Shell's Town

Right now Luffy and Koby are flying right over the sea, and Koby is sitting on a cloud made by Luffy. Luffy sat on his throne while Koby sat on a small chair that Luffy had made for him.

Following behind Luffy's cloud is Alvida who was captured and now in a separate cloud which Luffy summons to take her. They are currently heading to Shells Town to cash in on the bounty on Alvida's head and also take Koby there to join the marines.

Even though Koby wanted to become a marine, Luffy could honestly say he liked the kid. Koby has a good sense of justice and even though he is a bit cowardly and naive, given proper training he will make a good marine, and Luffy knows the right person to turn him into such a marine.

Luffy couldn't help but laugh at the thought of how the man would train Koby. Luffy was snapped out of his thoughts by Koby's voice.

"Wow! I still can't believe I'm sitting on a cloud!" Koby said happily as he ran his hands over the clouds. Luffy laughed at his behavior before he spoke.

"Yeah, because these are thunderclouds, so these clouds are denser compared to ordinary clouds that can be found on one of the Sky islands," said Luffy making Koby turn his head and look at Luffy with eyes the size of dinner plates.

"S-you mean that Sky island really exists?" Koby asked in a surprised voice.

"Yup, there's even a sea of ​​clouds where you can sail in your boat" Luffy said making Koby even more shocked. "However, I don't know whether there are such clouds in the East Blue or not, but I do know for sure that they are in the Grand Line." Luffy finished his sentence with a smile.

"Wow!" that was all Koby could say. Luffy laughed at Koby's reaction before his face turned serious as he spoke to Koby.

"Hey, Koby," Luffy said getting Koby's attention, "Alvida mentioned Roronoa Zoro before and I was curious, who is she?" Luffy asked causing Koby to turn pale.

"He's a great pirate hunter. He's the one who slashes bounties like slaughtering animals in a slaughterhouse, he's a bloodthirsty beast. He's called a demon who breathes in human form." Luffy couldn't contain his astonishment when he heard that description.

"Recently I heard he was arrested and detained at the marine base in Shells City" Koby said causing Luffy to smile. When Koby saw her smile, he immediately turned pale,

"Please don't tell me you're thinking about doing what I'm thinking!" Koby shouted but Luffy just chuckled and didn't answer, making Koby even more scared. The two of them and Alvida who was unconscious, traveled for another five minutes before finally reaching the marine base town.

Luffy and Koby descended from the cloud before Luffy sent him up into the sky on standby and called him back when Luffy needed. The cloud carrying Alvida followed behind Luffy and Koby as they walked through the town, making them look odd from the civilians there.

"I want to see who this Roronoa Zoro is. Who knows maybe I can get him to join my crew." Luffy said with a serious face as they walked through the town. When Luffy said that Koby started begging Luffy to just find someone else.

"Seriously Luffy, you are out of your mind to think that it is the right thing to ask that person to join you," said a very frightened Koby. Luffy kept an expressionless look on his face as he spoke.

"I never said he would join my crew. I said MAYBE he could join" said Luffy as he stopped by one of the local merchants selling apples and took one and took a bite before giving the fruit seller a buy coin.

He then looked at the person selling the apples and asked, "Are they really keeping that person called Zoro here?" he asked. As Zoro's name left his mouth, everyone who was close enough to hear Luffy's question jumped back with horrified faces.

"I'll take that as a yes" Luffy said before walking away with Koby in tow.

"Maybe we shouldn't mention Zoro's name here" Koby said in a low voice as he whispered to Luffy.

"Let's just go straight to the base. You said you wanted to become a marine, right?" asked Luffy as they continued walking towards the marine base.

"Yeah, of course Luffy, but I don't feel ready yet. From what I hear, the person in charge of this base is called Captain Morgan," said Koby. Similar to the reaction at the mention of Zoro's name, everyone within range of hearing Morgan's name jumped back and looked in their direction in horror.

Luffy narrowed his eyes at this behavior before thinking to himself.

'Looks like this is one of 'SOMETHING' Marine bases.' Luffy thought to himself. He turned to Koby to see his confused face. He then looked at Luffy and started to speak.

"That's weird. I mean I can understand them being scared of Zoro and all, but why would they be scared of a marine captain as well?" asked Koby. Luffy's face then took on a more sympathetic look as he looked at Koby before he spoke.

"You'll understand that in the world we live in, you can't trust all the information people say. You should try to see the world with your own eyes and come to your own conclusions. In my experience and from what I've seen, not all pirates the sea is bad and not all marines are good." said Luffy, startling Koby who didn't seem to want to believe what he had just said until Luffy spoke again.

"Remember Koby, power can make good people bad." added Luffy, letting Koby think about what he just said.