Chapter 10: A New Rivalry
At first, the villagers of Windmill Village kept a close, wary eye on the Red-Haired Pirates. But as days turned into a week, and no trouble came, their vigilance began to ease. The pirates paid for their supplies, helped fix a few fences, and mostly kept to themselves at Makino's bar. They were, against all expectations, model guests.
Only Satoru's daily routine saw a significant change. The shadow that trailed behind him had multiplied. Now, instead of just Luffy, there were two. The new addition was a little girl with a striking, two-toned hairstyle—red on one side, stark white on the other. Her name was Uta, and she was, as the villagers whispered, Shanks's daughter.
Uta and Luffy clashed constantly. Don't be fooled by her being a girl; in their little scuffles, she won more often than not. She'd been sailing with pirates for a few years. While the crew had shielded her from true danger, she'd absorbed their roughhousing and tactics by osmosis, giving her a clear edge over Luffy's purely enthusiastic, clumsy brawling.
"Damn it!" Luffy yelled, flat on his back in the grass after another tussle. Tears of frustration pricked his eyes. "I've been training so hard! Why can't I even beat Uta?"
Losing to a girl felt like a deep blow to his budding sense of manliness.
"Hahaha!" Uta stood over him, hands on her hips, wearing a supremely smug grin. "You'll need a hundred more years of training to beat me, Luffy!"
For the first time, she wasn't the weakest person around. She'd finally found someone she could consistently best. It was a heady feeling.
"Satoru!" Uta announced, turning her triumphant gaze toward the boy sitting against a tree. "I challenge you to a fight! I'll show you what a real pirate-in-training can do!"
As soon as the challenge left Uta's mouth, Luffy, who had been wallowing in defeat, sprang up like a jack-in-the-box.
"Hah! There's no way you can beat Satoru!" he declared, pointing a finger. "Even if you train for another 19,900 years, you'll never be a match for him!"
Satoru's victories over Luffy were swift and absolute—usually one move. Uta, however, had to work for her wins. In Luffy's mind, the math was simple: Uta's chance against Satoru was zero.
"Shut up!" Uta snapped, her cheeks flushing with annoyance. "The loser doesn't get to talk! Just sit there and watch!"
"Hmph! Fine! But when you get beat, don't go crying to Shanks!" Luffy shot back, crossing his arms.
"As if! You're the one who shouldn't run crying to your grandpa!" Uta retorted. She might be young, but she understood the weight of the title "Hero of the Navy."
"I don't tattle!" Luffy shouted, insulted. Snitching was the least manly thing imaginable. A real man swallowed his broken teeth and kept going.
Satoru watched their bickering with a detached amusement. These two, he thought, they're perfect for each other. In the plot of any story, this constant fighting and bickering would blossom into something else. A flicker of pity passed through his pale blue eyes as he looked at Uta. He knew a possible, lonely future awaited her. If he could, he'd want to change that.
"Hey! Are we dueling or not?" Uta demanded, turning her full attention back to Satoru and raising a small, determined fist. "Or are you scared I'll knock your teeth out?"
"If you're so eager to experience a loss," Satoru said, finally standing up, "I suppose I can grant that little wish."
"Hmph! Don't lump me in with a brawler like Luffy! I'm not useless!"
"I'm NOT useless!" Luffy yelled from the sidelines, ignored by both combatants.
"Come on then," Satoru said, adopting a loose, ready stance. "Let's see if your fist is any harder than Luffy's."
"Take this, Satoru!"
Uta launched herself forward, her punch aimed straight for his face. To Satoru's Six Eyes, her movements were clear, telegraphed, and slow. He caught her fist in his open palm with effortless ease.
The strength behind it was less than Luffy's raw power. Her victories were clearly based on skill and technique, not brute force.
"Heh, not bad," Satoru remarked, holding her fist steady. "No wonder Luffy hasn't won once. You're clever."
Uta tried to pull her hand back, but Satoru's grip was like iron. A spark of real excitement lit in her eyes. This was different. This was a real challenge!
Using his grip as a pivot, Uta planted her other hand on his shoulder and, with surprising agility, swung her legs up, intending to wrap them around Satoru's neck. The motion forced him to release her fist to avoid the lock.
Luffy, watching intently, gasped. His eyes shone with the light of a stolen technique. I'm gonna try that later!
"You are definitely more skilled than Luffy," Satoru admitted, feeling her weight settle on his shoulders.
"That's more like it! But I'm not done!" Uta declared, trying to secure the hold.
"But Uta," Satoru said, his voice calm. "You're still not a match for me."
In one smooth, powerful motion, he reached up, grabbed one of her ankles, and simply pulled. Her leverage vanished.
"Ahhh!" Uta shrieked, a genuine yelp of surprise as the world tilted.
The sheer difference in raw strength was too great. Her technical advantage meant nothing against it. Before she could even process what was happening, she found herself lying on her back in the soft grass, staring up at the sky, utterly bewildered. One second she was on his shoulders, the next... the ground?
"Hahaha! See! I told you!" Luffy exploded into laughter, dancing a little jig of schadenfreude. "Uta, you were no match for him! Satoru's the strongest on the whole island! Even the grown-ups can't beat him! You never had a chance!"
He wasn't the one who'd won, but seeing Uta humbled—especially in the same way she humbled him—filled him with immense, gleeful satisfaction. Their friendship was solid, but that didn't stop them from thoroughly enjoying each other's defeats.
(End of Chapter)
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