The dramatic interrogation was interrupted as the door burst open, revealing a dozen more Alvida pirates crowding the entrance. Their eyes darted from the unconscious bodies to the barrel-embedded Coby to the two intruders.
"What the hell's happening here?!" their apparent leader growled, hefting a cutlass.
Makoto slowly turned his head, counting aloud: "One... two... yep, thirteen." He sighed disappointedly.
Luffy cracked his knuckles with a rubbery stretch. "Shishishi! More meat delivery guys!"
The pirates collectively blinked. "Meat delivery-?"
They didn't get to finish the question. Makoto blurred into motion, his foot connecting with the first pirate's chin in a textbook uppercut that sent him sailing backward through his comrades. "Strike one!"
Luffy's arms whirled like windmills. "Gomu Gomu no... PINWHEEL!" His spinning limbs cleared the doorway like a human-sized fan.
Coby, still half-buried in barrels, watched the carnage with wide eyes. "I've... I've never seen anyone happy to see more enemies before..."
Makoto paused mid-punch to wink at him. "That's because you've never met real pirates before, you disgusting spy!"
"I'M NOT A SPY!" Coby wailed as another pirate went flying over his head.
The remaining crew members were now backing away nervously. Their leader gulped audibly. "M-maybe we should get Alvida..."
Luffy and Makoto exchanged glances, their matching shark-like grins widening in perfect sync.
"Nah," they said in unison, knuckles cracking like firecrackers. "We'll go to her."
The last pirate slumped to the ground between them, his unconscious body forming a perfect stepping stone as they moved toward the stairs. Behind them, Coby finally managed to extract himself from the barrel pile, his glasses cracked and hair full of splinters.
"W-wait!" Coby stammered, scrambling after them. "You can't just—"
Makoto suddenly spun around, finger pointed accusingly. "Ah! The spy recovers! Quick Luffy, he's going to—"
"I'M NOT A SPY!" Coby screamed, his voice breaking comically.
Luffy laughed, stretching an arm to pat Coby's head from six feet away. "Shishishi! You're funny when you're scared!"
As they ascended the creaking wooden stairs, the sounds of raucous celebration from above gradually died down. The dim lantern light cast long shadows of their figures against the wall—Luffy's straw hat bobbing with each step, Makoto rolling his shoulders like a boxer entering the ring.
Makoto sniffed the air dramatically. "Smell that, Captain?"
Luffy's nose twitched. "Meat?"
"Fear," Makoto corrected with a wicked grin. "And maybe meat. Probably both."
Above them, a sudden hush fell over Alvida's crew as they realized two strangers were emerging from below decks. Dozens of hardened pirates froze mid-celebration, tankards of ale hovering halfway to their mouths.
At the far end of the deck, perched on her makeshift throne of stolen goods, Alvida slowly rose to her full imposing height. Her iron mace scraped against the wooden deck as she dragged it toward them.
"Well well," she purred, her voice dripping with false sweetness. "If it isn't the little rats who—"
"Hey fatty!" Luffy called out, waving cheerfully. "We're here to kick your butt!"
The entire crew collectively gasped. One pirate dropped his mug. Another fainted outright.
Alvida's eye twitched violently. "F-FATTY?!" she shrieked, her voice cracking with rage. Her grip on the mace turned white-knuckled. "I'M THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN ON THE SEAS!"
Makoto leaned toward Luffy and stage-whispered, "Captain, I think we found someone with worse self-delusion than your meat obsession."
Luffy nodded sagely. "Yeah. That's pretty bad."
With an incoherent scream of rage, Alvida launched herself forward, her mace whirling through the air with terrifying speed. The deck shook with each thunderous step as her entire crew scrambled out of her path.
Coby, who had just reached the top of the stairs, immediately turned pale. "Oh no oh no oh no—"
Makoto cracked his neck. "Alright Captain, how do you want to—"
"ME FIRST!" Luffy shouted, already stretching his arm back for a punch.
"You brat! I'll crush you into paste!" Alvida roared, swinging her massive iron mace with terrifying force.
"Gomu Gomu no… PISTOL!" Luffy's fist shot forward, stretching like rubber before slamming into Alvida's gut.
"Guh—!" Alvida staggered back, eyes bulging from the impact, but refused to go down. "You little—!"
Meanwhile, Makoto stood casually among the remaining pirates, blue-white electricity dancing between his fingers.
"So," he said with a dangerous grin, "Who's first?"
A brave (or foolish) pirate charged forward, cutlass raised high. Makoto's smile didn't waver as he murmured a single word: "Chidori."
In a flash of movement too fast to follow, Makoto's lightning-clad hand pierced clean through the man's chest. The pirate's eyes widened in shock before he collapsed lifeless to the deck.
As the body hit the wood, Makoto flicked his wrist, sending droplets of blood scattering without a single stain remaining on his skin. His face remained perfectly composed even as his mind raced:
Manipulating Luffy is almost too easy. But this... holding back...
Makoto flexed his fingers, watching the residual sparks dance along his skin.
I'm not used to non-lethal voltage yet. Still...
His eyes drifted to Luffy, who was currently bouncing around Alvida with childish enthusiasm.
This naive captain will be worth the patience.
I'll get all the entertainment I could ever want — and in the end, my favorite fantasy.....
The thought made Makoto blush, just slightly.