Luffy was about to bound down the street, passed a dark alley, when something caught his eye. He double backed and ran down the alley, stopping in front of a strange looking shop. The sign above the door said something in a foreign language..."Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate"...Luffy tilted his head, stared at the words, tilted his head the other way, stared some more, scratched his head under his hat, shrugged, and pushed the door open. An ominous rattling sound accompanied the opening of the door, the interior of the shop shrouded in a thick darkness. Strange bottles and vials were lined up against the walls on rickety looking shelves, dusty books and strange looking equipment were set up in a darkened alcove, the counter to the shop was stained with a dark red liquid, and the air was musty with the scent of ages.
"Wow! What a dump!" Luffy said energetically, his voice cutting through the silence and pretty much destroying any semblance of a mood there once was.
A light was suddenly flicked on and the shop was thrown into sharp relief, the place looking much more cheery and normal now. A man in a tattered cloak appeared from the back room, his face obscured by a hood, only two glowing yellow eyes peeking out at the grinning captain.
"What do you want? Can't you see I'm trying to create ambiance here?" The man had a raspy voice.
"I saw that hunk of meat in the window and was wondering how much it was! I'm starving!" Luffy said, pointing.
The man looked and said, "That's not a hunk of meat you simpleton! It's a chest made of human bones and covered in human skin! A priceless treasure from a dead civilization!"
Luffy poked it and said, "I don't know...looks like jerky to me..."
The man hobbled over to Luffy and slapped his hands. "No touching! Now if you're not here to buy anything I suggest you leave! You're trying my patience!" He started pushing Luffy out the door. Luffy easily pushed the old man aside, easy to do since he was half Luffy's size, and ran over to a nearby cabinet. "Hey what's in here?"
"Don't touch! Don't touch! That's my potion hutch! I keep all my most valuable and dangerous potions inside!"
Luffy totally disobeyed and opened the hutch, "ooohing" at all the different bottles inside. He started grabbing them at random and looking them over. "What does this one do? Oooh, or this one? WOW! That one looks cool!"
Bottles started flying left and right, the old man panting as he caught each one. "Stop! Stop! If you stop and leave my shop I will give you one for free!"
Luffy stopped and looked over at the man. "Really? Awesome! Which one?"
The old man sighed and closed the hutch, padlocking it shut, and then made his way over to the counter. Once he was behind it, he pulled out a small ivory box and said, "Inside this box, is a most mysterious and powerful potion. I've been searching for hundreds of years for the ingredients to create such a potion! There is only one vial in existence and it is immeasurably valuable. I will give this potion..to you!"
He pushed the box over to Luffy who snatched the bottle out of it and popped the cork. "Thanks! You can keep the box if you want." He guzzled the potion down as the old man stored the box away. "Okay. There. Free stuff. Now please leave!"
Luffy sighed happily and tossed the potion over to the old man. "Thanks old man! I'll see you later!"
The old man just waved his hand at Luffy as he exited the shop. He laughed to himself and put another random potion in the box. "Sucker! That was just one of my cheaper potions! Ah, the old ivory box trick never fails."
He patted the box and stored it away under the counter before heading into the back room again and flicking off the lights, returning the shop to it's atmospheric gloom.
Luffy eagerly dashed around the city, looking for other things to do, having no idea that the potion in his belly was slowly starting to change him. The old man had thought he was giving Luffy a dud potion, but thanks to Luffy's unique physiology, he was about to change more than anyone expected!
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