, Luffy took a big bite of it.
"So that's what happened," Nami said, smacking her forehead. "Idiot has no idea what it is."
"Very few people do," Robin smiled sadly, thinking back to when she had accidently eaten her Devil Fruit years ago. When she had gone to visit the archeologists at the Tree of Knowledge, they had been studying the Devil's fruit. She hadn't eaten anything at all the night before because her aunt had sent her to bed without food and in the morning she had run off before her aunt would force her to do even more chores. When she saw the fruit there on the table, she grabbed it without thinking.
"Yeah," Chopper agreed with a nod. "I didn't know the fruit I ate would do this to me."
"Well, you were still a baby reindeer at the time right?" Usopp pointed out in a teasing voice.
"Shut up!" Chopper yelled, his face a little red when Nami gave a little 'awwing' sound.
Shanks had wiped off the straw hat before he put it back on and looked up at Luffy. "You shouldn't eat out of frustration you know…"
"Shut up," Luffy said through a mouthful of fruit.
Shanks blinked before they widened in panic, realizing that something was wrong. "Wait! What are you eating?!" he shouted just as Luffy finished swallowing.
"Too late now," Robin giggled.
"LUFFY!" Shanks yelled, getting up and staring at him in horror. "Don't tell me you just ate the fruit that was inside that chest?"
Luffy just looked at him in confusion, not understanding why he seemed so upset. Instead of answering, Shanks grabbed him and turned him upside down, shaking him. "Spit it out! Spit out every piece."
"What—are—you—doing?" Luffy cried and that was when his legs stretched out and he literally fell flat on his face. He hung there comically for a few seconds before he bounced right back up.
The Straw Hats all started to laugh, having seen this so many times that they were used to it, but seeing the stunned looks on everyone's faces was just priceless. "So that's how it happened," Sanji laughed. "He never saw what hit him…"
"Yohohoho," Brook laughed sympathetically. "Poor Luffy-san."
"Though it's a good thing that he did eat it if you think about it," Nami beamed. "After all, it's because of that annoying ability that he's still alive after everything that's happened to us over the last two years."
"Does this mean…?" one of the pirates gasped out.
"He couldn't have…?" Yasopp gasped.
Luffy was staring ahead of him, his face slightly red from where it hit the floor. But his eyes were wide in shock as he asked, "What just happened?"
Shanks lifted him up so that they were eye to eye and he shouted out, "LUFFY THAT WAS A DEVIL FRUIT! THE DEVIL FRUITS ARE THE TREASURES OF THE SEA! IF YOU EAT IT YOU LOSE THE ABILITY TO SWIM FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE BUT THE ONE YOU ATE ALSO TURNS YOUR BODY TO RUBBER!"
The pirates started panicking and Luffy stared freaking out. "WHAAAAAAAT? NO, IT CAN'T!"
"YOU'RE AN IDIOT!" Shanks yelled.
Nami shook her head fondly. "He is isn't he?" she asked. "But then, what does that make Shanks for leaving something like that lying around?"
Suddenly the image faded and they were back in the darkness and Franky asked, "So did all of you eat your Devil Fruits by accident?"
"I did," Robin answered. "I think it was just before I turned eight did I eat mine. The archeologists on my home island were studying it…"
"And you ate it like that?" Nami asked in surprise.
"Well, I'd never seen a Devil Fruit before, so I had no idea what it was until it was too late," Robin answered with a smile. "But it has been useful of course…"
"Yeah," Chopper agreed, jumping up so that he was on Zoro's shoulder. "I remember when I ate mine!"
He was still that blue nose little reindeer who had been forced to walk behind the rest of his herd. His herd rejected him because of his nose… whenever they ate, he was forced to stay behind and wait until they finished grazing on whatever plant they could find.
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