32 Chapter 32 | A new crewmate?

32

Straw Hat Luffy woke up groaning in the small boat, and he looked around. "Wha… what did I miss?" the boy yawned as he woke up from his nap.

The six-armed monkey on his shoulder was banging his rubber head, but alas as the monkey couldn't use haki, it was just a mere annoyance. But that didn't mean Sparky couldn't get his attention.

He grabbed onto Luffy's lower lip and stretched it over his head.

"Hey! What was that for?" Luffy asked now fully woken up from his sleep. He rubbed his chin as he eyed the monkey, he half wanted to throw him over the deck.

The monkey pointed at the upcoming Whirpool. A flock of three twisters surrounded it… and their small boat heading toward it.

"Oh!" Luffy that was all he could say. How did the original Luffy get out of this again?

He glanced at the barrel next to him as it rocked back and forth with the waves. Should he try it…? It should work...

The scream of the monkey brought his attention back. Yeah, no Sparky is pansy today… well, he wasn't a fan of water, to begin with. And after eating one of the devil fruits he was a lot more cautious about it.

And the storm was a bit too much, even though the heavy downpour wasn't a problem for him or Sparky, it was different for the small vessel they were on. Soon his small boat was going to flip over. He glanced at the barrel one last time. It was almost tempting.

"Wu.. Khi ki!" The monkey again pointed at the storm.

"Yeah, yeah, I noticed…" Luffy rolled his eye. As he stood up, he strapped both of his naginata on his back in a cross formation, while he wore a simple red shirt and blue jeans that were up to his ankles, with some leather black boots to go along with it.

His shirt was mostly unbuttoned showing off the impressive physique that he built over the years and the straw hat was on his back.

Sparky on the other hand had a small bag on his shoulder… well the bag was quite similar to the size of Sparky's two feet body-frame, so it might be considered large. In there was some of the essentials, a change of clothes, a small transponder snail, with the most important book for the journey, the devil fruit encyclopedia.

Now that he thought about it, he should have probably checked if Sparky's bag was waterproof was not. If not his cloth and the book might get some rain damage.

So he should probably get out of the storm. Regardless, he didn't want to risk it. It would not do for the future Pirate King to die at the hands of a tiny ass whirlpool like this.

So he took a quick leap off the boat, propelling himself over the waters with a force that almost sank it.

Any sane person would have wondered if he was losing it with this recent action, but sane people didn't last very long in the grand line. He should be able to handle the recoil…

After reaching the highest point of his jump, he took another step, and the air below him responded in turn, propelling him higher and further. He took more steps until he was cruising through the air at a comfortable speed.

Now, to get down to business. It should be close by. He reached out with his Observation Haki, and more than a few dozen weak auras flickered to life within range of his senses. He also sensed slightly stronger auras approaching them.

Hm… wait, isn't it where Alvida's ship ambushed a marchet ship. He looked from above and he was right. It was an ambush after all.

He accelerated quickly and made his way over to the slightly stronger auras in the distance. One, in particular, dwarfed them all in power… Hmm, who could it be?

And he was more surprised when it wasn't coming from the overly giant lady… no it was from a person that was inside the ship with two other weak auras. It couldn't be, could it?

He reached the pirate ship with the Jolly Roger that confirmed Luffy's already solid guess and touched down after quickly decelerating. The two pirates that were guarding the deck looked at him in shock, but the shock quickly turned to malice.

If they gave any more thought to the fact that they hadn't even noticed his approach until he had landed right in front of them, they may have been a bit more cautious.

Luffy was in deep thought but spared them a glance as Sparky punched both their lights out. 'Was the aura from Nami? Let's check…'

Leaving the unconscious fodder on the deck, he made his way through a door and caught sight of the person who he had come to find.

At first glance of the bright pink hair and pudgy appearance, he had to resist the urge to laugh out loud. That was defiantly Coby… man that boy was the definition of a nerd. But a nerd with ambition that's for sure.

His aura was quite amazing compared to others.

He wasn't completely against the boy's choice of style, even he had some poor clothing sense in his high-school years.

Coby was being relentlessly harassed by a small group of pirates who were too busy taunting him to even notice Luffy's approach.

"Excited yet, Coby? This is gonna be a big haul. You looking forward to some good old-fashioned pirating?" The boy weakly glared at him, causing him to laugh. The others followed suit.

"Nah, he's the brat still not used to being a man." one thug said. "Wanna have some milk?" They all howled with laughter.

Cody turned red but didn't do much. Luffy actually wondered how such a timid boy had such a powerful aura. It didn't do much in the grand scheme of things… but in some way, it did matter.

Garp wasn't a man of explanation, but once he said something that, possessing a powerful aura meant possessing hidden talent or a strong will. It made sense for Coby as even after seeing the corruption of the marines he still became one, because of his strong sense of justice. Not to mention that he stood up against a prick like Akainu, that took some inborn brass-balls to pull that shit.

He just needed to be strong.

We'll have to work on that, Luffy thought, he almost wanted Coby to drop kick their asses through the floor, knowing full well that he wasn't capable of it. Yet.