Chapter 89: King of the Pirates Luffy

Garen, tireless and patient, played the noble knight before the children, subtly instilling his own ideals in them and helping them develop a healthy sense of right and wrong. And his splendid, luxurious armor became his trump card for winning the children’s hearts.

Even when Garen spoke in dull and preachy tones, the children still gathered around him with bright eyes and listened intently, treasuring those simple, plain words as though they were priceless gems.

The “king of the children,” Garen, was speaking with growing enthusiasm when he suddenly noticed something was off.

Among the children clustered around him, some strange fellow seemed to have slipped in.

Compared with the unruly little brats around him, this one was clearly far too old.

He looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, with a clean, sharp face, a plain straw hat, and a simple red vest. He was not tall, but his proportions were perfect; his lean, well-honed muscles were tight and solid, never bulky or swollen.

Fresh bruises marked his hands, feet, and face, yet those rather serious injuries did nothing to diminish the boy’s ever-vigorous spirit.

Of course Garen knew who he was.

Monkey D. Luffy: son of the Revolutionary Army’s leader, grandson of a naval hero, heir to the Pirate King, descendant of the D clan, the man chosen by the Emperor with the red hair, master of the straw hat.

In short, an extremely remarkable fellow.

Faced with such a remarkable person, Garen immediately began to feel rather afraid.

Not because he was cowardly, but because...

A bizarre creature with its jaw dropped several inches, eyes blazing with searchlight-gold, and crystal-clear drool nearly hanging down to its knees was leaning in front of him with unbridled excitement...

Garen had no choice but to be afraid.

He quietly took a step back, then could not help asking, “What do you want?”

“A knight!!”

Luffy lunged at him like a hungry tiger pouncing on prey, both hands gripping Garen’s splendid armor and refusing to let go. His voice trembled with excitement.

“So, so cool!!”

And just like that, the leading figure of Windmill Village’s pirate faction was conquered by the knight Garen.

“Haha...”

Garen gave an awkward laugh, then discreetly reached out to pry Luffy’s hands from his armor.

Luffy’s grip was strong enough that Garen had to get serious before he could forcibly peel those hands away from his breastplate, only to have the overexcited boy latch onto his arm instead.

And “latch” was not a figure of speech, but the literal truth: Luffy’s arm suddenly stretched, wrapping tightly around Garen’s vambrace several times.

Garen stared at the absurd sight and could only say helplessly, “Could you let go?”

But Luffy ignored him completely and blurted out, “Knight, be my companion!”

“Companion?”

Garen blinked.

Before he could answer, Luffy went on as if it were the most natural thing in the world:

“I’m going to become the Pirate King!”

“When I set out to sea, I want you to be my companion!”

Garen finally understood.

His knightly attire was not only popular with children; even in Luffy’s eyes, it was dazzlingly cool.

And when Luffy encountered someone he considered this “cool,” he would always, without beating around the bush, invite them to become his companion.

Garen snorted and tugged Luffy off him, then after a bit of effort broke free from the rubbery arm that had wound itself around him. At last he said firmly, “I refuse.”

Using his height advantage, Garen lifted the still-growing Luffy by the scruff, but Luffy continued to flail about restlessly, excitement undimmed.

“Come be a pirate with me!”

A mischievous urge to tease the protagonist rose in Garen, and he set Luffy back on the ground before asking, “A pirate?”

“Straw Hat kid, why would you lower yourself to become a villain?”

“A villain?”

Luffy adjusted the straw hat he had knocked crooked, then said with complete conviction,

“This is my dream!”

“What’s so bad about being a pirate? Why would that make me a villain?”

To Luffy, the word pirate had never been a slur.

After seeing Luffy’s peculiar worldview, Garen simply changed his approach.

“Killing, robbery, extortion, kidnapping, theft, destruction...”

“Do you do those bad things?”

“Of course not.”

Luffy’s reply remained as calm and sincere as ever, firm and without the slightest hesitation.

Garen stated his view:

“If you don’t do bad things, then you’re not a pirate at all!”

“Someone like you is just an adventurer, a sailor.”

“No!”

Luffy answered once more in simple terms:

“I am a pirate.”

Luffy had no intention of arguing with Garen; he would only repeat, again and again, his unwavering belief.

Garen’s attempt to alter Luffy’s thinking failed once more, unable even to make it tremble.

“Damn brat, get back here!”

A heart-shaped iron fist slammed hard into Luffy’s head, making him clutch his skull and cry out.

Then Garp reached out with a powerful hand and, as if lifting a kitten, hauled back the breathless Luffy he had just beaten.

Dragging Luffy along, Garp grumbled, “How many times have I told you? You’re going to follow me and become a marine in the future!”

“And you still dare yell about becoming a pirate in front of me!”

Luffy struggled uselessly in Garp’s grip, and could only keep retorting with stubborn words.

“I don’t care! I’m going to become the Pirate King!”

Garp ignored him completely and simply dragged him farther and farther away.

“Wait!”

Garen suddenly called after Garp, then looked at Luffy with evident interest.

“How about letting me talk to him a little longer?”

“Maybe I can change his mind, even if only a little.”

“Hm?”

Garp asked curiously, “What do you want to do?”

“My grandson’s ideas aren’t so easy to change.”

“Let me try.”

With that, Garen stepped before Luffy again and said, “No matter what you think, in my eyes only people who do bad things are pirates.”

“And you’re just a free-spirited adventurer using the pirate name.”

Garen said in a coaxing tone, “Being an adventurer isn’t a bad thing. I wouldn’t dislike it, and I wouldn’t stop you.”

“But I think you should change your title.”

“Change my title?”

Luffy asked in confusion, “What do you mean?”

“You’re not really a pirate, so naturally you shouldn’t be called the Pirate King!”

Garen laid out his idea:

“How about you switch to a more harmonious title?”

“How does ‘King of the Sailors’ sound?”

Though “King of the Sailors” and “Pirate King” differed by only a title, the effect they produced was worlds apart.

The greatest difference was this: a great “King of the Sailors” would inspire a group of brave adventurers, and among those adventurers there might be a few with bad intentions.

But a great “Pirate King” would give birth to countless pirates who took pride in being outlaws; and among all those lawless pirates, one could only barely pick out a few pure-hearted adventurers untouched by the filth around them.

It was basically the difference between sand in the rice and rice in the sand.

On the battlefield of public opinion, a single word could mean the difference between heaven and earth.

Garen’s future goal was to distinguish the harmless adventurers within the vast pirate ranks from the truly evil pirates.

Replacing the misleading “Pirate King” with the more harmonious “King of the Sailors” was one of the solutions he had come up with.

And when something one likes is sanitized out of existence, it is naturally not a pleasant feeling.

After several seconds of silence, Luffy showed a look of utter disgust.

“No way. That sounds awful.”

Garen had anticipated this, and merely pressed on.

“Then how about a duel?”

“A duel?”

Luffy’s face quickly lit up with excitement.

“That’s right,” Garen urged. “If you win, I’ll be your companion.”

“And if you lose, then from now on you’ll have to change your slogan to ‘King of the Sailors’!”

“Of course...”

Perhaps feeling the terms were too harsh for Luffy, Garen added,

“Even if you lose now, it doesn’t matter.”

“When you defeat me in the future, you can change the title back to ‘Pirate King.’”

“And by then, I’ll still become your companion!”

“I agree!”

Luffy nodded decisively. “Let’s duel!”

“Aren’t you going to think it over a bit more?”

Garen asked in mild surprise.

Luffy lightly touched the brim of his straw hat, and a sharp gleam quietly surfaced in his eyes.

An unafraid air burst forth from the boy, and his voice rang with fierce fighting spirit.

“If I can never defeat my opponent, then I wouldn’t be qualified to become the Pirate King in the first place!”

“Knight!”

“I will make you my companion!”

....................

A moment later, Garen looked at Luffy, whom he had beaten half to pieces with just a few sword strikes, and said,

“So...”

“Try out the new slogan?”

“I-I...”

Luffy had always accepted defeat graciously, but this time he seemed utterly torn.

“I am the man who will become the King of the Sailors...”