The Storm that Rages

"Seems like The Storm has struck again, Pops." Marco stated holding up an article that had just been dropped off by the News Coo. It was just one of another many reports talking about the mysterious fighter known simply as The Storm. She had made her debut a little over a half a year ago by destroying a major auction house in Oniji, an island in the New World.

"Gurarara, what did she do this time?" Thundered Whitebeard as he sat in his chair on top of the Moby Dick.

"It seems that she destroyed another auction house, and all the slavers that worked there yoi. The island wasn't in our territory but it was close. Too close, the nobles are getting pretty daring."

"Gurarara, cheeky brats. Did they get a picture of her this time?" Marco held out another piece of paper with a picture of a medium sized woman with frizzy brown hair and a slightly curvy body standing in the middle of a burning auction house. The shot was taken at dusk so her profile was back lit by the flames yet to be extinguished. At her feet, barely visible in the picture, lay dead nobles. In her hand she was holding a slave collar, with one end shattered. The most striking thing about her though, was the fact that she was wearing a mask. It was bright purple with yellow tribal styled lines decorating it in lightning bolt patterns. The only part of her face that was visible was her eyes. They weren't a striking color, in fact they were a calm, peaceful chestnut brown that seemed to look at the photographer with a cold indifference.

"We might meet her along the way, I believe the only other auction houses lie in Kaido's territory now. She'll have to cross over our territory if she wants to get there." Marco replied thoughtfully staring at the wanted poster. Her bounty of 75,000,000 berries wasn't too bad of a start, especially for someone who started in the New World only a year ago.

"They say she uses lightning attacks. I thought there was already a lightning user, somewhere in Skypea right?" Another voice spoke up from right next to Marco causing him to jump slightly. Not that he would ever admit that he had, especially not to Ace, who stood next to him looking thoughtfully down at the wanted poster.

"Could be a different type that seems like lightening yoi."

"Hmm, well whatever. I wouldn't worry too much about it. She seems to only go after Slave houses, if anything I'm cheering her on. Now Marco if I were you I would stop worrying about a girl you never met and worry at what Thatch is doing in your room right now." Ace smirked up at Marco.

"What!? Damn it Thatch!" Marco stormed off deck running towards his room to stop anything happening to his possessions.

"Gurarararara!"

Somewhere in Whitebeards territory in the New World.

A woman sat on a bar stool sipping a drink from a slightly-more-dirty-than-she-would've-liked glass. Gazing off into space not really paying too much attention to the goings on around her.

Her brown hair hung at a medium length down her back with what looked like a bad case of static shock. She took another sip of her drink contemplating where she was going to go next.

"Excuse me , can you tell me what's the best way to reach Kaido's territory from here?" She finally looked up focusing on the bored looking bartender who was also staring off into space. He started a little at her question and glanced over in her direction.

"Hmmm that's tricky miss. You could go a lot of ways, the fastest is to go the Nor'eastern route which is filled with dangerous uninhabited islands. Or you could catch a ride on the caravans that circle around Whitebeards territory buying and selling supplies at different islands. It's much slower, but it's the safest route to go. Last you could go straight through the middle. That route's got both the good and the bad. It depends on how strong you are. You should be careful though, Kaido's territory isn't anything like Whitebeards. I heard it's a fight for survival every day." He spoke while cleaning the inside of a glass that had by now looked much cleaner than the one she was drinking from.

"Thank you, your help is very much appreciated. Do you know where I can find a map of these routes?" She asked politely sipping from her drink again.

"Yep, if you go down the street here you'll see a map makers place. Make sure you get the more detailed maps or you'll be in a world of hurt."

"Thank you once again, sir." The girl stood up and bowed a little to the man behind the counter, leaving him so flustered at being called sir that he didn't realize until the girl was out the door that she hadn't paid.

Ace looked up at the clouds as he hurried across the deck to help the crew members pull in the sails. Almost an hour ago the navigators had given them warning that a storm was brewing, and it looked to be a large one. The Whitebeard crew was currently battening down the hatches and making sure nothing would roll off the ship.

The crew was almost done with the last sail when they saw the front of the storm heading their way. The cloud cover was massive rolling across the sky dumping rain in a curtain that blocked out everything behind it.

"Fruit users below!" Came the shout and a mad dash of people were seen running to the door to get below deck. Ace swiftly leapt to the deck, landing in a crouch, before he sprinted towards the door. He barely made it before the wall of rain hit the ship.

It was about an hour into the storm. An hour of never ending noise, from both crew and storm when a loud boom, bigger than any of the other sounds on deck, rang out right over the crews heads. Instantly utter silence pervaded the mess hall where the crew not on duty sat waiting. After a momentary pause there was a mad dash towards the exit. The storm was still raging strong, giant waves crashing down onto the deck making it perilous for anyone who decided to venture onto the deck. Ace was pushed up to the front of the crowd and then unceremoniously shoved out into the open, along with Namor who quickly grabbed Ace so he wouldn't slip on the soaked deck. At least his crewmates wanted to make sure he was safe.

"Namor, make sure he comes back and tells us what's going on!" Thatch shouted over the storm, as cheery as ever, not worried in the slightest about his safety. Namor's annoyed response was indecipherable.

He and Namor grabbed onto one of the safety lines that ran throughout the ship ensuring the wellbeing of the crew in storms just like this one. It took them a few minutes of battling waves and a rocking ship to reach the spot of the crash, which turned out to be Pop's room. A small crowd had gathered around the giant man to make sure he was alright, they were swaying and lurching on their feet but determined to protect their father. Ace and Namor reached him just as Whitebeard stood up cradling something to his chest with one massive hand.

"Get back to work brats, we're still in the middle of a storm. Vista, help your brothers and sister through the storm while I'm away!" Whitebeards voice boomed over the caterwauling of the storm. He stood up and started to stride through the lashing rain and wild rocking with ease. Ace and Namor reached Whitebeards side trying to see what was in his hands as they began to slowly make their way below deck, they clung to Whitebeards clothing as their new safety line. Ace saw what looked like a foot, which was all he was able to see by the time they reached the door. Ace leapt forward throwing it open, startling the few crewmembers who had waited. They shuffled out of the way letting Whitebeard duck into the hallway behind, followed shortly by Namor and Ace, who closed the door tightly.

"Pops, what happened?!" Came the cry of the members still in the hallway, the mob being headed by Thatch.

"It seems we have a visitor." He stooped down even lower, revealing the form of a barely conscious young woman who was white as a sheet, cradling her arm against her chest. Her clothes were plastered to her skin and she was shivering.

"We need to get her to the medical bay. Where did she come from?"

"She fell from the sky. It was quite a surprise, Gurarara." Whitebeard straightened up and began to stride down the hall towards the sick bay.

The first sensation she felt when she woke up was pain. A great deal of it at that. Her body ached, her cuts stung, and her arm hurt like the son of a whore-mongering fishwife. Her eyes fluttered open slowly, taking forever to adjust to the light flooding into the room. She was in a medical bay. When had she gotten there? She couldn't remember much after nearly drowning in the sudden storm that had swept her in its wake. The rain had been so heavy that she had lost control of her power, plummeting from the sky with no hope of surviving. Then she had hit something. Hard. After that things got a little hazy, just mainly muffled voices and bright lights.

She look to her left only to nearly jump out of her skin when she looked into the eyes of a man she hadn't even realized was in the room with her. His bright blue eyes gazed lazily right back into her shocked brown ones.

"You're awake yoi." He stated simply.

"It would appear so. Where am I?" Her calm cultured voice answered back not betraying the nervousness she felt in this mans presence. The man looked at her questioningly, most likely shocked that her voice was so smooth and cultured since she looked anything but at the moment.

"You're in the medical bay of the Moby Dick. You fell into my captains roof last night." His slight accusation could be heard through a tightening in his voice and a slight hardening of his eyes as he stared at her. She winced slightly before mulling the name Moby Dick over in her head, it sounded so familiar, but she just couldn't place it...

"What is the name of your captain?" She finally asked, ignoring his attempt to harass her. He smirked at her with an eerie look on his face.

"Whitebeard." Her entire face lost color and her eyes bulged in surprise, but as soon as it was there her face returned to neutral.

"How surprising. I thank you for saving me, I thought I would be dead for sure."

"What were you doing? Why did you fall from the sky?" The sleepy look still in his eyes but now lit up with curiosity.

"Errr. AH! How rude of me, I didn't introduce myself, oh my, how embarrassing. My name is Kepi Meriwether. I'm in your care." She nodded her head to the man, effectively cutting off his question and directing the conversation to something safer, while lifting herself into a sitting position. Marco just lifted an eyebrow at her attempt to change the subject. He snorted, rolling his eyes but followed along with her subject change.

"My name is Marco yoi. Are you able to stand? Pops wants to talk with you" He asked. Gulping she was just about to reply a man came bursting through the door causing her to nearly jump out of her skin in fright. The middle-aged man who had interrupted their conversation had brown hair styled similar to a gangsters, with a crescent shaped scar by his left eye and a goatee.

"Hide me." He spoke in a serious voice, leveling his gaze on Marco.

"What did you do now?" Marco asked with a small sigh, obviously used to this.

"Weeeeellllll, you see Ace fell asleep," the man began (another snort from Marco), "And as a big brother slash pro-prankster, I couldn't let such a perfect opportunity go to waste. So I might have glued his boots to the deck? Just a little?"

"Are you asking or telling me? Besides you can't just a little glue someone's shoes to the ground yoi." Marco spoke as the man began to frantically search around the room looking for a place to hide. The man just laughed, before giving a very unmanly squeak and diving behind her cot. Just as he got into place the door slammed open yet again. This time a young man ran into the room breathing heavily. His freckles stood out starkly against his skin (the large amount of it that was showing) With his freckles Kepi would have thought he would look boyish; with the glare he was wearing he looked anything but. He only had a pair of shorts on, with no shirt, and an orange hat that rested against his back. His grey gaze swept over her briefly before moving onto Marco. She shivered slightly, that gaze was deadly, and he wasn't even glaring at her.

"Where is he?!" His deep voice only held annoyance.

"Where's who?" Came the innocent reply from Marco.

"Thatch, I know he's in here! That basta... err," he glanced her way, "idiot glued my shoes to the ground while I slept. I liked those boots! Oi, Thatch! you owe me a new pair of boots!" She blinked, surprised at his attempt at manners. Ace looked at Kepi again.

"Have you seen Thatch?" He spoke looking her straight in the eyes. Not even missing a beat she replied.

"Thatch? I haven't been awake that long, what does he look like?"

"He's about this tall, has a piece of bread stuck to his head that he calls hair, and has a tendency to pull pranks." He said waving his hand a little bit higher than his head. She pondered the question for a moment.

"Hmmm, I don't believe I have seen such a man? I just woke up, I'm sorry that I could not help you." She said, her face completely serious and devoid of any tell. The man just growled before turning around and running into the hall looking both ways before taking off in one direction. A few moments later she heard a chuckle from behind the bed followed by the man stepping out from behind the cot. He looked down at her with amusement dancing in his eyes.

"Thanks, I appreciate it there Sparks! Now I just have to find another hiding spot."

"You owe me for this Thatch, no pranks for the rest of the week!" Marco called to the man, who grunted, before he started humming contemplatively looking both ways down the hall before taking off.

"My, that was… Interesting?" She spoke up looking at the door where the whirlwind of people had come and left in a moment. Marco chuckled.

"Are you asking or telling me?" She looked at him and cracked a smile.

She stood in front of the strongest man alive. To say she was intimidated would be an understatement. This man was huge in both body and presence. And all he was doing was sitting on a chair drinking sake even the different IV's that he was hooked up to didn't deter from it. Who in their right mind try and get this man to actually fight them must be insane. Just as the thought crossed her mind the old man looked down at her, causing her to shift her feet slightly in discomfort, trying to squash the thought of running.

"What's your name brat?" He spoke looking at me and taking a swig from the sake bottle. I nervously ran my hand through my staticy hair trying to tame it back.

"My name is Kepi Meriwether. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am terribly sorry about destroying your roof, I assure you I didn't mean to. I, er, got caught in the storm, it struck suddenly and I was ill prepared for it. I don't have much money but what I have is yours to use for recompensation." She bowed slightly to the man when introducing herself. She adjusted the sling her arm rested in trying to find a more comfortable spot as she straightened back up. She was standing in front of Whitebeard with a few interested crewmates that stood around in a circle, effectively cutting off any route of escape, not that she would even if she could.

"Gurarara! We don't need your money brat. I was just thinking about getting the roof remodeled anyways." She cocked an eyebrow at that.

"Anyways, didn't you see the storm coming girl, it stewed for a good while before going wild. What boat where you on girl, we'll drop you off there."

"Err, I wasn't on a boat sir."

"Oh? Devil fruit user then?" She nodded her head at that.

"Well then it's a good thing you landed here now isn't. Gurararara." His laugh could shake the heavens from its seat.

"Yes, quite," she paused slightly looking nervous running her hand through her hair again before coming to a decision. "Sir, if it isn't too much to ask, may I stay on this ship until you next reach an inhabited island. I am not able to fly at the moment." The man studied her for a moment. Taking a sip of his sake, " do you want to fight me brat?"

She looked at him horrified before exclaiming, "Are you insane?! No one in their right minds would attack you, and I happen to be in my right mind, even if it got knocked around a little." She breathed heavily for a moment before coming to the realization that she had just insulted the World's Strongest Man. Gulping she looked up quickly, ready to apologize when the stunned silence that had followed her exclamation was broken by large peals of laughter.

"Gurarara, you can stay brat, try not to get into too much trouble." He looked away from her taking another sip from his sake bottle. She nodded in assent and thanks before quickly backing away from the man and turning to walk swiftly (she did not run) to go below deck.

"Thatch, go show her to a room." Whitebeard looked down at the prankster.

"Sure thing Pops. Hey, wait up Sparks!" Thatch trotted off after Kepi waving his hand enthusiastically over his head.

"I think you intimidate her, she looked about ready to wet herself. Or cry." Marco commented.

"Gurarara, just means she'll at least be able to get along with the crew while she stays here. From her reaction I can tell she's not a part of the Marines, though there is something she's hiding."

"Ah, well I was just getting to that, I looked through the bag she carried with her and found something interesting."

"Oh?"

"A mask. A bright purple and yellow mask. It was tucked away in a secret pouch sewn into her bag, I almost didn't come across it." Holding up a wanted poster he continued, "It seems we're entertaining none other than The Storm."

"Gurarara! This should be interesting!"

"So Sparks, you'll be staying in our lovely spare bedroom we use only for guests!" Thatch spoke catching up to Kepi.

"Oh, thank you for escorting me. Why do you call me Sparks?" She asked tilting her head slightly in puzzlement.

"Heh, well when we brought you to the infirmary I had to take you to one of the cots, since Pop's too big to fit through the door, and as soon as I touched you it felt like I was getting zapped by lightening, hence Sparks. Besides I think it's cute!" Thatch replied cheerfully, reaching over and mussing her hair. She stopped walking and looked at him with a shocked expression. He just kept walking, calling out over his shoulder, "are you coming or not?"

She simply shook her head finger combing her hair back into place and picked up her pace to catch up to the crazy, flamboyant man leading her.

It took a few minutes, many confusing turns, Thatch stopping and talking to random crew members, and many asinine comments to reach their destination.

"I'm warning you now, we don't get a lot of visitors so we don't really have any of the visitor rooms cleaned out. It might be a little dusty since no one likes to clean them." He said swinging one of the doors open wildly so that it banged on the wall, this was followed quickly by a cloud of dust that spread through the room.

"Err, in fact I don't think I remember the last time we had a guest stay over night. No worries, I'll just rope some crew members into cleaning it out, until then we should go to the mess hall for a bite to eat!" Coughing and waving her hand in front of her face she nodded quickly getting away from the doorway.

Kepi began to hear the sound of voices from aways down the hall. The sound grew steadily louder until it was a dull roar and by the time they reached a large doorway. Before they could enter the room the doors swung open spitting out a couple of crew members that looked like they were about to start brawling right then and there. Kepi had to jump back, getting out of their way as they barreled down the hallway to engrossed in whatever argument they were having to even glance their way.

Thatch pushed open the door holding it for her to enter the room. Her ears and eyes were assaulted by the room which was filled to the brim with moving, heaving bodies. Few were actually just eating, most of the occupant had some combination of eating, fighting, talking, singing, laughing, or some other rambunctious activity.

"Are things always this... lively, around here?" She called over to Thatch as he directed her over to the food line.

"Yep!" He called back cheerfully handing her a tray, "You get used to it after awhile!" He shouted while skillfully dodging a chunk of indefinable material as it passed by. They reached the top of the line and started to dish themselves. She was forced to set her tray on the lip that jutted partway out of the wall since she only had one arm. Just as she reached the end of the line, ready to ladle what looked like peaches, one of her favorite foods, onto her plate, she noticed the previously free slot was now filled with what looked like peas. She hated peas. She followed the ladle up to the arm and finally to the person who had scooped for her.

"You should eat your greens!" Came Thatch's cheery answer to her unspoken question, she grimaced in response but kept them on her plate; it wasn't like she was going to eat them anyways. She sighed putting the peaches she was going to get back down. Another day she thought gazing longingly at them. The next obstacle was finding a table to sit at. She looked over to Thatch, who was scanning the room. He paused in his search and smiled broadly before motioning for her to follow. Making it to the other side of the room was an exercise in itself. She had to dodge around people while keeping her tray precariously balanced. After the third time of nearly dumping the contents of her tray onto some unlucky bystander Thatch took pity on her and grabbed her tray. She gave him a grateful smile.

"Thatch! Over here!" Came a deep voice from the next table over. Kepi did a double take when she realized that the voice was coming from a woman. A very pretty woman who wasn't actually a woman. So surprised was she that she nearly tripped over a prone body lying on the floor because she was staring at the man, luckily she saw the obstacle and jumped at the last moment though her balance was off because of her broken arm. They reached the seats where Thatch squeezed into a seat next to the Not Woman. She looked around to see if anything was available but found nothing. She gave a confused glance to Thatch who just smirked before he rammed into the guys on his right, squishing them together and pushing them down the bench until the man at the end fell off. The men's protest was very loud like she thought it would be, they mainly just glowered at Thatch with vengeance in their eyes. She covered her mouth to stifle her laugh looking at the now available spot between Thatch and the Not Woman. Quickly sitting down in the available spot she looked at Thatch.

"Thank you for finding me a seat." She said in as innocent and bright a voice as she could muster.

"My pleasure. This is Izo by the way, he's the 16th division commander." He smirked back at her with a glint of mischievousness in his eyes. She turned to the Not Woman, Izo, and smiled politely at him.

"Hello, my name is Kepi Meriwether. How do you do?"

"Ha! You're a cute little thing aren't you. You're also civilized, don't see much of that here." That last comment was directed at Thatch, who was currently trying to hold off the rest of the bench from squishing him into her. She smiled politely.

"Thank you. If my speech is a little stiff I apologize. It is much better now than it was before."

"Oh? Well, if you want to learn to speak like an uncultured brute then look no further than the man sitting next to you. You'll be cussing like a sailor in no time!" He said pointing at Thatch who was now a few feet away from her on the bench in the process of pushing everyone else off the bench while snatching up food from different unprotected trays in the process.

"I'll keep that in mind." She spoke looking speculatively at Thatch. She shrugged before she turned and began eating her food, avoiding the peas of course. By the time she was finished, Thatch had pushed everyone off the bench and was now receiving money from some of the crewmembers that had been sitting around watching. He walked back over to her with a victorious grin on his face but stopped and frowned when he looked down at her tray.

"You didn't finish." He said accusingly staring down at the peas left in the farthest corner of her plate.

"I do not like eating peas." Was her vehement reply.

"We don't waste food here. It hurts the cooks feelings." She grimaced when he looked at her mournfully. Grumbling slightly she scooped up a portion of her peas, staring at them for a moment in what looked like a battle for supremacy between woman and peas. Eventually the peas won and she took a bite swiftly swallowing them with as little chewing as possible. As if a dam had broken she shoveled the rest of the peas into her mouth as quickly as possible before reaching over to Thatch's plate and snagging a peach that had sat unprotected and uneaten.

"Hey!" Came his indignant reply. She simply looked at him with flat eyes that told him it was his fault anyways, so he could just suck it up. Izo just chuckled when he saw this.

"So I heard you have a devil fruit power. What is it?" Izo commented as he watched Kepi snag the rest of Thatch's peaches.

"Hmm, it's a zoan, Tori Tori no Mi." She commented wiping her mouth with a napkin.

"Ohh, what model?" Izo leaned in closer and what looked like the rest of the table who had finally sat back down.

"Err, Crane I think." She said looking down at her plate.

"It must be really pretty, you'll have to show us when you heal!" Izo practically squealed before standing up with his empty tray.

"I think you'll fit in just fine. Good luck Little Spark." He left before she could form a reply. Out of the corner of her eye she saw some of the crewmembers from other tables looking at her. She tensed thinking that they might harm her, since devil fruits users were often ostracized. Then she noticed some were groaning while others were smirking triumphantly waving around a couple of Bellies. She looked questioningly at Thatch who sat eating the rest of his meal. Noticing her glance he looked up then followed her gaze to the crewmembers.

"Oh them, they were just betting on whether you would eat the peas or not. It seems that most of them didn't think you would eat it. Knew I should have bet." She just blinked in reply before laughing a small laugh and relaxing. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad here, just as long as no one found out about that.

Marco sat in his room looking at the new news paper. The large caption on front read Tenryuubito Sophia Grandioles still missing after a year!

Kepi - Tempest

Meriwether - Happy Weather

Thought it was kinda funny. Anyone wanna guess at what model she actually has? If you notice she usually says Err when she's lying or nervous. Or both. How do you like it? Comments appreciated, this is mainly a dabble but I'll continue if I get enough comments.