"Hey, do you think he's telling the truth? It's strange that he has powers and on top of that he talks," whispered Makino to her red-haired friend.
"Mmmhhh... I'd like to believe that, but I don't feel any malice within him. Rather, just by looking into his eyes, the boy has gone through a lot..."
Murmured Shanks from the other corner, while watching X, who kept burping after each sip of the milk cup.
"It's been a long time since I ingested something. This tastes so good!" thought X, picking up the cup and taking a big sip, then exhaling in satisfaction.
"What will we do with the baby now? We can't leave him to his fate, it's too dangerous."
Declared Makino, placing her hand on her chest and frowning, as if the idea of leaving him alone was completely rejected.
"I would take him with me if it weren't that... I am also a pirate, and he could get hurt during the journey. So I leave him in your care."
Makino, for a moment, tensed and opened her mouth in surprise; then closed it, giving a big smile. She approached X with determination and quickly held him, making him spill a little milk from his mouth due to the inertia.
"From now on you will live with me, I will teach you many things about life, little one!"
"Put me down, please, you're squeezing me too hard."
"Ah... right, sorry." answered Makino when she saw that from his mouth a lagoon of milk was spilling to the floor.
Shanks, seeing the interaction between them, smiled faintly as he approached.
"Little one, what's your name?"
X looked at him carefully, analyzing what he should say.
"They call me X," he said simply.
"X? What a strange name... then it would be X Lancelot."
He raised his index finger as if nailing it down, even though it was so simple to identify.
Minutes later, Shanks said goodbye to both of them, leaving the bar while placing his straw hat on his head.
"That boy... I feel a great power within him..." murmured Shanks with a big smile, his head lowered; his excitement would not leave him alone.
Six years later
During those years, X Lancelot grew up with Makino on Dawn Island, becoming her helper. She taught him several things he hated doing, like sweeping the floor, washing dishes, cooking, among others.
"So tiring..." sighed X while scrubbing some dishes. "I still remember the first day she told me that, if I was going to live with her, I had to learn all kinds of things."
The sound of the water hitting the dishes brought back a memory.
"X, if you want to live with me, you must learn the basics. Not everything is fighting or training. Look, this is how you clean a glass: calmly, moving the cloth in circles." The Makino from years ago smiled while showing him, leaning toward him.
"But I don't want to! This is boring!" protested little X, barely five years old, crossing his arms.
"Then you won't have milk tonight."
"What?! That's unfair!"
"That's life, little Lancelot. Learn and don't argue."
The memory faded while X sighed, cleaning another dish with reluctance.
Outside, several shouts from a particular child began to be heard.
"Luffy? What are you doing here so early?" asked Makino upon seeing the small hyperactive boy.
"I want a rematch with X! I won't accept defeat!" shouted Luffy, upset.
"Huh...?"
Makino didn't understand a single word of what Luffy was saying. She had no idea that, the day before, X had walked through Foosha Village searching for missing ingredients for the bar.
Day before:
"Let's see..."
Murmured X, walking calmly through the shopping corridor. In his hands he held a small crumpled sheet of paper that Makino had given him, where the ingredients he had to buy were written.
On the list you could read:
1. Flour
2. Eggs
3. Sugar
4. Salt
5. Milk
At the end, with a somewhat rounder handwriting, there was a special note from Makino: "This should cost around 1000 Belly, so don't let them scam you."
X let out another sigh while folding the paper.
"As if I needed her to remind me... but fine, better make sure I don't overspend, or she'll give me one of those endless lectures."
Foosha Village unfolded around him with its usual picturesque atmosphere: dusty streets, wooden houses with reddish roofs, food stalls filling the air with the smell of freshly baked bread and grilled fish.
Children ran through the alleys with contagious laughter, while some elders sat in front of the shops chatting about daily life.
The sound of seagulls flying over the port mixed with the sway of the waves gently hitting the docks. It was a small town, yes, but it overflowed with life and family warmth.
X raised his gaze, watching how the vendors offered their products with energetic shouts.
"Sir, give me these ingredients."
Exclaimed X firmly while extending the list. The shopkeeper, a middle-aged man with a flour-stained apron, nodded with a smile.
"Of course, boy. Give me a second..."
After several minutes of waiting, X watched how one by one the products fell into his sack: the packaged flour, the well-sealed bottles of milk, the eggs carefully placed in a straw basket and the sugar in a small bag. The sound of the coins jingling while paying was the last thing before the merchant closed the sack.
"All done, there you go. Everything in order."
"Thanks," replied X, carrying the sack on his shoulder. It was bigger than him, yet he held it with ease.
As he moved through the street, the sea breeze blew gently, lifting some dust and mixing the smell of salt with that of the fish stalls.
Suddenly...
Whoosh!
A skinny boy, no more than six years old, ran past like lightning. His bare feet raised dust and, in the movement, he grabbed one of the bags from X's sack!
"Hey...!" exclaimed X, surprised, watching how the boy escaped with the bag of flour in his arms.
The boy made his way through the crowd, dodging a group of elderly women chatting and slipping into a narrow alley. Several people noticed.
"Wait, I recognize that boy..." murmured X, remembering he used to come from time to time to Makino's bar to buy different types of food.
"If I'm not mistaken, his name was Luffy," reflected X, watching how the boy got farther away through the green hills until disappearing behind a windmill.
"I didn't want to use my abilities, but you force me to." X snapped his fingers and appeared in front of Luffy, who immediately tripped upon seeing him materialize out of nowhere.
"Aaahhh!"
Shouted the little one, scared, while watching how X approached calmly, picked up the bag of flour from the ground and patted it a few times to clean it.
"Who are you?"
"I'm just a helper from a humble bar. I work there without earning a salary," answered X with indifference. He threw the bag of flour back into the sack and walked past Luffy, who was still sitting on the ground.
"Wait!"
"?"
Luffy stood up, angry, and X, without turning completely, looked at him out of the corner of his eye.
"I CHALLENGE YOU TO A FIGHT AGAINST ME!"
"And what would I gain from that?"
"What?"
Luffy didn't understand the boy in front of him at all. He was more or less his same age, but he was so calm, so uninterested... and yet he had abilities impossible to ignore. His presence made chills run all over his body, as if he were facing someone much older and far more dangerous.