After Morgan was defeated, Luffy, Zoro, and Coby walked to the restaurant owned by Rika's family to fill their stomachs that had been empty since morning. Outside the restaurant the townspeople had begun to gather, whispering among themselves, trying to find out who exactly these two people were that had managed to defeat the captain who had been oppressing them all this time.
"Aaah, full! Full!" Zoro patted his stomach with complete satisfaction, his lean back against the chair making the wood beneath him creak. "Just as I thought, food tastes absolutely incredible when you haven't eaten for three weeks!"
Luffy, still chewing, turned toward him. "Wait, you only ate that much?"
"What I don't understand is why your appetite is bigger than mine." Zoro pointed at the stack of empty plates beside Luffy already three layers high. He was starting to wonder which of them had actually gone without eating for three weeks.
"It's just that the food here is really good." Luffy put another piece of meat in his mouth, then turned to Coby. "Right, Coby?"
No answer.
Luffy called him again.
"Huh?!" Coby snapped out of his thoughts. "What is it, Luffy-san?"
Luffy looked at him for a moment, fork with a piece of meat still suspended in the air. "What's wrong with you? Is something bothering your mind?"
Coby hesitated briefly. Then, as though he had made up his mind about something, he let out the question that had been weighing on his chest ever since he saw the yard full of caps being thrown into the air earlier.
"Luffy-san, what do you think justice is?"
Luffy's face shifted to confusion. "Why are you asking something like that to me? I'm a pirate."
"That's right, Coby, why are you asking him something like that." Zoro pointed at Luffy with his thumb without turning, still occupied with his own glass. "This person is a pirate whose dream is to be King of the Pirates. There's no way he understands something like that."
Coby didn't answer. He only waited, his eyes staying on Luffy.
Luffy finished chewing his meat before answering. "Hmm... if I have to answer, maybe for me justice is like what my grandfather once described. Justice is something done based on a conscience that you yourself believe to be right, not just blindly following the Marine's fixed regulations."
The uncertainty that had been weighing on Coby's chest slowly disappeared.
He didn't need a long answer. He only needed to know what direction he would follow, not like the Marines at this base who only bowed to orders, but someone who acts because it is truly what their own conscience tells them is right.
Luffy and Zoro had finished eating and were preparing supplies for sailing when a loud noise was heard from outside. Footsteps in unison approaching the restaurant.
The door opened.
A group of Marines stood at the doorway, led by a man who adjusted the position of his cap before stepping inside. "Excuse me." His eyes swept the room until they stopped on Luffy and Zoro. "Is it true that you two are pirates?"
"Yeah that's right." Luffy leaned back casually with a smile. "I also have a new crewmember now. We're pirates!"
Zoro beside him only stayed quiet, meeting the Marine leader's gaze without expression.
"We are very grateful to you for saving us from Morgan's hands." The man paused briefly, adjusting the position of his cap again even though it was already perfectly straight. "However, since you are pirates, we as Marines have no other choice." He drew a breath. "You must leave this town immediately. We owe you a debt, so we will not report this to headquarters."
A flood of protests immediately rose from outside the restaurant.
"Hey Marines! What is this?!"
"Weren't you people following Morgan's orders before?!"
"They're the saviors of this town!"
"That's right, that's right!"
Luffy only smiled hearing all of it. "Then let's just go." He stood from his chair and turned toward the restaurant owner. "Ma'am, thank you for the food!"
He and Zoro lifted sacks and boxes of food supplies, then walked toward the door.
Rika who was standing in the corner of the room watched them leaving. "They're already going," she murmured softly, more to herself than to anyone else.
As Luffy and Zoro were nearly at the door, the Marines opened a path for them. But the leader held his step, his eyes glancing toward Coby who stood at the back.
"Isn't that one your companion?"
Coby froze.
His tongue couldn't move. If it came out that he had once worked under a pirate, his chance of joining the Marines could shatter in an instant.
Luffy paused briefly. Glanced back before continuing his steps as though nothing was happening.
"Wait a moment." The leader raised his hand. "Isn't he your friend?"
"I do know him." Luffy put down his supply sack on the floor, then turned to face the Marine leader. Both his hands spread wide as though describing something enormous. "There's this female pirate with a really huge body, her name if I'm not mistaken is Alvida."
Cold sweat immediately ran down Coby's back.
Luffy walked closer. When he was right beside Coby, he smiled and pointed at Coby's face. "This guy is—"
Before that sentence finished, Coby's fist had already landed on Luffy's cheek.
Luffy, having taken that punch, only smiled wider.
Coby realized what he had just done, his mouth already opening to apologize. But Luffy cut him off first.
"How dare you!" Luffy turned with an exaggerated angry expression and immediately returned rapid fire punches toward Coby.
"Stop!" The Marine leader stepped forward. "I won't allow you to disturb the peace of this town!"
Zoro walked over and pulled Luffy's collar from behind. "Oy, that's enough. Don't overdo it."
"I already understand you two aren't friends." The Marine leader looked at Luffy with a gaze that had turned cold. "Now leave this town."
Luffy stopped punching. He turned and walked out of the restaurant right behind Zoro without looking back again.
Coby, still lying on the floor, watched Luffy's retreating back. Then he remembered that smile. A smile that didn't look even slightly like someone who was genuinely angry.
He understood.
Luffy had done all of that on purpose.
Something inside his chest hardened into resolve. Coby rose from the floor and stood straight before the Marine leader.
"I want—" His voice almost broke but he held it. "I want to become a Marine! I am willing to carry out any order, in order to become a Marine!"
The leader looked into Coby's resolve-filled eyes for several seconds. Then walked past him. "We're short on troops because of the recent pirate attacks. So the Marines aren't easy."
Coby's eyes lit up. "Is it possible that—"
The leader turned around. "I approve your request."
Coby immediately gave a salute with his back perfectly straight. "Sir!"
Zoro and Luffy came out of the map shop carrying their food supplies.
Zoro watched Luffy unroll a map while walking toward the dock, his eyes narrowing. "You... you can actually read a map?"
He wasn't sure he could trust whatever answer would come out of this person's mouth. They hadn't even known each other for a full day yet, and from everything he had seen so far, Zoro was fairly certain Luffy wasn't the type who used his head for things like this.
"Of course I can. Just trust me." Luffy grinned while folding the map back up.
Zoro muttered quietly to himself. "Is this really going to be alright..."
In truth Luffy didn't know much about actual navigation. But several months before his departure, he had thought he should at least prepare himself a little before setting sail. He had gathered money from town, through methods that weren't entirely above board, to buy the small ship he was now sailing. In the gaps between his training he had also learned basic things like reading maps and wind directions from Makino and several local fishermen.
But nothing had prepared him for the massive whirlpool he encountered at the start of his journey. He had made it out alive, but lost most of his supplies in the process. After that he had only been able to let his ship drift with the current until he finally encountered Alvida's ship.
His basic knowledge of maps was still there. But far from enough to know with any certainty where they were actually going.
The two of them finally arrived at their ship and put down the newly bought supplies. Before sailing Zoro asked, "So where's our next destination, Captain?"
Luffy grinned, crossing his arms while holding the rolled-up map in his right hand. "We're going to Orange Town. Maybe there we can buy a bigger ship."
As Luffy was about to untie the ship's rope, a voice called out from the dock.
"Luffy-san!"
Luffy raised his head. Coby stood there, already wearing a white Marine uniform that still looked slightly too large on his body.
Coby gave a salute with his back perfectly straight. "Thank you very much! The Marines will never forget you!"
"I've never seen a Marine give a salute to a pirate," Zoro teased from beside him.
Luffy only laughed wide hearing it.
Their ship's sail spread open, caught by the strengthening sea wind. Luffy waved toward Coby with a smile as wide as his face. "See you again, Coby!"
From behind Coby a voice was heard. "Everyone, salute!"
Coby startled, then immediately held his saluting position while watching the ship slowly move away, growing smaller in the middle of the blue sea of Shells Town.
End of Chapter 11