Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece!
Chapter One: The Return Of Aro!
The docks were busy this morning in Shira. People ran to and fro to get ready for the monthly tribute to Veldoro, master of the island. They called it P.I.T.A.; pain in the –well, you can guess the rest. People unloaded barrels upon barrels of foods from the ships. Moving them to carts to be loaded up and hauled away.
One such cart was being filled with fresh fish and dried seaweed. The man loading everything up was in his 50's, hair a blue gray while his deep brown eyes were that of a passionate leader. A dark brown vest that came to the top of the pockets on his blue jeans covered his dark blue shirt. His shoes were worn-out sandals. He grunted as he tried to lift a barrel and frowned when he found that he could not. He looked up and a smile came to his face, "Hello Aro." He said in a raspy voice. It was clear that this voice once made girls melt on the spot.
On the barrel was a girl, Aro, in a black trench coat. A black bini came down to the middle of her forehead. Black hair pulled into low-set pigtails poked out from the bottom of it. Her bright yellow eyes were pools of emotion, right now holding joy. Under the coat, she had on a white T-shirt that was tight enough so if she did a back flip, it would not come up much, and white shorts that were finger-tip length and had the normal four pockets. A shining black leather belt stood out on the white around her waist, but not as much as the shoulder strap that went from her left hip and over her right shoulder then back again. A few small bags were visible, just barely, around her hip attached to the belt. Her boots came to just above the knee and had a great deal of buckles on them. Aro smiled down at the man, " 'Ello, Cap!" She waved; showing her black finger cut leather gloves.
The man, Cap, frowned, "I'm not your caption any more, don't call me that." He moved to another barrel, lifting it up and loading it into the cart. Aro got down and stood beside the cart.
"You'll always be my Caption, Cap." She laughed. Her laugh made many heads turn by the beauty of it. Cap chuckled as he picked up another barrel to load it onto the cart. Aro's laughter slowly died and she got a serious look, "Veldoro still being a P.I.T.A. kind of guy?"
"No," Cap frowned at her, "We're holding P.I.T.A. out of habit." He loaded the barrel he had, then loaded another one. There were seven left to load.
It was Aro's turn to frown, "Habit, shmabit. Someone really needs to get rid of that guy." She went and leaned on a barrel, watching Cap.
"If you can find someone strong enough to do so, then be my guest." He loaded another barrel. Silence pressed down on the two like a heavy hand. Cap loaded two more barrels before he broke the silence, "How was the trip? Ever find a new crew?"
Aro shook her head, "Nah, no one strong enough to join me."
Loading another barrel, Cap spoke, "What about the other way around?"
"There was one, but his crew was so weak," her voice held laughter, "the noobies on your crew could smash them on their own!"
He loaded another one, and wiped the sweat off his brow, "Could have, you mean. I left that life behind a long time ago. And you know that, Aro."
Aro picked up the last two barrels at the same time and loaded them up. "Can, is what I meant to say. They are still on your side." She started to tie the barrels down. Cap started to laugh.
"Your strength will always surprise me. Did you hear of any crews you wanted to join while you were sailing around?" He climbed into the head of the cart, and picked up the rains. Aro climbed on the back, lying on the barrels as if they were a bed. She propped her head on her knuckles smiling at Cap.
"Yeah! There was one. Rumor has it that he's like me!"
"Is it your new goal to join his crew?" He flicked the rains as he spoke. The cart started to roll down the dock with the loud clanking of metal on wood.
"No, saving Shira from Veldoro is first. Joining his crew is second."
"What's the crew's name? Who's the caption?"
"All the wanted posters for him are as "Monkey D. Luffy"; also known as "Straw Hat". His crew is known as the "Straw Hat Pirates". People say that Luffy is a rubber man; that he, too, ate a devil fruit!" Her voice fell to a hush whisper at the last part.
"You want to join him because he ate a cursed fruit like you?" Cap looked over his shoulder at her just in time to see a quick nod. He sighed and turned back to the road, "You'll never change, you know that?"
"Yeah," she got even quieter, "I know that…" The silence pressed on them again, but this one was of a silent understanding. They started to pull off of the docks and onto the main road as a new ship pulled into the harbor. A large ram-like had was on the front; along with a boy in a straw hat…