NOVEL NEXT Chapter 5: A World of Violence
Summary: Some oddities from the original canon are explained and Luffy makes a choice that he doesn't feel great about.
Chapter 5: A World of Violence
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Luffy took a deep breath, bracing himself for what he was about to do. It had been nearly six months since the Red Hair Pirates had arrived, and the crew were currently out on one of their periodic trips out to do…pirate things? He honestly wasn't sure what they did, beyond possibly train some things that weren't possible or wise on land. Though Shanks had returned with a jian of his own, a quality metal one, after one such trip, which implied supply runs of some sort. He still carried his saber, so Luffy wasn't sure if the man had decided to switch blade types or not, but he'd spent some more time here and there teaching Luffy things he'd figured out with the jian blade.
Wrenching his thoughts back on track, Luffy forced himself to focus on the here and now, even if he really didn't want to. Sighing, he forced himself to start moving, picking his way slowly through the camp of Mountain Bandits that he'd finally located. Not Dadan's group. No, this was the far more murderous group of the Higuma Bandits. He'd been looking for them for quite some time, because he had a theory about several things that just didn't add up. A theory he'd carefully confirmed by observing Higuma himself just a few hours ago.
The man had a Devil Fruit.
When he'd gone over his limited memories of One Piece from his time as Alex, Luffy had begun to suspect that fact. Things just…didn't add up, otherwise. For one thing, Higuma had an absurdly high bounty for a bandit in the East Blue. The average bounty in this ocean was only three million, whereas Higuma's was eight. Worse, Pirates almost always had higher bounties than bandits. Bandit groups were confined to single islands. Isolated problems mostly dealt with internally by various island governments. Pirates, on the other hand, could hit islands at random, disrupt trade lanes, and avoid being hunted down far more easily than bandits. This predictably resulted in far larger relative bounties for Pirates than bandits, making Higuma's stand out all the more in its size.
That had only been the start of the oddities, though. There was also no explanation for how Higuma had managed to escape from someone like Shanks, who almost certainly had Observation Haki. Add in the little detail that Shanks had somehow lost an arm to a relatively weak sea king, just because he'd needed to focus on prioritizing Luffy, and there were far too many things that just did not compute. At all. The most logical answer, the one that would make all of it make sense, was that the man had a Devil Fruit. One that made him a far more credible threat to Shanks, even if no where near enough of one. It had been Luffy's theory, and it had been proven correct. What's more, he actually recognized the fruit in question. The bloody things was the Moku Moku no Mi, the Smoke Logia that a certain Marine would eventually end up with. Possibly, at least. Given that it was a good 12 years before the events of the anime, it wasn't too surprising that Smoker didn't have his Fruit yet. And Higuma managing to vanish in a puff if smoke, despite Shanks' Haki, suddenly made a hell of a lot more sense.
It was also why Luffy was here, sneaking through the bandit camp, with a bag of every sort of Fruit he could get his hands on stuffed in his inventory. It was also why he was carrying a small seastone dagger in one hand, with Gamer's Mind failing to fully suppress his anxiousness. This should work. But...Luffy was also about to kill someone for the first time. Not in a fair fight, either. But as a cold-blooded assassination. He knew the man, who had over forty confirmed deaths and at least three rapes on his list of known crimes, wasn't exactly going to be a loss to mankind. But still…
He pushed the thought down, focusing on his sneaking. He'd managed to pick out the small cave his target had to himself. This particular group of bandits was spread among a dozen small caves, up in the mountains of Goa. Higuma had claimed one as his own, being the leader, and Luffy slipped inside without being spotted by anyone. There had been a lookout, but these weren't soldiers. The man that had drawn that duty had ruined his night vision by staring at a fire, making it ridiculously easy to sneak by him. It was something his Sneak skill had needed to point out to him, so Luffy couldn't exactly blame the man. Particularly when they didn't have any real reason to expect trouble.
Higuma was snoring, a bottle of half-empty booze nearby proving he'd likely be dead to the world. Luffy braced himself, blanked his mind, and struck. There was a few brief moments of panicked flailing from Higuma, which Luffy desperately tried to ignore by taking a large bag of various fruits out of his inventory and setting it nearby. It's not like the man could cry for help with his throat slit. It also didn't take long for him to bleed out. Luffy shuddered, even with Gamer's Mind keeping him calm. Focusing desperately on the fruits…he was startled as his plan didn't quite work the way he'd intended. Instead of one of the Fruits changing to a Devil Fruit, a popup window appeared from his system!
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You have killed a being who possessed the Moku Moku no Mi,! Two Spirit Coupons have been added to your currency.
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Luffy stared at the notification. Had it done that because his System knew what he'd intended? Or would it always do that? Was that better? Worse? He shook himself and quickly put the bag of fruit back in his inventory, stumbling toward the exit. He took one glance back at the dead bandit, shuddered, then fled. He only barely remembered the need to be sneaky on his way out…
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Status
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Name: Monkey D. Luffy
Age: 8
Level: 10
Devil Fruit: N/A
Money: 542000 Belli
Shop Points: 500
Perk Points: 4
Spirit Coupons: 2
Stats:
Strength: 20
Dexterity: 30
Endurance: 29
Intelligence: 44
Wisdom: 28
Charisma: 17
Luck: 26
Free Stat Points: 44
Perks
Gamer's Body: Grants a body that allows for the user to live the real world like a game. Wounds healed on rest. Status Effects removed on Rest.
Gamer's Mind: Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. Gamer can suppress negative emotions at will.
The Will of D: Bearer holds the inherited will of the Family of D. Effect: Live in Interesting Times, ?, ?
Outsider's Perspective: Imported save data increases relevant stats, as well as relevant skills when acquired.
Gifted Hands: You are naturally good with your hands. Anything from art to martial arts get's a helping hand. Your instincts for all such things are 10% better than they should be, and you get a 5% boost to XP gain for any skill based around working with your hands.
Intuitive Combatant: You are naturally gifted at learning combat. You are 15% faster at learning any type of combat, from the use of guns to punching lights out with your bare fists!
Sage's Curve: You learn intellectual pursuits much faster than normal, and retain the knowledge more completely. You have a 20% boost to learning speed and memory retention of any intelligence or wisdom based skills.
Sword Savant: You have created a new sword style at an incredibly young age. Known its flaws and how to fix them instinctively.
Training Expert: Get the most out of training! Not just for yourself, but for your crew too! Gain instinctive knowledge of the best ways to tweak your training for those GAINS BRO! +15% XP for Training your own skills, or for Training others in skills in which you outrank your trainee by at least 10 points.
Skills
Brawling: 15
Carpentry(Ships): 25
Guns: 3
Haki(Conquerors): 1
Haki(Observation): 20
Medicine: 4
Meditation: 23
Observe: 41
Free Running: 18
Sailing: 20
Sciences: 29
Sneak: 20
Sword Mastery: 17
Spear Mastery: 5
Staff Mastery: 9
More…
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Luffy stared sightlessly at his Status screen, even as he heard the raucous noises of the Red Hair pirates trickling in. He'd been stuck staring at it for minutes at a time for the last three days, and he knew Makino was getting worried. He couldn't help it, though. He'd gained two levels from killing Higuma. Logically, he knew that was the result of how much stronger than him the bandit had been. He'd already learned that fighting to defeat with the local animals around the village was enough to gain experience, after all. He'd specifically tested that fact to make sure his status as a Gamer wasn't going to force him to kill tons of people or something. Yet, part of him couldn't separate the act of having killed for the first time from the fact he'd shot up two levels. Not to mention that his reasons for doing it hadn't exactly been wholly unselfish to begin with. Gamer's Mind did a lot to reduce the negative effects…but only if he wanted it to. At the moment, he was too afraid of it making him inhuman if let it take away the shock and disgust.
"Luffy?"
A gentle hand prodded his shoulder and he looked up to see Shanks, the man's usual boisterous expression absent from his face. Their eyes met, the Pirate Captain's searching his, and Shanks' shoulders slumped.
"Shit. Okay kid, who did you kill and why?"
Luffy's eyes widened, then darted around the suddenly silent room, seeing worried expressions on every face. Shanks shook his shoulder, forcing him to look back.
"Kid, no one in this room is going to judge you. All of us have blood on our hands, even our local bar beauty. But it's eating at you. Best to get it out now, before it hollows you out. The first time is never easy."
Shanks had been kneeling before, but now he sat on the floor, picking Luffy up from his stool and dropping him down across from him on the floor. Luffy closed his eyes for a moment. He…couldn't explain everything. But he could tell most of the truth. And maybe it would help?
"I…he was a bandit. From one of the mountain groups…" Luffy licked his lips, eyes darting up but seeing no judgement in Shanks' eyes. "He…I couldn't just knock him out. He turned to smoke. I…I had to use…"
There was a hiss from somewhere in the crowd as Luffy slowly fished out the seastone knife. Luffy ignored it, knowing there were a couple of Devil Fruit users in Shanks' crew. It had likely been one of them. His eyes stayed on Shanks, as the Captain simply nodded.
"He had a Devil Fruit, then. And you had a seastone knife. Where did you get it?"
That Luffy couldn't answer. But he didn't really need to, not directly.
"I was given it." Technically true…by the System. "I was told that some people, like the bandit, couldn't be hurt just by punching them. Not even by a sword, or shooting them. That, if I ever needed to hurt someone like that…this would do it. This or something called Armament Haki? I was told it's like a punchy version of the sensing thing I can do?"
Shanks had remained unsurprised up until Luffy's last statement. He had, Luffy assumed, drawn the conclusion about the knife that Luffy had wanted people to. That Garp had given it to him as a way to defend himself from Logia Fruits. Everyone, even the pirate crew, knew who his grandfather was, after all. The bit he'd slipped in about observation Haki had clearly caught Shanks off guard though, and he saw the man visibly pushing the thought off for another time.
"It's okay, Luffy. You did exactly what you should have done, alright? If this man was a bandit, one with a Devil Fruit, he was a danger to the entire island. You saved people, right?"
Luffy sniffled, staring at Shanks' left arm. His whole left arm. Shanks didn't know everything. But…yes. Luffy hadn't killed Higuma only for his fruit, after all. Cold blooded as it was, he had saved people. He clung to that fact, even as Shanks scooped him up in a hug.
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A/N: Shanks losing track of Higuma, losing an arm to a relatively weak seaking he should have been able to dominate with Conqueror's Haki, and basically everything else about that utterly nonsense bit of backstory never made a bit of senses to me. So this alteration is my attempt to make it make sense, with Higuma being a former users of the Smoke Smoke Fruit. Of course, since Luffy short-circuited that whole thing, Shanks is going to get to keep his arm, too...