"Big Sister Makino, get me some breakfast!"
In the morning, Luffy ran into Makino's bar and shouted to her as she was cleaning.
Makino was already prepared. She brought out hot milk, eggs, meat, and fruit, placing them in front of Luffy.
"Where's Shanks and the others?" Luffy asked.
Makino's bar was the only entertainment spot in the village and doubled as a restaurant. For outsiders like Shanks and his pirate crew, if they didn't cook themselves, they would come to Makino's for food.
"They're pirates, you know. Luffy, why don't you come back around ten?" Makino said gently. She was well-acquainted with the pirates' internal clocks.
"Must be nice… I just can't sleep in." Luffy sighed.
Maybe it was a kid thing—Luffy simply couldn't sleep in. His body was so full of energy that he had to find ways to burn it off.
"That's because Luffy's a kid. It's perfectly normal for kids to be energetic," Makino replied.
After breakfast, Luffy went out to burn off that energy. First, he jogged around the island, then did push-ups and frog jumps, and finally went to the fruit shop to grab a basket of fruit and find his animal friends to play with.
Outside the fruit shop, Uta was holding a stack of Berries and negotiating with the shop owner.
"Morning, Uta," Luffy greeted her as he picked up a fruit basket and started loading it up.
In the world of One Piece, island climates are eternally fixed—spring is always spring, and summer is always summer. That's why the fruits available were a wild mix: grapes, mangoes, dragon fruit, lychees, and more were all laid out on the shelves.
There was no such thing as a fruit being "in season," nor any need to worry about the weather.
"You…" Uta instinctively took a step back when she saw Luffy.
He was already drenched in sweat so early in the morning—he smelled awful.
Uta, who liked cleanliness, couldn't help but feel disgusted by him.
"See ya, Uta." Luffy, having picked out his fruit, didn't care about this slightly sickly girl and turned to leave to find his animal friends.
"Hey, wait a minute… aren't you going to pay?" Uta's eyes widened as she stared at Luffy, reminding him that he'd skipped a step.
"I don't have any money," Luffy said innocently.
"You don't have money, and you still took so much fruit?" Uta couldn't believe it.
"You're worse than a pirate!"
While handing over her Berries to the shop owner, Uta glared at Luffy with disdain.
"Do pirates usually pay for things?" Luffy asked, munching on an apple.
"Of course they do! Our Red-Haired Pirates always pay for everything. No—most pirates do. Only the scummy, low-life, broke ones steal from civilians," Uta said proudly, clearly feeling her crew was of a higher class.
But by the time she looked up again, Luffy was already walking away with his fruit basket.
"Hey! Were you even listening to me, Luffy?!" Uta shouted angrily.
"Does that guy have no shame at all?!"
"Don't worry," the fruit shop owner said with a cheerful smile. "Everything Luffy takes gets added to his grandpa's tab."
"Oh, I see!" Uta suddenly understood. Hugging her fruit, she chased after Luffy.
"Wait for me, Luffy! Let's settle things today! I totally beat Shanks yesterday…"
She still remembered how Luffy had completely destroyed her in a game of tic-tac-toe.
"No time. I'm playing with Tyson today."
"Who's Tyson?" Uta asked curiously, walking alongside Luffy. Her nose was slowly getting used to the sweaty smell on him, so she didn't mind it as much anymore.
After all, she was a pirate. Even though she liked cleanliness, there were plenty of times on a ship when one had to tolerate the environment.
Soon, Uta saw Tyson—
A giant gorilla in the forest near the cliff, showing off its strength to Luffy.
It pounded its chest with fists the size of sandbags, looking quite intimidating.
Then it reached toward Luffy's fruit basket, tilted its head, and made a "give it to me" gesture.
"Same rules as always, you useless gorilla."
Luffy placed the fruit basket on the ground and gave the gorilla a mischievous grin.
"This is Tyson?"
Seeing the friendly smile Luffy gave the gorilla, Uta suddenly felt a pang of sympathy. Her gaze toward him was now filled with pity.
So sad… this kid doesn't have any human friends…
Uta could already picture Luffy talking to animals all day long.
In that case, I guess I'll reluctantly be his friend, she thought.
The gorilla pounded its chest again, then threw a punch at Luffy. Luffy struck a boxer's stance, dodged, and countered with a punch right to the gorilla's eye socket.
Uta saw tears fly from the corner of the gorilla's eye.
After a few rounds of back-and-forth, Luffy pinned the gorilla to the ground, sitting on its chest and wearing a smug expression.
"Oh my, out of strength again? How pathetic. Useless gorilla…"
Luffy slapped his own arm. Though his limbs didn't have much visible muscle, they still packed unbelievable explosive power—and that power made him thrilled.
After giving his animal friend a good beating, Luffy sat down and began sharing the fruit with him.
Uta sat beside Luffy, the three of them forming a triangle.
She couldn't quite understand why Luffy would beat up an animal and then immediately share food with it.
Once they finished the fruit, the gorilla climbed up a tree as if it had predicted everything.
Then, the ground began to shake—A wild boar knight came charging toward Luffy.
"Luffy, watch out!"
Startled by the boar, Uta jumped up and tried to pull Luffy away to escape.
But Luffy stood still. "Tekkai!" (Iron Body!)
Then Uta watched as Luffy was sent flying, launched deep into the sea.
"LUFFY!!!"
"One, two, three…"
"Come out, my ultimate stand-in—Hero of the Marines!"
Luffy silently counted in his head, but no bear-like man appeared to pull him from the water.
Where's Garp?Where's my big ol' Garp?!
Unable to hold his breath, Luffy started blowing bubbles.
A girl with red and white hair jumped into the water and dragged him back up.
Cough cough cough…
Luffy lay on a rock, coughing up water, stunned that his backup power didn't activate.
"You're a coastal kid, and you don't even know how to swim?" Uta twisted her clothes dry as she looked at the soaked Luffy in disbelief.
Swimming was as basic and natural as eating or drinking. Only kids from big inland cities might not know how.
But Luffy clearly didn't look like that kind of kid.
"It's because if you eat a Devil Fruit, you won't be able to swim. So I've been hesitating whether to learn or not…" Luffy said, lying in the sun.
"What does eating fruit have to do with swimming?"
"And one more thing—if a cute big sister isn't teaching me, I'll never learn to swim in my whole life," Luffy added.
Swimming was a skill he intended to use for getting close with girls in the future—he couldn't learn it too early.
(End of Chapter)