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We headed into Mock Town so Robin could buy some clothes. We barely got to the first store when we saw a man screaming about being the champion.
"He's certainly lively," Robin said.
"Yeah, he should keep his mouth shut," I added.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" The man in question jumped down from the building he was on and confronted me. "You wanna go!"
"Will that shut you up?" I asked.
"Steve, you should stop," Robin told me.
"Alright, let's go." I turned to follow her into a nearby store.
"I see you need your girlfriend to fight your battles for you!" the man said as I was leaving. "Maybe after I beat the crap out of you, she'll come with me."
"What was that?" I turned back around.
"I said your girl should come with a real man."
"I'll kick your ass if you say one more thing about her."
"She should stop hanging around with little boys who don't know anything about women and get with a real man."
"SCREW YOU!"
I pulled back to punch the man, but my fist was grabbed by a hand. I looked and saw an arm sprouting from my shoulder and holding my wrist.
"I told you to stop," Robin said from the door of the store.
The arm disappeared, and I put my fist down and walked away. I followed Robin into the clothing store, ignoring the yells of the man outside.
"While I appreciated you sticking up for me, you should learn when to let something go. Look what happened earlier on the ship with your sister," Robin brought up past events. "Learn to just walk away sometimes."
Way to make an ass out of yourself.
"You sound like Vivi," I told her.
"She's a smart girl."
Robin went up and down the aisles of the store, picking up various clothes, which I offered to carry for her. After about a half hour of just picking things out, Robin went into the dressing room to try them on.
I looked over and saw that the store had maps of the island, and I picked one up to look at it. The island had two sides, but most of the people lived on this one. I picked up the map to bring back to the ship, figuring Nami could use it.
"HeHeHe."
I looked over towards where Robin was getting dressed to find a kid, probably about thirteen or fourteen, trying to look into the room.
I walked up behind the kid and cracked my knuckles. "I should kick your ass for what you're doing, you little perv."
The kid jumped, startled, and tried to run away. I grabbed him by the collar and picked him up off the floor.
"Put me down!"
"Listen up, brat. My friends and I are looking to get to the Sky Island. Maybe if you tell me some useful information, I won't beat you senseless for creeping on my friend," I said, glaring at the boy.
"Please don't hurt me! There... There's a man on the other side of the island. His name's Cricket. He's probably the only person on this island that thinks the Sky Island is real."
I dropped the kid, and he ran out of the store.
Robin stepped out of the dressing room, wearing a purple jacket and pants. She also had on a hat similar to the one she wore when we first met back in Whiskey Peak.
"I like your outfit, you look good," I told her, trying not to stare.
"Thank you. What was all that yelling?"
"Nothing, but I think I found a way for us to find out some more about this Sky Island," I told her.
I filled Robin in on what that brat had told me while we were checking out. I offered to pay, but she insisted on doing it herself. As we made our way back to the Going Merry, Robin used her 'skills' in a bar to get a little more information about this Cricket fella. Apparently, he was kicked out of town for believing in dreams.
There's nothing wrong with believing in your dreams.
As we got back to the ship, I could already hear the others screaming at each other.
"What now?" I groaned.
"Sounds like a fight," my partner told me.
"Where'd you two go?" a bruised-up Luffy asked.
"I went to get some clothes, and Mr. Steve accompanied me," Robin explained.
"Luffy, what happened to you?" I said, concerned as I saw the bruises and cuts on his body.
"A fight," he said.
"Yeah, I can tell. How's the other guy look? I assume worse?" I said.
"Nah, he's fine," Luffy said.
"What do you mean 'fine'?" I said, getting serious.
"There's not a scratch on him."
"You let him beat you up!"
"Well, there was no reason to fight, so Zoro and I didn't bother," he explained.
When did everybody become a pacifist?
"Whatever. I'm just glad you're not too hurt," I told him.
Robin explained to the others what we had found out about the man named Montblanc Cricket. We decided to head for the other side of the island so that we could talk to him and maybe find some way to get to the Sky Island. As we rounded one side of the island, we saw a large ship with a monkey-like crew of divers onboard.
Please, not him.
Upon closer inspection, we realized it wasn't Masira, just a different furry man. The man rambled on and on about wanting Crocodile's seat among the Warlords.
"Let me tell you about myself. My name is Shoujou, and I haven't cut my hair in my entire life, that means I haven't cut it in twenty-five years."
"You're only twenty-five!" Rose yelled.
"Can you move, we're trying to pass," Luffy told him.
"This is my part of the sea, if you want to pass, you'll have to pay the toll," the man told us.
Usopp pointed out that he talked like Masira. When the man asked how we knew him, Luffy told him we kicked him off the ship.
"How dare you do that to my brother! I shall avenge him."
"Wait, he's not dead," we tried to explain, but the man was already screaming into a microphone.
"Havoc Sonar!"
A piercing scream split the air and started tearing the ship apart.
"Full speed! Get out of this thing's range!" Nami yelled.
We moved the various parts of the ship and escaped the sound waves and went to the other side of the island where there was a strange house. The front was made to look like a castle, but the back was nothing more than a small hut.
"Aww, it's a fake!" Luffy whined.
"What's so special about this guy?" Nami said.
"He claims there's a large amount of gold on this island," Robin told her.
"GOLD!"
Luffy wandered off into the man's house even though I told him not to. I followed him inside to try and pull him out, but he kept looking around. When we went back outside, Nami was reading from a picture book. It was a story called 'Noland the Liar.'
Splash
I looked over and saw Luffy fall into the water.
"Moron, be careful!" I said, running over to fish my friend out.
As I got closer to the edge, a man jumped out of the water and took up a fighting stance. "Who are you? You here for the gold?"
"Usopp, get Luffy!" I yelled back, getting ready to fight the man.
He thrust his palm forward, and I dodged the attack. I went to strike at the man myself, but when I stood up, I saw there was a pistol in my face.
"What the...!"
BANG
Somehow the bullet missed my face despite the fact he was at point-blank range.
"STEVE!" I heard the others yell.
I'm pretty sure I heard Robin. She's concerned. Aww.
"I'm fine. This guy isn't Usopp."
I saw Sanji coming over to assist me, but before he got close, the man collapsed.