Danmachi - I'am Luffy! - Chapter 02 - Eina!

[Chapter Size: 1948 Words.]

Third Person Pov.

South Gate, Orario.

...

...

In the skies of Orario, the wind gently caressed Luffy's clothes as he flew towards the imposing tower dominating the horizon. His eyes sparkled with excitement, and he proclaimed loudly:

"I'm coming, better land in that square!" Luffy said, contemplating where to land at that moment.
With this statement, Luffy gracefully began to descend in the direction he pointed, his silhouette standing out against the deep blue sky. The news of his arrival spread like wildfire, drawing the attention of a large crowd that formed in the streets, looking up to find the origin of the voice echoing throughout the city.
At the peak of his descent, Luffy, with an expression of excitement, started inflating like a ball of air. His body took on almost comical spherical proportions, swelling like a balloon about to burst. The crowd watched in astonishment, witnessing the surreal metamorphosis of the dark-haired youth as he floated in the air.
PONG
The moment Luffy hit the ground was marked by a peculiar noise, similar to that of a balloon being rapidly deflated. He collided with the ground in a way that seemed to defy all laws of physics, providing an almost surreal spectacle.
Suddenly, as if someone had struck a blow to a balloon, Luffy began to deflate and regain his original form. His body, which moments before was inflated like a ball, now shrank at an equally hilarious speed. The wide-eyed crowd witnessed the event as the young man returned to his normal state, with a relaxed expression and a smile indicating that it was all part of his plan. The episode ended with Luffy's cheerful laughter, seemingly enjoying the perplexed reaction of the audience to his peculiar stunt.

"So many people?! What's happening here..." Luffy muttered, wondering why this square seemed to gather so many people. He even looked back, thinking there was some event or something, but found nothing.
"Whatever, I need to eat." Luffy shrugged, unaware that people's attention was on him.
He walked up to a dwarf in the crowd confidently.
"Incredible, a child with a beard!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly.
"Who are you calling a child!" The dwarf shouted at the strange young human in front of him.
"Shishishishi. No need to get mad, tell me where the adventurer guild is, is it in that tower?" Luffy smiled and asked.
"Hmmm... yes, it is..." The man said uncertainly to this strange human.
"Thanks!" Luffy thanked and ran excitedly through the crowd into the guild.
The crowd still stood there, wondering if everything that happened was real; they couldn't even remember the young man or notice him leaving, as they were still stunned by the sight of someone turning into a balloon.
While the commotion took over the square, many guild employees remained at their posts, absorbed in their daily tasks. Eina was one of those people, busy attending to adventurers and ensuring that the routine in the guild flowed normally. The scream from the south of Orario was enough to attract everyone's attention, but some remained focused on their responsibilities.

At one of the counters, Eina and Rose, her colleagues, were the only ones present since a significant portion of the staff had headed to the door to investigate what had caused such commotion. The tranquil atmosphere of the guild was quickly disrupted when a young man, in a peculiar and curious manner, entered the guild, maneuvering through the crowd. His bright eyes reflected an animated expression as he looked around as if searching for something specific.

Upon locking eyes with Eina, the young man seemed surprised and immediately ran towards her, stopping in front of her counter with a big smile on his face. Eina, in turn, took a step back, startled by the sudden approach of the stranger.

"Hello! Is this the adventurer guild?" He inquired enthusiastically, his eyes still radiant with excitement as he glanced around, capturing the attention of even the other colleagues who were stunned by this young man's behavior.

"Huh? Yes, it is. Can I help you?" Eina asked cautiously, as there was confusion happening in the city, and this 17-year-old boy was acting as if nothing had happened.

The first people from the crowd saw Luffy falling from the sky, but those at the door didn't, so they couldn't imagine it was this strange guy.

"YES!! I WANT TO BE AN ADVENTURER!" Luffy shouted, further startling Eina, who was trying to recognize this voice from somewhere.

"Don't shout like that! Well... about that, let me get a form for you to fill out then..." She said, going to fetch the papers.
Thus, Eina, as an employee committed to her work, quickly grabbed papers from the files before returning to finalize the strange young man's request.
However, as she returned to the guild's main hall, she was so shocked by the scene in front of her that she even dropped the papers she had picked up.
"SUGOI! Give me your paw!!" Eina heard that stranger's voice as she saw the young man gesturing with his hand in front of Rose, who was at another counter and looked at him burning with anger.

"What do you think I am!" Eina had never seen Rose lose her composure until today; it was a surreal scene for the woman nicknamed the ice lady. She didn't blame her; no one had ever been as audacious as to ask her to shake hands. What kind of attitude is that? Eina simply opened her mouth, unable to believe what she was seeing.

"You're a dog!" Protested the young man still making a hand gesture, expecting Rose to follow the command; the woman had a vein on her forehead at this moment.

"WEREWOLF, I'M A WEREWOLF!" Rose shouted angrily, something no one could have seen until this day. The girls at the other counters were so shocked, and some had wide-open mouths, while others put clipboards on their faces to hide their bewilderment, but the young man seemed not even aware of the discomfort he was causing at that moment.
"Hmmmmm, then... WAG YOUR TAIL!" The young man gave another order, and Eina, seeing that Rose was really going to attack the young man, ran to pacify things.

"Wait, Rose, please don't hurt him; I'll deal with him!" Eina quickly went to Rose's side and tried to calm her.
"You better do that because I want to kill him!" Rose growled, and she turned to go to the back frustrated.
"She just growled; I was almost training her..." The young man lamented, making Rose stop and tremble. Eina believed the woman would have an attack, but she walked away after some effort.
Eina turned to this stranger with a very dissatisfied growl. "Young man, you can't talk to people like that!" She protested.

The young man looked expressionless at Eina, muttering something like "I swear she looks like a dog to me... maybe I can train her to shake hands." Eina sighed in relief when Rose left the place, burning with anger at this new adventurer.

"Well, let me introduce myself first. I'm Eina Tulli. May I know your name?" Eina asked a bit calmer.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy, Inea," he said with an expressionless face.

"It's Eina, Mr. Luffy!" Eina protested, with her face slightly flushed because this young man had mispronounced her name in such a strange way.
"Got it, Neia," he said.

"Eina!"

"Eian."

"Eina!"

"Niea."

"Eina!"

"Lina."

"FORGET IT!" Shouted a frustrated Eina, wondering how the heck this young man could get her name wrong so many times.

"Well... now you can fill out these papers here," Eina said, sighing. Of all people, she had never seen anyone stranger than this young man, despite him being quite cheerful and lively at times.

Luffy took the papers and started sweating as he studied the sheet. He didn't know how to write, so, grabbing Eina's pen, he began scribbling everything he could. His grandmother never taught him to read and write correctly, aside from training in the forest. Once he finished, he handed it to Eina with an expectant smile.

"Let me see," Eina said, taking the sheet that Luffy had finished filling out. However, she slapped her face when she saw that Luffy had answered the questions with drawings of faces. Even for yes or no questions, he responded with a thumbs up to say yes and a thumbs down to say no.

"Why am I surprised?" She wondered, still stunned.
"Mr. Luffy, you filled this out wrong; it seems you can't write. Can I do this for you since everyone is out on the streets trying to figure out who was shouting in the sky?" She said, taking another sheet and filling in the name and age, which she already knew, before starting to ask questions to Luffy.

"Where are you from, Luffy? Your city," she asked.

"Hmmm... I don't know?" He answered after thinking for a bit.

"How do you not know?" Eina asked surprised.

"Hmmm, my grandma and I lived in the forest, so... I don't know!" He concluded.

"Well... if that's the case, I can understand," she said, writing that he was from outside civilization or as a nomad.

"What is your goal as an adventurer?"

"I will become the greatest adventurer and eat a lot of meat! Shishishishi," he said confidently.

Eina looked at him for a moment, pondering his words. She had heard this somewhere before, and it took a few seconds of reflection to figure out where.

"EHHHHHHHHHHH!" She shouted, surprising even Luffy with this outburst.

"Was it you who was shouting in the city sky just now?" She asked surprised.
"Shishishishishishi, that's right!" He said laughing.

"Why am I still surprised... I've never seen anyone stranger than you..." She said, putting her hand on her face.

"Well, it seems you still don't have a family, right?" Eina asked.

"NO! But grandma told me about it!" He said with a smile.

"Then we have to wait for you to join a family to complete your adventurer registration," Eina decided.

"Hmmmmmm," he said a bit disheartened but accepted it in the end after Eina said she would give him addresses of gods to look for a family.

*NHOOOOOOOOO*

However, as soon as Eina had the addresses of the families she was recruiting at the moment, Luffy's stomach began to growl.

"Food...." His expression, which was happy and animated moments before, turned frighteningly sad when his stomach growled.

"Are you okay?" Eina seemed very concerned with this reaction.

"Food, I need to eat..." He said weakly, his eyes expressing a mix of desperation and hunger.

"There's a restaurant near the guild, but it's expensive..." Eina hesitated a bit before offering this information.

"Really?! Really, I want, tell me, I need to go!" The young man quickly spoke a lot of things, revealing his urgency to satisfy his hunger.

"HEEEEE!" Eina screamed a bit scared but soon calmed down and told him where the place was.

"You can take the main street and go straight; it's quite close to the street entrance." Eina replied, trying to provide clear instructions to the hungry young man.

"Thank you! I'm going, Thank you Enai!"

"It's Eina!" Eina shouted, but it was futile.

"YES, Anie!" He shouted and ran off, leaving Eina even more confused with his name confusion.

"Huh?! Didn't he even take the address papers?! What's wrong with this guy!" Eina couldn't be more stunned by Luffy, but she just had to accept it as the young man was already far from the guild, desperately looking for a restaurant to calm his hungry stomach.