A Black Heart Does Not Always Stay Black

Restriction For Safety

Another chapter! Shorter than the usual ones this time. Those in countries affected seriously by coronavirus, good luck and stay safe. Enjoy~

Dinner time had the pirates on the ship not very happy. They were allowed no booze with dinner. No alcohol, and they weren't pleased when offered water or juice. But, when they started getting rowdy about the complaints, Whitebeard shut that down very quickly. They already had been told about the restrictions, but apparently hadn't really thought it was serious until no one had anything to drink.

Luffy didn't feel guilty about this. Not at all. Sure, it was too bad the pirates were upset, but he cared about his own life and safety more than he did about the pirates' happiness. Luffy didn't want to die, didn't want to be touched or polluted with alcohol and end up how his blood had. While the whole thing had been more cool than scary, the end of the experiments wasn't a good one.

The three boys didn't make any comment on the irritation throughout the galley. The anger and frustration was almost palpable, and Luffy couldn't see how angry everyone was getting over this drink. When Luffy was giving disbelieving frowns to the bemoaning pirates, Sabo said, in his ear, "Imagine you being denied meat."

Luffy''s eyes widened and he understood, though meat was better and more healthy than alcohol. And meat never hurt anyone, so it wasn't the same. Sabo could see the argument on Luffy's face, and just shook his head in an amused way.

"Well, since we've become off course after our detour to find Marco and the boys, the next island isn't what we were predicting it would be. We've skipped Kulu Island completely, and are heading towards Rikuai Isle," Namur explained, being the navigator. A few of those at the table moaned, clearly not liking the island.

"What's wrong with that island?" Sabo asked curiously.

Jozu replied, "It's full of assholes. Not many people are actually residents of it, some tourists but mostly pirates stopping by to restock. It's plentiful and selling the stuff makes profit, but people would rather not be surrounded by jerks all day, every day."

Izo nodded. "They are quite rude to everyone, even us. Even Marco. No one has manners these days," he complained. Someone belched somewhere near. "Including us apparently," the man said loudly.

"Sorry, Commander Izo!" someone called from another table. Whitebeard started laughing and Luffy chuckled.

"Anyways, we have to restock a lot, so most of us will be off the ship during that time. You boys could come with one of the commanders while they do their jobs and get off the ship," Izo explained. The children exchanged glances, and Luffy looked much less excited than his brothers, making him realize just how worse off it was for them at their old "home". They were stuck in the room and Luffy had never thought twice about it since he didn't like leaving the room.

Ace pat Luffy's back, seeming to know what he was thinking. "Why don't we go with one of the commanders? Might not be a nice place, but it will be new sights. And you won't be on some mission to kill people, Lu," Ace said the last part much quieter. Luffy nodded.

"When should we be arriving?" Whitebeard asked. Many of the crew were listening in, getting the information that they'd be getting anyway. Everyone liked to know what the commanders talked about, thinking they talked about much more interesting things. It really wasn't the truth, more of their conversations were actually much more serious. Though they weren't all sticks in the mud.

"Tomorrow afternoon. Should we dock at the safer part, or the faster part?" Namur questioned. He explained to the boys, "There is a place to dock near the shops, which is easier to load things up, but there are more raids there."