Part four - Straw Hat Pirates? 7/8

- Everything ok, grandpa, - he nodded when he made sure that all the necessary seals are in place, and the amount of the reward is exactly what it should be. - Now, if you're so kind and get off the ship, we can move on.

- Tell me, have we met before? - instead of just picking up and leaving, the captain asked, judging by his furrowed brows, trying to remember something. - I can't help feeling that you remind me of someone.

- Grandpa, - Luffy rolled his eyes, - Is life really not sweet for you or what? If it is not really nice, then you just tell Yosaku and he will make sure that a closed coffin is provided for you. After he finishes with you, the rest of the sailors from your base will frighten all their recruits for decades with the details of your terrible death.

- The bloodlust is clearly your own, - muttered the pensive captain, as if he hadn't heard the words at all, - but everything else definitely reminds me of someone. What's your name kid?

- Right, I haven't introduced myself to you yet,- Luffy nodded happily. - Nice to meet you, my name is Cthulhu Nyarlathotep Shashpanchikiskiy!

- I ask again, what is your name?

- Are you deaf? I said, my name is Cthulhu Nyarlathotep Shashpanchikisky! For friends, you can just Nyasha.

- Nyasha? I'm happy for you. Now, can you tell me your real name already? Or chicken out? Scared of the old captain? Well, it happens.

He tried to "dare" Luffy. And there was nothing surprising, unexpected or stupid in this. It seems to be as old as the world reception, but one could only be amazed at how often it worked. Naturally, it did not work for everyone.

- ...

The guy silently stared at the captain standing in front of him.

- What? - he smiled. - If you are afraid to tell me your real name, then say so, I will not condemn.

- Old man, - Luffy spoke slowly, - I see you stubbornly refuse to understand my super subtle hints, so I'm telling you straight. If you really want to hear the answer to your question, then you had better decide at once in which coffin you want to lie ... and you too, - he added, casting a glance at the lieutenant standing next to him.

- Hmm ... - the captain slightly chewed his lips, not taking his eyes off the guy. - Now I understand why your group is considered more dangerous than any gang of pirates or bandits. Although you hunt people with rewards, if necessary, you can kill both the marines and ordinary people with the same ease. It makes no difference to you exactly who you kill.

- Naturally, it makes no difference for us who we kill, - Zoro said instead of Luffy, for the first time ever. - Over the past year, we have visited almost all corners of the East Blue, and managed to see a lot of marines who behaved worse than any pirates, and vice versa, pirates helping people. Now, old man, try to guess which of them survived the meeting with us? Kind of like pretty lookouts or pirates with bounties on their heads, but who really helped people?

- That's what I'm talking about, - the captain nodded. - For you there is no difference, you do not divide the world into black and white, but, given your strength, in the future you ... - without finishing the old watchman slightly shook his head, after which, turning around, gently tapping his cane, walked to the gangway. - When you do cross the line, you can be sure that I will make sure that the bounties for your heads are assigned immediately. People with your outlook on life usually make either the most dangerous revolutionaries, or people like Whitebeard, "Red-haired" Shanks, or, worse, the Pirate King. The worst of the worst.

- As I said, I hate the old fart, - Luffy threw him goodbye, once again showing satisfaction.

- Ha-ha ... I will consider it a compliment, - the captain laughed without turning around, who remained unnamed for the whole family until the end.

- It really does not matter to you who you kill?? - asked Nami a little later, when the ship had already departed from the pier, and headed towards the largest city, on a far from small island.

- Don't talk about us as if we can slaughter small children without batting an eye ... at least I, Johnny and Yosaku are definitely not, but I'm not sure about Zoro,- Luffy grinned. - In my life I have never met a more natural killer than he.

- Hey! - the aforementioned swordsman was immediately indignant, for which he even looked up from his bottle of wine.

- For example, I don't consider myself a hero, - the guy continued, not paying the slightest attention to the indignant exclamation of his first mate. - Accordingly, just take it like this and run somewhere just to save someone? No, this is definitely not about me. Every second something dirty happens in the world, and then what? To pretend to be a hero around the clock? So you can waste your whole life and, in fact, achieve nothing or change anything. On the other hand, if I see, for example, a pirate, a marine or a bandit who just decides, say, to kill everyone in the neighborhood, then I will definitely not pass by such a situation. Nami, do you have any idea what the word "pirate" really means? This is not the one who robs, kills and rapes, but the one who lives the way he wants ... or at least tries to live the way he wants. As Zoro told the old fart, we met marines who behaved no better than the most vile pirates. And we met pirates, whom it was quite possible to set as an example for marines, in order to clearly show what they should strive for with all their might.

- The captain is telling truth - Zoro, who was listening to the conversation, said addressing Nami. - The world cannot be divided only into black and white. It is full of other shades, ignoring which you can miss the really important things in life. If you don't change your point of view, I can guarantee that in the future you will regret it greatly.

Luffy laughed softly, causing the swordsman to instantly blush in embarrassment.

- What?! - He snapped. - You mean I'm wrong ?!

- No, of course, you're right, - the guy shook his head with a slight smile on his face. - I just remembered what kind of child you were just a year and a half ago, so I could not restrain myself - he said in such a tone that standing next to Nami, albeit only for a second, again felt like a little stupid girl. - Perhaps a year ago you would not even think about something like that, but now look at yourself, you have already started teaching others… You really grew up, Zoro.

Now the green-haired swordsman was really embarrassed. And, in order to somehow hide his embarrassment, he hastened to suck on the neck of a bottle of wine. Zoro both loved and hated the moments when Luffy's voice had a similar note. On the one hand, he immediately remembered his teacher, Quina's father, who, in fact, replaced his parents. Become a father to him. And these were the memories he only welcomed. On the other hand, when Luffy's voice was filled with appropriate notes, Zoro began to feel intense discomfort. And it could hardly have been otherwise. Luffy was becoming too much like his teacher, like his father. And this is a guy who was two years younger than himself! There is something to feel discomfort from, isn't it? Even if, deep down, Zoro was glad of such associations ... Naturally, the green-haired guy himself, even on pain of death, would not admit that Luffy became the second person for him, whom he could call his father ... well, maybe not a father, but an older brother for sure! Fortunately - perhaps fortunately - such moments did not happen very often. Most of the time, Luffy quite successfully pretended to be a small child who had eaten a lot of sweets, as a result of which he was unable to sit in one place for a long time.