A few minutes later…
The sounds of fighting above deck had faded. The raid was over. Alvida's pirates had won.
A short, pink-haired boy—Coby—descended into the storage room, muttering nervously as he scanned the dim space.
"Captain Alvida said to bring up a wine barrel… I-I hope I don't pick the wrong one…"
His hands trembled as he reached for a nearby cask.
Then, voices echoed down the stairs—drunken laughter, rough and cruel.
"Oi, look! It's the little errand rat."
"Finally grew a spine, kid? Stealing from us now?"
"N-No! I was just bringing this barrel to you guys!" Coby stammered, sweat beading on his forehead.
"Let's crack one open for ourselves!" one pirate slurred, swaggering closer.
"W-We can't!" Coby yelped, panic rising. "If Alvida finds out, she'll kill all of us!"
"Eh? What Alvida doesn't know won't hurt us. Unless you plan on snitching…"
The pirates advanced, grins sharp as knives. The largest of them—a hulking brute with arms like tree trunks—lumbered toward a barrel and pried at the lid.
Then—
CRACK!
The barrel exploded. A fist shot out like a cannonball, slamming into the brute's jaw and sending him flying across the room.
Standing in the wreckage was a grinning boy in a straw hat.
"AHHH! That nap was amazing!" Monkey D. Luffy shouted, stretching his arms with a yawn.
Coby froze. The pirates staggered back, stunned.
Then—
CRACK!!
Another barrel burst open—almost theatrically.
Makoto stepped out, shirt still half-unbuttoned, hair a wild mess. He stretched lazily and mimicked Luffy's tone perfectly:
"AHHH! That nap was amazing!"
Silence.
Everyone turned.
Luffy blinked at him, head tilting in confusion.
Makoto grinned.
The pirates stared—utterly baffled.
"...Who the hell are you?" one finally managed.
Makoto flipped his unruly hair, eyes gleaming with mischief.
"My name is Makoto," he declared, voice dripping with dramatic flair, "and I'm the man who will become the vice-captain… of the future King of the Pirates."
He delivered it like a prophecy—then immediately ruined the moment by tripping over a broken barrel plank.
The pirates exchanged glances.
This guy's an idiot.
Their attention snapped back to Luffy.
"And you? Who the hell are you?"
Luffy grinned, adjusting his straw hat.
"I'm Monkey D. Luffy!" he announced, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "The man who's gonna be King of the Pirates!"
Silence.
Then—
"HAHAHAHA! Oh, that's rich!" a scrawny pirate with a missing tooth wheezed, slapping his knee. "King of the Pirates?! This runt?!"
"Look at him!" a burly pirate roared, pointing at Luffy's straw hat. "He's dressed like a damn farmer!"
"And what's with the stretchy arm? Some kinda circus act?" another jeered, mimicking Luffy's rubbery limb with exaggerated flailing.
The largest pirate, a mountain of muscle with a jagged scar across his nose, wiped tears from his eyes as he cracked his knuckles. "Oh man, I needed that laugh. Thanks, kid." He grinned, revealing a row of yellowed teeth. "But jokes are over now. Time to teach you some respect."
"Yeah, beat some sense into 'em, Goran!" a pirate cackled from the sidelines.
"Make 'em beg for mercy!" another shouted.
"Nah, forget mercy—throw 'em to the sharks!"
The crew howled in agreement, their laughter turning cruel as they closed in, weapons glinting in the sunlight.
Luffy just tilted his head, unfazed. "Shishishi! You guys laugh weird."
The pirate barely had time to widen his eyes before—
WHAM!
Makoto's foot slammed into the back of his knee, buckling his leg like a snapped twig. The brute crashed down with a grunt, his face smacking against the wooden floor.
"Respect?" Makoto mused, tilting his head with a lazy grin. "Funny. I was just about to say the same thing."
The other pirates froze, laughter dying in their throats.
Luffy cracked his knuckles, his grin widening. "Shishishi! This is gonna be fun!"
Coby's jaw dropped. "W-Wait, they're actually fighting back?!"