Author's Note: An answer to penniless1's 30 sentences challenge, 'cause I couldn't resist some of the prompts. I'd actually had this started for a while and not finished it, but I just figured out that having all these unfinished things around is part of what's keeping me from concentrating on Something In The Water, which is what I really should be doing, so yeah…

Beware of numbers 3 and 21, for they shall go on and on and on and on ad nauseam… And I want so badly to continue number 4, because it just doesn't sound right on it's own… Same thing for number 8. And they're very tenuous links to the original prompt in places, so be warned…


30 Pieces

It took Franky all of a minute to turn out the first fleet of canoes for the Straw Hats' journey upriver, and it took Luffy half that to sink them all somehow, resulting in a very wet and angry crew of pirates and a very amused pair of guides.

2. Acoustic
The sound bounced around the walls of the cave, echoing perfectly through the subterranean hallways, and Captain Buggy viciously cursed whichever imbecile had taught his new first mate to yodel.

3. Criminal
Pappag's first pilot store in Mariejois brought in over 350,000 beli in it's first month, reaching the million-dollar mark once the spoilt sons and daughters of the lesser nobility decided that Criminal Brand was the next big thing in fashion, and eventually even the Tenryuubito started buying into it, the proceeds from their exorbitant purchases paying for the continued restoration of Fishman Island (the irony of which was not lost on Pappag).

4. Native
For some reason, Kaku felt strangely at home on the open savannas of the backwater island CP9 had ended up on after being blown off course by a rogue storm.

Wordlessly, Luffy took off his hat and handed it to Nami for safekeeping: at that moment each and every one of the Straw Hats knew that one of the two captains would be going home in a body bag, and it damn well wasn't going to be theirs.

6. Leeward
Usopp hid behind the foremast, knees shaking, tears of fear gathering at the corners of his eyes, wincing as he listened to the way his co-conspirator's yelps punctuated the irate cook's every word.

7. Disaster
General maintenance bills went up tenfold the year Vice Admiral Garp was posted to Marine Headquarters.

8. Poppy
Smoke swirled around the tip of Sir Crocodile's cigar, the taste of it almost enough to outweigh the shichibukai's own drug of choice.

9. Hardening
When you weren't being tortured and you had nothing to worry about (unlike some people he could gleefully name), being imprisoned inside Impel Down was more boring than watching concrete dry.

10. Obey
Buggy walked a dangerous knife-edge balancing act atop a crew whose weakest member could have beaten the Clown in a trice, and sometimes it seemed the only thing keeping him balanced was the fact that even life itself seemed too amazed by his success to push him off.

11. Surfeit
Sanji had been almost baffled to discover during the Sunny's maiden voyage that, for once, their food supplies were more than sufficient to feed the entire crew (truly, refrigerators with locks were glorious things).

12. Greybeard
When Vista discovered his first grey hair and the topic subsequently occupied the lips of every single pirate aboard the Moby Dick, Marco smiled like he always did and thanked every god he'd ever heard of that grey hairs were a lot easier to hide in blonde hair.

13. Betweentimes
Sailing the Grand Line had its high points in the form of each new port you came to, but thanks to sea monsters, sudden storms, crazy climatic changes in the space of mere minutes, and other pirate ships, whether hostile or friendly, the journey was never boring.

14. Rasta
Thankfully, Thatch and Haruta had managed to talk Ace out of putting his hair into dreadlocks…

15. Island
You could in fact see people on the map in Spandam's head, but what they resembled was nothing more than the stepping-stone path to all the glory and power that CP9's director had ever desired.

16. Whirlingly
Jimbei considered himself a fairly throughful, considering sort of person, but in the short amount of time he'd known Straw Hat Luffy, the young pirate had managed to set his thoughts awhirl with each new action.

17. Hurricane
Boa Hancock collapsed onto her bed, relief in her heart whirling around with worry for Luffy, and Grandma Nyon's words echoing through her mind.

18. Learnt
Garp's method of teaching both amazed and horrified the Straw Hat crew, but they had to admit that probably nothing short of it would have worked.

19. Neophyte
Beginner pirates they may have been, but the Eleven Supernovas made a far bigger splash in the world's oceans than even pirates twice their average age had managed to do previously.

20. Windward
Mozu wouldn't usually risk going outdoors while Aqua Laguna was in full swing, but this time, the life of her big bro was in danger, and Mozu wasn't about to let him down.

21. Astride
Ace had never really paid much attention to where he was stepping, seeing as people tended to stay away from anyone wearing Whitebeard's mark and anyone fool enough to not get out of the way quick smart deserved to be stepped on, really, but that girl must have bumped into him while he was off balance or something, because down they went in a flurry of her skirts, ending up with Ace flat on his back and her sitting across his hips in a way that would have been quite enjoyable had her father not subsequently shot Ace in the head.

22. Judicial
Hidden away in a quiet corner of the deck, Thatch and Izou conspired and passed judgement on the sartorial preferences of the other Whitebeard pirates, concluding in the end that piratehood robbed all but the most stout-minded individuals of any fashion sense at all.

23. Encyclopedia
Marshall's teachers had been quite nonplussed to find out that the local library was the young misfit's favourite place.

24. Tropical
Robin's collection of rare tropical fish was growing quite well before Luffy and Usopp managed to land that tiger shark…

25. Desert
Giant fish and krakens had never featured in Camie's nightmares when she was a child (which probably went some way towards explaining why she got eaten on such a regular basis), but the abstract concept of sand stretching out into the infinite in every direction held the power to terrify her like glistening fangs and cavernous mouths never had.

26. Colony
Luffy would never look at cheese the same way again after Robin told him how it was made.

27. Maroon
It was Haruta's favourite colour besides green, but for some reason Thatch and Izou would never let her wear it.

28. Mothering
Whitebeard's Pirates rarely got sick, perhaps because of the, ah, attention to detail the nurses took in nursing people back to health…

29. Jumped

None of the Straw Hats could fly, with the momentary exception of Robin, but in Chopper and Brook's case, they came damn close.

30. Banzai

The last thing that went through Ensign Maldive's mind before it all went dark was the gleeful whoop of that rubber pirate as he jumped off the gate and into one of the most fiercely-guarded facilities on the planet.


Number 7 is my favourite. Garp is just that epic.

And love is always a hurricane~

For some reason I've got this idea into my head that Thatch's mother was a dressmaker, and thus, Thatch has an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the clothes-making profession. And Izou's just a natural fashionista. XD And apparently Haruta's a girl. Sure sounds like one, anyway…

Regarding number 12- does anyone know just how old Marco is? Because to my sister and I, he somehow looks strangely youngish and oldish at the same bloody time, and we can't decide on an average age for him.

I say momentary exception in Robin's case, seeing as by her own admission she can only fly for about five seconds (and as Franky said, that way too short a time).

And Ensign Punctuality Maldive is one of the 10,000 Marines stationed at Enies Lobby. He barely survived Luffy's attack, and spent the rest of that arc flat on his back after having nearly been run over by Sodom and Gomorah. I may draw him sometime…