Refusing the Invitation

"Hey? What's wrong with you?" Luffy froze when he saw that William had actually passed out, utterly at a loss. When it came to fighting and causing trouble, he was an expert among experts, but saving people was another matter entirely.

"Wake up already!" William, who had already been gaunt and pale, nearly lost his life after Luffy grabbed his shoulders and shook him violently. It took two slaps from Luffy before he finally regained consciousness.

If William's body had not been stronger than an ordinary person's, even several lives would not have been enough to survive Luffy's antics. No wonder Zoro was always shouting about killing Luffy; it was not without reason.

However, William, who had only just regained a shred of consciousness, mistook Luffy for an enemy. Instinctively, he absorbed Luffy and all the supplies on the ship into the Castle Space within his body.

"Where is this?" Faced with the suddenly changed surroundings, Luffy was not scared in the slightest. Instead, he became even more excited.

"Did you save me?" William's body emerged from the ground, holding some food he had taken from Luffy's ship. Although William was furious about what Luffy had done to him earlier, Luffy had saved him no matter what. Moreover, thanks to Luffy's food and water, his body had recovered slightly.

"My name is Luffy. Who are you?" Luffy introduced himself again.

"Oh?" Although William had been unconscious earlier and had not heard Luffy's introduction, he had already made some guesses based on Luffy's distinctive straw hat. Hearing Luffy state his name still surprised him somewhat.

But William had no intention of getting involved with Luffy. He only wanted to live quietly. In his original world, he had been a homebody. If his mission had not failed, perhaps he would have chosen to continue serving in the Marines. But now, he had no choice but to live in seclusion, so there was no way William would choose such a dangerous profession as piracy.

"That's my meat! Give it back!" Even in an unfamiliar place, what Luffy cared about most was still his meat.

Although William's body had not fully recovered, this was inside him, and everything here was under his control. Seeing Luffy actually attack him, William did not hold back either. When he had passed out earlier, this idiot had actually slapped him over and over?

"Courting death! Castle Swamp!" William had not expected idiot Luffy to fight him over a piece of meat. He immediately turned the ground beneath Luffy into a swamp, making his legs sink and preventing him from moving.

"Huh? Why am I sinking? Rubber Gun!" After panicking for a moment, Luffy immediately stretched out his fist and punched at him.

Luffy was already quite strong, and with the added force from his rubbery extension, his power increased considerably. But not only did William know all of Luffy's moves inside out, even with his strength not yet fully restored, he had no reason to fear Luffy. This was inside his body; here, he was practically no different from a Logia user.

Luffy's Rubber Gun passed straight through William's body, but when it retracted, it became stuck inside William's body. During his time drifting at sea, William had spent plenty of time studying his Devil Fruit ability.

"Let me go. Rubber Gun!" This time, Luffy truly got serious. His only remaining movable hand also unleashed a Rubber Gun, but it was caught by William's body as well.

"Not bad eyes," William said flatly. At the same time, he could not help but admire him. As expected of the man willing to stake his life on becoming the Pirate King.

But with such a single-celled brain, he would never make it to the end without reliable companions supporting him.

"Let me go!" Luffy quickly displayed his goofy side again and began shouting.

If William had not read the original story and known what Luffy was like, he would have thought he had just praised the wrong person.

"You're a pirate?" Though he already knew the answer, William still asked.

"I'm the man who'll become the Pirate King!" Luffy answered without any particular forcefulness. He sounded casual, as though it were simply the most natural thing in the world.

"I see." William released Luffy's hands and dispelled the Castle Swamp. Naturally, he did not keep Luffy inside his body any longer either. This was also a sign of trust toward Luffy.

However, William's actual body was extremely weak. Right now, he was only slightly better off than an ordinary person. After all, he had no idea how long he had drifted at sea. Not starving to death had already been his greatest stroke of luck.

"You're a Devil Fruit user?" After returning to the ship, Luffy immediately forgot that he had just fought William over a piece of meat. Instead, he chatted with him as though they were close friends.

"Yeah. My name is William!" William did not want to tell Luffy the name or abilities of his fruit, but he did give him his name.

Even if Luffy might not remember his name in the future, having exchanged blows with the future Pirate King meant his trip to this world had not been in vain.

"William! Nice name. From now on, you're my partner!" There was no invitation, no question, and not even a chance to refuse. Luffy had already added William to his list of companions.

"I refuse!" William rejected becoming Luffy's partner without a second thought. Other transmigrators might have eagerly agreed at once. Though adventuring with Luffy would be fun, William did not want to be hunted around the world by the Marines.

If Luffy had invited him aboard two years later, William might not have refused. But the current Luffy was simply too weak. If the Marines learned that William was still alive and had become a pirate, they would surely pay close attention to the Straw Hat Pirates. It might even lead to the entire crew being wiped out.

"Why?" Luffy asked in confusion. "Shouldn't men go out to sea and adventure?"

"Do you even have a pirate ship?" To crush Luffy's idea of inviting him, William raised an awkward question.

"This is my ship. I'll have a bigger one later." As he spoke, Luffy stretched out his hand to gesture, showing not the slightest embarrassment at calling this little boat a pirate ship.

William looked at Luffy speechlessly. This guy really was a complete oddball. He had actually wanted to embarrass someone like this?

"Then do you have any companions?" William asked irritably. What he meant was, if you do not even have companions, do not think about inviting me aboard. William knew very well that Luffy had not yet met his first companion—the three-sword-style swordsman and Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro.

But when William saw Luffy pointing at him, he realized just how idiotic his question had been.

"I refuse! You don't even have a navigator, and you want to go to sea?" William looked at Luffy with utter disdain. Even knowing that Luffy would soon meet an excellent navigator, he still thought Luffy was an idiot.

"Then let's find a navigator." So Luffy had not even considered the issue of a navigator before? It seemed his standards for finding companions really were casual. Could it be that Luffy chose me not because of my strength, but because he thinks my fruit is interesting?

William had guessed right about that. Luffy simply saw the castle inside William's body as a place to hold banquets.

"Look, there's a huge whirlpool over there!" Luffy's attention was suddenly drawn to a massive whirlpool. He even wanted to get a closer look, completely unaware of the danger. Faced with such a huge whirlpool, even someone without Devil Fruit powers would normally steer far away from it, right?

"Idiot, get away from that whirlpool!" William shouted hurriedly. He did not want to escape death only to face another threat of death right away.

But William had clearly overestimated Luffy's intelligence. Luffy had actually lost the oar? There was probably no one else in the world capable of something like that besides Luffy.

If William's body had not still been so weak, he would definitely have beaten Luffy up. William had no choice but to hide inside the chest again. One chest had saved him twice; he did not know whether he was lucky or unlucky.

In any case, William never wanted to see Luffy again. He hoped they would part here and never meet again.

Luffy had no idea what William was thinking. He knew the whirlpool was dangerous, so he stuffed himself into a wooden barrel as well. Fortunately, he was a rubber man; an ordinary person's body could never fit inside a barrel.

Pirate trivia: Zoro's surname, Roronoa, came from Francis Ronoa, a pirate active in the Caribbean Sea during the seventeenth century. His name came from the famous fictional swordsman "Zorro" by John McCauley.