Set Sail!
"You guys ready?"
Colphor looked over his shoulder where his eyes met two persons, looking pretty much identical to each other.
"Of course!" both answered at the very same time. Both had backpacks on their backs, like Colphor himself had too.
"That's what I wanted to hear!" Colphor smiled, "let's take that ship!"
The two behind Colphor smiled as the three of them leapt around the corner, onto the docks. There were several ships docked, cradling softly on the purling water below the ships. Their target was a small, seemingly abandoned ship. No-one paid attention to the kids who were not older than thirteen. Everyone from Hyrule Town knew them though. They were delinquents in the eyes of most people, especially that Colphor. Whenever he was around, something was bound to happen. And not particularly something good. The two with him were the Gorman Twins, Bartho and Tybo. Colphor's deep purple hair waved softly through the wind. The three walked right towards their target.
"It looks empty. Do you really think we have the right one?" one of the twins asked.
"Don't be stupid! When Colphor says it's this ship, it is this ship. What kind of pirate are you, doubting your captain like that?" the other twin scolded the first.
"Now, now. Don't be rude," Colphor said, looking at the small ship in awe, "rather than talking, let's get onboard and set sail. The fact that the ship is abandoned only works in our favor."
Colphor walked towards the plank that connected the ship with the docks. It squeaked a little when Colphor walked on it, but it seemed to be able to support him perfectly. The twins followed him in pursuit. A breeze blew in their backs, making it almost as if the wind itself was telling them to start this adventure.
"Looks like this is a great ship!" Colphor yelled out to no-one in particular.
"How can you tell?" one of the twins asked.
"If the captain says so, it is the complete truth!" the other twin scolded the first again.
Colphor ignored their short quarrel and walked on from the back to the middle of the ship.
"Hey, Colphor! Where ya going?" Bartho, the first one of the twins asked.
"To uhm… I dunno… how do you call the middle of a ship?"
That question apparently startled all three of them. After a whole 3 seconds of thinking, Colphor gave up and shrugged.
"Who cares. From now on, this is the middle deck," Colphor decided.
"Okay!" Bartho and Tybo simultaneously answered.
"And the front is the Front Deck. And the back is the Back Deck… or the Behind Deck…"
Once again, the three started thinking again. Colphor shrugged once more.
"Who cares! Let's check the inside!"
"Captain? Captain, is that you? The girl is crying! Could you help me? I don't know what to do?" a voice sounded from inside the ship. A door from a room probably underneath the "Front Deck" opened and a small boy around the same age as the other three came out. As soon as he saw the three unknown faces, he got in a fighting position, fists placed in between his and Colphor's body.
"Hello there," Colphor friendly greeted, "we're taking this ship. Do you want to get off or go with us?"
The boy was dumbstruck by the announcement and question. He blinked a few times before his jaw fell flat on the floor.
"You're stealing the ship!" he yelled unbelievingly.
"Yup," Colphor answered with a happy-go-lucky smile.
"Are you pirates?" the boy asked.
"Yup," Colphor answered with the same smile.
If possible, the boy's jaw smashed through the floor. He was making desperate attempts to say something. Colphor looked at the boy, found the problem and walked over to him.
"Here, I'll lend you a hand," Colphor said, while he grabbed the boy's jaw and pulled it all the way up until it was back in its normal position. He looked at the small hole the jaw had made in the deck.
"Don't do that another time. You're destroying my ship."
The boy suddenly screamed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! PIRATES! They're going to kill me! Heeeeelp!"
He ran back into the room, which was actually just a hallway with stairs leading down at the end.
"I think he wants to go with us," Bartho said.
"He seemed like a fun lad," Tybo added to the false assumptions.
Colphor looked into the hallway.
"Hey! Hey, boy! Where are you?" he yelled.
"Go away! I'm not here!" the boy yelled back.
"Liar! I just heard someone talking!" Colphor yelled back.
"That's just your imagination!" the boy screamed.
That had Colphor thinking for a few seconds.
"So… my imagination is down there?"
The boy stayed silent, probably contemplating whether Colphor was joking or just plain stupid.
"How could you even think of something stupid like that!" the boy yelled.
Colphor scratched the back of his head.
"I dunno. It just came to mind. Y'know, how about I come down and check if my imagination is really down there?"
"No, no, no, no! Don't come down!" the boy yelled.
Then, Colphor's ears caught another faint voice:
"Help!"
"Hey! I think I just heard someone calling for help! Are you alright?" Colphor asked.
"Silent, you!" he heard the boy faintly saying.
"Should we go down?" Bartho asked.
Colphor nodded and walked in the hallway.
"Wait! Don't come!" the boy yelled again.
"Help!" another voice yelled more faintly the boy's.
"Idiot! Don't yell! You're getting the pirates downstairs with that yelling of yours!" the boy informed the other, unknown person.
"I'm coming down! Sorry for intruding!" Colphor politely stated.
"Now, look what you've done!" the boy yelled, almost crying. There was some thumping downstairs and when Colphor had reached the end of the stairs, he saw what had caused the thumping. The boy was now wielding two katanas, each in one hand.
"S-S-S-Stay back! I-I-I'm warning you! I'll cut you to pieces in an instant!" the boy warned while he was shaking from his very core. Furthermore, Colphor could see two other persons in the room he was now standing in. Among the many cannonballs that were being stored here laid two persons, one boy and one girl. Both were tied with a rope and had seastone shackles around their wrists.
"How's it down there?" Tybo asked from upstairs.
"It seems like fun. Tybo! Bartho! You go untie the sails! We need to set sail before those other people are coming back!"
"Okay!" the twins said simultaneously.
"W-W-W-What are you going to do with this ship!" the scared boy asked.
"This ship is going to take me to One Piece and make me the third Pirate King!" Colphor stated.
"The Third… Pirate King?" the boy asked, thinking about the meaning of those words, "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH! You're going to be the Pirate King?" the boy asked surprised.
"Yup!" Colphor said with the same happy-go-lucky smile he gave the boy earlier, "wanna be part of my crew?"
The boy blinked.
"I'm a marine! Not a pirate!" he yelled.
"A marine?" Colphor said, looking at the boy. Only now did he notice that the cloths the boy was wearing was a marine's uniform.
"Ah, I see… well, too bad then… I guess I'll have to throw you over board then," Colphor said, definitely disappointed.
"Wait! Wait! I'm not a marine! I'm not a marine! I swear!" the boy yelled, realizing that Colphor would really do so if he wouldn't immediately take back his words.
"Are you really sure?" Colphor asked.
The boy nodded violently.
"I see… so that means you want to join my crew?" Colphor said, jumping to conclusions.
Fearing that he would be thrown overboard, the boy started nodding even more violently.
"Yay!" Colphor yelled in joy. He stretched out his arm for a handshake.
"I'm Menar D. Colphor!"
"M-M-Menardy Colphor?" the boy said, asking for confirmation, all the while accepting the handshake from Colphor, dropping the two katanas in the process.
"Yes, something like that. What's your name?" Colphor asked.
"F-F-Falarda, sir!" the boy answered.
"Oh, you can call me Colphor. Or Captain," Colphor said.
"Yes, Captain!" Falarda answered immediately.
"So, Falarda," Colphor began, "care to explain to me what these two are doing down here?"
Falarda looked at the two other persons in their presence.
"They're prisoners," Falarda explained.
"Hmm…"
Colphor walked over to the boy and the girl.
"Let's make a deal! I'll get you out of those ropes and shackles if you join my crew!" Colphor suggested.
"W-Wait, Captain! You can't do that! They're vicious criminals! They're very dangerous!" Falarda warned.
Colphor looked down at the persons. The girl looked like she was around 8, while the boy was around sixteen years old.
"I'm also dangerous," Colphor countered.
This caused Falarda to fall over.
"That's not the problem here!" Falarda muttered.
Colphor looked at the two kids.
"Well?"
"We'll do what you'll say," the boy answered, "just please untie us!"
"Alright!"
Colphor reached in his pocket and grabbed a small knife with which he cut through the ropes.
"How are you going to get the shackles off?" the boy asked.
"Just look and be in awe!" Colphor said, as he put his finger in front of the keyhole. His finger become brown and seemed to grow into the keyhole. A few seconds later, after slightly twisting his finger, a "click" sounded and the boy was free.
"Thank you!" the boy said, showing his gratitude, "can you free my sister too?" he asked.
"Of course!" Colphor said. He knelt down to free the boy's sister the same way, but didn't notice that behind him, the boy had transformed his right arm in a chain. He swung the chain around for a few seconds before lashing it out at Colphor. The chain caught Colphor's neck and the boy pulled, planning to strangle his "Captain". This, however, didn't seem to affect Colphor at all. Colphor simply proceeded to free the girl, using the same method as he used on the boy. The boy tried to pull harder, but there was no effect.
"What's wrong? Why isn't this working?"
Colphor looked back over his shoulder at the boy and said:
"I don't know what kind of funny thing you're doing, but you're obstructing me while I'm trying to free your sister," Colphor said, as if nothing serious was happening.
The boy was taken aback by this.
"Why… why are you not being strangled by my chains?" he asked.
"Oh, that…? I ate the Moku Moku no Mi (Moku is short for Mokuzai, which means "wood"). It has a lot of benefits, I can tell you!"
A "click" sounded, meaning the shackles of the girl were now also off.
"You're also a Devil Fruit user?" the boy asked.
"Oh? So you're one too? Which one?" Colphor asked in return.
"The Chen Chen no Mi," the boy said, absent-minded.
Colphor smiled.
"So, since you're now part of my crew, could you two tell me your names?" Colphor asked.
"Eh… right," the boy said, snapping back into reality, "I'm Petro. Petro Melu. My sister's name is Mina."
"Nice to meet you!" Colphor said joyfully, with a big smile decorating his face, "I'm so happy to have so many nakama already, even though our journey has just begun!"
The girl suddenly began to speak.
"Onii-san… I sense some people approaching this ship!"
She had barely said that, when Tybo's voice yelled from upstairs:
"Colphor! We got the Marines on our tail! What are we gonna do!"
"I'm coming upstairs right away! I'll bring our new nakama with me!"