Okay, as previously stated, this is the new story. I've recently been infected with a One Piece fandom that's been eating me from the inside so DON"T ILL ME WITH THE RANDOM OBJECTS THAT ALWAYS APPEAR PLEASE!
Yours in Fandom
~Dethia.
Dragon Scars
Chapter 1
"Why is there dust on my bulwark?!" A nasally toned voice, similar to that of a dying bird, squawked out, causing the strange girl sitting in the branches of a tree a few yards away from the shore, to open a eye and look over at the commotion.
On the deck of said bulwark were a crew of pirates anxiously cleaning said bulwark and glancing fearfully between a horridly ugly, obese women hefting around a spiked mace and decorated with too much makeup and jewelry.
"A THOUSAND PARDONS LADY ALVIDA!" The poor man who was the object of the obese women's rage, now know as Alvida. He was stuttering in fear of his captain's rage. "I-I thought I'd cleaned every inch of this ship!" Desperation coated his voice. "I'LL CLEAN EVERYTHING ALL OVER AGAIN! PLEASE-!"
Alvida's voice cut silkily through the man's begging. The girl had already redirected her full attention to the ship, searching out a particular young male. "'Please' what?"
"Please not the Iron Mace! I DON'T WANNA DIE!" But he was too late as previously stated mace was already flying through the air towards him.
Alvida hefted the spiked club onto her soldier and pointed to a small bespectacled, pink haired young cabin boy. The strange tree-girl's emerald eyes visibly darkened, and a protective anger sparked in her eyes as she saw who the ugly woman was pointing at.
"Koby! Who is the fairest throughout all the seas?!"
Koby gave a terrified smile. "Ahem.. Hehehe… Why YOU obviously, Lady Alvida!" His voice was shaky with fear and self loathing, though his expression didn't shift. "No one compares to you!"
Alvida directed her beady eyed glare towards her crew. "Correct! Which is why I will not tolerate ANYTHING dirty! The ship I sail in must be as clean and beautiful as I am… Understand?" The silence in her sentence conveyed the threat of pain should this not be followed.
The girl growled deep in her chest, the rumble coming out more feral than much else before she jumped to the ground, and wandered to the small cove where Koby had built his own little dingy. (To her it looked like a coffin.)
She gazed somberly at her reflection. Her skin was tanned from years on the sea and scars showed on her shoulders and chest from her spaghetti-strap tank top. Intelligent amber eyes above a button nose, a small mouth with pink lips. Her face was innocent looking, not filled with sharp angles, but not filled with baby fat. Her curly dark red hair went a little below her shoulders and was obviously unevenly cut from the randomly sticking up pieces and the uneven strands that fell into the middle of her face. You'd be surprised to learn that she was seventeen, when her facial appearance made her appear so much younger.
She jumped when a giant yawn tore through the air from the direction of Alvida's ship. "THAT WAS A GREAT NAP!" She sweat dropped.
"Which idiot would do such a foolish thing as to say that so loudly?" She asked the trees around her. She got no answer of course.
The crash that followed made the girl turn and stare wide-eyed in the direction of the pirates, her hand flashed to the arm length silver pole on her back, till she had to duck out of the way when a barrel holding something bounced past her. Koby flew by in pursuit, not noticing her in the least.
The girl giggled into her hands and sat on Koby's coffin-boat , waiting for him to come by. She didn't talk to anyone but him. In all actuality, he was the second person for her to speak to after she had regained her sanity…
Blood coating her hands, her face, her entire body as people bearing weapons and fire ran at her screaming things she did not understand…
Strange-man-with-red-hair-and-one-arm, sitting and waiting, as she thrashed and screamed and destroyed the trees around her…
Blood staining the dark sands of her home, the bodies of a girl, a woman, and HIM tossed unceremoniously on the ground, their intestines pulled out of them, and slashes in their necks…
Seeing the red-haired man stop those of pointy-things-and-loud-noises from trying to hunt her again with a well placed look…
Blood dripping from the ceiling where it splattered…
Kind dark brown eyes staring at her with caring…
Blood staining her hands…
Her voice, rough from disuse, telling the red-haired man her name after a month of him being there: "I used to be Akira…"
"Blood" She- who-once-was-Akira whispered as it dripped from Arget to the bright green blood by her feet…
Waving goodbye to the people-of-great-water-and-battle and those-who-follow-man-who-is-Shanks…
Blood. Everywhere.
"Akira!" Koby's voice called her back from the depth's of her memories. Akira realized that she was hunched in on herself, hands digging into her scalp and pulling at her hair. As she sat up she took a deep breath and arched her back, making it pop with a satisfying CRACK!
"Hi, Koby." She smiled reassuringly at the pink-haired boy, before directing her gaze to the boy who walked behind him.
He was dressed in a button up red vest and a pair of cut-off jean shorts which ended at his knees. He wore sandals, but his most defining features were his straw hat and the wide smile decorating his face. He had a crescent moon scar beneath his left eye, his eyes were a deep shade of brown, and his black hair stuck out at odd angles from beneath his hat.
Luffy measured Akira up as she did him. The girl had deep red hair and dark amber eyes that gleamed a little. She wore a dark blue spaghetti-strap tank top that bared a bit of her mid-diff, a pair of khaki Capri's, and black boots. A pair of what appeared to be well-worn black rubber arm-length, fingerless gloves decorated her arms. There was a silver pole about the size of his forearm attached.
She tilted her head and eyed him quizzically. "Are you the one who yelled out about 'A great nap'?"
His smile was unrepentant. "Yup. I'm Luffy! Monkey D. Luffy!" His smile was so bright she had to blink for a moment. "Who're you?"
Koby decided to speak up. "Luffy, meet Akira. She was here before Alvida's pirates decided to set up base here."
A small smile decorated her person. "Cheers." She greeted him, before directing her amber gaze to Koby. "Why is Alvida having a hissy fit now?"
Koby laughed nervously and scratched the back of his read. "Eh he… I'm not really sure…" Akira gave him a worried look before messing hair.
"What's this?! A coffin?" The exclamation had Akira smothering a laugh, while Koby went to explain what is was and his circumstances.
The red haired teen went to doze beneath a tree on the far side of the clearing, but was jerked from her daydream that had her staring at the young black haired male in shock.
"I'm gonna be the King of the Pirates!" His grin didn't waver, his body didn't start, and the pulse in the base of his neck didn't change. The boy was serious.
Akira ignored Koby's rant and walked over to stare intently at Luffy. "Akira!" Koby's screech had her turning her face minutely to glance at the shell-shocked young boy. "You have to tell him it's impossible! Tell him he can't do it!"
Akira stared deeply at Luffy once more before smiling. "I can't tell him he can't do it Koby," she admonished, "He would just do it anyway." She stalled his rant with a raised hand. "Besides, Koby SEE him." She gestured to the complacent boy, simply accepting the fact that he was being talked about as if he wasn't there. "He radiates determination."
"But, but, but…" Koby began to freak out again. "He wants to be the King of Pirates in the Golden Age of Pirates! It'll NEVER HAPPEN!"
If Akira was telling the truth, she would say she was thankful for Luffy gave the boy a healthy pop on the head, even as she comforted Koby. "Hey! Why'd you hit me?!" He cried out.
"You were hysterical." Luffy's blunt answer made Akira smile.
"Okay, I'm used to it. OW!" Koby rubbed the new bump on his head and looked at Akira's frown.
"I'm not afraid to die, Koby!" Luffy was taking off his hat, and at Koby's really intelligent (Queue sarcasm) 'Huh?' He elaborated while staring at his hat, not really seeing it. "I've set myself to become the King of Pirates, and if I die trying… Then at least I tried!"
Akira eyed him fitfully. He reminds me of Shanks. A small smile decorated her face. He will go far…
"Y-you're not even afraid to die!?" Koby exclaimed gazing at Luffy with awe.
"And I believe I'll succeed, too. Or am I just deluding myself…" Luffy wondered. Koby's Eyes began to fill with tears.
"Maybe… I can be like that!" He sniffled. "If I'm willing to risk my life trying…"
Luffy glanced over at Koby "Huh?"
"…Maybe it's possible!" He exclaimed, and Akira glanced at him in confusion. "Do you think I could join the Navy?!"
"The Navy?!" Akira and Luffy cried out in unison.
"We'll end up being enemies," He cried out to the gob smacked duo, begging them to understand, "But I want to join the Navy and fight the bad guys! It's been my dream since I was a little kid!"
Akira smiled at him and tousled his hair. "Go for it." And she wandered over to the edge of the clearing to let them talk. A rustle and the sight of shadows moving through the forest had the red head grabbing for the silver staff on her back.
"WHO ARE YOU GOING TO CAPTURE, RUNT?!" Alvida bellowed as she smashed the coffin-dinghy Koby had made.
Akira had gone over to Koby's side and was glaring at the pirates who flanked the obese woman. "You little sneak! Did you really think you could escape from me?!"
She cast a insolent glance towards you and the Straw hat boy. "Are those the bounty hunters you hired? Well, neither are Roronoa Zolo, so I'll give you one chance to repent. Who is the fairest throughout all the seas?"
Akira sighed sadly when she saw fear overtake Koby once more. "He heh… Lady Alvida-"
"Hey who's that tough-looking old biddy?"
In the silence that followed Luffy's candid remark was broken only by Akira's unrestrained laughter.
While Koby shook Luffy in a attempt to make him say the correct thing three pirates detached from the main body.
"Well, lookie here, boys." The leader sneered. "Looks like this little girl couldn't do anything to Lady Alvida if she tried." His associates cackled.
"Lady Alvida, may we take care of her for you?"
The obese woman barely spared the group a glance, still enraged at the lack of respect Luffy had shown her. "Do I look like I care?! Fine!"
Akira smiled sweetly. "Okay." With a jerk her arm length silver rod became a staff about seven feet long. She twirled it expertly. "Goodbye." She chirped at them as she slid one foot forward and swept the pole beneath their feet and began to fall face down towards the ground. Before they had even a chance to realize they were falling, Akira had followed through, twirling the pole into her other hand and continued her rotation to crack all three in their faces with the opposite end of the pole. She smiled at their prone forms on the ground before nuzzling the seven ft long pole. "Like I was never out of action. I love you, Argent!"
Alvida's crew was watching the lone, skinny girl, who didn't look like she had a ounce of muscle on her, in shock. They all flinched at the too-bright amber eyes that flashed at them with something akin to a wild animal's desire to hunt. Terrified, they tried to gain the attention of their captain.
Of course she was too busy getting bloated with anger (or was Alvida always that bloated?) at Luffy and Koby. "ANSWER ME!"
Koby started to stop his frenzied shaking of Luffy. "Lady Alvida is…" Resolve and angry tears filled the young boy's eyes. "LADY ALVIDA IS THE UGLIEST OLD HAG OF ALL! He gulped in fear as the shadow of the previously stated hag fell over him.
Luffy's carefree laughter filled the air and Akira allowed a happy smile to cover her face even as she rushed to move Koby out of the way.
"YOU LITTLE-!" She roared and hefted her mace high.
"Good for you, Koby!" Luffy called as he stepped forward in front of Koby and Akira tackled Koby back.
"Luffy!" Koby screeched out in fear for his newfound friend. Akira's amber eyes, still bright with adrenaline, watched every single movement behind her, to see if the strange new boy could possibly survive.
"It makes no difference to me! You're ALL gonna die!" She screeched with a fearsome frown decorating her already hideous face, as she brought the mace down on Luffy's head.
A startled laugh escaped Akira as the black haired boy smiled beneath the mace and his hat.
"That didn't hurt. 'Cause I'm made of rubber!" Luffy told them all, happy as can be.
"Impossible! No one survives the iron mace!" Alvida cried out in shock.
Koby stared in shock as one of the idiots who attacked her called out, "You've gotta be kidding!"
Over all of this, Luffy could be heard. "Gum-Gum," He threw his left arm out behind him and put his right hand on his bicep. "PISTOL!"
The ugly woman only had time to say 'What the-' before Luffy's unorthodox punch hit it's intended target, making her fly to the center of the collected pirates.
"HIS ARM STRETCHED LIKE RUBBER!"
"CAPTAIN!"
"HE BEAT LADY ALVIDA! HE'S NOT HUMAN!"
Akira's scornful laugh echoed in the clearing. "No real pirate is human." The redhead bore her teeth at the foolish crew, her teeth looking just a bit too sharp to be in a human's mouth, making them flinch. Her amber eyes ridiculed them. "Fools should stay off the sea if you expect humanity!" The crew whimpered.
Luffy laughed and nodded in agreement. "Give Koby a dinghy! He's gonna join the Navy!" The now known 'Rubber Man' demanded.
"Y-yes sir…" The terrified Pirates chorused.
Luffy laughed aloud once more.
Akira was sitting in the sand cross-legged while watching Koby ready the dinghy for travel. Luffy was standing nearby, hands on the back of his head and was staring at her with a single-mindedness that was making her prickly. She sighed. "Yes, Luffy?"
Luffy's smile told her he got what he had been wanting. "You should join my crew!"
She blinked at him lethargically. "Depends on who's in it."
The rubber man grinned at her. "Well, if you join, that'll be you and me!"
She blinked at him in shock. "You don't already have one?!" She asked. "I thought you were heading for the grand line!"
His smile was clueless, which Akira was beginning to believe was common for him. "Yeah, but I still need a crew."
He was readily slapped across the head hard enough for his neck to stretch down and hit one of the big rocks on the beach.
"Owwwwww! What was that for?!" Luffy cried out holding his forehead, which had began to bleed from hitting a sharp edge on the rock.
Akira just growled at him. "Idiot! Fool! Setting sail without at the very least someone to sail with you!"
Koby looked back at the duo, Akira still scolding him like a child and Luffy responding enough to look like the kid who got his hand caught in the cookie jar, and sweat dropped. "It's ready to sail!"
Both turned and blinked at the young boy. "Coming!" They chorused.
That is, after Akira gave him one more pop upside the head for being stupid.
"You must of eaten the fruit of the Gum-Gum tree. Incredible!" Koby's voice echoed over the vast water that surrounded the unlikely trio. Luffy was sitting on the prow, Koby was in the middle of the boat, close to the rudder, and Akira was in the back of the boat laying on top of the supplies. "But Luffy, if you're going after One Piece, that means you'll have to enter the "Grand Line."
Luffy's answer, as always was blunt. "Yep."
"They call it the 'Pirates' Graveyard' …" Koby's voice trailed off, his worry for his new friend resounding in his voice enough for Akira to open her eyes from her relaxed dozing.
Of course, it either went right over Luffy's head or he ignored it because he is, inevitably, male. "That's why I'm assembling a super crew!" He turned around to look at Koby. "That guy imprisoned at the Navy Base, what's his name?"
Koby blinked in confusion and Akira eyed him with dread. "Roronoa Zolo!"
His grin confirmed Akira's fears. "If he's a good guy, I'll let him join my crew!" Luffy suddenly directed a stern glare in Akira's direction. "And you should be in my crew too!"
Akira dutifully ignored Koby's rant. "Luffy, I-"
"No!" Luffy pouted and Akira sweat-dropped. "You have to join."
Akira threw her hands up in exasperation. "Fine! If you can get this Zolo guy to join, I will too!" She pointed a stern finger at him, making him shrink a little, and if Koby would've looked at it, he would have sweat dropped. It looked like a mother scolding her child. "But if he doesn't then I don't have to! Understand?"
He nodded and held his hat to his head and grinned. "Gotcha!"
"..NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER!" Koby finished his rant panting heavily.
Akira blinked in amazement. I didn't think he was that long winded. Or do I just tend to block out everything else he says when I get the general reason? I wonder…
Luffy grinned at the boy while Akira dozed and thought. "How do you know?" he cheekily asked.
"NEVER!" The screamed out response was dutifully ignored.
Opinions, please? Things you want fixedededd?! PLEASE!