Title: A Siren's Cry
Rating: T (Language, violence, occasional pervertedness)
Warnings: Takes place sometime after the Enies Lobby arch, both manga and anime (chapters 436-onwards and episodes 321-onwards).
Summary: She was always told to sing from the heart, regardless of the crowd, and to follow where the music led her. Now she finds herself out of her element and thrown into dangers she never wanted to face. Will the Straw Hats be able to calm the anger that sprouted from her heart or will they given in and let the siren's cry drown them all?
Date Posted: 09/01/08
Chapter I: I Really Am, Mr. Usopp.
"Is she dead?"
What? She wasn't dead, or at the very least, not completely erased from the plane of existence if she could still hear the voices whispering around her. She couldn't even open her eyes to glare at the surrounding bodies, her eyelids felt weighted with lead, as did her limbs and the pit of her stomach. There was light, that much she was sure of, sunlight that warmed her skin and wet clothes. Wait. Wet clothes? Why was she wet? Is that why it was so hard to breathe? Was that why she was shivering?
"Look, she's waking up!"
She finally managed to force her eyelids to move, sluggishly as if in a drunken stupor, they struggled to stay open. Shadows loomed over her and there was a gasp before a hand – no, a hoof – came to rest on her cheek and turned her face to the side as her body was heaved to follow. What on earth? She didn't have much time to ponder the strange action before her stomach was violently clenched by the muscles around it and warm sea water (by the taste of it) was forced back up her throat.
"Look out!"
The small surge of water escaped through her mouth and nose, leaving a nasty burn as it went. She coughed once or twice and grumbled deep in her throat to clear it of anything else that managed to stay behind. She flopped back and winced as her spine hit the hard wood floors of whatever she was laying on, and sighed. Again the hooves came to her face, pulled her eyelids apart, touched her lips, her temple, and gently moved her chin up as if to inspect her neck.
"It doesn't look like it's serious. The sea monster never got a solid hold on her neck."
... what the fuck? Sea monster! What sea monster? Oh, my God, what kind of nightmare am I having this time? She forced herself to sit up with the help of a gentle hand at the small of her back and focused her eyes on the first body closer to her. She blinked, but sure enough it was the same image from seconds before. A little blue nose, antlers, and furrowed brows over black animal eyes. What has my subconsciousness thought up now? Her eyes roamed from the little animal up to the wide-eyed stare of a orange-haired woman, a glaring green-haired swordsman, a happily grinning blond, a large shark-faced man, and finally a tender smiling black haired woman.
"Where the hell am I?" Before anyone could answer, a head bobbed down from above her, upside down, and grinned.
"On my ship, the Thousand Sunny." An eyebrow quirked. "Who are you? How'd you end up in the water? Why were you playing with a sea monster?" So terrified of the floating head, she reflexively cocked her elbow and shot her fist straight into the grinning face. The blow hit and sent the young man's face careening between the green-haired swordsman and the blond. She clutched the hand to her chest, trying to even out her breathing, she could already feel the scratch at the back of her throat, threatening to send her into a coughing fit.
The little reindeer sputtered next to her and clinked his hooves impatiently. "No, no, don't do that! You'll damage your throat, you drank a lot of water!" The head from before snapped back and there was a noisy crash behind her. She turned to look, but her vision was suddenly filled by the blue-eyed, black haired woman with the tender smile.
"Shhh, miss, take care. It's alright, Sencho didn't mean to frighten you." The smooth voice of the black-haired woman stopped the trembling in her muscles. The woman smiled. "There now. May we have a name to call you by, miss?"
"Otto." She gasped quietly. "My name's Otto Watson."
"Miss Watson, then." The woman repeated. "My name is Nico Robin, and these are the Straw Hat pirates."
Otto glanced back at the crew, only then did she notice the gentle sway of the floor beneath her and the soft sound of waves crashing. I'm on a ship. Holy crap, this can't be real – I was in the car only seconds ago... Unbelievably, tears welled up at the corners of her eyes and Otto quickly brought up a hand to hide them as she ducked her head. Nico Robin continued to coo, quietly trying to help and calm her nerves. The others shifted around her nervously, as if waiting for her to explode.
"What happened?" Otto whispered to the floor. "How the hell did I get here? I was just – I was only asleep for a moment, the car, but I didn't, how the hell did this happen!" The crew, with the exception of Nico, stepped back in surprise. She knew that her words weren't making sense, but Otto figured as much, since the situation at hand was barely making any sense at all (well, more like none, but she didn't want to completely discourage herself).
Nico shifted slightly beside her. "Kokku-san, I think we need a hot cup of tea."
"Hai, Robin-chan!" Otto glanced up in surprise as the blond suddenly disappeared from the group and dashed behind her. Nico gently reached around and lifted her from under her arms with the help of the orange haired woman. Otto gasped when her legs fumbled under her and refused to move. The little reindeer close to them sighed gently.
"I thought so," he murmured, "that sea monster hit her hips pretty hard."
"So what's wrong with them, Chopper?" The orange haired woman asked as she helped Nico maneuver Otto toward the back of the ship, where the blond might have disappeared within. The shark faced man hurried to open the door for them as they neared.
"Her legs, or her joints, have been dislocated." The reindeer replied thoughtfully, he glanced up at Otto with a teary eyed expression. "I will have to pop them back in place, but I've never done that before!"
"Don't worry, Isha-san, we can ask Kenshi-san to do it." Nico said, and then turned to the green haired swordsman, "You've dislocated your shoulders before, but do you know how to fix her legs?"
The swordsman, Otto noticed, looked decidedly uneasy at the question. She swallowed in fear, despite his reply, "Yah. I know. Just make her comfortable and let Chopper give her some pain-killers first." Nico nodded thankfully, despite being aware of Otto's sudden tension. Nico led the way toward the back of the ship, where the sounds of cookware being moved about could be heard, along with a low whining from the familiar voice of the head that she had punched.
"Oh, Luffy, I'm sure she didn't mean it!" Cried another voice from inside, one Otto hadn't heard before. The shark faced man moved away as the girls moved in, the door led into a kitchen of sorts, large and filled with a stove and oven, a large table and refrigerator, and a couch and bar. Otto felt her eyebrows disappear into her hairline as the girls moved her toward the couch, silently wondering how even a ship so large could be so extravagant. She was gently placed onto the couch, her legs tucked close, and a blanket thrown over her shoulders for warmth. Her wet clothes hadn't even begun to dry.
"Here we are, Robin-chan!" The blond cheered, holding out a tray with a teapot, cups, and a sugar jar. Nico thanked him and took the tray before sitting beside her on the couch. Otto carefully took the teacup handed to her, and swallowed. I don't normally drink this stuff, but, Otto spared a quick glance at the happy blond as he watched them, I don't want to be rude. Maybe just this once, besides, it's not like they have to care for me.
"Do you want anything with your tea, Miss Watson?" Nico asked. Otto blushed faintly and shook her head. Gingerly, she took a tiny sip of the warm drink and forced it down. It wasn't long before her stomach protested and she shoved the cup into someone's hands before clapping hers against her mouth. The tea had rushed back up and flooded around her teeth, but Otto swallowed the drink back down, stomach acid and all. The blond in front of them looked on worriedly.
"Oh, damn. I must've made it too strong for her." He muttered dejectedly. Otto shook her head and waved a hand for his attention.
When he turned to her, she whispered hoarsely, "No, no. I just – I've never had tea before. I'm not used to the taste."
"Then why didn't you say something?" Kenshi-san muttered from the doorway. Behind him followed the little reindeer, holding a bottle of pills. The creature nearly tripped over himself trying to get to her and when he reached them, he popped open the bottle and held out two white oval shaped pills.
"Take these," he ordered gently as he folded her fingers over them, "they'll numb you for a little while, just a few minutes so that Zoro can fix your legs."
Otto giggled faintly. "You make it sound as if I'm a lame horse."
"Well," the one named Zoro interrupted, "as of now until I fix you, you are." Otto couldn't help the small smile that painted her face. She took a deep breath and swallowed the pills with the glass of water that the blond had handed to her. She held out the empty glass back to him and turned to the one named Luffy, the stretching man. She smiled weakly.
"I'm sorry," she muttered, catching his attention (along with the rest of the crew), "you just... normal people's necks don't stretch like that, ya know?"
The boy grinned. "I know, it's alright. It didn't hurt, just surprised me."
"Sure looked like it hurt," the shark faced man murmured, "your neck stretched out pretty far by the force of her swing."
"Strong little lady, huh?" Teased the blond. Otto snorted and shook her head.
"Hardly." She answered. "Only in extreme cases of fear or disorientation. Don't expect another performance like that any time soon."
"Miss Watson," Nico called for attention, "before the questioning starts, I believe some introductions are in order." Otto nodded in agreement and Nico turned to point at the first nearest to them, the orange haired girl beside them on the couch. "This is Nami, our navigator." Nami smiled softly with a nod of her head. Nico turned to the shark-faced man, "That is Franky, our shipwright." Then came the the green haired swordsman, "You've heard his name, it's Zoro, our Sencho's First Mate."
Slowly, Otto's mind began to really take hold of the thought, these guys truly are pirates. "This here is Chopper, our ship's doctor." The little reindeer's fur bristled with the blush under it. "That is Usopp, our sharp-shooter." The dark skinned man smiled and waved. "This is our ship's cook, Sanji," the man happily smiled and bowed, "and finally, our captain, Luffy."
Otto bowed her head slightly. "It's a pleasure, and thank you – for saving me."
"Hey," Usopp suddenly asked, "how'd you get into the water, anyway?"
Otto froze for a moment. She turned to Usopp with a worried expression. "I... don't know. I, well, when my day started... I wasn't anywhere near an ocean, let alone in one."
"Then you really can't explain to us how you got into that sea monster's grip, can you?" Nami asked softly. Otto let out a desperate sounding giggle and slapped a hand over her eyes as she shook her head. In that moment, she would later realize, Zoro had moved in under Chopper's watchful eye and quickly (almost completely silent) tugged, then snapped, her leg into place. Through the sudden (though numbed) pain from the
muscles, her leg snapped up to kick him.
"Easy now!" Zoro grunted as he caught her wayward foot inches from his groin. "I guess you weren't lying about that sudden strength thing, were you?"
Otto growled. "No! Geezus, warn someone, will you? God, I wasn't prepared for that!" Luffy was laughing in the background, Usopp's expression was no better and Nico held a hand to her mouth, hiding the smile Otto could guess was there. Zoro sighed and moved for the other leg.
"No, it was better that way. Distracted, you were less likely to feel much of it. Or tense up for it." Just as she was about to protest, he took the opportunity of her 'distraction' again, and snapped her joint back into it's proper place. This time, though, Otto was able to curl her leg against the couch and hold off the reflexive kick Zoro guarded for seconds after. After a tense moment, Otto sighed and allowed her leg to uncurl from under and stretch out toward Zoro. The man nodded gently and stood to return to his place against the wall.
Chopper moved in quickly to inspect. "Well, seems like everything is in order. I don't know yet if you have any internal injuries, but since you aren't coughing up blood..."
"I get the message." Otto interrupted suddenly. "I'm fine, I feel intact and nothing else hurts. My stomach's just a little turbulent right now, that's all."
"I apologize if the tea caused that, Miss Watson." Sanji replied.
"No, it's fine, really." Otto said. "I just, I'm a bit panicked, you see. I just... I'm not home, I'm not with who I'm suppose to be, this is totally... not my place of existence, if that makes any sense."
"It is odd," Nico murmured, "you appeared next to our ship so suddenly, for a moment most of us thought you were nothing more than a fish."
Chopper nodded hurriedly. "But then there was this murderous scream from below and we were shocked to see you floating there, that is, before the sea monster reached up and dragged you under."
"See," Otto sighed, holding her temple as she closed her eyes, "I don't remember any of that."
"What do you remember, Miss Watson?" Nico asked gently. "Maybe that can clue us as to where you're suppose to go."
Otto gurgled a sour laugh. "Where I'm suppose to go, Miss Nico, is probably nowhere any of you can reach."
"C'mon, Otto, it can't be that far!" Usopp cajoled. "Nami's really good at navigating, why, I wouldn't be surprised if we could get you home in a few days time." But by this point, Otto was already in tears. The others were shocked to see the steady and silent flow of moisture as it dripped from her chin. They won't understand. This doesn't feel like my world at all, my God, where have I ended up? Out on the ocean with a pirate crew for Heaven's sake! They won't – they won't be able to get me home, hell, I don't even know how I could possibly get here!
"H-hey, Miss Watson," Sanji tried to distract her, "it's not that bad, we wouldn't mind taking you home at all!"
"It's not that, Mr. Sanji." Otto muttered through her tears, her voice thick. "You guys... couldn't take me home, not matter how much you or I want it to be possible."
"Oh. I see now." Nico whispered. "My dear nakama, I don't believe she belongs here." Otto's gaze shot up to Nico's face in shock, and though the other woman continued as if no movement was made, she turned her blue eyes to Otto with a thoughtful expression. "It would be the first time I had seen a real life instance of it, but..."
"I'm not the first you've heard of," Otto replied, almost noiselessly.
Nico shook her head. "No. Before my 'outlaw' streak, my mother and the other scientists had come across a record of information." By now, the rest of the crew were listening to Nico's words with rapt attention, or at least most of them were, Luffy looked a bit distracted by the air around him and Zoro was already half-asleep. "It mentioned what it called 'dimensional scars', openings in our world that led to other existences. How you came across one, even came through one is a mystery in itself."
Otto forced a smile she didn't feel. "Did it mention how to reverse the effect, by any chance?" At Nico's negative motion, Otto sighed. "I didn't think so. That would be too easy."
"So," Usopp braved again, "you really are lost, huh?"
"Yeah, Mr. Usopp." Otto answered him. "I really am."
A/N: Comments, questions, or concerns?