Departing Shots

by Tomas the Betrayer

The Strawhats are known for attracting allies when needed. But their enemies do not give up the chase so easily. And bold acts often come with tragic consequences.

Two seagulls swooped low over the churning waves in search of a meal. Both their hunts ended in panicked flapping as a huge form burst over a sea-foam crest, and a mighty king of beasts came roaring down. The birds took flight to search for safer haunts.

Behind them, the Thousand Sunny splashed along with an almost audible sound of joy. Seated on its lion-head prow, Monkey D. Luffy whooped excitedly as he bounced atop the figurehead, finding his seat again to gaze grinning over the wide blue ocean.

"WANO!" the boy captain crowed aloud. "WE'RE GOING TO SEE IT SOON!"

Sanji looked up from his place coiling ropes with a smile. "Somebody's eager for a new island."

"I wish he wouldn't announce it so loudly." The cartographer Nami settled a basket of oranges near the cook with a frown, which he began inspecting to verify those best suited for cooking. "Any Marines within a hundred leagues probably heard that! We just survived a trip to hell on earth. Is it too much to ask for a little personal growth on his part?"

"I think Luffy's grown a lot!" Their ship's doctor Tony-Tony Chopper caught an orange that Sanji lobbed to him and hugged the juicy orb to his chest excitedly. "When we first came into the New World, I was scared what would happen if we actually found ourselves faced with a Yonkou's crew! But now we've done it, and…!"

"You're still scared," Sanji pointed out wryly.

Chopper hesitated for a moment, then grinned. "Yeah. I am. Big Mom was terrifying. And her kids were nearly as bad. But…" here he tossed the orange up into the air. "We made it out alive! So we must be pretty incredible too!"

A skeletal hand caught the orange on its way down. "Yo-ho-ho-ho!" There came a quick flick of a sword from its sheath, after which 'Humming' Brook handed the peeled citrus fruit down to his tiny partner. "That was quite the rousing affair," their fleshless musician declared softly. "It sends a shiver down my spine just thinking about what we dared… bearding an Emperor in her own den. When I close my eyes, I can still see her!" He pressed both hands to his face, only to withdraw them. "Ah, but I have no eyes. Never mind! YO-HO-HO-HO!"

Sanji and Nami exchanged tentative smiles. The Strawhat crew was a lighthearted bunch by nature, and Brook certainly did his best to keep anyone's spirits from flagging.

Chopper did not fail to notice the look that passed between chef and navigator, however. Their clear distress made the reindeer youth frown as he munched on his treat. They were all looking forward to seeing their teammates upon reaching Wano. Franky and Usopp, Zoro and Robin; how he anxiously awaited the chance to see them all again, regale them with the tales of his bravery against Big Mom's crew. He wondered what they had been up to on Wano all this time? The future held a lot to look forward to.

Still, none of them was in danger of forgetting what they had left behind.

It was only two days since the Strawhats emerged victorious from those dread seas; the far-flung empire of Tot Land, domain of Big Mom and her nightmarish brood. And somewhere back there remained the unlikely allies who had voluntarily remained behind to cover their escape: the Fishman Pirates, led by former Shichibukai and newest Strawhat crewmate Jimbei, along with Sanji's own ruthless family, Germa 66. No word had reached them yet as to whether anyone from those two groups survived. Such news was awaited with a touch of unease. Big Mom was infamous for her lack of mercy.

But until such time as a News Coo or other reputable source brought them confirmation one way or another, they had resolved not to let their imaginations get the better of them. That rocky patch of weather they just passed through was finally over. The blow came upon them out of nowhere and left just as fast, with Nami's instinctive sense for these things serving to make it a mild annoyance at best. Now the ocean carried them along at an untroubled pace with a steady wind filling the sails. No longer bumped and jostled about, the crew was taking stock of any minor damage which might have been done. Carrot busied herself tidying up the women's quarters, replacing any books that had fallen off the shelves and arranging whatever human touches needed attention, while Nami harvested fallen oranges. The boys looked to other parts of the ship to make certain all was well.

Luffy, of course, had been deemed unfit for cleanup and was cheerfully relegated to his favored spot atop the Thousand Sunny's prow. A few dozen sausages in buns kept him there for the foreseeable future, for which they were all silently grateful.

Half of a peeled orange sailed towards Nami, who caught it on reflex, and then gave a pointed grin at Sanji, who only smiled in return. "I'll be making beef daube with orange slices tonight," he informed them. "Try not to fill your bellies before then."

"We're all looking forward to it," the Cat Burglar retorted before sauntering towards a deck chair to soak up some sun. Black-Leg watched her go with naked appreciation for that outrageously feminine form, but also with a touch of commiseration. Out of all of them, Nami probably knew best what he had been forced to experience over the last few weeks; captured and held hostage by those who claimed to be your family, with the lives of those you loved held over your head like a death sentence. True, she had taken him to task in merciless fashion for his failed attempt at solo heroics. But the looks they exchanged since escaping Whole Cake Island spoke volumes. Despite her words, he knew Nami had welcomed him back into her confidence.

The lovestruck cook bent back to his task, trying resolutely not to think of Pudding or his sister Reiju.

Chopper took the news of dinner and subtle exchange between his two teammates to heart. Brook had strolled off humming to himself by this point. He no doubt had picked up on the mood as well. Their bony musician possessed an artist's soul. Very little escaped his eye… even though he had no eyes!

"Skull joke!" the Zoan youth whispered to himself with a giggle. Feeling hopeful once more, Chopper headed over towards the door which led to the infirmary.

As he reached up for the handle, a latch clicked, and the pane swung inwards.

Something emerged from the open portal. Bent almost double, this huge form rose slowly up to tower over the little reindeer boy, enveloping Chopper in its shadow. He stared upwards, jaws wide with shock, choking out sounds. Hooved hands flew to his mouth, his eyes rolled up in their sockets, and the boy pitched backwards with a scream.

Sanji looked up, gave a startled oath, and dashed over to yank the fallen medic to safety. In a flash Luffy joined them, bounding from the prow clear to midship in an instant. Brook took up position at his side with sword at the ready. For her part, Nami recognized the intruder immediately but was too overwhelmed with disbelief to react as quickly as the others. Yet all the same, she rolled out of her seat and came up brandishing the Climatact. Her breath came very fast, memories of horror only recently experienced now rushing up from the depths of memory.

Faced with the full force of the Strawhat crew present, Charlotte Amande took the cigarette from her mouth and exhaled on a soft sigh.

"Excuse the intrusion," she said. The Mad Moiselle then took another drag on her cigarette before proceeding to stand there calmly without saying another word.

Luffy didn't take his eyes off the towering Minister of Tot Land, fists raised to attack at a moment's notice. Brook and Sanji exchanged uncertain glances. Amande gave no indication that she was here to fight. How she got onboard was anyone's guess. The half-breed of the Snake Neck tribe retained the trademark longsword sheathed at her belt and equally oversized sunhat which even now contrived to keep part of her face hidden from them despite the differences in height. New to her look, though, was a large wicker basket looped in the crook of one arm. A red checkered tablecloth covered what might lie inside.

Chopper was passed out. Sanji swiftly confirmed that Amande had not attacked him in any way. The shock of her appearance must have been too much for him. Once he was certain of this, the exiled prince came to a decision. He rose to his full height and addressed that eerie maiden. "What can we do for you, Lady of Charlotte?"

Her head flickered ever so slightly in his direction, causing him to tense. One did not come by Charlotte Amande's reputation by accident. Out of the host of piracy's most audacious killers, she ranked near the top. At the same time, she was a lady, and a very beautiful one at that. Sanji knew he could never go all-out against her no matter what threat she might represent. Worse still, the prince realized his devotion to the manly code of chivalry might mean he would have to intervene in her defense if Luffy or Brook made a move against her as well!

"Sanji…"

Judging by the way her tongue shaped his name, she knew it too.

"…nii-san. No, not quite. Almost-nii-san? Demi-nii-san, perhaps?" Amande's words sent a shiver up his spine. "That's partly my reason for being here. I've been sent as a messenger, on behalf of certain members of the family."

"Sanji's got nothing more to do with you and your sick siblings!" Nami declared hotly from the rearguard. "So get back where you came from before we make you leave!"

For several seconds they faced off against one another with no one making the first move.

A white blur shot across the deck aimed straight for Amande. Before it could reach its mark Luffy lashed out and dragged a raging Carrot back by the strap of her dress.

"LET GO!" the Mink girl screamed in a fury as the captain and Sanji sought to restrain her. "I WON'T LET ANY MORE CHARLOTTES ON THIS SHIP!"

"I decide who stays and who goes! Calm down, Carrot!" Luffy yelled.

Amande merely smoked nonchalantly while they wrestled their ally into submission. After some convincing, Carrot settled down into a hostile funk. She sniffed and drew an arm across her dripping pink nose while continuing to lacerate the tall woman with her eyes. A brief discussion followed, and under a minute later, 'Strawhat' Luffy sat across from 'Mad Moiselle' Amande at a table on the Sunny's top deck. His crew arrayed behind him. The still unconscious Chopper had been moved to rest on a chair well away from their enemy.

"Say what you came to say," Luffy growled at the woman in white. His face held all the menace of an animal encountered in the wild. "Then I'll choose how you leave my ship."

The long-limbed apparition settled her basket on the table between them. "My first message," she spoke in laconic fashion, "is for Nearly-nii-san Sanji."

Amande paused as the man in question deposited an artfully prepared frappe in a glass beside her. She seemed to examine it in great detail, turning it this way and that without picking it up, as though judging the concoction more on style and presentation than any flavor it might possess. The Charlotte Family knew a great deal about food, after all. Upon coming to some sort of conclusion, she dipped her hat towards the ship's cook in what might have indicated gratitude for his offer, but still made no move to taste the dessert. "It is from Pudding."

"Pudding-chan?!" His eye not covered by hair widened. Sanji was unable to hide the distress he felt upon asking, "How is she?"

"Fine." Amande took a pull on her cigarette. Apparently she felt no need to elaborate on anything that did not involve the task at hand. Her free hand slipped into the basket, and though they all tensed, it came out holding a pink envelope. "She has asked me to pass on her thoughts concerning you. They necessitated being written down. At her request, I will read them to you."

The willowy pirate removed a sweet-smelling letter from the envelope. She unfolded it, brushed a hand through her curly blue hair, and proceeded to read. "Dear Sanji…"

At the corner of her mouth the cigarette twitched slightly.

"I hate you. Drop dead."

Pudding's former fiancé raised a curly eyebrow. Luffy and Brook cocked their heads to the side in identical expressions of confusion.

Amande continued to detail the letter verbatim, although something about the way she held herself might lead one to believe she was having more trouble with its contents than anything encountered on the Strawhats' ship so far. "Wait, I didn't mean that. Let me explain. My time together with you was short, but all the same, in that oh-so brief period, I never want to see your stupid puffy face again. I hope Kaido nails you to a cross and lets vultures eat your what am I saying, this isn't right, don't pay attention to that. Amande, don't read that last part."

Here the giant woman paused. "Sorry."

Despite herself, Nami gave a nervous giggle. The expression on Sanji's face was just too much.

"Continuing," their unwelcome interlocutor kept going in emotionless tones. "What I'm trying to tell you is that I don't hate you. When I picture you screaming in agony inside a cauldron of bubbling red-hot metal, it's only because I imagine myself right there beside you. I know Mama hates you all now, and we can never truly be together. But dear Ji-ji, please know, with all my heart, eat shit. As a chef, as a woman, as a bride, there is no one else who has ever made me feel more loved. Please survive in spite of everything Mama has planned for you, including the things I'm going to personally suggest to her. They involve pickles. Big ones. All my tears, all my heart, dear Ji-ji, stay safe. I hope one day you find the All Blue and then drown in it while being eaten alive by dull-toothed piranha. Dumbass fat cutie-pie."

"Love," Amande closed the letter, "Charlotte Pudding."

Before anyone could speak, she crumpled the paper up into a ball and chucked it overboard. "Moving on…"

"Hey, wait, what about…!"

Sanji's protests were cut off as she now produced a sleeping Den-den Mushi from the confines of the basket. "The next message is meant for the Mink girl."

Carrot stiffened from her place beside Brook, who placed a hand on her shoulder and whispered brief words of encouragement in one long ear. The white-furred warrior relaxed but continued to glare daggers at the pale pirate, who ignored her threats in favor of activating the Snail-o-phone. Still asleep, it began to gurgle as a connection was sought. Guro-guro-guro, the living communicator rang. Guro-gur-CLICK.

"Pero-rin!"

A gasp came from Carrot. Her teeth ground together, hands clenching into tight fists. In front of them the Den-den Mushi had taken on a narrow-eyed, knife-nosed appearance. Its tongue protruded permanently from its mouth in a way that defied communication. Nonetheless, a familiar voice continued to sing through this impediment. "Are you alright, Amande?"

"Yes, O-nii-san," she spoke into the receiver. "Everything is fine."

"Pero-rin! I'm glad to hear that. So is she there?"

This time Carrot moved too fast for anyone to stop her, snatching the receiver away and clutching it between her hands. "YOU!" she spat.

"Hello there, my little candy rabbit! I take it you know who this is?"

"What do you want?" the bunny-girl demanded. Her compatriots edged away from her a little, giving the incensed Mink some measure of respectful space. They all knew who was on the other line, and what it meant to Carrot.

"What a question. Surely you haven't forgotten the damage you and your detestable boyfriend caused me and my family?"

"PE–!" She caught herself, taking a deep breath before proceeding to speak in much more icy tones. "Pedro was not my boyfriend!"

"Pero-rin! Forgive the assumption. Pekoms mentioned that one always had an eye for sweet young bunnies. But such gossip is all in the past, eh, pero-rin? Let's talk about now."

A growl came from the Mink's throat, and Nami could have sworn she saw a snap of electricity come off her fluffy tail.

"As I said, there's no way I can forget the injury done to me on that day. But I've given some thought as to how you and your clan can atone for Pedro's crime. So here it is: when all this is over, and Mama has had her fill of heaping vengeance on the riffraff you're traipsing about with, we're going to pay a visit to that homeland of yours. And when we get there, we're going to cut off the right arm of every man, woman and child we can find."

Carrot slammed a fist into the table, causing it to crack. Her head snapped up, eyes alighting on Amande with utmost fury as though preparing to launch herself at the woman's throat. The Minister of Nuts gazed right back, unfazed but certainly not unprepared. Upon noting this Brook laced his bony arm gently around those quivering white shoulders, leaning in to rub his other hand against her blonde hair in a subtle show of restraint. The move worked as he had hoped, but Carrot did not leave off glaring at that frightful figure.

"Of course before then, I'll have finished things with you, my little rabbit! And rest assured, I plan to take my time." A low, malicious chuckle came from the mollusk's lips. "I'm going to preserve you in candy; a work of art, inside and out, perfect in every detail! And then, I'm going to lick you… from head… to toe!" That sinister voice laughed freely. "But you want to know the best part? Pedro took something from me, but I got a gift in return from him! I'm standing on it right now. It's a wonderful new rug! A bit patched and burned in places, but for authentic jaguar skin, not a bad deal! Pero-rin!"

"When I see you again…"

The laughter trailed off.

"…I'll make sure no amount of candy magic will be able to replace what I take from you, sorcerer. Lick-LICK!"

With that Carrot jammed the receiver back in its cradle. The Snail-o-phone went right to sleep. She crossed her arms to regard Amande with a calm that stood in marked contrast to her previous loss of cool. The intended recipient of that look simply tucked the communication device in the basket once more.

"And now…"

Something else came out as the Den-den Mushi disappeared.

"…there is one last item of note."

Amande settled a small treasure chest on the table and stood up from her seat. As they looked at it, she retrieved her basket to turn away.

"That is for you, Monkey D. Luffy," she spoke while walking towards the entrance leading into the ship's cabin. "A present from Mama, for the one who ruined her tea party. She asked me to inform you she is eagerly looking forward to getting her hands on you and your crew."

It was a plain wooden box with copper banding of no particular craftsmanship.

Luffy reached out, intending to open it.

"Wait, Amande!" Sanji moved to give chase. "Can you tell me about my sist–!"

Behind them, Chopper came awake. He bolted upright, looked frantically around, and saw right away what his captain was doing.

"LUFFY, STOP!"

The lid of the box came open.

Sanji found himself blown to one side without any idea of what had happened. The door which had just closed in front of him was torn off its hinges. A brief glimpse of Amande passing into the infirmary, and then that whole entire wall came down, just in time to see the Mad Moiselle bending to maneuver her hat through a full-length mirror. The crone beside her retreated back into the pane. "Wi-wi-wi!" she cackled, moments before a fist smashed through the glass.

The Strawhats came racing into the med center. Luffy stood before a tall cabinet stocked with medical supplies, facing away from them and panting hard. Blood dripped from his hand.

"I'm sorry!" Chopper gasped. He fell to his knees, striking the wood boards with tiny hooves. "I'm SORRY, Luffy! When she opened the door, I smelled it… right away, and it hit so hard, I just…"

The little doctor's words turned into sobs. Carrot dropped down to wrap him in a hug, holding tight as he clawed and beat at her with cries of, "Asshole! Let me go, I'm fine! I don't need you!" She knew by now he didn't mean a word of it.

With great care Nami approached their captain. She moved as though he were a bull that might gore her at the slightest provocation. "We forgot about this mirror," the young woman said, shaken by what she had just witnessed. "The one on the inside of the closet door, we never used it except during examinations." She swallowed. "Since it was shut, maybe Brulee couldn't tell where it went. But during the storm, the cabinet must have been flung open, and then she saw…"

She flinched as Luffy spun around and stormed past her. "Brook…" the leader of the pirate crew said in a tone of command that brooked no argument. His musician followed obediently behind.

Strawhat Luffy came back out onto the deck. He picked up the box and made his way to the prow of the Thousand Sunny where he had previously been enjoying himself before all this started. By that point the Soul King had retrieved his violin and come to join his captain. Luffy glanced over as the undead rock star landed lightly beside him. After receiving a nod of confirmation, Brook placed bow to strings and, after only a moment to fight down tears, began to play.

Mournful notes. Filled with grief, they told a story of loss.

Luffy sat listening with legs crossed. The treasure chest lay in between them. Its contents were open to the sky. His eyes closed, and a shudder went through him. He took a deep breath, tilted his head back and exhaled to gaze towards heaven, black eyes searching for something up there.

"You kept… your oath."

Brook hesitated, the song dying out for just a moment, then dutifully took up his role again. Their concert continued without further interruption.

The captain looked down. Face calm, hands trembling ever so faintly, he reached in and came back up holding something which he stared at as though trying to memorize every detail. Then he replaced it in the treasure chest and closed the lid with a click.

After thinking for a time, he knew what to do. With that Luffy stood, drew back his arm, and hurled the box out over the ocean as far as he could. A tiny splash in the distance was the last he saw of it.

Return beneath the waves, to your home. It's what you would have wanted. Rest there, Knight of the Sea. Your duty was fulfilled.

Soon after Luffy rejoined the others, more determined than ever to become Pirate King. He and his crew continued on to Wano, where another Yonkou awaited. All swore this time they would lose no one else.

FIN.