Marimo and the Maiden
Chapter 1
The sun shone down heavily upon Unmei Island. It was an unusually warm day by Grand Line standards and the island, which was heavily frequented by both pirates and marines alike due to its close proximity to the Sabaody Archibelago, was bustling with life. The many restaurants and bars in town were brimming with people and the numerous shops were quickly being cleared out. However, aside from the busy town there was a more natural side to the island, as half of it was inhabited by woodland.
The port was filled with many ships, ranging from small sailing vessels to large galleys. But one ship stood out above the rest; a medium sized and curiously coloured brig sloop with a lion as its figurehead and a lawn on its deck. Onlookers and passers by gawked, trying to discover who the ship belonged to but found it impossible due to the sails being rolled up.
As for the crew, they were dining in one of the finer restaurants on the island, but the other guests didn't see it like that. At a table in the corner of the restaurant sat a strange group of people. Based on their individual appearances one wouldn't pair them together, but there they were.
In the middle of the table sat a lanky boy with a straw hat hanging by his neck and a big grin on his face. He was devouring meat by the dozen and he appeared to be the most active member of the group.
Beside him sat another lanky male, with a big nose and goggles on his head. He and the straw hat boy appeared to be having an eating contest, but the long nosed boy was failing to keep up with the inhuman speed his opponent was inhaling his food.
On the other side of the Strawhat boy there sat a tanuki with a purple top hat, or at least that's what he looked like to people. He was actually a reindeer, and he was eagerly cheering on his two friends.
Seated a bit further down was an orange haired woman with a frown on her face as she glared at the eating contest, and beside her was an elegant black haired woman who didn't seem to be paying attention to what was going on as she had her nose buried in a book.
In between the two women sat a blond haired man in a suit. He had a lovestruck look on his face and was swooning between the two.
At the end of the table was a large blue haired man in a jacket and a speedo, and a bottle of cola in front of him. He was taking in all the ruckus with a smile on his face.
Beside him sat the strangest person of the lot; a talking, suit clad skeleton with an afro on his head. Even though he had no flesh on his face, one could see that he was laughing at the antics at the table.
"Who in the world are those guys? Can't they see they're bothering us?" said a man at a table on the other side of the room.
His friend responded. "Shut your trap! Those are the Strawhat Pirates!"
"The Strawhat pirates? You mean that rookie crew with a combined bounty of over 700 million beli?"
"Yeah. So if you value your life you'll keep your mouth shut!"
"I see it now. They each look exactly like their bounty pictures! But who the hell is that talking skeleton? And isn't there supposed to be another member of their crew?"
His friend narrowed his eyes as he stared at the Strawhats. "You're right. Where's that green haired demon swordsman. Where's Roronoa Zoro?"
Said swordsman was sitting in the crow's nest of the Thousand Sunny, yawning as he woke up from his nap. He stretched and put his hand over his haramaki, checking to see if his three treasured katana were still there. They were.
"I needed that nap. Guess it's time to go join the other guys at that restaurant."
Zoro dug into his pocket and took out a piece of paper with writing on it. "Those idiots. What makes them think I need directions to the restaurant? I'm not stupid."
He got up and jumped down to the deck. He checked his swords once again and set off into the town, muttering to himself. "I bet it was that damn love cook's idea to give me directions."
Back at the restaurant Sanji sneezed. "Some beautiful lady from my past must be thinking about me."
"Yosh! Listen up everyone!" spoke the captain. "I wanna make another toast to our newest nakama Brook, and to our successful adventure at Thriller Bark."
"Kanpai!" the crew spoke in unison.
The skeleton rose to his feet and picked up his glass. "I want to thank you all for the warm welcome. I look forward to having many more adventures with this crew, and to playing music for you until the day I die! But I'm already dead. Yohohoho, skull joke!"
"Suge! Sing us a song Brook!" said an excited Luffy.
"Hai, let's hear it Brook!" added an equally excited Chopper.
"Yohohoho, if you insist!"
And so the skeleton broke into a more cheerful version of Bink's sake as the Strawhats sang along. Sanji briefly stopped and took a drag from his cigar. "Hn, I bet that baka marimo got lost again."
Hundreds of metres away Zoro sneezed. He looked around and saw he was surrounded by trees. "Kuso! Those idiots gave me the wrong directions. Now where the hell am I?"
He thought to himself. 'If I keep going straight I'll eventually reach the shore. Then I'll follow the coastline until I reach the town.'
With that the swordsman set off further into the forest, and after half an hour of walking he came to a stop. 'Walking in a straight line is getting me nowhere. I guess I'll turn around and go back the way I came.'
Zoro turned around and was about to start walking when he hear a faint but melodic humming coming a few metres away from him. He stopped and listened, before a grin found its way to his face. "Perfect, someone's here. I'll just ask them for directions."
Zoro crept to where he heard the humming, and came across a wide clearing with a small lake in the middle. There was a small group of rocks located beside the lake, upon which an gleaming object shone. Zoro looked closer and saw that that the object was a beautiful sword with a green hilt.
'A swordsman? What luck! Now I can ask him for directions and get a free duel while I'm at it!' Zoro thought.
He was about to enter the clearing when a few more objects caught his eye. On the floor beside the sword lay a floral patterned shirt, black pants, and a pair of glasses.
'Wait a minute, those clothes look familiar- no! It can't be!' Zoro gasped in shock and in his hurry to turn around stepped on a twig, and a large crack was heard.
"Kuso."
Earlier that day.
On the other half of the island was a port separate from the main one, and a large Marine battleship was docked there. A grand sight it may have looked to the townsfolk, but to its crew members it was a completely different story.
The deck of the battleship was the very definition of chaos, as many marines frantically ran around the place, their faces showing looks of panic. At the head of the ship stood a large well built man. He had two cigars in his mouth, but that didn't hide the large frown he had on his face.
"Listen up everyone!" the large man spoke, and as he did all the marines stopped in their tracks and looked up at him. "Instead of running around like a bunch of headless chickens you should act like proper marines. I know the fridges and ovens broke, and you haven't had a proper meal in days, but that's no excuse to act like a bunch of bastard pirates!"
"Sorry Smoker-taisa." said a red faced marine.
"Yeah, we won't do it next time." added another.
The man now known as Smoker grunted. "That's what I want to hear. Now five of you go into town and buy a new set of everything that's been broken, and another five of you go hire out a restaurant for tonight. Tell them to send the bill to Marine Headquarters. The rest of you stay on the ship. Decide amongst yourselves who will go. And let this be a lesson to you! Use the ship's facilities correctly!"
"Hai Smoker-taisa!" the rest of the marines said in unison, and went about their orders.
"You know Smoker-san, you were the one that broke most of the ship. You shouldn't have de-materialized and gone through the ship's pipes, even if you claimed it was faster way to get to the deck." said a petite, dark haired and bespectacled woman at his side.
"Shut up Tashigi! You've spent the past three days complaining that you couldn't take a proper bath, and now you're telling me off?" Smoker shouted.
"But Smoker-san, if I were to take a bath in the men's bathhouse the perverts on the ship would find a way to spy on me!" Tashigi retorted.
"Whatever! You have an entire island in front of you. Go find somewhere to bathe and get out of my sight! I'll make sure none of the men follow you."
Tashigi bowed graciously. "Arigato Smoker-san! I'll be back before evening."
Tashigi checked that Shigure was at her side, jumped off the ship, and ran into town.
"And stay safe you silly girl. Knowing your luck you're bound to get yourself into trouble. I need a drink." the chain smoker muttered to himself.
And so it was that half an hour later Tashigi found herself before a small lake in the middle of a clearing in the woods. 'There's no one around for miles. This should be good enough.' she thought to herself.
The swordswoman slowly disrobed and placed her clothes and katana by a couple of rocks beside the lake. She slowly entered the water, which was cold at first, but became warm fairly quickly. She sighed contently. 'How I've missed this feeling. I could stay here for hours.'
She submerged beneath the water and began to slowly and carefully clean herself.
Tashigi was underwater when her trained senses picked up something close by. She put her ear just above the surface of the water and was surprised to hear a twig snap, and someone curse in response.
Eyes narrowed, she quickly rose to the surface.
"Who's there?" she called.
AN: This is my first fanfic. Feedback and criticism is welcome.
