The entire Cocoyasi Village was celebrating.
The village, shrouded in the shadow of the fish-men, was ultimately saved not by the Marines but by a group of pirates.
If the islands communicated more with each other, they might realise such absurdities were not uncommon on these seas.
"Treating such serious injuries by yourselves, really... are you guys even pirates?" said Dr Nako as he treated the wounds of the green-haired man before him. "You don't even have a ship's doctor!"
"Actually, I'm the captain of this ship and the ship's doctor!" Luffy, sitting at a desk not far from Zoro, grinned widely. "Want me to do it? I'm pretty good too."
"Absolutely not."
Zoro refused outright.
Learn a few tricks and then want to use him as a guinea pig?
Not a chance.
"So, that troublesome woman's problem is solved?"
"Nami is Nami, she's our nakama. Can't you just call her by her name properly?"
Luffy kept one hand on a piece of meat while the other was busy writing and drawing. Even though a banquet was going on outside, he wanted to be there, but it was currently Devil Fruit Development time.
"To be honest, I never thought our Cocoyasi Village would ultimately be saved by a bunch of pirates. I offer you my most sincere thanks..." Listening to their conversation, Dr. Nako suddenly pulled the bandage tight around Zoro, "...but that doesn't mean you can bully Nami!"
"Hisss... Ouch, ouch, ouch!"
Zoro slapped the bedside, nearly jumping up. Did this old man have any medical ethics?!
He was definitely taking revenge!
"Don't worry, Village Doctor Uncle, Nami is the most important navigator on our ship," Luffy said.
"I'll leave Nami in your care then." Dr. Nako nodded. He held Luffy in fairly high regard, especially after earlier, when the swirly-browed bastard in the suit had tried to rush over to Nami the moment they arrived, only to be punched flying by Luffy.
"Absolutely cannot let that kind of person near Nami!"
"Oh, you mean Sanji? Don't worry, I promised the Cook Old Man that if Sanji makes any moves, I'd punch him away," Luffy said calmly.
He always took the entrustments of his nakama's family seriously.
"By the way, Zoro, are those injuries from that Hawk-Eyes guy?" Luffy asked, looking at Zoro's wounds.
"...Yeah."
Zoro suddenly grew quiet, remembering the earlier scene.
"I am Dracule Mihawk."
"No matter how many years pass, I will be waiting for you in this position of the strongest."
"Surpass this blade. Surpass me, Roronoa!"
Today, Zoro had witnessed the gap between himself and the World's Strongest.
There was still a very long way to go to become the Greatest Swordsman.
"Hmph, an ordinary person would be dead from wounds like these. It should take two or three years to recover... but his recovery ability is truly frightening," Dr. Nako said, finishing the follow-up treatment and leaving the room to the two of them.
"That guy was really strong. I was really startled when I first saw your injuries," Luffy said.
"...He's strong. The taste of defeat... I definitely don't want to experience it a second time."
Zoro propped himself up, looking seriously at Luffy. "Until I defeat him and become the Greatest Swordsman, I will not lose again!"
"You got a problem with that?... Pirate King?!"
This was Zoro's promise to Luffy. Before, his sights were limited to the East Blue. Having witnessed the peak of the world, he was now acutely aware of the gap.
Luffy's goal was to become the Pirate King. If that was the case, then he, as a crew member of the future Pirate King, must possess strength worthy of that position!
This was the man he had acknowledged.
The tacit understanding between nakama only needed a single look.
"Shishishi, no problem."
All of them aboard the Going Merry were nakama chasing their dreams.
...
Not long after.
"...You don't have to stay here with me."
Zoro watched Luffy at the desk, his brow furrowed. The scene before him was just too incongruous.
When Luffy and Nami were 'studying' in the room together, Nami was the only witness. If you told Zoro they were really studying in there, he wouldn't believe it for a second.
He might believe they were studying positions a little more.
But this bizarre situation before his eyes... Zoro really thought Luffy must be possessed.
"It's just that I have nowhere else to go. If you're fine, then rest properly and don't disturb my studies."
The half-day Crew Recruitment Day was over.
After dealing with the fish-men, the reward time ended, and they were back to hell time.
Outside, Usopp was already shoulder-to-shoulder with the villagers, starting the banquet.
Sanji, after being punched away, had started hitting on the pretty girls in the village.
That left just Luffy and Zoro, the two injured parties, here.
"Luffy, did that woman Nami poison you or something?" Zoro finally couldn't help but comment.
"Don't you feel like there's something really off about this?"
"...Why can't I just be someone who likes studying?"
Luffy couldn't help but refute. Did he really look like an idiot who didn't like studying? Once he mastered his studies, he'd definitely stand proudly on the side of the intellectuals and look down on illiterates like Zoro!
"Can you even believe that yourself?" Zoro casually picked up a beer mug from the table and took a hefty swig.
Heavenly!
"..." Luffy.
Why did he have to state the obvious?
Given that he was currently being pushed forward by a certain force holding a sword to his back, that statement wasn't wrong.
But being pushed had its advantages.
Luffy's personality was the type that needed a push from behind.
"Oh, I just remembered something." Luffy suddenly turned around. "Zoro, was that black blade you mentioned earlier like this?"
Luffy's fist became enveloped in Busoshoku Haki, turning jet black.
"Wh-what is this?!" Zoro's face was a picture of shock, his freshly bandaged wounds nearly splitting open again.
This power felt very familiar!
During his fight with Hawk-Eyes, Zoro had nearly had his spirit broken by the man using just a tiny knife.
"Shishi, Busoshoku Haki."
"How did you learn it?"
"Uh..."
By rewarding myself during reward time and just... learning it?
This was a hard-won chance to show off; making Zoro make a face like that wasn't easy. Before the warning sounds could start, Luffy thought of a decent explanation.
"You remember our sparring sessions the last couple of days, right?"
"You mean when you punched me and I punched you back?"
"It was more like you punched me ten times for my one punch," Luffy corrected Zoro's statement.
Getting hit during training was the most important part of learning Busoshoku Haki, and he really had trained it out that way.
Zoro just didn't have the so-called 'reward time', so maybe he needed to get beaten up a bit more?
He wasn't lying, anyway!
Zoro seemed to be seriously considering the feasibility of this.
Have Luffy teach him?
In terms of hand-to-hand combat, they could probably learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses. But in all other aspects, he couldn't be trusted at all. Yet, in some ways, it was precisely his stubborn, rigid personality that made him trustworthy.
The importance he placed on a single hat was the same as Zoro's own obsession with his swords.
Wait a minute...
"Luffy, where's your hat?"
Right, where's my hat?
"Nami!"