Straw Hat Luffy: The Black Fist

Chapter 10: Downpour

Chapter 10: Downpour

The group of teenagers stepped into the building and out of the rain, three of them with sighs of relief and one with a slightly disappointed pout.

"Tom! I need a table for four.", Usopp said as the bell above the door chimed, signaling their arrival.

The man called Tom looked at the group walking into the restaurant and sighed, "And why should I? You woke my wife and me up an hour earlier than you usually do.".

Usopp flashed the man a big smile, "I gotta make sure you guys are always on your toes. You never know when there might actually be real pirates!".

Tom sighed once more, there was no convincing Usopp to stop his morning rounds. "Alright fine, you can take that table over there.", he said pointing to an empty booth in the corner of the building.

"Thanks a bunch, Tom!", said Usopp, leading the group to the corner the man had pointed to, the group of teenagers sitting down around the table.

"Meat! I want meat!", Luffy said, banging his fork and knife on the table... Where had those even come from?...

Nami shook her head at the straw-hatted boy and addressed Zoro, "I'm not paying for Luffy. That's on you Zoro. And while you're at it,", She shot the swordsman a pair of puppy dog eyes, "can you pay for me too?".

"Buy your own damn food, Witch. I just want booze.", said Zoro, smirking at watching the pleading on her face turn to indignation, "And Luffy, If I run out of money because of yo-"

"Meat! Meat! Meat!", yelled Luffy, oblivious that the verdet was even talking to him.

"I'll get you some food, Luffy, don't you worry.", Usopp placated to the hungry boy. He turned to a waiter and ordered for everyone, the waiter saying he would be back in a little while with all of the food and drinks. He turned back and addressed Luffy, "While we wait, can you tell me more about my dad?".

Nami and Zoro leaned in closely. Maybe they would get to hear about what Luffy was like as a child.

"Sure!", exclaimed Luffy, "Shanks said he's the best sniper in the entire world. I even watched him shoot the wings off a fly one time! He didn't even kill it!"

"Shanks?", they all questioned in unison.

"Yeah! Shanks is the captain of the Red-Haired Pirates! And Yasopp is his sniper!", Luffy said, laughing. Everyone was making really funny faces.

The rest of the occupants gaped at the straw-hatted boy, "THAT SHANKS?!".

"My… my dad… is on the crew… of an Emperor of the Sea?!", Usopp questioned to himself, unbelievingly.

Nami scowled, she hated talking about pirates. And there was no way a pirate like Red-Haired Shanks was nice like Luffy had said, she hadn't forgotten about that. He was an Emperor of the Sea, there was no way he hadn't done at least SOME terrible things to get that title!

"So you're telling us… that Red-Haired Shanks, an Emperor of the Sea, stayed on your island when you were a kid?". Zoro asked. The swordsman thought it was a miracle Luffy was even alive, he was the kind of person that would do something stupid like make fun of the man's hair and get himself killed.

"Yep!", exclaimed Luffy, "They stayed on the island for a while. I think like a year, maybe a little more.". What was an Emperor of the Sea?...

Usopp sat back in his chair to process the new information with a shocked look on his face but recovered quickly and a confident smile took over his face.

"Order up.", a waiter said from over the long-nosed boy's shoulder.

"Meat!", Luffy yelled in happiness, as the waiter began to drop plates onto the table. He wasted no time, not even waiting for his first plate to be fully set down before digging into it.