17 Abilities
Two days have passed since Luffy had accidentally eaten the Gomu Gomu no Mi. Shanks and his crew had finally calmed down. Luffy, being Luffy, decided to experiment with his newly acquired Devil Fruit's abilities on his own.
The Red Hair Pirates were off voyaging somewhere else so he had all the time in the world.
Luffy was standing in the clearing where Shanks used as a training grounds. He looked at his fists and looked at the tin cans on the rocks that were far away from him.
"Haa!!!" Luffy pulled his fist back and threw it forward. His arm stretched like rubber and zoomed towards the tin can.
He missed the tin can with his drastically stretched fist. The stretched arm then retracted back into place, but the recoil was too much so he was blasted back by it.
"Ahh!!" Luffy shouted as he tumbled on the ground. Luffy took note that it didn't hurt at all, usually it would sting as there were small rocks on the ground.
Luffy sat up and patted off the dust on his body. He had so much to work on. Luffy took out a notepad and a small pen.
Shanks had taught him how to write too, but his writing was like an abomination, it was horrifying to even look at it.
Luffy started jotting down the things he noticed when he stretched his arm. The things he wrote were:
'Work on aim'
'Don't fly away when the arm comes back'
Luffy grinned, threw away the notebook and got up again. He was going to work on that immediately. He doesn't care if it takes all day, he'll knock down that tin can.
.
.
Some time has passed, Luffy sort of got control with the recoil when his stretched arm retracted.
He realized an hour into it that his body could stretch without forcing it to stretch. So he did it gently and it still stretched out.
So Luffy sat down on the ground again and started thinking about ways to put more strength into his punches.
He then went ahead and did it the old fashioned way, which was starting from the weakest punch he could throw.
Two hours later, Luffy started imagining that his arm was like a pistol, he needed to place his arm in the correct position before stretching it.
It has now been two hours and thirty minutes since Luffy declared that he was going to knock down that tin can on the rock.
A normal person would have already given up, but Luffy wasn't normal at all. He hasn't been normal since he started being trained by Gyatsu.
Luffy took a deep breath in and out as he looked at the tin can. He pulled his arm back and threw it towards it. His arm started stretching drastically and was zooming towards the tin can.
*Clang!!!*
The tin can was punched away by his fist. His arm started retracting back into place. Once it did, Luffy stepped back a number of times, being affected by the recoil.
He grinned and cheered loudly, he then ran towards the tin can and continued trying it. He then had an idea about a new attack.
"Hey wait a second. If I can stretch it forward, can I strech it back as well?" Luffy asked out loud and decides to try it. He looked at his right hand and threw it back.
It stretched, making Luffy laugh out loud. "Shishishishishi!!!!" He laughed and looked at the tin can in front of him.
"You're going down, tin can!!" He shouted and threw his arm forward. His stretched arm flew towards the tin can.
It missed and hit the tree behind it. Luffy blinked as he didn't feel any pain from that hit either.
His arm retracted and he stepped back a little bit before stopping. He grinned as he looked at his fists.
"Shanks says it's a curse! But I don't care! This is awesome!!" He shouted. His determination to be more powerful was higher than ever.
.
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"It's so stretchy now!!" Luffy told Makino. He talked about his training experience with the Gomu Gomu no Mi he did a few hours ago as they were eating dinner together.
"That sounds cool, Luffy. So you really don't care about not being able to swim?" Makino asked him.
"I don't care! I'll just stay away from the water, it's simple!" Luffy replied with a grin, making Makino giggle.
"What are you gonna do with it now?" Makino asked another question. Luffy hummed as he swallowed a piece of meat, beef to be exact.
"More training!" Luffy declared energetically, making Makino laugh.
"You have a lot on your hands, are you sure you're okay with doing so much work?" Makino asked with a worried expression. Luffy nodded.
" Mhm! I'm not tired at all!" Luffy declared but then he yawned a second later. Makino giggled and picked him up.
"Hey, there's still meat on the plate." Luffy muttered sleepily.
" I think you're too tired to be eating, Luffy. " Makino whispered as she put him gently onto the bed and covered the blanket over him.
She knelt down beside the bed and kissed him on the cheek. "Goodnight, Mr Pirate King. Sweet dreams." She whispered before walking out of his room and closing it.
Luffy blinked while staring at the ceiling. "Wait, Benn told me what that is. It's called a kiss if I remember correctly. And he said that people who love each other do it. Does Makino..... love me? " Luffy asked out loud with a confused expression and tone. He then yawned loudly.
" Whatever.... I'll ask her.... tomorrow.... Zzzzzzzz..... "
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.
.
"Hmm..... " Luffy hummed as he stared at Makino who was cleaning up a wine glass with a cloth. He remembered that he wanted to ask her if she loved him or not, but he didn't know how.
Suddenly, he heard somebody enter the bar. He looked to see it was Higuma and his band of bandits.
"We're back again. Well, it looks like the pirates aren't here today. It sure is quiet. " He commented and sat down on one of the chairs.
He slapped the table with his hand. "Well, what are you waiting for?! We're customers!! Bring us some sake!!"
.
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Makino rushed towards a house with a panicked expression. She slammed open the door and looked at the man who was drinking coffee inside it.
He was a short, wiry, bespectacled man with something of a cleft chin. He generally wears lightweight 'tropical' clothing, along with a selection of striped hats. This was Mayor Woop Slap, the mayor of Foosha Village.
"Chief, hurry!! Something bad has happened!" Makino shouted. Woop Slap looked at her.
" What's wrong, Makino? What's this fuss about?" He asked.
" Luffy has been taken by the Higuma bandits!! "
" What!? "
.
.
" What an interesting body. "
" Yeah, it seems like kicking and punching won't do anything to him. "
Luffy was sitting in a meditative position while he was being surrounded by the Higuma bandits and Higuma himself.
He didn't try to fight back at all, they haven't done anything just yet. Higuma got annoyed and stomped on Luffy's head.
Luffy's head was on the ground while Higuma's foot was digging into his head. "What's wrong kid? I thought you were the 'Little monster' the villagers were talking about. Why aren't you fighting back huh?" Higuma taunted him.
" Let the child go! Please!!" Woop Slap arrived at the scene with Makino behind him. He knelt on the ground and bowed towards them.
"I don't know what Luffy did. And I don't want to argue with you. But I'm willing to pay, so please let the child go!!" He pleaded to Higuma.
" As one would expect, it's the elders that know the proper way to deal with any situation. But it's too late!! You can't save this brat now because he really makes me angry! When a weakling like him insults me, it really makes me angry!! " Higuma shouted and stomped on Luffy's head, Luffy felt no pain. Higuma unsheathed his saber.
"I'm not gonna sell you, I'm gonna kill you." Higuma declared.
" Luffy!! " Makino screamed in horror as tears were falling down her eyes. Luffy widened his eyes as he saw Makino cry.
"Pl-please!! Let him go!!" Woop Slap shouted. Suddenly, someone stood in between them.
" I was wondering why no one welcomed us at the port So this is why...." Shanks looked at Luffy who looked back at him with gritted teeth.
"Luffy...." Shanks nodded at him. Luffy narrowed his eyes and threw his right hand back.
His right hand suddenly stretched out drastically, surprising Higuma, making him step back a little. His arm retracted back into place and Luffy got up. He leaped and landed on where Shanks was.
Luffy looked at a bandit who pointed a flintlock at him. Shanks stayed silent while Woop Slap and Makino gasped in horror.
The bandit smirked and fired the flintlock.
*BANG!!*
The bullet sank into his rubbery skin a little and bounced off him. Luffy smirked at the bandit's face of disbelief.
"Wanna know how I survived?" Luffy asked before putting his right hand on his cutlass' grip.
"Because I'm a rubber man."
*SHING!!!*
*PSSH!!!!*
Luffy cut the bandit's stomach open with his Quickdraw technique. Blood splattered onto Luffy's face as the bandit fell down and fell unconscious.
Luffy looked at the rest of the Higuma bandits who were gritting their teeth and raising their weapons up high.
Luffy pointed his cutlass at them.
"You made Makino cry. I'm gonna have to kill you now....."
To be continued...
