It was a peaceful morning on a certain island in the East Blue. The ocean was calm and small waves crashed onto the shore. Then, a small boat floating on the sea washed up on the shore. Inside the boat was a man with short orange hair. He was wearing a black cap, a shirt with light green and white vertical stripes, a small black pocket, and short black sleeves. He also had black pants, white shoes, and a black wristband on his arm. But the most notable thing about him was that his nose was long…and square. His name was Kaku, and he was a former agent of CP9.
Kaku sat up in the boat, rubbed his head, and groaned, "Ugh…what happened?" He looked around to see that he was on an island of some sort and noticed the rocky shore. "How did I-?" Kaku started to ask himself when he remembered what happened a few days ago.
"There was a really bad storm…we all somehow ended up in different lifeboats and…oh no!"
The giraffe man started to run up and down the beach, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Hello! Jabra! Kalifa! Lucci! Kumadori! Fukuro! Hattori!" He searched for his friends for at least an hour before coming to the conclusion that he was the only member of CP9 that made it on that island. "I hope they're okay wherever they ended up," he thought. "I better go try to find out where exactly I ended up."
Kaku found a slope that lead up to higher ground on the island and started to walk through the woods. Then, he heard the sounds of kids shouting, "PIRATES!"
"Pirates? Where, I didn't see any other ships. I need to find out what's going on," Kaku said to himself as he followed the voices.
He eventually came across a small village with house built on rolling hills. He discovered the kids shouting pirates were three little boys; one had lavender hair that covered his eyes, wearing a black hoodie, orange shorts, a light brown sash belt, dark brown boots, and a red bandana with a Jolly Roger on it of some sort.
The second kid had dark green hair that was shaped somewhat like a pepper, a light green t-shirt with the same Jolly Roger that lavender-haired one had on his bandana, blue shorts, a light blue sash belt, and black sneakers. He also had a small wooden sword on his belt.
The last kid had brown hair with a tuft on the top that reminded the man of an onion. The kid also had square glasses, a yellow shirt with a blue vest over it, a dark yellow sash, dark brown pants, and black shoes.
Then, suddenly by surprise, dozens of villagers stormed out of their houses, armed with brooms, frying pans, and bats…and they were going after the children!
"What in blazes is going on!" Kaku exclaimed.
Then he heard the villagers shouting, "You little liars!" "This is all because we let them hang out with Usopp!" "He's turned those brats into nothing but liars now!" "We'll show you!"
Kaku assumed the kids probably did this often and decided now was the time to step in before one of them got injured. "Hey! Will you stop that!" he shouted, but none of the people seemed to notice him, until the three kids decided to hide behind him and use him as a shield.
"Good thing you came back, Usopp. We needed a shield," the pepper-head one said.
"I'm not Usopp," Kaku told the boy.
The kid did a double-take at Kaku and shouted, "Who the heck are you!?" The villagers stopped in their tracks when they saw Kaku.
"Who are you?" one of the people asked.
"My name is Kaku and I came to find out where I am, so I ask you, where am I?" Kaku asked.
"You're in Syrup Village, on the Gecko Islands," someone stated.
"Thank you, that's all I needed to know," Kaku said, before walking into the village.
Everyone watched him walk away, stunned. Kaku then entered a building with a sign that read, "Meshi" and Kaku entered. The villagers went back to their homes, save for the three boys who went after Kaku.
"Hey mister?" the pepper-head asked.
"Yes? What is it, boy?" Kaku asked the kid.
"You said your name was Kaku, right? Thanks for getting me and my friends out of that mess. I think the villagers were getting really close to catching us for once until you showed up. I'm Pepper!"
"I'm Carrot," the purple-haired one added.
"And I'm Onion," the onion-head finished.
"Nice to meet you three. Say, do you know if I can find work here, I need a job at the moment until I get enough to buy a ship and set out to find my friends," Kaku asked.
"Sorry, we don't know about that. We could see if our friend Kaya could help," Pepper said.
"Kaya? Who's Kaya?" Kaku asked.
The three kids lead the swordsman up a hill to a mansion and entered through the front gates. Carrot went up to the door first and knocked as hard as he could on it. Eventually, the door was answered by a formally dressed man with curly white hair with two lamb horns sticking out of it, and had a collar with fleece around it.
"Ah, Carrot, Pepper, Onion. What brings you three here today?" the man asked.
"This guy named Kaku needs to see Kaya about getting a job in town. He just got here," Pepper explained.
The man looked at Kaku and said, "I believe you're Kaku. It's nice to meet someone new to the village. I'm Merry, Miss Kaya's butler. Please come in."
The three kids and Kaku entered the mansion and went up to a room that looked like a little study and Kaku noticed girl with pale skin and blonde hair. Despite how rich Kaku could guess she was, she seemed to be wearing common clothing, specifically a plain long dress. The girl looked up and smiled when she saw the boys.
"Carrot, Pepper, Onion. It's good to see you," she greeted. Then she saw Kaku and looked surprised to see him. "Oh hello. Who are you?" she asked.
"I'm Kaku, I was hoping you could help me find work in this village. Or at least help me get a ship so I can go out and find my friends," Kaku explained.
"I would love you help you but the only ship I had I gave to some friends of mine so they could set out to the Grand Line," Kaya stated. "I'm sorry."
"It's alright. If I find the right tools and wood, I could build a ship. I'm a shipwright," Kaku stated.
"Really? That's really cool," Pepper said.
"Yeah, it's a pretty amazing job," Kaku said until he noticed hung up on Kaya's wall. "Say, is that-?" Kaku asked, pointing at a poster on the wall. It was a wanted poster for Sogeking.
"Oh, that's Usopp!" Kaya said very happily. "He's a friend of ours."
"Yeah, and he was the former captain of the Usopp pirates!" Pepper exclaimed.
"He was also known for lies. He used to run around the village shouting about pirates until he left after he beat up Captain Kuro who was trying to attack our village," Onion stated.
"Captain Kuro! But I thought he was executed!" Kaku gasped.
"That wasn't actually Kuro. It was impersonator. He tried to kill Kaya and steal her fortune. Then this Luffy guy and a swordsman and greedy lady came and stopped him," Carrot told Kaku excitedly.
Then the three boys got these frightened expressions on their faces before shouting, "Ah! That was supposed to be a secret between us and the captain!"
"Don't worry, I won't tell anybody. Your secret is safe with me," Kaku assured the children. Then, Kaku thought to himself, "So this is the place where that member of the Straw Hat crew came from. I know he's a pirate and I shouldn't be thinking this, but I'm impressed that he and the Straw Hat pirates were able to take care of a pirate as infamous as Kuro. I wonder what else they know about them."
"It's been a 2 years since Usopp left, and we haven't heard from him or his new crew in a while ever since what happened in Saboady. I'm worried something bad happened to them," Kaya added.
"The only article involving the Straw Hats was of Luffy back at Marineford when he rang that huge bell," Onion stated, holding up the article. Kaku's eyes widened. CP9 had read the article and they couldn't figure out what it meant, but Kaku did notice that there was a 3D crossed out with an x with 2Y under it on Luffy's arm. He wondered for a while if it was a code of some sort.
"So, Kaku, where did you come from?" Kaya asked.
"Water 7," Kaku stated, not sure if it was wise to do so or not.
"I've heard of that place! That's the city of water!" Pepper said, amazed.
"Yeah, but we heard that the mayor was nearly assassinated there, but the Usopp and his friends saved him!" Onion added.
"Oh, so you've heard about that," Kaku said, slightly nervous, hoping they don't figure out who he really is or was.
"Yeah, were you mad when you heard that happened? Were you one of the shipwrights? Did you meet the Straw Hat pirates?" Pepper asked excitedly.
"Um…" Kaku replied.
"Pepper, you shouldn't ask so many questions at once. You might overwhelm him and he might get nervous," Kaya told the boy.
"Oh, sorry Kaku," Pepper said.
Kaku smiled and said, "It's alright. Yes, I was involved with what happened to Iceberg and I have associated with the pirates." Kaku didn't tell them that he was one of people trying to kill Iceberg and he had fought with the Straw Hat pirates, nor did he plan to.
"Cool," Carrot said.
The group left the mansion and Kaya told Kaku, "If you need materials for your ship, you can ask me or Merry. We'd be happy to help you. You can stay here as long as you need to."
"Thank you, miss. That's very kind of you," Kaku said.
Kaku then started to set out to find somewhere to stay until he finished his ship. "Maybe it's be alright to lie low here for a while. This doesn't look much like a place of interest to the World Government. I think I'll be safe here," Kaku thought to himself.
Well, this is just the first chapter. Hope you like it so far!
I don't own One Piece characters, Oda-san does.
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