SPOILER WARNING IF YOU HAVEN'T GOTTEN TO THE SHABONDY ARC!!!
NOTE TO FLAMERS: Anonymous reviews will be deleted and not taken into account and if you have an account and you flame, the abuse button will be pressed. I do not put up with that crap because flamers are not tolerated by me. So if you don't like my story then get the f--- out of here and go read something else because you and your opinions do not matter to me.
Now, onto the first chapter~.
"What a wonderful sounding voice…"
"She's so beautiful…"
"Lord, what I wouldn't do to have her on my ship…"
"Please. She wouldn't leave this place even if you offered her as much money as Captain Kidd's bounty…"
Things I hear every night here at this eatery, called the "Balance of Powers". Why had it been named that, you ask? Because of it's long gone owner who made this fine establishment to be a place where pirates who were here to stock up for their adventure into the New World, Marines who were here to make sure nothing bad happened while everything was going on, and anyone else who wanted a place to relax and listen to live music to come in and not have to worry about being attacked or arrested or anything like that. Everyone in here had equal status and that's how it's always been since I came here and started to perform three tim–
"Kali!" screamed one of my managers from outside of my room, "You're up soon!"
"Alright!" I screamed back. I looked back at the journal in front of me and saw the deep, dark mark of where my pencil had skidded to a stop on the page. It was an extremely ugly looking streak and I growled lightly. "God damn it…" I hissed.
She had done it again. She caused me to screw up my writing yet again. I was beginning to get quite fed up Aki lately. Actually, in all honesty, I was beginning to get fed up with every aspect of my life. I craved something new. Something different and exciting! And most of all, someone I could talk to that could keep me interested and would be able to make me laugh… That's what I needed.
Maybe I could become a pirate of some sort. One that wouldn't really be going after the legendary treasure, One Piece, but one that would just sail the sea without a care in the world. I guess that wouldn't really be considered a pirate… I would just be a drifter pretty much, but then again, I could become a part of a crew! Yeah! That sounded pretty nice. A crew that had already been created! But… that's easier said than done. No current pirate crew here would like an inexperienced young girl like me to be one of their crew when they've come this far.
"Oh well…" I sighed while pushing the chair behind me back as I stood up, closed my journal, and headed over to my closet to pick out the outfit I wanted to wear. A small amount of depression and yearning welled up in my stomach. "It is just a far off dream for someone like me."
I pulled out a set of clothes that had been fashionably paired together, quickly stripped off the casual black and white pin striped trousers and simple, form fitting, plain white tee-shirt I was wearing currently, and slipped the new look on like a glove along with the shoes. Running my hand through my loose, shoulder blade length, auburn hair, I examined my newest exterior in the tall, wall mirror that was opposite of me.
A flowing, silk, white top with ruffled sleeves and edges that exaggerated the curves of my upper body to the point where if I went strolling through any part of this place, I would surely attract the attention of any male, especially one of the Nobles, and cause them to practically lose their minds over me. The shining, golden skirt that hung loosely around my waist was one that felt very short to me, but luckily I had a pair of stretchy black capris like pants that reached to above my knees on hand to be worn under it for a more comfortable feel. And the gold, black and white shoes that seemed to be a mix between dress shoes and casual shoes went quite well with the whole attire. Aki had done well on this one.
"Yeah," I said to myself as I stood there, twisting and twirling my body around while watching the skirt follow with fluid, feminine movements, "This is a good one, Aki."
"You're up, Kali!"
With a heavy breath, I exited my domain and headed out towards the small stage where I would perform. The sound of hooting, hollering, clapping, and all around cheerful noises echoed through out the building and I began to get a large smile as I came up on the one who screwed me up on my writing.
Aki, the current manager of this place who had bobbed red hair and bright glimmering blue eyes, was dressed in her usual, button down, long, but rolled up sleeve shirt with the black vest strapped and buttoned near the bottom over it, her black slacks, and shiny black, high heeled shoes. Her head turned to me as an announcer's voice started to come over the speaker's interrupting her.
"Ka–"
"And up next! We have a special treat for you!" the voice bellowed, rattling the support beams of the building. I looked towards the curtains and saw a full house; every seat filled with at least one person, and then looked back to my red haired employer. Her eyes had sunk to the floor in slight upset it seemed. My eye brow cocked upwards as I stared at her and listened to the voice as it continued. "As our ending, our best singer is going to be performing with one of the Supernovas of this island…!" My eyes widened as the air filled with dead silence. "THE ROAR OF THE SEA! Scratchmen Apoo!"
I froze and my eyes begged my friend in front of me that I had heard wrong, but her head shook "no". How?! Why?! Why would a Supernova want to perform with me? Especially one who was as musically talented as Scratchmen since his devil fruit gave him a very odd ability. This just couldn't be true… It couldn't be. I had to be imagining it all.
"You have to go," Aki whispered in a hushed tone so she wouldn't disturb the overly sensitive microphones that stood out on the stage, waiting for someone's voice to send their sound through it. Her eyes shimmered with apology about the fact that she wasn't able to tell me first, but she nudged her head in a signal that I needed to get out there.
My teeth clenched in nervousness. I hadn't been nervous since my first time on stage and now was the time that I chose to be afraid to go out there and face my audience?!
'NO!' I screamed inwardly, mentally punching myself for feeling like that, 'I am going out there and showing that I'm good enough to be on the same stage as him!'
Sucking in a large breath through my nose, I stepped confidently through the lengthy, red curtains and I was almost shoved back by the loud roar that came blasting from the area in front of me. Every seat was full. Actually, it was so full that some of the spectators had to stand around the outer edge of the seated individuals and to my amazement; every other Supernova, except the two Strawhat crew members, was here in the room and quite to my surprise, my heart started to pound. How scary this all felt. My mind and state of mind started to drift from where I was and the feeling of being light headed began to settle in… then the sound of someone clearing their throat drew me back fast.
"Shall we get started?" asked the sixth highest bounty captain as he looked at me. I gulped as I stared at him. His arm had been transformed into that of a clarinet and not to mention, his teeth looked like piano keys as he looked right back with an innocent face and a smile that fit him. "Well?" he pressed while bringing his left arm up and putting the middle and index finger in between his lips.
I smiled slightly, getting a much better sensation from him than I had thought I would and gave an affirmative nod while turning back to the crowd before me. The microphone buzzed slightly as I approached it and the announcer came back over the intercom one last time, only his voice was much more hushed.
"Thanks to one of our other employees hearing this particular song being sung by a passerby earlier today, we wanted it to be sung here for the first time by our very own Kali. We hope you enjoy and please have a good night."
My face brightened incredibly as the sound of his foot tapping to a beat reached my ear drums.
'I'm going to make this show count towards something. Whatever that something is, I do not know, but it is going to be for something…!'
And as the beat kept on alone for about another four counts, he began to play a wonderful tune, starting out at a very slow pace, but gradually speeding it up at a steady rate, and it was extremely familiar to me. I had heard it many times before from different people in different styles with different instruments, but the name escaped me. Then again… Did I really even know this song? Was I even sure I had actually heard it before? All I really knew was that I was hesitating to sing along, but it was the first time I had ever gone out without knowing what exactly would be coming from my mouth and then something struck me into realizing just what was being played. That one certain chord rang from the "instrument" Apoo was playing and surrounded the space around me. The one chord that was my que to come in and the lyrics came flooding to the front of my mind. What a seriously wondrous song and I get the privilege of singing it.
Yohohoho, Yohohoho
Yohohoho, Yohohoho
Yohohoho, Yohohoho
Yohohoho, Yohohoho
Taking the octave above the normal melody, I began…
Binkusu no sake wo
Todoke ni yuku yo
Umikase kimakase namimakase
Shio no mukou de
Yuuhi mo sawagu
Sora nya wa wo kaku
Tori no uta
Sayonara minato
Tsumigi no sato yo
DON to icchou utao
Funade no uta
Kinpa-ginpa mo shibuki kaete
Oretachya yuku zo
Umi no kagiri
Ah… an instrumental break. Good, that was a lot of words to sing and my lips felt a bit tired, but I did want to carry on. The music had gotten to a tempo that was much faster than most of the ones that I had heard before and all of the audience were silent. You probably could have heard a cricket if Scratchmen wasn't playing and when I looked over to him to see when my next entrance was, his right eye opened from its previous shut position and he motioned with his head for me to come over to where he was and to do it quickly. I did as he instructed, pulled the microphone off its stand, and went over to his side. Just in time too.
Binkusu no sake wo
Todoke ni yuku yo
Warera kaizoku
Umi watteku
Nami wo makura ni
Negura wa fune yo
Ho ni hata ni ketateru wa dokuro
Arashi ga kita zo
Senri no sora ni
Nami ga odoru yo
DORAMU narase
Okubyoukaze ni fukakerya saigo
Asu no asahi ga nai ja nashi
Yohohoho, Yohohoho
Yohohoho, Yohohoho
Yohohoho, Yohohoho
Yohohoho, Yohohoho
Then the music started to slow and dim to the point that I was almost singing acappella, but for once I wasn't afraid of it.
Binkusu no sake wo
Todoke ni yuku yo
Kyou ka asu ka to yoi no yume
Te wo furu kage ni
Mou aenai yo
Nani wo kuyokuyo
Asu mo tsukuyo…
And then again, back up to speed.
Binkusu no sake wo
Todoke ni yuku yo
DON to icchou utao
Unaba no uta
Douse dare demo itsuka wa hone yo
Hatenashi
Atenashi
Waraibanashi
Yohohoho, Yohohoho
Yohohoho, Yohohoho
Yohohoho, Yohohoho
Yohohoho, Yohohoho!
As the last syllable came across my lips, my head turned to the cursed, yet musically blessed man beside me as the fingering on his "clarinet" slowed for the ending of "Bink's Sake". His rendition of the song was nostalgic like most of the versions that I've heard, but somehow upbeat at the same time.
Just as the music stopped and his double jointed arms returned to their normal uniqueness, a sea of applause and recognition rolled its way up to the stage and bashed straight into the both of us. A wide smile was spread over my features while I laughed in reply to the whole thing. Never had I heard such an energized reaction from the people who came here!
I bowed, accepting the praising that was practically being flung at me and though the wall of auburn hair that had fell in front of my face, I watched as Scratchmen gave a nod of acceptance as well, his eyes shut and a "small" smile that showed a more of his piano key like teeth, but there wasn't much more time to look at every detail of his fascinating physical appearance before the feeling of five digits wrapping around my wrist, obviously Aki's, and tug on me telling me return and of course, I did as I was told.
"Goodness gracious, Kali!" she said, her thin lips slurring the words together as she spoke at a very fast rate, "That was simply amazing! You were wonderfuuu… Ah!" She straightened up suddenly, her entire frame standing in an alert stance with her hands clutching a glass of water with a shaky grip. "H-He-Hello, Apoo-san," she greeted with a stutter.
I couldn't help, but give a small chuckle at her being so intimidated. Even though she was quite the independent and tough woman, when someone who she knew was incredibly stronger than herself came into her presence, she became very unsure of her own abilities, but I couldn't be worried about her and the possible fact that she could faint at any moment at this point since the man had clearly come back here to talk to me. As I turned around, I gave a wide grin and set my hands on my hips.
"I cannot tell you how incredible that was!" I mused.
"Thank you," he said back, giving me a smile in return. His teeth really were something to see. "But I should be saying that it was incredible to have performed with you." My eyes widened a bit as I heard him praise me back. I hadn't been expecting to get praise from a Supernova for anything. "Never have I heard anyone sing that song like you had. It truly was ama–"
"Captain!" rang out the voice of one of his crew members. Amazing that we could hear it since the sound of stomping feet was very loud from the crowd leaving. "We need to get out of here before you know who gets irritated by your presence again!"
He looked through the small opening of the curtains, nodded to him, and then returned his gaze back to me.
"It truly was amazing," he finished before taking a very quick leave.
My face was completely blank as I turned back around to my friend who was still in a slight state of shock. I was just told that performing with ME was incredible… Performing with me! That had my insides knotting and tightening up with excitement and utter happiness as I beamed Aki a gigantic tooth filled grin.
Hopefully this will be the start of something interesting…