Hi, everyone! I won't be boring you with a lot of details right now ('cause I should be studying for my exam). I just hope you'll enjoy my little story :) Sorry for all the mistakes! I tried my best, but English isn't my first language...
Anyway... Here goes nothing!
This story along with my OC's are a product of my (sick) imagination. And One Piece and its' original heroes belong to Eiichiro Oda.
Episode 1.
He honestly hated being on watch when his captain and the rest of the crew had been having their fun while drinking months' worth of alcohol of some poor bar owner, waiting for a fight. They had spent last two weeks on the sea, so they did not need much. Actually, he was counting down seconds till the moment someone would flew through the doors with a bloodied face. He hoped that with this moment, he would get his share of fun too. For the moment, however, he was just scanning his surroundings for any signs of Marines, other pirates or locals that looked rich enough to rob them.
He narrowed his eyes, locking his gaze onto a short girl with a medium-sized cardboard box in her hands. He had been thinking for a moment if there could be something valuable in the box but rejected the idea very quickly. The girl did not look neither rich nor like a pirate. She was wearing a plain
T-shirt, stone-washed dungarees and worn-down shoes, no weapon of any kind in sight. There was something in her, however, that bugged him. The pirate continued observing her as she was strolling down the main road while window-shopping. Her messy short red hair was jingling around to the rhythm of her steps. She had stopped in front of a hardware shop for a while before she looked straight at him.
When his eyes met her dark brown orbs that seemed to lit up in a kind of a silvery-blue color, he suddenly felt weird. It was as if someone had mantled his brain into cotton and a thick fog had covered his vision. He was not able to think logically or even collect his thoughts that were searched through, some images taken out of his memory, looked at and put back, while he was completely unable to move even one muscle. And when it was done, he collapsed on the ground, completely disorientated. When he regained control over his own body, the girl was nowhere in sight.
"Oi, Marvy!", an enthusiastic shout of her captain welcomed her as soon as she stepped into the restaurant. Seconds later, she was sitting next to Masked Deuce and across from the black-haired, freckled boy who still had his trademark – an orange cowboy hat with two blue smileys, one frowning and one smiling that were connected by a string of small red beads sitting on its brim and two long leather side straps hanging down sides of the hat that met at a large medallion of a bull's skull with orange tassels – on top of his head, even though they were in the building. She was looking at him with reproval, as he was devouring monstrous amounts of food. The rest of the crew just laughed it off and returned to their plates. "Have you found what you were looking for?", he managed to screw out of him in between the bites. Marvel always wondered how he was able to do that without choking to death.
"Nope, unfortunately not," sighed she and combed her slender fingers through her hair, pushing it back. She smiled, but not in a happy way. It was that 'I'm really tired but won't give up' kind of a sad smile.
"Chin up, we've still got a long way befo-…" he was cut mid-sentence, as his head fell backwards, and he started snoring. The pirates laughed again, already accustomed to their captain's shenanigans and random attacks of narcolepsy that stroked off almost whenever he was eating so much at pace this fast (meaning almost every time he ate) or when he was bored with whatever he was doing at the moment (was it talking with someone or fighting – did not really matter).
"I'm sorry, is everything alright?" the waitress came up to them and looked at sleeping Ace with a worried expression. Marvel sent her a reassuring smile but before she opened her mouth, Ace woke up and started eating again, as if nothing had happened.
"As you can see but thank you for your concern."
"Huh?" Ace looked at her quizzically and cocked his head to the side.
"You scared the poor waitress" she pointed the woman, who was already back behind the counter, with a nod. Ace just shrugged, his only interest at the moment being the meat on the table. "Well… I may have not found what I've been looking for, but I still managed to collect some useful intelligence."
"Go on."
"First of all, our Log Pose has stabilized, so we can move on with our journey any minute."
"As soon as I'm full!"
"So we've got a problem, capt'n! You're never full with meat!" Pinnacle joked earning another round of laughter from his crewmates. When they calmed down again, Marvel continued with a mysterious smirk, as she propped her crossed arms on the table and leaned across, looking straight into the eyes of her captain.
"I've made one pirate's acquaintance and learned that his captain has got an Eternal Pose to the island that I've heard Akagami no Shanks is currently on."
"You searched through his mind, didn't you?"
She grinned, cocking her head to the side.
"Oh, you know me so well!"
She really, honestly and utterly hated cold.
She was a thermophilic creature that – whenever the temperature dropped below 59°F - was being chained to her bed, thick and warm blanket and a mug full of warm tea with lemon, honey and grated gingerroot. Besides, someone had to stay on the ship and make sure it was safe – in the end, they were pirates. They were hunted down not only by the World Government, but also by other crews that they had gotten on the wrong side of. Unusually, this time Marvel did not whine when she had drawn out the shortest straw. Actually, she felt relieved that instead of exploring the winter island covered in tons of snow, she got to stay on board in a heated room. The rest of the Spade Pirates, however (Ace specifically) did not understand her and wondered how she could not want to meet as a great pirate as the Akagami was, and – if everything went according to plan – celebrate and feast with him until dawn or even longer. But Ace had never been cold, thanks to the power given to him by the Mera Mera no Mi.
And so, Marvel stayed on the ship alone. She sat on her bed in a lotus position, mantled herself in a blanket and closed her eyes, regulating her breath. She was not really worried that something would happen. They had docked in a secluded area and her ability allowed her to keep watch without moving an inch. She only had to focus to create a barrier around the ship, that erased its' existence from sight of anyone who stood outside of the invisible sphere. She also knew about every living creature that crossed her barrier – most of which were fishes swimming in the bay. That was why she was extremely surprised when her barrier had been breached by a dozen of unfamiliar men at once. They had to outsmart her, but how?
The barrier dissipated along with her concentration. Marvel jumped out of her bed and threw on her warmest jacket. She grabbed her wooden bo staff and a pouch with nanobombs.
She was ready to fight.
The Spade Pirates' crew enjoyed the companionship of the infamous Red Hair Pirates. Mass amounts of alcohol and tons of food, happy singing of pirate songs, the buzz of conversation and not too big dose of competiton made the party look like it was not going to end any time soon. The cave that they had found Shanks and his pirates in, protected them from the worst coldness and icy wind. The rest of the warmth was provided by the sake and certain Mera Mera no Mi user, who happened to slip into one of his narcoleptic naps from time to time – not because he was bored, but because of his fast-eating.
"Oh yeah, don't worry," started the doctor of Ace's crew, laughing sheepishly when the inevitable had happened for the first time that evening and some of the other pirates panicked, "Our vice-captain always jokes that Ace's narcolepsy is a matter of some self-defense mechanism of his body that prevents him from dying of over-eating. He'll be up in seconds now." True to his words, as soon as Jugo – the doctor – finished speaking, his captain woke up and resumed eating as if nothing had happened.
Shanks laughed wholeheartedly and drank another big sip of his sake. He was truly thrilled to have met his little friend's older brother. There was, however, one thing that seemed to bother him. Shanks was curious about the second-in-command of the Spade Pirates who happened to have quite big amount over her head for someone who showed up out of nowhere not so long ago. The World Government did not even put her photos on her posters that were signed alive only rather than usual dead or alive.
"Say, your vice-captain is the girl known as the Little Witch, isn't she? Marvel, was her name?"
"Aah," Ace stopped eating and looked at the older man quizzically. It was like he was suddenly on-guard and it happened almost every time he was asked about his female friend. Some of his crew tried to hide snickers.
"I heard some rumors about her and her Devil Fruit. It's a pity she's not here, I'd like to meet her! They say she's very powerful and beautiful…"
"She is powerful, when concentrated. But she lacks experience." He shrugged and drank his cup of sake.
"So harsh, capt'n!" Pinnacle laughed out loud. "Good she's not here, she would have smacked you with her bo staff in the head! Last time, he had a huge bump for, like, three days! Even the logia type can't escape her haki!"
Everyone laughed, making Ace blush visibly. He turned around to Pinnacle and sent him a death-glare, but it only made them laugh harder.
"Yea, she's the level-headed one in this duo and keeps our captain in check," added Saber, "And she is also very beautiful! A little childish in appearance, maybe, but she's still only seventeen so she's got some time." Ace felt a sudden urge to kill the man when he put his hands near his chest and everyone instantly knew that he meant Marvel's breast. The temperature jumped a few degrees when Ace clenched his fists. Fortunately, Banshee – the only female member of the Spade Pirates other than Marvel – punched the man in the head instead of him.
"How can you say that about a woman, you shithead?"
"Oi, Banshee!"
The banter between Saber and Banshee almost grew to be a fight but he did not care anymore. He felt something and tensed, looking in the direction of the cave's exit and stood up. Seeing him like that – nervous and mad – the rest of his crew immediately stopped what they had been doing. They understood.
Ace felt it only for a short while, but he knew that it was real. He wore his hat, that up to the moment was hanging on his back and furrowed his eyebrows.
"Marvy's in trouble."