Don't blame me if this sucks, blame Skie for forcing me to write it at pen point! BLAME HER!
PS: HELP ME! SHE'S GONNA INK ME TO DEATH!
PPS: To get what's going on here, you'd have to read the alternate ending on my deviantART page... Sorry.
Chapter One
Skie WAS going out with Zoro, but he married her, go figure.
Everybody knew this time, not just Ia. And that made her just a little bit mad. But only a little.
But, for Goodness sake, that was four years ago! Yes, four years ago to the DAY! It was Skie and Zoro's fourth anniversary, and they were expecting gifts, for some reason.
Ia, being the most annoying person who wasn't married, yet, gave them the traditional gift. For some reason, she knew what each year wedding anniversary gift was. Their first year they got paper. The second, cotton. The third, leather (which Zoro liked very much, but only Skie knew that). Now this year was-
"HERE'S YOUR PRESENT!"
Skie ripped open the loosely wrapped piece of, "What is this?" Skie asked, unfolding a small napkin sized square of, "Linen," Ia replied simply. "Look, it has your initials on the opposite corners and Kuina's in the middle." Ia said, showing the nice fancy looking embroidered letters. R.S., R.Z., and R.K.
Skie smiled, liking this one a whole lot better than last years' leather bag that had, inside, candy that Kuina ate before they could get a good look at it later.
Kuina was Skie and Zoro's 3-and-a-quarter-year-old daughter. She had Zoro's green hair, but Skie's spunk and energy. Her father's skill and balance, her mother's curiosity and frankness, or did she get the frankness from hanging around with her favorite (and only) Godmother, Ia? Well, she had long green hair and big bluish grey eyes that were always looking around curiously. Her Godfather, Luffy, liked to play games with her like Hide-n-Seek, Tag, and holding your breath contests. Luffy usually won because, always, Kuina started laughing because Luffy would, when taking in his breath, would blow up like a balloon and start to roll around. She would fall on the deck and start up her hyena laugh she had also inherited from her mother. Kuina, like her mother, hated skirts and dresses that Nami always tried to shove her in and got her for her birthday. So, Kuina has three dresses, and, in her words, "Eleventy HUNDRED pants!"
"KUINA!" Skie called out the kitchen door for her young daughter who never wore shoes. Instead, in came Zoro, with the girl under his arm. Her head was behind him as he held her around the middle with one arm at his side. She was wearing a pair of black shorts, no shoes, and a striped tank top. Her green hair was up in pigtails, to the much annoyment of Skie. Ia had put them up in pigtail braids so her hair wouldn't get so dirty and tangly, because it was a major pain to brush that child's hair, being it down to her waist. Sanji simply adored the child.
"Hello, suki-chan." Zoro said in his usual manner, as if he didn't realize that his little girl was under his arm, either kicking her legs or just simply pouting in the typical Skie manner. Eyes glaring, arms crossed, lip pouted.
"Good morning, Zoro-kun." Skie said, smiling and seeing their daughter under his arm said, "Well, I guess I did call Kuina, whether she comes in on her own or by you!" she said, laughing a little. They could hear Kuina from behind Zoro yell something not understandable.
"God, Kuina, been hangin round your dad much? Where'd you pick up THAT kind of language! I've never said ANYTHING like that!" Ia said, actually being serious at the last statement.
Zoro smiled guiltily and put Kuina down, sitting, on the table.
Skie gave him a 'we'll talk later' look and turned to Kuina, saying, "Look, baby, Ia gave us some linen! Look, there's your initials!" Skie said, pointing them out to the three-year-old.
Kuina looked and said, "R.K... that's me! Roronoa Kuina!" she said proudly and thumbing her chest, smiling broadly.
Just then, Sanji swung over, holding a big silver pot of something warm, because he had on the bright pink oven mitts that Zoro and Ia had given him for his birthday a couple years ago. They found them in a more touristy stall and they said 'Touch me, I'm HOT!' on them, so, laughing hysterically, they got them and gave them to him. He never found out they were a joke. Neither did the rest of the crew know why Ia and Zoro started snickering whenever Sanji wore them. They managed to pass it off as an allergic reaction to... something. They never actually said.
Kuina looked into the pot without grabbing the edge. Something she learned when she was two. She had the burn scar to proove it, too.
"Chocolate, San-ee?" Kuina asked. She had a slight lisp, so whenever she tried to talk, she just managed to make it cuter then ever. She really got Sanji's name wrong, but he just thought it was adorable!
"No, Kuina-Chan, it's soup!" he said, ruffling her hair a bit, making her giggle.
"Brown soup?" Ia asked, walking over and sniffing it.
"It's so Kuina doesn't eat it all. You know she's Skie's daughter." Sanji hissed in Ia's ear and Ia nodded, smirking. Another thing Kuina inherited from her mother, an Obsessive Compulsive Fetish with chocolate. Skie manages to control herself, but Kuina has yet to learn any such thing.
"Yes, Kuina, brown soup! Must be baked beans or your daddy tried to cook." Ia said, smirking in Zoro's direction, he glared back. Kuina laughed and said, "Daddy's a good cook! Just as good as you!"
"Well!" Ia said, half teasing, half insulted. "Where'd you learn so much spunk, Skie!" Ia yelled in Skie's ear as Skie laughed, taking her daughter in her arms and swinging her around, telling her off for being so mean, whispering in her ear that she did a good job and a cookie will come later for her.
"Where's Nami-swan?" Sanji asked, looking around the room.
"Or Luffy, Usopp, or- oh, wait, Chopper's here. Hey, Chopper. But where are those boys?" Ia asked, looking around the room, too.
Kuina got back onto the table and walked over to where the porthole was and leaned over the bench to look out of it. She grabbed on with her little hands and kept her balance with her toes on the very edge of the table. Zoro, Sanji, and Skie all moved over to hold her up. Sanji got there first.
"I found them!" she cried happily as if she won a game. She treated a lot of things like games.
"Well, where are they?" Zoro asked the little girl who replied, "Luffy is in the Cwos nest and Uthopp is on deck!"
Ia sighed and went outside.
Kuina giggled and then, before anybody could reach the portholes, Ia came in with Usopp and Luffy, dragging them by their ears.
"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow- IA!" Luffy yelled and snatched his ear back, after taking his head away and having his ear stretch about five feet before it snapped back to his head. Kuina giggled even more at that.
Usopp managed to snake his ear back and yelled, "Why did you drag us here?"
"Anniversary Party! Or did you forget, again?" Ia asked sternly and Luffy grinned and ran down out of the room to the guys' room where he obviously hid his present, along with all the other guys who already had their gifts.
Luffy came through the door a few minutes later, carrying a giant crate.
Zoro and Skie had identical faces of shock on. Big eyes, round mouths dropped to the floor. Kuina ran down the table and hopped up and sat on the top of the crate. She was in on the gift, they figured, by the way she and Luffy were grinning.
They looked away from the giant crate and saw that the table had five gifts on it, one being Ia's. There was a neatly wrapped one, one that was in a bag, another bag, and a small one that was neatly wrapped, too. The two bags must be Usopp and Chopper's because they couldn't wrap a gift if their life depended on it. So, to spare them, Ia or Nami must have told them to put it in a gift bag.
Skie went first for the neatly wrapped one, which said it was from Sanji and Nami. A little after Kuina was born, Sanji asked Nami to marry him. So, three years later, they are still engaged, but planning their wedding, still. They finally set a date for two months from now. Ia was, of course, the maid of honor, and for the best man, it was Ian.
Ian. Being the former fiancé of Skie, Skie leaving him at the alter to marry Zoro on the very same night, he and Skie were on good terms. Nami and Usopp, being just a little bit of gossips (which is what they told everybody, really, they couldn't NOT gossip), use to always bug, bribe, threaten, and even beg Ia for anything if it was that Skie and Ian were hurting on the inside or if there was any awkwardness or anything like that. When they bugged Ia, she managed to just brush it off, when they bribed her, she would take their money and not say anything, when they would threaten her, she would always remind them on what she could do to them, and when they would beg, Ia was smirk and enjoy it. Ia did go into Skie and Ian's heads, but there was nothing there to tell. And you couldn't hide from Ia, so obviously, nothing was wrong. So, why didn't Ia just tell Nami and Usopp that, well, frankly, she just liked the attention.
Skie opened the gift and found it to be, "Oh... linen." she said, trying to look happy, but it just came out as contorted.
"Yes, we," Nami put stress on the 'we' part, "got you linen sheets for you bed down there." Nami said. Skie and Zoro had gotten their own bedroom in the cargo hold and when Kuina was born, they had to build another smaller room for her. Both rooms were small, but at least they were private. They didn't need to be sound proofed because they were somewhat under the boys' room and they snored loud enough to kill a whale.
Skie put those down on the table and went for the first bag, which held inside it, a framed portrait of Skie, Zoro, and Kuina. Drawn and painted by Usopp. The next bag contained a first aid kit. More for Kuina if anybody, was Chopper's reply. The last, small box was from Ian. He stood over by the stove, smirking as he watched Skie's face turn from curiosity to complete happiness as Ian said, "Earplugs."
A box of a hundred or so little yellow earplugs for peace at night from the waves, the storms, and the boys above.
Zoro and Skie turned to the big crate that Kuina, Luffy, and now Ia, were sitting on.
"Ia... you're in on this gift too?" Zoro asked as Skie got up and went to get Kuina off the crate so that she could open it with Zoro.
"Yes! And it wasn't my idea! Surprisingly it was Luffy's! But I'll tell you more when you find a way to open it, which you won't."
She was right, for ten minutes, Skie and Zoro tried to open the stupid crate, finding it to be practically one piece of wood.
"What is with this thing?" Skie asked after Zoro tried to hack it open.
Ia pushed Zoro aside and, with her mind, had the sides fall and then the top of the crate lift up so that the clothes hanging from the top of the crate would straighten out. Hanging there was a tux and a sky blue long evening gown. A pair of shiny loafers and sky blue heals were below them.
"Is that a dress?"Skie asked, annoyed.
"Why did you give us these?" Zoro demanded.
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, Luffy thought it would be great on your anniversary for you guys to go to one of the fancy Sanji-rival restaurants on the next island that we get to, that Nami said we'll get to tonight! That island is famous for it's fabulous promenade of fancy five star restaurants!" Ia said happily as the still happy couple took the clothes off the hooks and found them hanging on clothes hangers. Skie's dress was a deep sky blue with a deep V neck and straps that brought down her back and connected with the dress in the middle of her back. The right side of the torso part of the dress wrapped over the left side in small ruffles with sequins while the left side fabric was just there as the right side's sweep ended at the hips where the rest of the dress fell to the floor in a pleated way so that there were nice clean folds in the dress. It came with a sequin cluch and strappy heals of the same colour. Now, Zoro's tux matched Skie's dress in a few ways. For his tie was a deep sky blue while the vest was a pale almost powder blue. The suit was fit to his sizes, but loose enough that he didn't feel like he must rip the thing apart. The shoes were so shiny that Kuina could see her face in them, and she smiled.
"Do you like it?" Kuina asked her parents as the looked over their knew clothes and Skie smiled down at her daughter and said, "Of course we like it!" and gave her an eskimo kiss, causing Kuina to giggle.
"And we've got it all set up for you! Your reservations are for seven, it's number 23 on Le Fluer Promenadeand we managed to get you a box table, don't worry, you'll find out why when you get there! We'll be watching Kuina the whole time, don't worry!" Ia said happily as she ushered them out of the kitchen and down to their bedroom, Kuina following the whole time.
"How expensive is this restaurant?" Zoro growled as Ia shoved them into their bedroom and picked up Kuina.
"Nami's paying... but she doesn't know that yet, so go happy on the food, there." Ia said and slammed the door shut on them.
L-E-T-S-P-L-A-Y-D-R-E-S-S-U-P
"Luffy, that's the sixth game, don't you think you should quit while she's ahead?" Usopp asked as he watched Luffy and Kuina play Go Fish.
"I will win one game!" Luffy declared and Kuina said, "I don't think so!" and asked, "Do you have any sevens?"
Luffy glared and took out three cards.
"You have lots of sevens!" she said happily and put them down in her pile, wining again.
A moment later, Skie and Zoro walked in in their new fancy clothes. Skie looked absolutely wonderful in her sky blue dress (which she was forced into by Ia, who had barred the door with her mind until Skie finally put the dress on) and Zoro looked very elegant in his tux. Skie got one thing, though. Ia relented finally and let Skie keep her hair down.
"Ooo! Mommy! You look pretty! Daddy, you look pretty, too!"
"Thank you, sweetheart." Zoro said and kissed her green hair softly.
"Are we at the island yet?" Skie asked and Nami replied, "Yes. We got there just a few minutes ago. You guys should get going, it's ten to seven." Nami said, looking over her logpose and jotting a few things down in a notebook Ia had given her for her last birthday.
"Alright, I guess we'll get going. Bye, and Kuina, be good, ok?"
"Awright!" she said and smiled. It almost looked like Luffy's smile.
They left the ship, Skie excited to be out, Zoro hungry for a free meal.
"They're gone." Sanji said, peaking out the porthole as he was cooking up some lobster and shrimp.
"Awesome! Kuina, let's go play!" Ia said deviously and Kuina's face darkened with evil happiness. That's what you get when she hung around with Ia all the time. An evil side. What an unfortunate turn of events that made!
The two girls hopped out of the kitchen with Sanji calling after them to be back in time for supper. They went out onto the dock and took a left, away from the promenade that Kuina's parents were at right now.
"Is that her?" someone whispered.
"Yes... it is!" the other hissed beside the first, smirking with gleaming eyes.
Two men were standing on top of one of the buildings on the waterfront. Far back on the building so that they could see the girls, but the girls couldn't see them. They were watching Ia and Kuina walk down the road towards the park Ia knew was there. The first man was a shorter man with frizzy brown hair and wearing a black shirt and jeans with no shoes. He was fidgeting a lot and was hunched over a bit. The second was standing in a quite regale form and had a giant sword on his back. He watched Kuina like a hawk as she walked down the road with Ia.
S-U-P-P-E-R-T-I-M-E
The restaurant was called The Cosmo's Charmand it, on the outside, was five stories, but on the inside it was all one big room for the restaurant part. The whole thing use to be an opera house, but then was converted into a restaurant. The fancy boxes were still there, but they were now private little places for tables and they both found out what Ia ment by that. The ceiling was painted to resemble the night sky. It was a midnight blue or black with thousands beyond thousands of stars painted in and really shining since the whole room was dimly lit and the windows were far up on the wall.
The garcon met them at the entrance and led them up to one of the higher boxes, the box numbered five, which was near one of those round windows.
When the garcon left the box with their very expensive orders (since they knew that they didn't have to pay), they finally had some privacy for the first time that day.
"This is a nice place!" Skie said, observing the room over the marble railing keeping them back from falling out of the box. From there, they could see that the stage had become the kitchens, which were stacked up like stories in a building and walls put up so they couldn't see them.
"Yes, it is." Zoro said, also looking around, but more at the ceiling then anything. He found that the stars wern't painted in, they were real shining things hanging from the ceiling in an odd pattern coming off from the giant chandelier that represented the moon.
"Ia and Luffy really outdid themselves for a gift this year." Skie said, turning back to her husband.
"Yeah, they did. I wonder how fast the service is here?"
"That reminds me, have you been swearing around Kuina again? And no changing the subject." she said, crossing her arms over her chest and staring him down.
He turned back to her and asked, "How did that remind you of my swearing habits?"
"I said no changing the subject." she snapped.
Zoro closed his eyes and smiled slightly and shook his head. "Calm down, will ya! I watch my language around her, ok. And since Ia claimed it wasn't her, it must be Luffy or someone?"
"Ok. I believe you!" she said, and smiled and took a sip of water.
The next ten minutes was filled with random conversations as they talked without fear of being overheard by the crew, or worse, Ia.
"Huh... I wonder what that is?" Skie asked as she looked out the window at the city skyline at twilight. The buildings were now all black with a deep crimson red sky, but she could see three figures on the building tops as if in a fight. One oddly shaped figured was more on defense then offense as they kept back from the other two, one having a very long sword.
Zoro turned around to watch whatever was going on behind him.
The figures were coming closer to the restaurant, their window...
Zoro jumped out of his seat and managed to pull Skie to the ground as the figure on defense burst through the window, flying the whole forty feet to the marble railing that was at least five inches wide.
"IA!" Zoro yelled as he recognized the person standing in a track position on the railing, holding something in their left arm, the arm away from Zoro and Skie.
Ia snapped her head towards them, true fear in her eyes and on her face as she said, "Oh... hey! Arn't you suppose to be waiting till tonight to do that?"
Zoro looked down at Skie, who he was still hovering over, and saw that her dress was up past her knees and they were on the floor...
"Shut up, what are you doing here!" he barked as Skie glared and then screamed, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH KUINA?"
Zoro then saw that Ia was holding Kuina in her arm and before he could do anything or she could say anything, she had jumped, for a second later, there was a giant sword where she had been a second earlier and 'Hawk Eye' Mihawk was standing there on the railing, looking up at where Ia had jumped, now levitating.
Zoro and Skie still didn't know what was going on, but they knew that their daughter was in danger, and they would do anything to make sure she wasn't.
Zoro reached for his swords, and found them not there. Damn it, he thought, he just remembered Ia had forced him to keep them at the ship.
Skie was taking off one of her shoes and was about to chuck it at Mihawk when he took the sword out of the wall and, smirking, watched as Ia fell from the great ceiling.
Skie ran over to the railing and watched as Ia fell the fifty some feet to the floor below, landing on a table. The entire restaurant now in a giant panic as people screamed and ran for the exit. Cooks running over to see if Ia was ok. Skie could see that Ia was trying to get up and Skie realized that Kuina wasn't down there. She snapped her neck up and saw Kuina hanging from one of the stars.
She climbed up onto the railing and was about to jump up to get her, but was pushed suddenly forward. She started falling face forward but managed to grab one of the thick marble pillars of the railing and grabbed on, her body still faling till her shoulders made contact with the bottom of the railing and she stopped, still holding on despite the searing pain in her shoulders and arms now. She cried out.
"Ha ha, Skie! Looks like I don't have to go searching for you anymore!" Mihawk said and bent over to unlatch her hand when he was pushed all of a sudden. He managed to be quick enough to grab the edge of the railing and saw that Zoro was the one who pushed him. Anger welling inside of him that no one would believe. He had just hear the fearful cry of "Help me!" from Kuina high above.
"Don't you dare touch her again." he said so acidly and frightful that even Skie froze.
Mihawk, despite himself, smirked and swung himself back over the railing and started towards Zoro, who was swordless.
"What are you going to do about it?" Mihawk asked scorchingly as he advanced towards Zoro, who said nothing, but punched Mihawk right in the face, causing Mihawk to falter backwards, giving Zoro the opening to run over and get Skie before she fell.
When he pulled her over, she said, "I'll get Kuina, just get out of here, you don't have your swords!" and then she quickly kissed him and turned around and jumped up to where Kuina finally let go from exhaustion from the glowing pale yellow globe. Skie managed to catch her in mid air and she did a flip so she was feet first as she fell, landing on a table and hopping back up a few feet and landing on the floor a few feet away from Ia, who couldn't get up at all.
Skie looked up quickly at Box Five and saw only Mihawk, sporting a bloody nose and a black eye and slacked jaw. Zoro must have gotten out of there.
Skie then saw the brown haird jerky fellow bouncing from table to table towards Ia as she managed to get because she saw him too.
Ia, standing at the ready, somewhat, waited for the guy to get close enough to her so she could use her Mind Blast on him, but didn't get the chance, because he suddenly became faster and faster till nobody could see him anymore and suddenly, Ia was bending over backwards in an arc, blood spurting from her mouth. Again, she was bending to her right, then left, the forward, and back again till she finally fell to her knees and to the floor, bloody, bruised, and unconscious.
I-T-H-U-R-T-S-T-O-M-U-C-H
Mihawk and his partner vanished that night, never seen again.
Zoro appeared, apparently he had ran from Mihawk and felt so horrible about it that he wouldn't speak of it at all, but held Kuina close, for she was still crying. Not because of almost falling or being chased, but because Ia had been hurt in front of her.
Neither Zoro nor Skie were hurt, or Kuina, for that matter, but when Ia managed to regain consciousness again, she told them that Mihawk wanted Kuina and that Ia was in the way, so they had to beat Kuina out of her.
Chopper wouldn't let Ia talk after that, but put her to sleep again so she could heal. Fractured spine, seventeen broken bones (most being all her ribs), and a fractured skull, which he figured might impair her mind powers a bit.
Skie and Zoro were so scared for Kuina's well being that they decided to leave the ship and settle down on the island after the next. It was a pretty small island with a city on it of around 2000 people. They figured they would be ok there. There was a school, a hotel, and a small Navel base there. They figured that if Mihawk was looking for them, he wouldn't think they would settle near any Navy settlement at all.
"Are you really leaving?" Ia asked as Skie came down to the infirmary to say goodbye.
"Yes." Skie replied sadly.
"But you can't leave! Who's gonna annoy Sanji with me? Who's gonna beat Luffy at rock paper scissors with me? I mean, I already have your anniversary gift for next year already! Number five means wood!"
Skie had to keep back tears when she said, "You'll have to mail it to us next year."
The two friends hugged and Skie left the infirmary for the last time for a long long time.
Ahhhhhhhwwwww... how sads...
What do you think'll happen? HUM!?
6-7-08... SIX SEVEN EIGHT!!