IGNITION


Hee.


Summary

Slash, very little canon divergence, Blood, Gore, Manga and Anime refs.

Magic is unpredictable at best, chaotic at worst – no one could have predicted the backlash of magic in the Second Task when Harry attempted to use something more complex than a 'Relashio'. No one could have known what would happen, or where Harry would end up. Four years after his disappearance, Monkey D. Luffy, Roronoa Zoro, Cat Thief Nami and Usopp rescue a man lost at sea who has no memory of life before he awoke on a beach in the Grand Line.


Chapter Two


Yosaku was quite certain he had died and gone to heaven.

He remembered being so sick and weak that he couldn't move, then, pain and loud noises and darkness before cool, blessedly cool hands were gently caressing his face. Wiping away all his troubles and healing him as they fed him a mixture of lemon and lime juice, revitalising him with the heavenly liquid, so pure it made his very eyes water and his mouth pucker. He felt... alive!

And then he'd opened his eyes and seen the face of an angel. His Angel.

He'd heard legends of the Pirate Empress and the Mermaid Princess, of their beauty and grace, obviously the people who decide what became a legend and what didn't had never met this angel, never seen her. And she'd stayed by his side, even after he learned that no, this wasn't the Afterlife, but a kind of heaven on earth. Her cool hands and husky quiet voice soothing the raging heat of his body and the pounding of his skull, gently feeding him the revitalising juice with such tender care.

She even had an Angel's name, Kai... Of the Sea.

Now he was healthy enough to join the others at the Dinner table where as this morning he had been unable to do more than gurgle under Johnny's less than divine aid.

The kitchen was a small room, just enough room for everyone to sit at the table if Zoro-aniki sat on the floor – which he seemed perfectly happy with doing so as they shared out a pitcher of lemon juice with a simple dinner of Rice, grilled fish and buttered bread.

"You alright, Partner?" Johnny asked, wriggling from where he was sitting with Zoro on the floor.

"Hai!" Yosaku exclaimed with a pleased grin as the young 'woman' helped him in, "All thanks to my Tenshi here," he declared, gripping Kai's hand in both of his with a besotted expression on his face, making the dark haired male pull a face and take a step back, green eyes darting to Zoro as if asking for help. Zoro just smirked and took a mouthful of his drink.

Seeing that the swordsman would be of absolutely no help – how typical – Kai attempted to let the other man down gently. Nightingale Syndrome wasn't something he was unfamiliar with, save someone's life and suddenly they believed they were in love with their rescuer, his appearance certainly didn't help him. But thankfully, most men seemed to get over it or recoil when they discovered he had balls between his legs instead of on his chest.

"Um... You do know that... I'm a man, right?" the long haired male asked flatly.

"AAAH!" Luffy yelled, eyes practically bugging out of his skull, food falling from his open mouth, "REALLY!"

"YOU SAW HIM WITHOUT HIS SHIRT EARLIER, IDIOT!" Nami and Usopp shrieked/shouted respectively, the ginger haired girl jabbing her chopsticks at him while Usopp waved a hand in disbelief.

Zoro snorted, quickly hiding his laughter in his mug before he got a kick to the face, as Johnny and Yosaku choked and stared at the now rather exasperated dark haired male. He had to admit, if he didn't know what was hiding under those clothes he probably would have made a similar mistake, Kai was rather slender for a man – not to mention he had quite delicate features, if Zoro had to guess, the other Pirate had to have taken after his mother in looks. At least, Zoro thought he did, having never met his mother.

Yosaku frowned slightly, lowering his hands but not releasing his grasp on his so called Angel, he thought hard for a moment before grinning, "Well... Male or female, an angel is an angel," he declared.

Nami had to refrain from giggling at the stunned look on Kai's face, "U-um, the lady here helped as well, w-with out her I never would have known what to do. You should thank her as well!" the older Pirate pointed out, turning Yosaku's attention away from him and onto Nami who squeaked as she found her hand being swept up into a vice grip.

"Thank you! Thank you, Anesan!" he exclaimed, unfortunately spraying spittle over her in his excitement.

"Don't call me Anesan. And don't spit on me either," she grunted, using her free hand to shove his face away from her.

Kai shook his head as he took a seat beside Usopp, honestly, he hadn't expected that to backfire. People of East Blue were not... well they weren't that open minded when it came to sexuality and crossdressing or even transgender – he had met men and women who had been gender swapped by the so called Miracle Worker Iva the Revolutionary Dragon's Right Hand, now an inmate of Impel Down, Marine Prison level 5.

"I'm Captain Usopp of the Usopp Pirates! Nice to meet you Kai-san," the younger curly haired Pirate greeted, stretching a hand out to the slightly shorter male who blinked at him in recognition. This was Yasopp-san's son? Well.... Usopp certainly seemed to have inherited his father's skin tone, lips and eyes, but that nose... his mother?

"Ah, nice to meet you Usopp-san," he returned, clasping the offered hand.

"Na! Na! I'm Monkey D Luffy. Nice to meet you!" he greeted, stretching his arm out across the table to shake the other male's hand. Nami half expected him to freak out but the dark haired male didn't even bat an eyelid, just accepted his hand with a slightly dazed 'pleased to meet you Luffy-san' and a small surprised smile on his face.

"Ne, ne!" Luffy cried, leaning over the table to peer into Kai's face, his face screwed up in his 'SRS BZNZ' face, "Join my crew!" he demanded.

The green eyed male blinked, leaning back slightly away from the younger male invading his personal space, "Join you guys?" he asked sceptically, Luffy nodded, "You're the second person to demand that in two weeks," he pointed out with a glare, "Why?"

Luffy sat back down, a perturbed look on his face, "Dunno. Join me!" he demanded, waving an arm and snatching Usopp's grilled fish much to the other teenager's anger.

Kai blinked as he watched the exchange, scowl dissolving, the others seemed to be ignoring it easily enough – exceptions being Johnny and Yosaku, did this happen at every meal?

"Say, we've heard a lot about Yosaku and Johnny from Zoro but we know next to nothing about you Kai-san. Where do you come from? How old are you? Why where you drifting around out at sea?" Nami asked as she pushed a plate of food towards the dark haired male.

Kai eyed her coolly for a moment; the ginger haired girl refraining from shivering slightly as green eyes pierced her uncomfortably and Usopp and Luffy got a little louder, a moment later, the sensation passed as the other Pirate picked up a fork and began to eat.

"Well, a bit of everywhere I guess," he finally answered between mouthfuls, "I'm about twenty, I think. Not sure and the ship's Doctor couldn't tell either. I was working on a Merchant ship as protection from Sea Kings, don't get them very often in East Blue but this close to the Grand Line it's always a possibility," he explained, "It was a supply run, we were heading towards Tequila Wolf with raw materials, food supplies, winter gear. Pirates ambushed us, usually it wouldn't be a problem but... they had no honour," he sneered darkly, baring his teeth as he reached for a glass of lemon juice, everyone in the room hanging on his every word.

"The Captain used this gas, not poison, a kind of paralysis drug. Knocked out a large number of people, nearly killed the children on board, I wasn't affected as badly as the Civilians but still pretty bad. I couldn't fight back properly. They destroyed the ship, it's doubtful anyone else survived, they were just ordinary civilians and merchants, not pirates," he admitted uncomfortably, now picking absently at his food, no longer hungry as he remembered their faces. There had been children on board that ship. Little kids who followed him around like he was the Pirate King himself, they thought he was the coolest person in the whole of East Blue, so naïve...

"Who?" Yosaku growled, bristling with indignant fury, "Who was it? I'll cut them to shreds!" he hissed, seething with absolute fury. Johnny nodded furiously, getting to his feet to stand beside his best friend, gripping his sword in a white knuckled grip, fully prepared to join his Partner in avenging his Saviour.

Kai gave them a flat look, green eyes studying the pair up and down carefully before he finally said, "I think these guys are out of your league."

"You doubt our strength!" Johnny demanded, flailing.

He set his fork down and turned to them, Zoro twitched slightly at the look on his face, the hair on the back of his neck rising, "You are two people, essentially only one with Yosaku being so frail. They have over a hundred people and an arsenal of weapons unlike anything you can imagine. Yes. Against these people I do," he stated frigidly, "Now sit down and eat your dinner," he ordered, sounding remarkably like Bellemere-san to Nami's ears. There was silence for a bit as everyone ate their food, the Straw Hats deciding to remain firmly out of the argument, Zoro more out of amusement than anything, while Yosaku and Johnny meekly sat down to eat their meals, cowed and suddenly, rather uncomfortably, reminded of their mothers.

"Who was it?" Zoro asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

Kai's eyes flicked over to him before he huffed slightly, picking his fork up again, "Don Krieg," he finally admitted, making the room fall silent.

"Don... Krieg? The... The Pirate Admiral Don Krieg?" Nami asked, her features bleaching white.

Kai nodded, "Yeah. And a right sneaky bastard he is too."

"Aneki, what do you know about him?" Yosaku asked, forkful of fish and rice half raised toward his mouth.

Nami sighed, "He's something of a monster to be honest. He used to sneak into ports with a Marine ship and attack everyone, stealing what he wanted without anyone ever having enough time to muster up some kind of defence or offence against him. Word has it that he has a crew of almost over 5,000 men and who knows how many ships, the Marines gave him a huge Bounty of 17,000,000 Belli and labelled him the most Powerful Pirate in East Blue ahead of Arlong if only because he had sheer numbers on his side. He's supposed to have gone to the Grand Line though."

Kai nodded, "He did," he smirked then, a knife-like angry expression that caused shivers to run down the Thief's back, "But he came crawling back after a week with all his ships but one shredded."

Luffy tilted his head from side to side, "Only a week?" he asked disbelievingly, before laughing uproariously, "He must be really weak then!" he exclaimed mirthfully.

Kai smirked, "Only reason he has such a high bounty is because he uses sheer numbers to overwhelm his opponents, but I wouldn't underestimate him Luffy. He's a sneaky underhanded bastard who won't hesitate to use any form of skulduggery."

Luffy blinked, "Sku-whut?"


The room was quiet, dimly he could hear the sounds of revelry taking place upstairs, of Usopp and Johnny roaring with laughter, the sound of Luffy hitting the ground – had he been dancing on the table again?

Zoro sighed deeply, reclining comfortably in his hammock, he had left early when they'd started to sing, happy as he was to see Yosaku and Johnny again they just couldn't sing and he wasn't going to submit his ears to that torture ever again. Cracking open an eye briefly as the ceiling hatch slid open he grunted slightly in greeting as the somewhat familiar shape of Namikaze climbed his way down the ladder. In the dim light of the oil lamp hanging from the wall, Zoro could see that he had changed his clothes, his stained white trousers – now bearing the dyed symbol of a compass on his thigh – and a red long sleeved shirt with a lace up collar.

"Thanks for letting me borrow your clothes," the older male told him when he finally reached the floor of the room, shifting so that the swordsman could see the shirt and trousers he had borrowed folded up neatly in his arms, Zoro blinked at the sight of them, he had actually forgotten.

"It's fine," he admitted, swinging himself out of the hammock to go and put them away. "Did Johnny say how long it might take to get to this floating restaurant?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Mmm, no he didn't. But with our current heading, if it's close to the Grand Line I'd say about two days, maybe three depending on how close it is to the Red Line," he explained as he sat down on one of the couches, blinking slightly when he sank into the soft fabric, he hadn't expected it to be so comfortable.

Zoro nodded climbing back into his hammock, he could tell the room was going to get a little crowded when the other guys returned from their merry-making, there was only about five hammocks so there should be enough for everyone considering how Kai was apparently going to be sleeping on the couch. But considering how drunk Yosaku was... Zoro really hoped the blond retained enough common sense not to try and crawl into the same bed as his 'Angel', otherwise he really may end up seeing Angels when he got beaten to death – Kai didn't exactly come across as the cuddly sort, if one got his meaning.

"Earlier... you said you thought you were about twenty, what's that supposed to mean?" Zoro asked, it had been bugging him for a while. The other male hardly looked twenty, in fact, he would be lucky if he could pass for a young seventeen – must be hell trying to get a beer in one of the very few honest pubs on the Ocean.

"Exactly that," Kai admitted with a small puff of air from where he was lying down, hands braced under his head, "I don't know how old I am. Where I come from. Who my parents were. Nothing. I woke up on a beach four years ago with nothing but a few fuzzy recollections of my past life, a knife and a stick. Oh, and apparently the ability to speak complete gibberish."

"Gibberish?" Zoro quoted, peering over at him with a raised eyebrow.

The other male nodded, "Yup, gibberish. Or if you want to get technical, my mother tongue, first language, whatever. I had to be taught how to speak this language."

"What?" the swordsman squawked, sitting upright so fast his hammock upended and dumped him onto the floor with a heavy thud.

Kai burst out laughing.

Zoro glowered at him, "You hardly look twenty," he pointed out rubbing his head where he'd knocked it against the wood flooring as he got back to his feet and crawled into the hammock. He decided to ignore the comment about the language – everyone in the world spoke the same language, it was a known fact. Perhaps whatever gave him amnesia screwed him up more than he thought he'd been? Messed with his brain and made whatever he spoke come out as gibberish – hence why he needed to relearn how to speak. Yeah, that was probably it.

Kai nodded, smiling at he studied the ceiling's wood grain, "I know," he admitted easily, "But then again, you hardly look nineteen, Scowly-Puss," Zoro glowered down at him which only prompted a broad smirk from the green eyed male, "I got taken in by a rather 'Devil May Care' Pirate Crew. Shanks kind of took me in, stupid one armed bastard wasted three weeks on some god forsaken armpit of an Island when he should have been heading back to the New World," Kai chuckled rubbing a hand across his face, "Benn-jichan said I had old eyes even if I had a teeny-bopper body, something about child abuse," he waved a hand dismissively, "Apparently my growth got stunted, my bones are a bit on the fragile side and I didn't get much sunlight – hence the pale skin that bruises so fucking easily," he stuck his tongue out irritably, "So they figured I'm probably older than I look and it's unlikely for someone younger than sixteen to have been shipwrecked in the same area as me."

"Where were you?" Zoro asked, curiosity gnawing at him.

The other male paused, peering up at him before snorting and laughing, "Ah-ha, now that is a secret. For now. When I trust you guys some more I might tell you but you'll just have to stew in your curiosity till then."

Had Zoro been a lesser man, he would have pouted.


The following day passed quietly enough – minus explosions from Usopp, snoring from Luffy and quiet curses from Kai.

Zoro cleaned his swords while Yosaku and Johnny hastily followed suit, looking rather sheepish as they asked to borrow some of the oil the swordsman had bought before they'd left Usopp's hometown of Syrup village. Nami read a fantasy romance book on a deckchair, enjoying the breeze as the ship maintained a steady heading towards what they hoped was the Restaurant ship Baratie, Luffy snoozing away at her feet like some kind of loyal canine in the hot sun while Usopp sat on the main deck with his chemistry kit and made himself some more projectile pellets for tight situations. With nothing to do, and exceptionally bad at just sitting and waiting, Kai had gathered up everyone's old clothes and set himself about washing and repairing them as best he could – he wanted to repay them for saving him and it kind of reminded him of the old days before he reached East Blue, it was enough to make Nami almost guilty about stealing his meagre amount of Belli. Almost.

That night, Kai had a nightmare. It was a familiar one, an old one, a faceless enemy hidden in shadows, a giant monster – a snake – and a girl with flaming red hair, a cave hidden underwater, and screaming, screaming women with red hair and a rush of cold green light and cruel laughter.

He woke in a cold sweat, a headache pounding in his skull and his heart racing a mile a minute. Panting quietly in the gloom of the bedroom, he pressed a hand against his clammy forehead before climbing out of bed; he spent the majority of the night outside on deck, his forehead pressed against the Going Merry's railing, soothing his headache and inner demons. Absently, he wished for his Shitty Niisama to sneak up behind him and try to poke him in the ass with that fucking oversized pig-sticker of his, just for shits and giggles. Or for Benn-jiichan or Shanks or Kaku or Kalifa or Shiima to give him a hug and usher him into the kitchen for something warm to drink. Goddamnit, he missed them! All of them. Even his Shitty Niisama... Especially his Shitty Niisama.

He'd decided to go back to bed when the first rays of light began to peek from the horizon staining the sky pale pink and green, giving the Merry a gentle pat as he got to his feet and made his way back down the ladder into the boy's room. Stepping over cheerfully snoring Luffy sprawled out across the floor from where he'd fallen out of bed and curled up on the sofa again, burrowing his face into the fabric with a quiet sigh.

The next morning, Yosaku had pretty much prevented anyone from waking the dark haired male up, even going so far as to stand between the couch and Zoro when the other swordsman moved to wake the older male.

Yosaku had woken up a little bit before Kai the night before, he'd deliberated whether or not to go and wake him from the nightmare when the dark haired male had woken up anyway and left. Figuring he needed some time alone, Yosaku left him be and went back to sleep, only to wake up just before dawn as the other male came back in and curled up.

So it was only when Johnny and the others began shouting about a 'Fish ship' that Kai cracked open his eyes, Yosaku scowling from where he was sitting on the floor, sword propped against his shoulder. The amnesiac refrained from giving him a dodgy look; it was a little creepy to think that someone had been watching him sleep, no matter how much he knew Yosaku's intentions were honourable.

"I guess we're here," the smaller male muttered, swinging himself off the sofa and getting up, "After you," he requested, gesturing for Yosaku to walk in front – if only because Kai didn't like people lurking behind him, it made all the hairs on his arms and the back of his neck stand straight.

"That's a Marine Ship!" Kai froze halfway up the ladder at Usopp's exclamation.

The Marines? Which Division? This was only East Blue, none of the Marines in the area would be any problem for him, not so sure about the Strawhats but they seemed strong enough to deal with it. Their only problem would be if they ran into a smart Marine, someone armed with Kairoseki or the power of a Logia fruit. There were never any operatives more powerful than a Captain or on rare occasions a Commodore, but the World Government had been getting more and more antsy about the so-called 'Most Docile' of the Blue Seas, it was, after all, the birth Blue of Gol D. Roger, the Pirate King and the majority of his Crew. Not to mention that the Yonkou Red Haired Shanks, Pirate Admiral Don Krieg and the former Vice Captain of the Sunny Pirates and equal to Shichibukai Jinbei, Arlong were all known to the area.

And then there was his presence as well... Kai's eyes narrowed darkly, and wouldn't Vegapunk just love to get his hands on him? Bastard.

Yosaku must have realised something wasn't quite right and gestured for him to stay down as he crawled up onto the deck, to find out what was going on. Kai climbed down, it couldn't be anyone of higher rank than Commodore, he could handle them, they weren't easy, but he could handle them. It was annoying though, not knowing what was going on, there were loud voices, arguing, the sound of flesh hitting flesh and Luffy's voice – he didn't sound angry or upset so he doubted if anyone was injured.

Suddenly it all went quiet.

Kai frowned, his pulse jolting as a cold rush of adrenalin tingled through his limbs, he could handle Marines, he could deal with them, he could handle them. But lately, his contacts had all spoken of hearing things, troubling things about the Grand Line, about the Marines, about the World Government and about the Shichibukai and himself.

He could hear movement above him but other than that, silence, silence and just the grain of wood creaking softly above him, he couldn't see what was going on and it was making him twitchy. If he went out there and one of the Marines recognised him... Luffy and Usopp were precious to Shanks and Yasopp, he couldn't put them in that kind of danger. Not the kind that followed him around. They hadn't even begun to see the world yet – facing those kinds of monsters? No. They weren't ready for that.

"DANGERRRR!" he near enough jumped out of his skin at Usopp's panicked shriek, "THOSE MARINES ARE POINTING THEIR CANNONS AT US!" the seventeen-year-old wailed.

"Wha!"

"What did you say!"

"Fuck," Kai cursed. Screw the Marines! Screw the World Government! He would protect Luffy and Usopp if things went tits up to the point where it was needed! The dark haired male practically flew up the ladder and shoved the hatch open, just as a loud crash split the air.

"THEY FIRED!" Usopp screeched just as Kai vaulted out onto the deck and Luffy stretched out.

"Gomu Gomu no PACHINKO!" he crowed, 'oof'ing only slightly as the Cannon-ball impacted his stomach and sent him stretching out across the other side of the ship with the sheer force of the impact. The Strawhats shouting in alarm along with the Marines as Luffy grinned like a monkey – still flying backwards. "You can have this ba-AH!" he yelped as one of his hands gave out, a chunk of the Going Merry's Figure Head snapping and throwing off his aim.

Kai paled. He was going to hit the Restaurant!

"Well bugger," he muttered as Luffy whiplashed into the front of the Going Merry and the Cannon ball exploded on the roof of the Restaurant.

They were so going to get it in the neck for this. That was Red Leg Zeff's Restaurant.


"Geez, you two just can't stay out of trouble can you?" Kai grumbled as he gently dabbed some anti-sceptic on Yosaku's grazed forehead.

"Ow!" he yelped before grinning sheepishly, "I guess. But! He insulted our honour! We couldn't let him get with that!" he exclaimed defensively.

Kai shook his head, pressing a plaster over the small abrasion, "People talk. There's always going to be some stupid sack of shit using his arse as a mouthpiece," he gripped the man's chin harshly, "You've got to know your limits Yosaku-san. You don't need to make noise to be the best. It just paints a target on your back. What do you think would happen to Johnny-san if you died? Or what would happen to you if he died? You two are Nakama right?" he asked, making the other male nod, "Then act like it. Take care of each other. Stop each other from getting in over your heads. Alright?"

"Hai, Kai-san," he agreed, shamefaced.

The dark haired youth nodded firmly and released him, "Just keep that compress cold and the swelling should go down enough for you to see soon," he said, wetting a cloth in a bucket of cold water and gently pressing it against Yosaku's swollen right eye.

"Arigato, you really are an angel you know."

Kai sighed and patted his shoulder, "No, no I'm really not," he admitted before getting to his feet and brushing past him, he couldn't see anyone else on deck so he wondered over to where Johnny was flipping through his Wanted Posters, a perturbed look on his face. "What's wrong? You look like someone's just announced they're getting a sex change."

Johnny jolted in surprise as the other male hopped up and sat on the railings beside him, then the words registered and he shook his head with a slight smile, "It's nothing. Do you... Does Nami-aneki have a history with Arlong the Fishman?" he queried.

Kai frowned, "Not that I know of, no," he admitted, tugging absently on a strand of hair.

Arlong was a racist, it was doubtful that he and Nami had a history that didn't involve a lot of abuse and bloodshed and she seemed perfectly fine, happy even.

Johnny hummed thoughtfully as he flipped through the Posters, distantly the two of them could hear the other Straw Hats chatting about the Restaurant and what was taking Luffy so long.

"It's odd, y'know," Johnny admitted, grabbing at Kai's attention, "All the Bounties the Marines put out are done to a level of Threat to 'em. Most East Blue Pirates rarely get anything higher than 8,000,000 Belli, only the big shots get higher than 10K. But then you get monsters like Nico Robin, the Demon of Ohara, how'd an eight year old girl get a Bounty of 79,000,000 Belli and destroy a Buster Call?" he pondered, Kai merely arched an eyebrow at him, saying nothing. Nico-san's personal story wasn't entirely known to him, but he knew that the World Government lied like Usopp when it came to the truth of Ohara. Niisama had told him what he knew of the truth, and it was a fair amount, absently Kai wondered if Aokiji really had the balls to murder his bestfriend like that, chances were, Saul might have just been relegated to Impel Down level 5.

"No one in East Blue ever gets higher than 20,000,000 Belli. 'Cept this kid, and she's fresh from the Grand Line," Johnny stared at the rather old Poster, dog-eared and slightly faded with time, in front of him, a curious look on his face. "Wonder what was so important about this kid that they gave her such a high Bounty."

Kai tilted his head and peered at the picture, he snorted, "That's a terrible photo," he commented, making Johnny chuckle. The obscured face of a child peered up at him from the paper, she couldn't have been any older than maybe fourteen maybe fifteen, her hair was an unruly thatch of black hanging at her shoulders, the most distinguishing mark on her being a thin jagged scar on her forehead, other than that, the image was very blurry and hard to make out, one could only just about make out the background as a demolished village – but only if you knew it was there.

Kai sighed and tugged the Poster out of Johnny's grasp.

"'Green Eyes' huh? 'Wanted Dead or Alive at25,000,000 Belli'. Christ they must be desperate to put a twenty-K plus bounty up, this is East Blue after all," he muttered before gently folding it, the average Bounty for East Blue was 3,000,000 with the upper echelons hitting just over 10,000,000 Belli. Buggy the Clown was roughly 15,000,000 Belli and Krieg was at 17,000,000 Belli, and they were both Monsters that had a body count higher than most small island populations – not to mention the fact that Buggy used to be an Apprentice aboard the Oro Jackson, Gol D. Roger's ship, right alongside Shanks.

"Hey, Johnny, do you mind if I keep this?" he asked, holding the folded over bounty power between his fingers, bad photo or not, Kai was a little proud of his first Bounty – even if it wasn't as high as it would have been had the World Government known who he really was.

"Ah, no sure. I was going to throw that one away actually," he admitted, scratching at his head, "It's pretty useless anyway. Apart from the first sighting at Loguetown, no one's seen Green Eyes since. At least, no one will admit to it."

Kai chuckled, "A Bounty this high in East Blue and a baby-face like that," and really, it killed him to say it, "I'm not surprised he would be lying low."

Johnny nodded thoughtfully, "That's a good point. How's Yosaku anyway? He took a nasty smack to the face from that Lieutenant earlier."

Kai waved a hand, "He should be fine. If he keeps that wet cloth on his eye the swelling should go down enough for him to see out of it in an hour or so, maybe less if he stops poking at it!" Kai added, raising his voice so that the man could hear him.

"That's good," Johnny admitted grinning slightly before shoving the posters into his pocket, "Oi, Aibou, c'mon. Give me a hand," he called, marching over to the storage room, he still hadn't repaired the damage he'd done to the Going Merry's railings, now was as good a time as any. He got the feeling that it was now or never, they could repair the Ram Figure head as well – he could have sworn he saw a bit of wood-filler and glue in the back.

"Hey, we're going to the Restaurant, you want to come with?" Nami called from over the side of the ship, Usopp and Zoro beside her in a small rowboat – where had that come from?

Kai glanced over his shoulder to where he could hear Yosaku and Johnny arguing in the storage room, he shook his head and vaulted over the side of the railing, landing lightly in the boat. "Yes please," he admitted sitting at the nose of the ship with Nami to avoid getting in Usopp and Zoro's way as they rowed.


It was a nice restaurant.

Would have been nicer without the splinters and blood on the floor though.

Kai looked around as he trailed after the other Straw Hats, he couldn't help but arch an eyebrow at the lack of Waiters, shouldn't this place have been heaving with them? It was supposedly a very high-end restaurant. His eyes caught a glimpse of what had to have been the Marine that tangled with Yosaku and Johnny earlier, Lieutenant Iron Fist Full Body huh? A weakling and prime example of why Kai had very little respect for most Marines.

"Welcome, mere-bastards!" a cheerful baritone voice practically sang not far from them, a large burly man in an apron was actually sparking at them.

Kai blinked.

"Table for four?" he asked brightly.

"Ah, no. We're actually looking for our Captain," Nami explained, "You see, we had a slight mishap earlier and – "


" – It was so big I accidentally thought it was an island but it was actually a giant fish turd!" Usopp exclaimed, waving his arms around, thoroughly pleased by his audience's amusement.

Kai couldn't stop laughing, Usopp had no idea that his so called 'Lie' was actually true and that the Fish-shit Island, Nanimonai, actually existed in the Grand Line! Even had its own Magnetic field like every other one.

"It's not that funny," Nami pointed out, thoroughly confused and not a little revolted.

Kai shook his head, breathing hard and he occasionally chuckled, "S-sorry Nami-san, it's something of an inside joke from where I was before hitting East Blue," he admitted, eyes glinting mischievously as he broke down laughing again.

"And where might that be?" Zoro asked, it had been bugging him something awful lately.

Kai smirked at him, wiping moisture from the corner of his eye, "It's – a – se – cret," he chirped happily, making the swordsman scowl and dig into his food. Really, Kai could tell them, he trusted them enough at this point to share but it was just so much fun to rattle the Swordsman's cage by keeping it a secret he just couldn't help but hold it over his head and dangle it tauntingly in front of him.

Usopp chuckled, "Na, why's it a secret?"

"Because I enjoy annoying Zoro," he told them brightly, making the swordsman throw a table knife at him amidst gales of laughter from those assembled.

"Hey Waiter!" Nami called grinning as she spotted a certain Straw Hatted Pirate making his way down the stairs while Kai poked the swordsman with a fork, grinning wickedly.

"Hey!" he yelped, grabbing at the railings and leaning out to stare at them, "It's you guys!"

Usopp grinned, "I heard you gotta work here for a year!"

"Can I redraw the Pirate flag?" Zoro chimed in with a broad grin, batting Kai away without looking.

Luffy charged down and froze in front of their table, his eyes wide and practically heartbroken, "O-o-o-oi, you guys all stuff yourselves with such great food while I'm not around?" he whimpered, his voice sounding like it was on the verge of tears at their apparent betrayal. Well, for a man who loved food as much as Luffy it pretty much was a betrayal in his eyes to be honest. "THAT HURTS!" he shouted furiously, stomping his foot for added emphasis.

"Not really, it's our free will," Zoro quipped on the verge of laughing at his Captain's reaction.

Kai bit his lip as Luffy scowled and flicked a booger into the swordsman's drink while he wasn't looking, Usopp and Nami not so subtly clamping hands over their mouths to stop themselves from bursting out laughing.

"But I've got to admit, the food here is great," Zoro stated with a grin, picking up the drink and bringing it to his mouth, "I kinda feel sorry for you," he told Luffy as Nami squeaked a little.

"YOU DRINK IT!" the swordsman roared, glass shoved down Luffy's throat as he held it there and forced the seventeen year old to swallow the booger-contaminated water as the rest of the crew busted a gut laughing.

"Why did you do that!" Luffy wailed, flailing around on the floor clutching at his throat while Zoro stood over him and the three others slapped the table and laughed so hard they began to feel a little sick.

"You too," the green haired nineteen year old growled, "What the hell were you trying to pull?"

"My stomach's aching!" Usopp moaned between guffaws.

Their hilarity abruptly stopped as a rose was practically shoved under Nami's nose by a rather... interesting blond man with a curly eyebrow.

Kai blinked in utter bemusement at the lines this guy was spouting, did he really just say......?

He snerked and quickly pressed a hand over his mouth to hide his own laughter at the look on Nami's face. He needn't have worried as the Head Chef showed up and thoroughly distracted the young man – but some of the things he said... Kai frowned, that was just harsh. And incredibly rude and embarrassing to say in front of the customers, what a bully.

Red Leg Zeff wasn't known as a cruel man, he'd never been known as a cruel man.

Something else was going on here.

He dropped backwards on his chair, clattering to the ground and rolling back to his feet, plate of food safely held out of reach as the blond promptly crashed into their table, he could see that the other members of the crew had already done the same with their own food so it looked like he wouldn't be doing any laundry again tonight.

He frowned as the two Chefs exchanged more words, and then Luffy stuck his nose in. What an idiot.

Sighing, the dark haired male set his rescued plate onto the table and pulled his chair back to where it was, blinking as he found a glass of wine and a fruit salad in front of him.

"Eh?"

"Please, pardon me for what has happened," the blond Chef demurred, placing a second fruit salad in front of Nami, his voice suddenly slick and polite as he poured a glass of Rose wine for the ginger haired thief, "as an apology, I have ordered you a Fruit Macedonia, my princesses."

Kai twitched and then calmly pushed the fruit away as Zoro looked torn about bursting out laughing and ripping the Chef a new one.

Usopp didn't have that problem, "What's this! You're not apologising to us?" he demanded, incensed. Zoro then decided to settle on amused as Nami quite expertly used her 'feminine wiles' on the idiot Love Cook to get a free meal, for herself of course.

"Saw that coming," the green haired male admitted from behind his cup of tea as the blond promptly informed him and Usopp that he still expected them to pay. Luffy, the bastard, just laughed.

"Na, Hime-san, is the fruit not to your liking?" the cook asked, upon seeing Kai ignoring the offering and quite calmly eating his Main meal.

"I'm quite certain the fruit is delicious, Cook-san. I mean no offence, but I am neither a princess or a woman, so I would feel rather guilty for accepting an apology that is not meant for me," he told the blond primly with closed eyes, the grip on his knife and fork actually causing the metal to bend much to Usopp's distress.

Sanji choked, "Y-you're a man!" he yelped.

"Is that a problem?" Kai bit out, his eyes opening a crack and glaring at him.

"But you look so...." he trailed off, not entirely sure how to put it. Normally he would have just said what he wanted but the very little amount of self preservation he had was telling him, in tones rather insistent, that this man currently looked as though he wouldn't have found it too disgusting to gut him like a fish and then wear his entrails like a fashion accessory. Oh, screw it. Since when had he cared? "Feminine."

Kai smiled sweetly, fork bending alarmingly in his hand, "And you look like you molest small boys. Do you see me making assumptions based on your appearance?"

Sanji twitched violently as the men of the table cracked up.

"Bastard," he hissed, glaring at the dark haired male who got to his feet, dropping the mangled eating utensils to push up a baggy sleeve.

"You wanna go?" he growled. His appearance was a very sore point for him, for some reason everyone, everyone mistook him for a girl the first time they met him – everyone except Okama! It was like some kind of cosmic running gag! Leviathan was messing with him! He'd tried cutting his hair but every time it just grew back the next day exactly the same length it had been before. Luckily, it grew very slowly so it wasn't like he was wrestling with yards of the stuff. The fact that he looked pretty – others had said beautiful but there was no way in hell Kai was ever allowing that word to be associated with him – had long hair and a slender body was enough for most to mistake him as female, and it was bloody INFURIATING. He would never be a tall person, he would never be able to achieve any sizeable weight and nor would he be able to build substantial muscle mass, it was impossible according to Benn-jichan. And he had whomever it was who raised him as a child to thank for it, and from what fuzzy flashbacks and memories he retained, he was quite certain that it wasn't his parents. Even more annoying was that his Shitty Niisama often teased him about being the long lost twin of Boa Hancock – the Pirate Empress, Kai had yet to meet her but apparently they looked very similar(1).

Luffy was still laughing.

"Why are you slacking off here for!" Sanji barked, kicking the rubber man around the face. He was already deep in the shit with the Old Man and while he was usually in with a free reign, lately everyone in the kitchen had been making his life a hell and trying to drive him out. He was fairly sure that at some point they would get those idiotic oversized knives and forks out and chase him away, but until they did that the Baratie was his home and he wasn't leaving for anything.

"Go give the guests Towels as they come in," he ordered, dragging the slave boy away by the neck.

"Yes sir," Luffy agreed, dazed as he was dragged off, feet trailing on the floor.

Kai huffed and sat down, "Damnit. And I wanted to fight too," he complained.


They'd been anchored at the Baratie for about four days while Luffy worked off his debt – rather badly at that, he kept breaking things, stealing food and generally being a huge nuisance.

To be honest, they were all getting a little stir-crazy, save for Nami who was having the time of her life playing Sanji like violin for free food and compliments. Yosaku and Johnny had fixed all the damage they'd done to the Going Merry and then spent the rest of their time polishing their swords and playing poker with the rest of the crew. Zoro had done a little training and Usopp had made more pellets. With nothing to do, Kai had ended up cleaning the ship from crows nest to hull, that done, he'd just lounged around, which was alright for about two days, then he started getting bored. And then tetchy. He wasn't used to just sitting and waiting, he was very bad at it.

Which was probably why he was in the bath, hoping that the soak would sooth his irrational cabin fever – last time they'd been in the Restaurant he and Sanji had nearly come to blows again when usually they tended to ignore one another.

Really, Luffy had to work for a long time. Why couldn't they help out and get the time halved, have something to do and learn how to cook for themselves – that way they wouldn't need someone to do it for them, or if that someone went sick they wouldn't starve. Common sense was in sad minority on Pirate Ships he'd noted.

Leaning back against the lip of the tub he rubbed at the blotchy scars on his arms, they would fade soon enough, that ointment Zoro had used on them really worked wonders. He'd always been a quick healer but for them to have scarred already at six days? That was incredible. He would HAVE to learn how to make that stuff before he left the group. Even the bruises on his stomach had faded.

He had to wonder how many scrapes the green haired swordsman had gotten into to have learned how to make the ointment.

Distantly, he could hear shouting but decided to ignore it, probably Yosaku and Johnny fighting over who won the last poker game. It went quiet after a while so he just pushed it out of his mind and wiggled his feet happily in the hot water.

The explosion nearly made him bite his tongue in surprise.

"The hell!" the green-eyed male yelped, whirling around in the water. "Shit," he cursed climbing out and grabbing a towel. Wiping himself down he dressed and ran out, twisting his hair up and out of the way with the Holly stick, not bothering to stamp into his boots as he did so.

"Nami! Nami-san! What's going on!" he shouted as he ran out onto the deck.

And stopped.


And end chapter two. XDD Is it good so far? Is it? Is it? (is having entirely too much fun with Yosaku's man crush) I noticed that in animes and mangas that when a character saves another characters life there's usually something of a Nightingale syndrome – where the rescuee falls in love/worships/swears to protect their rescuer. That's what's happening here. Don't worry. Nothing will happen. Yosaku's sudden devotion is actually a little disturbing to Kai.

Review pleasums

Araceil


Aibou means Partner and Tenshi means angel. And an Okama is a crossdresser, a professional one.

1) Would you believe me if I told you I'd already come up with Kai's design by the time I reached the Amazon Lily Arc? When I saw Hancock I promptly burst out laughing, seriously, they look so much alike with the way I designed Kai. Hancock has longer hair, she's taller, her nose is straighter (Kai's is a little buttonish in comparison), her eyes are a different colour, her body is broader, and she's a woman. She is essentially the Sexy No Jutsu version of Kai – plus ten years and change the eye colour.

Drawings of Kai and the other Strawhats can be found on my Facebook – link is on my profile.


Reviewer response –

Slate Grey: Wow, I'm actually blushing. I'm glad you like it so far. X3

Nightmaric: Heh, Benn is damn awesome. It's a shame the Red Hairs don't get more love but I have a feeling that they'll get more attention lavished on them when the Strawhats reach the New World and get tangled up in more Yonkou business.

Kit52491: Yup, I've gone through all of the OPHP section and not one of them is a Zoro/Harry, which is why I wrote it – and Zoro's my fav character so it just made things that little bit better in my mind. (But only by a tiny tiny tiny bit. He's currently tying with so many of the characters in One Piece I officially can't decide. But in Ignition he gets that tiny little bit more love because..... well you'll see.)

FriggyEsquire: Anything to do with the wizards – weeeeeeeeeeell, it's a sec-ret ;D


POWER AND OTHER NOTES

Some people have expressed concerns about Kai's power in relation to the other Strawhats, along with a few other little things. Ignition is already on its second rewrite, first rewrite had Harry a little too.... Super!Harry as Stalker of Stories will confirm (My lovely Beta, go and give her love.)

Getting the balance between Harry and the Strawhats is difficult; everyone in One Piece is so damn overpowered it's difficult to find that happy medium in the crew. As it stands, at the moment, Kai is more powerful than ALL the Strawhats, even Luffy. But that's simply because he not only has more experience but has had some pretty intense hands-on training in opposition to Luffy who just got abused by his Grandpa in the name of training. Later on, he will find his niche in front of Sanji but behind Zoro in terms of physical power, in terms of speed, he will be the fastest in the crew.

To lay a few fears to rest, here's some extra info:

Kai's Bounty is never going to be higher than Luffy's – at this point in time is the only exception because Luffy doesn't HAVE a Bounty yet. Kai's never going to take down the main bad guy unless it's in an Original Story Arc that I've created simply to squeeze some more time into the journey (Canonly, the Strawhats have been together under 6 months, perhaps just over if you include the time spent travelling between islands that hasn't been recorded).

And as for Magic... he has amnesia, meaning that he won't remember a lot of spells add to that...... He has a handicap on his magic that will be explored later in the story – it's a plot point so I won't be saying anymore on it. Don't ask.

No, he won't have the Haoushoku Haki (King's Disposition) that Luffy, Ace, Shanks, Hancock and White Beard have (Despite it supposedly being a Haki that only 1 in a 1,000,000,000,000 people are supposed to have.) and he won't have Mantra either. He'll have something else. Ooh, spoiler alert. Shush yer face, I won't say anymore.


16/05/2010: Just a quick edit since Ffnet decided it didn't like my page breaks. XP