Refuge

"What do you think? Should we agree with Luffy's proposition?" Hancock asked her people with a rare silent voice. They were back in the village, away from prying eyes and ears.

"Hebihime-sama, you know that we cannot break the tradition even if it's for Luffy-sama." Kikyo replied sternly. Hancock sighed.

"Yes, I am aware of that. But what other choice do I have? How could I turn down h-him of all p-people?" Hancock stuttered on her last few words, making Granny Nyon's sweat drop.

Ever since Hancock fell in love with Luffy, she became weak in decision making when it came to things concerning him.

"Those men with him are very powerful, Hebihime-sama. Especially the one that had red hair and scars running down his left eye. I propose that we agree with his proposition." Granny Nyon suggested, almost all pf the Kuja Warriors gasped at her words.

"You are telling us to bow down to a bunch of men we don't know?! Preposterous! " Ran shouted at her. Granny Nyon glared at her.

"That man isn't just any man. That man is one of the Yonko, a group of four pirates who are considered to be the most notorious and powerful captains in the whole world. He's even powerful than Hebihime-sama!" Granny Nyon replied, making them gasp again.

"Lies! No man is more powerful than Hebihime-sama!" Kikyo shouted. Granny Nyon sighed and shook her head.

"I thought I told you girls to read the newspaper so that this kind of ignorance would never happen. He has a bounty of over 4 billion Belly which is much higher than what Hebihime-sama has." Granny Nyon revealed, making them gasp and whispered amongst each other.

"It's much higher than Luffy's." Marguerite whispered in surprise. She never thought that there would be someone more notorious than Luffy. He is the only man she's ever met after all.

"I don't know about you girls, but I value my life right now. It's a harmless proposition anyways. Where they're residing at is nowhere near our village. And Luffy promised us that no one would take a step in the village except for the occasional supply trips. " Granny Nyon said before she looked at Hancock who remained silent on the matter.

" But the final decision lies with you, Hebihime-sama. " Granny Nyon added. Hancock gulped a little. She never felt this kind of pressure. All eyes were on her, waiting for her to speak.

"I.... I will agree to Luffy's proposition. Only because he is a trustworthy man unlike others. But I will have the Kuja Warriors keep watch on them at all times just in case they try anything to threaten the villages' security."

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"You sure they're gonna agree to this Luffy? A lot of my men are seriously injured right now, we need someplace to rest and treat them properly or else we lose them." Ace asked Luffy who was staring at the calm motionless blue sea with a serious expression.

"Hancock will see that we mean well. If not then we have another island northwest from here called Rusukaina. It's completely empty, so it should be enough room. But thing is Marco who's been here before with Pops a long time ago says it has a lot of seasons that changes almost weekly." Luffy muttered as Ace sighed.

"I never thought you were friends with the Kuja Warriors." Jinbe commented. Luffy smiled.

" Well you gotta thank Kuma back at Sabaody for sending me here. If not then I don't think we'd be in this situation." Luffy replied.

" Here they come." Shanks who was sitting on a rock got up and stood beside Luffy. Luffy took several breaths before he looked at Hancock who was walking towards him with the whole village behind her.

"Luffy. After discussing with my people, we have decided to let you hide in Amazon Lily. You men will only stay in the beach and are able to venture into some parts of the forest for supplies and medicinal gathering purposes."

" We will let you men stay, but only if my crew get to keep watch so you will not do anything stupid such as entering the village. You will only enter our village for supply trips, but only if Luffy accompanies you."

"We can't really argue with that Hancock-san, since you are the one who's in control of this island. Guess we'll just have to make do with whatever we have left. Don't worry, we'll come visit soon enough." Shanks smiled at her before he turned towards Beckmann.

"Beckmann, tell the guys to unload the supplies and the injured we're carrying. We need to make a camp as soon as possible."

"Roger that, captain. "

"W-wow, such humbleness." Nerine whispered while making a full body sketch of Shanks in her notebook for research purposes. There was no dirty thoughts behind it, she was literally going to research Shanks' anatomy and how different it is from Luffy's.

While Hancock was gone, Nerine had went on to create the Men Research Club. This club was an instant hit, being the most popular club in the whole village, with many curious women, old and young wanting to know more about the mysterious species known as men.

Nerine, the president of the club considers herself an expert on men, along with Granny Nyon from her experiences in the outside world. The old woman somehow got roped into the club, becoming it's Vice President.

A lot of women were whispering amongst each other while pointing at Jinbe who was a little uncomfortable at the moment because they weren't exactly hiding the fact that they were talking about him.

They were talking him for obvious reasons. He was a Fishman and they have never seen a Fishman before.

"What sharp teeth! It looks like a shark's teeth. And the gills make him look eve more like one! So dangerous! "

"His skin is blue like the sea. How fascinating! Is it stretchy like Luffy-sama's skin?!"

"His hands and feet look like a frog's. How wonderful! It seems there are multiple species of men! This is so much research material!" Nerine shouted with stars in her eyes while the women were marveling at how unique Jinbe was compared to the men around him.

"You should probably stop making that face, Jinbe." Jinbe looked at Luffy who was smiling while looking at the Kuja Warriors.

"These women haven't seen a man before. I'm the first man who's ever set foot on this island in possibly centuries. Instead of being shocked about what they say about you, help them understand and know more about men and the outside world."

"If they ask about your abilities, just show them

Don't overthink it. There's nothing to fear. They just want to know." Luffy patted his back supportively before he looked at someone running to him.

"Luffy-sama!!!" Marguerite shouted as she ran past Hancock. Hancock immediately became enraged at Marguerite's actions.

"Oi! I'm over here ya know?! Don't make me turn you into stone again!" The Pirate Empress shouted at her but it was no use, Marguerite was already hugging the man Hancock considered to be her future husband.

There were a lot of people dropping wooden boats with men already in it onto the sea from their pirate ships. It was already getting extremely busy even though it just started.

"Are you alright?" Marguerite asked while checking over Luffy, horrified by the amount of bandages covering the man. Luffy laughed and patted her head.

"I'm alright, Marguerite. I just took a little too much Haki powered punches. Nothing can take me down! Shishishishishi!!!" Luffy laughed while messing up her hair with his hand that was big enough to cover the entire top of her head.

Marguerite blushed in embarrassment. "You are treating me like a child." She mumbled. Luffy laughed again.

"Perks of being taller than you. I do see you as a woman though." Luffy gave her a smile before he walked past her to greet the other Kuja Warriors.

"Uh...." Jinbe gulped audibly as Nerine and a bunch of women surrounded him. Nerine had stars in her eyes as she grinned at Jinbe.

"Hi! I'm Nerine! What species of man are you? Why do you have teeth and gills like a shark and limbs like a frog?" Nerine asked Jinbe who blinked at the amount of question coming from her. He remembered what Luffy said and opened his mouth to answer them.

"I'm apart of a race called Fish-men. I am not a human like men and women, instead Fish-men are a hybrids between humans and fish."

"But you are a man, are you not?" Nerine asked Jinbe as she wrote it down. The women around her started whispering about Jinbe again, curious about this mysterious race they've never heard of.

"So he's a fish? But how can he breath above water?"

"No you idiot, he's a hybrid between human and fish. Let's just let the man explain before we jump into conclusions."

"Y-yes. I am." Jinbe replied. Nerine nodded before she grinned again.

"So what kind of bizarre things can Fish-men perform? Luffy-sama who was an ordinary man, has a body made out of rubber because he ate a fruit called the Devil Fruit. What can you do, Jinbe-sama?" Nerine asked him. Jinbe scratched his head before he looked at Luffy who was busy chatting with Hancock while Ace was clinging to him possessively.

"Could I possibly demonstrate it to you?" Jinbe asked them. Nerine gasped in surprise.

"Ooh! A demonstration! Yes! Please show us your abilities, Jinbe-sama!" Nerine replied excitedly as the women around her watched in anticipation. Jinbe nodded as he entered a fighting stance.

"Uchimizu!" Jinbe shouted as he hurled a droplet of water at the sand. With his Fishman strength, the water bullet was like a blur to the women watching.

*BOOM!!!*

Nerine and the women watching were all shocked at Jinbe's technique. The sand flew everywhere, some even getting into people's eyes.

"Wow!!!!" The women clapped at Jinbe who blushed a little at the attention he was getting from them.

"All that from just a simple drop of water! How, Jinbe-sama?!" Nerine asked while writing dowm what she saw. Jinbe smiled as he started explaining what Fishman Karate was to the women.

Granny Nyon was watching the conversation silently with a small smile on her face. She was happy that the women are getting to know the outside world more.

For too long they have been following the beliefs set by their ancestors that men are creatures of evil. The time was now that they realize that yes, while there are loads of bad men out there, there are also tons of good men too.

She was just glad that they were interacting with good men instead of bad men pretending to have good intentions.

Granny Nyon could also sense a familiar Haki in one of the ships. It was weak, but the person's Haki was so familiar to her that it made her shocked that his Haki was this weak.

"Newgate....Is that you? What happened to you?"

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"Uh.... captain....What should we do?" Lucky Roo asked nervously while taking a bite out of a large piece of meat. Shanks smiled as he looked around him.

He, Beckmann and Lucky Roo were surrounded by a punch of women holding notepads and pencils while stars were shining in their eyes in excitement.

"We heard Granny Nyon say that you're a very powerful and notorious pirate, one of the Yonko right? Is it true? How high is your bounty?" Rindo who was also in the Men Research Club, smiled at Shanks as she interviewed him.

"This Granny Nyon sounds like a knowledgeable woman. Yes it's true, I am a Yonko and I have a bounty of 4,048,900,000 Belly." Shanks replied with a smile on his face. The woman were in awe of him.

"Wow! That bounty is so much more than what Hebihime-sama has. How do you do it?" Rindo asked.

"Strength, wits and also a sense of adventure." He replied simply. He wasn't wrong, he just didn't know how to explain to them that there isn't a secret to becoming the Pirate King.

"So how does it feel to be a man? How does it feel like to have a penis?"

"Huh?"

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"What kind of nose is that?"

"Looks like a button."

"Oi! I can hear you!!!"

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"What the fuck is happening?" Kid asked himself as he looked around himself while his men were unloading supplies from his ship.

Women were gathering around men, interviewing them and having a great time. Some men were even flirting with the women. The women were flustered, never having experience this kind of feeling in their hearts before.

The men truly made them feel like women.

"E-excuse m-m-me?"

"Huh?!" Kid looked to his left to see a shy girl wearing round glasses. She was holding a notepad and a pencil. But the one thing Kid noticed was that she was shaking a lot.

"What do ya want?" Kid asked the shy woman.

"C-c-can I a-ask y-you some questions p-please?"

"Uh....Sure....."

"How does it feel like to be a pirate?"

"Hah! Great question!!!"

To be continued...