One Piece: I Am King Luffy

A peaceful morning.

Inside the shooting room, Luffy was doing push-ups with clenched fists, sweat dripping steadily to the floor. Gunshots echoed around him now and then.

"What tough training," said a curly-haired blond pirate as he placed his gun on the ground and tried doing a push-up with his fists on the wooden floor, feeling its difficulty.

"I wouldn't want to do this."

"Uncle, training your body is easiest when you're a kid. Once you grow up, both your body and mind become heavier. It's not uncommon to find yourself unable to even do a basic push-up," Luffy said with his eyes closed, listening to the sound of sweat hitting the ground.

"I'm already an uncle? I guess so… I even have a kid now," muttered the blond-haired pirate as he lay down on the floor.

"You think a little brat like you understands the world of adults?"

"I've got eyes, don't I?" Luffy replied as if it was the most natural thing.

"Just watching isn't enough. You'll only truly understand when you become an adult yourself."

He looked at the kid who was constantly training and reached out with his slightly grimy fingernail, poking Luffy's elbow — enough to make the boy lose balance and fall to the floor.

"How many have you done, Luffy?"

"I don't know."

Luffy rolled over and lay on the ground, chest heaving. He quietly listened to the rapid beating of his heart.

Luffy never counted his reps when training — he simply stopped when he got tired. If he felt like resting, he'd rest. If he got tired, he'd sleep. When he ate, he trained. That's just how simple a child's world was.

"Heh… kid…"

"Uncle, what's your role on Shanks' ship?" Luffy asked.

"Sniper. And stop calling me 'uncle' — I'm not old! I'm at the prime age of chasing dreams! Call me Yasopp! That name will be known across the seas!"

"You look like a background character, yet you still dream of fame?" Luffy picked his nose and wiped the sweat from the corner of his eye with his sleeve as he stared at the man.

Messy blond hair, a headband that read "YASOPP," skinny limbs — his face practically screamed side character.

"Hey!"

Yasopp clicked his tongue and shouted at Luffy.

"Don't judge by looks! I'm a sniper who can hit an ant's antenna from a hundred feet away without harming the rest of its body! Shanks invited me personally!"

He bragged to the kid beside him.

"That's only about thirty meters," Luffy thought for a moment, recalled the conversion formula, and scoffed.

"Hitting a target isn't cool — defeating or even killing them is what really matters."

"You're just a kid who doesn't understand battle. When the enemy's completely focused, I sneak in a shot — that can decide everything."

"In a real fight, every second counts."

Yasopp said proudly.

"Are your guns custom-made?" Luffy looked at Yasopp's firearm, which resembled Benn Beckman's — a long-handled pistol.

"Nope, this is top-quality gear, bought from North Blue. In a backwater place like East Blue, you can't even steal this kind of high-end weapon."

Yasopp wiped down his beloved gun.

"Makes sense." Luffy nodded.

No way pirates could have their own arms factories to make advanced firearms. Even Kaido's factories only made katanas and processed Seastone.

High-end guns... Luffy thought, I'll have to ask Grandpa for one later.

"Luffy! Come play stone skipping with us!" The shooting room door was kicked open as several unfamiliar pirates barged in, wildly lifting Luffy off the ground, tossing him onto their shoulders without waiting for a response.

Pirates were a bunch of rude people.

Out on deck, many pirates had already gathered. A mountain of wet, disgusting-looking stones was piled nearby — pockmarked with little holes, they looked gross.

Luffy's scalp tingled at the sight.

"What is that? Looks nasty."

"Barnacles, kid — they look like rocks, but they're actually animals," the pirates replied, picking one up.

"When we were fishing underwater, we saw a ton of them stuck to the bottom of the ship. I brought back a few for fun."

"You call this a few?" Luffy stared at the massive pile.

"Stone-skipping contest starts now! Farthest throw wins!"

The pirates howled in excitement.

They picked up barnacles and hurled them at the sea. Luffy could feel the wind whooshing past as the water exploded from the sheer speed.

No way he could throw like that — so what was the point of calling him here?

Luffy blankly watched the barnacles fly into the distance.

He had no idea how far they went. The waves didn't even stop rippling for about 500 meters.

"Watch mine!" another pirate shouted, throwing a barnacle that skipped across the water and flew over a kilometer.

The pirates were completely immersed in this little game. Luffy stood off to the side, expressionless — so they just brought me to watch?

Fine, then. Luffy just stood there and became a spectator.

Eventually, he too got caught up in the stone-skipping hype. Even just watching was fun. One pirate skipped a barnacle a hundred times.

Luffy didn't know the exact number — the others told him, probably using Observation Haki. That man became the undisputed king of skipping and earned roaring applause.

Luffy joined the cheering. That was seriously impressive.

Then it dawned on him — these pirates just wanted to see the sparkle of admiration in a kid's eyes.

Damn adults!

"Guys, check this out! I just caught this — an 800-pound fish!" another pirate strutted over, proudly showing off a massive fish caught bare-handed.

"Damn! You sure you caught that with a rod and didn't just wrestle it underwater?" the other pirates asked with envy.

"Hahaha! This is lunch today!"

"That tiny thing wouldn't even fill my teeth! I'm gonna catch a Sea King!"

"Does anyone want a drink? The head chef made some chilled ones!" Uta walked over with a tray of fruit juice with ice.

"I'll have ice-cold milk," Luffy said, picking the drink he needed most.

"Luffy! If you studied half as hard as you trained your body…"

Uta glanced at his sweaty, soaked clothes — clearly, he'd spent the entire morning training.

"Well... at the very least, I'd need three beautiful classmates to motivate me to study seriously."

Luffy held up three fingers.

Uta rolled her eyes at him.

(End of Chapter)