Luffy went back to the room he had woken up in to get his clothes back and also talk to the six girls. He slowly peeked inside and found that most of them had put their clothes back on and were discussing the earlier event with each other while pouting slightly. He also spotted his clothes on the floor.
He took a deep breath before walking in, and their faces brightened up.
"Just here to get my clothes," Luffy hastily said before they could jump to any conclusions, "Whatever you wanted to do with me is not gonna happen."
"Why not?" one of them whined. "Sandersonia-sama promised that you would give us kids"
"Look, there was a misunderstanding. I don't really want to have kids and I hadn't told Sonia that before. So she didn't know either and made a mistake" he said as he walked up, took his clothes and started putting them back on.
"Then are we heading back to an island?"
"Yeah probably. Sonia will tell you tomorrow, okay?"
"Yeah guess so…"
"Good night" he quickly waved them goodbye before walking out and went to the doctor's office where Leah probably was.
He knocked on the door, and after getting a 'Come in' he entered and saw that Leah seemed to have been sleeping at her desk itself.
"Ahh the rubber man" she smiled, "That was quick…"
"Nothing happened…" Luffy said as he sat down on the patient's bed.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I refused… Anyway, how long has it been?"
"Around 28 hours now"
"That long?!"
"You were hurt pretty bad you know… never seen self-inflicted wounds that severe. And I heard about how the fight went from the others. It's pretty impressive you were able to walk, let alone put up a good fight with your legs that badly damaged"
"Self-inflicted?"
"Yeah. Most of the damage was because of you yourself pushing your legs and body over their limits. So yes, they are classified as self-inflicted"
"Hmm yeah I guess it could be seen that way"
"As a doctor, I want to strangle you to death for breaking yourself so much but as a warrior, I respect you"
"Shishishi good thing you're both then"
Leah nodded with a smile, "So what's your situation? You refused to sleep with them? You do realize Sandersonia-sama kept you alive for that one reason alone right?"
"Yeah, talked to her already. She's gonna decide tomorrow I guess. So until then, I'm your temporary guest."
"Heh guess you're right"
Leah seemed interesting. She looked like she had experience talking with men and not like the others who looked at him like he was some strange creature. So, he tested her.
"You're from the long-leg tribe or just have a sexy pair of long legs?"
Leah smirked at him "Long-leg tribe from my father's side"
"Looks like you've lived outside Amazon Lily?"
Leah's eyes widened with realization "Damn, got that information from just me not reacting to your pathetic flirty line huh? You're good. And yes, I did live outside Amazon Lily for quite a while. My mom took me and left the island when I was around 10"
"People do that?"
"Most don't, no. Mom had… some problems I guess. So she left and took me with her"
She didn't look like she wanted to go into detail about it, so he didn't press it. "So you came back?"
"Yeah, just a couple of months ago actually. My mom died a couple of years ago and after wandering for a while, I finally decided to come back. I lived in the New World… don't know if you know what that means"
"Second part of the Grand Line where islands are crazy strange. What was yours like?"
"People usually don't believe me and call me a liar if I tell them about it, so let's not"
"I know there's an island made of cake and other sweets, an island where sentient toys walk around, an island on the back of a giant elephant that moves around… so I know things get really strange. Tell me about yours"
Leah seemed surprised for a moment before a merry giggle escaped her lips "You're refreshing! And an island on an elephant? Never heard of that"
"Oh yeah, it's humongous. The Mink Tribe lives there"
"Ooh, the Mink huh? Never met a mink before… Well anyway, my island was called Tookak island. And the strange thing about this island is that…well, all the cities float"
"Floating cities?!" Luffy gawked.
"Not really but kinda" Leah chuckled, "You see, people built infrastructure on top of these really tall trees that grow on the island. But the trees secrete a special fluid that leaks out of their barks which has the unique property of making the trees invisible. So from afar, it looks like an island with city buildings hovering in the sky"
"That. Sounds. Awesome!" Luffy exclaimed with stars shining in his eyes.
"Yep!" Leah continued excitedly, "Wooden pathways ran all over the city connecting all the buildings and longer pathways connected one city to the next one. There were multiple cities and they formed a sort of circle around the island. At its centre was the capital- The biggest and best city called Mars. I lived there with my mom and dad, and it was amazing…"
"Whoa, that sounds amazing! That's definitely going on the list of places I'm gonna visit!"
"Sasasasa yes! It's a damn good place. Since it's so high up, lighting storms were a regular thing, so you could see a constant array of lightning falling down on lightning rods… and the people were amazing too! I used to play so much with everyone…"
Leah talked about her home and how much she loved it for pretty much the whole night. She talked about other strange customs, weird games she played with the other children, unique infrastructure, and so many more new things. Luffy listened with stars shining in his eyes asking questions and kept the conversation going. He loved hearing about new islands like this as it proved that what the story showed was a small percentage of what this world truly had to offer and that his adventure wouldn't be boring the entire time as he had so much more to explore still.
Before either knew it, the sun had peeked out from the horizon and they watched the sunrise together through the porthole in the room.
"Sunrises and sunsets are pretty much the same anywhere you are huh? Beautiful and majestic" Leah said wistfully looking at the rising sun, probably reliving some memory.
"Yeah, they sure are"
"Anyway, can't believe we talked the whole night… haven't talked this much…ever. So thanks for listening"
"I enjoyed it a lot and heard so many new things too, so thank you"
"Sasasasa"
Luffy's stomach growled just then so he stood up "Imma head to the kitchen to get some food"
"Uhh I don't think it's a good idea to just wander around. The others really haven't been around men and they can get a bit… what's the right word?"
"Hostile?" Luffy offered.
"Yeah but also curiosity and wariness and excitement and apprehension all mixed in one"
"Yeah, there isn't a word for such an emotion… I would understand that reaction from people living on Amazon Lily but the women on this ship are the pirates who travel right? Shouldn't they be used to men somewhat?"
"That's the other ship the Empress is on. This ship mainly has women who are to get pregnant this time. Other than the navigator, cooks and all, this is the first time the women on this ship are away from the island"
"Ahh I see. That explains it… Then come with me"
"Yeah sure" Leah also got up stretching her body and cracking a few joints. The two left the room and headed toward the kitchen where there were already quite a few women cooking or sitting around lazily at the benches. The moment they laid their eyes on Luffy however, they became vigilant, wary, curious and excited all at the same time. Leah gave him an amused smile while he rolled his eyes at her before going towards one of the cooks, startling her.
"I'm hungry" was all he said and the woman stared at him for a good while before slowly nodding "I-It will be ready in a while… so wait"
"Okay" Luffy then went to sit on one of the benches and Leah sat across from him while the others seemed to debate with themselves on whether to talk to him or not. They even whispered amongst themselves and started pushing each other towards him saying 'You go!' 'No, you go!'
Luffy just clapped his hands getting their attention "I'll answer any question, so go ahead"
Seeing him talk first, the women got braver and one of them asked "We saw your arms and legs stretching… Do all men stretch?"
"No, it's a special power unique to me"
"How?" another asked.
"Don't ask th-" / "You can say it's a curse"
Leah and Luffy spoke at the same time and Leah was surprised by his answer. Luffy knew that the three sisters didn't really tell the whole populace of Amazon Lily about devil fruits and explained away their snake transformations as a curse. Even the previous day when someone had asked how he stretched while fighting in the kitchen, Sonia had lunged at him suddenly to make sure he didn't say anything, and so Luffy understood that he shouldn't tell mention devil fruits to the others. Leah was of course an exception to this for some reason. She gave him a surprised and curious look but the other women continued.
"Oh, a curse huh? Just like the Snake Princess"
"Can I to-…Can I touch it?" one of the women hesitantly asked.
"Sure" Luffy just launched his hand and grabbed a table at the other end of the room, thus giving everyone a long arm to play with.
"Whoa…" all of them approached and played with his arm pinching and stretching it in all sorts of ways.
"Does every part of your body stretch?" another asked coming right up to him. When he nodded, she grabbed his head before pulling it and marvelled when his neck stretched.
"Hey hey, is it true that men have balls between their legs?"
"Of course it's not, idiot! I'm sure it's something the others told us to mess with us"
"Let's hear it from him then!"
"So, do you?"
Luffy sighed internally "Yes, we do have balls… It's our family jewels"
Leah sputtered out a laugh barely holding her laughter in while the others went 'Ooohhhh'. Just then, Luffy saw the six women who were naked around him the previous day enter the kitchen. They seemed surprised to see the impromptu 'Touch the man' session but waved at him hesitantly and when Luffy waved back with a smile, they smiled and came up to him. The other women who knew it was the six women's turn with him the previous night started firing questions off at them as soon as they sat at the bench Luffy and Leah were on.
"Hey, he's saying that men do have balls. Is it the truth?" one of the six women who sat next to Leah was asked.
"Yes, it's real alright. I thought it was a joke too but it's really there! We saw it"
"Ooh hey show us!" one asked Luffy.
"No" Luffy flatly refused.
"Oh c'mon. Just take it out and show us!"
"It's not detachable!"
"Stingy..."
"We saw the mushroom too! It was there just like Elder Mother Sym told us!"
"Ooh that's also there?! How big was it?"
"Really big! It was vei-"
Luffy closed his ears off not wanting to hear a bunch of women talk about his private parts in such detail. He understood that they were ignorant and just followed whatever an elder supposedly told them, but it was still embarrassing as hell. He rolled his eyes at Leah who was amusedly smirking at him but thankfully a plate of hot steaming fried rice was put in front of him breaking off the conversation.
"Eat up" the chef said and he looked up at her gratefully.
"Thanks!"
It took just two seconds for his plate to get empty and he lifted it back up to her "More please!"
"Wow, I did hear how much you eat yesterday, but that was way too fast" Leah said in amazement while a few others also started gossiping about his eating habits now. The cook looked stunned for a second but soon took the plate and came back with more food. Everyone watched in amazement as he devoured plate after plate without stopping until his stomach was bulging.
"Wow… do all men bulk up like this?" one said poking his stomach with curiosity. Even Leah was curiously poking his stomach.
"Haah that was really good. It was delicious!" Luffy praised the chefs giving them a thumbs up before standing up and digesting all the food coming back to his normal state.
"Whoa… that was amazing! Men digest food that fast?!"
"How does that even work?!"
"Men sure are strange creatures"
Before they could come up with even more strange conclusions, fortunately for Luffy, Sandersonia walked in and stared in bewilderment at the scene. She had talked a lot with Hancock the previous night, telling her everything and even Hancock was surprised by how well-natured Luffy was. After she told her everything, Hancock had asked whether Luffy was distraught in any way, and only then did Sonia realize that he was angry sure, but didn't care much about his brand. That was when she doubted herself if she even saw it right or if she mistook some tattoo for the brand. She couldn't exactly go and ask him to show his back either as it could be a brand… But ultimately, she was sure that it was the brand and felt guilty about it. So, she wanted to at least not kill him. And since he was unlike other men who lusted after them and vehemently refused to sleep with anyone, she had decided that she would use him in another way.
"Morning Sonia" Luffy greeted bringing her out of her thoughts while the rest were more polite in their greeting as they bowed while saying "Good morning, Sandersonia-sama"
"What's going on?"
"We just saw him eat" Leah informed with a smile and Sandersonia nodded sagely understanding the commotion.
"Well anyway, come with me"
"Sure" Luffy followed her out after saying goodbye to the others. "So, you gonna kill me or just let me leave?"
"If you wanted to leave, why didn't you until now?"
"I know you were observing me with Observation… Didn't know if you would let me… Besides, I do need to heal a bit"
"I would have preferred it if you did escape at night and saved me the trouble of having to talk to you again" Sonia said coldly but it was just an act.
"Harsh… well, I'll leave now, no issues. Can I get a boat and directions at least?"
"You missed your chance. Not letting you go now"
"Why not?"
"I thought about how to use you last night"
"I'm not sleeping with anyone"
"Yeah yeah you made that pretty clear. What I want from you is to help these women get used to men"
"…what?"
"Help them get used to men. Usually, someone has to keep an eye on all these women when they go on an island to find men and make sure they don't do something stupid. There's usually a group that takes care of all this but last week, many came down with the flu, thus, this task fell to me. The mothers who have experienced this already have given them some lessons but every time someone or the other messes up… and we have to clean up whatever mess they make"
"Messes like what?"
"We have told them to avoid certain kind of men. You know extreme drunks, really old men, men who look like they haven't bathed in months…but someone or the other don't know any better and just pick such men… Even had a slaver once who kidnapped one of us. The others had to track them down and get her back which was a huge headache…"
"I see"
She then turned to face him and pointed at him "And that's where you come in. Judging by how you didn't jump at the chance to bed multiple women and even went as far as to sacrifice yourself instead of doin-"
"I wasn't sacrificing myself. I would have escaped"
"Sure, keep telling yourself that. Anyway, you seem like a decent man at least, so help the others get used to men and teach them not to go for the wrong kind of men. Do that and we'll leave you at that island itself"
"Where's that island?"
"Just the edge of the Grand Line. Should take us about 3 more days to get there"
"That fast?!"
"We are using Sea serpents to pull the ship after all, so yeah"
"Oh right… But I need to go to East Blue, so bring me back and drop me off at the edge of East Blue"
"Sure, that works too. We'll be going along that way anyways"
"How long would it take for the whole thing?"
"Hmm, 3 days to get there. We'll stay a week on the island and then…hmm in about 3 and a half weeks from now, we should be close enough to East Blue"
He still had under three months left, so he could comfortably make it back in time. He just wanted to get home as soon as possible but seemed like the world had other plans for him. He sighed internally and nodded at Sonia. "Okay, deal"
Sonia gave a wide smile "Good. You'll also have to deal with keeping an eye on them while on the island and make sure no one gets in trouble either."
"…You're just using me to deal with troublesome matters which you don't want to do huh?"
"You catch on quick" Sonia smirked giving him a thumbs up. It was a win-win situation for her. She could give him a ride out, alleviate her guilt while also escaping from the troubling work and nothing seemed suspicious.
"Is this really okay though?" Luffy asked a bit confused, "Letting a man keep an eye on them and all"
"Hmm well we have to meet men on this little trip, so we're just meeting one earlier I guess. And you don't seem to have any interest in bedding them, so yeah… And if you turn out to be a slaver or something and kidnap one of us, we'll just hunt you down and kill you, so it's not a big deal"
Luffy sighed thinking that there was something more to this but just shrugged and agreed to it. "Fine fine, you did save my life. So, I don't mind"
"Good. We don't really have a place for you to stay, so just stay in the doctor's office. Good luck~"
Sonia walked away happy that she had gotten out of doing the menial work and Luffy went back to the doctor's office where Leah had gone back to and told her the situation.
"Wow, she really just delegated all the troublesome work to you"
"Yeah. You're the doctor, so tell me- did the others even get a sex education? Didn't seem like it judging by how they were talking back in the kitchen. They now think every man's dick stretches… I don't even want to imagine them trying it on normal men and ripping it off. And it will be kinda my fault. I can't have that on my conscious" he shuddered.
"Hmm, I'm not sure actually. I haven't been able to spend any time on the island since I came back two months ago as I keep getting pulled into trips like now… But they probably got some pointers from the previous mothers and the other doctors back on the island, but yeah, judging by how they were talking, I don't think they understood much"
Luffy shook his head in disbelief "Didn't think I would have to be giving the birds and the bees to a bunch of women in their twenties"
"Ooh now, this I gotta watch! A 17-year-old trying to explain sex? They will probably get an even worse idea of what sex is! Sasasasasa, I'm gonna get popcorn wait!" she ran out without even waiting for an answer.
Luffy just sighed wondering where he had gone wrong in life to end up here in such a ridiculous situation. One good thing out of this was that Hancock didn't really have much of an impression of him and just knew he existed. 'Wait a minute… Did Sonia tell Hancock that I refused to sleep with anyone? We're going to an island again, so she must know right?' he wondered and thought he should ask Sonia about what she had said to Hancock to convince her to let him live.
She was on the other ship and he still didn't know why she was accompanying Sonia. He didn't think the Empress herself was needed for such a menial task and he wondered why she was even here. Actually, even Sonia wasn't needed for such a task. If her claim of people falling ill and thus the task falling into her hands was true, it didn't explain Hancock's presence. And then there was Leah. Someone who lived outside Amazon Lily and had come back…
She even said that she kept getting pulled into trips and wasn't getting a chance to spend any time on the island, so was Hancock purposefully making sure she doesn't get a chance to be on Amazon Lily, afraid that she might reveal that their snake transformations are the result of devil fruits? Did she want to kill Leah? Was that why she was here? But that didn't make sense. Why would she do it after accompanying her to some island? Couldn't she have just turned her to stone on Amazon Lily itself? And also, Leah seemed to address them a bit differently. She still showed the proper etiquette while talking to Sonia, but she was a bit more casual with her as if she was a close friend. There was something more going on and Leah was his friend now, so there was no way in hell he was going to let something happen to her, even if it meant fighting Hancock.
He was brought out of his musings when Leah came back with popcorn and also brought a guest with her. Sonia also came in with an amused grinning expression "You're going to give them 'The Talk'? I didn't ask for that but now I have to see this!"
"Yeah yeah, just gather up everyone please"
A couple of hours later after everyone was up and had had breakfast, the women were all gathered up in the kitchen itself as it could hold everyone. Leah and Sonia were standing at the back with a bucket of popcorn in hand thinking it would be a hilarious show. And it was. Except not for the reasons they thought it would be.
They expected a blubbering mess out of Luffy when the women asked questions or when he had to explain stuff in detail, but all they got was a very straightforward and blunt explanation of the deed. He didn't blush even a tiny bit and made sure everyone understood what he was saying and answered any questions. Even questions like 'Why don't you have boobs? Are they detachable and you've kept it somewhere?' which had Leah and Sonia giggling under their breath, Luffy answered with a blunt tone.
To Luffy, the women looked like clueless girls who had no guidance whatsoever, so he just thought of them as such and didn't mind answering even the stupidest question. They had a biology book at least which explained with diagrams, so he used that to explain stuff to them. He made sure to drill the importance of consent into their heads and the six women had even asked if what they did the previous night was wrong to which he responded 'Yes. Yes, it was very wrong' and they apologized. Luffy just told them that they were ignorant and would get a pass this time, but to not do it again. He spent at least 3 hours answering questions and the women learned a lot. And he had to keep reminding them that men don't stretch and that it was only him that was unique due to a curse.
After the whole session was done, he told them that they'll have another session to tell them what kind of people to avoid when they get on the island and dispersed the sex-ed class.
"Wow…didn't expect you to do such a good job" Leah said coming up to him along with Sonia after the girls dispersed.
"Yeah…you even answered stupid questions with sincerity and never once blushed…" Sonia said bewildered. "How old did you say you were again?"
"Almost 17"
"Do you have much experience in this?"
"Giving a sex-ed class? First time I've done something like this. It was…an experience I guess. Not a bad one either"
"Practical experience then?"
"Hmm in a way, yeah…"
"What does that mean? You either do or you don't"
"It's complicated" Luffy cut off any more questioning. "I'm gonna get some air"
He walked outside to the deck and found the other ship to be just next to them. The other ship was the one he had seen in the anime, a red and black ship with two green Sea Serpents pulling it and had no figurehead as such. The one he was on was pretty similar but just a bit smaller and in an inexplicable way, less majestic. It also had no figurehead either and was being pulled by two red Sea serpents. Seeing the Sea serpents, he got curious to see if he could hear them, so jumped off the deck and climbed onto one of the Sea serpent's head. It eyed him curiously but didn't make any moves to swat him away or eat him.
"Is it okay if I sit on your head for a while?" he asked after catching its eye. The sea serpent just nodded and turned its gaze back to the front focusing on pulling the ship. These creatures were raised and spent time around the Amazons, so he was right in assuming that they understood human speech. He made himself home on its crown and saw the wide open Calm Belt which had almost killed him. He also spotted the reptilian Sea King that had chased him. It was still following him but kept a respectful distance from the ship, either scared of the Sea serpents or Hancock. "Guess you're not gonna give up on me huh?" he said staring at it intently before dismissing it and looking back at the Sea serpent he was perched on.
"Hey, you can understand my words right?"
The sea serpent he was sitting on turned its eyes upwards and the other one eyed him sideways, both nodding their heads before turning their gazes back to the front.
"Hm, and you also have a Sea King language right? Which you use to communicate with each other?"
Another nod.
"Can you try saying something to me? I want to see if I'm able to understand you"
The two just stared ahead not doing anything and Luffy just stared awkwardly not knowing if they were ignoring him or saying something to him. "Umm did you guys say something?"
Nod.
"Hmmm" Luffy scratched his head wondering how to listen to them. He had managed to hear one word from the reptilian Sea King, so he thought he would be able to hear them now at least. 'Wait, are these Sea Serpents even Sea Kings in the first place?' He didn't recall anything specific from the story, but just shrugged not caring about the classification. Zunesha wasn't a Sea King but he had still heard it, so it wasn't exclusive to Sea Kings. It was the Voice of All Things, so he should be able to hear these creatures too. 'Are there any trigger factors?' He thought about it more and suddenly remembered that he had also heard Rouge back at her grave. 'Was that somehow related to Voice of All Things too? Did I actually hear her because I somehow used this power?'
His mind kept making up all sorts of theories, but he finally shook all his thoughts away and started to meditate with his eyes closed, focusing on nothing but his surroundings with his Observation. He felt the slow breathing of the Sea serpents, his own steady breathing, the soft creaks of the ships… and tried to empty his mind. After a certain point, he stopped his Observation too and just let himself go not thinking about anything. After no idea how long, he slowly heard a very very low sound. He latched onto it but it felt like the more he concentrated on it, the less he could hear it and finally lost it. So he again just let himself go and emptied his mind letting his instincts take over.
After some time, he again heard the low sound. It was very low gibberish sounds from which he couldn't even make out any words. He didn't concentrate on it and just let it come to him. After a long time of just hearing low nonsense sounds, they became low whispers and he could hear what felt like phonetic sounds. It was a very surreal experience and again, he didn't focus on it and slowly let it flow.
As he was experiencing this phenomenon, there was a very loud shout right in his ear of "BOO!" which had him jumping in fright. He opened his eyes in panic and found himself a few feet in the air while a grinning Sonia was near where he was sitting. He gave her an annoyed glare as he landed back while she burst out laughing.
"Why did you do that? I felt like I was close to grasping something…"
"Something? Like what?"
"Ehh forget about it… So you also pull pranks huh?"
"Of course I do!"
"Well, you just opened yourself up for a prank war. Get ready to get jumped and scared…"
"I have Observation, so there's no way you can get me"
"Shishi we'll see" Luffy smirked getting a challenging smirk in return.
"Anyway, you've been up here for a very long time, so got curious as to what you were doing"
"Very long?" It was only then that he realized that it had become evening already and his stomach was grumbling. "Wow… how many hours exactly?"
"Over 7 hours"
"Damn… felt like minutes. Anyway, let's get me some food"
"Good god, you eat so much! Control yourself! We don't have enough for the rest"
"Is that so?" Luffy said before nodding "Okay, then"
"Wait, you really can?" Sonia asked bewildered.
"Yeah give me a minute" he said jumping back on deck and going to the doctor's office where his bag was. Leah wasn't there so he just went through his bag, brought out his cuffs and wore it. He went back out and walked up to Sonia, whose eyes widened with shock after seeing the cuffs.
"Are those sea stone cuffs?!"
"Uh huh… why the surprise? Never seen one?"
"Well it's not that…" she said staring at him intently, "Why aren't you collapsing? There's no way you haven't eaten a devil fruit, so you should be collapsing right about now…"
She even touched the sea stone and felt her energy being sapped before she quickly snapped her hand back "And that's sea stone alright"
"Wore them for a couple of years continuously and got used to it. My energy has of course been sapped greatly but I can still fight"
Sonia looked wide-eyed at him "W-why though?"
"Training" Luffy shrugged. "And situations like now too. My body requires me to eat a lot so if I wear these, it'll suppress it a bit and I'll need a lot less to survive. I still need a lot though, but it's comparatively lesser, so problem solved" he said with a smile and a thumbs up.
"I-I see…"
"See ya later. I still do need to eat" Luffy walked away not understanding why Sonia was acting weird. Did the sea stone cuffs trigger some bad memory in her? He thought about it a bit and concluded that it probably did. From what he had seen of her briefly, she seemed pretty strong, mentally speaking, so this contradictory behaviour confused him. He shook his head stopping his train of thought and decided not to pry too much. He already knew stuff he shouldn't and analyzing her just seemed wrong, so he let it go. He had a date with meat now after all so forgot about everything else.
Meanwhile, any doubts Sonia had of him being a slave were wiped away as no sane person would force themselves into sea stone cuffs willingly.
———
Luffy was carrying two drinks in his hands - one a green tea and the other a chocolate milkshake, as he walked towards Sonia's room. It was right after dinner and Leah had asked him to deliver the green tea to Sonia as he was heading in the general direction anyway. He reached her room and knocked on it with his leg.
"Come in"
Luffy opened the door and found Sonia lying on her stomach with a blanket draped over her. "Oh it's you" she said clearly disappointed.
"I get that you don't like me. No need to prove it every time" he said walking up to her and handing her the green tea. "Leah sent it"
She took it and started sipping it without saying anything while still laying on her stomach. Luffy started to walk out but then thought about all the questions he wanted to ask, so just sat on a nearby chair since the two were alone. Sonia raised an eyebrow at him wondering what he was doing when Luffy began.
"Just wondering about some things. I've been meaning to ask, but why is Hancock even here? Should the empress be even accompanying you guys on such a menial routine task? And what about you yourself?"
She didn't seem to mind him staying in the room and just responded. "First off, I've noticed from the start that you're quite rude while addressing others huh? Calling Sister as just Hancock and shortening my name to Sonia…"
"Ehh don't care much for etiquette in names. Her name is Hancock so I'll call her Hancock. Your name is a mouthful so shortened it"
"That is quite rude"
"It's fine it's fine"
"You are an idiot huh?" Sonia sighed. "And to answer your question- Yeah, Sister or I don't usually do this. As I said, many people that usually do this came down with a flu so they couldn't go. Elder Nyon…um she's an elder we know… she pretty much asked me to take this batch of women personally and hence I'm here. When I was leaving, Sister was coming back from patrol and saw me, so just decided to tag along I guess"
"Hmm I see" Luffy said not buying the story. Even if he wasn't actively analyzing her, he still noticed a lot of things he wouldn't have before - the slight aversion of the eyes during certain parts of the sentences, the over-explanation, the usage of exclusion qualifiers,… so many things pointed out to him that she was lying.
"What?"
"I didn't say anything"
Sonia glared at him for a while before opening her mouth again "You know, you're very suspicious"
'And now, shifting the target…' Luffy tilted his head "Me? Why?"
"Why did you tell the others that it's a curse instead of saying it's a devil fruit when they asked about your stretching?" she asked suspiciously.
"Well, I kinda know about your whole Gorgon eye curse that turns anyone that sees it into a stone statue thing…"
Sonia immediately got alarmed as her body tensed up but she still kept a cool exterior. "Yeah so?"
"It's obviously not true and I honestly don't care why you hide the fact that your powers are devil fruit related… Yesterday while fighting in the kitchen, someone asked me how I stretched and you quite suddenly lunged at me. That was enough for me to know that you don't want devil fruits to be known by everyone and so, said it was a curse and didn't expose it"
Sonia blinked in honest surprise at him. "Why though? I was trying to kill you. I was your enemy"
Luffy's first thought was to say that they were two different matters, but he suddenly remembered that that was exactly what he had said in the story too. That had made a good impression on Hancock, so chose not to say it in case Sonia somehow brought it up with her.
Instead, he just shrugged "Just a whim"
"Not only that, but you even told those six girls that there was a miscommunication between me and you and that's why I promised them that they can bed you…" Sonia continued in an accusing tone.
"Didn't want to deal with the conversation where I tell them they forced themselves on me, so just gave them an out… They were ignorant after all"
"Hmm what were you really doing all the way in the middle of the Calm Belt?"
"I already told you"
"I get the Sea King attacked you and all that, but why were you in the Calm Belt in the first place?"
"I told you that too. Got separated from the cargo ship crew and I spent a while drifting before I found your ships… What are you even suspicious about?"
"Don't know… you just seem strange"
"Strange how?"
"Well, Leah tells me you knew about some islands in the New World"
"Okay so?"
"You said your home is in East Blue. How do you even know about New World then? And you also don't seem surprised by the Grand Line. Usually, people from East Blue have an extreme reaction when they hear anything about Grand Line…"
"I was in the Grand Line for a bit…"
"You were? Why?"
"Involuntarily"
Luffy didn't mind that he was a slave but he didn't want to tell Sonia as she would sympathize with him. And if she told Hancock, she would also sympathize with him and maybe pay more attention to him? It was a long leap in logic sure, but he didn't want to take any chances.
"What do you mean involuntarily?"
Luffy sighed "Don't you know social cues people use when they don't want to tell you something?"
"Of course I do. But I still want to know because you're suspicious"
"Why though? What do you think I'll do?"
"I'm not sure… Things just don't quite add up with you"
She looked at him expectantly and Luffy sighed knowing she wouldn't let it go. "I was taken by slavers from East Blue and found myself six months later in the Grand Line in a death pit. Someone saved me and here I am trying to find my way back home. Happy?"
Sonia gasped as soon as she heard the word 'slavers' and had brought a hand up to cover her mouth. She berated herself that she should have realized that it was related to his slavery when he said he was in the Grand Line involuntarily.
"That burn on your back…" she said before she could think, "It is a brand…"
"Yep" Luffy confirmed and it finally hit him why the previous night's conversation seemed so strange. His back was exposed, so she had seen the mark and thus was taken off guard… 'Oh my god, did she think that she did something horrible to me? Is she feeling guilty?… Yeah. Probably. Everything makes so much more sense now. Why she answers my questions. Why she didn't just kill me… She's feeling guilty, so is being a bit lenient with me… Oh my god, did she tell Hancock?!'
"Which brand?" she asked bringing him out of his spiralling thoughts and he let go of the past and concentrated on how to answer here.
He had two choices - If he lied saying it wasn't a hoof brand, it would be like he was hiding it because he was ashamed. He definitely wasn't and the only reason he was reluctant to tell her was because of the whole Hancock situation. She already knew the truth so if he lied here, she would obviously think that he was ashamed of it and thus, hid it. And if she concluded that, it'd only support her own idea of being ashamed of the brand. Hancock especially thought that if anyone found out, they would think of her as less than human and shun her. And that was a load of bullshit. He still wanted to bring her and her sisters out of that line of thinking, so he chose to tell the truth.
"The brand of those Celestial bastards" Luffy answered not knowing how she would react.
Sonia gawked at him with her mouth wide open, not expecting him to be so open, before slipping out of the covers and walking up to him. She grabbed his shirt without saying anything and pulled it over his head. She saw the brand on his back and even though it looked a bit different, judging by the colour and vague shape, she could tell that it was the brand and she now had complete confirmation.
"What happened?" she asked with a mix of pity and understanding.
"Well, I was like the most uncooperative slave ever you see. No matter what they did, I just took it and didn't comply with anything they asked. I'm gonna become the Pirate King, the freest man on the sea, so hell if I'm gonna bow down to some bastards and follow their orders. When they were finally branding me, I kinda unleashed Conqueror's Haki making a lot of them faint. The guy who was branding me also fainted and just ended up dragging the brand across my back resulting in this" he said pointing at the long burn mark on his back. "I tried to escape then, but failed. Tried another time, but failed again. After that, I guess they thought I was too much of a hassle, so they lethally poisoned me and threw me out in the death pit at Mariejois. I got astronomically lucky, survived somehow and here we are"
Sonia's eyes had glazed over and she remained silent for a few moments staring at the burn mark on his back. Luffy wondered what was going through her head as she hadn't even reacted to the fact that he had Conqueror's. After a few seconds, she finally asked "…What do you mean you were uncooperative?"
"Pretty much what it means. They told me to stand, I sat down. They told me to walk, I kept sitting. They pulled my nails out and told me to say 'sorry' if I wanted the torture to stop, I just kept sitting. They held a gun to my head and told me to lick their boots, I pressed my forehead closer to the gun daring them to shoot… No one is allowed to take my freedom away so I just remained uncooperative…" he trailed off wondering why she was stuck up on that part of his confession. Why is him being uncooperative so shocking? He thought about and a moment later he realized why, so added, "I only have one weakness and that is my friends or family, and I was pretty much alone there, so they couldn't break me. I would have broken if they had someone precious to me there, but thankfully I was alone there so I had nothing to lose except myself"
Sonia's eyes widened with shock as she heard his words and she felt a new kind of respect blooming for the Strawhat man.
"Uhh I get that my body is desirable, but I don't wanna sleep with you either…" Luffy said as she was still holding his shirt over his head with one hand while the other was touching the burn scar.
Sonia took a moment to realize what he was talking about as she was too lost in thought and got pissed at him for making a joke like that. "Idiot! Your body isn't desirable!" she huffed letting go and walking back to her bed.
"Tell that to the ship full of women who look at me like I'm sort of candy they what to gobble up…"
Sonia sighed, her mind too preoccupied with the fact that she had in fact done a very bad thing to him. She had suspicions the previous night, but now that she had confirmation, she couldn't escape the fact that she herself had set up a situation where others saw his brand mark. And to top it all off, she had forced him to share the information with her too. If someone had done that to her, she would have broken down sobbing and it would have hurt her a lot psychologically, so she thought that she had done an extremely bad and unforgivable thing to Luffy. And she also realized in horror that she had just now straight up lifted his shirt and stared at it and even touched it. She was way too lost in hearing his confession that she didn't even realize it until then.
Feeling extremely guilty, she apologized "…I'm sorry for making you share that… I understand that it might be a shameful past"
And there it was. The thing Luffy wanted to make sure she didn't think that about him and indirectly, herself and her sisters. He had told her all that bluntly and without shame so that she wouldn't make that conclusion, but she ultimately ended up making it. She didn't even realize that he had no trouble telling her about all this and wasn't bothered the least bit by it. She was projecting herself onto his situation way too much to make an objective conclusion.
So now, he had to make sure to drill it into her head that he wasn't ashamed and that he isn't less of a human just because he had a slave brand. And make her realize that she shouldn't be ashamed and think of herself as less than human either.
"A shameful past? Why would it be a shameful past? I was just a bit reluctant to talk about it as people usually pity me, but I'm over it"
"…you're over it?" she asked incredulously.
"Yeah, I survived didn't I? Now, I just gotta get stronger so that I never find myself in such a situation ever again. And I'm exponentially stronger than I was back then you know" he said flexing his muscles. "I'm gonna get even more stronger, and protect myself and my friends so that this doesn't happen again. And that's pretty much it"
"…Don't you think of yourself as… less than human because of the brand?" she asked hesitantly.
"Oh please, it's just a burn mark. As if that would define me" Luffy scoffed before continuing, "I'm defined by my ideals, my morals, my actions and my dreams… I get why you would say that though. Those bastards did try to drill it into my head that my only worth was as a slave to them and that I was less than human. And I always had only one response to that- I looked at them as if they were stupid and just said 'No I'm not.'… In hindsight, I guess me saying that was what increased the torturing they did to me, buuut I'd still do the same if I found myself in the same situation again… Man, it was so funny when they came in all threatening and menacing-like and told me I was worthless, told me I'm nothing but a pet to them and all… and when I just stared at them like they were stupid and simply said 'No, I'm not', it threw them off their entire game. The first time I did it, they were taken aback, but just laughed it off. But I kept saying the same thing and started calling them stupid or asked them if they had bad hearing or something and they just became bewildered. Shishishishi it was hilarious watching their faces!"
Sonia's mouth had fallen open as she stared at him with bewildered awe. She remembered the same things being said and done to her as she cried and sobbed… she couldn't imagine someone saying something back to the torturers or ever think that it was a hilarious situation.
Luffy continued excitedly "They were doing this to me in the middle of cages with other slaves to serve as an example as to what happens to disobedient slaves you see, and when I said stuff like that, I guess it inspired the others too. So when the next person was being tortured and she was told that she was worthless, she was a pet, she was less than human and all, she just stared at me for a second… then looked back up at her torturer… and simply said 'No, I'm not.' too! I burst out laughing seeing the gobsmacked look on the torturer's face and so did she. We both howled with laughter seeing our tormentors like that and pretty soon, all the slaves in the cages there started howling with laughter too screaming 'No! I'm not!' and 'Fuck you!' and started making fun of them… Man, that was probably the best moment there. Seeing their hopeless hollow expressions turning into one of desire and rebellion…" Luffy trailed off wistfully, "It was amazing"
Sonia had a gobsmacked look on her face not able to even imagine such a scenario. With disbelieving but shining and excited eyes, she asked "Wh-what happened next?!"
"Hmm I took that chance to attack the guy behind me, pushed a few more towards the cages. People inside the cages caught and choked them to death. Shishi yeah, we started staging a prison break while laughing like a bunch of crazy loons. One guy stole the keys and unlocked himself before unlocking the rest. We only found the keys to the chains though, so the sea stone cuffs on me and a few others were still there. But it had been a long time since I was wearing it so I was used to it. Sadly though, we were all starved for weeks having eaten only morsels of food every now and then, so couldn't put up much of a fight. This was like a year ago, so I wasn't as strong as I am now either… Well, a lot of stuff happened but by the end, sea stone nets, paralyzing arrows and some sort of sleeping gas snuffed out the rebellion before it could get bigger. But we killed a lot of those slavers though and a few of us managed to escape the underground slave chamber. I couldn't though and got caught again. After that, I was put in an isolated cell, and a short time later, I was lethally poisoned and thrown into the death pits. They said they wanted me to die a slow painful death for causing that much chaos among them. Never saw the others who escaped, so not sure what happened to them, but I'm hopeful they escaped"
"…you're like Fischer Tiger…" Sonia breathed in awe.
"Nah, Tiger was a hero. Me? I was just a clueless kid who didn't really know how the world worked. I didn't even know I was at Mariejois or that the bubble helmet wearing people were the Celestial Dragons back then… I just did and said what I wanted like always and that sorta inspired the others I guess. What Tiger did was so much more amazing"
Sonia just sat on her bed in stunned silence not knowing where to start. She remembered the cages, the death fights, the inhumane torturers… and imagining someone laughing in such a situation was…was… she didn't even have a word to express the disbelief she was feeling. Ironically, the only word to describe the situation that was coming to her head was hilarious. If she had been there and seen such a situation, she would have defiantly laughed out loud too. And not only did he laugh and fight himself, but inspired the others to do the same and led a rebellion. And to top it all off, he even said that Tiger was an amazing hero, so her respect for him shot up even more. She just sat there staring at him in bewildered awe.
"So Sonia, bottom line?" Luffy continued, "I'm not defined by the marks on my body. I'm not defined by what others did to me. Even if I was threatened by them saying they would torture someone precious to me, and I ended up obeying them and did some things I wasn't proud of…even then I'm not defined by those actions that I was forced to do… The only thing that defines me is what I willingly do with my life. I'm defined by the choices I make. I'm defined by what path in life I choose to follow"
Luffy got up from his chair and walked up to her while she stared blankly at him. He stood in front of her and stared up into her eyes, "So thinking it's a shameful past? Thinking what they said to me or did to me or forced me to do defines who I am? To anyone who suggests that me or any slave is less than human just because of a fucking mark?" he leaned forward, grabbed her collar and yanked her down to his eye level, and while strongly gazing into her eyes, he emphasized, "I will always laugh in the face of whoever tells me that and say four simple words - 'No. I'm. fucking. not.'…Got that?"
Sonia meekly nodded her head staring wide-eyed at Luffy hanging onto his every word as if she were in a daze.
"Good that you understand!" Luffy grinned letting her go and only then did Sonia come slightly out of her daze and started to breathe again not even having realized she had stopped breathing at some point.
He had said everything he wanted to say, so decided to leave and let her stew in her own thoughts. "Imma head out then… Good night"
Sonia just nodded still staring at him wide-eyed and Luffy left closing the door behind him. He thought he did a pretty good job of getting the point across without letting her know that he knew she also had a brand. He made it about himself and generalized it at the end too. She would hopefully apply it to herself too and hopefully, come out of that stupid mentality. And hopefully, she would talk to Hancock and Marigold too and convince them to break that sort of mentality too. He didn't want to say all this directly to Hancock as she would fall in love with him, but indirectly through Sonia should be fine. Hopefully.
He went back to Leah blissfully unaware that two other people, apart from Sonia, had just heard the entire conversation and had their worldviews shattered.
**********