91 Chapter 91

91

"Oh, you have eaten a devil fruit… and what might be." Luffy asked.

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

Luffy blinked, before laughing. Now it made sense, so maybe Alvida got her fruit from Nezumi… and it seemed that that didn't occur because of Luffy's current actions.

'Yeah, I'm pretty sure that Alvida is kind of dead… I did knock her out pretty bad and then split the ship in two… her surviving would be pretty rare.' Luffy thought. 'But it's kind of funny seeing Morgan eat that fruit… still not bad, I wouldn't give it to any of my crewmates, but selling it would fetch a good price.'

"That's really impressive, but I don't really like you… so please die." Luffy said, before returning his Horn's edge to his back. And the big man suddenly found himself split in half, vertically, before falling backward. No devil fruit can stop the power of haki.

Anchor who was on the side was wide-eyed. He could barely see the movement. How did a brat that was a decade younger than him be this strong… and that was certainly Armament Haki.

Anchor didn't know Haki yet, so he opted to use his anchor —that was laced with sea stone— against devil fruit users that could negate physical damage. But seeing someone in the East Blue use Haki… but then he suddenly remembered. Didn't the paper suggest that he was the grandson of Garp. 'If he's related to Vice Admiral Garp, then I can see that happening.' He thought, 'Also that naginata…'

"Is that… hey, where did you get that blade… the metal one with chains," The anchor said pointing at Luffy, and his nameless naginata.

Luffy blinked, "Uh… I was given it by someone…" Luffy said. "Why? You don't look like a blade user to me…" he said eyeing the anchor that Anchor held. It was kind of ironic, how a man named Anchor was using an anchor as a hammer weapon.

"Because I have worked on that particular weapon when it was still in the hands of the marines… But it seems that wild blade found itself in the hands of a pirate again." He said, "I'm not a swordsman, but I do come from a smith family… My anchor isn't only for combat, it's also for smiting… I don't care either way. "

Luffy blinked, a weapon smith… now wasn't that interesting. He wanted the man on his crew… who knows what kind of fun weapon he could make. And he already knew about his blade, that is quite impressive…

"You might as well be bluffing." Luffy shot back, but he wasn't just going to take his word for it.

"The blade shortened to your size, didn't it… because the height of the naginata doesn't add up." He said, rubbing his chin, "Also that chain… it's from one of the compartments that I wasn't able to open… the weapon only allowed me to fix its blade, nothing more… it didn't deem me worthy to be its wielder… not that I wanted to of course. Its good to see that someone was finally able to wield that blade… it was quite impressive." More so when you add the fact that it was not broken by Vice Admiral Garp's fist. Just only got bent and dented. But he didn't say that out loud.

He was also curious as to how this Luffy fellow was able to get his hand on the weapon. Maybe Garp gave it to him… nah, he wouldn't do that.

Luffy was impressed, but he didn't show it. "Well, you aren't lying… before I wasn't even able to carry it… it was quite heavy, but after I was able to speak to it, and make it mine, it became almost weightless… and shortened to my size."

"So, you were able to tame that wild blade…" The ex-marine mumbled, impressed. As a blacksmith he wouldn't be able to ignore that… "Tell you what… you give me some time to study your other blade… the bone blade and, I will give you something in return…"

That wasn't a bad deal. His Horn's Edge wasn't a ranked blade… so he could let the man see it. Especially since he was the one that fixed his nameless naginata. Maybe he could even upgrade the blade…

'If I am not able to get him on my crew… I will still have to keep good relation with him. His skills will be valuable.' Luffy thought.

"Why not join my crew?" Luffy mused. A person who can fight of both Kuro and Morgan at the same time with their full crew… being able to stop the Krieg pirates, taking down their ships… and not to mention he had some skills in the forging department … that kind of skill was needed for his crew.

From his observation of Haki it became obvious Anchor's status was. He was strong, but it seemed that Anchor lacked the intuition and speed that a fighter needs. He was more like an unbalanced character in a video game, having maxed status in strength while lacking in others.

If not for his sea-stone-laced weapon, he was sure that Coby or even Gin would be able to handle him in a drawn-out fight. Unless of course he was able to get the drop on them.

But when it came to strength, Luffy wasn't sure just how strong he was. But he might be even able to contend with him in raw power.

'He's kind of like that Elizabello fellow… who is able to destroy a fortress with his strength if he has enough time to charge it up. But other than that he's weak, in other aspects.'

Anchor gave Luffy a deadpan. "No, but I will grant you some other request…"

"Didn't you say this island has a broken Skillful Grade Blade… did you already find it?"

Anchor didn't say anything, but his eyes narrowed a bit.

Luffy put his hands up, "Hey, I'm not going to take it from you or anything like that… in fact, I'm willing to buy it from you… but have you fixed it?" Anchor looked at Luffy for a while, he found no signs of lying so he answered.

"No, but it shouldn't take time… and I don't mind giving it to someone who can wield the blade… but I also need some cash for that… just for the repair charge would be enough." He said, as a proud swordsmith he would love to see weapons made by him, or in this case repaired by him go on to skillful users.

"Then when you are done, you can it to Zoro over there… you might know him as the man that challenged Mihawk. A foolish man I tell you… foolish enough to join the crew that will be the strongest in the future. And follow me, the man who one day will be the king of the pirates. Shishishi…"

The blacksmith looked at Luffy, quite a bold goal. Some would call the boy foolish, yet his feats so far said otherwise.

Anchor then looked at Zoro. He also recognized him, the pirate hunter Zoro. "Well, it depends if the sword actually acknowledged him…" he smirked. "Though fixing it might take a whole day. Your nameless Naginata was just had a bent blade, so I was able to fix that… but the sword is cracked in several places, so it will take some time to put all the parts back together… also, do one more thing for me. Give me a lift to Logue Town, I need to meet a former acquaintance there…" He said, before eyeing the remaining pirate captain. Captain Kuro was actually trying to sneak from both of them.

"Sure thing." Luffy agreed, jabbing his thumb at Kuro. "But what about him…"

"I will have to deal with him and the rest of their pirate crew first. Many people died cause of them…" he said in all seriousness.

"You heard him guys, get them," Luffy called out, as the rest of the crew dawned their weapons and charged toward the pirates. The poor lackeys stood no chance, as they were getting taken out rather quickly.

Only Usopp remained in his place and he was glaring at Kuro.

Anchor who was about to charge against Kuro was stopped. "Yeah… can you give Kuro to my crewmate? They have a bit of history."

The smith frowned, before looking between Usopp and Kuro, and nodded.

"Usopp, why don't you handle this one…" Luffy said, "You did want to pay him back for betraying Kaya."

The long nose came forward, and this time, he wasn't shaking… much. "I'm not afraid of you anymore Kuro!" he said, taking out his new customized revolvers, that was now mixed with Adam's wood and high-quality steel that he scavenged of Zoro's broken sword. "Today, is the day I end your evil ways…"

Luffy almost cringed at that line… but didn't say anything. His long-nosed friend was trying to play it brave… and he didn't want to ruin the moment. Though it seemed like Coby, Usopp might also be suffering from eighth-grader syndrome.

Kuro clicked his tongue, "Not this idiot again… you really think you can beat me, Captin Kuro of th…" but he wasn't able to finish when one bullet went straight from Usopp's gun to Kuro's head.

The pirate was able to fling the bullet off with his claws, but the Usopp knew he was going to do that, so the second shot was aimed at his left knee. Which Kuro wasn't able to avoid or deflect. "Uh…"

"Let's give them some space to fight." Luffy mused jumping off to a nearby roof.

"Whatever… I can deal with others…" Anchor grunted before jumping to another rooftop, unlike Luffy he wasn't that interested in the fight. So he joined the other straw hats in hunting down the lackeys that attacked the island.

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A/N: Anchor D. Popeye is an original character I made up, if some of you don't know. He has the potential to be strong, I mean very strong... and with good morals and a bit of complicated background, he is quite the character that will show up in the fic from time to time.

Anyway, he won't join the crew... yet. Maybe later who knows. --really, cause I don't know either--

This original story arch done for two reason. Give Usopp the backbones of a pirate, and let him grow from a boy to man, and give Zoro a named blade. Cause I like my bad ass swordsman armed with famed blades, thank you.

Some of you complained about the crew being large. Even my early readers say it, and I get that, but this is how I liked my story. This is a extended crew fic. But I won't bring along just any people. Only the best.

As for other original arcs. I'm not sure yet. I may do more in the future. Or it will just be a fic that only follows Canon. And where's the fun in that.)