In this situation, Zoro was naturally no match for Luffy. At first, the two had traded blows evenly, but once Luffy activated Gear Two and Gear Three, Zoro could only be hung up and pummeled.
"Now, the Straw Hat Crew has been formed!"
Covered in dust and looking somewhat bedraggled, Luffy raised a hand high, looking thoroughly delighted.
Beside him stood Kuina with a faint smile, Zoro with a bruised and swollen face, still muttering that he would definitely win next time, and Oceanus, the tall and rather strange-looking water man standing at the very back.
With a clatter, a large group of villagers came running down the hillside just as Luffy loudly declared the Straw Hat Crew's formation. Holding hoes, kitchen knives, and wooden clubs, they stared at Luffy warily.
Naturally, these were the villagers Usopp had called over. Although Usopp had become synonymous with the King of Liars in Syrup Village, at least the three little vegetable-heads could vouch for him this time.
Besides, the commotion from Luffy and Zoro's fight had been far too great for the villagers to pretend they had not heard it.
"Damn pirates, get out of our village right now!"
Though the villagers trembled in fear, they still bared their teeth and brandished their weapons, as if ready to pounce and kill them at any moment.
—If one ignored their pale faces and trembling hands, that was.
Although everyone in Luffy's group apart from Oceanus looked harmless enough, one look at the devastated surroundings caused by their battle made it impossible for the villagers to see them as ordinary people.
"Mm—ah~~" Luffy looked blankly foolish as he picked his nose. "Zoro, you scared them!"
"Bastard, it was obviously you—Wouldn't being a Bounty Hunter be fine? You just had to become a pirate! It's