. . . Yeah, I came up with another story idea. Blame my overactive imagination. And my interests in One Piece and Phantom of the Opera coming up at the same time.
I'm going to go ahead and explain this story a bit. Yes, it is a parody of The Phantom of the Opera. This was just something that I wanted to do, but could not fit in with my other stories involving the different anime or video game characters.
Some of the details that involve events that happen before the beginning of this parody will be vague as they are unimportant to this story. The placement of OP characters in the cast list is based off of who I casted as the main three characters and they are casted in the positions I thought suited them best.
So, now that I have that out of the way, let's enjoy the prologue.
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or The Phantom of the Opera. Myka/Terra is my OC.
Prologue
"Oh! No way!" cried out Nami.
"What is it, Nami?" asked Robin.
The Straw Hats had made port on an island to restock on supplies after a week at sea and Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper had eaten all of the food in an eating contest (one which Sanji made sure they regretted later).
It was apparent that the island's residents were into music and plays, and Nami was currently checking out a poster that advertised a play that was going to be on that night.
"I've heard so much about this one! We got to go see it!" Myka looked at the poster Nami was checking out. The title of the play was The Phantom of the Opera. She had heard of this play before, but she wasn't sure what it was even about.
However, Nami had made up everyone's mind to go see the play by buying everyone a ticket before they realized what was going on. And the tickets were nonrefundable, so it was either watch the play or get killed by Nami. With that threat hanging in the air, Myka grabbed her ticket and said nothing.
The play didn't start for another four hours and everyone agreed to meet up an hour early in front of the theatre, so everyone just went their separate ways for now. Myka looked around at the town she was in. What should she do for three hours?
She decided, in the end, to just wander around town and see what there was to do.
Twenty minutes later found her sitting at a table outside a small café with a glass of lemonade in hand. She found herself wondering what the rest of the crew was doing. If she remembered correctly, Nami and Robin went shopping around at clothing stores. Knowing Zoro, he probably got lost by now just going down a street. Sanji went to the market to restock his supplies. Franky and Usopp were checking out new tools. And Luffy, Chopper, and Brook went to do something "fun" (which had a habit of turning into a disaster one way or another). She smiled and shook her head.
She honestly wouldn't have known where she would be now had Luffy and his crew not come to her island in East Blue because of a storm.
"Hey Myka! Is that you?" She looked up at the sound of her name. She immediately picked out two guys in white jumpsuits and hats, one of them with the name "Penguin" on it. And, of course, who could overlook the polar bear wearing an orange jumpsuit. Myka waved at them.
"Hey guys! What brings you here?" They walked over and pulled up a couple of chairs.
In case you're wondering how she knew the Heart Pirates, it was because of a certain incident that occurred during her travels with the Straw Hats. The incident, in the end, separated her from everyone else. Not being able to travel by herself, she ended up reluctantly joining up with the Heart Pirates (the only pirate crew that was in her area at the time) until she could reunite with her crew.
To make a long story short, they had their share of adventures and Myka felt that she could trust the Heart Pirates as much as she could trust her crew.
However, she also had another problem because of that . . .
"Nothing, really. We're just here to restock on supplies," said Penguin.
"And we saw some of the other Straw Hats around here, so we figured you were somewhere as well," said Bepo.
"I'm always somewhere. I'm just not always nearby," said Myka.
"Whatever. What are you and the Straw Hats doing here, anyway?" asked Shachi.
"At first, it was to restock like you guys . . . but then one of us got tickets to a play here and since they are nonrefundable, it's either going to see the play or face certain doom when you get back to the ship for wasting money."
"Yeah right. You're exaggerating," said Penguin. Myka shook her head.
"You don't know Nami."
That was basically how she spent her remaining time before the play. Just talking to former crewmates and having a good laugh.
"Hey Myka, have you considered Captain's offer?" asked Bepo after over two hours of swapping stories later.
Now that was the problem Myka was facing. After a series of events, Law had asked if she would be interested in joining the crew. She had initially turned down the offer, but the more time she spent with the Heart Pirates, the harder that became to do, even after she went back to the Straw Hats.
And apparently, the offer was still on the table. Before she could answer, Luffy came up out of a crowd of people.
"Hey Terra! There you are! What'cha been doing?" Luffy got closer before he recognized the Heart Pirates.
"Oh, I didn't know you guys were here too! How are you guys?" Luffy, after the war, saw the Heart Pirates as friends despite being rivals with Law.
"We're doing fine. We're just restocking on supplies," replied Bepo.
"Ok. Where's Law?" asked Luffy. Penguin and Shachi shrugged.
"He's somewhere in town. That's all we know," said Penguin. Luffy nodded. Then he smiled.
"Sweet! We should all hang out! Oh, but Nami wants us to do something . . . Terra, do you remember what it is?" asked Luffy.
"That play she was talking about," said Myka.
"Oh right! It's about a ghost, right?"
"I don't think that's entirely accurate . . ." said Myka.
"What're you going to see?" asked Bepo.
"Phantom . . . something . . ."
"Phantom of the Opera," corrected Myka.
"Yeah, that. Oh! That reminds me! Nami wanted me to go looking for Zoro since it's almost time to meet up! Except that I can't find him anywhere . . ." Myka sighed.
"I'll help you out if you want." Luffy brightened up.
"Really? Thanks! Let's go!"
"Go where?" asked a green-haired swordsman who popped virtually out of nowhere from behind Luffy. Myka pointed at him.
"Found him," she said. Luffy turned around.
"Wow! That was quick! Zoro, Nami told me to go looking for you since that usually takes a long time to do." Zoro frowned.
"I wasn't going to get lost. I know that the place is over there." Zoro pointed to his right.
"Uh, Zoro?" Myka pointed in the opposite direction.
"That way."
"Oh, shut up!" Myka snickered. It was always fun to mess with him. She got up from her seat.
"Well, I'll be seeing you guys later, then," Myka said to her former crewmates.
After parting with them and walking out of earshot, Zoro asked Myka, "What did they want with you?"
"We were just catching up with each other," she said. She could sense where he was going with this line of questioning.
"I don't suppose they said anything about you joining their crew, then?" he asked. And there it was.
"I've told you before that I'm sticking with you guys. I came back, didn't I?" she said.
"Chill out, Zoro. There's nothing wrong with hanging out with friends," said Luffy.
"They're our rivals, not our friends. We're eventually going to be fighting them. My concern is that you've gotten a little too friendly with them. What will you do when it comes to choosing who you'll help to find One Piece?" asked Zoro. Myka didn't answer.
"Relax, Zoro. We can always fight to be the Pirate King when we reach Raftel. Now's the time to have fun and not worry about who our enemy is," said Luffy.
Having had enough of this conversation, Myka walked on ahead of them to the theatre while they still talked about that issue.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Myka sat in her seat, bored and waiting for the play to start.
Everyone had managed to meet outside of the theatre 45 minutes before the play's scheduled time (Usopp was late because of some incident involving a kid, a slingshot, and a pissed off shop owner). After that, they had joined the crowd that was slowly moving into the theatre and it took them about 25 minutes to get to their seats. Myka knew that the play was popular, but she didn't think this many people would come as well.
And now, they were all sitting in a row halfway up the balcony and looking straight at the stage.
Starting at the end was Brook, Franky, Sanji, Nami, Robin, Zoro, Chopper, Usopp, Luffy, and finally Terra at the other end. To her right was a bunch of empty seats. She placed her elbow on the arm rest and leaned to the side, resting her head on her hand. They still had another 15 minutes before the play started and nothing to occupy her mind with. Then again, she wasn't sure how much she would enjoy the play, so she might be bored no matter what.
That was, until someone took the empty seat beside her.
Curiosity getting the better of her, she looked over, only to be surprised.
"Law? What are you doing here?" she asked. Law just shrugged.
"Killing some time," he said. Myka raised an eyebrow at him.
"You're killing time . . . by watching a play?" she asked, skeptically. There was little she knew for certain about him, but he did not come across as someone who would spend time watching a play. She looked around him to see that Bepo, Penguin, and Shachi were also there. She highly doubted that this was their idea of fun, either.
"Like it isn't unusual for you to be doing the same," he remarked. She had to admit, he got her there.
At this point, the other Straw Hats had noticed Law and three of his crewmates. All of them were instantly suspicious of his intentions.
"Hey Law! You're seeing this, too!" Luffy was the only exception.
"Why are you here?" asked Zoro. Law's appearance wouldn't have been so suspicious if it wasn't for the fact that he sat next to Myka, of all people.
"Don't worry. I'm not here to start anything," said Law. Unlike Zoro, Myka did believe that. However, she didn't believe that he was actually interested in seeing the play. Just what did he want?
After a few minutes, everyone calmed down when it appeared that he was telling the truth. Then the lights dimmed, signaling that the play was about to commence.
"I think it's more surprising that some of your crewmates are actually here to watch this," said Law. Myka rolled her eyes.
"This is actually a case of one of us buying the tickets and the rest of us more or less being forced to attend. And I know that, for most of them, this play is actually going to be a game of who can stay awake the longest," she said.
"Really? Who do you think will nod off first?" he asked.
"That's easy. That'll be . . ." Myka looked over at the person in question just to see that he had already fallen asleep.
". . . Wow. The play hadn't even started yet," she said. Typical Zoro. Law smirked.
"In that case, why not start betting on who the next person will be?" he asked.
Hmmm . . . making bets on who would fall asleep? That sounded like a good way to entertain herself.
"Ok then."
That had been how she spent the most of the play.
Luffy, as she predicted, was the second person to fall asleep. He got bored shortly after the overture and fell asleep during the song "Think of Me."
The next person to succumb was Penguin instead of Usopp, resulting in her losing that bet. Usopp followed shortly afterward during "Music of the Night." Then Shachi, during the whole scene involving people getting multiple letters. Bepo slept just before the part a guy got hanged from the catwalk during a ballet. Then Franky was out just before intermission. Chopper followed him during the cemetery scene.
Myka was now looking over who was left. Brook, Nami, and Robin were actually interested in the play, so there was no way that they were going to fall asleep. That just left Sanji, but that was a long shot if anything.
So, now that she was out of people to observe, Myka started to pay more attention to the play.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Myka stirred as she felt something nudging her in the shoulder. When she opened her eyes, she saw that she was in a theatre, and people were filing out of it.
"It seems that you fell asleep towards the end," said Law. Myka thought back to when she was watching the play. She couldn't remember when she dozed off.
"Hey Terra!" She looked to her left to see Luffy awake and smiling like always.
"Convince Sanji to cook meat for dinner!" he shouted. Of course, this was typical of Luffy.
"I'll try," she said.
"Yay!" He bounced away laughing. It was then that Myka noticed that everyone else in the crew was awake and heading out.
"Well, I guess I'll see you later, Law," she said as she followed everyone out. She didn't hear a response, but she didn't look back as she walked off with the Straw Hats.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
As promised, Myka convinced Sanji to cook something with a lot of meat for dinner. It wasn't that she had to try. All she had to do was ask and he jumped up to please her. She sighed. That was still Sanji's most annoying trait. She just didn't see how that was supposed to be endearing.
However, that was the least of her problems that night.
"I still say that you're being too friendly with them," said Zoro towards the end of dinner. Myka huffed.
"I've already told you before. What does it take to convince you?" she asked, annoyed by his constant pestering.
"Killing them all would be one way to prove it, but you've been trying to get rid of that reputation of yours, so I imagine that's not an option," said Robin, who had been listening in. Myka paled and her eyes narrowed. She hated that damnable reputation of hers with a passion ever since she remembered it. She was going to avoid making people think she still acted like that.
"I'm not telling her to go kill them!" said Zoro, who knew how much of a sore spot the subject was to Myka, "I'm just saying that you should probably avoid them for a while. I don't doubt that Law and his crew have been trying to convince you to join them ever since you had been stuck traveling with them. And you've clearly let yourself get close to them, even though they're going to be our enemies in the long run. If you're going to be too conflicted about who you wanna help find One Piece, then it would probably be best if you drop out. We can't afford to have someone who's unsure of what they're going to do."
Everyone was silent. Myka was aware that they had the whole crew's attention, but she couldn't care less as she glared at Zoro. How dare he insinuate that she might harm Luffy later on? She had told him that she was going to stick with the Straw Hats, and yet he still doubted her?
She didn't say anything, much to everyone's surprise. However, her short temper did show through when she punched Zoro upside the head before leaving. She intended to go to bed early so that she could avoid having this conversation with anyone else.
Myka managed to get to the woman's quarters without interference, a fact that she was thankful for. She crashed onto her bed, not caring about changing into sleepwear.
With just one accusation, her day had gone to hell. She had said repeatedly that her mind was made up. She had decided that she would stay as a Straw Hat, no matter who she also happened to be friends with. She just couldn't go back on her word after all they been through. She laid there for about two hours alone (Nami and Robin had apparently decided not to bother her after dinner) before finally going to sleep.
So, what do you guys think? I know it's not jumping right into the parody, but this was how I saw things starting off. Updates might be slow for a while, but they will happen one way or another.
In the meantime, review and tell me what you think. You will find out who I casted as who in the next chapter.
Later!