50 Chapter 50

50

They were waiting for the pirates to arrive, the crew was scattered around the village, and the two coasts. Luffy, Sparky, Coby, and Usopp were here, while others were elsewhere.

Usopp had his wooden revolver on his side, strapped around his waist.

"They're here. They're coming from the other side." Luffy said, looking towards the south.

Usopp and Coby looked at him questionably. "How do you know?" Usopp asked skeptically.

"Observation Haki. Which by estimate you both should be talented at." Without further explaining, Luffy grabbed Usopp and Coby's arm. "Well, let's get going."

"Wha…" Usopp couldn't even finish his word, when Luffy jumped in air bringing along with them.

He then used his legs to launch them both high into the air, and started using Geppo to get them to the other side quickly.

Observation Haki was about reading people's intent. And a group of pirates with malicious intent was like a flashlight in a dark forest. A good way to utilize Observation Haki.

Both Coby and Usopp screamed comically, while Luffy just laughed. Sparky was on Luffy's shoulder barely even reacting.

Usopp was flabbergasted about the concept of Observation Haki as it is. But now… that didn't explain why Luffy could fly. Was he even human? It was about a 6 km stretch between the two coasts, and he crossed it in less than a minute. Usopp was a good runner, but it would have taken him at least 10 minutes to go that distance.

Zoro and Kuina took notice of them as they touched down on the slope leading down to the north shore. Nami spotted them and frowned in curiosity. The pirates have yet to reach the shore… How did they get here so fast?

"They are here," Kuina said, bringing there attention towards the large ship that had Black Cat Pirates marks on it.

She was wearing her white kimono with a blue belt. Her traditional dress matched well with her sword. The Wado Ichimonji.

The roar of pirates itching to pillage the village became discernable. They rushed off of the ship and flooded onto the path, running up the hill before stopping when the unexpected sight of their opposition reached their eyes.

They looked at each other in confusion, having been told that no one would be expecting them. "Oi, Jango!" one of them shouted back to the ship. "There are a bunch of teenagers in the way! I thought this was supposed to be a surprise attack!"

Jango looked a little confused as well, but shouted back, "Does it matter? If they're in the way, just kill them! We're in a rush, Captain Kuro told us to meet him by morning!" Before the pirate that had given his report could turn back to address the four of them, he felt a painful sting in his back and fell over onto the ground.

The other pirates traced the path of the projectile back to one of the teenagers, who two wooden guns on his hand. One of them giving of smoke.

They were surprised as they barely heard any gunshot before one of their comrades fell.

That made the enemy pirates look at him with anger. And the one who got hit, quickly got up, but he fell again when several shots him. Two more shots actually, and this time he wasn't getting up.

"Why you… get that long nose brat." One of them screamed as they charged toward the group.

"Usopp, don't snipers usually snipe from a distance," Luffy said, making the long nose nod, before running away to get high ground.

Coby was shaking, yet he held a pitchfork in front of him. Luffy found it cute that his pink-headed disciple was actually trying to copy how he used his naginata.

"Kill those bastards," Jango said, making the pirates pour out of the ship.

Kuina moved first, taking the lead, charging headfirst at the group of pirates. Or what she would have done, if Luffy didn't stop her by placing Horn's edge in front of her.

"You have to let the hatchings fight to gain some experience." He said, "You and Zoro are strong enough to take them down without any problems… but let Coby handle it."

"What?!" Coby looked terrified at what Luffy said.

"Now now… Usopp will have your back." The straw hat boy said, the long nose also yelled, but Luffy ignored that. "You wanted to be a hero right… so do it."

"Are you insane?" It was Nami who spoke.

Luffy looked her right in her eyes. "If you truly want freedom, then you have to be ready to sacrifice something for it… If not, then you are one of the reasons why freedom never lasts."

Nami felt those words slap her in the face. It was almost as if he was saying about her involvement with Arlong.

Luffy saw the effect and stressed further, but to all of his crew. "There's a quote I go by, 'Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.' If you want to break that cycle, then you have to be hard yourself. Weakness should never be celebrated, and strength should be always sought after… that is only how you keep the good times in check."

All of the people, were amazed at what Luffy said. Usopp and Coby especially as they were pushed into battle right now. Now it made sense why Luffy was pushing them forward.

But even still, Nami was worried about the pink-haired boy. "Shouldn't we help?" She asked more so whispered as Coby took several steps forward with a pitchfork in his hand.

"Who? Him or them?" Luffy said. "Have more faith in your future crewmates." He smiled.

And lo and behold, Coby was actually faring quite well against the canon folder of the Black Cat Pirates. However every time he would stab someone with his pitchfork and blood came out, the boy would be visibly shaken.

It would have made the other pirates take down Coby easily. But it wasn't the case because a certain sniper made sure to put a bullet right before they could attack Coby.

Nami was actually amazed at Coby's and Usopp's teamwork.