"Talk"
'Thinking'
"Akie speaking in Japanese" (Let's say everyone in One Piece speaks in English so he'll revert to speaking in Japanese at times. I'll put the meanings after each chapter.)
~CHAPTER 1~
An oriental man sighed as he sat in a seiza position despite being on the cold, stone floor. He could hear whimpers and cries of other people around him. Everyone was nervous, no, terrified as they sat gloomily in the dark. Right now, he was at the back room of the auction house, waiting for the bidding to begin and unfortunately he was one of the prizes. He sighed again thinking back on how this came to be and then tugged on the uncomfortably tight collar around his neck. The shackles on his chained arms and his magatama necklace sang as he did so.
"You don't look too happy, Akie-chan." The male turned to his older companion with a somewhat annoyed look in his amber eyes.
"I'm surprised you're so calm about this, Rayleigh-san." he said, snapping open a folding fan he had managed to hide in his kimono sleeve. "What with you who insisted on being taken into this revolting place, not to mention dragging me into it. And please refrain from referring me with the '-chan' suffix as I am not a girl."
The older male laughed, "Come, come. I thought it would be interesting. And no one would even tell if you're a man or woman."
The younger man sighed and was about to reply when he was interrupted by a loud scream and some voices that echoed through the dark room of the action house. He didn't have to wait long to see what was going on. A few men working at the auction house were dragging an unwilling mermaid towards one of the cages. The mermaid was screaming and trashing wildly but everyone knew that won't be of much help. Then, suddenly all the men holding the mermaid fainted, leaving the other guards and prisoners to wonder and gasp.
But as soon as it came, it disappeared and the mermaid was caught again, restrained and one of those big collars was put on her neck. The poor girl gave up on the fighting and was now sniffling and crying silently in her cell.
Akie frowned at the sight of the poor girl being shackled in her cell as he lightly fanned himself while rubbing the magatama pendant, "I hope you know what you're doing, Rayleigh-san."
All he had as a reply was a whimsical smile.
oOoXXXXoOo
"And now for our main attraction, ladies and gentlemen!" Disco announced as the lights dimmed and the auctioneer rambled on about the next 'item' before cutting on some lights and allowing a silhouette of a mermaid appear on stage, then pulled off the sheet covering the bowl to show a real life mermaid. After that were shouts of bidding echoing through the hall.
Law was leaning on the back of his seat, bored like hell. He thought they'd at least put on a better show but this was just sad. The most exciting thing that happened so far was that guy biting his tongue and giving both the nobles and auctioneers quite a surprise and this mermaid, other than that... He sighed in disappointment and was just about to get up and leave with his crew when another person came on stage with the mermaid. This time it was a young man, dressed in a long-sleeved yukata. He had glowing amber eyes and long dark hair that looked blue under the light held back by a dark-blue headband with horn-like attachments. By his features and appearance, it was obvious he wasn't from around here but a country far away even though he had a slight trouble determining the being as male or female. Still, what drew Law's attention wasn't so much his appearance as the attitude. He looked completely calm as if he didn't have a care in the world. Almost bordering on boredom if he looked close enough. That made him stay in his seat and a grin appeared back on his face.
"This might be interesting…"
"Coming all the way from Wano country, the New World, here comes Akie-chan!" That caused a slight stir on the male as his right eye twitched ever so slightly that one would have thought they imagined it. "Don't let his looks fool you as he is 100% male, but even his feminine features are a feast for the eyes, eh? This handsome young man is 21 years old. Noble and spirited like the samurai commonly found in Wano, this young man has the elegance and grace of a butterfly and is an excellent musician so I guarantee he'll soothe your souls along with this mermaid. Two for the price of one, am I right?" Disco finished with a grin and a wink towards the audience, not noticing the man slipping something from his sleeve which went unnoticed by anyone except for the Heart Pirate Captain. "We will start the bid at 800,000 Beri. Do we have 800,000?" Disco asked.
But before anyone could bid, the man suddenly snapped open his fan and covered the lower part of his face, just below his nose, augmenting his feminine looks. His eyes, previously closed, slowly opened to reveal colder-than-ice amber.
"It pains me to see how humanity had fallen to such low standards." He spoke with an equally icy voice that could easily freeze the audience. "Even a lowly servant has more standard than you disgusting curs."
The audience were stunned at the so-called elegant man speaking to them in such a manner. Law, on the other hand, became even more intrigued by this Wano man. It's not everyday you'll find someone outright insulting the audience which includes the Celestial Dragons and not be a afraid of the consequences. Disco went up to him to stop him but just one glance from his eyes made him froze in his tracks.
"To actively participate in such a revolting activity, and you called yourself humans?" he then turned his eyes away, as if the mere sight of them disgusted him. "Such an insult will bring shame to the innocent. Then again, it seems humans like these are the same everywhere." He said, emphasizing the 'these' as if referring them like worthless organisms.
"Hold your tongue, you fiend!" a Celestial Dragon, Charlos, shouted. "Don't you know who I am! I'll have you executed if you so much insulted me! So I demand some respect!"
"A Tenryuubito. Yes, I do know who you are." the man replied. Before said man could speak, the Wano man spoke in a voice like a sharply-edged knife. "And I do not care if you are, nor do I respect. You, who had used your greed and power to threaten those who you think is beneath you, have no right to talk about respect."
Penguin whistled impressed, "That guy has some guts."
oOoXXXXoOo
Akie stared blankly at the Tenryuubito as he tried to reach for his pistol when an explosion came from the back and the audience turned to see something come flying into the auction house and crash into the crowd a few rows away from the stage. As the smoke cleared, he couldn't believe the sight in front of him. A boy with a blue, sleeveless shirt, shorts, and a straw hat looked around before shouting about landing better to someone. It was only then that Akie saw the flying fish lying unconscious among the rubble left from the seats some people had previously been sitting in.
He watched as a man with green hair cut short around his head and three swords tucked into his belt walked over to the boy with the straw hat holding his head and started arguing with him before asking where they were. He couldn't believe someone would actually crash into the auction house like that, the thought almost made him laugh.
'So this must be his young boy, Monkey D. Luffy.' he thought with a smile, though it's still hidden behind his fan. 'Now then...' He then turned to the mermaid in the bowl, wondering how to get her out without upsetting the bomb collar when he heard the boy shouting,
"Keimi!"
He turned only to see the boy running down the aisle between the seats in the auction house towards the stage. 'As he described, very reckless.'
He watched as Luffy was being restrained by another until the clothes came off to unveil that the man was a Fishman. Akie's eyes widened ever so slightly. 'Hachi?'
The voices of the crowd snapped him out and he saw people throwing things at Hachi and telling him to get lost. Before he could say or do anything, he heard the worst sound in the world and watched in shocked silence as Hachi suddenly fell and rolled down the stairs a couple of times, blood dripping down the stairs from a wound in his chest.
"I hit it! I shot a Fishman!" The Celestial Dragon started saying as he hopped around on the stairs behind Hachi while an orange haired female shouted his name. The blood flowing out of the Fishman's body reminded him too much of his past, causing him to go feral as his eyes momentarily turned a bloody-red and his canines turned sharp.
He didn't see what happened next but what he did see was Luffy punching Charlos in the face and sent him flying, which gave him satisfaction. After that, all hell breaks loose.
Left and right, marines fought against the Straw Hats while the audience evacuated. Akie sighed as his eyes and teeth slowly returned to normal before turning to the mermaid while Hachi was being dragged out by the Straw Hat crew. Being absorbed in his thoughts on how to get Keimi out, he barely sensed the presence behind before whipping out his fan and deflecting the bullet that was being sent his way, despite the chains locking his hands together.
"Ah, if it isn't the miss of the Celestial Dragons." he said as he held his fan like before. "I hope you weren't trying to kill me with a bullet."
"Too bad for you-zamasu! You're quite handsome so I was thinking of buying you if you had kept your mouth shut-zamasu!" Shalulia shouted as she pointed the gun at him and Keimi .
"Well then, it's a good thing I did since I have no intention on being bought by the likes of you." he simply said.
This ticked the Celestial Dragon off, "Die-zamasu!"
Suddenly, a burst of Haki erupted from behind the scenes and Shalulia fell unconscious to the ground. Then, from the hole in the wall on stage out walked Rayleigh and a giant.
"Have a look at that, Giant-kun. The hall is a complete mess." Rayleigh commented.
"You finally decided to come out here." Akie sighed in exasperation when he noticed the missing collars. "Honestly, Rayleigh-san. It would have been much appreciated that you emerged much sooner. At least the auction hall wouldn't be as bad as of right now."
"Sorry, sorry."
Akie sighed, "Since you're here, would you be so kind as to help this poor girl here with her collar?"
"Oh yes, I almost forgot." the old man said and turned his attention to the mermaid as he tilted the bowl until the water is almost pouring out with Keimi holding onto the side. Akie turned his attention to Shalulia and dragged her off-stage before depositing her unceremoniously on the ground.
'Now then, where is that auctioneer? I want to have a few words with his naming sense.' he thought, still annoyed at being called "Akie-chan" when he's obviously a male... Well, partially obvious.
His musings were cut off when he heard shouting and turned just in time to see Rayleigh pulling the ticking bomb collar off of Keimi ...and threw it straight at him.
oOoXXXXoOo
"Watch out!" Usopp shouted towards the man on stage. Chopper and Pappug cried out as they watched the bomb collar heading straight for the yukata-clad man when, in the blink of an eye, the collar was cleanly cut in two before exploding. The younger man had his folding fan out in front of him as if he had cut something with it before glaring at the older man. At the same time, Franky came running out with the keys.
"Rayleigh-san, were you trying to kill me?" the dark haired man spoke.
"Oops, my mistake." his older companion chuckled like he didn't threw a ticking bomb at him.
"Please be more careful, next time." the younger male said as he closed his fan and tucked it away in his sleeve. "I much rather be in one piece than in pieces."
"H-He-" Usopp stuttered.
"He cut the collar in just a blink of an eye." Chopper finished.
The Wano man then turned towards the slavers who were gathered by the stage. "All of you, your buyers have all ran away. You should take this chance to get away from here while you still can." He then took the keys from Franky and gave it to the nearest slave. They rejoiced and thanked them before unlocking each of their locks and making a run for it.
"Oi, shouldn't you unlocked yours first?" Franky said, pointing to the chains.
The man turned to him before casually breaking open the chains and collar, much to the cyborg's surprise. "If they wanted to chain me up, they would have to use more suitable ones than those." With that, the yukata-clad man turned back to the mermaid and helped her out of her bowl. Carrying her bridal-style, she laid her down beside Hachi before facing the Straw Hat Pirates.
"Did you get what you came for?" he asked the old man who nodded. The younger male sighed, "Still, it's unbelievable to think that you did this so you could swindle out the buyer's money just to gamble more. Shakky-san's going to be upset if she finds out."
The older male laughed, "IF she finds out. Of course, I trust you to keep it quiet, Akie-chan."
"Please refrain from calling me that." the younger said, his brow twitching. "Though I like to sit and chat here all day, might we first take care of some unwanted visitors?"
True to that, outside the house are troops of marines readying their guns and cannons. "Criminals inside! Please release the Rosward Family! An admiral will be here shortly! I'd imagine that it would be safer for you to just surrender! You don't know what will happen otherwise, rookies!" One marine said.
"Well, at least they're courteous enough to say please to a bunch of pirates." the amber-eyed man said before turning to the old man. "What should we do?"
"Well, I can't use that power from before anymore, so I'm counting on you." He said as he turned to the other rookies. "It will be troublesome if the navy found out who I am."
"I have no intention of being saved by some old man. But the longer we stay, the more soldiers will come." Kid smirked before walking off. "As an extra favor, I'll save you guys. I'll take care of the cleaning outside, so just relax."
oOoXXXXoOo
"He just have to add fuel to the fire, does he?" Akie muttered as he watched both the Heart Pirate's captain and Luffy walked after him. "Honestly, I'll never understand pirates..."
"Then why don't you join one?" Rayleigh laughed. "I guarantee it's enjoyable."
Akie just deadpanned, "I won't take your word for it."
Rayleigh grinned, "You won't regret it. Still, there's a favor I need you to do."
"You want me to go after them?" Akie asked with a raised brow.
"If you could. Just stall the marines enough time for us to get out."
Akie sighed before nodding, "Alright, as far as I can tell, I'll make sure to stay out of their way. Besides, the marines won't even know what hit them." He then turned to Hachi, "And you need to keep a low profile next time."
The Fishman sheepishly said, "Sorry, I got carried away with saving Keimi."
"Don dake~" He deadpanned. "Anyways, I'm glad you're alright. People do say Fishmen are hard to kill after all."
"Oi, you don't have to say it like that!" Hachi, Usopp and Chopper exclaimed, comedy style.
Then, screams and cannons blazing could be heard outside. "It seems the fight had just begun." Akie said before walking towards the entrance. "Hopefully, they won't try to destroy the area."
From behind him, he heard the long-nosed one said, "Knowing Luffy, it will be."
As he walked, Akie debated on whether he should fight with his fans or his other ability, but decided on the spot when he reached outside and he was greeted with three cannonballs flying straight at him. Honestly, what's with flying explosive objects being so attracted to him today? In the blink of an eye, the balls were sliced into many useless pieces before dropping to the ground. The marines and the three rookies stared at him in shock and awe.
"Goodness, learn to aim properly. What if you accidentally hit an innocent passer-by or something?" He reprimanded, not caring that he's in front of a whole troop of marines and three future Supernovas.
Behind the wall of marines, the commodore stared quizzically at the Wano man before calling for a nearby soldier. "Who is he?"
"Hah! Beg your pardon, sir but I'm not sure myself." the soldier replied. "Why do you ask?"
"No, it's just he looks familiar."
Akie then turned to the rookies as he crossed his arms over his chest, "It's alright, I'm just here as a spectator. I won't interfere with your fights, just as long you don't purposely aim for me."
"Shihihihi, okay!" Luffy replied.
"As long you don't interfere." Kid muttered, while Law just smirked before going back to the fight.
Akie stood by a pillar, wary of any runaway cannonballs as he watched the three Devil Users make a mockery out of the marines. He's actually surprised none of the marines tried to take him on, but at the same time expected that due to the fact he hasn't been 'active' for so long. His mind then drifted to somewhere faraway as he absentmindedly watched the battle, while debating whether to tell the straw hat. In the end, he shrugged. It wasn't any of his business.
"Oh, Akie." Said man turned to Rayleigh as he and the others finally came out. "I see they're doing just fine."
"Eh, I didn't need to pitch in. I could, but I rather not." Akie said before noticing the marine's sudden increase in numbers surrounding them. "On the other hand, looks like I'll have to."
"Sorry, I'll leave it to you." Rayleigh chuckled.
"Ryōkai." With that, he sped off to one side of the marines and did a claw-swiping motion as water formed around his hands. "Suirō no Kagizume!" The attack blasted away hordes of marines flying. Said navy stared in shock while some stared in confusion as to process what just happened. By the time they did, Akie had already defeated another horde.
"What are you doing?! Shoot him down!" The commodore shouted. His men redirected their mortars at him but firing on command. Akie easily dodged the flying iron balls but the resulting explosions caused his headband to fly off and his sleeves to pull upwards, revealing his arms... if you can call them that. "Wha-?!"
"Eeeeeehhhhh?!" Usopp, Chopper and Pappug exclaimed, with their eyes popping out of their sockets.
"What on earth?" Nami couldn't believe it either as the rest of the pirate crew stared at Akie's newly revealed secret. Even the rookies stopped their attacks.
The only one not surprised at all is Rayleigh as he caught the headband in mid-air before it could fly any further and smiled at the young man, "Akie, you're exposed!"
Said man turned to him in slight annoyance, "I know." He sighed as he rolled up his sleeves, seeing no point in hiding his arms or his horns while looking down at his arms. His arms are covered in dark scales that shined under the sunlight with tribal sky-blue markings decorating the upper part of it while his fingers are like dragon claws; sharp and lethal.
"It's been a while since I last used my arms for battle." He muttered, getting into position. His arms turned black, much to the pirates' surprise. "Suirō no..."
"Don't give him a chance to attack!" The marines snapped out of their shock before setting their guns and mortars ablaze but each missed the elusive man as the iron balls and bullets seemingly missed him.
"...Ibuki!" Stabbing his claws into the ground with such force, the immense impact cracked the ground in front of him creating a large spider web before the shock wave blew the marines even further then before, leaving said area clear of them. "Yosh, that should do it." He then turned to Rayleigh. "It's cleared now."
"Sorry for the trouble," He replied, which the younger waved off.
The commodore was agape with shock as he watched his men being blown away by just one man. But this isn't any one man, how could he had been so careless? The rookies were one thing, but this man is a whole new level.
"Now I remember where I've seen you before." He said. "The wanted posters never did capture the person's face but their unusual appearance is enough to cause a stir."
"Sir, you know him?!" The soldier from before asked.
"Four years ago, one being attacked an entire cargo ship belonging to the Celestial Dragons and stole every goods there is in the ship before sinking it to the bottom of the South Blue. The year after that was the destruction of a noble's home. And the year after that was overthrowing a kingdom." The commodore spoke as he remembered the past incidents. "Survivors all spoke of a man with arms of the demon and strength of a thousand men glowing in an aura of blue, whose eyes show nothing of mercy, cutting everything in his path, innocent or not. He's also said to be the Revolutionary's trump card."
In his mind showed a shadowed man standing on rubble with glowing yet cold amber eyes and a blue aura in the shape of an eastern dragon appeared behind him, fire blazing everywhere.
"The Shadow of Dragon the Revolutionary! The Dragon of destruction! That's you, Blue Dragon!" He finished, pointing dramatically at a bored-looking Akie.
Rayleigh laughed despite the tense atmosphere, "Oh, you finally became famous, Akie-chan!"
"Didn't I say not to call me that?" Akie muttered. "And I wasn't intend on being famous."
"But he suddenly disappeared just two years ago, and no one had heard of him since. No one knows who he was or how he look like. He's as elusive as Dragon himself!" the commodore spoke as if he wasn't interrupted before pulling out a wanted poster. "Due to your absence and your actions in the past, your bounty had risen, Blue Dragon!"
On it was a faded picture of said man wearing a hooded cloak with his dragon arms out. The epithet said "Blue Dragon" in bold and his bounty had gone up to 310M Beli.
"3-310M Beli?!" Usopp exclaimed. "That's even more than what Luffy had!"
"Heh, you're really that famous?" Luffy asked with a grin.
"I guess...Though the part about me cutting people up like a psychopath is a bit far-fetched. I'm not a mindless killer. I know my friend from foe." He replied, taking in the incoming marines.
"Heh. You're a funny guy! I like you!" The rubber man laughed. "Do you want to join my crew?"
Usopp, on the other hand, protested, "Luffy, you idiot! Why are you so carefree about this!"
"Hm? He's a fun guy." Was his answer.
"That's not the problem!"
Akie was shocked at his proposal to join his crew and at the same time, wondered just how carefree he is, "Honestly, all you D's are so alike." Luffy turned to him in confusion, not hearing his mumble, "Sorry, But I can't join your crew."
"Eh? Why?"
"It's tiring. It's troublesome. And I don't think my sanity will fare any better against you and your crew." Akie then faced him. "Besides, your crew will grow stronger in the near future but whether you achieve it or not, that's your own choice."
"Hm? How'd you know?"
Akie paused to think before smirking a bit, "Intuition."
Rayleigh narrowed his eyes a bit before smiling a bit, knowing the real reason why. "Sorry to interrupt but it seems the reinforcements are here."
True to that, more marines came charging in. At this rate, they'll meet up with an Admiral in no time. Akie sighed again, "They just won't take a break, huh?" Turning to Rayleigh, he motioned for him to get going. The old man nodded and led the Straw Hat crew out. "Luffy-san, you should get going."
"Oh, thanks." The hat-wearing captain said and ran after his crew but not before turning to 'Blue Dragon' and waving his arms in the air. "Let's meet again next time, Blue!"
'Blue?' Akie thought in confusion but smiled a bit, thinking must be the kid's nickname for him and nodded. 'We will meet again.' Akie stood back as the rest of the other rookies finished off the marines before noticing one slaver sitting by the pillars. 'Isn't that...'
"You don't have time to distract yourself, Blue Dragon!" A hulking man appeared behind him. Akie cursed in his mind and was about to dodge when...
"Room." A blue semi-circle appeared around him. The marine looked at it in confusion, while Akie stared around him. "Shambles." Instantly, he found himself by the Heart Pirate Captain while a cannonball took his place, blowing the marine up.
"Well, that was convenient." The Wano man said as he turned to the captain. "Though I could have gotten out of there myself."
All he had as a reply was a smirk before the captain turned to the slaver and ex-pirate captain, Jean Bard. Watching them talk, Akie couldn't helped but be impressed that a rookie could persuade a well-known captain to join his crew. Then again, it's better than being a slave all your life. He unconsciously touched his shoulder, slightly remembering the scar on his back. Then, his senses kicked in and grabbed the nearest one to him away as a laser beam sliced through the ground.
"I'm sorry." Spoke the person he grabbed, which turned out to be a talking bear.
"Don't be." He said before looking up to their attacker. "Now then, what brings you here?" He asked as the dust cloud dispersed, revealing the hidden attacker. "Bartholomew Kuma."
Tenryuubito - Celestial Dragon
Don dake~ - A way of saying "No way!"
Ryōkai - Roger
Suirō no Kagizume - Claw of the Water Dragon
Suirō no Ibuki - Breath of the Water Dragon
Well, here's the first chapter. Akie sure knows how to kick ass, huh? But don't go saying he's too gary-stu or too OP. There is a reason for that but it will be revealed in the later chapters. That also includes his connections with Rayleigh and the Revolutionary, and also one other pirate gang.
As you can guess, this is a Yaoi fic so no flames about it.