Chapter 9

before Zoro could say anything to Luffy, Morgan gave his men new orders.

"If bullets don't work, use your sword!" When he said that, all the marines drew their swords and rushed at Luffy, Zoro, and Koby.

Before they could reach Luffy and Koby they were intercepted by Zoro who blocked each of their swords with his three swords. Luffy is amazed by the fact that Zoro uses a triple sword art.

Zoro held two katanas in his hands while the third he held in his mouth. Luffy stopped his observation when he heard Zoro's voice.

"Make one move and you're dead" Zoro said to the marines in a cold voice which made some of them start screaming in fear.

He then turned his attention to Luffy before speaking again "Today I officially became a criminal because I fought the Marines. So, I will become a pirate like I promised you, but I want you to know one thing. Even if I'm with you, I dedicate myself to fulfill my ambition," said Zoro. Luffy turned around and looked at him before speaking.

"And that is?" he asked. Zoro smiled and spoke determinedly.

"To become the greatest swordsman in the world and nothing more" he said, causing Luffy to smile before replying.

"The pirate king certainly needs the best people in his crew," said Luffy. Luffy and Zoro were once again interrupted by Morgan's voice.

"What are you guys waiting for, Kill them all!" he is screaming. All of his men backed away from Zoro and left him standing before they spoke in fearful tones.

"Captain, we can't beat them," said a Marine.

"Yes they are monsters!" another said.

"We will only die if we face them!" said another member of the marines. Now Morgan was shaking with rage.

"This is an order, any marines who don't follow my orders take out your guns and shoot yourselves in the head!" he shouted. At first, Luffy thought he was crazy to give such an order as no one is stupid enough to follow such an order, but Luffy was shocked when he saw several marines actually raised their guns to shoot themselves.

'You bunch of idiots.' Luffy thought to himself as he watched several marines shakily raise their guns to shoot themselves.

Luffy quickly sent a controlled attack of Conquorer Haki at the marine members who were about to shoot themselves, causing each of them to collapse to the ground foaming at the mouth.

Morgan's eyes widened in shock when he saw his men faint. He looked at Zoro thinking he had done something but he saw Zoro was just as surprised as he was.

Morgan then looked at Luffy only to see him walking calmly towards him.

"A leader who doesn't care about the lives of his people is just trash," said Luffy in a tone that made Morgan shiver. Morgan quickly steeled himself and swallowed his fear before speaking.

"They are weak, what matters in this world is strength and power. A weakling like you will never understand that!" Morgan shouted before charging towards Luffy, but stopped in his tracks when Luffy spoke.

"A downward strike from your right hand won't do anything" Luffy said making Morgan's eyes widen. While Morgan froze in fear Luffy wouldn't stop walking towards her.

Luffy then wrapped his palms in electricity before disappearing from everyone's sight. Luffy then appeared to Morgan's right and with his palm coated with electricity he cut off Morgan's right hand from the elbow.

Morgan screamed in pain and tried to jump backwards to get away from Luffy, but he couldn't get far because Luffy was already behind him with his arms pulled back ready to attack.

"Chidori!" Luffy shouted as he thrust his hand into Morgan's chest. Zoro and Koby stared wide-eyed as they watched as Luffy pulled his hand from Morgan's chest, allowing his lifeless body to fall helplessly and lay in a pool of his own blood.

Luffy then took out a handkerchief from his coat and started wiping the blood from his hand. He then looked at morgan's corpse before speaking in a cold, emotionless voice.

"Bastards like you don't deserve to live" he said before starting to walk back towards Zoro and Koby. As he walked back towards them, the marines that had been unconscious on the ground started to regain their senses.

When they woke up and saw their captain's dead body on the ground, instead of them trying to get revenge on Luffy like he thought, they started cheering and thanking Luffy for freeing them from Morgan's leadership.

"It seems they were all afraid of Morgan even before we arrived on this island," Koby said getting Luffy's attention. Just as Luffy was about to answer, he heard something fall to the ground next to him.

When Luffy turned to see what it was, the noise was his first crew member collapsing on the ground.

"Well, we better get him some food right away" said Luffy as he lifted Zoro and put him on his shoulder before heading to the bar that belonged to the little girl earlier, who he found out was named Rika, owned by her mother.

*Time skip: 15 minutes *

"Oh, I'm full!" said Zoro while sitting at the table with empty plates in front of him. "Not eating for three weeks, makes me want to chew my own bootlaces," he said, to Rika and her mother's giggles.

Luffy sat across from him with a bottle of whiskey and a glass half filled with whiskey. Luffy couldn't help but smile at his first crew's behavior. Zoro then turned towards Luffy and spoke "So how many crew members have you gathered apart from me?" Zoro asked. Luffy drank some whiskey before answering.

"Only you," he replied. Zoro looked at Luffy like he was crazy.

"So, roughly how strong are you?" Zoro asked.

"I can take on an entire fleet of Marine warships myself, and when I finish training you, you will be able to do the same," said Luffy in a serious voice.

If anyone else had said something like that Zoro would have thought they were crazy but after meeting Luffy, Zoro didn't think anything could surprise him anymore. Just as Zoro was about to say something a group of marines entered the bar and saw Luffy who didn't look too bothered by their presence.

"Hey you guys over there, we heard you guys are pirates. Are these rumors true?" A marine that Luffy guessed was the highest ranking officer in the base after Morgan said.

"Yeah, that's right," Luffy replied before taking a sip (drinking a small amount) of his whiskey.

"We appreciate everything you have done to save our city from the terrible leadership that has terrorized us all for so long, however, now that we know you are pirates, we as marines cannot just sit by and watch you do as you please. By Therefore, you and your crew must leave this city immediately and out of respect for what you have done, we will not report your actions to head office." said the marine causing the townspeople who were outside to start protesting. Luffy then raised his hand, silenced them all before he spoke.

"It's fine everyone, we were planning to leave, however, before we go there's something I need to do," said Luffy before he grabbed his coat making all the marines nervous.

He then took out the snail's transponder and placed it on the table before dialing a number. The slug started ringing for about ten seconds before someone picked up.

"Hello," said a man on the other end of the transponder slug. Luffy smiled before answering.

"Is this Vice Admiral Garp?" Luffy's words made every marine and civilian's eyes widen like saucers.

"I'm the one. Who is this?" Garp asked. Luffy grinned before answering.

"Your grandson" Luffy said making everyone's jaws drop. Luffy laughed at their reactions.

"LUFFY!" Garp shouted through the transponder slug "You son of a bitch, how dare you leave the island and join that red haired bastard huh!" Garp said making Luffy roll his eyes before answering.

"I miss you too jiisan." Luffy said with a smile making Garp chuckle "Anyway I called because I know you always wanted me to join the marines but that wasn't going to happen." Luffy said making Garp growl over the phone,

"However, I found my replacement for you." Luffy said while looking at Koby which made his eyes widen.

"Oh, and who is this replacement?" Garp asked.

"A kid called Koby. He's a little weak and a bit cowardly, but I think you'll like him." said Luffy. Garp didn't say anything for about thirty seconds before he sighed and answered.

"I'll pick him up and just watch as soon as I finish training him, he'll kick your ass flying up to the grand line," Garp said making Luffy laugh.

"He's in Shells Town in East Blue. By the way, Shells Town will need a new Marine Captain. I just got rid of their leader," said Luffy.

"I don't even want to know why," said Garp. Luffy smiled before speaking again.

"Well, I have to go grandpa. I'm sure you and I will see each other soon... so see you soon." Luffy said making Garp laugh.

"Take care of yourself you son of a bitch," Garp said before hanging up. Luffy put the slug back into his coat before standing up and walking over to Koby.

He grabbed his coat and took out the bag of money he got from Alvida's bounty and handed it to Koby before he spoke.

"Here, take this, you deserve it after everything he did to you" Luffy said making Koby's eyes filled with tears. Koby was left speechless before Luffy turned towards Zoro and spoke "Grab your things, we are leaving" he said.

Zoro then took his sword and stood up to leave. Luffy then turned to the marine and spoke "Take care of Koby until my grandfather comes okay" added Luffy as he and Zoro started walking out the door. The marines could only nod their heads like idiots.

As they were walking towards the pier Luffy started summoning his petri clouds. When the cloud arrived, Zoro's mouth gaped to the ground when he saw the cloud. He almost passed out when Luffy climbed into the cloud.

"Th-that's your ship?" Zoro stammered. Luffy laughed before speaking.

"Just a while until we get a decent one" Luffy said while Zoro started up and sat on the chair Koby sat on earlier while Luffy sat on his plush cloud chair.

"So Captain, where are we headed next?" Zoro asked while putting his sword in the cloud.

"Our next destination is Orange town, I need to meet a clown," said Luffy in a serious voice.