One Piece: The Secret Power

Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece.


Prologue

"This is awesome, this is absolutely awesome, this is the by far one of the best gifts I've ever gotten!"

Herman swiveled a stalk around to look at Niri, who sat at the galley table in front of five suitcases.

"Niri, I know that Carmen left that to us before leaving Kinmotsu, but can't you take a break from counting?"

Niri stuck out her tongue and held up two fistfuls of Beli dollar bills, "Herman, lighten up! We have tons of money here!"

"How much?"

"By my last count," Niri grinned widely, "500,000,000 Beli!"

Herman stared at her for a few moments.

"What?"

"That's...that's uh...a lot of money...,"

"DAMN STRAIGHT!"

Herman turned back to his meal preparations, "So, where is everyone else?"

"Devon and DJ are training,"

"That'll end well,"

"Kirsty's practicing her martial arts and ki blasts, and everyone else is...I dunno, exactly,"

"Ain't Azu working on the ship?"

"Yeah, he is. Funny, I thought he would've been done by now," Niri shrugged, "But hey, I guess you can't rush good repairs,"

"Amen to that,"

Below deck, Azu sat alone in the dark, a pile of lumber and his faithful hammer next to him. He took a swig of drink from his clay jug and wiped his mouth as he stared at the damage the ship had taken back at Kinmotsu. The repairs were going slower than usual, but he kept at his job.

"Damn ninjas...they busted up the ship into even worse shape," he cursed, setting the jug next to him, "We didn't need this...we did not need this, not now!"

"Oi! Azu! Azu, you down here?"

Azu didn't turn around as his captain and friend came down the stairs and walked up to him.

"Waddya need, Axe?" he asked, looking over his shoulder.

Axe held up a somewhat thick stack of papers before tossing it to him, "When you're done with the repairs, everyone wrote down some custom job requests. They figured since you made the girls a hot tub under their cabin, you can do these...you know, if it's not too much trouble,"

Azu took the stack of papers and leafed through them for a few moments.

"Interesting selection of jobs," he commented, eyes scanning the pages, "Alright, I'll see what I can do,"

"Sweet!" Axe clapped his hands and started walking back up to the deck, "Meal's almost ready!"

Azu waved at him, "Alright...be up there soon," he tossed the custom job list to the side and stared at the damage in front of him. He was currently replacing some of the broken boards in the lower floors, but when he pulled the damaged planks away, he caught sight of something that even he couldn't fix.

He leaned over and rubbed his hand along the planks, "Sorry, Tomahawk...nothing I can do,"

-That night...-

"Help me. Someone, please help me! I'm in so much pain...I can't go on much further. Please, help me!"

Azu's eyes snapped open and he shot straight up in his bed, sending his clay jug to the floor. He winced at the noise and looked down, "Damn alcohol induced dream...," he muttered, reaching down for his jug.

"Help me...!"

The shipwright froze.

Okay, I didn't imagine that!

"It hurts! Make the pain go away!"

Azu slowly turned his head and he nearly shit himself when he caught sight of something that definitely didn't belong on the ship. It was a white orb, floating in the air in front of him. It gave off a light that illuminated the room enough to show Azu's nakama sleeping peacefully.

"Help me, Azu!"

The drunken boxer gulped as the orb floated closer to him, "W-What the hell? Who...what...are you?"

"Why won't you help me, Azu?!" the orb floated closer and closer, "WHY?!"

Without another thought, Azu shut his eyes tightly. He waited and waited, and when he finally opened his eyes, the orb was gone. He looked around the room, under his bed, then sat back, looking completely lost. He sighed and snatched his jug from the floor, "Great, I'm going crazy!" he uncorked his jug and tipped it over only to receive a small drop of booze.

"And now, I'm outta booze! Dammit, this is not my night...," Azu lay back and rolled over, "I'll get some more in the morning...,"

-The next day-

Azu let out a huge yawn as he entered the galley. His nakama were eating breakfast already. He moaned and shuffled towards the fridge, wanting to refill his jug.

"Everyone, shh!" Dusty put a finger to her lips, "Azu's awake!"

"Don't bother whispering, guys, I'm not hungover,"

"It's a miracle!"

"Shaddup, kit," Azu pulled open the fridge and grabbed the nearest bottle of liquor, "The reason I'm up late is because I had a rough night,"

"What's the matter?" Devon cracked a smile as he cut his breakfast steak, "Dream about men only?"

Azu glared at him, "Yeah, and you're the one that was in there! You and Macleod over there were butthumping each other,"

The room became quiet and everyone stared at him.

"I said I had a rough night," Azu walked over to the table, grabbed a plate and began piling food on it, "Didn't get much sleep, so don't piss me off unless you want an Eight Gods Gas Festival in your face!"

Chizuru sighed and pushed her plate away, "There goes my appetite...,"

"So, Azu," Axe turned to him as he piled sausage and bacon onto his plate, "How're the repairs going?"

"...I can't fix it,"

"What? What do you mean you can't do it?"

"What the hell, man?"

Azu moved his breakfast around, listening to the crew's questions and demands. After a while, he had enough and slammed his fists down onto the table so hard, he broke the table into pieces, startling the others and sending the food to the floor.

"What...the...hell, Azu?!"

The shipwright sighed and leaned forward, rubbing his eyes, "I can't fix it, guys. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't do it, it'd be pointless,"

"How would it be pointless?"

"I think he's just lazy,"

Azu sighed again, this time louder, "You're all gonna hate this," he looked at his nakama, eyes filled with sadness, "This ship...is going to sink. Soon,"

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" the galley was filled with the screams of his nakama.

"Dude, that so ruined breakfast," Dusty whined.

Axe looked hard at Azu, "What do you mean, it's going to sink soon?"

"No matter what I do, this ship, Tomahawk, shall not sail anymore,"


Kilnorc: Alright, the first chapter of one of the most anticipated CotA arcs is up! Hope ya'll liked. Know it was probably BLAH, but hey, it's the first chapter. Yes, they're gonna go through a Going Merry-esque thing here, but trust me, things will be different in certain areas.

On the next chapter of The Secret Power...

Axe: You can't fix it?

Azu: Those ninjas back at Kinmotsu did the job. They wrecked it beyond repair.

Niri: I can't believe that after so long, we have to get a new ship.

Dusty: Creepy voice...alright, whose playing pranks on me here?!

End of the Line

Kirsty: HOLY FRICKIN' CRAP! THERE'S A GIANT FROG DOING THE CRAWL STROKE!