34. Three swords
And thus they set sail. As opposed to the thing in the anime which seemed like the journey was completed in a matter of hours, it took Luffy and his makeshift crew more than 24 hours. Why was that? Because they got fucking lost in the sea.
It was tragic as they encountered a storm and they deviated from their direction so it took more time to reach the Shells Town. On the journey Koby and Luffy bonded quite well. It was there that Koby spoke of his dream of becoming a navy and even an admiral.
Of course Luffy encouraged him to be one and also said that he shouldn't fear death in his journey towards his ambition. Koby finally got the courage and promised that he would be one. It was at that point that Ken said
"You can search for our grandpa. He is a great marine. I am sure he will train you well if you give your heart and soul."
"Your grandpa? A marine?"
"Yes. Grandpa Garp. You must have heard of him."
"Garp... Garp... You mean Marine Hero Garp? He is your Grandpa?" Koby was shocked to hear that.
"Yes. We are brothers and he is our grandpa." Luffy added.
"But you both are pirates and even have a pirate flag. How come you are the grandsons of Marine Hero Garp?" Koby couldn't understand how these two who had immense power and even such a great marine could be pirates. This was unbelievable. Koby didn't doubt them as he had first handedly seen how powerful these two were. Their grandpa must have helped them but it seemed like these two had gotten away.
"It doesn't matter. Koby, I have expectations from you." Luffy said. At night, Luffy finished the meat so Ken had to fly away to search for more meat. Having Observation Haki made his work easier. Koby got the shock of his life when he saw a dead sea king in the arms of Ken.
At the beginning he feared that these two brothers might get beaten by Roronoa Zoro as they were going after him, but now it seemed like Zoro might not be a match for these two. These two were just demons in human form.
Soon they reached Shells Town, but they dropped the anchor away from the harbor in order not to scare people. They walked through the town but soon realized that names of Colonel Morgan and Zoro were kind of taboo here.
Luffy and Ken didn't care and soon reached the place where Zoro was supposedly held. Luffy went ahead and spoke with Zoro.
"I heard you are a bounty hunter. How did you get captured by the navy?" Luffy asked.
"What does it matter to you? Get the hell out of here."
Koby and Ken just looked from the wall and saw how Luffy would convince Zoro, but then a small girl used ladders and rope to jump over the Wall and provide Zoro with rice she herself made.
Of course, Helmeppo, the son of Captain Morgan showed up and spoke arrogantly of how there were 10 more days and he would probably die due to hunger. Ken watched all of this with interest. When Helmeppo came, Luffy had already vanished from his place so Helmeppo didn't get to see him.
Later when the small girl was rescued she spoke of how Zoro was being held because he was protecting her and her mother from the wolf-like dog of Helmeppo who was destroying everything around and almost killed the girl. Luffy was touched by this and he almost made up his mind to make Zoro his crew member there.
Though Ken spoke highly of him, it was up to Luffy to decide who would join the crew.
At the same time Helmeppo came to the restaurant and arrogantly declared that he would execute Zoro tomorrow. This triggered Luffy to the extreme and hit him right on his face.
"I will go to my father and complain about you. He will execute you."
"If you want something. Do it yourself." Luffy was angry and was ready to hit another punch but Koby came and somehow stopped Luffy from being impulsive again. It was there Luffy declared that Zoro would definitely join their crew.
Meanwhile, Ken had already seen Nami sitting and drinking wine but didn't approach her as it was not the time yet. He then looked at Helmeppo who was running with his tails behind his legs running to his father to complain but was stopped by Ken.
"Who ... Who are you?"
"I am the brother of the guy from whom you got punched from and if you don't want to be punched more take me to the place where you kept the swords of Zoro."
"Who do you think you are? Marines take care of this guy." Helmeppo ordered his two 'bodyguard' marines. The marines didn't like this any bit but they feared Morgan more so they went to take down Ken.
But the story repeated here too. Both of the guards were punched and slammed on the ground with one move. One lost his teeth and the other had his hand twisted. They both screamed in pain in the back of an alley and Ken just caught Helmeppo and dragged him to the place where the swords were kept.
Of course, there were guards that saw this and rushed to stop Ken but he didn't even bother and electrocuted them with a small amount of electricity. After a run for 5 minutes they finally reached the room of Helmeppo and Ken found the three swords.
He left Helmeppo and went straight to the huge ground where Zoro was being held. When Ken reached there Luffy was already talking with Zoro again and it was then when Luffy declared that Zoro would join his crew even if he didn't like it.
"So if I get the three swords you will join the crew... Oi Ken, where were you? Zoro said that if we get his swords then he will join the crew." Luffy as from the corner of his eye he saw Ken approaching.