Note from the Author:
This being by far the longest work I've ever written, I'm especially happy to finally be able to submit it! Unlike my other piece, "The Witch and the Warlock", this was not written on the fly (which is what made me end up quitting that fanfic), but in its entirety, over the last 15 months or so. Something I must mention is that by the time I completed this story before anyone jumps in, however, is that the farthest I had gotten in One Piece, its source material, by the time this fanfiction was finished, was chapter 653 (episode 573 in the anime). So it should go without saying that a) Assume everything up to that point will be spoiled, and b) While I tried very hard not change much in the original canon story, something may come along later in the series that I obviously could not foresee and make my work completely contradict something canon. My apologies if that ends up happening. I don't think there's much else that needs to be said, so with that, I hope you enjoy reading this piece as much as I did writing it! Thanks!
Volume One – The Mad Chase
Chapter One – Ambush on the East Blue! Aki's Saga Begins!
The frail, old captain of the small fishing vessel stares at me for a moment, his eyes squinted, his brow lowered. You think I ain't noticed you throwin' glances my way this whole trip? I make it known I'm looking at him, too. "Somethin' on your mind, old timer?" I ask.
He stammers, and fumbles over the ship's steering wheel for a second. His words come out awkwardly. "I'm just wondering, I suppose. Why someone like yourself is taking a boat somewhere. Faster for you just to swim, isn't it?"
Hmm. Looks like the disguise could still use a bit of work. "Faster? Sure, I reckon." Even though my face is entirely obscured by a red bandana and a pair of swim goggles, I tilt the wide brim of my hat up a notch to speak with him. "But I don't know the seas 'round these parts. I certainly don't know the way to Loguetown. And 'sides…" I lean back in my chair and stare up at a fluffy wisp of cloud surrounded by a piercingly blue sky, "I'm more used to bein' above the sea."
The old captain's laugh is hoarse and full of spittle. "Well isn't that a first! Never thought in all my days I'd hear a fishman say something like that! Course, I never thought I'd have one of you guys on my boat anyways!"
I snicker under my breath at his comment. "So, how'd you know?"
He points my way. "Those light pinkish purple thingies dangling off the back of your head, they're tentacles, aren't they?"
"Ah, you noticed?" I sit up. "I thought maybe folks'd think I just got really long hair as long as I keep 'em still. Gets me too much attention, bein' my kind; I like to lay low." I lift a front tentacle and use it to adjust my hat, showing him its movements.
The old man flinches ever so slightly. "So, uh... how many of them you got back there?" He asks.
"Ten. Eight behind the ears, two in front." I reply.
"That's crazy." He mutters. "You able to keep track of all of them at once?"
" 'Course."
The conversation ends there, and I continue staring blankly off onto the calm horizons of East Blue, losing myself in both thought and lack of thought, eventually drifting off into a light sleep.
The old man shakes me out of sleep. "Pirates! Pirates on stern! Get up! Get up!" he yells. I lazily wake up, and look towards the back of the boat. Sure enough I see a large ship quickly approaching. The Jolly Roger emblazoned on its bright white sail has a goofy red nose stuck on the skull. The fishing boat captain is frantic. I'm not too worried, though. If they're anything like bandits then I've got little to worry about. "Fishman! Aren't you going to escape?" Asks the old man.
I ignore him, and he goes back to his fretting, trying in vain to hide some things before the pirates arrive. I sit back down in my chair and pull my hat down just low enough to be able to watch the galleon approach.
The ship pulls alongside ours, and I'm already sick of the pirates' jeering and whooping. As if hearing my thoughts, they settle down to a relative quiet, replaced by one voice.
"Gyahahahaha! Such a tiny prize we've snagged here! Not very flashy, no!" It must be the captain. His voice is nasally, boisterous, and annoying me already.
"Sir, please!" the old man pleads. "I'm just a poor old fisher. I don't have anything a big pirate sir like you would care for!"
"Oh?" says the pirate captain. "And who are you to say what I care about, hmmm?" His voice rises to a shrill shriek. "Trying to speak for me!"
"N-No! Of course not! I never-!"
"Of course not!" The pirate captain repeats, then addresses a couple men, ordering them to pilfer the fishing boat. "Now then! What about you, Mr. Wizard Hat? Do you have some kind of objection to make as well?"
'Mr. Wizard Hat'? That s'pposed to be me? I stand up and tilt my head back, pushing my hat up to get a look at the guy. He's as gaudy as his tone of voice would suggest. His face is painted up like a clown, and he even has the big red nose to match. His clothes are horribly mismatched, an orange tricorne and coat, a red and white striped shirt, baggy sea-green pants, and puffy white gloves. I guess when you're captain of a pirate vessel you can dress however you damn please.
"I'm just a passenger." I respond. "It ain't really my place to care what happens."
The clown-captain laughs like a broken trumpet. "Well, then! Looks like you'll have no problem with us taking all you own as well!" The two men he signaled earlier throw a pair of ropes at us and slide down onto the fishing boat.
Though it's hidden by my bandana, I smirk at them. "I might…" I say back, "…if I had a single Berry on me!"
"What!" Both captains simultaneously exclaim.
"Wait a minute!" says the old man. "If you didn't have any money, how were you planning on paying me for the ride?"
"Ryahahaha!" I laugh. "I wasn't!" A few of the pirates join in my laughter.
"Why you! That' s not what you told me earlier!" The old man begins to make a move at me, but one of the pirates grabs him, while the other searches the boat for valuables.
"Hmmm..." The clown-captain puts a gloved hand to his grizzled chin. "Well, we simply can't have someone leaving us empty-handed, now can we boys?" The pirate crew responds in gritty, dark laughs. "Looks like you're joining the Buggy crew, Mr. Wizard Hat, like it or not." He says ominously. "Unless you'd prefer Davy Jones' locker! Bwahahaha!"
I groan. Join these clowns? No, thanks. "Pass." I reply.
"What!" The pirate captain shrieks. "Do you know who you're talk-"
I interrupt him. "There's a man I'm fixin' to find, quickly, and I ain't letting nothin' get in my way of doing so."
"A manhunt?" One of the pirates on the fishing boat says. " 'At's what we're up to right now!" He turns up to his captain. "Oi, Cap'n! 'E says 'e's off to-"
"I heard him!" screams the captain. "The boys and I are used to hunting men. Who's your prey, Mr. Wizard Hat?"
I smirk again. "He's a pirate captain, just like you. Name's Monkey D. Luffy, and I got a score to settle with him."
The jaws of the entire pirate crew collectively drop. "Did he say Monkey D. Luffy?" one asks. "The Straw Hat? Does he even know what he's getting into?" another gasps. One of the pirates on the boat approaches me, pulling out a crumpled wanted poster from a pocket. Straightening it out as best he can, he shows it to me. "You mean this guy?" He says.
"Don't know." I respond, looking down at the poster. A face younger than I imagined is looking back, with a wide, toothy, mischievous grin on his face, and a small, old scar below one of his eyes. On his head is a simple straw hat, with a red ribbon laced just above the rim. "Never seen the guy. But I doubt there's two Monkey D. Luffy's running around out there, so this must be him."
Another laugh of trumpets from the captain. "Bwahahaha! Fate is at work here, it seems! You and I have the same game!"
"That… so?" I respond, then take a second to think it over. "I take that back then; we might work nice together."
"Got everything we could find, Cap'n!" the guys on the boat with me exclaim. "Not much, but loot's loot!"
The two pirates grab on tight to the ropes. I snag onto one with a hand and a couple tentacles. The pirates let out an audible gasp, but retain their grip as we are heaved up onto the ship. I land on the deck, and am unsurprised, considering I stand over eight feet tall, to find everyone else is shorter than me.
"You!" one of the crewmembers pulled up along with me exclaims. "You grabbed the rope wit' your 'air! 'Ow'd you do that?" The other one who noticed the same thing walks behind me to closer examine my tentacles. I respond by grabbing him with several of them, constricting the dumb fool. The pirate crew shudders.
" 'E's a fishman!" Someone exclaims.
I let the man loose. "Watch where you're pokin' 'round back there."
"Bwahahaha!" the captain laughs. "Perfect! Perfect! With a fishman on our side, that rubbery menace won't know what hit him!" He laughs again, and then violently orders all the crew back to their posts.
I think about wandering off as well, to explore the ship, when I hear a decidedly feminine voice say "What is all the racket up here?"
"Ah, Ms. Alvida!" The clown-captain exclaims. "I was just about to introduce to you our newest partner-in-crime, Mr… ah… what is your name?"
I'm not paying attention to him. From below deck comes the most gorgeous woman I have ever seen! A white cowboy hat atop long curly hair the color of night, ruby-red lipstick, a white bikini top exposing a perfect midriff, and to frame all of this beauty a lavish royal purple cape cascading down to her ankles!
"Aki Sinagra, my dear!" I say in my most regal attempt to hide my accent, sliding my way over to her. "But Aki alone is just fine! And by what name should I address you, my exquisite beauty?" I kneel down so I might reach for her hand to plant a kiss on it, but as soon as my hand tries to grasp hers, it slips right off, like handling a wet bar of soap. "Ah, my goodness, how embarrassin' – fishfolk hands you know… sometimes get a bit oily…" She's not listening to my apology. In fact, she's pretty much ignoring me entirely.
"Buggy," she says, "we should be spending our time searching for Straw Hat, not wasting it on these pointless stops."
The clown-captain Buggy, stutters. "M-Ms. Alvida! Of course we should! We just happened across these two by chance, nothing more! And we are searching! We have reason to believe that he'll be heading-"
"-to Loguetown?" I finish his sentence.
"Exactly!" Buggy shouts. "Wait, how did you know that?"
I eject a small laugh. "Like I said, I'm lookin' for him too. I was just at a fishin' village where he stirred up a heap a' trouble, and the folks there said he was headed next to Loguetown. So your guess was right on the money."
Buggy clenches a fist in a victorious stance. "Alright!" He turns towards his crew. "We have a course to take, and we're not letting anything get in our way of doing so!" The crew cheers and shakes their swords in the air in acknowledgement.
Ain't that exactly the line I just used…? I notice the woman folding her arms. "See, Madam Alvida? I ain't such a pointless stop, right? Right?" She gives me a smirk and returns to below deck. I move to follow her, but she closes the wooden door in my face. Ah, next time perhaps. I scratch my cheek underneath the bandana. No use in keepin' this on if they ain't got a problem with me bein' fishfolk. Finding a nice place to sit down and relax, I take off my hat, goggles and bandana, and return to the nap that these clowns so rudely interrupted.