You were walking over to join Luffy, laughing about some silly joke Chopper had told when—

BAM!

You collided with a guy who had been walking in the opposite direction.

“Ugh!” he snapped, stepping back. “Watch where you’re going, you idiot!”

You blinked. “I didn’t mean to—”

He cut you off, his voice rising. “Yeah, right. Maybe if you weren’t so stupid—”

“Excuse me?” you retorted, feeling your temper flare.

Luffy, sitting nearby, looked up curiously but stayed quiet, sensing the tension building. The crew tried not to make things worse, exchanging wary glances.

The guy was getting louder. “Honestly, you’re so annoying. Bumping into people like you’re a bitch with no brains.”

You took a deep breath, trying to hold it in.

But before you could say anything, Luffy was up in a flash, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

“What did you just call her?” His voice was low, and the air around him seemed to shift.

The crew fell silent, all eyes on Luffy as he towered over the guy. The man took a small step back.

“You heard me,” he said. “She’s just a stupid—”

Luffy didn’t let him finish.

Before anyone could blink, Luffy’s fist was in the air, and the guy went flying, slamming into the nearby mast.

“I don’t ever want to hear you talk about her like that again,” Luffy growled, his usual carefree expression gone, replaced with the intense glare that sent a chill down everyone’s spine.

The guy groaned, and scrambled to get up.

“Apologize,” Luffy ordered, his tone leaving no room for argument.

The man’s pride was clearly hurt, but he knew better than to defy Luffy. “I’m… sorry,” he muttered.

Luffy turned to you then, his eyes softening as he stepped closer. “You good?”

You nodded

Luffy flashed his trademark grin. “Don’t let people like that get to you. They’re just mad ‘cause they don’t know how awesome you are.”

With that, he wrapped his arm around your shoulders casually and pulled you close.

No one messed with his crew. Not like that.