Axe's Day
Disclaimer: I don't own OP.
A/N: A birthday gift for my best friend, kilnorc. Happy Birthday, BB.
It was a good day, sails full with the wind, sky as blue as the waters below, making it seem like endless ocean. With the wind blowing lightly, Axe settled in his hammock, his hands behind his head as he closed his eyes, a silly grin plastered on his face as the hammock rocked gently. Something made movement next to him before something landed on his stomach. Four little paws circled around his belly before a body curled itself on his abdomen. Cracking an eye open, he saw the blue sky fox Sora yawn before he tucked his nose under a paw. Shrugging it off, Axe put a hand on the fox and rubbed the fur gently before closing his eyes again.
Within a matter of minutes, something came close to the hammock. "AXE!" The captain's eyes opened and looked at the source of the sound. "Guess what." Narrowing his eyes, Axe sighed. Of course it would be the other fox on the ship to disturb his peace. "C'mon, guess."
"You coughed up a hairball?" The kit on his belly made a noise before licking Axe's finger.
Dusty had a sick look on her face. "No!" She pouted before waving her hand frantically. "No, guess."
"DJ's gay?" Sora made a louder noise.
"NO!" Sighing, the kit narrowed her eyes. "You can't guess? Does that mean that you forgot that today's your-"
"DUSTY!" A voice interrupted the fox girl, making her tail go bushy. "You have the loudest mouth ever. Get your furry butt down here now!" Axe peeked around Dusty, seeing Niri shout at Dusty.
Dusty pouted. "Bu-bu-but…"
Niri put a hand to her gun. "If you aren't down here, I'll start shooting." Dusty eeped and ran down a level to be by Niri's side, only to get hit over the head by the butt of Niri's gun. "Baka kitsune." Grabbing Dusty by an ear, she hauled her away, somewhere in the galley as Axe blinked.
Come to think of it, none of his nakama were out on the deck; they were all in the galley. Usually there would be one of the girls tanning, Devon would either be sharpening his swords or be training with DJ, the animals would be playing with either one of the girls or with Austin, or even amongst themselves but it was bare. Everyone was in the galley. Why? Picking up Sora and setting him in the hammock, Axe got off and headed down to see where they all were. Grabbing the handle to enter the galley, he was surprised to find it locked.
"What the…?" Trying to turn the handle again, he grew a bit upset when it didn't budge. Narrowing his eyes, he raised a hand and pounded on the door. "Oi, open up!" The door unlocked but instead, a head peeked out. "Austin?" The cabin boy blinked. "What's going on? Why won't you let me in? How come everyone's in there?" The cabin boy looked at him before narrowing his eyes. "Oh, right. Look, just get one of the others so that they could-"
The door closed suddenly and relocked itself. "OI!"
A smell wafted through the air, tickling under Axe's nose as he calmed down. Meat, sweet succulent meat. Almost doglike, Axe dropped to all fours and began sniffing the deck of his ship, trying to determine where the smell was coming from. On one of the many railing of the ship, Sora had jumped from the hammock to watch Axe sniff around.
Making little chirps, the fox laughed at himself. "Hey! Flightless bird! Get out here and look at this!" Sora shouted to Pingu, the pirate penguin.
"Come to me, my pretties," Axe crooned, an evil grin on his face as he snuck from one side of the deck to the other, unaware that he was being watched by two animals. "You can't hide forever."
As the captain of the ship smelled around the deck several times over, he failed to sense the person behind him, raising one foot and stomping it on his rear end. "Heyo, boyo!"
As Axe fell to his face, his arms sprawled before him, his head lifted itself from the wood he was now laying on to reveal an annoyed face. "Hi Azu." Sitting up, Axe pointed to the drunk. "How come none of you are letting me into the galley?"
"Er…sorry, boyo, Niri told us not to tell you," the drunk replied, scratching the back of his head as a goofy grin was plastered on his face. Axe narrowed his eyes again. Niri. What was she planning? "You okay?" Azu waved a hand in front of Axe face before grinning and grabbing a piece of dried meat, tying it to a piece of string and waved it before the captain's face.
Almost instantaneous, Axe jumped up and began chasing the meat, until Azu sat next to the animals, holding the jerky on a crudely made fishing pole. "Axe pole" as it was now dubbed as Azu teased his captain by lifting and dropping the meat, watching as the Devil Fruit User tried several ways to catch the meat: either with his hands, by jumping on one foot, even by trying to use his teeth, but nothing worked.
Both Sora and Pingu, however, were cracking up beside the drunk, laughing until tears were falling and it was hard to breathe. Sora had actually fallen off of the railing as Pingu cracked up even more but the scene was just too funny not to laugh at. A grown man reaching up to get a piece of meat like a cat would a piece of feather.
That's when an idea struck both animals. Evil glints in their eyes, Pingu distracted Azu, who swung the pole to look at the bird while Sora jumped from his shoulder and ran across the pole, snatching the meat away and ran for it. "OI!" Both men shouted as they ran after the animals.
Pingu, being oh so clever, stops suddenly and watches as the others pass him by. Sneaking off, he knocked on the galley door, signaling that everything was ready. As soon as the door was open, a whirlwind blew by Pingu, spinning the poor bird round and round before he finally stop, his eyes still spinning as the whirlwind covered all of the deck, leaving in its wake festive decorations.
Tables unfolded on the deck, spreading the cheerfulness from the galley up to the deck, sparring not one inch of wood. Within seconds of decorations, colorfully wrapped boxes were places on a table and before long, food covered the area of the deck.
"Azu," Chiz whispered, calming down the drunken fighter. "I believe it's that time."
Niri smiled over at the fox kit as he was being chased around. "Sora, play time's up." Fox ears perked before running to the pirate sharpshooter, jumping in her arms and swallowing the last of the jerky.
"OI!" Axe came storming up, ready to tackle the fox to get his food. "Give that back."
Devon smacked his forehead as his wife giggled. "Here we go again."
WHAP! A large lump began to grow on Axe's head as Niri glared. "Can't you not be loud for one day, even if it is a day you're allowed to?"
"Huh?" Looking around, Axe's eyes went wide. "What's with the decorations?" The crew had face-falted to the deck before it took the captain a few seconds to finally realize. "It's my birthday!"
"OF COURSE, BAKA!" The crew shouted before smiles erupted on their faces.
Axe, not even caring about etiquette, began ripping open boxes, pulling out paper and ink from Chiz, since he was current engulfed with his life story, diamond polisher for his ax, new clothes, even a field med kit but what really caught his interest was a smell.
"That's not meat." And yet it still caught his interest. "Is that a pie?" he slowly asked, a grin creeping on his face. Without a second word, he grabbed a box gently and ripped off the bow. "COME TO ME, PIE!" Paper flew everywhere. "YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM ME!"
Sitting in his lap was a hot steaming apple pie, toasted crossed top, heavy apple and cinnamon wafting through the air. Big watery eyes looked up at his crew as Axe sniffled. "Thank you!" Standing up and grabbing his nakama, Axe swung them round and round before setting them all down.
Through the cheers and the entertainment thrown by Dusty and DJ, the big birthday boy watched everyone cheering and having a good time. "Happy birthday, captain." Looking behind him, two ghostly figures stared back before disappearing, giving their usual gift: not attacking the crew.
"Axe?" Looking back, Axe saw Niri in front of him. "You know, you have another gift to get." Raising her foot, she kicked him in the hip, trying to aim for his rear end. "From your parents."
"And from you?"
"I was the one who told them about today, about your love for pie that should be gift enough." But her eyes shined before wrapping an arm around his middle. "Happy Birthday, baka."
A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY AXE AND KILNORC! MAY YOU HAVE ANOTHER GREAT YEAR!