36. Frog at the bottom of the well
36. Frog at the bottom of the well
After this small fight Luffy left with Zoro who had fallen asleep as he hadn't eaten for such a long time and his body needed energy. Luffy held him on his shoulders and took him to the restaurant that was run by the mother of the girl he had once saved.
And as the food habits of Luffy went, he and Zoro emptied the whole stock of the restaurant in one breath. Ken seeing this was really embarrassing. At home, he never used to care about the quantity of food Luffy consumed. But here in public, seeing the same habit made him feel like he should stay away from Luffy when they go to restaurants from here on out.
Of course, Ken paid for the whole meal which was quite a sum of money!!
The mother and the girl at the beginning refused but Ken said that they would need it and it was better to take it. They had just emptied their stock. If Ken didn't pay here, he would be more red faced.
As all of this was going on Nami was able to sneak into the base in order to find the map to the Grand Line and of course she was disappointed to find only a poster of Buggy. It was all a ruse and making mockery out of Captain Morgan and Nami indirectly.
Nami was furious about this. She had been collecting money and she needed the chart to the Grand Line to collect more money and finish the obligation of 100 million so that she could liberate her island. After seeing the poster of Buggy she also sailed out to get the chart or should I say steal the chart from Buggy.
Luffy, Ken and Zoro after having a good meal were now ready to set sail again. Of course Ken wanted to have some rest but then came the marines saying that since they were pirates they needed to leave. The One Piece world was really harsh to the saviors!!
Luffy didn't mind and he went to the place where they had anchored the ship. Of course, before leaving Luffy made sure that Koby joined the navy after having quite a bit of drama with Koby. The marines saw right through the lie but since this Koby kid was so adamant on joining the navy they allowed him.
Ken hoisted the sails and once again they went on their way. And this time their destination was also Buggy's place. Ken convinced Luffy to go there as they needed the chart to the Grand Line.
"So Zoro, how did you become a pirate hunter?" Luffy asked.
"I went out to the sea in order to search for a man. But later I got lost and since I didn't have money I had to hunt pirates in order to pay for my food."
"Oh so you are the person who got lost.... Hahahahah." Luffy was laughing hearing this. Ken just shook his head. Zoro was known for getting lost and it was a well known fact that if he was given enough time he would reach another world. Maybe the world of Naruto or even Bleach since he loved swords.
Zoro was quite angry when Luffy accused him of getting lost but didn't know how to counter it. Ken then said.
"You are far away from that person!!" Ken said.
"What do you mean? You know who I am talking about?"
"Yes. You want to look for Dracule Mihawk, Hawkeye. Isn't it?" Ken asked.
"Yes!!! Do you know him? I want to have a duel against him and only after defeating him can I declare myself as the best swordsman in the world." Zoro said. Zoro still hadn't seen the world and he still didn't know how terrifying the world was when it came to powers.
"I don't know where he is but I can say that you are far away from him. It will take at least a few years before you could reach his level if you work hard enough." Ken said. Luffy was amused by their conversation and listened to them as he was eating meat.
Zoro was having none of it as he slowly unsheathed his sword. Someone just said that he was weak in a roundabout way and he was having none of it!!! Ken smiled seeing the behavior of Zoro.
"You better take back what you said."
"Oh!! Zoro wants to fight. Captain, should I show him how far he is?" Ken asked. Luffy was clapping his hands as he thought it would be amusing to fight. Zoro too looked at Luffy for permission. No matter what Luffy was the captain of the ship and Ken was his brother so he needed to show respect. Of course Luffy cheered for them.
"You should take out your axe. You won't survive if I land a slash on you."
"Tell you what. If you can even touch my clothes I will accept that you might be able to reach the level of Mihawk much faster."
"You..." Zoro was fuming in anger as he took a horizontal swing at Ken right at the deck and Ken, who was just standing by, dodged the sword's sharp edge by moving his body sideways. Zoro was surprised that Ken could dodge his fast attack so easily.
But he didn't get discouraged as he took his other sword out and slashed at Ken from both ends only to realize that Ken had ducked and avoided both the swords. Of course Ken was using Observation Haki and was able to counter Zoro so easily. He didn't need weapons for this and could knock out Zoro with just one hit in his head but he didn't do so.
He needed Zoro to understand how far he was.
And after half an hour of slashing, using three sword styles and even using his iconic moves, he still wasn't able to touch the clothes of Ken. Zoro was sweating when he did the last move. He really was defeated without the enemy even touching him.