LIGHTNOVELONLINE Joining the Crew
Meanwhile, Yuna, Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji were running through Logue Town toward where they anchored the Going Merry. While running, Zoro somehow decided to take a turn and ran into a random alley, but before he could get far, Luffy's hand stretched and went after him, dragging him in the right direction.
While they were running, Yuna secretly pulled out the Tone Dial she previously purchased and prepared to activate it without anybody noticing.
"Hey, Luffy, can you say 'Usopp is an idiot'?"
"Eh? Why?"
"Hehe, just for me~"
"Okay~ Usopp is an idiot."
While Luffy simplemindedly did as Yuna asked him to do, Zoro and Sanji briefly held eye contact before dismissing this matter. They were pretty certain that Yuna was planning something, but since they had no clue what it was, they wouldn't intervene. After all, the one being lured into a trap was Luffy and not them.
'Hehe, this one will come in handy for sure~'
The group of four continued running and quickly reached the Going Merry. After punting away a weirdo and a large lion that appeared to be trying to light the Merry on fire with a match stick despite the heavy rain currently covering Logue Town, they reached the deck and quickly set sail.
While everyone was happy that they got away safely, and Nami and Usopp wondered why Yuna was with them again, Yuna opened her mouth and started speaking.
"So, anyway, I'll be joining the crew~"
"Huh?"
"Eh?"
"YES, YUNA-CHWAN!!!"
"*Snore*"
"*Sigh* What a way to start a conversation."
While Luffy and Usopp were surprised by Yuna's words, Sanji instantly had hearts in his eyes as he started fawning over Yuna. Zoro didn't comment, as he had already managed to fall asleep after about three seconds of reaching the deck. Finally, Nami couldn't help but facepalm due to Yuna's weird approach to starting a conversation.
"Mhh~ Why?"
The first one to resume speaking after the initial reaction was Luffy, who tilted his head in confusion. Frankly, he put little thought into who joined his crew, sometimes asking weirdos to do so just because he found them interesting.
However, at the end of the day, he always picked people that would fit in well. He couldn't even see a reason why Yuna joining felt weird to him, but he just had a feeling in the back of his head that Yuna was different from his other crewmates.
If Luffy had been better at understanding his own thoughts and instincts, he would have probably been able to discern why he thought that Yuna was different from the others: Unlike his other crew mates, she would never reach the point where she would be willing to sacrifice her life for the sake of Luffy's, of the captain's dream.
Yuna could more or less understand why Luffy was reluctant to allow her on board permanently, but she already knew how to convince Luffy.
"Hehe, no need to think too deeply about this, Luffy. After all, me joining this crew would give you a massive benefit due to one of the skills I have."
"Mhh? Skills? You mean that skill to make women come?"
Ignoring Nami, who was currently smacking the back of his head for reasons he didn't understand, Luffy tilted his head in confusion, but seconds later, he seemed to have come to a conclusion, causing him to resume speaking with stars in his eyes.
"ARE YOU A MUSICAN!?"
While the rest of the crew was facepalming, Yuna chuckled in amusement and raised her hand.
"No, not really, but I can do this."
The moment Yuna stopped speaking, ice started appearing on the palm of her hand, quickly forming into a football-sized ball of ice.
Seeing the ice ball, Luffy had question marks above his head, while the rest of the crew was dumbfounded by what Yuna just did.
"A Devil Fruit? However, Yuna didn't sink into the sea when we found her."
"Maybe she ate it while she was in Logue Town?"
"Mhh? You can make ice?"
While Nami and Usopp were discussing how it was possible for Yuna to create ice, Luffy only looked at the ice ball with little interest. However, the person who had the biggest reaction was actually Sanji, who looked at the ball of ice in wonder, exactly understanding the implications of it.
Seeing that Sanji knew where she was going, Yuna smiled lightly while pointing her finger at Sanji.
"Sanji, explain to your Captain why he would want me to become part of his crew."
Hearing Yuna's words, everyone's eyes landed on Sanji, who was delighted that another woman joining the crew was pretty much inevitable by now. So, taking a drag of the cigarette he was smoking, he started speaking.
"Well, first of all, I would like to know how much ice you can create."
"A basically infinite amount."
Although Sanji was somewhat surprised by that, he had more important things to do than to question why Yuna could do something like that. He had to increase the amount of female crew mates no matter what!
"Luffy, do you still remember how I told you that we can't stock too much fresh meat because it would go bad?"
The moment Sanji stopped speaking, Luffy's brain activated, attempting to remember what exactly Sanji was talking about, but because this was something that had to do with meat, he quickly managed to remember the conversation.
So, Luffy simply nodded his head despite still not understanding what Sanji meant. After all, how could meat go bad? Meat was great! Always!
"Yeah, I remember you saying that."
"Great. If Yuna were part of the crew, she could produce ice for us, allowing us to freeze the fresh meat, which would allow us to store much more of it than we are currently doing."
"*Gulp* Are you saying that if Yuna were part of our crew, I could eat more meat?"
"Yes."
Instantly, the atmosphere around Luffy changed as his eyes turned into bundles of meat around a large bone.
In his mind, a scale appeared that had meat on one side and his instincts on the other. Initially, the two sides were balanced, but moments later, more meat descended on the site with the meat, tipping the scales so hard that whatever his instincts were telling him was catapulted out of his mind.
He faced Yuna and bowed with a 90-degree angle so hard that a small shockwave was produced.
"PLEASE JOIN MY CREW!!!"
Seeing Luffy display, Yuna couldn't help but chuckle in amusement while helping Luffy up from his position.
"Now, now, no need to bow. I'll be joining. Let's have a fun adventure together~"
"Haha, yes! Welcome on board, meat *cough* I mean Yuna!"
While Luffy was laughing like an idiot, and Yuna considered beating him up, a frown appeared on Nami's face.
"Wait a moment, Luffy. I'm against this! We basically don't know anything about Yuna, and she is completely unpredictable, and on top of that, she clearly enjoys messing around."
The moment Nami realized that Yuna would join their crew, Nami couldn't help but intervene. No matter Yuna's intentions, she clearly was someone who would cause trouble, so Nami decided to speak up.
However, before anyone else could say anything, a sad sniffle echoed over the deck of the Going Merry, drawing everyone's attention to Yuna, who appeared to wipe a tear out of her eyes.
'*Sniffle* I see, so you don't want me to be part of the crew, Nami. Oh well, I guess it can't be hurt. I planned to donate all the money I stole from the Marine base I raided to the cr..."
While Yuna was talking, she showed off a back that looked to be filled with something heavy, and before she could finish speaking, Nami had already appeared in front of her, almost making it look like she teleported, and snatched the bag out of Yuna's hand.
Nami quickly opened the back, and seeing it being filled to the brim with gold and Belly, Nami's eyes turned into the symbol for Belly as she looked at Yuna in excitement.
"Yay, I love you, big sis~"
Chuckling in amusement as Nami rubbed her cheeks against her own, Yuna started patting her head as her gaze landed on Usopp.
"Well, any complaints?"
However, Usopp only shook his head while shrugging his shoulders.
"Well, since Luffy already made the decision, it can't be helped. Welcome on board."
Seeing that everyone had accepted Yuna... Well, everyone except for Zoro, who was still asleep, but whatever. Anyway, Luffy couldn't help but get excited due to getting a new crew mate, so he spread his arms and started yelling loudly.
"ALRIGHT, ANOTHER FRIEND JOINED US!!!"
Seeing the wide smile on Luffy's face, everyone else couldn't help but smile as well. However, Luffy's next words instantly caused the expression on Nami's face to darken.
"That being said, let's turn around! We need to buy more meat!"
"Ah, beautiful ladies~ It is me, Sanji, and I have prepared... some snacks."
Following Luffy's words, Nami proceeded to beat him up due to his stupid idea while the door to the interior of the ship opened, revealing Sanji, who had disappeared in the middle of the previous conversation. While he was talking, he moved forward, spinning on one leg while balancing a desk and two chairs on his other leg. Simultaneously, his hands were holding two trails, one filled with a tea set and the other filled with various snacks.
He quickly arrived in front of Yuna, setting down the table and two chairs before arranging the tea and snack in front of her.
Seeing that, Yuna chuckled in amusement as she sat down on the chair Sanji was moving for her before gesturing to Nami to leave Luffy alone and sit down as well. Taking a sip of the tea Sanji poured her, Yuna nodded in approval.
"Nami, come sit down already. Mhh, this tea is really great. Good job, Sanji."
"YES, YUNA-CHWAN PRAISED MY TEA~"
Seeing hearts appearing in Sanji's eyes as he was elated due to Yuna praising his tea, Yuna smiled wryly as she noticed Nami sitting down opposite of her, seemingly already used to Sanji acting like this.
"Eh? Snacks!? Where are my snacks, Sanji!"
"Tch, they are in the kitchen. Go get them yourself."
Realizing that Sanji had just served some food to Yuna and Nami, Luffy's attention was instantly drawn to Sanji. However, unlike how he acted in front of Yuna and Nami, Sanji clearly cared little about personally serving food to Luffy and only pointed him in the direction of the kitchen, causing Luffy and Usopp to vanish into the interior of the ship.
Seeing the duo vanishing with excited expressions on their face, while Sanji might as well have been her servant at this point in time, Yuna couldn't help but gaze at Sanji.
"Say, Sanji, you do realize that I'm only interested in women, right? No matter how diligently you attend to me, nothing romantic will ever come out of it."
To Yuna's surprise, Sanji almost looked offended by Yuna's words as he adjusted his tie and resumed speaking.
"So what? I'm the Love Cook Sanji, and I love all beautiful women. Whether they love me back or not, I'll continue attending to beautiful women, no matter what happens."
Hearing Sanji's answer, Yuna was briefly stunned before she regained her wits and started slapping Sanji's back hard enough to almost make his knees buckle while laughing out loud.
"Hahaha, very good! That's a manly attitude to have. If you were a woman, I would make you part of my harem, HAHAHA!"
While Sanji was almost collapsing due to Yuna slapping his back, making him wonder just how much physical strength Yuna actually had, he couldn't help but smile wryly while having no clue how he was supposed to react to Yuna's words. Although he loved women, he certainly didn't want to become one.
While these two were interacting, Nami didn't notice even a sliver of their conversation as she was busy counting the money Yuna had stolen with an eager expression on her face.
'Hehe, so much money~ I wonder what I should buy myself with... *Cough* I mean, what should I buy for the crew? Hehe, the feeling of having a lot of money and being allowed to spend it is the best~'
Meanwhile, a few days later, inside the headquarters of the Marines, a burly man wearing a Marine uniform was sitting behind a desk that was filled with multiple photos. While half of them were blurry, the other half had... other problems.
As he was inspecting the photos, a scrawny man with a camera stood on the other side of the desk with a lowered head, trying to make himself look as small as possible.
An awkward silence continued hovering over the room, and after a deep sigh escaped the Marines's mouth, he raised one of the photos that wasn't blurry and started speaking.
"So, since when have we Marines started distributing pornography?"
The man with the camera lowered his head even further, wanting to argue that the photos weren't THAT bad, but the moment he raised his head to make that point and saw the photo the Marine was holding, he quickly lowered his head again.
In the photo, a young woman with blue and red hair could be seen. She was bent over on all fours, her butt occupying large parts of the photo, while she was giving a peace sign to the camera with a smirk on her face.
If it was just that, the Marine might have still accepted the photo, but the problem was that the only thing the woman wore was a pure white bikini that left little to the imagination. It might not be actually pornography, but it was really close!
'Should we really release a wanted poster with that kind of picture!?'
While the Marine was contemplating what to do, the photographer managed to gather some courage and raised his head to speak.
"I-I don't know how this happened. I swear she was fully clothed during every picture I took of her!"
Hearing the photographer's words, the Marine raised his eyebrows, looking at him in doubt.
'Is he making excuses?'
As that thought passed through the Marine's head, he picked up one of the blurry photos and took a closer look. Although it was blurry, making it impossible to use it for a bounty poster, the target of the photo was clearly fully clothed.
'Did she... notice someone was taking photos of her and made sure they were blurry, just to sneak after the photographer, secretly steal his camera, and make a bunch of semi-obscene photos?'
That sounded beyond outragous. No matter how the Marine thought about it, who would do something like that? And why?
'Now that I think about it, after facing a large group of Marines, all she did was cut down their clothes without harming a single one of them. Maybe she simply is a degenerate?'
Unaware of how accurate his assessment was, the Marine only shook his head and dropped the matter.
'Whatever, I'll just pick the least obscene picture and make that her bounty poster.'
However, looking at the collection of pictures, each depicting a half-naked smiling woman in a different pose, lying in front of him, he could only sigh again and again.
'Damnit, picking bounty pictures wasn't supposed to be a hard part of my job!'