He was just another man when Hancock first laid eyes on him. Most probably, a selfish, cruel, and disgusting man, just like every other man she had met in her life. She had dismissed him from her mind just after Sonia told her that they could use him, and she thought that that would be the end of it.
The next night, however, Sonia called her and she was made to acknowledge the man's existence again. He had been a slave apparently. To the worst kind of slavers no less. Just like her.
She softened when she heard her sister crying that she had done something horrible and tried to comfort her. Her two sisters were the only ones she would let herself open up to after all and she didn't like seeing either of them in pain. She had asked about how the man behaved, whether he was distraught or in dread, but when Sonia denied that, she became doubtful whether Sonia had seen right or not. When she told her sister that she was probably mistaken and it was not a brand and that she had nothing to feel guilty for, she was adamant that it was the brand.
Hancock sighed when she heard that. Sonia was always the most emotional out of the three of them and even this trip where she had to accompany her for Leah's sake was because she was too emotional. Ultimately, she told Sonia that they should give the man a ride out of the Calm Belt to alleviate her guilt and she had agreed. Hancock thought that that would be the end of it and she would never have to hear about the man again.
And then the next night came.
She was on a catch-up call with Sonia and Mari, and they were just chatting like usual when a sound of a door knock came from Sonia's snail. After the sounds of a blanket moving which was probably Sonia covering the snails followed by a 'Come in' and a disappointed 'Oh, it's you', Hancock heard his voice again.
"I get that you don't like me. No need to prove it everytime"
Hancock's lips twitched a little. At least the man knew his place. She and Mari were waiting for him to leave so that they can continue their conversations, but the man started asking questions about why Sonia and Hancock were even there for such a menial task, and Sonia started answering him.
Hancock sighed face-palming. 'She still feels guilty thinking she exposed him…and also feels guilty about Leah…'
She and Mari listened as Sonia looked like she had forgotten that they were on call and started conversing with the man. Looked like even he didn't buy her story of why she was there and Sonia got defensive and started shifting the focus off of herself by accusing him, calling him suspicious and probing why he was in the Calm Belt.
"Big Sis?" Mari's voice came over from her snail and she lifted it up so that it would be away from Sonia's snail, "Who's the man?"
"Just someone who intruded upon our ship. I'll let Sonia tell you in detail later as to why she's being so responsive to his questions"
Mari hummed and the two listened as the conversation continued. They both stiffened up when the man said that he knew about the Gorgon Eye curse and also said that it was a lie. They relaxed a little when they heard him say that he hadn't told that to anyone else though. It wouldn't be a problem even if he did, as she could just call him a liar and everyone would obviously side with her, but still, it was intriguing that the man hadn't exposed them.
After a lot of questioning, when he finally confessed that he had been a slave and had the hoof brand, Hancock was skeptical as he was way too casual about it. She couldn't imagine someone just confessing about the brand in such a relaxed and casual manner as he did. But when she heard rustling and stepping sounds from Sonia's end and heard her understanding and soft tone as she asked 'What happened?', she knew that it was real.
And then the man started talking, saying stuff like how he was uncooperative and thus was thrown out. She grew angry at that. Was he telling her that if she had been uncooperative too, they would have thrown her out too? Was it her fault for complying when they threatened her to do something? Sonia seemed to have the same thoughts as her too as she asked what he meant by that.
Hancock then heard him explain how he was literally uncooperative as he was going to become the Pirate King and the Pirate King doesn't obey anyone he doesn't want to. 'This man wants to become the Pirate King?… The freest man on the seas huh… That does seem wonderful…'
'So in his mind, since he was going to become the Pirate King, he wasn't going to bow down to anyone huh? Should I have done the same?' Hancock started wondering if it was her fault for complying with their orders and started feeling guilty. As if reading her mind, the man continued telling Sonia that he could only do it because he didn't have anyone precious around him at the time but if he did, he would have done anything they ordered him to do if it meant protecting his precious person… And she did have someone to protect - her two sisters. They would always dangle the lives of the other two if one of them refused to do something and so they could never refuse them. And the man had somehow unknowingly comforted her.
Hancock felt herself falling deeper and deeper into the man's story as he continued but she just couldn't understand how he was talking about it all in an almost cheery tone. How could anyone who underwent what they went through be so nonchalant while speaking about it? And make jokes too?
"…I'm sorry for making you share that… I understand that it might be a shameful past"
"A shameful past? Why would it be a shameful past? I was just a bit reluctant to talk about it as people usually pity me, but I'm over it"
"You're over it?!" / "Over it?!" / "…you're over it?" all three sisters asked incredulously at the same time.
And then the man explained how he had survived, how he had gotten stronger for himself and for his friends so that none of them would ever have to find themselves in such a situation again. Hancock thought about it but couldn't really understand his perspective. Does him being stronger now mean that the things that happened to him in the past don't haunt him? Does it not make him shudder in fear that it might happen again? How can he be over it?
"…Don't you think of yourself as… less than human because of the brand?" Sonia asked hesitantly. Hancock definitely did… she wondered what kind of answer he would give now but that one question was like a switch in his brain. All cheeriness and the nonchalant tone he had had up until then vanished and became replaced by an almost stern tone which seemed like he was scolding Sonia.
"Oh please, it's just a burn mark… …I'm defined by my ideals, my morals, my actions and my dreams… …I looked at them as if they were stupid and just said 'No I'm not.'… …Man, it was so funny… …it threw them off their entire game… …started calling them stupid… …Shishishishi it was hilarious watching their faces!"
The more Hancock heard him the more her jaw dropped and the same was the case for Mari too.
"They were doing this to me in the middle of cages with other slaves… …when the next person was being tortured and she was told that she was worthless, she was a pet, she was less than human and all, she just stared at me for a second… then looked back up at her torturer… and simply said 'No, I'm not.' too! I burst out laughing seeing the gobsmacked look on the torturer's face and so did she…"
Hancock's hands trembled as she imagined such a scenario.
"…pretty soon, all the slaves in the cages there started howling with laughter too screaming 'No! I'm not!' and 'Fuck you!'… …best moment there. Seeing their hopeless hollow expressions turning into one of desire and rebellion…It was amazing!"
Hancock could hear the wistful tone in his voice as he said the last part and she could imagine how that would make one happy. Also, the man had just used the words 'The best moment' while describing his enslavement and to her surprise, she didn't disagree with him. She wished she was there to watch that scene play out.
"Wh-what happened next?!" she heard Sonia's excited voice asking the question that was on her mind too. And the man only had more amazing things to say. How the slaves had been inspired by him, how they had started a rebellion, how they killed a bunch of slavers, how a few of them had escaped but he himself wasn't able to.
"Fischer Tiger…" Hancock breathed in awe just as Sonia said "…you're like Fischer Tiger…"
"Nah, Tiger was a hero… …What Tiger did was so much more amazing" she heard the man say and her body swooned unable to contain her excitement. He not only knew about Tiger but also saw him as a hero. Tiger was someone she was extremely indebted to, so hearing someone say that he was a hero made her ecstatic. She didn't think it was possible, but she thought that she might actually like this man. Unlike Tiger, he ultimately failed in causing a huge rebellion, but he had still started something just by his words and actions.
"So Sonia, bottom line?" Hancock heard the man continue and leaned in more with excitement. Until now she had been ecstatic hearing how he had fought back against his tormentors but what he said next changed her entire demeanour as she had her world shattered. "I'm not defined by the marks on my body. I'm not defined by what others did to me… …I'm not defined by those actions that I was forced to do… The only thing that defines me is what I willingly do with my life. I'm defined by the choices I make. I'm defined by what path in life I choose to follow"
She slowly lost the smile she had and her eyes trembled.
There were sounds of someone's steps before the man continued, "So thinking it's a shameful past?… …To anyone who suggests that me or any slave is less than human just because of a fucking mark? I will always laugh in the face of whoever tells me that and say four simple words - 'No. I'm. fucking. not.'…Got that?"
Hancock's hands trembled and she let the snail fall to the bed as she leaned back on the headboard. His last words which were filled with strong sentiment resonated with her and she couldn't concentrate on anything else.
Salome, who was sleeping until then, woke up with a start when she sensed the despondent mood of Hancock. She slithered to her and wrapped herself around her wondering what had happened and Hancock gratefully hugged her close. The man soon left after saying good night and the room descended into silence. The man's words kept resounding in her head and she just couldn't help but feel respect and admiration for him even if he was a man.
His last words made Hancock take an objective look at herself. Her greatest fear was that someone would find out about her brand and shun her. And here comes this man, telling her that he would laugh at anyone who says that and simply deny it, that a slave brand does not define them, does not make them lesser…
It was a new line of thinking she had never even thought of. The slavers had drilled into their young minds that the mark on their back turned them into lesser humans and she had accepted that as fact, accepted that everyone who finds out about it will look down on her… but what the man said was true.
She remembered the time she was being branded when the slaver kept laughing at her, telling her that she was now a lesser human, telling her that she was nothing but a pet and her body trembled in fear… but she remembered the man's words and opened her mouth to say something she didn't know she had waited her entire life to say.
"No…I'm fucking…not…" she breathed wistfully feeling a kind of pleasure she had never felt before course through her entire body. She closed her eyes, her body shuddered with pleasure and her lips curled up into a smile. 'That was…liberating'
Hancock heard sniffling noises from Mari's snail and only then did she come out of her daze. "Mari?" she asked worriedly, "Are you okay?"
"Yes…Big sis…"
There were sound of sheets rustling, a surprised yelp and Sonia finally acknowledged them again. "Sister, Mari… I completely forgot you were there…Are you crying, Mari?"
"So are you, Sonia…" Hancock said noticing the strain and emotion in her voice.
"Yes…did you hear all that?"
"Yes" / "Yes"
"…that was…something else huh?" Sonia breathed unable to believe how lost she was in his words.
"He's like Fisher Tiger…" Marigold said in between sniffles.
"He really is…just inexperienced and failed in causing a massive rebellion I suppose…But his ideals are really something admirable"
"Does he know of our pasts?" Mari asked, "Those last words of his… I felt like he was telling you all those things rather than talking about himself"
"Yes," Hancock also agreed, "He became sterner as if he was chiding you and I also felt he was speaking about you"
"I thought so too. He was pissed when I asked if he thought of himself as lesser but it didn't feel like he got angry for himself but rather for another's sake… Maybe someone he knows also has the brand and he was pissed that I was calling them lesser?"
"Yes, that is a possibility"
"Who even is he?" Mari asked still not knowing anything about him.
"Oh he got swatted by a Sea King onto our ship in the middle of the Calm Belt" Sonia giggled as she began telling her everything that had happened from Hancock and a Sea King using him as a tennis ball to him giving a sex-ed class.
"Wow… so all that happened huh? Is that really true though?" Mari asked surprised, "Some men don't like being woken up by kisses?"
"Yeah! I was surprised too!" Sonia exclaimed, "I learned so much in his sex-ed class too. You know…"
Hancock tuned them out when they began talking about such topics. She knew that her two sisters sometimes liked to talk about sexual topics and even secretly went to some of the pregnant women to hear of their experiences, but she herself never did. She was extremely uninterested in it and so didn't participate in such conversations.
'The man also seems to be uninterested… but he's very much knowledgeable from what Sonia says… Interesting' she thought intrigued by the man. When there was finally a lull in the conversation, Hancock asked "Sonia, what's the man's name?"
"…Um…Oh my god, I don't know! Can't believe I never asked for his name…"
"Ask him tomorrow. I wish to know his name"
"Yes, I will"
There was a brief lull before Mari hesitantly asked, "Are we going to talk about it? Defining ourselves and not being ashamed of the brand and all?"
Hancock and Sonia both sighed deep in thought, feeling very complex emotions which they couldn't put into words.
"What the man said," Hancock began, "It was a very different perspective I had never considered… I just imagined saying 'No, I'm not' to the man who branded me and imagined his face contorting in shock and…" she smiled, "It is quite comical and powerful to think about. I see why he burst out laughing"
"Hehe yeah," Sonia giggled, "I wish I had seen the scene of all the slaves laughing while they fought and killed their slavers…"
"I never imagined we would one day talk about that place and laugh about it," Mari said in disbelief but had a small smile, "But yes, I would have liked to see that too"
"As for his views on the brand," Hancock continued, "It is… quite idealistic. Other people are not like him. Even if he seems to be 'over' it, that does not mean the meaning of the brand will disappear… if someone sees it and finds out that he was a slave to the Celestial Dragons, they will shun him and then make sure he gets enslaved again"
Sonia and Mari's mood deflated when they realized it too and they came off their ecstatic high.
"He didn't bow down to the slavers and that inspired the others with him, but in the end, they still failed… The Celestial Dragons just hold too much power… The man would have to stand against the Celestial Dragons for his idealistic view to be seen as valid and no one is that foolish. The man also did say that he didn't even know who the Celestial Dragons were at the time. Now that he does, I don't think that he would act the same way…" she said not knowing how utterly wrong she was.
"Yeah…but…but still…I definitely will change the way I view myself…" Sonia said, "I will no longer look down on myself…"
"Yes, the way he didn't bow down to his slavers and inspired the others with him is worthy of respect. His way of thinking is definitely something we can apply a little of in our lives too"
There were a few seconds of silence, the other two realizing that even though his story was inspiring, his resolve and everything would crumble in front of a Celestial Dragon. Mari sighed and broke the silence, "Yeah there's no way he would do something like that now that he knows who the Celestial Dragons are…"
"Yeah…" Sonia also agreed.
Hancock sighed and changed the depressing topic, "Sonia, I don't think it registered for you, but the man said that he unleashed Conqueror's at one point"
"Yes!" Mari added, "I missed that too"
"Oh yeah! How the hell did I miss that?!" Sonia facepalmed, "I was way too preoccupied thinking about the nonchalant attitude he had while confessing about the brand…"
"He's a Conqueror, so he's definitely not a normal man. Ask more about him tomorrow, Sonia"
"Yes"
There was silence as the three tried imagining his story playing out and thinking about what all he had said, their minds wanting to shout that the man was right in everything he said and that they shouldn't be afraid of the brand, but years of fear wouldn't dispel just like that.
"Let's close the call" Hancock finally said when she felt like she wanted some alone time to think and the other two agreed. They said their goodbyes and soon closed the call before the three sisters fell back on their beds, the man's words running through their minds the entire night. Their mindset wouldn't change overnight, but the seed was planted.
———
Luffy facepalmed hearing a question one of the women had asked. "No no, you got it all wrong…"
"Really?" the woman said, "But Elder Mother Sym told us that men liked to wake up to a kiss…"
"That's after spending some time or a night together. Please don't do it to random people you've never met before"
"Ohh I see!"
Luffy sighed thinking that he was gonna have a word with whoever this Sym person was for filling these girls' heads with so much half-information.
"Anyway, I'll be there keeping an eye on you on the island, so if you do choose someone unsavoury, I'll be there to stop you, so don't worry" Luffy concluded giving the second sex-ed class to a bunch of women in their twenties and also told them how to approach men. It was the next day's morning and he had called a class again which went on for four hours where he had explained what kind of men to pick while they were on the island and answered all kinds of questions for which the answers should have been obvious.
By the end, he was mentally tired but still made sure to answer everyone's questions. Leah came up to him after the session was done with an apologetic expression.
"Sorry Luffy" Leah said eyeing all the women, "I honestly had no idea they were this clueless…"
"Yeah… wait a damn minute!" Luffy suddenly snapped at Leah, "Why the hell am I giving these lessons?! You're here, aren't you?!"
Leah smirked mischievously at him, "Well, it's your fault to be honest. You were the one who said you'll give it with no prompt yesterday"
Luffy blinked thinking back "…huh…you're right… I got way too scared that they will try to stretch other men and so, decided on the spot to teach them some stuff"
"Sasasasa don't worry, don't worry. You did a great job"
Luffy sighed letting it go as he saw Sonia, who had also heard the whole session, come up to them with a smile. "Hey beast, another good session"
"Beast?" Luffy asked tilting his head.
"Yep! It's because you fight like a beast. Not caring how hurt you are and just keep attacking"
"Hmm yeah from what I heard about the fight, you definitely do fight like a beast, so it fits you" Leah chimed in.
"Sure sure, call me whatever"
"What's your name?" Sonia suddenly asked causing Luffy to stop and stare.
"I never introduced myself to you huh?" Luffy said thinking back, "Well anyway, I'm Luffy. Nice to meetcha"
"Luffy huh"
"If that's all, I got a date with the sea serpents. So see ya later"
"Wait, what are you even trying to do on there?" Sonia asked stopping him, "Some sort of meditation?"
"Hmm well, I kinda want to hear them talking"
"…huh?" both women blinked not understanding him. "Hear who talking?"
"The sea serpents"
"Umm…they can understand human speech because we raised them and we can sorta understand them too through gestures… but people can't hear them"
"Maybe I can. Never gonna know until I try"
"Are you stupid? Humans can't understand Sea Kings"
"Just let me try it"
"…sure, knock yourself out" / "You're so weird"
Luffy ignored the comments as if climbed up the Sea serpents and again asked for permission before sitting down. He looked out into the sea and saw that the greenish-brown reptilian Sea King was still following them from a distance.
"You two notice that Sea King? Does it want to fight me that badly?"
The Sea serpents both nodded.
"Wait, you talked to it?"
Nod.
"Why isn't it attacking now? Is it scared of Hancock?"
Nod.
"More like we have an accord with the Sea Kings," Sonia said as she jumped up and landed next to him.
"An accord?"
She sat next to him and started explaining "Sorta yeah. These sea serpents talked on our behalf with the Sea Kings around here letting them know that the Kuja will be using these waters and to not attack us. In return, we won't attack them."
"Wow, how many did you guys have to kill before they accepted that?"
"Just beat up a few. These are nesting grounds so kids and pregnant ones are usually here, so they agreed readily. We don't touch the kids and pregnant ones and they won't touch us. Thus, we got full access to these waters"
"How do all of them know? There are thousands or maybe even millions of Sea Kings here right? These Sea Serpents couldn't have possibly talked to them all"
Sonia stared dumbly at him, "Umm…I don't know?" she said and then looked at the Sea serpents, "How exactly did you guys tell all the Sea Kings to not attack?"
The sea serpents just eyed her causing Luffy to burst out laughing, "You just called me weird for trying to hear them and here you are, not even two minutes later, asking them questions like they'll answer you Shishishishi"
SMACK!
Sonia blushed hitting him on the head which only made him laugh harder and even the Sea King's mouths widened a bit as if they were laughing at her.
"Shishishi well anyway," Luffy continued, "Maybe the message to not attack you gets passed down from mouth to mouth? Or they have a council which decides stuff for all the Sea Kings in the world" Luffy was obviously joking when he said the last part, but then he suddenly remembered the promise Joyboy had with the Sea Kings. It wasn't with any specific Sea King but the whole Sea King species. And after the Fishman Island arc, the Sea Kings even took the Noah to safety and for repairs. Wouldn't there have to be some sort of consensus among them for such things to be possible? The more he thought about it, the more the existence of something like a Sea King council seemed likely. Or maybe it's just passed down from mouth to mouth until all the Sea Kings learn of it. He decided he would just ask one after he unlocked his Voice.
"Yeah, sure there's a council," Sonia said with sarcasm bringing Luffy out of his thoughts, "The massive ones never care but one or two small ones still come to attack us, so I guess the massive ones tell the smaller ones to not attack?" she shrugged, "Anyway, we just beat up the ones who do attack us slightly before letting them go, so I guess they know to keep their distance. If Sister is there, a single Conqueror's blast is enough to scare them away"
"I see"
"And now the reason I came here. I can't believe I glossed over this fact yesterday but didn't you say you unleashed Conqueror's once too? I've never seen anyone other than Sister who can use it"
"Yep! Still can't use it on command though. But maybe if I'm pushed to my limits, it'll activate"
Sonia's eyes widened with realization "So that's why you were so confident that day even when you were losing so badly…"
"It was one option sure. Even if I did unleash it, I know you or any of the other stronger fighters wouldn't have fainted."
"That's true"
"You want to know what my last resort was, don't you?"
"Yes!"
"Shishishi well I'll show you when we're on land. I don't want to destroy the ship"
"Wow…something that powerful?"
"Kinda yeah. I would have just broken off a part of this ship and then used a few pieces of wood to make a makeshift boat and rowed away"
"So that was your plan? We could have caught you pretty easily you know"
"I'm not saying it was foolproof. I would have just rowed away quicker than you but I had no guarantee of how far you would have chased me and even if I did manage to get away, I'm still stuck in this Calm Belt. So decided to use it only as the last resort"
"I see… Anyway, since you have Conqueror's, you're no ordinary man"
"I'm the one who's gonna become the Pirate King!"
"So you keep saying…"
Luffy shrugged and closed his eyes intent on meditating and hoping to hear the voice of Sea Kings but Sonia didn't leave. He opened an eye and looked at her questioningly "Umm, anything else?"
"Not really" Sonia said lazily looking out into the sea.
"Why are you here then? I want to meditate"
"You do know this is our ship right? How rude of you to tell me where I can and can't be"
Luffy just rolled his eyes "Yeah yeah…"
She seemed to want to sit next to him and talk to him, so he knew he wouldn't be getting any meditation done.
"This is so strange you know. We have a man on board and everyone's okay with it. This is the first time this has ever happened"
"Aren't you the one who engineered this though?"
"Yeah and that makes it even more strange…"
"Shishi I'm lucky like that"
"Would a lucky person get lost in the Calm Belt?"
"…My luck works in strange ways…" Luffy said sagely.
"Guess so… I think the major reason I'm okay with you being here is that you're so different from the men I've met. Almost all men just go crazy over Sister's beauty and just keep eyeing her mostly. If she's not there, they gawk at the rest of the warriors with lust too"
"What kind of men do you usually run into?"
"Marines and pirates mostly. Sister is a Warlord, after all, so we have to deal with Vice Admirals sometimes. Other than them, pirates who think they can kidnap one of us or hurt us. And be it the Marines or the pirates, all of them stare at us with infatuation. But you? Not even a bit. Don't even blush when talking about sex with so many women… are you gay?"
"Nah, I'm into girls alright"
"Then how come you don't want to sleep with anyone?"
"…You have a really hard time understanding this huh?" Luffy sighed. "You're such a kid"
SMACK!
"I'm 28! Don't call me a kid!"
"Shishishi you are though. I feel like a grown-up around all of you"
SMACK! SMACK!
"You're saying this but I bet you'll jump at the chance to sleep with Sister!" Sonia huffed.
"Hancock? She's beautiful sure, so are many on both ships. Doesn't mean I have to lust after them"
"Oh please, every person, man or woman, is infatuated with my sister. Even animals are infatuated with her!"
"Oh yeah, I did want to test that. See if her Mero mero beam works on me or not. Think you can ask Hancock to fire a beam at me?"
Sonia gawked at him "You want to face her beam? Are you crazy?! You'll get petrified!"
"Yeah yeah let's test it then. It only works if the person is infatuated right? I'm sure I won't turn into stone"
"No, you idiot! Do you have a death wish?!"
Luffy just sighed shaking his head "Do you not understand the concept of a test?"
"Of course I do! But what do you take my sister for?! Do you think she's patient enough to listen to your whims?!"
"Hmm, I guess she has no reason to huh? Well, my bad then"
"That's right! God, you're so weird!" Sonia huffed getting angry at him for even suggesting that. "And again, no one can resist my sister's charms!"
"And again, we won't know until we try. Somehow make her use her beam on me and we'll see who's right"
"You're insane…"
"Yeah yeah…"
Sonia folded her legs staring at the batshit insane man not understanding if he was actually being serious or not. "How do you even know about that?"
"About what?"
"Her Mero Mero beam…have you seen it before?"
"Heard about it from someone"
"From who?"
"Leo. My brother"
"And how did he know?"
"Hmmm" Luffy tilted his head not knowing what to say, "He just did?"
"That's not an answer"
"That's the only answer you'll get"
"Suspicious…"
"Well, get Hancock to kill me this time. That way, we'll know if her Mero Mero beam works on me or not"
"….I don't even know what to say…"
"Shishishishi"
He then remembered something that he had forgotten to ask, "Wait. What does Hancock think of me being here? Didn't she only agree to me not being executed because you told her that I'll bed the others?"
Sonia smirked mischievously, "Oh don't worry. Just told her that you were impotent"
She expected him to get annoyed that she had said that but he only got a glint in his eyes and gave her an approving nod with a smile while saying "Ooh good job!"
"…what?"
"Good job!" Luffy said patting her back with an appreciative smile and Sonia only became bewildered again.
On the other ship, Hancock was squirming in her chair with a snail in front of her that was relaying everything Sonia and Luffy were saying. "He doesn't think he'll fall for my charms?" she scoffed, "How ridiculous!"
———
Luffy was sitting on the Sea serpent's head after another unsuccessful attempt of trying to hear them and was just relaxing when she spotted Sonia and Leah on deck talking with each other. Luffy didn't want to pry but their relationship was strange.
He had observed the two's interaction whenever he got the chance and understood that Sonia talked to her more than she did with others and also found that the fact that she was spending time on this ship rather than staying on Hancock's ship was also because of Leah.
He had asked Leah about it and she told him that before her mom took her away from the island, Hancock, Sonia, Mari and she were close friends and used to play a lot. This was like when they were all around 8-9 years old, so they were childhood friends before the kidnapping of the three sisters. That had cleared up some of the mysteries about her sure, but Luffy still saw signs of guilt and unease from Sonia sometimes when she was talking with Leah. Leah didn't seem to notice though as she was totally oblivious… Or was it him that was unnaturally perceptive?
Leo was interested in criminal psychology too and had done a thesis on interrogation tactics detectives used when confronting suspects and had watched a lot of interrogation videos. Body language, speech patterns, eye movements, hand movements… his original personality could already perceive such subtle hints but he wasn't able to draw any conclusions from them and usually used his instincts to judge a situation. But now that he had psychology lessons and was smarter, he could analyze all that information and make accurate judgments.
It was like earlier he could get weather data but couldn't make sense of it, but now he could make accurate weather prediction models based on it. He had tried to read Reiju but she was impossible to read as she was more of a master at such things than him, Sonia was a bit hard to read too but if he calmly analyzed her, he would be able to read her, and people like Leah were an open book to him. He didn't actively try to analyze people though, but he still couldn't help but see obvious signs of lying or unease quite easily. And seeing it from Sonia worried him. Why would Sonia of all people feel uneasy while talking to a friend? If she didn't like it, why even spend time with her? And then there was Hancock whose presence here still made no sense as she rarely ever talked to anyone but Sonia.
And Leah? She loved the three sisters and everything about them. She had apparently lost herself a bit after losing her mother and had come searching for Amazon Lily to reconnect and find a home again. She seemed to be ecstatic that her childhood friends were now so amazingly successful and wanted to lend her strength to them. So, there was nothing about Leah that stood out to him that would make Sonia uncomfortable. Apart from her being knowledgeable about the outside world that is.
"Hey Luffy!" Leah called out from deck bringing him out of his thoughts and he shelved the topic jumping back on deck.
"We'll be disembarking on a smaller boat in a few minutes, so get ready"
"For what?"
"We don't really want to announce that the Kuja are here, so taking these ships will be a dead giveaway" Leah explained, "So we'll get into smaller boats and row to the island. Should take hardly an hour since the island is very close to the Calm Belt"
"I see"
It was currently the fourth day since Luffy had landed on the Kuja ship and he could already see the end of the Calm Belt and laid his eyes on the Grand Line again. The ships would apparently stay near the edge of Calm Belt while the women went to the island in smaller boats. Hancock and all the Kuja pirates would wait at the ship itself and only the women who needed to get pregnant, Leah, Luffy and a couple more were going to the island. Sonia also chose to stay on the ship itself but when Leah pressed for her to come, she said that she would come on the last day. Again, he saw that something had her uncomfortable and the way she said that she'll come on the last day, he knew something would be happening then.
"See you in a week" Sonia said as Leah and Luffy got into the boats. "We'll decide then if we need to stay longer or not"
"What?!" Luffy asked surprised looking up at her.
"Hm?" Sonia tilted her head, "Yeah. If things haven't gone well, we'll have to extend the stay you know…"
"Oh hell no! We're leaving in a week as planned. I need to get home as soon as possible!"
"Ooh good then" Sonia smiled mischievously, "Do a good job then"
"Okay!" Luffy nodded resolutely intent on finishing the task as fast as possible. All the women descended into the smaller boats too and they were soon rowing towards the island.
The women on board were all excitedly talking about visiting an island that wasn't Amazon Lily and looked like they were looking forward to visiting the island more rather than meeting a man.
"Okay girls, just stick with me and Luffy when we get there. Please don't wander off"
"Okay!" came the chorused response.
The island they were going to was a normal peaceful summer island at the edge of Grand Line called Callipe island. It just had a few cities and was pretty much a normal island with nothing Grand Line crazy. The island soon came into view and the women started to get more excited as they pointed and marvelled at the island. The first person they saw was a kind old fisherman who was heading back to the island too. The women gawked at the older man and even though he was slightly taken aback, he waved at them with a smile, which only made them more excited.
"Hey old man, what's the best hotel for all of us to stay in?" Luffy asked getting his attention.
"Oh, visitors huh? Look for an inn called Callipe inn. Named after the island cause it's the best. Cheap, clean and safe. You won't have any problems even with so many women" he responded helpfully.
"Thanks, old man!"
"Have a fun visit. And welcome to Callipe Island!"
"Thank you!" chorused the women excitedly which had the old man chuckling as they looked like a bunch of grade schoolers on a class trip.
"This is gonna be a thing huh?" Luffy said tiredly to Leah, who was sitting next to him, and she giggled nodding her head.
They soon reached the dock and the women looked wide-eyed at the city marveling at every new thing but it was just a normal city with decent sized shops and houses.
They paid for docking their boats and walked into the city, with Luffy and Leah leading the way while the rest followed behind oohing and aahing at all the different shops. They had been told not to point and shout 'Look! A man!' when they see a man, so instead they nudged each other, pointed with their chin while whispering 'Look! A man!'
That still attracted a lot of attention as the men either smiled waving back at the attention, which made the Amazons gasp in shock, or just looked at them weirdly. They thankfully reached the Callipe inn without any incident, got single bedrooms for everyone, and soon started to explore the city.
Luffy and Leah led them on a tour of the city while explaining certain stuff they didn't understand and after a bit of exploring, they went to a tavern near the port. The usual process the Amazons followed was to find a tavern near a port as sailors would also be stopping by there and looking for a fling. They would also be strong and the Amazons preferred strength, so they were the perfect candidates for them.
Whatever Luffy had to tell them, he had already told them, so they just went on their own to look for a partner. Luffy and Leah just stayed nearby to keep an up eye on them and hoped they wouldn't cause any trouble but not even five minutes in, a fight broke out near the bar counter between a couple and one of the Amazons.
Luffy quickly ran there intent on seeing what had caused the problem and found that the Amazon had just approached a man who was already dancing with another woman. The woman, of course, had gotten pissed at her asking how dare she approach her man.
"Okay okay, she's sorry" Luffy interrupted coming in between the irate woman, her embarrassed boyfriend, and the Amazon called Jess.
"Are you her friend?!" the woman yelled, "How dare she approach my boyfriend so blatantly when I'm right next to him?!"
"What did I do wrong Luffy?" Jess asked completely clueless.
"I guess it's my fault for not considering this scenario" Luffy sighed to himself before explaining to Jess, "You did see him dancing with her right?" he said pointing at the man and woman who were now more curious and confused.
"Yeah so?"
"That means the two are together. He already has her as his partner"
"But I only want him for tonight"
Luffy felt like tearing his hair out but explained patiently "It doesn't work like that. He's hers and she's his. They only sleep with one another, understand?"
"I see"
"Yeah, so only find single men… like look over there," he said pointing at a pretty well-dressed man sitting alone at the counter, "Go talk to him"
"Okay!" Jess said happily going to him. Luffy sighed turning to look back at the couple who were giving him strange looks.
"Okay, what the hell dude?" the man asked.
"Small island. Low population. Don't have much contact with men. So they're here to experience men for the first time. They're pretty clueless so I apologize on their behalf" Them being from Amazon Lily was of course a secret and Hancock was kinda strict when telling them that they should never mention anything about Amazon Lily to anyone. They had even changed out of their beast hide clothes and were wearing normal dresses.
"Luffy!" Leah yelled from the other end where two more fights had apparently broken out. She went to deal with one while calling Luffy to take care of the other. Luffy just sighed waving the couple goodbye before running to break up the other fight. It had broken out for the same reason too and after he took care of it, he went around to all the girls telling them not to approach couples. After an hour of running around, most of the women were talking with someone, having a sort of date, and Luffy and Leah finally got a chance to sit down and relax.
They collapsed at the counter and ordered two strong tequila shots. There were only 15 women, but they were causing so many problems.
"Wow… you really weren't kidding huh?" a voice asked and Luffy found the first couple whose fight he had broken up sitting next to him, and the woman had struck up the conversation. "We were watching you running around breaking up fights…"
"Yeah, my fault I guess. Had told them what kind of guys to approach. Hadn't mentioned that they shouldn't approach guys who already had partners…"
"Uhh, not your fault man. That should have been obvious" the woman said pitifully patting his back.
"Well, apparently not"
"So what's the deal here?" the man asked, "They want one-night stands, is it? She did say that she wanted me for just one night"
"Pretty much yeah. We'll be leaving in a week, so they don't want any relationships"
"Ooh, then you should check out the tavern at the other end of the port. That's more famous for sailors coming in"
"Ah that explains the lack of sailors here…" Leah nodded sagely. "Okay, let's go there then"
"Thanks guys" Luffy said as he and Leah got up.
"Ah wait, can we come? This is kinda fun" the woman asked with a grin and the man also nodded. Luffy chuckled, "Sure, having locals will help"
"Great!" the woman chirped, "I'm Jan and this is Phil"
"Luffy and Leah. Nice to meetcha!"
The four then gathered up the women and went to the other tavern where they had a much easier time as Jan and Phil also helped a lot. The four hit it off too and started playing bar games which attracted others to their group and soon, men themselves started approaching and talking with the Amazons. By the end of the night, all the women had found a partner for themselves they liked. Luffy had told them to go on a date at least before sleeping together so they followed his instructions.
At night, two men walked out after getting spooked when the Amazons told them that they wanted kids and so, they had to go out again and pair them up too. After they were done, Luffy and Leah both collapsed on their beds mentally collapsed from having to deal with such clueless women, but at least they had achieved their goal.
The next morning, all the women were practically glowing talking animatedly talking about their first times. As Luffy had told them, they had straight up told their partners that it was their first time and to be gentle with them. And thankfully, looked like everyone had had a positive experience.
———
It had been 7 days since the Amazons with Luffy and Leah had left for Callipe island and Sonia was currently walking through the city after just having landed on the island herself. They were going to be leaving the next morning, so she came to just check if everything had gone well or whether they should extend their stay. And also to deal with Leah…which she still didn't want to think about.
She walked through the city and found it to be in a very festive mood as it seemed some kind of festival was being celebrated. She found everyone going towards the centre of the city where apparently some event was soon going to start. She didn't care as she wanted to find her people, so called Leah's transponder snail.
"HELLOO?!" came Leah's loud shout over the snail. There were very loud background noises and Sonia could barely hear her.
"It's Sonia! Where are you? I'm on the island!" Sonia said raising her voice.
"OH?! YOU'RE HERE?! JUST COME TO THE CENTER OF THE CITY! I'M JUST NEXT TO THE BONFIRE, SO MEET ME THERE!"
Before Sonia could ask what bonfire, the call was cut off. She sighed and started walking towards where the crowds were gathering. She was a huge woman so she stood out quite a bit but it was the Grand Line, so people would just stare for a minute before moving on. When she felt congested, she jumped on a building so that she wouldn't have to get pushed around by the crowds and jumped from building to building until she reached the centre.
She understood what bonfire Leah was talking about as there was a huge one erected right in the middle of the street, but it was still unlit though, so whatever event was going on, it was yet to start.
She made her way towards the unlit bonfire and spotted Leah instantly as she and the other Amazons seemed to be the centre of attention. Leah also spotted her and waved her over with a happy smile.
"Sandersonia-sama, glad you could make it!" Leah cheered.
"Greetings, Sandersonia-sama!" the other Amazons chorused.
Sonia nodded in acknowledgement at all the women before addressing Leah and walked a bit further away from the crowd so that they could talk. "So what's happening here? Some kind of festival?"
"Oh no no," Leah said with a grin, "It's our farewell party!"
Sonia blinked a couple of times not being able to understand her words, "Um what? Our farewell party?"
"Yeah, the people here got to know we're leaving tomorrow, so decided to throw this bonfire party!"
"…why?" Sonia just couldn't understand how that happened.
Leah let out a merry giggle. "Trust me, I watched the whole thing play out and I still can't believe how this happened! Only way I can explain this is to say it's Luffy magic"
"Beast? He did all this?"
"Yep! We were pretty much done match-making the first night itself. I honestly don't know how Luffy did it, but he made sure most of them got partners who would take them out on dates for the whole week. So, he and I didn't even have to take care of them after setting them up"
"So, they all got week-long dates instead of just one-night stands" Sonia nodded in understanding.
"Yeah pretty much. Second night, we kinda kept an eye on everyone to make sure they were all safe and that's pretty much it. The girls went around on group dates or single dates, while Luffy and I were free to enjoy ourselves. We met a couple the first night that helped us and became quick friends with them. They were in a band, and get this- Luffy can apparently play multiple musical instruments!"
"Really? Doesn't really seem the type to patiently learn stuff like that"
"Yeah exactly! When I asked him he just said his brother made him learn it… Anyway, the guy in the band invited Luffy to play in his band as they could use a guitarist and boom! Luffy joined a band and then…" Leah went on to narrate what all had happened in the one week, more importantly, what Luffy had done, and ended with, "…the mayor found out that we are leaving tomorrow, and thus, threw us this last minute farewell party!"
"Wow… So that all happened huh?"
"Yep! He's magnetic if nothing else. I thought I would be suffering this entire week, but it's been so fun!"
Their conversation was interrupted as the mayor chose that moment to start the party by getting the attention of everyone present.
"Hello, Callipe Island citizens! I'm not gonna bore you with a boring speech, so don't worry. We all know why we're here- We've been struggling with resource funds for our schools and water facilities for quite some time now… and I had hoped the charity gala I hosted yesterday would help us in some small way… And as you all know, we got an overwhelming response from all the attendees!"
"WOOOHHHHH!" the crowd cheered.
"Without further ado, the ones who made that possible! Welcome our local band that blew the socks off of all the donors at the gala with their fun songs and jolly personalities! The Rock Five!"
Five people came running from behind the bonfire waving and cheering as the crowd welcomed them with raucous cheers. It was the couple Luffy had met the first day- Jan and Phil, two deer minks who looked to be mother and daughter- Giselle and Scarlett, and a Fishman named Rite.
Jan took the mic from the mayor as she happily addressed the crowd and hyped them up more. "Well we gotta be honest, at the beginning of this week, if someone told us we would blow up like this, I would've laughed in their face… but life sure is strange huh? Who would have guessed that just choosing to go to a dance bar one day would change our lives forever? One random encounter that started on a bad foot spiralled into something huge for us. We were a struggling band at the start of this week, but today? One of the donors at yesterday's gala just happened to be a famous talent agency that liked us so much that they offered to give us a tour! A fucking tour! We finally got our big break!"
"WOOHHHHHHHH!" the crowd cheered and so did the Rock Five.
"And the one who made it possible for us! The man of the week! The one who gave us exposure! The talk of the city!…." Jan trailed off awkwardly looking around, "…who was supposed to come jumping out as soon as I said that…"
Giselle leaned into the mic and spoke into it "Well knowing him, he's probably stuffing his face in with food somewhere around here…"
People all turned towards the food area, where multiple caterers had set up stalls with large amounts of food, and as expected there Luffy was, stuffing his face in with tons of meat without a care in the world.
Luffy suddenly noticed that his surroundings had gone quiet and when he looked around, he saw that everyone was looking at him with amusement. He just stared back taking a bite and chewing the shank of meat in his hand and only after swallowing it up completely did he mutter "What?"
That burst a dam as the entire crowd started laughing and Luffy had no idea what was going on. He just tilted his head confused as his hand slowly made a grab for another shank of meat which only had the crowd howling with more laughter. Giselle and Scarlett suddenly came flying in tackling him to the ground and laughing with merriment.
"Oh, it's you guys! The food's great here! Try some!" Luffy cheered shoving the meat near Scarlett's mouth.
"No, you idiot! You didn't hear a word of what was said just now did you?" Giselle said already knowing the answer.
"Huh? Somebody spoke?"
Giselle and Scarlett both started laughing before latching onto his ears and started chewing on them happily.
Jan, Phil and Rite also came up next and watched in amusement as Luffy sighed and gave up letting the mother-daughter pair do whatever they wanted with his ears. The two were Mink and so when they had first met him, they had greeted him in their usual fashion going 'Garchuu~' as they bit his ear. Since he was rubber, the two instantly fell in love with chewing on him and would do it every chance they got.
"Man, they sure like to use you as a chew toy huh?" Rite said as he grabbed the mother and daughter and lifted them up while they protested not letting go of his ears, thus stretching his ears comically wide. Luffy just tickled the two just under their chin causing them to start giggling, thus making them let go of his ears. A trick he had to learn when they didn't let go for a long time.
"C'mon, you're the man of the night" Jan said as she and Phil grabbed him from either side and started escorting him towards the bonfire which wasn't lit yet.
"Uhh what for again?" Luffy asked not being aware of the effect he had had on the city yet.
"Forget it, we've already tried explaining it to you a million times"
"And I still don't understand. I just had fun with everyone at the gala… and the next day I was suddenly being praised for just having fun. How does that make sense?"
"You just didn't have fun, dummy gummy" Jan pinched his cheek lovingly using the nickname she had come up with for him. "You made everyone have fun"
"Well of course I did. It's not a fun party if everyone is not enjoying themselves."
"And that's why we love you!" Giselle and Scarlett said in unison still being held in Rite's grip.
"You don't even understand what an amazing and impossible thing you did when you convinced the stiff and stuck-up donors at the gala to start dancing and singing like no one was watching" Rite said shaking his head in disbelief. "I was there and even I can't believe how you did it… One minute, everything was boring but the next, all the stuck-up rich people started acting like kids at a party"
"Let's just chalk it up to Luffy magic. That's what Leah keeps saying" Phil said with a chuckle patting his back.
Luffy did understand what was happening but pretended not to as they had almost started calling him a hero. It all started with Jan and Phil saying they were in a band and him mentioning that he could play the guitar and the piano. They invited him to join them the next day and he met Giselle, Scarlett and Rite the next afternoon. He had hit it off with all of them as they were very driven people who wanted to spread their music to the world. They were big dreamers and there was no one Luffy liked more than big dreamers.
Thus, he listened to a few of their songs and noticed that they were really good and complemented each other really well. Apparently, the five had been playing together for three years and were trying to get a tour, but just weren't getting their big break. They had the talent but Luck also played a huge role in a music artist's life, and they were lacking luck.
Luffy just praised them telling them they would hit it big someday. After that, he just started playing a couple of songs from Leo's world and the five loved it so much that they started asking whose song it was. Luffy just explained it away as an artist in his brother's country, which was closed off to the rest of the world. He told them to sing it if they liked it and they were gobsmacked at first and refused profusely, but Luffy just wrote down all the lyrics and sheet music and handed it to them telling them the artist and Leo would be happy if their music was played in the outside world.
Luffy had given them the sheet music for two songs and only gave it to them because they were really good already. If they were mediocre or not driven, he wouldn't have bothered, but their own songs were actually really good and they were big dreamers too, so he didn't mind helping them a bit.
And that was it. The next thing he knew, he was roped into playing as their temporary secondary guitarist and vocalist at the restaurant show they had that night. Rite was on the bass, Scarlett was the drummer, Jan was the pianist and lead singer, and Phil was the primary guitarist as well as the vocalist. They were a pretty unconventional but well-oiled band and Luffy managed to integrate himself pretty well with them.
Luffy had a blast playing 'We will rock you' with the Rock Five who had learned it in just a single afternoon. That song, as expected, had attracted a lot of attention and a huge crowd soon formed around them. Seeing so many people paying attention to them, the Rock Five decided it was their best shot to show off and thus, began playing their best songs with renewed vigour and attracted a much larger crowd. Luffy had slipped out after the first song as he was getting in the way of their perfect band symphony and just enjoyed the rest of the evening with Leah. At the end of the night, the Rock Five had come barreling into him screaming their heads off with joy saying that they had just received an invitation from the city mayor to play at a charity gala the next day.
Luffy congratulated them but they thanked him because it was his song that had given them the initial attention. They were good enough to keep that crowd and also grow it much larger with their own songs, so Luffy really didn't think he had done anything.
They were so thankful that they invited him to the charity gala too. He knew it would be a rich nobles' party with gourmet bite-sized food, and boring talks so started to refuse, but Leah excitedly latched onto him saying she wanted to dress up fancy and attend it. They argued, Leah obviously won and thus, Luffy with Leah as his date, and a few other Amazon women with plus ones had gone to the gala.
As Luffy expected, it was pretty boring. The people were pretty nice though and not like the snobby rich ones like in Goa, but the boring conversations and small portions of food were making him sleepy. The Rock Five, as their name suggested were primarily a rock band, so didn't get to shine a lot either. The mayor gave a bunch of pleas on how they needed money for some infrastructures like schools and hospitals and also needed money for some water plantations. Luffy honestly didn't listen and was more interested in thinking about when he would get to leave so that he could explore more of the city. Leah was his date though, so he behaved gentlemanly for the evening. But soon, even Leah started getting bored, and so did all the Amazon women.
He went to check up on the Rock Five and their moods were also down as they had built this venue up as their massive break, but not only were they not in their element, but people really didn't care for the music.
Luffy just hummed eyeing all the guests before deciding to transform the boring charity gala into a pirate party. He just said 'Give me a few minutes, and then start playing rock music on my signal' to the band before jumping into the array of guests.
He just picked a few single men who were eyeing a few single women and encouraged them to ask the women out. Luffy was blunt and extremely convincing if nothing else and if the guys hesitated too much, he just pulled them forcefully towards the girls and broke the ice with the classic 'Haaave you met Ted?'
He then went to the older married couples and did what he did best- make people laugh. He piggybacked on how nervous single guys were before the older couples started telling him how they themselves were nervous when they first met their partners, which were all funny stories. Finally, after becoming the centre of attention, he started a game where people started telling embarrassing stories from their younger days. It soon broke all the tension and high-class air rich people usually have and they became just normal people with embarrassing and funny stories. Luffy then gestured to Jan and the rest of the band, who were staring wide-eyed with shock at how effortlessly he was turning the boring room into a joyous one, and got his message. The band soon started to play a slow love rock song.
The donors eyed the band curiously as they had suddenly started playing a song that didn't fit the mood of a simple gala. But Luffy just grabbed Leah, who was also staring with shock at him, and began dancing with her. The Amazon couples also thought what Luffy and Leah were doing was fun, and so they began dancing with their partners too. Seeing many couples forming and how they had just reminisced about their younger days, the older couples also started dancing reliving their old memories. Soon, the younger newly formed couples also joined in and thus, a majority of the people at the gala had begun dancing.
But Luffy was far from done. He gestured to the Rock Five to play an upbeat song after a few minutes, and when all the couples were confused, he got all their attention and started a silly dance, which had them laughing their asses off. The Amazon women, who had learned by then that whatever Luffy did was always a good thing, also followed his lead. And when they saw so many people performing silly moves, all the others started too and pretty soon, everyone was dancing like it was a dance club and the Rock Five started showing off their musical prowess. The mayor was the only one who was a bit peeved at Luffy seeing how he had turned a serious gala into a dance party, but he didn't think anything much would come off of it in the first place, so just joined in on the party too.
By the end of the night, Luffy was blackout drunk and so were many people. He had woken up in the morning in a massive dog pile of Leah, the Rock Five and a few Amazons, with Giselle nibbling his ear even in her sleep.
When everyone woke up, the Rock Five had grabbed Luffy and kissed him repeatedly while crying tears of joy. Apparently, one of the donors belonged to a musical talent agency and seeing how well they played, signed a deal with them on the spot. Saying the band were on cloud nine was putting it mildly. They would apparently leave on a tour within the month and do what they wanted to do - put on concerts and sing for all sorts of people on different islands.
Luffy was covered in lipstick marks all over his face when the mayor also came bursting into their room while comically crying and proceeded to leave kisses on Luffy's face too as many donors had had so much fun the previous night that they decided to donate a large amount of money to the charity. When everything was added up, the amount of money raised was fifty times more than what he had expected, so he was also on cloud nine.
Luffy understood on a basic level that the rich people had enjoyed a lot and thus had donated, but he didn't really do it for them. He only did it because he was bored, wanted to help the Rock Five and that was it. The mayor almost started calling him a hero, so he instantly acted like he didn't understand what was going on and didn't acknowledge his involvement in anything.
But he was happy for the mayor nevertheless. When it slipped out that they would be leaving the next morning, the mayor instantly called for a city-wide celebration as their farewell.
And thus, here he was at the last-minute bonfire party being pulled by Jan and Phil towards the bonfire as he was apparently the man of the hour. He had become pretty famous in the city too as he went around exploring the city with enthusiasm and his magnetic and childlike personality of course attracted everyone he talked to, and he had become the talk of the city. So, everyone knew who he was and his massive appetite for food too.
"Okay, here you are. Please do the honours" the mayor said giving him the torch to light the bonfire.
Luffy turned towards the crowd who were looking at him expectantly hoping he would give a speech, but as always Luffy shattered everyone's expectations and did what he wanted.
"I'm not much for words, so I only got two-" he aimed the torch near the erected woodpile, "LEEETTTTSSSS PAAARRRTTYYYY!" he yelled, throwing the torch at the same time, and the woodpile instantly erupted into a massive pillar of fire as the crowd cheered loudly.
And thus started the biggest and the first yearly bonfire party on Callipe Island.
———
A couple of hours later, Luffy found a quiet place on top of a tree as the party kept going with people bringing out their own instruments, dancing and having fun.
He looked down at the joyous scene with a melancholic expression though. He had been having fun until just a few minutes ago but seeing a group of friends laughing their asses off while making fun of each other and eating to their hearts' content triggered a memory which brought his mood down instantly.
He wanted his crew with him. It was really strange as he hadn't even met them but he loved all of them and couldn't wait to meet them. He also started to think about all the friends he would make on his journey and that only brought his mood down further as many of them were suffering at that exact moment.
He remembered things like how Otama would be starving at that very moment and food didn't taste good anymore. He remembered how Nami would be all alone in that stupid room making maps for her tormentor, and laughter didn't feel good anymore. He remembered how Brook would be trying to entertain himself all alone on his ship and partying didn't feel good anymore.
He just wanted to go to everyone and protect/liberate them all but knew he couldn't be at all places at once, couldn't do it alone, couldn't go alone on the journey and he didn't want to either. He knew there was nothing he could do until he got to each of them one by one, but that didn't mean he didn't feel melancholic. He knew there was no point in moping around, but he would still get these intense melancholic feelings from time to time and the only thing he did when he felt like that was train. Train and train so that he's ready to save whoever he wanted and do whatever he wanted when the time came.
He jumped from tree to tree going further into the forest and after arriving at a deep secluded area, activated Gear 2 and started to train. Pump more blood, move faster, hit harder, make his body more elastic, more malleable, twist the legs, twist the hands, the neck, torso and even the tongue. Activate Gear third, channel the air from limb to limb, perform Soru while in Gear 3… and so on.
He destroyed a good chunk of his immediate surroundings but he had come in deep for a reason. He deflated doing out of Gear 3, blowing all the air out and he fell down in his shrunken form panting hard. He still had this side effect and his bones also ached a lot after the transformation ended. It took ten whole minutes for him to return to his original state and he got up and blew into his arm again forcefully activating Gear 3 even though his body clearly wasn't in any shape to handle that. But he would be in a similar state during the war, so forced himself to get up and do it anyway as he had to get used to fighting in such conditions.
After the second time of coming out of Gear 3 and shrinking, he could feel his body would burst if he did it again, so just laid down panting hard.
A few minutes later, a head suddenly popped up in his field of vision making him jump out of his skin before he realized it was just Sonia.
"Heya beast…or should I change that to mini beast?"
"Very funny" Luffy deadpanned, his voice very low-pitched, making her laugh as she sat down next to him.
"I was hoping to find you doing something suspicious when I saw you slipping out of the party and heading somewhere alone. So I hid my presence and followed you… but here I find you just abusing your body… and a chibi you?"
Luffy just sighed nodding his head as she stared at his shrunken form and started poking him curiously. "What even is this?"
"Just a side effect of my Gear 3… where I inflate my bones to gain giant limbs"
"You were inflating your bones?!" Sonia yelped surprised, "Wow, how do you not…pop?"
"Shishishi had to strengthen my bones first"
"So this was your last resort huh? I can see how you could just destroy the ship with this"
"Yeah"
Luffy's body adjusted back to its normal state again and he sat up. "Wanna fight? I could use an opponent"
"You still want to fight in this state? You really have a death wish…"
"C'mon, you can use your devil fruit too. I want to fight you when you're at full power"
"No, I'm in no mood to fight. Besides, I don't think you can even fight in your current state"
Luffy looked down at himself and fell on his back knowing she was right. He had just used Gear 3 consecutively so his body was really in no state to fight. "Yeah guess you're right"
"…So what made you sad?"
"Huh?"
"Back at the party… I saw you eyeing those group of friends messing around when suddenly your mood dropped and you left…why?"
"Wow, I knew that you didn't trust me, but that much? Were you observing me the whole night?"
"...No actually. I just happened to be looking in your direction when that happened."
"Yeah sure," Luffy just sighed, "I just remembered some stuff that's all…"
Before she could ask any follow-up questions, Luffy stood up dusting all the dirt off of his clothes "Imma head back. Coming?"
"Go on, I'll catch up"
"Sure"
Sonia watched Luffy go back towards the city with a slight limp. Once he was out of eyesight and far enough , she said "Geez happy? I told you he wouldn't talk about his past"
Hancock slowly walked out of the clearing from where she was observing Luffy the whole time with a frown on her face. "But I wish to learn what made him sad. The way he was abusing his body here… it is intriguing. I wonder what exactly it is that he is training for?"
Sonia just sighed not knowing why her sister had taken so much interest in Luffy. Sure, his story was amazing but Hancock seemed a bit too obsessed with him. It was actually Hancock who had noticed that he became sad in the first place and then asked Sonia to follow him while she discreetly followed from behind. If Sonia didn't know any better, she would have thought that Hancock had a crush on him.
And she was right. Hancock had indeed developed a small crush on him. It wasn't love or anything close to it, but she was interested in him and wanted to know more about him. She would sometimes peek out of the porthole from inside her cabin and her eyes would always follow him whenever he was on deck or sitting on the sea serpents. She would come out on deck to take a closer look and 'accidentally' see him and start a conversation with him but he would always quickly go below deck a minute or two after she came out. She was slightly peeved at that and had even asked Sonia if he was avoiding her, and it seemed to be the case. She had concluded that he was a shy man and was a bit disappointed that he also was infatuated with her. She had lost most of her interest in him, but she still couldn't help but stare at him sometimes. And tonight, she was staring at him partying, seen his sudden mood shift and thus, followed him.
"Yeah well, I don't see why he would share that with me"
"Hmm, maybe I should ask him myself. No one is going deny any of my requests anyway"
"Yeah, he should answer if you ask" Sonia nodded.
"Anyway, enough about him. I think it is about time we do what we came here for" Hancock said looking at Sonia seriously.
Sonia's mood suddenly deflated as she nodded, "Yeah…"
Hancock patted her head soothingly, "Sonia, I know you like Leah. But she cannot live with us on Amazon Lily. We must banish her from the island and also make sure she never comes looking for us ever again. That can either be done by threatening her that if she ever came looking for us, we will kill her… or we actually kill her"
"…You clearly want to kill her…" Sonia said in an accusatory tone with her head down.
"It is for the best, Sonia"
"But… after what all Luffy said… it's only made me want to not push her away… We shouldn't let the stupid brand make us do this…"
Hancock sighed and grabbed her sister's head making her face her. "You're too emotional Sonia. We have lied to the whole island and Leah knows it. She hasn't asked or done anything until now, but what will we do if she exposes us? If the others talk about devil fruits, we can call them liars or say that it is a myth in the outside world and that would be the end of it. But Leah? She knows too much. We have kept her from being on the island, but we cannot keep pushing her into trips for long… I do not know why she hasn't outed us yet, but she will soon and then, we will have to answer everyone as to why we lied"
Sonia hung her head in defeat for a few minutes thinking about what Hancock had said and knew she was right. She understood what danger Leah posed to them but she didn't want her dead. Hancock had been ready to petrify on the island itself, but Sonia had begged that she wanted to spend some time with her and thus, kept pushing her into trips. Hancock was losing patience though and she knew she couldn't put it off anymore. She had been ready to say goodbye to her on this trip, but then Luffy dropped into her life… After hearing about his resolve, she didn't want the brand on her back to influence her decisions, especially something big like getting rid of a friend.
"…Leah just wants to be a doctor" she tried again to convince her sister otherwise, "After her mother died, she apparently faced a lot of hardships and just kept roaming around aimlessly. She doesn't like to talk much but something horrible happened to her… She finally came looking for us so that she can have a family again…she came looking for me, looking for you…and now we're turning her away…"
Hancock understood that this was Luffy's influence and she had agonized over this decision herself after hearing him out, but at the end, she didn't want to take any chances. "We cannot risk it, Sonia… If…If everyone was like Luffy, then this world would have been a much better place, but people are not like him. He is an exception among exceptions. Leah can certainly expose our lies and when people start asking questions, they will eventually find out the truth and shun us. After that, one of two things will happen. Either we kill everyone who questions us, or we leave… And both options are horrible. Do you want to return to those hellish days?"
Sonia opened her mouth to protest but just couldn't rebuke her. Her body still trembled just imagining anyone other than Luffy seeing her brand and just the possibility that Leah might lead to that terrified her.
Hancock continued, "We have had this trip so that you can spend time with her and have some closure… We do not have to kill her. We'll drop her off here on this island or some other island, but we must tell her, no, threaten her that she should never come looking for Amazon Lily or interfere in our lives again"
"…That will kill her… She's already lost everything she holds dear and… if I threaten her to stay away, it'll break her"
"…I am ready to petrify her too. It won't even hurt her"
Sonia had her head down with a distressed expression on her face. She stayed like that for a long time and Hancock patiently waited not saying anything. Luffy's words kept resounding in her head, but the years of mental anguish won in the end. She finally lifted her head and nodded slowly, "O-"
And that's when their conversation was interrupted by someone approaching them.