LUCYY I'M HOOOME! Welcome to the next installment in the Chronicles of Monkey D. Luffy! I'm so sorry it took so long! I hope you all had a great 2017! As I said before, we'll be opening with the Warship Island Arc and continuing from there. I assure you the surprises I have in store will ultimately make this installment well worth the wait. Now then… LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!
"To find the All-Blue!"
"To be the world's best swordsman!"
"To draw a map of the entire world!"
"To become a brave warrior of the sea!"
"To ascend to the rank of the Grand Line Legends"
"To become King of the Pirates!"
Six pirates… Six dreams… united under one flag.
The world will never be the same again!
"ONWARD TO THE GRAND LINE
THE CHRONICLES OF MONKEY D. LUFFY
THE ALABASTA SAGA
A Slight Detour! Meeting Apis!
It was the day after leaving Loguetown, and the massive storm from before had allowed the Straw Hat Pirates to shake off their pursuers. As such they were now able to relax more so each member was engrossed in their own thing.
Zoro was sleeping (of course), Sanji was just enjoying the calm breeze, Usopp was up in the crow's nest serving as a lookout, and Nami was finishing updating the Log Book. The only two that weren't relaxing were Gin and Luffy. Having been given the role of ammunitions expert for his time serving the Krieg Armada, Gin was busy doing maintenance on the only cannon the Going Merry had so that it would be ready to use at a moment's notice. As for Luffy… well, now that they were so close to the Grand Line, the Straw Hat captain was finding it impossible to reign in his childish side.
"Shishishishishi! Oh man, oh man, I can't believe we're so close," Luffy said as he sat on the Merry's figurehead shivering with excitement.
"Geez, he's been like that all day. I've never known anyone to be this excited about the Grand Line," Gin said as he got back to the deck from the cannon room.
"I guess it wouldn't be Luffy if he wasn't excited," Nami smiled as she rolled her eyes.
It was then that Usopp caught something on his sniper goggles. Upon zooming in on his vision he realized just what it was.
"Hey guys! There's a flock of birds starboard and they look like they're surrounding something!" he called the crew below.
Immediately Luffy jumped off the figurehead and ran to get a glimpse followed by Gin and Sanji.
"What you suppose it is?" Gin asked
"It's probably a school of fish. Birds are known to follow them in flocks to catch a bunch of them for food,"
Sanji replied.
"Well then, sounds like it's time to go fishing," Luffy declared as he wound his arm back.
"Now Gum-Guuuuum…. GRAB!"
Luffy shot his arm forward stretching it across the ocean to the shock of Usopp and amusement of the others. His aim was straight and true as his hand startled the birds away and grabbed onto to what he thought was a giant fish.
"Alright I got it! Now come to papa fish!"
"Nice Luffy!" Nami said as he yanked his arm back in.
But it was reeling in too fast!
"That too quick! Dial it down!" Sanji yelled.
"Too late!" Gin shouted as the two of them tried to duck out of the way…
Only for Gin to get clotheslined and slam into Zoro sending both hurling off the ship!
"Whoops, sorry about that," Luffy said.
"DUMBASS! BE MORE CAREFUL!" Sanji yelled as he got up.
Needless to say, it was a very irritated Gin and Zoro that was roped back aboard.
"Don't ever do that again," Gin growled darkly as Luffy chuckled nervously.
"Uh... guys? This isn't a fish," Usopp said as he came down from the crow's nest.
Everyone crowded around to discover what Luffy had hauled aboard was in fact… a girl?
"What the hell? What's a little girl doing in the middle of the ocean?" Nami wondered.
"Surely, she wasn't abandoned," Sanji said with a slight growl at the thought.
Oh, if only these adventurers knew. If only…
"YOU INCOMPETNT FOOL! HOW DARE YOU GIVE ME THIS GARBAGE AS A REPORT!"
"I-I-I'm so sorry sir!" stuttered a poor marine soldier as he was reprimanded by a man so obscenely obese he made Alvida look like an anorexic: Marine Commodore Nelson Royale.
"Sorry doesn't cut it! That girl is the key to the Dragonite I've been after for years! You're lucky I need all my soldiers for this or you'd be executed for this! Now LEAVE!"
The terrified solder nearly left a trail of fire he ran so fast leaving an irate Nelson to call on his secret weapon so to speak.
"Eric! It's time for you to act!"
From within the shadows emerged a well-dressed man with rail-thin sunglasses and purple hair styled like a hook. His somewhat elegant appearance belied his utterly selfish and savage nature; The cold-hearted assassin, Eric the Whirlwind!
"I'm sure I don't need to remind you that babysitting your troops was not part of my contract," Eric sneered
"And I'm sure I don't need to remind you that a failed mission wouldn't look good for your reputation," Nelson snapped. "Rest assured I'll pay you handsomely for your services. No price is too high if it brings me the Dragonite."
"Then I shall not fail, Commodore Nelson," Eric said with an unseen glare.
It was an interesting turn of events to say the least. Having accidentally rescued a little girl from drowning, the Straw Hats were left unsure of what to with her. After all they couldn't very well bring her with them to the Grand Line, and certainly weren't going to drop her in the sea again. It didn't help that she became fearful and hostile upon learning that they were pirates, holding herself up in a small storage room blow deck bemoaning her seemingly cruel fate.
'I can't believe this,' she cried to herself. 'It's just not fair for this to happen to anyone! I finally got away from those awful marines and survived that storm only to be picked up by PIRATES!?'
Not five seconds later her stomach growled at her, have not eaten for a long time. Figuring she could sneak some food out of the refrigerator she got up and went to the kitchen. The room was pitch black, not a sound made nor a creature stirring. Until…
SNAP!
CRASH!
"AAAAAAHHHHH!
Shocked stiff from to the sudden noise the girl opened to clenched shut eye to see Luffy shifting back from his water form after avoiding the giant mouse trap that almost pinned her! That's when the light came on and in walked an unamused Sanji and Gin.
"I should've known you'd try to steal food again Luffy-," Gin began.
"And a good thing to!" Luffy shouted back. "That death trap of yours almost landed right on this kid's neck!"
Needless to say, five minutes later Gin now had a swollen lip and five huge lumps on head courtesy of an irate Sanji as Luffy stuffed his face with tons of food. As for the girl she remained silent with her stomach rumbling until Sanji pointed out that Luffy was liable to eat everything on the table. Snatching a bowl of soup from Luffy she began to gulp it down amazed at how good it was.
"This is amazing! I've never had anything this good!"
"Shishishi! When it comes from Sanji everything's is pure gold," Luffy bragged as the others came in.
"You poor thing. Did you really think we were evil?" Nami said as she walked up to the girl.
"Uh... I guess so."
"Well it is a common assumption with most people," Zoro comment.
"Most people aren't travelling with you and Gin"
"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!?
Usopp's careless remark earned him an impromptu slug session with both Zoro and Gin while the others looked on with either amusement or annoyance
"Morons… all of them," Nami muttered as the kid giggled nervously.
"We have plenty more if you'd like, mademoiselle," Sanji offer chivalrously to the girl.
"Yeah, I promise you this pirate crew is all about fun," Nami encouraged.
That seemed to appease her as she smiled from ear to ear.
"More please!"
"Coming right up!"
"By the way, what's your name?" Luffy asked making the girl look at him.
After a small pause she responded with a smile.
"It's Apis."
How's that? I know it's short but I hope you like it anyway. See you soon. Please read and Review.