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"Then I'm digging in!!"
On the open ground, Goku, who had finally put on his dry clothes, couldn't care less about the searing heat of the fire. He pounced on the roasted wild boar with the ferocity of a starving animal, his mouth moving so fast his jaw was a mere blur. In a shockingly short amount of time, the succulent meat had vanished, leaving only a pristine, white skeleton resting on the grill.
"Ha! I'm finally not hungry anymore!" Goku stood there with his face covered in oil and grease, contentedly rubbing his stomach and smiling with pure joy. It was only then that Luffy, who had been watching in a daze, belatedly realized that his hard-earned lunch had been completely liquidated.
"Hey! I agreed to let you eat, but I didn't say you could eat the whole thing!" Luffy yelled in frustration, his jaw dropping to the floor. In the original timeline, Luffy was usually the one getting scolded for eating his crew's rations; now, for the first time in his life, he understood exactly how Nami and Usopp felt. If the future Straw Hat crew were here to see this, they would have treated Goku as a legendary hero for finally avenging their empty stomachs.
"Ha, ha, sorry! I was really too hungry and accidentally ate it all," Goku said, awkwardly scratching the back of his head as he saw Luffy's genuine distress. Thinking quickly, he added, "Oh, I know! How about I go catch a big fish for you? I was planning on catching some earlier anyway."
Luffy paused, his anger evaporating as quickly as it had arrived. His eyes lit up with excitement. "You're going to catch a big fish for me? If that's the deal, then I forgive you!" He playfully patted Goku's shoulder, his carefree nature taking over.
"Mm-hmm! Wait for me, I'll be right back!" Goku stripped off his shirt again, his short legs churning rapidly like a fire wheel as he rushed toward the coast. Back at the clearing, Luffy stroked his chin, happily fantasizing about a giant seafood feast, even drooling a little at the thought. However, a dark memory suddenly surfaced: the Lord of the Coast, a ferocious Sea King that haunted these waters, was known to attack anyone who entered the sea. He remembered how Shanks had lost an arm saving him from that very monster years ago.
"Roar!!"
The unique, earth-shaking cry of the Sea King echoed from the shore. Luffy's expression changed instantly. He quickly stretched his arm, grabbed a distant tree branch, and swung through the forest like a monkey. You'd better be okay! whoever you are! he thought desperately. Driven by urgency, he swung faster than ever, reaching the coast in just a few seconds. He prepared his fist for a Gum-Gum Pistol to stun the beast, but he froze when he saw the surface break.
Goku emerged from the waves, jumping onto the sand while balancing a massive, scaly tail on his shoulder. "Oh, why are you here? You came just in time! Look, I caught a really big fish for you!" Goku beamed a bright smile as he dragged the foaming, unconscious Lord of the Coast onto the shore. Luffy stood stunned, his stretched arm snapping back into place with a dull thud.
"You... you killed it?" Luffy asked, his eyes wide as dinner plates.
"Yes, who else?" Goku tilted his head, seemingly unimpressed by his own feat.
"How old are you?" Luffy asked, still processing the sight.
"Twelve, why?"
"Twelve, huh..." Luffy pinched his chin. He wasn't sure if he could have taken that monster down at twelve. Regardless, he knew that for Goku to defeat the Lord of the Coast so effortlessly, his strength was legendary. A brilliant idea instantly popped into his head. "Hey! In a while, I'm going out to sea to become a pirate. When that happens, come be my crewmate!"
Meanwhile, on the first island Goku had visited since reaching the East Blue, the Marines were in a state of high alert. "Vice Admiral Garp, we've searched the entire island, but we haven't found any sign of the boy," a lieutenant reported. He explained that a local boy named Lian had been rescued by Goku on the eastern coast, but that was the last sighting.
Lanza looked anxiously at Garp. "Vice Admiral, could he be in danger?"
Garp waved his hand dismissively. "No. You know how strong that little fellow is. You can't even beat him, so what danger could he find here?" He looked out at the boundless sea, a wise glint in his eyes. "I think he went out to sea. He told me he wanted to swim across the ocean instead of using a boat. I didn't think he'd actually do it."
Lanza was at a total loss. "Swimming across the sea? He really dares to try that? But wait... doesn't that count as an illegal departure?" The World Government required strict permission for any vessel to leave port.
Garp stroked his beard and then burst into a thunderous laugh. "Hahahahaha! As expected of Goku! He found the loophole! Without a ship, it can't be considered an illegal departure! Hahahahaha!" Lanza twitched his lip, realizing Goku probably had no idea about the law and was just being himself.
"Pirate? You want to be a pirate?" Back on the coast, Goku frowned as he processed Luffy's invitation.
"Yes, I'm going to be a pirate," Luffy said with a confident grin, hands on his hips.
"Are you a bad person? Why would you want to be a pirate?" Goku asked seriously.
"Because pirates are the freest people in the world!" Luffy replied without hesitation.
Goku froze, the word resonating with him. "Free?"
"That's right! I'm doing it for freedom. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't do it at all!"
Goku blinked, a smile returning to his face. "So you're not doing bad things, you just want to be free. I knew it, you don't look like a bad person." He began to realize that perhaps not all pirates were like the ones he'd met before. However, he looked up at Luffy and shook his head decisively.
"My name is Sun Wukong, but you can call me Goku," he introduced himself politely. "But I don't want to be a pirate, and I won't be a pirate. You should definitely invite someone else!"