Hi, guys! FourthWallBreaker here with a story that's been bugging me for a while. It's actually out-of-order with the other stories that I'm working on, but no one's going to get any spoilers...yet.
I'm going to be separating this story by way of the arcs so that it doesn't end up getting to be too long...I'm already in the middle of writing Thriller Bark, and this thing's gotten to be way over 400 pages...
By the way, you guys, I don't own anything that happens in this story other than the small changes I'm going to make to the plot...and the characters that I'm dropping into all of this. Whether that will save Portgas D. Ace in the future or not remains to be seen.
And now...we begin this new adventure!
Chapter 1 - A Normal Day in Dock 1...Not
The docks were in a commotion again.
It wasn't exactly uncommon, but the noise was often loud enough to attract crowds and cause sea birds to fly off from their nests in order to avoid the inevitable attack from a flying log or a sword released from an attacker's grip. Anyone who was anyone knew that this was because the shipwrights were taking care of someone-usually a pirate-who wouldn't pay for repairs. The medical bills were usually higher than the repairs to the ship, and that was saying something for the stupidity of those involved.
It was the noise of the fight that awoke a figure sleeping with her back against the wall of a nearby building.
"Hmmm?" The figure's head shifted, and a hand reached up and adjusted a red and orange baseball cap as the figure looked over in the direction of the clanging noise, which was starting to die down. "Another fight? What's with these people?"
The figure started to get to her feet, dusting off the sleeves of her orange jacket before moving to the red shirt underneath and her blue jeans. Glancing over in the direction of the docks, she sighed and shook her head. "I was hoping for a better wake-up call than that. At least it didn't interrupt anything important."
The figure scratched the back of her head before stepping out of her sleeping place and into the light. Brown hair and blue eyes sparkled as the sunlight reflected off them, and the figure blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted. "I should probably get out of here before the less friendly shipwrights catch sight of me and try to accuse me of trespassing or something..."
The figure, now revealed to be a teenage girl, quickly moved along the stone pathway and jumped over a low, wooden fence at the end of the path. She came out on the outside of one of the docks and walked over to an ever-growing crowd of people, each one gawking at a different member of the docks with admiration...or something more, depending on whether or not you were a girl gawking at a shipwright's muscles.
"What happened?" the teenager asked, looking over at one of the people standing there.
"Another pirate refused to pay the price for getting their ship fixed up," the man replied, grinning as he turned to look at her. "Well, they paid the price for not paying, all right."
"Oh." The teenager's blue eyes darkened as she frowned. "But, why wouldn't they pay with cash? I mean, they got their ship fixed by the best, didn't they?"
"Pirates are always like that, trying to take things without paying for them," the other replied carelessly. "Everybody knows that."
"Well, I kinda don't..." The girl rubbed the back of her head in slight embarrassment. "I'm still trying to relearn a lot."
The man's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, hey - you're that kid who's always hanging around here. The amnesiac Maria, right?"
The girl nodded. "Yeah, that's me." The now-named blue-eyed teenager let out a sigh. "I just wish my memories would come back already. It's been a week, and I've only got bits and pieces of random stuff."
"Just give it some time, kiddo. You'll probably remember sooner or later." The man grinned. "Maybe there's someone here in the docks who'll recognize you. I mean, people come from all over the world in order to get their ships repaired at the famous Water 7 docks by our shipwrights."
"Maybe. But the only lead I've got is a blue flash and that storm that happened when I got here...and then all the weird stuff that I can hardly remember." Maria let out a sigh. "And everyone we've tried so far just ends up saying they don't know me, much less heard of me."
"Hey, keep your chin up. At least you've remembered some stuff, right?"
Maria paused for a moment, then gave a slight nod. "Right." A slight smile started to spread across her face. "Maybe I'll find someone today who knows me. I'll go and start looking around now." With that, the teenager turned and started running off down the street towards a dock entrance.
"Hey, Maria!"
The girl came skidding to a halt, and she partially turned and looked back upon hearing the voice. Catching sight of a familiar man with large, orange goggles and a blue jacket, Maria turned around completely and gave a grin. "Hi, Paulie. What's up?"
"You weren't sleeping in the docks again, were you?" the blond-haired man asked, smirking around his cigar.
"Uh...um..." Maria rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "What makes you ask that?"
"Well, I haven't seen you all morning, and having you only appear now made me think that's what happened."
Maria gained a nervous expression and sighed, her shoulders sagging. "Sorry...I was really tired after asking around last night, I guess I just fell asleep. That's all."
"You've been saying that for the past two nights, Maria." Paulie gained a serious expression on his face. "Can't you find another place to sleep? You never know who might find you in the docks at night and catch you unawares."
"I can't help but shake the feeling that I'll have an even worse chance of that out in the city," Maria replied, motioning to the path behind her. "That's why I always sleep in the docks. Something else has been bothering me, too, though."
"Oh? And what's that?" Paulie crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the blue-eyed teenager expectantly. "Don't tell me you want to become a shipwright."
"Hmmm..." A frown crossed Maria's face, but then she shook her head. "No, that's not it at all. I just feel lost every time I see you guys working. But...it's like something's telling me I have to move on-get out of the city and, I dunno, explore the world or something. Maybe I'd get my memories back faster that way."
"Well, I doubt that anyone would want to take on an amnesiac kid who doesn't even know if she can be useful on a ship." Paulie sighed hand shook his head. "Tell you what, how about you hang around Dock 1 for the day and watch what's going on? Maybe you'll find something that you can do to earn yourself some Beris and find an actual place to stay."
"You'd let me do that?"
"Anything to keep you out of trouble." He motioned for the teenager to follow him. "Come on. I'm sure you can stay out of trouble for one day."
Maria gave a slight nod, then followed after the shipwright. The two soon reached Dock 1 and jumped over the short fence as the crowd started to slowly disperse.
"You know, you don't have to actually help me," Maria pointed out, frowning as she followed Paulie through the shipyard. She looked around occasionally at all the shipwrights that were running around working on different ships that were being built. "Not very many people around here seem to think that I'm much of a help to anybody at all."
"Well, I happen to like girls who are modest, and you sitting around or wandering around the docks isn't going to help us out too much." Paulie glanced back at the blue-eyed girl, one hand drifting to the cigar in his mouth. He pulled it out and released a puff of smoke before continuing, "Besides, the sooner you get your memories back, the better. If you can help us out and end up running into someone who knows you, then you'll be able to get off our hands sooner rather than later."
Maria's frown deepened a little, and she absentmindedly adjusted her baseball cap. "I can't help but wonder if you've got some hidden motive or something."
Paulie stopped and looked back at the teenager before giving her a grin. "Relax, will ya? I'm just trying to help. And if we do, it'll get you off our backs so we don't have to worry about accidentally taking you out when some disgruntled customers come into town."
Maria blinked in confusion for a moment, and she cocked her head to one side before giving a grin. "All right. Thanks. Maybe I can do something to help you out in return."
"Help me? What would an amnesiac like you be able to do around here?" Paulie gave the teenager a skeptical look as he stuck the cigar back in his mouth.
Maria frowned again. "Well, you told me that I should learn something here, right? What makes you think I won't be able to learn from you?"
The blond shipwright gave a sigh of annoyance and ran a hand through his slicked-back hair. "All right, all right. Come on, I'll show you what you can do." He turned and started through the shipyard again, the brown-haired teenager following close behind.
It wasn't too long before they reached a large log, still covered in bark.
"I think you can start with removing the outer layer of bark," Paulie directed, motioning to the log. "If you need any help getting it off, don't be afraid to shout."
"Do you use the bark?" Maria asked, frowning.
"Don't worry about it for now." Paulie waved her question off. "I'll come back and check in on you later. There's something else that I gotta go do."
Maria's frown turned into a look of blank confusion. "Um...okay? See you later, I guess?" Her blue eyes blinked a couple times as she watched Paulie turn and saunter off, taking another chance to let the smoke puff out of his mouth.
Maria returned her attention to the log and did her best to push her brown hair back around her ears, but some of it still fell down around her face as she looked for a grip underneath the bark. A slight yank brought up only a small sliver of bark-not even enough to reveal the wood underneath.
The blue-eyed girl let out a sigh of annoyance, making a face as she dropped the piece of bark next to her. "Looks like this is going to take me a while..."
Time Break
Maria hadn't even managed to clear out a quarter of the bark by the time the Dock 1 doors opened up later that morning. She looked up and turned to look at the opening doors, blinking in confusion while she cocked her head to one side. The amnesiac caught sight of Paulie standing there with a look of annoyance on his face and appearing somewhat ruffled, as well as one of the other shipwrights-the black-haired man with the top hat and the white bird. And then there was another man with blue hair and a striped suit standing there with a women in a short skirt...and three people that didn't look at all like people from town.
The blue-eyed girl dropped the piece of bark that she had just yanked out and turned to give the three newcomers a closer look.
There was a well-tanned, black-haired teenager with a green-brown bandanna wrapped around his head and a long nose...a girl with bright orange hair and a blue tank top with a white skirt...and a black-haired boy with a red button-up vest, blue shorts, sandals, and a straw hat.
Maria frowned slightly. "Those three...I don't know them, but..."
Her vision started to blur a little, and Maria started blinking rapidly, but her vision didn't clear. Instead, it only got worse. About a minute later, her vision had gone black.
Gradually, her vision started to return, but to a different place: out at sea, on some sort of ship that Maria couldn't identify...and it sounded like people were having a party. The loudest voice caused a picture to appear in front of the ship...and it was of the black-haired boy with the straw hat, and he had a large grin on his face that looked like it was overtaking his head.
Maria's vision blurred again, and she found herself standing back in the shipyard, breathing heavily and blinking rapidly.
What was that?
Maria couldn't believe what she had just seen... What did a ship and the boy with the straw hat mean? And why did she have to get a vision of that ship and it's partying crew members now?
Speaking of...
Maria quickly glanced around, searching for the group that had come in from the front entrance to Dock 1. She soon found them sitting near a pile of logs waiting to be cut...or have the bark sheared off, the teenager wasn't exactly sure. They were missing the long-nosed, deeply-tanned boy in the brown overalls, but the other two newcomers were there, as well as the long, square-nosed young man with the white baseball cap and an orange and blue jacket. It looked like the lot of them were talking about something.
Curious, Maria moved over to them and snuck around behind the pile of logs in order to hear what was going on.
"So, how much money do you think the repairs are going to cost?" the boy with the straw hat asked as Maria crept up to the top of the log pile. She watched as he tapped each of the three black suitcases in front of him as he continued, "We've got plenty of money to spend, and no price is too high for our Merry." The black-haired teenager laughed.
Merry? Maria cocked her head in slight confusion while the square-nosed man sat down on the lowest level of lumber. The only reason they'd probably be here is to repair a ship...but what would someone who looks about my age be doing with one? And how much money does he have if he's not worried about the cost?
If there was one thing Maria knew from hanging around the docks, it was that these shipwrights weren't cheap.
"And while you're at it, why don't you make her stronger, faster, as tough as nails, and of course, decked out with cannons!" The straw hat grinned.
Maria looked down at the white baseball cap, blinking as she took in the man's sitting posture. His head was bent slightly, and it looked like he was weighed down by something. The blue-eyed teen knew that he was one of the foreman of Dock 1 like Paulie, who was standing nearby, but she'd never really bothered to learn his or the others' names for one reason or another-mainly because none of them except for Paulie had come up to her and said hello or anything else.
All the same, something told her that the posture of the unnamed foreman was bad news.
"I'd like pretty engravings or some sort of decoration along the hull," the orange-haired girl spoke up. "Also, could you guys renovate the inside?"
Maria noticed her short skirt and mentally snickered. Paulie must've had a conniption fit when he'd caught sight of that. While she didn't know him well, she'd watched him react to women hanging around the entrance looking for shipwrights to fan over, and he was always scolding them for their skirt length.
The brown-haired girl was glad that she was able to get close enough to him as she was, considering that she wore jeans and refused to go out and find skirts like the other girls were wearing.
"Oh, and a big statue, too!" the straw hat added, grinning. "When I say big, I mean huge!" He lifted his arms high above his head as though that was proof of its size. "Kay?"
Maria quietly snorted. What good would a statue be on a ship?
The blue-eyed teen noticed the long-nosed foreman moving then, and she shifted down a little to stay more out of sight. She pulled down on the brim of her red and orange baseball cap when a beam of sunlight hit her eyes, and she listened to the conversation for the foremen's reactions.
"Not so fast," the long-nosed foreman stated.
Something in his tone caused the excited looks to disappear from the orange-haired girl's and straw hat's faces, and a frown came over Maria's face.
"That ship of yours...she's gone on some pretty extraordinary journeys, hasn't she?"
Maria blinked. That foreman can tell? That's pretty cool. I wonder what kind of journeys their ship has been on?
The orange-haired girl blinked, looking somewhat befuddled. "Uh..."
Straw hat moved forward and raised an arm in the air, his sandaled feet slapping against the stone. "Yeah, you bet! We've done it all! A while back we flew in the sky then fell back down-we climbed a mountain, too."
Maria's eyes widened. Flew? A ship? Wow...I didn't think that was possible! And climbing a mountain? How does that work?
"So, you've gotta work hard to fix her up extra good, okay?" Straw hat looked extremely confident as he spoke.
With all those adventures, I have no doubt that Paulie and the others will be able to take care of your ship. Maria gave the straw hat a grin, even though he couldn't see it considering how she was positioned. I wonder what kind of crew he's a part of.
When none of the foremen said anything to the straw hat's statement, a frown came over his face.
"You don't think I'm lying, do you?" he asked.
"That's not the issue," the long-nosed foreman replied. He turned to look at the two teens. "Her battle scars are worse than you think."
The orange-haired girl blinked. "Um...then you're saying that it's going to take a long time for you to fix her?"
Maria shifted a little. Something tells me there may be more to it than that...
"No, ma'am," the long-nosed foreman replied. "It's not about the time. It's not about skill, either. I'm saying no one can fix her, not even us."
Maria's blue eyes widened. What? She shifted to look out over the top of the log pile a little bit better, her expression shifting from confusion to concern. It sounded like they had been through a lot with the ship, but...
The two teenagers looked at the long-nosed foreman in shock. Meanwhile, Paulie moved from where he had been standing to sit down on the log pile. Maria pulled her head back a little so that he wouldn't see her there. He'd probably have her head for listening in like this.
Paulie took the cigar out of his mouth and blew smoke out. "So that means the keel is damaged, huh?" He looked over at the long-nosed foreman.
"That's right," the long-nosed foreman replied grimly. "It looks like it's taken a real wallop."
Maria blinked for a moment, then remembered what the straw hat had said.
"We flew up in the sky then fell back down..."
When they fell back down to the sea, did they do some major damage?
The orange-haired girl took a step forward. "No way! We...we've gone everywhere without any problems until now!"
It makes me wish that I was with you to experience them...and maybe have some memories. Maria let out a sigh of tired annoyance.
"In theory, even if we did everything we could, the probability of your ship lasting until the next island...is zero." The long-nosed foreman sounded grim and serious. Maria was sure he looked grim, too, but she wasn't about to look down in order to find out.
All she had to do was look at the grim look on the straw hat's face...and she understood. This ship meant a lot to them. Hearing that it couldn't be fixed...it probably meant even more.
Like losing a good friend...or worse.
Yes, I'm starting the story at this point. I've noticed that most people start it earlier than this, but this point was one that actually worked pretty well for me and what I was planning for Maria. I hope this chapter works as a good introduction for her.
I've got school starting soon, so I probably won't be posting another chapter for a while. I'm definitely not giving up on this thing, though - not when I'm plotting just what my characters are going to be doing in the New World. ;)