Chapter 2: Start of an Adventure

Welcome to another chapter of Coby's Choice! This was updated right after the first chapter, so I have no idea what sort of responses the first one got, but who cares? (Hint: I do.) Anyway, onward we go!

Chapter 2:

Start of an Adventure

"I'm hungry," Luffy whined for the fifteenth time in as many minutes, much to the ire of the boat's other awake occupant. They had been traveling for nearly two hours and their captain had eaten all the food they'd had from the village within half of that time. It only took that long because he was 'rationing'. Coby glanced at his compass and adjusted the sail's angle.

Apparently, the young boy was the only one of the three of them with any skill at navigating. Luffy had never bothered to learn while Zoro was completely stupid when it came to directions. This was proven when he claimed that they needed to move away from the sun because it was 5 o'clock and the sun rises forward and sets behind. Luffy then tried the argue that the S on the compass stood for Sun, so the sun was always in that direction. Their squabbling had lasted for a good ten minutes before Zoro decided to take a nap and Luffy started to whine about boredom. The conversation started to sound a little something like this:

"Coby, where's the food?"

"You ate it, Captain Luffy."

"Ate it? When did I-"

"An hour ago, Captain."

"But now I'm hungry again. Coby, do you know how to cook?"

"Not really. I can cook fish, but that's about it."

"If I caught a fish, could you cook it?"

"Not here."

"Why not?"

"We're in a boat."

"So?"

"Boats are made of wood."

"So?"

"Wood burns. The boat would catch fire and we'd either drown our burn to death."

"That doesn't sound fun."

"No, it do-"

"HEY LOOK! A BIRD! COME HERE YOU!" Luffy stretched his arm, latching onto the large, pink bird flying over the boat in an attempt the bring it down and eat it. What Luffy didn't anticipate was the size of the bird. It was larger than their dingy and barely registered Luffy grabbing on. The captain in question was lifted from the boat. "CRAP! HELP ME!"

"CAPTAIN LUFFY!" Coby cried out. Zoro, who had been woken by Luffy's initial call to the feathered animal, could only stare as the man that claimed he was going to become the Pirate King was carried away.

"Should we do something about that?" Zoro asked in a bored tone.

"YES!"

"Alright, alright. Geez, calm down, Shrimp. Grab an oar." As Zoro said this, Luffy was losing sight of the boat. Not that he was aware of the fact or truly cared. He was riding a bird, for Rodger's sake. Thoughts of both his tiny crew in a tiny boat and eating his transportation were overridden by the excitement of the wind whistling through his hair. There was a moment of panic where Luffy nearly lost his hat, but it was rectified by a single stretch of his arm. Back on the boat, Zoro and Coby were rowing as hard as they could.

And they weren't going anywhere.

Logically, when two people row together at the same time, a boat moves forward, but this is with the assumption that both are about the same size and with the same strength. Coby and Zoro were about as far apart in that regard as Reverse Mountain is from Fishman Island. The large strength gap caused them to move in one big circle.

"Dammit," Zoro cursed. "We lost him."

"I'm sorry," Coby whined. "It's all my fault. I knew I was just going to hold Captain Luffy back and now we've lost him because I'm so weak. I should just throw myself overbo- OW! Why did you hit me?"

"You were being too loud. Now calm down and give me that oar." Zoro grabbed the outstretched paddle and moved to the front of the ship. "Which way did he go?"

"Uh. If I remember correctly, the bird was moving northwest, so that way." Coby pointed over the port side. The swordsman began rowing at a speed Coby had thought impossible. The boy took hold of the mast in order to keep his footing and not fly off the speeding ship. They stayed that way for a few minutes.

Directly in their path were three men. The first was a ginger with hair that looked like a flattened afro. The second was a muscular, dark-skinned man. The third, who seemed to be the leader, had multiple ear piercings and was missing a couple of teeth. He also wore a black bandana with a skull-and-crossbones that had a large red nose and a flashy hat.

"You in the boat!" the man with the bandana called. "Help us!"

"I'm not stopping!" Zoro called back. "If you want in, grab on when I pass!" The men screamed as Zoro sped past, grabbing the side of the boat lest they be left behind in the middle of the ocean. They pulled themselves up and into the boat and came to rest on the deck, breathing heavily and dripping seawater. As soon as they had caught their breath, they pulled their swords from the sheaths on their belts.

"Heh, thanks for the save," the bandana-wearing man chuckled, "but we are taking this ship now. You see, we're with Buggy the Clown."

"B-B-Buggy the Clown?!" Coby screeched. "One of the most feared pirates in all of the East Blue?!"

"The very same," the man chuckled. He and his cronies advanced on the terrified boy and the impassive swordsman.

"Who's this 'Buggy the Clown' guy?" Zoro asked.

"You don't know who Buggy the Clown is?" Coby gasped. Zoro remained unmoved with the exception of his arms which were still rowing at his ungodly (for the East Blue) speed.

"No I don't. Is that a problem."

"It might be for your health," the man sneered, "if you don't give us the boat."

"I'd like to see you try," Zoro shot back.

"Zoro, maybe we should give them the boat. Better to live and find Captain Luffy later than to die here."

"Not a chance, Shrimp."

"Did he say 'Zoro'? As in R-Roranoa Zoro," the ginger man stuttered.

"The infamous pirate hunter?" the other man muttered fearfully.

"Oh, so you've heard of me?"

"Shut up, you fools," their leader hissed. "This can't be Roranoa Zoro. Why would he be out here looking for this 'Captain Luffy'? Plus any real pirate hunter would have heard of Captain Buggy."

"You're starting to get on my nerves," Zoro growled. He stopped rowing and prepped his swords. The men advanced.

(One short not-really-a-fight later)

"We're sowwy, Mr. Zowo," the bandana-wearing man apologized through a busted lip. Beside him, his partners had taken up rowing the boat. Luckily they could still use a paddle when both of their eyes were swollen shut. "We didn't thwink it wath you."

"Yeah, yeah," Zoro waved off. He was disappointed in the fight and was itching to cut something. "Just listen to the Shrimp's directions and you won't find yourselves stranded at sea again."

"Yeth thir!"

"Are we headed the right way, Shrimp?" Coby, who was hung up on seeing such threatening men beaten with so little effort, snapped out of his thoughts.

"Oh! Y-yes. I'm not sure how far it is to land, but we are moving in the direction we saw that bird take Captain Luffy."

"Good. I'm going to take a nap. Shrimp, if any of these morons make any suspicious moves, wake me up. I'll cut first and ask questions later." With that, Zoro sat on the deck and leaned against the wall, his arm wrapped around his swords protectively. Zoro gave the men one last glare before he closed his eyes and was soon snoring softly, leaving a scared Coby with the three terrified Buggy pirates.

Meanwhile...

"AAAAAHHHH!" Luffy screamed. One moment he was flying high, the next an explosion caused his ride to plummet. He landed in a street in the middle of four people, kicking up an impressive cloud of dust. All four looked at him, expecting to see his mangled and broken body. What they did not expect was for him to stand and pat the dust off himself as if he fell from the sky every other day.

"Aww man," Luffy whined childishly. "I was having so much fun on that bird."

"Captain!" one of the figures exclaimed. She was an orange-haired girl dressed in a blue-and-white striped shirt, an orange skirt, and heeled sandals. "I'm so glad I found you! These men were trying to kill me! Could you take care of them?"

"Huh?" Luffy questioned.

"Thanks, Captain!" The woman scampered away, fully expecting the men to kill the dim pirate.

"So this is the captain of the bitch who stole our map?" one of the men wondered aloud.

"Doesn't look like much to me," another muttered. They advanced on the pirate with a straw hat...

And the first man was promptly thrown away by his extended fist. He collided with a building and slumped to the ground, unconscious. Luffy looked around, wondering where he was.

"What is this guy?"

"Who cares? Kill him!" The remaining two advanced with swords raised, only to be stopped short with a call of "Gum-Gum Pistol!" They fell like sacks of potatoes.

"Hey, you," Nami called from a rooftop where she had climbed to watch the fight she had been expecting. "Uh, thanks. You're really strong. My name's Nami, by the way. Do you wanna team up?"

"Uh, no thanks, lady," Luffy waved off in a bored tone. "I think I'll pass." He turned and started to walk off.

"Hey wait!" Nami called as Luffy's stomach growled, giving the orange-haired thief an idea. "Can I invite you for a meal?"

Also meanwhile...

"Captain!" a random pirate in a circus outfit shouted. "The bird has been shot down. We are sending men to retrieve the corpse to use it as part of our feast just as you ordered."

"Good," Buggy the Clown smiled menacingly. "It should have known what was going to happen, trying to be flashier than me with all those pink feathers. BWAHAHAHAHA! Now men let's-"

"Captain Buggy!"

"You do you think you are, flashily cutting me off! That's punishable by flashy death by Buggy Ball!"

"I'm sorry, Captain," the man cried out, "but I just received word that our map of the Grand Line has been stolen by a woman with orange hair!" Buggy's hand shot away from his wrist and locked around the crewmember's neck.

"What did you say?" Buggy asked in an eerily calm voice.

The man was gasping for air. "A-a woman w-with orange hair. Sh-she stole our map." Buggy dropped the pirate who curled up on the ground and took great heaving breaths.

"MEN!" the clown pirate roared. "FIND THAT WOMAN AND THE MAP! AND BRING ME THE FOOLS WHO LOST IT IN A CAGE! WE'LL HAVE A FLASHY EXECUTION!"

"YES SIR!"

End of Chapter 2

I promise my writing gets better. we're still building up to the action.

Read and Review!

-SwordOfTheGods