Straw Hat Luffy: The Black Fist

Chapter 23: Time Flies

Chapter 23: Time Flies

"Zoro, are you sure about this?", Usopp asked, nervously, standing in front of a rough-looking bar.

"You got this, Big Bro Usopp!", Yosaku exclaimed standing behind the swordsman's right shoulder.

Johnny shot the long-nosed boy a thumbs up and a smile, "I'm with Yosaku on this one, Big Bro.".

The bushy black-haired teen gulped and faced the door once again.

Luffy, Zoro, and Usopp had been bounty hunting for about a month now and they were making quite the splash on the scene. Their names hadn't made it all the way around the East Blue yet, but things were certainly moving in that direction.

They were more well-known in bounty hunter circles as the new up-and-comers and it was actually how they'd met Johnny and Yosaku. Well... The two had kind of forced themselves on the group but... Tomato, tomato. The three probably would've ditched them at the time, but it turned out that Zoro actually knew the two from his early days in the occupation, so, they let them hang around.

Yosaku had lightly tanned skin with a shaved head and it looked like the hair had just started to grow back. He wore a black shirt with a green coat and red headgear that looked like it would be worn in a boxing match. His unshaven legs stuck out of the end of a pair of plaid yellow boxer shorts he had on and his feet were covered by black boots.

Johnny, the other man's partner, had a slightly darker skin tone and short black hair. On his face, he had a pair of sunglasses and a black tattoo, the kanji for the word 'sea', taking up most of his left cheek. The muscular man wore a blue hooded jacket with a purple undershirt, tan pants, boots, and a watch on his left wrist.

"You can do it, Usopp! I mean, just look at him!", Luffy laughed, looking at the picture of the man they were hunting, "This guy's super ugly.". He glanced over at the long-nosed teen standing still and sent his bushy black-haired friend some last-minute words of encouragement, "Good luck! Call if you need any help!". He flipped the page around so Usopp could get one more good look at it, "This is the guy we're looking for!".

Zoro grinned at the long-nosed boy who was nervously turning back toward the bar and shoved him in the back, sending him stumbling through the door, "You heard the man.".

Straw Hat Luffy, Pirate Hunter Zoro, and Long Barrel Usopp were the titles that they'd been given by the populace. Luffy and Zoro had laughed when they'd read Usopp's name for the first time, both feeling like someone had been trying to make fun of the boy's nose.

The three teens eventually became known by another name, however, more recently given. This name was Merry's Terrible Trio. The name was for the ship they sailed on and, also, their penchant for destruction. If the name was ever going around the local gossip circle, it was usually followed by 'What'd they do this time?', as most of the places they showed up in usually ended up in some sort of disrepair.

The door slammed behind Usopp and he gulped when the entire bar seemed to quiet down and turn in his direction. The long-nosed teen was beginning to sweat profusely. Some scary-looking guys were sending him some even scarier looks and it was taking everything he had not to bolt from the room in tears.

The bounty hunter smiled awkwardly and decided to break the silence, "Anybody know a Bloody Slasher?". His eyes glanced around at the men staring at him, "I think his name's Sylas?...".

All the chairs in the room screeched against the floor, almost everyone standing up at the same time. "Whaddya want with the boss?", a bulky shirtless bald man at the front questioned.

Boss?... The sweat was coming off in droves now and the bushy-haired boy slowly began to back his way toward the entrance, turning to yell through it when he felt his skin touch wood, "Hey, Luffy!... He... He, uh... He has friends!".