One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter Seventy Eight [Rewritten]

-Chapter Seventy-Eight-

"Usopp, no!" Luffy gasped.

"Help me!" the sharpshooter cried, visibly shaking as he and the Marines finally came to a halt once they reached the shore. Drawing their sword, a Marine pressed the blade right against the pirate's neck.

"No one move, not even one little twitch or the big nose gets it!" he threatened.

"So, they already had a landing party in place waiting for us, did they?" Zoro growled, lowering his weapons and semi-relaxing his posture so that the Marine wouldn't get the wrong idea and carry out his threat.

"What nasty people..." I bitterly grumbled, a bitter taste now filling my mouth at the realization that none of this had anything to do with upholding justice and instead was simply because of some treasure.

"Excellent work, Corporal, nice timing" Minchey praised.

"Drop your weapons now or else!" the Marine Corporal ordered.

"Usopp" Nami whimpered as Zoro and I dropped our swords, the only ones out of the seven of us that actually had visible weapons on our person that the men could see.

"Dammit!" Zoro angrily cursed.

"Fuck!" I quietly hissed.

"Forget me and make a break for it! These guys are planning to kill us no matter what happens, so run!" Usopp cried out.

"Keep your mouth shut, big nose!" the Marine Corporal growled as he pressed the blade harder against the sharpshooter's throat until he was almost drawing blood.

"You...rotten coward!" Luffy sneered.

"We did what you said, so don't hurt him!" I snapped.

"Now that we captured all of you, we don't even have to wait for the captain to land—men take aim!" Minchey ordered as three of his men now aimed their guns at us. I jolted a little when I suddenly felt Zoro grab my hand and pull me behind him, growling a little as he now protectively stood in front of me.

"It figures..." Sanji grumbled.

"You rotten creeps!" Chopper cried out.

"Big deal, I can handle bullets" Luffy huffed.

"That's great..." Nami weakly said as she took a fearful step back.

"But, unlike you, we're not made of rubber" I said as the Marine Sergeant laughed.

"I get the treasure of Zenny the Moneylender, the heads of the Straw Hat Pirates, and all the credit after I send you to hell!" Minchey grinned, giving his men the signal to fire. But before any of them could pull the trigger, the ground started to rumble, causing our heads to immediately turn.

"Is that...?" I muttered, taken aback along with the rest to see Zenny's pirate ship come flying down the mountain.

"No, impossible! A pirate ship sailing down a mountain?!" Minchey gasped.

"Goat man!" Luffy happily shouted the second he saw the old man at the wheel of the ship.

"How's tricks with you?" Zenny brightly smiled, holding up a peace sign as the Marines and Usopp quickly scrambled to jump out of the way of the pirate ship that went sailing past them and out onto the sea where it eventually slowed to a stop right beside the Marine ship closest to the island.

"Is that...?" Minchey gaped as he stared at the old man in shock.

"Way to go, goat man!" Luffy cheered.

"Hey, don't encourage him like that!" Sanji snapped.

"His heart hasn't stopped, has it?" Zoro asked.

"Don't make jokes like that, Zoro!" Nami snapped.