Koby

Luffy scratches his head as he was looking around. It seems he was lost. "Hmmmm, when in doubt, head north. I need a navigator, that storm hit and completely changed my route'

He put out his oars and headed north. He could've used haki to travel, but where is the fun in that? After an hour of rowing, he found something. Something he should've tried to avoid. A whirlpool. 'Whoops, that looks bad.' Luffy raises a glowing hand, and from it, a small bright yellow red-orange ball comes out. It started to get bigger and bigger. In a matter of seconds, it has reached a diameter of 20 meters. 'Sun Sun no mi: Devastation', he lets the ball go and make it float above the whirlpool. Directly under the ball, the whirlpool started to get hotter, to the point of steaming.

'Solar Flare'

*PSSHHH*

*BOOOOMMM*

A massive pillar of heat, the same size as the ball just came crashing down from it. It hits the whirlpool and forces it to stop its rotation.

(Narrator PoV)

This would have been all great if Luffy just thought about what he's going to do, thoroughly. But alas, no matter how long Luffy stayed in the "New World", no matter how many pirates he has already captured and killed, no matter how long he has been nurtured by constantly sailing in this past decade, he will always have a special kind of power. Others call it carelessness, others call it arrogance, others may call it ignorance, but we all know what it truly is: Stupidity.

(Narrator PoV end)

In that split second that the whirlpool vanishes, Luffy had a big toothy smile that was soon erased. Now in front of him, is not a whirlpool, but a big geyser followed by an almost as tall wave. How could that not happen? He shot a 20-meter wide, almost 40 meters in length, a cylinder of pure sun heat. The water got displaced and trashed as it quickly covered the missing water which in turn forces it to create a wave. (IDK know the exact science, I just bull shitted that one)

—————-

Koby just went to catch some fishes for his meals. He mistakenly rode on a different boat. That boat was special as it was the boat of a pirate ship used for resupplying. Because of his mistake, he has been since serving the Alvida Pirates for the past 2 years. He cleans deck, the rails, the mast, and even the kitchen. He also handles the supply station every time they dock at an island. Because of his cowardly nature, he just accepted it. Being threatened by Alvida's mace has nothing to do with it at all, nothing at all.

Koby was miserable, he actually wanted to join the marine but the opposite is what happened to him. 'I wish I can change my fate'. And that it did.

Today was just an ordinary supply check for one of the stations of the Alvida Pirates. Koby found a barrel just floating towards the shore. When it hit the shore, he took it and told the other 2 people about this barrel. The three of them put the barrel inside a small shack that serves as their "pantry". (The word escaped me, what can I change pantry with?)

"Koby, What a lucky find! You better don't tell anyone about this, or we'll beat you up!"

"Y... YES!" Koby is visibly scared now, he still has a broken rib from last night when he stepped on that man's foot.

But something happened that none of them expected. A man wearing a straw-hat burst out of the barrel. He was lean but muscular. He has a red vest on with a black coat over it.

"WOOHOO!! Lucky roo was right, you can survive inside a barrel." The man then went into a complicated and confused face. 'Why did lucky roo know that? How did he fit inside a barrel?' The man's face turned into a disgusted one once he imagined the scene of a certain fat man squishing his body inside a barrel. (Remember Luffy's face when he remembered the old mermaid? That one.) Of course, this is no one else but Luffy.

"Who are you??!? Are you a marine?!?"

"Don't just stand there? Attack!!"

There were two people behind Luffy. Luffy detected them earlier but he didn't do anything, but now, he sensed killing intent from them. He just turned his head towards them and glared at the two of them.

Koby almost pissed his pants when the two people fainted with foams in their mouth. 'This man just killed them with a glare!! Mo-mo- monster!!'

Luffy turns toward the one in front of him. There is a pink-haired boy with glasses on. "Hello, my name is Luffy, who're you?" Luffy tilts his head as this kid looks very scared. His limbs are shaking and his jaw is trembling.

Luffy smiles and a warm glow emanates from his body. 'Sun Sun no mi: Calming glow'. It is known that sunshine can stimulate a person's body and make it produce serotonin to calm down the nerves and relieve stress from people, Luffy can also do that with his powers. He can do it much faster and much more effective than normal. He learned to do that when the Red-Hair pirates got too drunk too fast and were being too loud in towns.

Koby calms down and sighs of relief. He sensed that he can at least talk to the man in front of him. Koby raises his still shaking but a little calmer hands "My name is Koby."

"So Koby, what are you doing with pirates? You don't look like the normal pirates I know of." Luffy asks as he shakes Koby's hand. Koby's face blushes a bit and tells Luffy about what happened to him. Luffy's laugh couldn't get louder as he listened to Koby's story about his predicament.

"I'm sorry for laughing", chuckled Luffy "but if you really wanted to be a marine, Stand your ground, that is a sign of a GOOD marine. I just wish that you won't stray from that path, because there are good and bad marines out there. Some even abusing their powers"

"That is not true! Marines stand with justice and kindness." Shouts Koby, even though he is afraid of the man in front of him, he doesn't believe that there are bad marines out there. Luffy just smiles silently because of it.

"KOBY!! Where are you, you cockroach! You and those two buffoons sure took your time inside!"

Luffy and Koby turn to the doors as a voice, almost manly in gruffness enter their ears. "We shouldn't show ourselves, this would get ugly," Koby was once again shaking in his boots as he remembers the two passed out pirates behind Luffy.

"Nah, it is going to be fine," reassured Luffy as he drags Koby out of the small shack. Koby didn't realize he was being dragged out because of his fear of Alvida. He only noticed when they are already in front of her.

In front of them is a stout woman. She is as wide as she is tall, big mouth with a disproportioned face. She is carrying a Big Mace on her shoulder. "Who is this Koby? And why is he with you?" Alvida asks as she eyes Luffy up and down.

"My name's Luffy, and I'm going to be the king of the pirates," Luffy answered with a smile and a chuckle.

Alvida, Koby and the rest of the crew looked at him surprised, Koby even looked betrayed, 'he was a pirate?!? He even wants to be the king of them?!?'

Alvida starts laughing. "That skinny man going to be the king of pirates? HA! That is some joke that you just don't tell a pirate. Koby, why is he with you?"

"Rude woman, ugly too. If you aren't aiming to become the king of the pirates? Then why are you a pirate to begin with?" Says Luffy with a bit of an annoyance.

"What'd you say brat!!??" Alvida now has veins popping on her head. "You wanna die punk?" "Well, I don't, but he does," Luffy says while pointing his finger at Koby. "He apparently wants to be a Marine, while on the boat of pirates."

'!!!' Koby is about to shit himself. He wanted to deny that quickly as he looks at Alvida who us now foaming on her mouth. He looks at Luffy again and was surprised. Luffy is just smiling the same way earlier when Luffy told him "stand your ground, that is the sign of a good marine."

With shaking legs, he looks at Alvida and yells out, "I WILL BE A MARINE AND I'M GOING TO ARREST YOU, YOU UGLY DAMNED BITCH!!!"

Alvida finally snapped, she is releasing a murderous aura, the crew behind her is also afraid of what is going to happen. "Is that so Koby? Well, traitorous people like you deserve only death. I'll kill you first before I kill that straw man."

Alvida raises her mace and swings it downwards at Koby. At that moment, Koby sees flashes of his life, but the thing that stuck with him at that moment is the thought of 'I really want to become a marine' he closes his eyes with tears already coming out of them. But nothing came, the only thing that came was something else.

*Thud*

*Thud*

*Thud*

Multiple thudding sounds came, he opens one of his eyes and was surprised, everyone in Alvida's crew has fainted. Koby was surprised and remembered what Luffy did earlier. He slowly turns his head towards Luffy and just sees him smiling. "Good, there is a nearby Marine post if I remember correctly. Wanna go there and register as a marine?"

Koby's surprised face was slowly changing to a crying one. He had suffered under Alvida for 2 years. He never had any chance of escaping. He got hit for missing a spot to clean, he got beat up for nothing, he was almost played with by Alvida if she wasn't too drunk that night to move, He just accepted his fate and gave up on escaping and changing his life.

Now, in just 15 minutes, his life has changed, someone is even willing to help him. When his first tear fell and rolls on his cheeks, he bawled his eyes out while just saying "Thank You" over and over again. Luffy just smiles.