Chapter 4 - Chapter 3 - Journey to South Blue

"We were on a gigantic snail this whole time?!" Luffy asked surprised as he watched the two huge, elongated eye stalks of the snail ship they were currently on. It had been a few minutes since they left Mariejois and he had been so lost in the Grand Line waters that he hadn't even noticed the front of the ship nor the ship itself until then. After seeing the snail, he looked at the rest of the ship and realized there were a couple of castles on the ship, and then he realized that he himself was inside an actual castle. The ship had actual buildings on it!

"Yeah, our whole Kingdom is like this" Reiju answered with a smile.

"Right…Seafaring Kingdom" Luffy said only now recalling it. Their whole Kingdom was built on the backs of multiple gigantic snails that could disengage from one other.

"Yep. This is just a small snail ship we use for travel. We'll be meeting up and docking with another larger ship we left near an island as it was too big to bring to the docks of Mariejois"

"I see" Luffy nodded in amazement. Even Leo's world with as much widespread technology as it had, had nothing like this. Then again, he thought that he shouldn't be too surprised. This world had cyborgs like Franky and Kuma and also the Germa and the World Govt. had human cloning technology. 'Guess science is more advanced in this world but it's isolated to certain people and regions and not at all widespread' Luffy concluded sagely.

"Any preference?" Reiju asked handing a small map to Luffy. He studied the map for a second before looking back up at Reiju with confusion. "What?"

"The island you want to be dropped off at. These are the islands we're gonna stop at so if you know any, you can get off there" she said as she traced a finger over a path marked on the map. There were tons of sea currents and sea routes marked on the map which he didn't understand but basically inferred that they were gonna stop at four islands in the Grand Line before heading to South Blue via the Calm Belt.

Luffy saw all the names of the islands in their path, but didn't recognize any. "Umm… going to the New World in search of Giant ossan is out of the question huh?"

"You'll die. Plain and simple"

Luffy nodded with a sigh. He had already thought of all ways he could get in touch with Ace, but it all required him to traverse the Grand Line by himself, and he also didn't know where exactly Ace was to even have a destination. He also didn't know where Whitebeard was either so that was even more of a hurdle. So, Thatch's murder was something he couldn't prevent.

"Then I guess I'm just going back to East Blue. Any suggestions on where I can get passage to East Blue from any of these islands?"

"You can't navigate?"

"I'm pretty sure I'll die within 30 minutes if I tried navigating the Grand Line"

Reiju sighed, "And you dream of becoming the Pirate King…"

"I'll have my navigator when I set out!"

"Yeah yeah…Anyway no, I don't think there are any ships heading into any of the Blues from the Grand Line, especially to East Blue. Maybe Marine ships and if you're lucky, you can find some pirates who're heading that way…"

Luffy frowned, "The closest island to the entrance then. I'll think of something when I get there"

Reiju also frowned but suddenly realizing something said, "You know, it's easier to get passage to East Blue from South Blue rather than the Grand Line or even the North Blue. There are some merchant companies that do trade in between the four Blues, and you can probably find a merchant cargo ship in South Blue that's heading to East Blue and hitch a ride on it"

She wanted Luffy to stay. She had only spent four days with him enjoying his company a lot and had even impulsively opened up to him a bit by asking about Sanji. She wanted to spend more time with him and also, the journey to South Blue would be more fun with him around.

"Sure" Luffy just shrugged and accepted. He wasn't good at geography or navigation and Leo's memories didn't hold any information about exact routes either, so he just decided to trust Reiju. He was sure he could travel on any of the Blues without dying at least. Besides, he had never been to any of the other Blues before so he thought it would be nice to explore a bit of South Blue before going back.

Reiju was surprised as she thought she would have to convince him more. "Just like that?"

Tilting his head, Luffy just said "Yeah. You said it's better so it's better"

"…Well okay then" Reiju happily chirped, "Guess we'll be spending more time with one another then. It'll take about a month and a half to travel to a South Blue Island from here"

Seeing the happy expression on Reiju's face, Luffy thought that he should make her life as joyful as possible for the short duration he would stay with her. He didn't know what would happen in the far future when the Whole Cake Island Arc happens, and he didn't care either as he was sure he would have deviated from the story by then.

A few hours later, they reached the larger snail ship that Reiju had mentioned, and it really was much larger than Luffy had anticipated. It had numerous buildings on it and even had roads and pavements. It looked like a small city almost. The buildings reminded Luffy of medieval Europe castles and towers but with a more modern touch. All the castles and towers were made of stone bricks with conical shaped roofs and the pavements and roads were made with stone brick tiles. And the snail the city was on was also massive.

And much to Luffy's shock, he would later learn that this larger ship he thought was a big part of their Kingdom turned out to be just a small travel ship they used for long travels and the actual snails that their Kingdom was on were much more massive.

The smaller snail docked with the larger snail ship and Luffy watched the docking mechanism in awe. The huge snail retreated into its shell and the shell had a circular ring on its side which connected to a circular ring on the bigger snail ship. The bigger snail ship had three such rings on its side indicating that it could connect to three small snail ships. The rings had latches that connected to each other and locked the two ships in place.

Luffy was then led outside the lab and he and Reiju walked through the castle making their way outside to board the bigger ship. His eyes brimmed with curiosity seeing all the new stuff and the massive infrastructure. As the two walked towards the bigger ship, Luffy laid his eyes on Vinsmoke Judge for the first time.

Judge was a massive man and looked pretty much like what he did in the story including the mask on his face and his pointy mustache. Ichiji, Niji and Yonji also came out of their own castles and the entire family made its way towards the bigger ship. Luffy was following behind Reiju holding onto a few bags like he was her attendant and she had asked him not to make trouble for her and to just keep his mouth shut and head down, so he tried to keep quite.

"Wait, is that my shirt?" Ichiji suddenly asked pointing at Luffy. Reiju had brought him a change of clothes from Ichiji's wardrobe which Luffy was currently wearing. It was just a bit too big for him, but he made it work.

"Yeah. He didn't have any clothes, so I took one from your room" Reiju answered nonchalantly. "Problem?"

"No but…that was one of my favorites"

"Oh hush you. All your shirts are pretty much the same" Reiju rebuked.

"Yeah Ichiji, it looks just like the one you're wearing right now" Yonji piped up with a grin.

That started a small argument with Ichiji and Yonji, and Niji also joined in a minute later while Reiju rolled her eyes at them, and Judge didn't even care one bit. Luffy just watched them and thought that they just seemed like normal siblings, but he remembered how they had abused Sanji during his childhood and also Cosette during the WCI arc, how they didn't care one bit if they were dying or their siblings and father were dying, and knew they were monsters. But Luffy didn't feel any hostility towards them. They were just products of genetic engineering after all and had just lost their emotions. If anyone was to blame, it was the bastard of a father they had.

He also saw the multiple servants and soldiers on the ship. There were some normal maids, butlers and servants but what caught his attention were the multiple sets of nearly identical men and women walking around the ship, who he soon realized were clones. He recalled that there were different types of clones in the Germa Kingdom, each having their own characteristics, like ones with huge broad shoulders, ones with a short bodies, ones with tall and slim bodies, and so on.

Reiju and the others all split up soon and she led Luffy to a huge castle. Apparently, each sibling had their own castle they could build in any way they wanted and the huge castle in front of him was Reiju's. It had multiple floors and even two towers protruding at the top that served as a sort of second and third terraces.

Luffy was given the short tour of the castle and found that the first two floors just had normal house rooms like bedrooms, kitchen, etc. The third floor was her lab and the highest floor was just an observation deck with a fantastic view. One of the protrusion towers which served like a second terrace was an open pool with a bar attached to it. And the other protrusion tower was a fully equipped high class gym.

It was extravagant, fancy, screamed rich and pretty much looked like a 7 star hotel from Leo's world. Luffy was marveling at how huge and cool it all looked when Reiju spoke up.

"Well it's a small castle but this is just an outhouse ship we use for travel so I didn't have it built that extravagantly. Our actual home is the Vinsmoke Castle which is in the middle of the main ship and that castle is adequately sized" she said with no hint of sarcasm.

Luffy just sweat dropped and muttered "Damn rich people"

"What was that?!" Reiju asked dangerously.

"Nothing nothing…" Luffy placated. He didn't care about luxury and all in the first place and Leo wasn't a materialistic person either, so his memories didn't affect him.

He was absolutely fascinated with the third floor where Reiju's lab was though. There weren't just poison related stuff in the lab but also many cool gadgets and weapons she had developed which seemed straight out of science fiction. There were 3d printers, taser staffs, cool guns with lots of different funky designs and functions, snail forms of dials which did stuff like record and print pictures and play sounds. And the most interesting thing of all was a small cloning machine! She had an actual miniature sized cloning machine that fit on a desk in her lab and Luffy vibrated with excitement when he saw it.

Reiju told him that this particular machine could only clone small animals like rodents and that she mainly used it to create more mice clones for testing her poisons. She didn't mention anything about human cloning or how most of the people on the ship were clones as it was supposed to be a secret, and Luffy didn't bring it up either.

———

Luffy quickly fell into a sort of routine on the ship. He spent the first few days to recover from his injuries where he trained just a bit but after he healed sufficiently, he started to train seriously like never before.

The gym in Reiju's castle was his favorite place to spend his time in as he had soon realized that it would help him grow much stronger. Actually, calling it a gym was a disservice to it as it had amazing tech that Luffy had never seen before. There was a treadmill but the speeds at which it could go was insanely high. There were dumbbells and barbells but one could attach as much weights as needed without it seeming too bulky. There were step mills, pull down machines and many other gym equipment but these were just way more high-tech and more challenging.

For example, the treadmill. Not only did it have insane speeds he had never seen before, it could also fill up with water up to the waist, thus making running on it more challenging. Well, that was what Luffy thought at first as the liquid was transparent like water but when he tried it, he found that it wasn't water but a highly dense and viscous liquid in which taking a single step was a Herculean task, thus increasing its difficulty exponentially.

And those were just the equipment he recognized. There was many more insane equipment which made him excited. There was a machine that was just a straight up compress machine which would push down on someone. There was a sort of small padded room in which the walls and ceiling all had guns and canons which would automatically fire projectiles like canon balls, arrows, bullets, etc., at a person inside the room. They were random too, so there was no pattern either, thus making it difficult to dodge them. 'To train Observation Haki' Luffy concluded correctly.

There was also what Luffy thought was a wooden dummy he had seen in some martial arts movies but when he tried it, he found out all the bars would actually move unpredictably and also hit back with enough force to make him yelp in pain.

Luffy's jaws were on the floor the first time Reiju had demonstrated all those equipment and he had instantly started training with excitement. He would train for at least 4 hours in the mornings before taking a break, then train for another 6 hours in the afternoon, break again and end the night with another 3 hours of training.

He also did all his training while wearing the sea stone cuffs. In the story during the Wano arc, story Luffy had been put into sea stone cuffs too and made to work in the prison mines. His muscles had visibly bulked up by the time he got the cuffs removed and he had gotten much stronger, so he realized it was a very effective training method and thus, decided to put himself through it.

It was very hard at first. Even though he had gotten used to being in the sea stone cuffs, it didn't mean he didn't feel extremely weak all the time. But he soldiered on knowing that this would give him an incredible boost in strength.

When Luffy wasn't training, he would spend his time in Reiju's lab, the pool or her bedroom. The two were practically inseparable and the only times they weren't together was when Reiju had to go to her family for meals or meetings.

Even when Luffy was training, Reiju would spend her time in the gym and had even moved some of her lab equipment inside the gym so she could chat with him while she performed her experiments, and he trained. She would also train everyday with him but not as much as him of course. Most of the stuff in the gym was really simple for her as she was exponentially stronger than Luffy, and she just treated what Luffy was struggling with as a warmup exercise.

The two also held sparring sessions together which left Luffy frustrated as hell as she could just stand in a single spot and deflect any attacks he threw at her quite easily. He was frustrated seeing the massive chasm of strength between himself and her, but he berated himself for thinking like that and told himself not to rush things. She was New World levels of strong, so her strength was to be expected. It would take time and a lot of effort before he became as strong as her.

He also realized that he would be facing people who were as much as and even stronger than Reiju in the Marineford war, and he knew he wasn't ready in the slightest. That was his major goal actually. To get strong enough to have a better chance at saving Ace.

He was pretty sure that Ace wouldn't stop chasing after Teach even if he told him that it would lead to a war. The two had promised not to interfere in each other's adventure and to also live without regrets, so Luffy knew stopping Ace from going after Teach would be almost impossible. He would at least tell him all about Teach's powers but who knew how the battle between them would turn out. Even Shanks was wary of Teach, so he definitely had some secret that made him so dangerous.

Either way, for now he decided to train like he was preparing for the Marineford war. Apart from the war, another failure of his was in Thriller Bark where Zoro tries to give up his life for him. It was something he didn't like one bit (no matter how badass the scene was for Zoro). It was his failure as a captain and there was no way in hell, he was going to allow that to happen. So, he had to be strong enough so that he could face Moria and then also Kuma back-to-back.

Another failure was with Aokiji in Long Ring Long Island. He knew he wouldn't get strong enough to defeat an Admiral that early, but he could at least prepare enough to put up a decent fight.

He sighed when he thought about his adventure. He didn't like that he knew all these future events already, but he was also grateful for it as it gave him his wake-up call way earlier. Losing his entire crew in Sabaody and then losing Ace in the war was the wake up call for his story counterpart, and it was only then that he had realized how outclassed he really was. But in this reality, he had gotten his wake up call much earlier when he got enslaved. The existence of sea stone was a shocking revelation to him and the days he spent in his solitary cage made him realize that he was weak. All the events that led up to him dying in the pit had made him realize he was really weak. And then he got Leo's memories of his adventure which just made him realize that he wasn't just really weak, he was utterly and hopelessly weak and outclassed.

He needed to get stronger no matter what and so, he pushed himself to extreme degrees and trained even after he was well past his limits. Even Garp would have been horrified to see how Luffy trained, and considering how he threw a 4-year-old child into a pack of ferocious wolves in the name of training, that was saying something.

Seeing him like that however had left Reiju really worried as the way he was abusing his own body in the name of training was nothing short of horrifying. He would push himself so much that she had to actually inject some sleeping agents into him when he went too far so that he wouldn't kill himself from exhaustion. She understood why he pushed himself that much though. She had seen his horrible wounds after all and now that she believed his story, she realized that he must have been through a lot and was training so hard so that he would never be in such a situation ever again.

After he healed enough to have his bandages removed, she also realized in horror that the long burn slash across his back was supposed to be the Hoof of the Flying Dragon. She hadn't realized it in the beginning as it was covered with lots of other wounds, but now that those wounds were healing, the slash burn mark stood out. Those who didn't know about the mark wouldn't recognize it, but the people who knew would be able to tell due to the color and its vague shape after observing it closely. She had also treated him by herself so that no one else would see it and didn't even take him to the ship's doctor afraid that he might out Luffy.

She didn't want to ask him about his time with the Celestial Dragons either as she was sure it was a lot of bad memories. He must have felt useless and hopeless all that time when he was enslaved and thus, he was training like this now so that he wouldn't feel like that ever again. She didn't like that he was pushing himself so much, but there was nothing much she could do for him other than have spars with him and help him train.

———

As much as Reiju enjoyed spending time with Luffy and had let her guard down around him, a part of her couldn't help but think that he was someone suspicious and needed to be avoided. She hated that she felt that way towards someone she had opened up to so much, but she just couldn't help herself. Luffy was way too weird and knew about things he shouldn't. For example, they were talking one day, and she had casually mentioned the existence of CP0 saying how strong they were, and he had nodded along saying that yes, they were indeed crazy strong. She hadn't noticed it at that moment, but when she later thought about it, she was gobsmacked as the existence of CP0 was a sort of secret that only the top of every faction knew about. A no name from East Blue like Luffy shouldn't even have known CP0 existed.

Another incident was that even though he claimed to have never left East Blue, he was very well informed about the Grand Line. No one normal from East Blue should have knowledge about Paradise, let alone the New World. It had taken her an embarrassingly long time to realize that he shouldn't even have known what the New World was.

The incident that made her extremely suspicious was when he had casually asked if she knew any Revolutionaries. When she had asked why, he had said that he wanted to talk to Dragon of all people! The Revolutionary Dragon! She was befuddled and when she asked why he wanted to talk to him, he just said it's a secret and didn't elaborate any further.

The suspicious and distrustful part of her brain was screaming at her that Luffy was someone that shouldn't be trusted that he was a spy collecting all sorts of information on her, and that she should lock him up somewhere and interrogate him for answers. But the same suspicious part of her brain was perplexed as no one in their sane mind would actually just straight up ask questions like he did if they were a spy. He was making himself look so suspicious and if he was a spy, that would be the last thing he would have done. 'Unless it's a double fake out and he was doing that because he would think that I would think that a spy wouldn't do this?' ...she sighed.

But most importantly of all, her intuition was telling her that she could trust Luffy. She was really good at reading people and had a sharp intuition that had helped her sniff out traitors before and that very same intuition was telling her that Luffy could be trusted. But logically, she couldn't help but think he was suspicious…Her brain was malfunctioning thinking about Luffy.

Reiju felt a sharp flick on her forehead, and she realized that Luffy was in front of her looking at her with confusion, "You, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah" she waved him off. It had been less than a week since they had left Mariejois and currently, the two were in the gym where Luffy was training and she was just lounging around.

"Something's bothering you though…" Luffy pressed on.

Reiju just stared at him for a few moments before sighing, "It's about you. You're giving me a headache again"

"What did I do this time?" Luffy asked puzzled.

"You're suspicious…"

"Again? I thought you trusted me now…didn't you let it slip that Sanji was in fact alive?"

Reiju groaned into her hands for that impulsive decision. "I did. And it's not that I don't trust you…you're just…way too suspicious"

Luffy sighed and sat down on the floor in front of her "Okay, let's clear this up. What makes you doubt me?"

Reiju also sat down in front of him and started her questioning, "First off, why do you know so much about the Grand Line? You even know what New World is and even about some islands in the New World and Paradise"

"Well, if it's about my knowledge, then Leo told me all about it"

"Okay. And how did Leo know?"

"Hmm he just did. He liked to read a lot and knew of all sorts of things and secrets of this world"

"Where's he from?"

"Nashville but he moved to New York later…USA basically. You won't find that place anywhere on any map as it's a sort of secret country almost. Not affiliated with the World Government or any faction for that matter. And they don't interfere with anything that goes on in the rest of the world either"

"This!" Reiju exclaimed accusingly, "How is this not suspicious?! A secret country?! What the hell?!"

"It's just a country no one knows about in the wider world. Why is that so suspicious?" Luffy asked honestly confused. He thought this cover was pretty good and it wasn't entirely untrue either as Leo's world wouldn't be found by anyone in this world nor does Leo's world affect this world in any way.

Reiju paused and took a moment to actually think about it. If what all Luffy said was true, then he was right. This world had so many unexplored islands, so it was entirely plausible for a secret country to exist. In fact, it would be strange if there wasn't one. "Okay…It's not I guess…" she trailed off but then frowned when another question popped up in her head, "So if that country doesn't interfere with the rest of the world, why would they know anyone or any secrets?"

"They just like to keep up with the news" Luffy shrugged.

"So…you gather information for them? For Leo?"

"What?"

"Umm so you like work for that country?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked completely perplexed.

"You said that they like to keep up!" Reiju hastily justified herself when he started looking at her like she was an idiot, "So you infiltrate powerful families like mine and then send whatever you learn here…to them…" she trailed off looking at the tired look Luffy was giving her.

"Nothing like that" Luffy sighed, "I can't ever go back to that country. Neither can Leo. Let's just say he got kicked out and I met him after. Then, he taught me whatever he knew…"

"Wait so you aren't blood related brothers?"

"Nope. We chose to become brothers. All my brothers are the same"

"How many brothers do you have?"

"Three"

"I see…so this secret country. Where is it?"

"Not on any map and no one can go there."

Reiju frowned knowing she wouldn't get anything more from him.

"Anything else that's making you suspicious?"

"Why did you ask to talk to Dragon?"

"Not my secret to tell."

Reiju pursed her lips looking at him with dissatisfaction causing Luffy to sigh in frustration.

"Look Reiju, I know lots of secrets of lots of people. I'm not going to tell one person's secrets to the other"

"Why the hell are you getting angry?!" Reiju yelled misreading his frustration as anger, "I'm the one who should be getting angry, not you! I'm not the one keeping secrets!"

In this very serious and tense situation, Luffy suddenly started chuckling to himself while shaking his head further pissing off Reiju. "The hell are you laughing at?! This is funny to you?!"

"No no," Luffy placated but was still smiling with amusement, "This just seemed like a couple bickering that's all…Leo and Serena sometimes used to bicker like this too whenever Leo kept some things from her…"

"Oh…" Reiju also reviewed the conversation in her mind and amusingly, it did seem like a bickering couple to her too. "Well, you're not wrong…"

The two went silent for a few moments before Luffy sighed, "Look Reiju. You'll just have to trust me on this… I'll tell you about some time in the future of who Leo was and all…"

Reiju also sighed, "Yeah… If you were some spies aiming to destroy me, you already have everything you need and you could've even sent messages to someone by now…so, I've already lost…"

"Hm guess so, yeah." Luffy said getting up and ruffling her hair, "You worry too much. And if you already think you've lost to me, then just trust me more. Rely on me more…"

Reiju looked up at him with a strange look, "That is exactly what a spy who's trying to seduce me into submission would say…"

"Don't you think the spy that would be sent on this mission to seduce you would be older if that was the plan?"

"Hehehe yeah"

"Or are you telling me you're falling for me? Younger guys? That your thing? I'm sorry, but I don't want to be in a relationship"

Reiju punched him in the gut while he just giggled. She was still sitting, so she grabbed his collar and yanked him down bringing his face to her eye level. "Okay. I'll put my blind trust in you and even if a part of me is screaming at me to not trust you, I'll ignore it…Don't you dare betray me, okay? I already have enough monsters in my life. I don't want any more…"

"Ooh but I am a monster too Reiju. I'm gonna become the Pirate King, so I'll be crazy and monstrously strong"

Reiju shook him hard once, "You know what I meant when I said monster!"

Luffy chuckled but nodded his head and looked at her seriously, "I promise. I'll never betray you and I'll make sure that you choosing to trust me will be one of the best decisions of your life"

"Good!"

"Now can you release me? I feel like you're about to kiss me here…If you are, I don't min-"

Reiju injected him with a poison right at that moment and he instantly fell on his back, his body jerking like he was having seizures and felt like it was on fire. Reiju calmly and happily took out a notebook and started noting down the effects of the poison, and only after a good few minutes, did she inject him with the antidote. She again noted down the effects of the antidote.

Luffy panted hard as he got up, his body feeling fine but still the shock was just too sudden. He glared at Reiju with annoyance, but she just cooed innocently, "If I remember correctly, you were the one who offered to be a guinea pig…"

Luffy sighed and nodded, "Well I'm meeting the consequences of my words, I guess… Can't you give me a warning at least?"

"Nope" Reiju chirped and without warning, stuck another injection in him making him fall on his back once again and this time, he felt like his body was freezing.

'This is gonna be a thing huh' Luffy sighed in his head as he saw Reiju observing his condition and happily taking down notes. And it was as Reiju would randomly and suddenly inject him with poisons with no prior warning during his entire stay on the ship. He was probably injected with hundreds of poisons by the time he left her.

He was kinda happy that she was injecting him with so many poisons though. For some reason, story Luffy kept getting exposed to lots of poisons and kept getting more and more immunity to them. Reiju testing her poisons on him now would certainly help him in gaining more immunity and he had even asked her to inject him with some well-known poisons too so that his body could create antibodies to combat them and become immune.

———

"We're stopping at an island?!" Luffy yelled when he noticed that the ship had stopped moving and spotted an island through the window. It had been just over a week since they had left Mariejois and he was currently training in the gym with Reiju lounging around lazily in the gym too.

"Yeah" Reiju answered nonchalantly.

"Why didn't you tell me?! Let's go explore it now!" Luffy excitedly jumped around pulling on Reiju.

"You want to explore? We'll just resupply and leave soon though…"

"Hey, c'mon! It's my first island on the Grand Line! I want to see what crazy things this island has!" Mariejois was on the Red Line and wasn't really an island, so that didn't count.

Reiju sighed but gave in after seeing his excited expression, "We're only stopping for 3 hours here, so we can't do much"

"Only 3 hours?! That's not enough time!"

"Go tell that to Judge"

"Okay!" Luffy said and was actually about to run and tell Judge to extend their stay but Reiju, who realized that he was actually going, panicked and caught him before he could run out the door. "What!? You actually were going to him?!"

"Huh? You said it yourself though?"

"I was being sarcastic idiot! Never ever talk to Judge, okay?!"

"Okay okay whatever. We only have 3 hours! Let's go! Adventure awaits!" he declared pulling her outside.

"Fine fine" Reiju grumbled as she let herself be pulled along.

10 minutes later, Luffy was standing on the shores of the island with his eyes shining and bubbling with excitement. It seemed like a normal city from afar but once he got closer, he could see roads running along and connecting everywhere around the city. Roads were a specialty in this world as vehicles weren't widespread, so seeing roads had excited Luffy thinking there would be vehicles here and he wasn't disappointed as there weren't just vehicles here, there were Monster Trucks everywhere he looked!

"Monster Trucks…" Luffy breathed in awe and excitement as he practically bounced into the city and glomped the first Monster Truck he could get his hands on.

Reiju quickly peeled him off of the Monster Truck apologizing to the owner for Luffy's reckless and rude behavior but seeing the awestruck look on Luffy's face, the owner just laughed it off.

"Hey hey! I want to ride one! Where can I ride one?!" Luffy hastily asked the owner, and he chuckled while giving directions to a racecourse derby where people could rent Monster Trucks and ride it in a field.

Luffy was off like a rocket towards where he pointed, well at least he would have been if not for the iron grip Reiju had had on him. "Relax will you. I've been here before, so I'll take you there…"

"These are Monster Trucks, Reiju! Monster Trucks! I've wanted to ride one for so long!"

"Really? How do you even know of them? This island is pretty much the first time I saw these" Reiju asked as she led him towards the race course.

"Saw it in movies and shows" Luffy answered only now taking in all the other things in the city. Many buildings were Monster truck themed, he could see food shaped like Monster Trucks and all the people were dressed like they were in a 70s punk rock band. Luffy did find everything interesting but he mostly wanted to ride a monster truck as soon as possible before exploring the other facets of the island.

30 minutes later, Luffy was screaming (in joy) as he rode his Monster Truck in an obstacle race course with a screaming (in fear) Reiju in his passenger seat holding onto the support handle for dear life as Luffy was crazy and reckless in his driving.

"SLOW DOWN IDIOT! WE'RE GONNA CRASH!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! THIS IS SOOO FUN!" Luffy yelled as he swerved around the race track almost crashing into the other trucks on the field. And it wasn't long before a few angry drivers drove up beside him cursing him for almost wrecking their ride.

"Kid! Stop now before we make you!" / "How dare you?! I almost crashed my ride because of your reckless driving!" / "Leave the premises already!"

"Shishishishi you can't stop me! I'm driving TO THE MOON!"

"The moon?! That doesn't make any sense!" another yelled.

Luffy laughed louder yelling "It doesn't have to! I'VE GOT A MONSTER TRUCK! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"THAT DIDN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!" Reiju yelled from beside him but only got louder laughter in return. Pretty soon, Luffy had a mob of Monster Trucks chasing him while he laughed in glee.

"The hell are you laughing for?!" Reiju smacked him not able to understand the appeal of having a bunch of people giving you chase.

"Reiju," Luffy turned towards her with a grin, "Just fucking enjoy this! This is a car chase but with Monster Trucks!"

Luffy focused his gaze back to the front while also taunting the others chasing him more by putting his head out the window laughing right in their faces which only increased the number of people chasing him. And Luffy loved every moment of it. There was a long line of trucks chasing him soon and seeing that, he got a mischievous glint in his eyes.

There was a big ramp in front of him and Luffy floored the accelerator whizzing straight at it with dangerous levels of speed, and the ones chasing him also increased their speeds. And soon, one of the longest chains of Monster Trucks started soaring through the air after going over the ramp and crashed onto the ground with lots of hollers and excitement. A crowd had also formed and not knowing the full situation, they just thought that all of them were putting on a show and started cheering for them. The ones who were chasing Luffy also got excited hearing the crowd cheer for them and soon, they started competing with Luffy and also one another instead of giving chase.

Luffy led the charge by doing all sorts of reckless and dangerous tricks with the truck (which pretty much destroyed the truck by the end), and the others also tried emulating him… and soon someone started blaring music, people cheered louder, the drivers showed off their own cool and unique tricks, and an hour later, a huge party was thrown with Luffy leading it.

All the ones he had pissed off had started playfully bantering with him and laughing at his ballsy but innocent and childish attitude. They even dressed him up in punk rock clothes with spiky shoulder pads, eye shadow, leather pants and Luffy loved his new look.

And Reiju? She was having the time of her life. She had watched in awe as Luffy slowly turned the angry mob into willing competitors and how he had pretty much started a party in the middle of the city with everyone who had hated him in the beginning now laughing along with him. She was also pulled into everything as Luffy's friend and even she was dressed in punk rock clothes with a black leather jacket and skirt, thigh high boots, eye shadow and everything.

She had so much fun that she didn't even realize when the three hours had passed by and a maid from the ship had to actually come and fetch her. Luffy was reluctant to leave so soon and even the ones in the city were protesting their quick exit and asking them to stay longer but alas, they had to leave nonetheless.

With a tearful goodbye from a few people, they took their leave with a ton of souvenirs and gifts. Luffy happily waved back at them as they left and even Reiju couldn't help but feel sad that they were leaving so soon.

"So, did you have fun?" Luffy asked with a huge happy grin as the two came back to her room after their ship left the shore.

Reiju just stared at him still not believing how much fun she had had in just 3 hours. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"You know, just have the whole city throw a party for you… you pissed them off at first and then somehow an hour later, everyone was laughing and having fun alongside you…"

"I seem to have that effect on people" Luffy shrugged, "All I did was have fun. And seeing me have fun, people just joined in I guess"

"Right…" Reiju nodded having come to the same conclusion herself. All he did was have the widest grin and laugh at everything the angry mob threw at him, and slowly, they had turned it into a game and Luffy's laugh and joy was infectious.

"You still didn't answer my question. Did you have fun?"

Reiju gave him a huge goofy grin, "Yes, idiot. I had a lot of fun!"

"Shishishishi good!"

———

The remaining days with Luffy went by way too quick for Reiju's liking. She was for the first time in her life, having genuine joyous fun with him around. He was a hyper active ball of energy and she would never get tired of his stupid antics. He was also troublesome as he had no concept of danger or etiquette and would randomly start talking to her casually even when her maids or others were in their general vicinity, so she had make sure that she kept Luffy away from them too.

To everyone else, he was a slave, so he shouldn't be so casual with her. If her maids saw that, they would definitely get offended on her behalf, so she tried to keep everyone away as much as possible from her castle. She didn't tell Luffy to stop though, as she loved how he treated her like a friend.

The month and a half journey to South Blue took around two months due to some unavoidable delays. When they arrived at the first South Blue island and Luffy was going to leave, Reiju was extremely sad. Seeing that though, he had asked her how long they would be staying in South Blue and when she told him that they would be there for another month, he extended his stay and decided to get off at the last island they would be stopping at in South Blue, for which Reiju was extremely grateful and happy.

And thus, Luffy ended up spending a total of three months with Reiju. They went to explore every island they stopped at, participated in unique customs and festivals the islands had, and just had the best time ever. They had sparring sessions together, went to bars and dance clubs when they stopped at islands for long enough, had long conversations about the silliest of things and also the most vulnerable of things Reiju had locked away in her heart. She had never imagined she would open up to someone as much as she had with Luffy and she had the best three months of her life.

Reiju also came to know that Luffy could play the guitar and the piano pretty well, and could play some really catchy tunes and songs. He also danced a lot, the not-so-good-but-not-so-bad kinda dancing, but he danced with so much joy that she and everyone else who saw him could only smile and join in. Though for some damn reason, he was very good at dancing with a partner. Tango, Slow dancing, Ballroom dancing and also the Waltz- he did it with grace and poise. When she asked how he had learned that, he just said that Serena liked such dances and thus, Leo had to learn it for her sake and then Leo had taught it to him too. She had again gone paranoid as dances like waltz was only learned by royalty and she had started thinking he was royalty of some Kingdom, but she decided to ignore that as she had promised.

By the end of the three months, she had talked so much and done so many things with him that it seemed like a lifetime of adventure to her. She couldn't believe that there was a time in her life where she didn't know Luffy and wondered just how she had managed to go so long without experiencing the kind of joy Luffy brought into her life. And that was saying something as she had known him for only three months in her 20 years of life.

She had even ended up giving names and titles to some of the conversations and incidents they had gone through like…

THE POUTING BOUNTY POSTER

"Show me your cuffs" Reiju said one day when she and Luffy were in her lab. It was still their first week together and she decided to do something about his cuffs.

Tilting his head in confusion, Luffy just showed it to her and asked "What for?"

"Don't you want the cuffs removed?" Reiju said as she started scanning the keyhole in the cuffs to analyze and 3d print a key.

"Hmm well yeah but can you make it so that I can remove it and wear it like a bracelet?"

"What? Why?"

"For training. My body's made of rubber so my muscles don't develop that fast I think. Also, if I train in my weakened state and build up my strength, I'll be much more stronger when I remove them"

"I don't mind but are you sure? You'll be in your weakened state you know? Even you walking around with sea stone is a big deal and a part of me even suspects that you don't have devil fruit powers…"

"I got used to it I think. The slavers had me for six months but honestly, I don't remember much of what happened at the beginning. I felt so weak and I wasn't even self-aware most of the time. But as time went on, I started trying to exercise in my cage and soon I could at least stand and do basic functions like a human. More time, and I could even fight…"

"But you should still feel really weak right? I don't think you'll just gain immunity to sea stone if you wear it long enough"

"Yeah I feel very weak and have been feeling it for a long time now. I think I'm like 20% as powerful as I would be without wearing sea stone right now…but anyway, it's good for training. So, please turn them into bracelets"

Reiju sighed but acquiesced to his request, "Sure, I don't mind and it's easy enough"

She finished analyzing the keyhole and started the 3d printer to make a key which hardly took 10 minutes to be done. She then unlocked his cuffs and finally after what felt like a lifetime, Luffy got his full strength and rubber powers back.

"Oh god! I feel great! I missed you so much, my rubber body…" Luffy grinned happily twisting his body around in unnatural ways. It was honestly freaky in Reiju's opinion and her doubts of him not being a devil fruit user vanished. When he twisted his head 360 degrees and still kept going, Reiju freaked out and smacked him, "Stop doing that, you idiot!"

"Shishishishi! It doesn't hurt anymore when you hit me now!" Luffy triumphantly said with a shit-eating grin. Reiju had smacked him multiple times whenever he said stupid things before and he would always grumble that once he got his rubber powers back, her attacks wouldn't work anymore. 'Guess this is what he meant' Reiju thought with irritation seeing his shit eating grin.

This had an easy solution though. She just picked up one of the seas stone cuffs and hit him on the head with it. Luffy went wide-eyed realizing what she had done and proceeded to petulantly pout while grumbling.

'Ahhh the cute pout is back. I can never get enough of his cute pouting face' she squealed internally and discreetly picked up a camera and started taking pictures. When Luffy realized what she was doing, he gasped in shock and lunged at her to get the camera back, but she dodged and ran around while Luffy gave chase.

"Give it here! I'm the future Pirate King! The Pirate King shouldn't have pouting pictures of him!" Luffy yelled in panic.

Reiju, who was just giggling trying to escape his stretchy hands, started howling with laughter as she heard what he said. "PFFHAHAHAHA… I didn't even think about that! Oooh now, I'm gonna treat this like treasure. HAHAHAHEHE"

Another idea popped up in her mind and she lost it falling to the floor laughing her ass off while clutching her stomach. "I-I'll give this picture to the Marines and… Pffttt hehehehe, a-and tell them to use it for your bounty poster when you eventually get one… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA… IMAGINE THAT! It's the bounty poster of the Strongest Man in the World, THE PIRATE KING!… And it's this cute picture of you pouting. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Luffy actually paled imagining that. "DON'T YOU DARE!"

He was on top of her now trying to nab the camera as she lay on the floor holding onto it tightly like it was her treasure. It took a full 5 minutes for her to get over her laughing fit and relatively calm down. She looked into his panicked and pleading eyes with a mischievous glint. "…Okay okay even I'm not that cruel. Here, I'll erase it" she said as she proceeded to remove the film roll and made it look like she destroyed them.

Luffy exhaled a sigh of relief muttering 'thanks' and got off of her. Reiju sat up with a mischievous smile and hid another camera she had. She had discreetly switched the camera she had taken his pictures with another one, so she still had the pouting pictures. She didn't know if she would actually go through with the bounty idea but she would at least save those pouting pictures because it was just too cute.

THE VOICE CHANGE INCIDENT

Luffy had had an idea. Since his body was made out of rubber, he could actually change his voice by controlling the shape of his vocal cords by stretching or contracting it. Leo was a musician so he knew all about how sound was produced.

It was simple really. The shape and size of the vocal cords or larynx and also the shape of the vocal tract determined a person's voice. The vibrations made by the larynx travel through the throat, nose and the mouth causing the air to vibrate, and thus creating sounds. The tension in the larynx, and the shape and size of the vocal tract determined the pitch, loudness and tone of a voice. If Luffy could actually change the shape and size of his larynx and the vocal tract, he could theoretically talk in any voice he desired or even just amplify his voice.

He immediately started practicing by feeling out his larynx and it's shape. He would try moving it slightly and alter it's shape as much as he could while making sure it didn't feel like he was tearing it. He was wearing sea stone cuffs most of the time, so the only time he could practice it was when he was training without his cuffs on which was around 3 hours every day. It took him a couple of weeks before he actually managed to get little control of it and successfully managed to alter its shape slightly.

A few more days and he got enough control over it to start testing. He started by going 'Ahhhhhh~' while modifying his larynx and it actually sounded like someone was tuning a musical instrument. Seeing that it was a success and confirming that he could actually tune his voice, he started training it more by modifying the larynx and his vocal tract in different ways.

He didn't know what shape and size would produce what kind of sound so he just decided to brute force it. Thus, he basically went 'Ahhhh~' while modifying his larynx in different ways to produce different sounds and voices. It took another week of this before he got enough control of his larynx to actually use a completely different voice. He had only managed to make his voice really deep to talk like Batman or make it very high to sound like a woman. For now, he could do the basic spectrum from a deep voice to a high-pitched voice. And it had taken him just over two months of practice to achieve this. Fine-tuning sounds and imitating actual people's voices would take more time but he was sure he could train more and improve upon it so that he could actually imitate any person's voice he wanted perfectly.

When Reiju had first heard Luffy going 'Ahhhh~', she sweat dropped thinking 'What is this idiot doing now?' But when she had asked him, he had just said 'Sec~ret~' with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

It was almost comical. Luffy was doing his vocal exercises while he was doing other physical exercises, so he would be doing push-ups or sit-ups all the while going 'Ahhh~'. Reiju had laughed the first couple of times she had seen it but as it went on for almost two months, she started to get worried if he had hit his head somewhere.

When Luffy finally revealed what he was doing to her by just casually going "What's up?" in a woman's voice, she took a minute to actually understand what he was doing. She was flabbergasted as soon as she realized it and smacked him angrily, "You were actually trying to modify your larynx?! It's a sensitive organ! You could actually tear it and lose your voice, you goddamn idiot!"

"...Honestly didn't think of that" Luffy said sheepishly rubbing his head. "But I don't think it will tear. I abused the hell out of it for the past two months stretching and contracting it but nothing happened. Shishishishi" In the story, he abuses his entire body with his gears and apart from a few side effects in the beginning, nothing really happens to him. There were some theories that he was actually shaving off some of his life by doing that, but Luffy honestly didn't care even if it was true. So he didn't think that just manipulating the larynx would be a big deal.

"IDIOT!" Reiju screamed and dragged him to the ship's doctor to get him a checkup. She could treat wounds and scars, but she was out of her depth regarding the throat, so she had no choice but to drag him to the doctor. Besides, it was just a throat checkup, so Luffy wouldn't even have to take his shirt off and expose the burn mark, so it would be fine.

Luffy protested of course saying how she was overreacting, but she didn't listen to him and just dragged him to the doctor. She explained to the doctor what 'the idiot' had done and asked him to check his throat and everything. The doctor sweat dropped, never expecting someone to even attempt something like this, but proceeded to perform scans and run tests on Luffy's throat.

As the doctor retired to his office to analyze the results of the tests and file a report, Luffy and Reiju sat outside in an uncomfortable silence. Luffy knew that if anything was wrong with his larynx, Reiju would get super mad at him. On the other hand, if nothing was wrong with it, then too Reiju would be super mad because he had attempted it.

"Honestly, what the hell were you thinking?" Reiju sighed exasperatedly shaking her head.

"…That it would be cool if I could talk in different voices" he said cautiously, " Like I could go 'I'm Batman' in Batman's voice"

"What the fuck is Batman?!"

"He's this cool superhero Leo told me about!" Luffy piped up excitedly, "He dresses like a bat and fights crime in the dark of the night. He has this really cool and deep voice which I wanted to emulate"

"Again, with this Leo guy" Reiju huffed angrily, "He filled your head with too much stupid information. If he wasn't already dead, I would have punched the life out of him myself!"

Whenever Luffy said some strange things or stories she had never heard about, Reiju would ask from where or who he learned it from and Luffy would just say "Leo told me about it". He had explained to her that Leo read a lot, so he would tell him all sorts of stories and teach him stuff. It wasn't a lie technically. Just the circumstances and the method of teaching was an instantaneous memory transfer.

So, whenever Luffy did or said something strange, he would just throw Leo under the bus. And in Reiju's mind, Leo had become the Bad influence friend who had corrupted the innocent Luffy. Which again, wasn't too far off from the truth. The only good opinion she had of him was that he had saved Luffy's life. Luffy had just said that Leo had given up his life for him but hadn't elaborated much and thinking it was a sad topic, she hadn't inquired any further either.

Luffy was still talking about how cool Batman was and Reiju was just humming along not listening at all when the doctor called them back into his office.

"Well, I don't see any damage to your larynx or any part of your throat, so everything is good. Being made of rubber really saved you. Fascinating really. Devil fruits sure are strange…" he trailed off wistfully before shrugging his thoughts off and adding, "But I advise you to not do that anymore. Who knows how much wear and tears you can take?"

Reiju finally sighed in relief only now realizing that she was holding her breath in apprehension. She wondered when this boy had become so precious to her that she would get this worried over him.

"Sometimes should be okay right? Like when I want to prank someone, I'll just go 'Boo' and watch them freak out" Luffy said voicing the 'Boo' in a raspy spooky tone. Reiju just dope-slapped him.

"Sometimes should be fine" the doctor said flatly with a sweat drop.

They thanked him and left his office with a fuming Reiju and Luffy had to spend some time appeasing her.

THE LIPSTICK DEBACLE

Luffy had suddenly walked into Reiju's room one morning while she was still applying makeup looking like he wanted to ask her something. Reiju, still putting on her cherry flavored pink lipstick, turned to him and raised an eyebrow asking what he wanted. He started to say something but then abruptly stopped and stared at her. More specifically, stared at her lips. He then licked his own lips subconsciously, gasped softly as if he had had a sudden realization and then his shoulder slumped down as if he was sad about something. Then, without saying a word, he left.

Reiju just sweat dropped at his behavior. When he kept staring at her lips and then licked his own lips, she thought that he was thinking about kissing her. Which was a surprise as she had spent all this time with Luffy, and he hadn't shown much of a reaction towards her that indicated he wanted her sexually. Sure, he had stared at her for more than necessary when she was wearing really short shorts or just a bra in the mornings or sparring sessions, but she had soon found out that he was actually admiring her strong physique rather than lusting after her.

To be honest, she was slightly peeved at that. She knew that she was sexy and here was this boy, in the midst of his puberty, and he wasn't showing any interest towards her. She wanted to tease him so much, but he just didn't get flustered.

She also had this whole sensual vibe going for her where she would talk with anyone a bit sensually, but with Luffy, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. He already thought she was a pervert because of the 'Lick my feet' fiasco, so she felt embarrassed ever since then whenever she felt like sensually teasing him. And when such words did slip out due to habit sometimes, he would just look at her with strange amusement, which only further made her more embarrassed. So, thinking that he finally paid some attention to her sexually, she wanted to badly tease him.

When they met later, she asked what his reaction was about, but he just shrugged it off saying it was nothing. His shoulders slumped down a bit again, so she knew that whatever it was, it made him sad. She kept pestering him for a couple of days, but he didn't give her a straight answer.

Realizing she wasn't going get an answer, she decided to change tactics. Make up embarrassing stories to explain his behavior and as the stories kept getting more and more embarrassing, he would start getting flustered and spill the real reason.

When they met later in the night, she decided to put her plan in action. "Luffy, what was that reaction a couple of days ago when you came into my room in the morning?"

"It was nothing. Just drop it already, will you?" Luffy muttered.

She pressed on. "You were licking your lips staring at mine. Ooh, did you think of kissing me? Fufufu… And then realized you had no chance. And that's why you became so sad?" she asked with a smug look on her face.

Luffy just tilted his head and stared at her as if she was an idiot and that reaction only irritated her.

"What do you mean I have no chance? We've already kissed" Luffy stated simply.

"…Huh?" she blinked dumbly. Once again, any plan or interrogation tactic she tried to use on Luffy crumbled with just one statement from him.

He sighed before explaining. "Yeah, that's what I realized that morning. When you rescued me from the pit and I woke up in your lab, I tasted this cherry flavor in my mouth. I just wrote it off then and didn't think much about it, but this morning I finally realized where exactly that taste originated from. It was you. Your cherry flavored lipstick. You sucked the poison out of me directly using your mouth, didn't you?"

Reiju blushed knowing how that looked to someone who didn't know she sucked poisons through the mouth. He had already called her a pervert so many times and if he found out that she had actually sorta kissed him while he was unconscious, she would seem like an actual pervert. So, she tried to deny it. "Wh-wha? I did no such thing" she managed to stammer.

"I know you suck poisons out through the mouth. No need to deny it" Luffy said with a flat look on his face.

Getting caught in a lie further embarrassed her, "Well yeah, I-it was the o-only way to suck out the poison. And it was just a peck on the lips" 'Dammit! I'm the older one here. Why am I getting so embarrassed? Why am I stuttering?! Stop failing me, my damn mouth! And stop lying!' she screamed inside her head.

"Nope. I could taste it all around the inside of my mouth and gums. You stuck your tongue in me and licked all the poison out. Stuck it in deep. And it wasn't the only time either…I've felt the same taste a few times when I wake up after you inject your poisons. Guess you had to suck out the poisons when the antidote didn't work huh?" Luffy added only embarrassing her more.

She went even more red at that. It was true that she didn't need to lick his gums and all, but she would get lost in the taste of the poison sometimes and she couldn't help herself when it was tasty. And the poison he was injected with was really tasty. It was also true that sometimes the antidote she was testing didn't work and she had to suck out the poisons from him. 'Calm down, calm down. I'm the adult here…HOW CAN HE NONCHALANTLY SAY, 'You stuck your tongue in me' WITHOUT GETTING EMBARRASSED!?...OKAY, OKAY CALM DOWN, CALM DOWN, Calm down…'

She quickly composed herself, but her face was still a bit red. "Well, sorry for saving your damn life, you ungrateful bastard! Should I have left you there to die?!"

"Hey hey, I never said anything like that," Luffy placated, "I'm grateful that you did what you did"

"Then why the hell did you get sad after realizing that in the morning?!"

"Ahh that…well, I was kinda peeved that it was my first kiss and I wasn't even awake for it. That's all. Nothing major" Luffy said sheepishly rubbing his head.

"That's it? That's why you were sad?" Reiju asked incredulously. Noticing Luffy slightly averting his eyes however, she knew it wasn't the truth, "…No, that's not it. You wouldn't care about something like that and besides, that wasn't your first kiss. You yourself told me that you were great at kissing, so you've obviously kissed before. There's something more. SPILL IT. NOW."

Knowing he had no way out, Luffy sighed and confessed, "Weeellll… I noticed that the lipstick you used was cherry flavored. Then I started thinking that it would have been nice if it was meat flavored. Then I realized that there was no way something like meat flavored lipstick exists and that made me sad…"

A beat passed.

Another beat passed.

Another beat passed before his words got processed and Reiju's anger finally burst.

"YOU GODDAMN SONNUVA- OF ALL THE STUPID IDIOTIC MORONIC THINGS YOU COULD HAVE SAID! YOU WERE SAD THAT THERE'S NO MEAT FLAVORED LIPSTICK?! MEAT FLAVORED?! YOU GODDAMN IDIOT!" Reiju shrieked and started throwing whatever she could get her hands on at Luffy, causing him to promptly bolt out of her room.

A couple minutes later, Reiju was panting exhausted from her outburst. 'Of all the things he could have said' she sighed and rubbed her face in frustration.

"Hey…" she heard Luffy's soft voice. He was just outside her room with only his head sticking in watching her cautiously.

"…What?" she snapped irritably.

"I may not have been awake, but you tasted really good. Maybe when I'm older, we can do it again?" he asked cheekily and bolted away without waiting for her answer.

She went red in the face again and yelled loudly, "You goddamn idiot! Who the fuck wants to kiss you?!"

She only heard his loud laughter in response.

TROUBLE MAGNET

Reiju had realized early on that Luffy was a trouble magnet that would attract trouble on any island they stopped at and honestly, if she wasn't there, he would have been killed multiple times already. They had been to four islands on the Grand Line and even though they had just stopped for not more than three hours at each island, Luffy had gotten into trouble on two of those islands which would have gotten him killed if she wasn't there.

He would somehow run into someone who was in trouble and just decide to help them out. It would be some simple situation at first glance, but it would soon end up embroiling someone powerful and Luffy would just charge into the situation fearlessly and get into fights with them.

For example, the second island they stopped at seemed fairly normal, but they had run into a kid who was running away from some thugs, and they saved her. Reiju thought that that was the end of it, but for some reason, Luffy decided to tag along with the kid and escort her home. When she asked why he was doing that, he just grinned at her and said that his 'Spidey senses' (whatever the hell that meant) was tingling and his intuition was telling him that something fun would happen if he escorted the kid.

She had just shrugged and tagged along chalking it up to Luffy being weird as always, and since they just had to escort a kid, she didn't mind. She thought that they would drop her off at her home and then would continue exploring the island.And boy was she wrong.

The moment they had stepped into the kid's house, an assassin had attacked them. Reiju quickly defused the situation of course and was about to kill the guy but the kid begged her not to do it while crying and prostrating herself.

Luffy told Reiju that they should hear them out first to see why they attacked them, and she agreed. With tears, the kid confessed that her name was Ivy, and she was the princess of a neighboring country on the same island who had run away because she had found out that her father had been replaced with an impostor. She believed that someone had disguised as her father and when she investigated, she turned out to be correct. A pirate who kinda looked like the King had apparently schemed and kidnapped the real King while he replaced him. The King was kept in the town they were currently in apparently and thus, she was here to free her father, along with her guard. The fake King having realized this had sent assassins after her and they had thought that Luffy and Reiju were assassins sent by the fake King when they suddenly barged into her life out of nowhere.

Luffy had just laughed off the misunderstanding much to Reiju's annoyance. He had almost died by the guard's hands, and he had the audacity to just laugh it off! Luffy didn't care one bit as he instantly decided that he would help the kid out much to Ivy's (and Reiju's) shock. His answer to why he was helping them was 'Because it seems fun!'

Reiju tried to stop him saying they didn't have much time, but Luffy shrugged it off saying they would be quick. And thus, operation 'Rescue the real King' began. It was really easy for Reiju as she could pretty much take out anyone there within seconds with her poisons, but Luffy insisted on fighting. They infiltrated the building the King was being kept in, fought off a bunch of people, Luffy showing his serious fighting prowess for the first time in front of Reiju and within two hours, the real King was rescued and reunited with his daughter.

They literally didn't have any more time to spend on the island, so without even waiting for a thank you, the two left after making sure the King and princess were safe and ran to their ship barely making it in time. Reiju had secretly snuck out with Luffy as she had realized from the Monster Truck Island that Luffy made a lot of noise on any island they went, and she didn't want any attention.

"That was fun huh?" Luffy grinned at her and she grew annoyed looking at the state his body was in. He was battered and bruised pretty much everywhere as the number of enemies they had faced was a lot. He could have fought off anyone one on one, but there were more than 50 enemies trying to kill him all at the same time, so he had had a lot of trouble fighting them off. And if she wasn't there, he would have definitely died.

And that island was just the beginning. The third island they stopped at in the Grand Line was an island of Water slides where rows of water slides flowed like veins throughout the entire island and people usually used that as a transport method (They were always in swim wear as a result. Even professional office workers!). And he again found someone who was in trouble and decided to help them out. One thing led to another, and they soon found the former ruler of that island plotting an evil plan of electrifying the entire water supply of the island which would have led to the death of thousands of people. He apparently had some grudge with the current ruler and also the citizens that they didn't bother to listen to as they were in a hurry and just beat up everyone involved. That was a more dangerous fight as Luffy had to face a Zoan user, but he fought long and hard to defeat them. She just watched ready to jump in, in case he needed help while taking out the rest of the fodder, but he managed to defeat the person in time and saved the whole city again.

The pattern continued in South Blue where he found trouble in one of the three islands they stopped at and saved an entire village from an oppressive pirate crew because a little girl gave him food when he entered the village, and a few minutes later he saw that she was in trouble. South Blue was way easier, and she didn't need to be worried at all as Luffy could easily fight anyone, but the way he just put his own life on the line for someone he just met a few minutes prior frustrated her a lot…but also made her respect him a lot.

When she had once asked why he helped all those people he didn't even know, his simple answer was "People who give food to others while expecting nothing in return are good people. So, I liked them and saw them as my friends. They were in trouble. My friends were in trouble. And they wanted to fight. So, I helped them out. That's all."

Reiju was left speechless at his simplistic answer and belief. "So, you want to be a hero?" she asked after she processed his words.

Luffy's face scrunched up in disgust as he blanched, "No way in hell do I want to be a hero! The only reason I helped them all out is because there was someone willing to fight. If Ivy didn't want to save her father, if the people in that Water slide island didn't want to stop that former ruler, I never would have interfered. They were my friends, and they wanted to fight, so I helped them out. If they didn't, and I had no personal reason to interfere, I wouldn't have bothered"

"Huh…well, I guess that's true…" Reiju trailed off wondering how Luffy's mind worked. He was an enigma to be sure, but his logic seemed perfectly simple and at the same time so complex too.

His thinking wasn't that profound or revolutionary, but it was insanely hard to put into practice across all situations. It was fine if it was a single pirate crew or weaklings who were the enemies. But what would he do if the opponents were insanely strong or as powerful as the Yonko or the Admirals? 'He would obviously not fight them' was her conclusion. In the coming years however, when Luffy started his journey and did one crazy thing after another where he was always in the news for his daring actions, she realized that she had never been so wrong about something in her life. He would absolutely fight a small pirate crew or an entire nation or even the whole World for his friends.

JOIN MY CREW!

It was the fourth and last island they had stopped at on the Grand Line and Luffy and Reiju had obviously gone out to explore. Again, they would be here just for three hours for resupplying, so they didn't have much time. Unfortunately for Luffy, this was just a normal city and nothing unique stood out to him. They had a lot of malls and shopping stores though and seeing that, Reiju had pulled him into a shopping spree. She thought it would be a good time to buy him some clothes as he only wore some old clothes the soldier clones had.

Luffy grumbled but after seeing the excited expression on Reiju's face, he didn't protest much and allowed himself to be dragged into a clothing store.

Reiju had fun playing dress-up with Luffy while Luffy hated it. He just wanted to pick some red shirts and black or blue pants and be done with it, but Reiju vehemently protested saying that he had to try everything on before buying it. She kept squealing in delight whenever Luffy came out wearing a different pair of clothes she had picked out for him and was happily telling the vendor to pack whichever clothes she thought looked good on him.

After Luffy's clothes shopping was done, he wanted to explore the island but unfortunately Reiju said that it was her turn now and started picking out clothes for herself. Luffy just sighed and sat near the changing room accepting that he would be appeasing her. As expected, she came out of the changing room after trying on every dress and would ask his opinion on how she looked.

Another thing he had learned from Leo's memories was how to treat girls on dates. Although this wasn't a date, shopping for clothes was an integral part of the girlfriend experience. It had taken Leo a few tries to figure out the correct response when Serena asked for his opinions on her clothes and that was to be half honest. If it looked good, say it's good. But if it's not, then subtly say it doesn't suit her. Not outright say that it doesn't look good, but to subtly reject it. At least that's how it worked with Serena. Luffy followed the same thing Leo did with Serena and gave his opinions.

"Hot!"

"Nice! Suits your eyes"

"Hmm the color doesn't seem to go well with you. Try the same outfit in a different color"

"You look great!"

Reiju was honestly surprised that Luffy was actually giving proper advice. She figured he would just nod and say 'It's good' for everything but he gave compliments and also subtly rejected those he thought didn't look good on her. And for the most part, she agreed with him. 'Does he have a girlfriend back home or something?' she wondered.

After Reiju was done shopping, they just went around various shops and window shopped, went to various food stalls, bought lots of food and just had a jolly good time.

While they were exploring, a log pose shop caught Luffy's eyes. He hadn't ever seen a log pose himself, so he went over and started looking at them curiously. There were all kinds of shapes and designs for the handles but the log pose themselves were the same- A spherical glass ball filled with a liquid and a needle hanging inside it. Some were rotating wildly while some were pointing in a certain direction having locked on to an island.

"Do you know about log poses?" Reiju asked after seeing Luffy curiously eyeing them.

"Yeah, Leo told me about them. I hadn't seen them in real life, so was just curious."

She hummed looking through all the log poses herself and soon picked one excitedly showing it to him, "Ooh this one is an eternal pose to Witech island. That's one gorgeous island! Perfect for a vacation!"

Luffy didn't recall any Witech island from the story, so asked "What's it like?"

"It's a tropical island. It has one of the most gorgeous beaches I've ever seen, and the food specialties are to die for…" she trailed off with a smile reminiscing the time she had gone there, and Luffy listened with excitement.

Watching Luffy's excitement, Reiju giggled and decided to buy the pose for him. "Here, I'll buy it for you. You'll come to the Grand Line when you start your journey right? Visit this place then" she said and started haggling with the vendor over the price. Luffy just nodded and suddenly remembered how in the story, they had randomly sailed to find Drum Kingdom to get Nami a doctor after leaving Little Garden. He didn't want to take any chances like that in reality as if they had delayed by even a mere two days, Nami would have died. So, he decided to buy one here.

"Do you have any eternal poses to Drum Kingdom?" he asked the vendor, and he nodded searching and giving him the log pose.

"Drum kingdom? Why?" Reiju asked quizzically.

"I heard that they have the best doctors. I was planning to recruit my crew's doctor from there. Could you please buy this one for me too?"

"Yeah, I did hear something like that. Sure, I'll buy it"

She bought a couple more log poses saying that he should definitely visit those places too and the guy packed the 4 log poses safely putting them in a padded chest. They were all wristwatch sized log poses, so they were pretty small and easily fit in a small chest. Reiju paid for them and then they started roaming around again.

Just before they had to leave the island, they decided to get some coffee so they went to a cafe and ordered after sitting at a table. While they were waiting for their orders to arrive, Luffy decided to ask her something that was bugging him from the beginning. "Hey, don't you want to know where Sanji is?"

She hadn't asked him about his exact location at all. Luffy had only told her that he works in a restaurant but hadn't mentioned which restaurant or where it was located, and she didn't look like she was curious about it either.

Reiju shook her head slightly "No, not really. He escaped from this family and is now living a good life. As long as he's happy, that's enough for me."

Luffy just nodded solemnly at that. "Don't you want to run away too?"

She was a bit reluctant at first to answer this question as this was straight up admitting she hated her family. She had never told a single person about her true feelings, but in the end, she ended up being honest with him. Like they had already talked, Luffy had everything he needed to destroy her life already, so telling him one more thing wasn't that big of a deal.

"Of course, I do…But I don't have a choice. Father would never let me go. Sanji was a failure according to him, so he didn't care much about him but I'm too valuable for him to just let me go. He would send armies after me to get me back" she said with a sad smile.

Luffy didn't like it "Come with me then. We'll go to East Blue, and you can join my crew."

Reiju was surprised but still had a small sad smile. "Are you asking me to elope with you?"

"In a non-romantic way, yeah"

Reiju chuckled at that but still had that small sad smile Luffy was starting to hate, "You're not strong. He would just kill you and take me back. Then my life would become even more of a hell than it already is…"

Luffy fumed irritably at the 'You're not strong' comment. He knew it was true. The Germa Family was New World levels of strong and as he was now, they would curb-stomp him easily. It was only after the 2-year training with Rayleigh that he got really strong and could fight with them in the story. Luffy just fumed in silence at his own weakness and the table was silent until their orders arrived.

Taking a sip of his chocolate milkshake, Luffy finally broke the silence. "I'll train hard and get really really strong. Then, I'll come for you, and you'll join my crew" he stated resolutely.

Seeing the resolute confidence in his eyes and also the slightly suggestive way he had framed that sentence made her giggle. "Idiot…"

The 'you'll join my crew' statement finally registered in her mind, and she protested "Hey! Don't just decide what people will do. You have to ask them if they'll join your crew! Not tell them that they'll join your crew!"

Luffy just shrugged. "Don't care. I've decided that you'll join my crew, so you'll join"

Reiju sighed and smacked him. "That's not how it works! Man, I pity all your future crewmates if this is how you're gonna recruit them"

"Shishishishi"

"Don't just laugh!" she yelled and smacked him again.

They left the cafe after finishing their drinks and as they were making their way back, the atmosphere was still a bit awkward.

"I'm serious Reiju…" Luffy said knowing she didn't take his earlier words seriously.

Reiju just eyed him sideways, "Don't get my hopes up needlessly. I don't need that in my life"

Luffy sighed shaking his head in annoyance, "You and Sanji are so similar…A couple of self-sacrificial bastards that don't care for themselves and always try to take everything on by themselves…"

"…What?" Reiju blinked in bewilderment stopping right in the middle of the street.

"Forget it for now…" Luffy sighed and looked at Reiju challengingly, "I get that I'm not reliable yet in your eyes but within three years after I start my journey, I'll come for you. I'll beat Judge into the ground and whoever he sends after you, be it the entire Germa army. I'll make that bastard release you and then you'll join my crew. I'll destroy your entire Kingdom and take you with me if it comes to that"

Reiju was honestly taken aback by the resolute confidence and resolve in his eyes and didn't know what to say to that. It would be a dream come true if that actually happened, but would he really do that for her? Even if he wanted to, could he do that for her? Her father had control over her, but if Luffy really got strong enough to beat him and everyone in the army into the ground (she shivered with ecstasy just thinking about Judge being beaten to a pulp), she could actually escape from his grasp.

Luffy started walking again and she started following him without saying a word. She knew that he had a big dream and seeing the way he trained himself, she knew he was really serious about it. If he actually was serious about her joining his crew…and if Sanji also joined his crew, she could be with him too…

"I'll hold you to it then…show me your strength…" she muttered her voice barely above a whisper, but Luffy heard her.

"Shishishi I will!"

Reiju nodded with a genuine smile as the two made their way back to their ship.

FUCK LEO!

"Hey Luffy, do you have a girlfriend back home?" Reiju asked Luffy one day as they were spending the afternoon lazing in the pool. That morning's sparring session had been intense, so they decided to just take it easy and rest in the afternoon. Reiju was lounging in a chair beside the pool while Luffy was floating in the pool on an inflatable chair, both sipping a drink.

Even before the Lipstick debacle, she had noticed that Luffy would never get flustered if he saw her in sexy clothes. Once, he had even walked in on her changing and she was practically naked, but he just went 'Oops, sorry' and walked out. He didn't get flustered even a tiny bit. He complimented her when she wore something nice, he would nonchalantly say 'You stuck your tongue in me' without batting an eye, took all her sensual teasing with amusement, teased back just as much, knew about sex positions and fetishes and would talk about them casually, and so many more similar instances which should have reduced a 16 year old into a blubbering mess but Luffy was different. It was like he had already experienced all this stuff which led her to believe he had a girlfriend. Thus, she asked the question.

Luffy, who was floating in the pool with a relaxed expression, turned towards her with a raised eyebrow. "What brought this on?"

"Just curious. Answer me dammit!"

"No, I don't"

"Is that so?" she said obviously not believing him. "Ex-girlfriend?"

"Nope"

"Do you hang out with a lot of girls?"

"Hm not really"

"…Then how the hell do you seem so…," she thought for a moment searching for the right word, "experienced with women?"

"Oh… Watching Leo I guess…"

'FUCKING LEO. I'M GONNA KILL HIM WHEN I SEE HIM IN THE AFTERLIFE!' Reiju vowed silently. She would always get irritated when his name was brought up as it would be usually followed by something stupid or something insane.

Luffy continued not knowing he was ruining Leo's image. "Yeah, Leo had a few girlfriends in his life. He told me of his experiences from being with them and how he learned to be a good boyfriend. Especially Serena. She was the love of his life and the two did a lot together…and I saw all that"

"Including his sexual experiences?"

"Umm yeah…" Luffy didn't really have a way to say that he had seen them go at it (from first perspective no less!) in a way that didn't seem sexual.

"So…like voyeurism?"

"No no…he just told me…" Luffy quickly said clearly not having thought about how this sounded to other people before.

"I see…So that's why…" Reiju said calmly but on the inside, she was fuming. He was obviously lying and he had definitely seen Leo going at it with someone. If his enslavement was to be considered, then he was 15 before he got caught by slavers, so he was younger than 15 when Leo had exposed himself and his girlfriends in front of Luffy. She fumed in anger as she added another vow. 'I'M GONNA CASTRATE THAT FUCKER AND FEED HIM HIS OWN BALLS! HOW DARE HE TELL SUCH STUFF TO A KID WHO WASN'T EVEN 15 YET AND HAVE SEX RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM?! FUCK THAT BASTARD LEO!'

It was this incident that solidified the idea that Leo was an evil bastard who had corrupted the poor innocent Luffy got etched in stone in Reiju's mind.

USEFUL PURPOSE

Luffy had almost zero contact with Reiju's brothers and Judge. He was in close proximity to them only one time when they had come aboard the ship but even then, he was with Reiju. Apart from Reiju, the only other people he talked to, were the chefs who made them food every day, a couple of maids and the doctor he had visited a couple of times.

But there was one time when he was alone and had run into one of her brothers. He was just outside Reiju's castle after coming back from a doctor's checkup of his throat. Reiju was sleeping in that day, so he had just gone alone.

Yonji was also walking outside when he spotted Luffy and called out to him. Luffy had seen him and just tried to go inside the castle without meeting his eyes, but when Yonji called out to him, he stopped.

"Hey, you're that slave Reiju brought in, right?" he asked coming up to him.

Not having a choice, he just replied "Yeah that's me"

Eyeing him up and down critically Yonji started speaking, "Reiju seems different these days. And you're the only different thing that has changed in her life in that last few weeks so I can only assume you're the reason she's changed."

"Changed how?" Luffy asked confused.

"Hmm well… take yesterday for example. We were sitting in the meeting room waiting for Father to come when she randomly said something like 'Purpose' I think and then started giggling. When I asked her what was so funny, she just waved me off saying I wouldn't understand. What was that about?"

'Purpose?' Luffy thought for a moment before realizing what it was and nodded with a chuckle, "Yeah, she was probably remembering a joke I told her and was laughing"

"What's the joke? Tell it to me too" Yonji asked with a bit of interest.

"Sure!" Luffy nodded with a huge smile and then proceeded to tell Norm MacDonald's 'useful purpose' joke.

"There was this guy whose name was Jacque De Gautino back on our island…He was a smart fellow you know. Really bright, really smart… and all of us in the village…we had our hopes on him. That he'll do big things in life, you know…." he started narrating in Norm MacDonald's way of speaking, saying how Jacque De Gautino went on to college, got multiple degrees and was on his way to become someone great.

Yonji had lost interest by the time Luffy had started telling him about how he and his village believed that Jacque would be the next Pierceo or the next Maltacino. He was pretty sure they were all made up names.

Luffy continued "But one day, Jacque De Gautino just vanished. No one heard from him ever again… Anyway, life went on and years later, I was visiting this sea world. You know what a sea world is?"

Yonji who was about to fall asleep because of his boring story perked up and snapped "Yeah I know what a damn sea world is! Get to the joke already!"

"Okay okay I'm getting there. See, I was walking around…looking at the the different fishes when suddenly I saw someone in the crowd…guess who?"

"…Jacque?"

"No no it wasn't Jacque. It was just some attendant" Luffy said chuckling.

Yonji was about to hit him, but Luffy hastily continued. "But that attendant showed me what I wanted to see! That place where you feed the baby dolphins you know. Cause I love dolphins, you know. Who doesn't? Well, that's beside the point but guess who I see there! Yes! It was Jacque! Jacque De Gautino! He was wearing the Sea World's uniform and was feeding the dolphins! He was working there…I was so shocked! So, I go up to him and say 'Jacque De Gautino, I'm ashamed of you! All of us at the village…we were pinning our hopes on you and here you are feeding baby dolphins… After going to college, you were supposed to go on to do many great things…our entire island was pinning their hopes on you' But you know, having that much pressure on you by an entire island is a huge burden, you know?"

"…uh huh" If Luffy wasn't going to get to the joke in the next minute, Yonji would lose it and kill him.

"Yeah…so I say to him 'Jacque De Gautino, you could have done so many great things. I'm disappointed in you' and then you know what he says?"

"…"

"He says 'Well, I believe I'm serving a 'youthful porpoise'" Luffy quickly said, the 'youthful porpoise' sounding a lot like 'useful purpose', and went inside Reiju's castle not waiting for a response.

Yonji just stood there stunned. He couldn't believe that Luffy had just wasted that much time building up a useless story only to make a stupid pun at the end. And he couldn't believe that he had stood there and listened to that damn story! By the time he came out of his stunned state, Luffy had already gone back inside Reiju's castle.

Luffy had told the same joke to Reiju the previous day while they were lounging at the pool. After saying the final punch line, he had started slurping his drink loudly while maintaining eye contact and walked out. Reiju had just sat there in the same stunned state Yonji was in. It was only hours later that Reiju was giggling remembering the stupid joke.

The next day there was another family meeting Reiju had to attend, and she found Yonji giggling and laughing to himself as she arrived. 'Oh great, what cruel and funny torture method has he found now?', she wondered as she took her seat next to him.

Yonji looked at Reiju and started laughing louder leaving her confused. Seeing the questioning look on Reiju's face, he finally said in between laughs "I get the joke now. Pffffhaha… All that buildup just for 'Porpoise' HAHAHAHA!"

Reiju's eyes widened with shock. "You met Luffy?! And he told you the joke? And you listened to the entire joke?!" she asked incredulously.

"HAHAH Yeah, Luffy? Is that the slave's name? Yeah, I saw him outside your house yesterday and decided to ask him why you were giggling in the last meeting saying 'purpose'. He then told me the joke. I'll be honest, I wanted to kill him a few times but the way he was telling it left me slightly curious, so I listened to the end. And it was hilarious! HAHAHAHA" Yonji lost it again.

Reiju also started giggling but on the inside, she was angry nay, she was downright furious that Luffy had done this. Yonji could have killed him if he didn't get the joke or didn't have the patience to listen until the end! And she honestly didn't know what she would do if one of her brothers killed Luffy.

Ichiji and Niji were just staring weirdly at the laughing pair and Yonji tried to tell them the joke too, but it didn't land as he was laughing way too much and that joke had to be told in the way only Norm MacDonald could do to seem funny.

Later when Reiju went home, she decked Luffy hard asking him how he could have done something so stupid. Luffy just laughed it off saying it worked out in the end causing Reiju to sigh exasperatedly. 'This boy is going to be the death of me'

*******

The rest of chapter 3 on next page. ~(￣▽￣)~*