Tainted Dreams

Tainted Dream

The food joint was lively with bursts of laughter, the clatter of cutlery and singing. Shanks and his Red Haired Pirates were having a mighty feast. There was not a single face without a smile, and not a single plate without delicious food. Luffy sat beside Shanks, listening to his tales of adventure.

Luffy's eyes gleamed with glee, "Could you take me with you on your next adventures?"

There was a roar of laughter. "You can't be a pirate!"

"Of course I can." Luffy argued. "I swim well."

One of the pirates said, "It's not about swimming. There's a lot more to that."

"I can fight too." Luffy raised his fist into the air. "My punches are like a pistol."

Shanks offered Luffy a glass of orange juice. Luffy grinned, as he took it and sipped it gladly.

Shanks chuckled. "Drink orange juice for now, Luffy. I'll take you along when you can have sake with us."

Luffy scowled. "I'm not a kid! I'm a full grown man. And guess what? I'll be a better pirate than all of you. I'm the man who will become the Pirate King."

There was another huge roar of laughter, this time accompanied by cheerful banging of tables. Even Makino, the girl waiting tables laughed at this. Luffy gritted his teeth. They weren't taking him seriously.

At that point, the door of the joint was smashed open. The joint fell silent, as a dozen men armed heavily with swords and guns came in. They all had a certain dark aura around them. They were hairy, untidy, and smiled indecently, mocking the pirates who were seated there. The tallest, buffest guy who clearly stood out as the leader, headed up to Makino.

"We want twenty barrels of sake." He eyed around. "Unless you want to be ruined."

Luffy felt fire coursing through his veins.

Makino smiled nervously. "We're out of it. I'm sorry, but I can't help you."

The man laughed in a very disturbing way. "I'm Higuma, a pirate with 8 million to my name." He leaned in, snarling at her. "You don't mess with me. These 'pirates' sitting here are drinking something. It's certainly not water."

Makino was sweating. "It's all served out."

Shanks stood up. "Hey, I think I could help you a bit though." He put forward a bottle. "I haven't opened this one yet. You could have it if you want."

Higuma's lips twitched into a crooked curve as he punched the bottle. Shattered glass fragments shot out, while the sake got spilled all over Shanks. After wiping his face off, Shanks made for the broomstick.

Higuma turned around. "There's nothing here for us, fellas. We don't want to be around this bunch of trash."

A few moments after Higuma and his crew were out, everyone burst out into laughter. Luffy felt his ears got read. He couldn't accept this cowardice.

"Why didn't you fight them?!" Luffy shouted at Shanks. "I wanted to strangle that Higuma bastard!"

Shanks stood up, smiling calmly. "Oh, calm down, Luffy. All he did was spill a little sake."

As the pirates in the joint ignored what had just happened, Luffy was still overwhelmed by rage. He wanted something to gulp it down, as he often did. There was an open box kept on the table, with an exotic looking fruit inside. It looked much like an apple, but it was purple, and there were lines crisscrossing its surface.

Luffy reached out, wondering if it was anything precious. He picked it up to examine it. Nobody seemed to object, so it must only have been an ordinary fruit; one that he'd never seen before. The fruit was heavy, and had a funny texture, but Luffy was still angry. He bit into the fruit ferociously. It felt much more like biting into flesh, rather than into a fruit, and before Luffy was awestruck by the bizarre taste of it, he had already swallowed it.