My Gym Partner's A Monkey

Inoculation Day
At the dock of Habana Island, a boy of spiky black hair stretched his arms out for the skies. He had a large smile on his face that curved the bandage resting underneath his left eye. His dark skin absorbed the sun's rays, but lucky for him, he wouldn't be getting darker any time soon.

He looked to his left and then to his right, releasing a chain of laughs as he appeared to be scoping out whether or not anyone had followed him to his location. After he confirmed there was no one around, he unzipped his black hoodie and let out a sigh. "Alright, had to make sure no one followed me!" Exclaimed Doku as he walked through the greeting town with no care in the world.

This was where Doku's journey began and a story he'd hoped he could share with the world. As a kid, he told his grandmother his dream was to one day be able to be a great pirate just like her other grandson, but his goal was much clearer. Now, how he'd reach that.. was another story in of itself. He left with not much—if anything—to his name; a small boat and exactly 100,000 which he had saved up over the course of six years from birthdays and small jobs he could handle in his village.

As mentioned, it was today he wanted to start his journey, not appear and suddenly be this big-timer. He would first need to start off with the basics. Essentials like food and a weapon, something of much better use than the stick of bamboo on his back currently. With each citizen of the town, he approached them and asked if they knew where he could find a local shop, but each of them pointed into directions that led him nowhere near closer to what he truly had sought out.

His final location was at a clothing store, it was relatively large to be in this town but most importantly it was nothing that young man had been looking for. Still, he had a bit of money he could throw around so he decided why not get something. Doku reached the counter of the store and there he was met with an older man who worked as a cashier at the store. Sliding what seemed to be a hoodie across the counter, he looked over the cashier's shoulder. He was looking for another store and with his recent discovery, his search may had just come to an end.

"The jacket is 2,500, sir." Said the man, taking the jacket and placing it into a bag.

Quickly lifted his hand to pass over the stated amount of money, Doku took the jacket from his hand. "No, it's okay, I don't need a bag." Said the teen, pulling off his old black hoodie and swapping it for the new red and yellow one he'd just purchased. "Hey, I have a question. That shop, across from this one," he began to ask, pointing through the glass wind at the front of the shop across. "What kind of store is that?"

With a smile, the man removed Doku's old jacket from the counter and threw it behind the counter. "Oh right there?" He asked, turning around to join Doku in pointing at the store. "That's the town's weapon shop. It's nothing spectacular, most pirates leave rather disappointed, but it has weapons nonetheless."

"Really?! Just what I was looking for!" Said Doku, running out of the shop after throwing the stick of bamboo back to his back. "Thanks!" He shouted out, cross the street to run into the weapon shop.

Upon entrance, Doku was met with a large inventory of different weapons. To him, this was glorious, but to a seasoned pirate, this was quite the disappointment. He rushed over to a barrel of swords and pushed them all aside. Nothing within it fit his taste. It wasn't that he had a keen eye for weapons or anything, just simply that a sword was not what he had been looking for.

"Hello there," an old man greeted, rubbing along Doku's shoulder with a mischevious smile. "Are you looking to make a purchase?" The old man asked, sliding his hand down Doku's shoulder and holding onto Doku's hand. "Then please come over here to the cash register." He insisted, pulling Doku towards the register counter.

This was weird to Doku and in fact, made the teen lift an eyebrow, but he did come for a weapon and if the man insisted he went along he was sure he would find exactly what it was he'd been looking for. So, without resistance, Doku followed the man to the counter.

Rubbing his hands together, the man looked Doku in his eyes. "My name is A-Ao, the owner of this little weapon shop. I have some m-marvelous weapons in stock! Would you like to buy this?" Ao asked, reaching behind the counter and pulling out a golden sword. "A sword made of gold right from the Wano Country mines! I'll sell it t-to you.. for just 50,000,000! Whatdya say?!"

Hands shaking, Doku smiled. "No, no! Please," he started, reaching to the bamboo stick on his back and placing it on the counter next to it. "I need like a pole or something to help me replace this! And 50,000,000, I don't have that much!" Doku pointed with a bit of an angry face, "Do I look like some kind of big time pirate to you? I'm just starting you rip-off asshole! I've only got 50,000."

Ao batted his eyes and reached for the stick of bamboo. With a sour look, Ao stuck out his tongue. "This? Replacement for this?" He no longer stuttered and instead spoke in a complete sentence. "50,000 huh? Alright," he said, looking around his shop for something similar to the stick of bamboo.

An elderly woman, about the same age as Ao, came from behind the room the counter guarded and rested against his shoulder. Finger lifted, she pointed to the corner in the back and there was a thick black rod that leaned up as though it were being put in timeout. "Let him take the light rod, he said 50,000, right? That should more than enough cover it."

Expression still the same, Ao tilted his head and shrugged his shoulders. Lifting his hand, he gestured for Doku to go ahead and grab it. As the teen walked away, Ao turned his lips into the woman's ears. "That's just a worthless piece of black iron. It's super heavy, he'll never be able to even carry it long enough."

"Good", she whispered back. "It's just taking space over there in the corner, it's just useless iron we can sell for fifty thousand."

Reaching the corner, Doku lifted the rod up but struggled to do so. It was pitch black with golden caps at the end. "Holy hell," he began, throwing the rod to his shoulder. "I thought you said it was a "light rod" this ain't even close to light! You and your husband both," he said, approaching the counter and slapping 50,000 on to the counter. "Are both rip-offs. I see why no one likes this shop."

Heading towards the door, he threw the pole to his back where it rested in a slanted position. "As future king of the pirates, I recommend this place to no one!" Kicking the doors open, Doku exited the shop with some of the worst customer service he'd received ever.

Walking down the street, Doku pouted with his legs spread wide apart and his arms out, wobbling left and right as though he were some sort of fee-fi-foe-fung giant.