With Buggy the Clown now nothing more than a distant twinkle in the sky, a strange sort of peace settled over the ruined street. The remaining Buggy pirates, having witnessed their captain's utterly bizarre and decisive defeat, had lost all will to fight. Some were unconscious, others simply scrambled away into the shadows, wanting no part of the rubber man or the demon swordsman.
"Well," Nami said, breaking the silence as she expertly began gathering the scattered gold and jewels into two large sacks. "That was certainly… flashy."
Luffy just laughed, his good mood instantly returning. "See? I told you I'd kick his butt!"
Zoro, however, was still unconscious on the ground, sleeping the sleep of the utterly exhausted.
"Come on, we need to get out of here before the rest of the Marines show up," Nami urged, hefting one of the heavy sacks over her shoulder. She nudged the second, equally full sack with her foot. "Here. 50-50, like we agreed. Don't think this makes us friends, though. This is strictly business."
"Thanks!" Luffy said cheerfully. He effortlessly hoisted the massive sack of treasure onto one shoulder and the unconscious Zoro onto the other. To him, they seemed to weigh about the same.
They were about to head for the port when they heard shouting. A large group of people was running towards them, armed with pitchforks, shovels, and a furious determination. It was the citizens of Orange Town, led by the young man Poro.
They skidded to a halt when they saw the scene: their town square in ruins, the mayor lying unconscious on the ground, and three strangers—one of them the infamous Pirate Hunter Zoro—standing over him with sacks that were clearly filled with treasure.
"Mayor Boodle!" Poro cried out, rushing to his side. He looked up at Luffy, his eyes blazing with accusation. "What have you done to him?! What have you done to our town?!"
Luffy, with his signature, disastrous honesty, pointed at the mayor. "Oh, him? I knocked him out."
A collective gasp went through the crowd.
"He was trying to get in the way of the fight, so I put him to sleep so he wouldn't get hurt," Luffy explained, as if this were the most normal, compassionate thing to do in the world.
The villagers were not convinced. Their fear and suspicion grew.
"You… you're the ones who did all this?" an elderly woman asked, trembling. "Are you… pirates?"
Luffy beamed, giving them a big, friendly thumbs-up.
"Yup! I'm the captain!"
That was the trigger.
The villagers' gratitude for being saved from Buggy—a fact they were not yet aware of—was completely eclipsed by their deep-seated hatred of pirates. To them, these were just new vultures, arriving to pick over the bones of their ravaged town.
"PIRATES!" Poro roared, raising his pitchfork. "They've hurt the mayor and now they're stealing our treasure! GET THEM!"
With a furious battle cry, the entire town charged.
"WHAT?! HEY!" Luffy yelled, surprised.
"RUN, YOU IDIOT!" Nami screamed, already sprinting towards the port, the heavy sack of gold clanking on her back.
Luffy readjusted Zoro on his shoulder and started running, easily keeping pace despite carrying a grown man and a fortune in gold. A chaotic chase began through the devastated streets of Orange Town.
"This is a great town!" Luffy laughed as he ran, effortlessly dodging a thrown shovel.
"WHAT PART OF THIS IS GREAT?!" Nami shrieked back.
"Look how hard they're fighting!" Luffy said with genuine admiration. "They're willing to take on pirates just to protect one person, their mayor! They really love him!"
"THEY'RE TRYING TO KILL US!"
"But no matter what they say," Luffy's expression turned slightly more determined, "we're not going to stop. We're pirates, after all."
As the angry mob was closing in on them, a small, white blur shot out from a side alley.
It was Chouchou.
The little dog planted himself firmly in the middle of the road, between the escaping crew and the pursuing villagers. He bared his teeth and began to bark, not at the pirates, but directly at the townspeople.
"Woof! Woof! Grrrrr!"
The villagers skidded to a halt, confused.
"Chouchou? What are you doing?" Poro asked. "Get out of the way! We have to catch those pirates!"
But Chouchou didn't move. He stood his ground, a tiny, furry wall of defiance. He was repaying his debt. Luffy had fought for his treasure, and now, he would protect Luffy's escape. His determined stand gave the crew the precious few seconds they needed to reach the harbor.
As they neared the two small boats they had prepared, three familiar figures stumbled out from behind some crates. It was the three Buggy pirates Zoro had beaten up earlier.
"There you are!" one of them slurred, pointing a wobbly finger. "We're taking our boat back!"
He saw the unconscious Zoro on Luffy's shoulder and, in a moment of drunken stupidity, he walked over and poked Zoro's head.
"Hey, wake up, you green-haired coward! Show your face!"
Slowly, groggily, Zoro lifted his head. He opened one eye.
It was a glare of pure, undiluted demonic energy. A look that promised a world of pain.
The three pirates froze. They let out a simultaneous, high-pitched scream of terror, turned, and ran for their lives, tripping over each other in their haste to get away.
Meanwhile, back in the town square, Mayor Boodle was beginning to stir. He woke up to the worried faces of his people gathered around him.
"Mayor, you're awake!" Poro said with relief.
"What… what happened?" Boodle asked, his jaw aching.
"Don't worry, sir! We did it! We chased those evil pirates out of town! They won't be bothering us anymore!" a woman said proudly.
Boodle's expression changed from confusion to anger. He struggled to his feet.
"FOOLS!" he roared, shocking everyone into silence. "Who gave you the right to chase them?! Only I am allowed to insult them!"
He looked at his bewildered people. "Those 'evil pirates' are the ones who saved this town! They defeated Buggy! They saved me! They saved all of us!"
He didn't wait for their apologies. He started running towards the harbor as fast as his old legs could carry him, desperate to thank them before they were gone for good.
The two small boats were already pulling away from the shore, sailing out into the open sea.
Boodle arrived at the pier just in time, panting for breath.
"THANK YOU!" he shouted across the water, his voice filled with gratitude. "THANK YOU, PIRATES! WE, THE PEOPLE OF ORANGE TOWN, WILL NEVER FORGET WHAT YOU DID FOR US!"
Luffy, standing on the deck of one boat, just grinned and gave a big, friendly wave.
As the shore grew smaller, Nami sighed with relief and contentment. She sat down and lovingly patted her sack of gold. She had done it. She was one step closer to her goal.
She looked over at Luffy's boat. He was just sitting there, enjoying the sea breeze, Zoro still asleep beside him. But something was missing.
"Hey, Luffy!" she called out. "Where's your sack of treasure?"
Luffy looked at her and smiled.
"Oh, that? I left it on the dock."
Nami's eye started to twitch. "…What?"
"The old man said the town was his treasure, and it looked pretty broken," Luffy explained simply. "They'll need that to fix it up."
For a full ten seconds, Nami was completely silent. Her face went through a rapid series of expressions: confusion, disbelief, dawning horror, and finally, pure, unadulterated rage.
She leaped across to Luffy's boat with the agility of a cat, her face a mask of fury. She grabbed him by the front of his vest and began to shake him violently.
"ARE YOU A COMPLETE AND UTTER IDIOT?!" she screamed, her voice echoing across the peaceful sea. "THAT WAS OUR HARD-EARNED TREASURE! THAT WAS MY HALF! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT WAS WORTH?! I'M GOING TO DROWN YOU! I SWEAR I'M GOING TO TIE YOU TO AN ANCHOR AND THROW YOU OVERBOARD!"
Luffy just laughed as he was being shaken, while Zoro slept peacefully through the entire commotion. The chaotic departure was complete, and the Straw Hat Pirates, now a very strange trio, sailed on towards their next adventure.