One Piece - I Am A Different Luffy! - Chapter 506 - A new Navy?

[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]
Third Person POV

Fish-men Sland.

...

...

"Hello, Zephyr."
Luffy stared at the leader of the current Neo Marines. Luffy had placed him and all the other members in custody in this prison as well, and the others were further down the corridor.

Upon hearing his name, Zephyr looked up at Luffy, while both of his arms were raised, chained to the wall.

"Straw Hat... Are you here to mock my failed plan?" he murmured, and his spark was gone.

Part of his glasses was broken, revealing the eye of the former Marine admiral, disheartened. Which shouldn't surprise Luffy, considering the loss Zephyr had suffered and all his plans destroyed — even the possibility of having killed Luffy, Kaido, and Big Mom during the war by summoning explosive stones to create a catastrophe at the three key points of the New World.

Of course, Luffy had gone to him with Lucy, but let his sister defeat him.

"You were going to create a worldwide crisis, man! Do you have any idea how much worse you'd be than any pirate you claim to fight? You would've killed more people than anyone else in this world. Were you aware of that when you decided to destroy the New World?" Luffy asked in a serious tone.

"Some sacrifices would have to be made to make it a better place," Zephyr commented.

Luffy wanted to mock him.
"You’d be the worst of them all, worse than what you claim to fight. You’d be condemned like a curse on the lips of every single person in this world who survived the chaos you were going to cause. You were going to destroy the New World, fine... And with it, take down all of the world’s greatest pirates. But what guarantees that pirates like them wouldn’t rise again at sea? After all, every pirate started from nothing — and not all of them came from the New World!" Luffy questioned.

Zephyr remained silent for a while, and in the end, Luffy continued.

"Besides, your catastrophe wouldn’t only affect the New World, but the whole planet. The skies would grow dark and acidic, and the seas would shift in balance... Do you have any idea? Millions of people would die. Have you ever seen any pirate go that far?" he asked again.

Luffy had also once threatened to kill millions, but that was just a bluff — something done to match the threats of the World Government. Of course, if the Government had really hurt his children, he didn’t know what he might have done. So, it was good that they’d reached an agreement.

Either way, Zephyr seemed thoughtful.

Luffy looked at him. The idiot hadn’t even thought of that. His hatred had nearly destroyed the world.

Either way, Luffy broke the silence once again.

"I have all the members of the Neo Marines. Along with all the research, resources, and the base itself. Those explosive stones are quite interesting."

"Did anyone die?" Zephyr asked.

Luffy shook his head. "No. None of them were killed, if that’s what you want to know."

"And what do you want with me?" Zephyr didn’t understand where Luffy was going.

"Well, to be honest... after what you tried to do, I wanted to kill you," Luffy said, ready to draw his pistol and shoot that man in the head, acting out of anger.

It didn’t matter if he was in chains — Luffy would treat him the same way he would treat the Tenryuubito after what he had tried to do to the world.

Even though he had handled the situation relatively calmly, by taking his sister to defeat him, it didn’t change the fact that this guy had nearly screwed the entire planet. But he might still be useful.

"But you didn’t. Why?" Zephyr questioned.

"It’s for a pretty important reason."
Luffy paused.
"I intend to build a Navy," he said, making Zephyr immediately look up and growl at Luffy.

"You’ve got to be kidding! A pirate like you wants to create a Navy? Stop with the nonsense!" he immediately said with a tone of near hatred. That felt like a slap in the face to Zephyr.

"You don’t understand... I imagine you already know we defeated Kaido. After all, we wouldn’t be in Onigashima right now. I’m sure some people have mentioned it," Luffy began, with a calmer tone.

"Anyway, I’m creating the largest territory cluster in the world right now around Wano, to protect all the countries and kingdoms from the World Government and our enemies. Still, I’m not much of a fan of chaos — or of what some pirates might do."

"I won’t lie: I’ve stolen and killed those I thought deserved it. But I’ve never committed worse crimes, and I wouldn’t want that happening under my waters or anywhere else."

He paused, then continued:

"And you know... The Navy is submissive to the World Government. You know very well how the Government can act."

"That’s why... I want to create an independent force. It’s already forming naturally, since many Marines will be leaving the Navy in the coming weeks, after what happened in Mary Geoise during the Reverie. And I want to support it."

"It might sound hypocritical... But I also want people, even those not living in my territory, to be able to live peaceful lives."

"And what is this force?" Zephyr murmured.

"Well... all signs point to my grandfather and great talents like Coby being part of it, as well as many other Marines who place justice above the power of the World Government. Here, I have Fujitora... and Lucy," Luffy said firmly.

"I’d like to put Lucy as the one to lead this force. You know she might be a pirate right now, but she still has her purity and sense of justice. There’s no one better to lead this new Navy."

"I refuse to be part of this," Zephyr murmured.

"So that’s how your life is going to end? Imprisoned by a pirate... alongside your own members? Don’t you truly want to fight pirates? The ones who are truly evil? To fight as a force, without the pressure of the World Government?" Luffy asked.

"..."
Zephyr remained silent.

"Besides... I captured Weevil. Did you know that?"

That sentence immediately caught Zephyr’s attention.

"You... captured him?" he murmured.

"Yes. The World Government ended the Shichibukai program after what they saw in Dressrosa, during the Reverie meeting. It was announced there, and then to the world. But the government created a force to replace them. Even though many former corsairs went out trying to seize kingdoms... even so, that force became powerful in battle, advancing without questioning orders, killing anyone — anyone who might be a threat to the government..."

"You have a deep hatred for him, more than anyone, don’t you?" Luffy asked, firmly.

"You... want to give him to me?"
Zephyr immediately understood that Luffy was offering something.

"Him... I can’t give. After all, he might be useful in the Final Battle."

"Give him to me!" Zephyr suddenly shouted, pulling at his chains, trying to break free by force.

Luffy had to silently admit: the hatred he felt for Weevil was greater than he’d thought.

"I’m not going to hand over a chained man to you, Zephyr. But I can release him in front of you. If you manage to defeat him and kill him, that’s your problem," Luffy said, making Zephyr growl.

Surely, he wasn’t stronger than Weevil.

However, Luffy continued:

"Weevil is just a kind of primate with strength. He doesn’t know how to think properly. I can hand over the old woman here. You’re certain she ordered the killing of your entire crew. Does that satisfy you?" Luffy asked.

"No. I want him too," Zephyr replied firmly.

"How about this? I give your entire team a chance. That includes your two main apprentices, and I’ll also release you. Then you work in this new Navy, without wanting to destroy the New World. You’ll protect this sea and all the others. As long as you don’t attack any member of my fleet," Luffy said, looking directly at Zephyr.

"At the same time, you’ll have my protection. And I won’t allow the World Government to try to fight you. After all, the official Navy will see you as enemies."

"And you’re going to give me both of them?" Zephyr asked.

"Yes. I’ll give you both so you can try to get your revenge. But I won’t leave them chained. You’ll have to fight fair. After all, I was the one who captured them, not you," Luffy said, while the commander thought for a moment.

"...Alright. I accept your proposal," Zephyr replied, in the end.

Lúcia nodded.
"Great then."

Luffy picked up a Den Den Mushi and gave orders, as Domino approached with a whip in hand — she was overseeing the prison.

"Captain," she said.

"Do me a favor. Bring that old woman. And give me the key to this cell," Luffy requested.

She nodded, pulled one of the keys from her pocket, and handed it to Luffy. He took the key, opened the cell, and released Zephyr, who watched his chains fall as he massaged his wrists.

A moment later, Domino came dragging the old woman by the whip, pulling her to the cell.

"Hey! What do you think you’re doing?! Do you know who I am? I’m Whitebeard’s woman! Our son is going to kill you all!" she shouted, before being thrown into the cell.

When she looked up, she found herself face to face with Monkey D. Luffy. She remembered the pressure of his Conqueror’s Haki when he brought her down. Even though she had once been on a ship like the Rocks, she knew what that meant.

Being there as a prisoner... also meant her son had lost. In the end, both had fallen into the hands of that monster.

She looked to the side, seeing a man with broken glasses. His eyes glowed with pure hatred.

"She controlled Weevil. If you really want to avenge your crew, let it be through her," Luffy said, turning to Zephyr.

"Anyway, I’ll be heading out. You can find me on the roof of the place."

Luffy closed the cell bars and walked away, with Domino at his side.

Luffy went to get Weevil. He was confused when Luffy easily carried him and threw him in the middle of the prison roof, removing his shackles.

"Hey! What is this? Where’s mom?" Weevil murmured.

"We’ll talk about your mother later. For now, let’s wait," Luffy requested, while Weevil looked around, confused.

Shortly after, Zephyr approached, fists covered in blood. He had certainly killed the woman mercilessly.

Luffy felt no pity for her. After all, that woman had been killing people through Weevil all the time.

"Well, Weevil, you’re going to have to fight this guy. But don’t kill him," Luffy said, while Weevil was still confused, watching the man approach in anger.

"Don’t... kill me? I’m going to finish him!" Zephyr responded, immediately drawing the attention of many pirates nearby, watching the powerful Monkey D. Luffy set up a fight.

Meanwhile, Luffy kept his distance to give orders and intervene if needed, preventing the fight from getting out of control — or at least, from becoming deadly.

He stepped up to Weevil and pulled something from his pocket, remembering the weapon he had picked up earlier. He tossed it to Weevil as it returned to normal size, then crossed his arms again and watched carefully, making sure neither of them died.

After all, both were still important to his plans.