Chapter 7: The Idiot's Will
Luffy found Rika sitting on a crate outside a small restaurant, her mother beside her with a protective arm wrapped around the girl's shoulders. The mother looked up sharply as he approached, eyes wary.
"You're the one who caught her," the woman said. "When that bastard's son threw her."
"Yeah." Luffy crouched down in front of Rika. "Hey. Zoro wanted me to tell you something."
Rika's eyes, still red from crying, focused on him.
"He said the rice balls were delicious."
Her face transformed. The sadness cracked, and through the break came a smile so bright it almost hurt to look at. "Really? He really said that?"
"He made me feed them to him. Even with all the dirt that blond asshole stomped into them. Said to tell you they were delicious."
Rika's mother tightened her grip on her daughter, but her own eyes looked suspiciously wet. "That man... even tied up and starving, he still..."
"What's your name?" Luffy asked her.
"Ririka. I own this restaurant." She glanced toward the Marine base, visible in the distance. "Or I try to, anyway. Business is hard when people are too scared to leave their homes."
"Why's everyone so scared of Morgan?"
Ririka's expression darkened. "Captain Morgan rules this town like it's his personal property. Him and that worthless son of his. They execute people for looking at them wrong. For not bowing low enough. For nothing at all."
Luffy listened, face unreadable.
"Zoro didn't do anything wrong," Rika said quietly. "He was just walking through town. Helmeppo's dog attacked me, and Zoro kicked it away. That's all. But Helmeppo got angry because his dog got hurt, so he had the Marines arrest him."
"And then made that stupid deal," Luffy muttered. "A month without food for his freedom."
Ririka nodded. "Everyone knows Helmeppo will never keep his word. But Zoro didn't know that. He's not from here."
Before Luffy could respond, a commotion started further down the street.
"DOWN ON YOUR KNEES! SHOW RESPECT!"
People scrambled. Men dropped to the ground. Women pulled children close and bowed their heads. Within seconds, the street had transformed from a functioning town square into a scene of total submission.
Helmeppo walked through the center of it all like a king surveying his domain. Two Marines flanked him, looking almost embarrassed by the whole production.
Luffy stayed standing.
Ririka grabbed his arm. "Boy, get down! You don't understand-"
"I understand fine."
Helmeppo's eyes swept the street, counting his subjects, drinking in the fear. When his gaze landed on Luffy, still standing, still watching, his step faltered.
"You." Recognition flickered. "You're the one from the base. The one who caught the brat."
Luffy said nothing.
Helmeppo's lip curled. "Well? Bow, you peasant. Or do you need a lesson in manners?"
Luffy's hands stayed at his sides.
Something dangerous flickered in Helmeppo's eyes, but he let it pass. He had a bigger audience. He raised his voice.
"Attention, citizens of Shells Town! I have an announcement! In three days, the pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro will be publicly executed!"
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
Rika shot to her feet. "No! You promised! You said if he stayed there for a month without food, you'd let him go!"
Helmeppo's smile widened. "Oh, that? I was joking. Did you really think someone like me would make deals with a common criminal? How adorable."
"You liar!" Rika ran at him, small fists raised.
Helmeppo backhanded her casually, not even looking. She flew sideways, crashing into a stack of tables and chairs outside her mother's restaurant. Wood clattered around her.
"Rika!" Ririka screamed.
The girl pushed herself up slowly. Something was wrong with her forehead. A thin line of red appeared, then thickened, blood trickling down past her eyebrow. A knife from one of the tables had caught her on the way down.
Luffy saw red.
Not figuratively. The world literally shifted. Helmeppo's smug face became the only thing in existence, framed by rage so pure it burned.
His fist connected with Helmeppo's jaw before anyone registered he'd moved.
Helmeppo lifted off the ground. Not a stumble, not a stagger. He flew horizontally for several feet before crashing into a wooden cart and crumpling to the ground like a sack of shit.
Silence.
The two Marines stared. Their hands hovered near their weapons, but neither moved. They looked at Luffy, then at Helmeppo's limp body, then back at Luffy.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Helmeppo roared at them. "KILL HIM! HE ATTACKED A MARINE OFFICER!"
Neither Marine moved.
Luffy took a step toward them, and they flinched back.
"You pieces of shit," Luffy snarled. "You're not worth those uniforms. Not a single goddamn one of you."
Koby grabbed him from behind, wrapping his arms around Luffy's chest and pulling with all his meager strength. "Luffy! Luffy, stop! You have to stop!"
Helmeppo groaned on the ground, one eye swelling shut, blood streaming from his nose. He pointed a shaking finger at Luffy. "My... my father... he'll hear about this. He'll KILL you. You're DEAD. All of you are DEAD!"
Luffy strained against Koby's grip. "I should tell my grandfather to court-martial you sons of bitches! He'd hang the whole damn base!"
Helmeppo scrambled backward, still pointing, still making threats. The Marines finally moved, grabbing him under the arms and dragging him away. His voice faded into the distance, but the threat lingered.
The street emptied.
Doors slammed. Shutters closed. Within minutes, Luffy, Koby, Ririka, and the bleeding Rika were alone in the sudden silence.
Ririka gathered her daughter in her arms and carried her inside without a word.
Koby let go of Luffy and stepped back, trembling.
Luffy stood there, chest heaving, fists still clenched.
Then the awareness hit.
'Fuck.'
He looked down at his hands. The hands that had just punched a Marine officer's son in front of witnesses. The hands that had threatened Marines and invoked a grandfather who, in this world, actually WAS a high-ranking Marine.
'What the hell did I just do?'
The rage was fading now, replaced by cold clarity. He hadn't planned that. He hadn't calculated the consequences, weighed the risks against the rewards. He'd just... reacted.
'This body. This stupid, reckless body.'
He remembered Luffy's memories. The impulsive decisions. The complete lack of self-preservation when someone he cared about got hurt. That wasn't Ethan. Ethan calculated. Ethan thought five steps ahead.
But Ethan was also the man who watched his life crumble and did nothing but endure. The man who paid for company because it was easier than risking real connection.
Maybe Luffy's will wasn't just in the body.
Maybe it was in him now too.
He stood in the empty street, breathing hard, and realized the truth.
The girl getting hurt had pushed it too far. That was non-negotiable. But going after the Marines? Threatening them? Invoking Garp? That wasn't calculation. That was Luffy's blunt force trauma approach to problem-solving, amplified by Ethan's own unfiltered mouth.
'This could be a problem.'
If he couldn't control when Luffy's instincts took over, he'd walk into situations blind. Make enemies he wasn't ready for. Draw attention before he had the strength to back it up.
He needed to be more careful.
He needed to remember that this body came with baggage. A personality. A will of its own.
He looked at the closed door where Ririka had taken her daughter.
Then at the Marine base in the distance.
Then at his own hands.
Three days until Zoro's execution.
And he'd just given Helmeppo the perfect reason to make sure it happened.