One Piece - I Am A Different Luffy! - Chapter 550 - Taking care of some things.

[Chapter Size: 2300 Words.]
Third Person POV

Dawn Pirates Territory.

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...

The days passed by rather quickly, and while everyone took the time to stay in the territory—training, relaxing, or doing nothing—
Luffy didn’t enjoy it as much as he would’ve liked, the way he wanted with his family. But he had no choice but to keep working on what needed to be done to get everything organized before setting off to the next destination.

Lulusia was now adapting well within the territory, once again returned to sea level, while Egghead was being rebuilt with Pica using the power of his Devil Fruit to restructure the terrain and level it out, as Vegapunk deployed some of his satellites to help rebuild the city with the assistance of builders from other kingdoms that Luffy had asked to help.

Luffy introduced Vegapunk to the Wapometal factory, which he already had access to and had been studying in some capacity through the Government, having obtained some stolen samples over the years from Luffy’s allies — which was perfectly normal. After all, he couldn’t control everything that happened in the world.

The only good thing was that Vegapunk and the government had never been able to reproduce that metal without Lola’s fruit.
In any case, things were going well now that Vegapunk had some ideas of what to do with the metal.

“So you can’t create some new types of weapons I have in mind?” Luffy asked, while Vegapunk kept looking at him with a certain horror.

“You want to produce weapons?” he said cautiously, and Luffy knew the old scientist had a bit of aversion to the invention of weapons and weapons of destruction, especially after what had happened.

“We’re entering a war against the World Government, Vegapunk. I know weapons are made to hurt, but... well, they’re made to defend. What do you think is going to happen when the war breaks out? You yourself said the war from 700 years ago still hasn’t ended and continues on.
Our ancestors placed this burden on our shoulders with the world on the brink of destruction. I want people to be able to defend themselves when that time comes,” Luffy said.

“What are you really planning?” Vegapunk asked, not quite knowing where he was going with this.

“I want ordinary people to have the ability to defend themselves too. I mean... let’s give weapons to families as well, not just the army,” Luffy said, while the scientist looked stunned.

“You really intend to give weapons to people so they can defend themselves? I thought you wanted total control,” he said, making a face.

“Since when have I ever wanted that, Vegapunk? I’ve never wished for such things. What I want is a world free from the shackles of the World Government. You know exactly what I mean. And I’ve already explained it in the end: to make it very clear that I wanted to give autonomy to all countries, for them to have independence and not rely solely on a single government that controlled the entire world,” Luffy said.

Obviously, he would earn the title of Emperor of the Seas, but he never wanted to be the one who commands or the one who would take Imu’s place.

"I see... I think I can understand you. Well... we can do that... all right. I’ll do whatever’s best to empower the people, and also support your other projects," he said, while Caesar was in the background, running away from Lilith, who had been chasing him over the past few days.
The gaseous scientist found it disgusting to have a female version of himself pursuing him.

"I’ll leave the rest to you guys. Anyway." Luffy turned back to the blond man standing nearby. "Vinsmoke Judge, I want to put the Clones to work in Baroque Works as well and expand into the other Blues... and also create a police force in the territory to protect the islands," he said, expecting him to take care of it.

"I also want to continue researching the advanced development of haki with animals too, so that new recruits can train with them even more," Luffy said to the Chicque scientists, who nodded.

At the end, Luffy returned to Wano, heading straight for the Kuri region, to Amigasa Village, where Black Pearl had been brought yesterday.
Luffy flew through the region while passing near villages and towns in the area.

It was impossible not to notice how the daily lives of Wano's citizens were going very well. More than that, there were foreign people circulating through the villages and towns, now that Wano was finally open.
Even though it was still hard to reach due to the waterfalls surrounding the natural fortress, airships had been built to fly to the island.

There were even one or two mermaids and fish-men among the cities. They strolled around without facing any prejudice, and the people of Wano were naturally friendly — more so than most other countries.

But most importantly, no one was dying of hunger here anymore. People lived their lives normally now, no longer being forced by starvation to beg or do anything desperate.
They smiled, even though many still collapsed due to the condition caused by the Smile fruits.
They smiled with more genuine joy.

"I hope Vegapunk can reverse their condition," Luffy said, looking at those people with a bit of pity.
Being unable to express any feeling other than laughter seemed truly horrible.

He had already asked Vegapunk, along with the satellites, to do something about it. Just the day before, the satellites themselves had been drawing blood from those afflicted by the Smile fruits.

"Monkey D. Luffy!"
Luffy heard a voice to the side and looked, already sensing the approach, as he was used to flying over Wano to check on the country's condition.
It was King.

His wings were spread wide, hovering in the air just like Luffy, with black wings on his back. Though King was a Lunarian by nature, and in Luffy’s case, it was simply due to his Devil Fruit.

"How are things, King?" Luffy asked.

"Good, no threats in the territory. I heard you caught a Marine admiral," he commented.
He hadn’t exchanged a word with him since arriving, so it was natural to ask after seeing the newspaper.

"You could say that, that he’s in custody. I just don’t know yet what to do with him," Luffy said.
He certainly had a somewhat amusing conversation with the admiral, while the man showed a bit of fear, as always.
He even tried to recruit him, but Kizaru seemed quite loyal to the old guard of the Marines. Obviously, Luffy wanted him to join SWORD, to work with the others. But even so, Kizaru was stubborn enough to refuse.
Luffy still thanked him. He knew deep down that Kizaru didn’t want to kill Vegapunk, and the two even had a brief conversation.

"Do you intend to execute him or ask for a ransom?" King asked with interest, while Luffy shook his head.

"Neither. I’m going to keep him as my captive. Maybe a time will come when I’ll have to pay the Marines a little visit after Elbaf. I’d like to see their headquarters, the new HQ," Luffy said.
The place wasn’t too far from Elbaf.

"Does that mean you’ll summon us?" King seemed intrigued.

"Most likely."
Luffy didn’t want to miss the chance to make a scene like the one at Marineford.
If he attacked the new Marine HQ, he would definitely summon the Fleet and put on a bigger show than Whitebeard did.
Maybe that would be necessary before finding any clues. After all, the Marines are a force of the World Government, and they would certainly oppose him in the final war.

"Anyway, I’m heading out. King, keep watch over Wano, we’ll talk more later. And call me if you need anything. If I can’t respond, I’m sure Monet and Vivi will relay your message," Luffy said, while King nodded.

He left the Lunarian and headed for the Black Pearl, which was landed in a forest beside a town.
As Luffy landed on it, he saw a rather unusual scene: Elizabeth was sitting alone on the deck, reading a book.

Someone came out of the kitchen door with some difficulty and ran toward Elizabeth as fast as her little legs could carry her.
Luna, his eldest daughter, ran with her black hair bouncing.
She hadn’t even noticed her father arriving, while Elizabeth certainly had — she must’ve sensed him as soon as he approached Wano — but she looked toward the little girl coming to her, ignoring Luffy.

"You’re here again," Elizabeth remarked, while the girl smiled.

"Mommy and the others are inside eating. Aren’t you going to eat too?" she asked curiously, seeing the solitary woman who didn’t seem to socialize like daddy’s other women.

"No, I’m not hungry," Elizabeth said.

"Do angels not need to eat?!" the girl raised an eyebrow, while Elizabeth nearly choked.

"Angel?" she asked, looking at the girl with her eyebrow raised.

"Yes! They told me you’re an angel. I believe it!" the girl said simply, looking at Elizabeth with a certain admiration.

"Well..." Elizabeth seemed a bit lost at the child’s question, and Luffy couldn’t help but be surprised.
The Tenryuubito showed no disgust, as he thought she might, like most people around Luffy did.
She was a Tenryuubito, but with Luna, she didn’t have that air of superiority and seemed to treat the girl very well.
Not that Luffy would’ve let her treat her poorly, but he was quite surprised and couldn’t help but show a satisfied smile as he approached.

Elizabeth ended up displaying a small smile, and white wings began to emerge from her back, making Luna take a step back as she looked on, mouth and eyes wide open, seeing two enormous wings with white feathers like clouds.

"That’s amazing! Mommy said angels have white wings on their backs, but bigger than my friends from Sky Island! Aurora was right! She told me she heard Uncle Usopp saying you were an angel! I can’t wait to tell her it’s true!" the girl shouted excitedly.

Elizabeth nodded, while her wings slowly began to shrink again. Both of them began to hear Luffy standing a few meters away from them — it was impossible to ignore him now.
Their eyes turned back toward Luffy, standing there.
And Luna, for the first time, looked aside, ignoring Elizabeth now, before spotting Luffy there for the first time.

"Daddy!" she simply shouted and ran toward him, as Luffy scooped her up.

"How’s my cute little thing?" Luffy said, kissing her cheeks joyfully as she laughed.

"I’m good! Did you know she was an angel?" she pointed at Elizabeth like it was a discovery only she had made and that Luffy had never seen it before.

"Really? This pretty lady is an angel? I could’ve sworn she was just a regular person," Luffy said in a playful tone.

"No, she’s not, Daddy! Didn’t you see her wings? She’s an angel, she watches over us from the sky! Mommy tells stories that angels come to protect us! Just like Auntie S-Snakes! They have wings too, but black ones! So they’re angels too! Just thinking that they come to protect and play with us!" Luna shouted like she was having a great revelation for the first time.

Luffy just smiled and gave her a kiss.

"Well, why don’t you go tell your mom about your discoveries with your sister? I’ll join you all in the kitchen in a bit," he said.

"Okay, Daddy," she said, then started running with her hands behind her back, heading through the door and entering where the kitchen was.

Elizabeth stared at him now, the two of them alone.
Luffy knew very well that if he didn’t go to the kitchen, Hancock would burst through that door screaming for him.
But Luffy couldn’t help but glance at the book in Elizabeth’s hands.

"You’re reading a book about Ohara?" Luffy asked, looking at the cover of the book he himself had asked Robin to write.

He wanted her to declare everything she had lived through that day.
Maybe the world needed to know, even if it was a bit difficult for her to recall such painful memories from the past.
Still, it would be a form of release for her — and even a bit of justice for what they did to her homeland, to her mother and her friends.

"I was wandering through the ship’s library. I found it. I had heard about the incident, but I never went looking for more.
I believe everything that’s written here. That’s how the Government operates," she said.

"Well, anyway, how about putting that aside and joining me with the others in the kitchen?" Luffy asked, while Elizabeth made a bit of a face.

"If you heard my conversation with your daughter, you should’ve heard that I’m not hungry," she said, but Luffy wasn’t convinced.

"You haven’t even recovered properly and you need to eat. You haven’t asked anything from anyone since you woke up. So I want you to come with me to the kitchen," Luffy said with a slightly indifferent tone.

She looked at him for a moment before sighing.

"You really won’t give up, will you? Not until I go with you..."
She didn’t seem to want to insist, especially with Luffy looking at her that way.

"You could say yes, since you know me a little by now," Luffy teased.

She said nothing, just stood up.

"All right, let’s go," was all she said in the end.

Luffy gave a smile and headed toward where Luna had gone, not taking his eyes off the blonde.

"So... I saw you have a way with kids," Luffy said.

"Don’t be insolent," she growled, turning her face away in embarrassment, and Luffy just smiled, not offended by her behavior.

"But she is adorable, your daughter," Elizabeth murmured in the end.
And in the end, she entered the kitchen with him following close behind.