"Hehehehe—"
A greasy-looking man with a yellow, slicked-back "traitor's cut" and a chin so pointy it could split firewood strutted over, flanked by two navy grunts.
"I didn't expect you to still be kicking, Roronoa Zoro," he sneered.
"Mr. Luffy, Mr. Lock, please come down quickly," Coby hissed, eyes darting between them and the plaza below. "If we get spotted, we'll be in trouble!"
Neither of us moved. Luffy had his chin propped on the wall, grinning at the scene, and I wasn't about to waste breath explaining to Coby that the marines here couldn't spot a ship if it rammed them. Luffy took my earlier comment—"The navy here has terrible eyesight"—as gospel truth.
Sure enough, the marines walked right past us without so much as a glance. Coby, realizing we were invisible to authority, gave up trying to herd us.
Meanwhile, Yellow-Hair McFork-Chin crouched in front of a little girl clutching two rice balls.
"Well, these look tasty," he smirked, snatching one straight from her hands and shoving it into his mouth.
"Dame!" the girl protested, reaching out. But it was too late—the damage was done.
"Huh? Pah! Pah! Pah!" Fork-Chin spat it out like it was poison, face twisted. "Too sweet. Rice balls are supposed to be salty. Salty!"
The girl blinked up at him. "But… sweet things taste better."
Her answer earned a stomp session—he ground the remaining rice ball into the dirt until it was nothing but mush.
Tears welled in her eyes. "Why… I worked so hard to make that…"
Fork-Chin didn't care. He whipped out a slip of paper and said smugly, "Helping a prisoner is a capital offense, you know?" Then, with a flick of his head, he ordered one of his marines to throw her out of the plaza.
The sailor hesitated—no one likes tossing kids around—but Fork-Chin's magic words, "I'm Colonel Morgan's son," did the trick. The man scooped her up and pitched her toward the outer wall.
Fork-Chin tossed a few more insults at Zoro and swaggered off with his entourage.
"Ahhhh!"
"Danger!" Luffy shouted, already half-ready to leap down after her.
Thump—
Except she didn't hit the ground.
She hung there mid-air, eyes screwed shut, waiting for pain that never came. Slowly, she peeked one open. "Eh? I… didn't fall?"
The thump was Luffy's face-planting into the dirt, having missed his catch completely.
"Levitation magic," I said casually. I'd snagged her with a spell as she passed overhead, because gravity and I have an understanding—it doesn't apply to my friends.
Luffy's eyes lit up. "Whoa! She's just… floating! That's so cool! Is that one of your magic tricks, Lock? Do me next!"
I lowered the girl gently to the ground. "Maybe later. You'd get addicted."
"Really? Awesome!" Luffy grinned like I'd just promised him free meat for life.
Coby, meanwhile, looked like he'd just seen a dragon. "Mr. Lock… you can make people float?!"
"Stop looking so shocked," I told him. "If you do that every time you see something new, your face will get stuck that way. It's exhausting."
He bowed slightly. "Sorry, my knowledge is too limited, so your ability surprised me."
Fair enough—this was a trick most people only ever heard about from legends of the Golden Lion. But I wasn't about to give him a history lesson.
"Anyway," Luffy said, already bored, "I'm gonna talk to the guy tied up over there." And over the wall he went.
I stayed put, crouching beside the girl. "You hurt anywhere, little one?"
She shook her head, then smiled sweetly. "Arigatou, Onii-chan."
And no, before you ask, I'm not into lolis. I just have ears, and the Japanese "big brother" thing hits different.
But her smile wavered, and she sniffled. "My rice ball… I worked so hard…"
I patted her head. "Don't worry. The big guy on the platform is going to eat it and love it."
Her eyes lit up. "Really?"
"Promise. Come on, we'll watch together."
I picked her up and hopped onto the wall again, just in time to hear Luffy.
"I heard you're a bad guy," he told Zoro.
Zoro glanced up. "So you're still here."
Instead of answering, Luffy squinted. "You're tied up for everyone to see… are you really strong?"
"None of your business," Zoro shot back.
"If it were me, I'd have starved in three days," Luffy said, tipping his hat.
"My endurance isn't yours," Zoro replied, a thin grin forming. "I'll survive. Absolutely."
"Weird guy," Luffy chuckled, turning to leave—only for Zoro to call out, "Hey. Get that for me."
He nodded toward the rice ball in the dirt, still stamped with Fork-Chin's shoe print.
"You wanna eat this? It's full of sand," Luffy said, holding it up.
"Shut up and give it to me!" Zoro barked, eyes blazing.
Luffy, confused but compliant, handed it over.
Zoro bit down, coughed, and declared, "Delicious. I'm full." The sugar hit him like a brick, but he powered through.
"See? He ate it," I told the girl. She beamed.
Zoro stiffened. He'd just realized people were standing right behind him, and he hadn't even noticed when we got there…
---
A/N: I have intentionally kept his name Fork-chin, I know most of you would understand it, but some dumbass people will come to comment about showing their godly knowledge.