The Boy Who Changed a Life 2

Chapter 4

"Koori, did the mean people leave already?" Luffy asked from Katakuri's shoulder, looking behind them and towards the harbor, where the big ship had been for awhile. The man sighed.

"Be careful, sit, don't stand," Katakuri said before he replied to the question. "They have not left yet, but they won't get close to you or Zoro without me coming after them and being a pirate again, even if it's for a single moment."

"You mean kill?" Luffy wondered.

"Not necessarily. I could do something else. Could hurt them in a different way to get the message through their haughty minds. But, I want to avoid a fight. We don't want Whitebeard kicking us off, do we?" Luffy shook his head. Whitebeard was a nice guy to him, but Katakuri told Luffy all about how tough the man could be against opponents or enemies. "I saw the blonde kid run into the woods this morning. I think he ran away from them."

"He seemed like he didn't want to be with the meanies. Not very nice family members. I hope he got away," Luffy commented, thinking of the sad looking boy with blonde hair. Katakuri nodded in agreement. "Can we go to the park? I wanna build sand castles without mean kids bothering me."

"Alright, but you have to do your homework when we get home," Katakuri replied as he turned and switched the route to the kids' park.

"We don't have any homework because of the test. I don't think I did good, though," the boy said sadly. "But, Miss Conis said that effort is important and I try really hard, too. So I hope I get a good score!" Katakuri smiled behind his scarf. Luffy sniffled his nose loudly.

"Effort and practice are both very important. And you work hard on both, so I'm sure she'll be understanding. What did you not understand?" the father asked. Luffy frowned, embarrassed about what he'd gotten wrong.

"I forgot some of the alphabet. I got nervous, I guess. But I remember them now! I just forgot then. But Zoro isn't good at the ABC's either. Usopp and Nami are smartest about it. But I know it now. 'ABCDEFG, HIJKLMNOP, QRS, TUV, WXY and Z'! See, I can do it, but I just forgot!" Luffy insisted, not wanting to be seen as stupid. After all, the ABC's are stuff everyone knows.

"That's fine, Luffy. You're still six, you have a lot of time to learn stuff like that. And yes, you need to be smart to be Pirate King, even if you have someone smart like Nami on your crew," Katakuri replied as they walked into the park.

Luffy was set down and Katakuri sat on the grass. It was a nice small park and was probably one of Luffy's favorite things in the town they lived in. The boy looked around but there was no one playing with a bucket. He turned to Koori and took the instantly formed and hardened mochi bucket from him, and went to play.

No one bothered them there. No mutant children or arrogant, narcissistic men. Luffy was content to entertain himself in the empty playground. Luffy did get sand in his nose after itching it with a sandy hand, and sneezed, making his entire body crackle loudly. Katakuri looked up sharply when he saw the sudden flickering when his son sneezed.

"Uh oh," Luffy said simply.

-x-

"Well, you don't have a temperature, but you should stay home tomorrow anyways," Katakuri said as he kneeled next to Luffy's bed. What they thought the sneeze had come from was the sand, not Luffy's first cold.

"But I was supposed to convince my friends to be pirates! And it was gonna work, too," Luffy pouted, and coughed, another zap going through him. Katakuri handed him to tissue box, and the boy took one and rubbed his runny but also stuffy nose. It was as soon as they got home that he started showing symptoms of a cold. It was good Katakuri wasn't affected by Luffy's lightning as he would have gotten shocked many times already just from carrying Luffy whenever he coughed.