A Change in the Wind
By bakagaijin
Chapter 1: The Calm
The sun slowly began to rise above the sea. Light from the golden orb crept softly across the floor and over to Ensign Tashigi's cot, caressing her into consciousness. She didn't quite know what to make of it. She hadn't had a peaceful wake-up since… well she actually couldn't remember the last time. Still, the strangeness of the moment didn't keep her from enjoying it.
"What an absolutely beautiful day!" she said smiling. She had woken instantaneously. She got ready and made her way to the deck without incident. A fresh pot of coffee was waiting for her on the tray, and she was allowed a full twenty minutes before Captain Smoker came up from the dock. "Yo, girl."
"Hai!" Tashigi cried and rose with her salute. Smoker just gave her an absent wave and poured himself a cup. "Good morning Smoker-san," she smiled. "Are we ready to sail?" Commodore Smoker drank his cup in a single gulp. He then pulled two cigars from his jacket and lit each one of them. Tashigi waited through this and the incredibly long puff he always took when first lighting a cigar. This only made sense, for him the smoke was like eating fresh donuts.
"Hai," replied Smoker. "we're almost ready. We're waiting on a new officer." Tashigi openly showed her surprise to this. Before she could ask another question they heard the mild thumps of soft yet purposeful footsteps up the gangplank. "I imagine that's him now," grunted Smoker.
A slight youth barely the size of Tashigi, stopped just before the deck. This slender, white haired man couldn't have been any older than the swordswoman. Yet he stood there in the clothes of a civilian with a commander's Navy jacket with the hem just past his hips. He stood there and saluted the both of them. "Permission to come aboard, sir?" he half-bellowed.
Smoker gave a wave and nodded his consent. "I take it that you're the new officer under my command?" The young man held out his hand and half smiled.
"Cohn Nicoli- Commander, at your service."
Smoker shook his hand absently. It was when he took the time to shake Tashigi's hand that he actually began to LOOK at his new Commander.
"Would you care for some coffee?"He gave a full smile to the spectacled girl and made his reply.
"I appreciate that Tashigi-chan, but I prefer tea."
"San," grunted Smoker.
Both Tashigi and Nicoli turned to look at him. "I'm sorry, sir?" asked the fair-haired Commander.
Smoker sat down on his reclining deck-chair and took his cigars out of his mouth. "The one thing you need to understand here, is that I do things MY way. Off this boat you outrank her. On this boat, she outranks you, until I say otherwise. Understood?"
"Smoker-san!" Tashigi began to object. She only got as far as "Smo."
Nicoli put up his hand in front of her. "Excuse me Tashigi-san. Sir, that's just fine, sir. Your ship your rules."
Smoker raised an eyebrow at this. "Okay then."
"May I be excused, sir? I have not had breakfast."
Smoker took the cigars out of his mouth and made his reply, "Hand me your transfer papers after you have breakfast." Nicoli saluted them both, and before turning to head downstairs he smiled at the woman before him.
"I hope to reach such a level as to be your peer, Tashigi-san." He then softly walked down the stairs and out of sight.
"He looks promising," the Ensign remarked.
"Hmph," was her C.O.'s response.
Cohn Nicoli sat down happily at his meal. As he sat, his eyes darted over the ship's log. He made note of the usual supplies. He checked the shape of the ship; and found it to be in bristle fashion. The thing he paid the most attention to however, were the recorded movements of the straw-hat pirates. "Soon…" he whispered. "Very soon…" He closed the log-book and went back to his meal.
As the clear skies spanned out across the heavens, the sun smiled just as brightly on the ship that was now its namesake-- The Thousand Sunny. The ship cruised along the calm seas in the tropical climate. It was on this ship that Monkey D. Luffy and his crew relaxed for their day off. It was so nice out they had just cast the anchor and decided to spend the day as a kind of luau.
"Why shouldn't we drop the anchor?" Nami said, explaining her decision. "We're in a tropical climate, the weather is perfect, and we're officially three days since seeing Luffy's grandfa- I mean the marines." Luffy ignored her slip of the tongue, and screamed with enthusiasm. "YEAH! TIME TO PARTY!"
Franky was already starting to dance on the deck, trying to teach Chopper and Usopp his signature steps. "Oh-yeaaah! Feeeelin' SUUPERRR!!! OW! OW! Let's party!" At that, the reindeer doctor and the long-nosed sniper chanted those last words in Franky's pose. "PARTY!"
A day off was exactly what everyone needed. Before the conversations had even ended they found the anchor had already been dropped, and Zolo was sleeping beside the lever instead of the main mast where he had been. Sanji had immediately brought out cool drinks for everyone. "Nami-swan is so brilliant! A Million Sunny!" he cried.
Robin had looked up from her book to take the drink. "I like the idea as well. Just one thing…" at that moment arms reached out from the floor and grabbed the ankles of the three dancers. One arm popped up from Franky's chest and pointed at his face. "You Carpenter-san, must agree to some kind of pants." And she tossed him a pair of board shorts. This had Luffy buckled over in laughter.
"Phillistines!" Franky snarled as he put on the shorts.
And so the day went with Sanji using all the stores of pork meat and pineapple. The various members of the Straw-Hat crew were drinking, or dancing, or laughing, or all three at one point or another. Nami had set up her original staff as a limbo pole. The more wild of the Straw-Hats just went nuts.
Even Sanji got in on the act, limboing under the pole with four trays of cooked food and drinks and successfully rising back up. He had hoped to impress his precious lady-nakama, but they didn't seem to notice. So dejected, he returned to retrieve the last of the food for the evening.
Meanwhile Luffy had eaten his share of the ham, and he sat down next to Nami, who'd been sunning herself on her beach towel. "Wheeeeew!" He cried.
Nami laughed at his reaction. Luffy was never able to fill his belly on board the ship. Until now, that is. "Galley-La really gave us a hand. I never thought I'd see you full onboard the ship." He turned to look at her and gave his characteristic "Luffy-grin", along with the "Luffy-chuckle."
Luffy then made his little bit of small talk. "Franky told me they gave you more map making stuff, Nami." She sighed in the affirmative.
"The best Water 7 had to offer." Luffy tried to say something but ended up yawning into a nap.
Nami found herself sighing again after a quick chuckle. She then sat up and leaned against Luffy, using his stuffed body as a back support. She reached over and began to nibble on the delicacies that Sanji had so effortlessly whipped up. Taking a quick look around to see if anyone would notice, she took off Luffy's hat and ruffled the rubber-man's hair. Then she persuaded Sanji to place an umbrella over herself and Luffy.
"Aye-Aye, Nami-swaaaan!"
Well that's the first chapter. I'll do my best to have the other chapters uploaded quickly. So, now comes the time for reviews. Tell me what you think.
-Bakagaijin