Crew of the Axe: Worlds Collide
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.
Kilnorc: Greetings from a long, long, LONG hiatus my friends! I have come from my sabbatical to deliver this special fanfiction! I hope you enjoy it, for it is VERY, VERY, VERY special!
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In the Grand Line there is a special island. The island's name is Heikou and in the middle of this island, in the middle of a great jungle filled with ravenous animals and deadly natural hazards, lays a settlement called Nexus City. Despite it's surroundings, it's a moderately prosperous city with stores stocking both Doskoi Panda and the Criminal franchises. On the edge of the island was a harbor for departing and arriving ships and from that harbor there is a safe street that passes through the jungle, leading straight to Nexus City. In this city, on this island, there is a man, one who is lost and unable to find his way home.
Samuel D. Axe was this very man.
"FOR THE LOVE OF CRAP, THIS SUCKS AND I'M BORED!" he shouted to himself as he walked the streets of Nexus City. For days now, he had been separated from his crew and how miserable he was, missing them. He missed Devon insulting DJ and questioning his manhood; he missed Dusty being used as Sea King bait whenever she pissed off Niri or Kirsty enough; he even missed Azu rolling around, drunk off his ass, babbling one thing or another. He had no idea where they were now; the only thing he could be sure of was that he was here and his weapons were with him. That was something, at least.
"Oi! Kid!" a gruff, older voice called from the side of the street.
"Eh?" Axe stopped and turned to the voice. He half expected it to be a sheriff or some kind of lawman, but instead he was greeted with the sight of a drinking man. Not as bad as Azu, he could see that right off the bat, but a drinker nonetheless. "Yeah? Waddya ya want, ossan?"
"Come over here, would ya?" the man waved him over. "I got something for ya!"
Axe scowled, If he says one thing about having a snake in his pants and needing me to reach in and help him get rid of it, I'm castrating him right then! He sighed and trudged over, hands in his pockets. "What?"
"What you were just screaming about now. You said you were bored?"
"Yeah, so? What's it to you?"
The drinking man shrugged. "Maybe I know something about something that'll kill time?"
Axe turned on his heels. "Look, if you got any freaky things in that head of yours, let me just say now that I don't swing that way."
"Hey, now wait a minute!" the man's hand landed on his shoulder. "I've got something to say!"
Big mistake, dick. Axe reached over his shoulder, grabbed the man's arm and with complete ease, he flipped the man over him and threw him onto the street. Before he had a chance to move, Axe planted a boot on his chest and glared down at him.
"Wait, wait, wait!" the man held up his hands, eyes full of fear. "I didn't mean anything against you, kid! Honestly! I was just wanting to tell you something!"
"Well, you have my attention now," Axe replied, keeping his boot on the man. "Tell me. What's so important?"
The man gulped. "You're new here, right?"
"For the time being, yeah," Axe nodded. "I don't have any way off this island yet. There aren't any boats going out for awhile and I have no money to bribe people. Why?"
"I know something that'll keep you entertained and maybe even earn you some money!"
Axe's eyebrow rose. "Go on."
"There's a man, we call him Old Man Kenta," the man said slowly, "he's kinda crazy, but for awhile now, he's been going on and on about losing some kind of treasure and asking people to help him find it. If you're really wanting to do something, you can go and see him, he lives closer to the jungle than anyone here!"
Axe lifted his boot and the man rolled out from under him. "Why would you tell me something like that? I'm a stranger to this island, how do I know that you're not lying and not trying to pull something over on me?"
The man grinned. "Oh c'mon, who would do such a thing like that?"
The pirate glared at him and the grin disappeared.
"Where is he, exactly?"
The man pointed down the road. "Just keep going down until you start hearing an old fart ranting at the top of his lungs. If, by some bizarre chance, you don't hear that, just keep going until you come to the last house in the area on the jungle borders. That's his."
Axe looked in the direction he was pointed to, then he turned to the pointer. "Look, I'm a nice guy, in general and all. However," he stepped closer and grabbed the man by the neck of his shirt and hauled him clean off the ground, "I am not in the best of moods right now. If I find out that you're screwing with me, you'll find out exactly how it feels to be launched face first into a building! Understand?"
The man's face went white. "Y-Y-YESSIR!"
"Good," Axe threw him to the ground and walked off. "Natives piss me off so much sometimes..."
A short time later...
Old Man Kenta was on the edge of his property, waving to something as it disappeared into the jungle. "Just remembered what I said, you hear me? It has to be found and brought back in one piece, do you understand? Or else I'm gonna kill you myself!"
Axe, who had just been walking onto his land, noticed him right away. Old Man Kenta was a thin man wearing dirty clothes that hung around his wiry frame while gray-to-white hair grew from his scalp. "Oi! You the old man whose looking for treasure?"
Kenta turned and nearly jumped out of his skin when he clapped eyes on Axe. "I just-" he looked back at the jungle. "But you-! How did you?" He turned to Axe and looked him over. "You got a lot paler all of a sudden, kid!"
"Eh?" Axe blinked. "What the hell are you talking about? Have we met before?"
Kenta nodded frantically. "YEAH! I just sent you to go after my treasure!"
Axe sweatdropped. That guy was telling the truth alright, this old man is crazy! I've never been here before, what the hell is he talking about? He coughed lightly. "Listen, my name is Axe and I heard in town that you're missing that treasure you just mentioned. I came to see if it were true and if I could help."
Kenta stared warily at him. "...uh...huh..."
"But, I have conditions!" Axe held up a finger. "I'm currently stranded on this island. I didn't come here intentionally, I was forced to. So, here's the deal: I get your treasure back, if you really have one that is, and you pay me enough money to buy passage the next time a boat comes into the harbor. Sound good?"
Kenta nodded, slowly. Axe could see that the crazy old man had something going on in his head. Part of him wondered if something was really bothering him, but then another part of him wondered if the old fart was either looking at him or a dancing giant pink elephant. He could never tell with crazy people until they burst out into either violence or random song. He oughta know, he had lived with certain members of his crew long enough to know when to recognize signs.
"So," Axe crossed his arms and stared at the old man, "you gonna tell me more about this treasure, or do I have to go through the jungle, picking up any little thing I come across just to be safe?"
The old man frowned. "So impatient. Just like the one before you."
"Huh? There was another one here before me?"
He nodded.
"When?"
"Just before you came up to me. He went into the jungle to find the treasure and-"
"SHIT!" Axe took off like a bullet, darting past the old man and rushing into the jungle treeline. "You couldn't have told me this earlier?"
Kenta watched him leave and shook his head. "Today is such a weird day..." He glanced over his shoulder, as if he were fearing he was being watched, but when he saw no one standing there, he sighed, hand laying over his heart. "So glad!"
Axe blew through the beginning part of the jungle, vines and branches whipping at his face and arms, but he didn't care. He had a chance to get off this island, he wasn't about to let some asshole find the treasure and make out better than him! Not after everything he had been through before this place!
As he ran, he was completely unaware that he was being watched; studied. From the dark safety of the Hiekou Jungle, a large form watched the young pirate/treasure hunter barrel by him. The form moved quickly, silently, like a panther on the hunt. It moved through the trees and the brushes, keeping close, yet keeping a safe distance from the boy. It could not see him clearly due to the foliage, but it knew the boy meant trouble.
Armed to the teeth, the figure smiled from underneath the golden pelt of a great mountain lion. "You think this is a race, kid, but," it pulled free a bow from it's back and reached for an arrow, "this is a hunt!"
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Kilnorc: You know, it feels good coming back to my roots, it really does. Glad to be back, ya'll! Why am I back all of a sudden? Tis a secret!