One Piece: The Marine of the Straw Hat Pirates

Check out advanced chapters on P@treon: [email protected]/CosmicKaminari

----------

Not far away, Koby noticed a Marine chatting amicably with Ikki, and he felt a wave of relief.

"I mean, Luffy, what do you think Ikki is talking about with that Marine captain?" Koby asked, curious.

Luffy picked his nose casually and shrugged. "I dunno."

Suddenly, Luffy sneezed without warning, then went right back to picking his nose, completely unbothered.

Meanwhile...

In the Calm Belt, Garp sneezed violently and muttered to himself, "Sengoku must be banging the table again!"

Right on cue, a Den Den Mushi call from Sengoku came through.

"Garp... have you had enough of wandering around? Get back to headquarters immediately!" Sengoku barked.

"Yeah, yeah... I'm already on the way!" Garp replied lazily, still picking his nose.

"And another thing... did you steal the senbei from behind my bookcase?"

"Uh... a Sea King just popped up in front of me! Gotta go!" Garp quickly hung up.

Elsewhere...

After a heated discussion with the Marine captain, Ikki boarded a small boat with Luffy and Koby. The Marines had even provided them with fresh water and ample food supplies.

"These Marine uncles are really nice people!" Luffy said with a cheerful grin.

"My identity as a private Marine came in handy!" Ikki said proudly, shrugging his shoulders.

Luffy figured Ikki must have mentioned his grandfather during the conversation, but he didn't dwell on it. If Ikki wanted to be a Marine on his pirate ship, that was fine by him. After all, having a Marine onboard sounded pretty fun.

'In the future, I'll have musicians, chefs, navigators... why not add a Marine? It'll be interesting!' Luffy thought, his smile widening.

For the rest of the journey, Koby steered the ship, Luffy focused on eating, and Ikki sat at the edge of the boat, lost in thought.

More accurately, he was staring at a system panel visible only to him.

After the encounter with the Alvida Pirates, Ikki's account had gained over 200 points, allowing him to perform two silver draws. The significant number of points wasn't because he defeated a large pirate crew but because he had saved many lives.

The Alvida Pirates weren't a massive group—just seventy or eighty members in total. Among them, only Alvida herself stood out as an elite pirate. Most of Ikki's points came from saving the passengers on the ship the pirates had attacked.

The justice system rewarded him for both eradicating evil and supporting good. The more people he saved, the more points he earned.

After deliberating for a while, Ikki decided to save his points for now. He wanted to accumulate enough for ten consecutive silver draws. A guaranteed silver-level reward came with the ten-draw set, which was far more reliable than drawing individually and risking only bronze rewards.

"I'm not exactly the luckiest guy," Ikki thought to himself, dismissing any hopes of a miraculous jackpot from single pulls.

The small boat eventually reached Shells Town.

Ikki knew this was where Luffy would meet Roronoa Zoro. Of course, Luffy's decision to come here was no coincidence—he was already aware of Zoro's existence.

"Mr. Luffy, it's too reckless for you to recruit someone like that as a crewmate!" Koby protested, trying to dissuade Luffy.

Luffy smiled nonchalantly. "I haven't decided yet. If he's a good guy, I'll think about it."

"But he's a bad guy! That's why the Marines arrested him..." Koby argued.

At that moment, Ikki, who had been silent, finally spoke up. "Not everyone arrested by the Marines is a bad person, and not all Marines are good people."

After hearing Ikki's words, Koby fell silent.

His brief time with Luffy had already taught him an important lesson—not all who aspire to be pirates are bad people. Luffy was undeniably a good person. And, of course... so was Ikki.

Unaware that he'd just been labeled a "good guy," Ikki approached Luffy and said, "Finding Roronoa Zoro isn't too complicated. He should be at the Marine base's school grounds."

"Oh? Really? Let's head there right away!" Luffy exclaimed, brimming with excitement.

Outside the Marine Base's School Grounds

Luffy grabbed the edge of a wall and peered over. At the center of the school grounds was a man tied to a large wooden cross.

The man wore a green bandana, a plain white T-shirt, an abdominal belt around his waist, and three earrings dangling from his left ear. His identity was unmistakable—Roronoa Zoro, the future swordsman of the Straw Hat Pirates.

"There he is!" Luffy said with a big grin.

Ikki, who had also climbed the wall, spotted Zoro immediately.

Zoro was in rough shape. His clothes were filthy, his body was covered in dirt, and clear signs of whipping marred his frame. It was obvious he had endured torture.

Pointing at Zoro, Luffy declared, "Let's set him free right now!"

Koby's face went pale at the suggestion. "Don't be ridiculous! That's Zoro—"

Before Koby could finish his protest, a little girl climbed over the opposite side of the wall. Once inside the school grounds, she ran toward Zoro, clutching two rice balls in her hands.

Zoro, despite his gruff exterior, immediately refused the food. He wasn't rejecting the girl out of arrogance or cruelty, but out of concern. He feared that if he accepted her kindness, it might bring danger to her and her family.

To protect her, Zoro tried to scare her away with a roar. But the little girl wasn't frightened at all. She looked up at him with unwavering determination, fully convinced that the man in front of her was a good person.

The truth was, the reason Zoro was tied up here in the first place was because of this very same little girl.

The girl's family owned a small restaurant. One day, Helmeppo, the son of Captain Morgan, was strolling through town with his dog.

The dog wasn't leashed, which was a disaster waiting to happen. But because of Helmeppo's status, no one dared to complain, even when the dog caused trouble. Most just muttered their frustrations in private.

The dog barged into the little girl's family restaurant and nearly attacked her. In that moment, Zoro stepped in, beating both the dog and Helmeppo to protect the girl.

Helmeppo, knowing he was no match for Zoro in a fight, retaliated by threatening the lives of the little girl and her mother. He promised to let them live, but only if Zoro agreed to be tied up for a month without food or water.

Naively underestimating how cruel people could be, Zoro accepted the deal without hesitation. And so, he ended up bound in the school grounds.

As the little girl continued to plead with Zoro to eat the rice balls, the iron gate to the school grounds creaked open. Helmeppo swaggered in, flanked by a group of Marines.

Helmeppo wore a flashy suit, his greasy, slicked-back hair parting down the middle. His arrogant demeanor practically begged for a punch.

Spotting the little girl and her rice balls, Helmeppo smirked with malice. "Zoro, bullying a little girl now? How disgraceful."

Without waiting for a response, he reached out to snatch the rice balls from the girl's hands, clearly intending to eat them himself.

But before his hand could touch them, a sudden gust of wind sent Helmeppo flying backward.

Immediately, Luffy and Ikki appeared behind the little girl.

And it was Ikki who had acted.