90 Chapter 90

90

"Partying without me Kuro… Shishsishi." The cold laughter sent shivers down the spines of all the people around them.

More so for the people who recognized Luffy from his grown fame as the bounty-hunting hero.

The surrounding pirates gulped seeing Luffy. Why was a big shot that easily took down a man with a fifty million bounties, and Arlong here? This was just unreasonable… they even avoided where the so-called hero was last seen, —near the Conomi Islands— but now he was here.

"You know what… retiring is looking really appealing right now." One of the lackeys said.

Soon the other straw-hats jumped down from the nearby docked Going Marry. The first ones to drop down were obviously Zoro, Kuina, Sanji and Gin. Coby and Usopp were a bit hesitant, before calming down their nerves and getting down.

The lackeys were wide-eyed as they saw the people coming out of the ship, that was being dragged by a sea king. "Wait, is that the pirate Hunter Zoro… and the White Lady Kuina. Eh… who's the curly brows… maybe someone unimportant."

"Who said that!" Sanji said with a tick mark on his forehead.

"Heh, it seems that you aren't popular," Zoro said with a small smile.

"Why you…"

The lackeys of course ignored Sanji and looked at the others… "Wait… isn't that the man demon Gin… did he switch sides? Of course, he did… Then there's the kid and the long nose…" The other lackeys said, not to mention the huge sea king and the fishman who were looking at them coldly. "That's it… I'm out folks." With that, he dropped his sword and made a run for it.

Not that the pirate lackey could get that far as he was quickly shot by someone falling on the ground. A headshot by Usopp. Coby who was by his side blinked and gave the sniper an odd look, who the long-nosed pirate shrugged off.

"Hey…" The large fore-armed man called Luffy. "You with them, bub. Cause I'm gonna tell you… I won't let you pirate run wild in this island if the last thing I do…"

When Luffy looked at the figure with large forearms, his jaw almost dropped to the floor. "Y-you…"

While Luffy seemed to recognize the fellow, the other straw hats didn't. Well, except for a certain someone. It was Gin and he was tensed when he got near and saw the sailor. "Captain, be careful… he was the one that stopped the Krieg Pirates in Whisky Peak."

"Eh… never heard of him," Sanji said, crossing his arms. But he could tell that the man was strong. "Who's he anyway? Some kind of famous bounty hunter…"

"No, he's a former marine captain… after the encounter with him, we did some research, and turns out he was dishonorably discharged from his rank. If I'm not wrong the name is Anchor D. Popeye" Gin finished.

"Wait, you mean like the great sailor Popeye?" Coby asked. "Like Popeye the sailor man?" There were a few names Coby knew from old children's books, like the great lier Noland and Popeye the sailor man.

But unlike Mont Blanc Noland who was portrayed as a liar, Popeye was shown as a strong figure that could carry out inhuman strength feets. It was said that the man was strong enough to pull an island… but he always thought of them as stories… tall tales of the legend.

Gin nodded. "Yup, might be one of his ancestors or something. No, wonder he's strong. Real strong, shot down three of our ships throwing a full freaking building at us."

That made all the straw hats blink.

"…but he's clumsy. Krieg was able to get a drop on him… also he's kind of slow in movement." Gin said. "That's how we're able to escape him. Even if he's not a marine anymore… he still has a strong sense of justice, from what we know. Captain Luffy should look out in case he does something…"

"Hey, join my Crew!" Luffy finally said. And that made all the straw hats facepalm themselves. But why were they even surprised?

"…or he can invite him on the crew." Gin said nodding in understanding. "His skills will be very needed in the future." The others wanted to question the man for his undying loyalty but didn't. Almost all of their crewmates had quirks, they had to get used to it.

"What!" Anchor squinted one of his eyes… well, the other one has shut anyway. So he squinted one of his eyes. "I'm not joining any pirate crews… I may not be a marine anymore, but I won't fall that low… who are you anyway?"

Luffy grinned, he was a bit glad that someone didn't recognize him for Mario.

"Well, my name's Lu…" but he was cut off.

"Wait, aren't you the Hero of Dawn Island Mario?" Anchor said squinting at Luffy, mainly looking at his naginata.

'Maybe I spoke too soon.' Luffy internally grumbled. "As I was saying, name's Luffy… they got the name wrong."

"When did you become a pirate?" Anchor said ignoring Luffy's words.

"What? A pirate can't be a good guy? The last time I checked it's the Marines who lick the ass of self-entitled pigs on the red line." Luffy barked back.

Anchor winched, before gruffing. His early discharge was related to that. But he didn't want to think about it. He already set up a new goal. "I don't care anyway… I'm out on a mission to make the greatest sword in the world and study all their secrets... I just came here from the rumors of a broken Skillful Grade Blade here… but now I have to stop these damn pirates so they don't kill everybody on the island due to their stupid over some corrupt marine loot." the man grumbled. "Anyway, you with em? Cause I ain't afraid of you." He said cocking up his fists.

Luffy blinked. A Skillful Grade Blade… Zoro didn't have any good swords… maybe… This changes things. Luffy waved his hand, acting a bit normal. "No no… I'm actually here to stop them… you see I might be a pirate, but there's a reason everyone calls me a hero. But it doesn't matter either way, I'm here to stop them from causing any more destruction… so if you want I can give you a hand."

Anchor grunted, he didn't like taking help from a pirate, being a former marine, and the reason why both the pirates weren't dead was cause he wanted the civilians to desert the area.

And most of the blood on his clothes was from his enemies anyway. But he didn't refuse the help… he wanted to see why the young man was getting so much attention in the first place.

Luffy then looked at the two pirates that needed to be taken care of. "Well… well well, what do we have here… I'm very curious as to why both Captain Morgan, a former marine is joining hands with a scum like Kuro… but then again birds of the flock stick together don't they."

Luffy was a bit amused. While Anchor D. Popeye, wasn't the Popeye he knew from childhood, but the similarities were there. Those large forearms and the pipe was a hit back to the old days. This was certainly unexpected. Also, the other thing unexpected was seeing Kuro and Morgan here.

The others blinked, Zoro and Kuina narrowed their eyes when they recognized Captain Morgan. He seemed a lot different. He was still the tall man, but was much more slender… had a blonde afro that made him look quite different. And without his marine coat and in addition to his clothless upper body and face mask made him look quite different. But what made him certain that he was Morgan was his axe hand. That he was so famous for.

"Who's you punk?" Morgan growled. "I ain't afraid of a bounty hunter like ya anymore, now that I have my own devil fruit."

"Oh, you have eaten a devil fruit… and what might be," Luffy asked. Visiting this island might have not been all bad. Poor man might need to die… how sad.

Morgan grinned, "I have eaten the smooth smooth fruit… now no one can attack me. Dahahahaha…"

Kuro who was on his side grunted. He also wanted to get that fruit, with it no bladed weapon or sharp weapons would be able to harm him. All the attacks would slip through him.

The reason why both Kuro and Morgan were here on the island was that they had intel that Captain Nezumi often visited this place and had good connection to the island. So they came here to loot the island and try their luck to see if they could find anything.

And it seemed that when they attacked the island. Someone had listed a devil fruit to the black market to sell it off… so they both fought for the devil fruit. While Kuro was faster and tricker, by some odd luck Morgan was able to eat the fruit. Gaining the abilities of a smooth human.

It didn't make Kuro any less determined as he was willing to kill Morgan for taking the fruit. Morgan had not only quit the marines he was also able to gather a good crew of criminals under him once he broke out from Shells Town… with them around Kuro's own makeshift crew were having a hard time holding them off.

While Kuro's crew had the advantage, Kuro on the other hand was at a disadvantage against Morgan who was able to slip away from all of Kuro's attacks.

Their fight was going well, when suddenly the ex-marine popped in. The man was around the island and wanted to stop both their fight as people's livelihoods were getting destroyed because of the meaningless fight.

And Kuro and Morgan wanted to ignore him at first. But when they saw him take down their crewmates, Morgan and Kuro wanted to deal with him separately. But they soon came to the realization that Anchor was much stronger than he let on.

Easily able to take on both Morgan and Kuro at the same time. More so when he was able to damage Morgan with his sea stone-laced anchor. That's the reason why both of them were fighting him at the same time.