Freedom & Fate | One Piece x Reader

Chapter 41 | Golden's Guns

Loguetown, also known as the town of the beginning and the end, the birthplace of The Pirate King Roger as well as his execution spot.

With an excited smile, you step onto the bright pavement of Loguetown. A mass of people is strolling around on a sunny day like today, making the town seem even grander than it already is. Under the arch, the main entrance to the town, you swirl around, wanting to take in everything this place has to offer.

"I haven't seen her this excited since we found the keyboard," Usopp comments, not being able to hide his own grin as he follows behind you. Nami walks up behind him, stretching and breathing in the atmosphere, "It's about time we let loose."

"Y/N, want to go shopping with me?" Nami asks, but you turn down her offer because you want to look for something specific in your own pace. She nods understandingly and put a pouch into your hands. "I'll give this to you in exchange for the gold coins."

Shortly after, you all split up, trying to find your own way around the city and gathering the supplies you will need for the trip to the Grand Line. Luffy wants to see the execution platform, Sanji can stock up on ingredients and food, the rest are searching for equipment or clothes.

You walk backwards pass the arch and towards the town plaza, trying to imprint the way back to the ship into your mind. Getting lost in a big town like this would be a huge hassle, but when you remembered that you could simply teleport back, you resumed a normal way of walking.

Opening and peeking into the pouch Nami gave you, you shout a silent cheer. With the money, you could probably get enough gunpowder and bullets for quite a while and still be able to get your weapons polished and mended. You also need to find a place to fix your worn out belt, it could take some maintaining.

// { Meanwhile at the Loguetown Marine Station }

"Captain Smoker, we have an eyewitness report about pirates!" A marine salutes his superior.

"Is Tashigi not back yet?" he questions, two cigars dangling from between his teeth.

Suddenly, the door gets pushed open quite loudly, making Smoker grunt and stare intensely at his co-worker. The man freezes for a second under his gaze but quickly regains his composure as he has important news to convey. He signals the other marine to step out of the room.

"Captain, concerning the invocation from the World Government..." he steps closer, placing his hand near his mouth and whispering the message into Smoker's ear, "Eyewitnesses have delivered an almost exact description of the girl they are searching for."

Hearing that, Smoker places his hands on his knees and stands up, getting ready to head out.

"Wait, captain! The strange thing is that she presumably arrived with the pirate group."

Smoker huffs as he puts on his jacket. "There's nothing strange about that. I knew I should've taken her in the last time I saw her," he says and walks out the door, leaving his colleague behind stunned. //

While you stroll along the sidewalk, you glance into every showcase you cross, trying to find the kind of shop you are looking for. You do not doubt that in this big town, there is bound to be at least one shop that sells and mends guns.

Finally, after a good thirty minutes, you spot vitrines with intricately designed pistols displayed in them. You cheerfully walk into the shop, a bell ringing pleasantly as you enter. There is not anything spectacular about this place, it looks very rustic, the smell of old wood hitting your nose immediately. You almost did not want to get your hopes up with this shop, but when you noticed they sell rubber bullets, you knew they had everything in store.

An old man is sitting behind the counter. He nods at you, greeting you to his shop. As you walk further into the store, his eyes suddenly widen and he jumps up from his stool, knocking it over.

"The Silent Gunner!" he exclaims with a hoarse voice, pointing directly at you.

Confused, you remain in one spot, not sure what to say or how to react to the shop owner's sudden call. Your eyes move around bewilderedly, you slowly point at yourself mouthing, "Me?"

Light footsteps break the silence, from the back of the store, a young lady rushes to the counter to see what the noise was about. "Grandpa, what happened?" she asks worriedly. When she notices you standing there in the middle of the room she does a quick bow. "Welcome to Golden's, I'm sorry for all the ruckus." She tries to put down her grandpa's arm, still accusingly pointing at you. "Calm down and have a seat first, it's rude to point at a customer like that," she whispers.

The old man ignores her and continues talking. "You! You're the Silent Gunner aren't you?"

"Oh, not that story again..." She sighs and plops down instead, knowing her grandfather will not let it go once he mentions that name. "If you don't mind, would you listen to this tale? You see, my grandpa here had an unusual encounter with a girl and has since been obsessing over everything involving her."

At first, you were a little rustled because of how odd everything was, but you thought maybe this could help you gain some knowledge on your past. You agree to her request and she leads you to the inner part of the store, where a table was. After preparing tea for the three of you, she starts telling you the story, which she heard so often before.

"It happened over twenty years ago. Please don't judge us, but my grandpa was in a pirate crew back then. As you can imagine, they did a lot of things to get to the money, including bounty hunting."

You touch the cup to see if the tea has cooled down enough for you to drink.

"This may sound unbelievable, but there was a huge bounty set on a young girl, so my grandpa and his crew searched for her. Eventually, they found her and because she didn't just let herself get taken, he had to duel her."

Carefully taking a sip of the tea, you smile when you taste it. The tea is pleasant, you drink the rest of the small cup's content.

The young lady pours you another cup as she tells you the rest of the story. "Even though the girl was young, she beat my grandpa. You would think his pride would've been shattered, our family line had a way of handling guns after all, on the contrary, he admired her. He was really amazed by, to quote, how gracefully she landed her shots."

You could see how the old man is staring at the left side of your belt, eyeing the guns it holds.

"Never mind that, even our whole shop is named after the gun she had! Although I am glad that my grandpa decided to open up a shop after his defeat. He said he saw a greater purpose for his future and claimed to have made an exact copy of the gun she used. There's no proof because someone bought it." She stands up to heat up more water. "Ever since he's been literally jumping up every time he sees a woman that could have been her enters the store. But I don't get why he would be like this with you, you're way too young to be her."

She sits down across from you again, looking at you apologetically, feeling as if she wasted a lot of time telling you this silly old story.

"Let me see your guns," the old man speaks for the first time in a long while. His granddaughter looks at him, sending signals that he is being impolite. "Please," he adds.

"It's fine. I can show them to you," you reply, taking out the guns from their holding. You notice how gently the old man is handling your guns, trying his hardest not to touch it excessively. His eyes grow bigger in a second and his hands start shaking a little.

"No mistaking it. The golden one is hers and the other one..." he stutters, "is the replica I made."

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