So, I've been urged to continue this story. Updates are going to be slow, I'm trying to figure out if I want to make it completely AU; or just go very slowly to try and keep it within the scope of the Manga. Both have their merits, of course, but I feel like I should ask you what you would prefer.
Because if I make it completely AU, I'm going to have to keep this one short- up until the start of the timeskip- and then write a sequel. On the other hand, the manga is still ongoing and thus I'm going to have to wait until each arc is completed to write about it.
IMPORTANT NOTE: I am following Oda-sensei's rule of no romance (besides the 'man's romance' of wearing armor and going on adventures), this means that the characters will not have any romantic relationships with each other, or any OCs I may concoct. Close Friendships that tend to erase personal boundaries are the closest thing you will ever get to 'pairings' in this fic. And of course Sanji's flirting, but really I don't think that counts.
Warnings: Alternate Universe, a very fluid timeline, worst case scenario thinking, mentions of Character Deaths, and boys sharing sleep space with one another.
Strange Bedfellows
The realization hit him during the second day he was up, and while he was washing the breakfast dishes.
I'm never going to see them again.
It made him pause, and there was a moment where he tried to keep from making noise only for a strangled sob to escape. He had known they were dead, it was why he had run to their enemies, but now it hit him full force that the constants he had taken for granted were gone, never to return.
Sanji took the dish from his hands, quietly drying it. "Go lay down, idiot, you've done enough for now." He ordered, and Kaku stiffened.
"I can finish." They weren't done yet, a few pots were still sitting on the counter. What he can't bring himself to say was that the last thing he wanted was to be alone with his thoughts.
"They're too heavy, you'll pull a stitch, go lay down on the lawn." Sanji gave him a look that had him reluctantly nodding. He didn't want to get on their bad side, after all.
However, he completely missed the look Sanji leveled at him as he walked out.
On deck it was quiet. Nami had mentioned going to the library, while Roronoa had gone up to the weight room in the crow's nest. He didn't know what the rest of the crew had planned, but he was brought up short by the sight of Nico Robin sitting on a lawnchair and reading a book.
Well, he guessed he'd have to deal with this sooner or later.
He was not expecting the stairway he tried to walk down to actually be a slide, and it was a little disconcerting to have hands sprout from nowhere to keep him from falling and jarring his injuries.
Nico Robin hadn't even looked up from her book.
Once he made it down the actual staircase, he glanced at her. "Thanks, Miss Nico."
"You're welcome." She glanced up with a small smile. "Sanji let you go?"
"Y-yes, told me to come outside." Small talk helped in gaining trust, but with someone else versed in ways of deception, the CP9 agent in him wasn't sure if there was a hidden meaning behind her words.
"They're not what you expected." Robin noted, surprising him out of his attempt to come up with a topic.
"Huh?"
"They're pirates, you'd expect them to be more concerned with strength." She explained, marking her book. "Disrespect would be punished, especially attacks or threats to the Captain, but instead, the captain laughs them off." She gave him a small smile. "I was confused, too."
"Yes." Kaku finally settled on that, sitting down on the bench. "Why?"
"That would be telling." She smiled at the look of annoyance. "I'm sure you'll figure it out for yourself."
"Right." Kaku leaned back, studying the ship.
"Have you seen the aquarium, yet?" Nico Robin asked suddenly.
"Aquarium?" A bunch of hands sprouted, pointing the way.
"It's nice and peaceful." Was the last thing she said, before reopening her book. Kaku took that as the end of the conversation, and stood up to follow the trail. As he reached the door, the Captain, Dr. Chopper and Usopp went by, carrying fishing rods.
"Hey Square-nose, we're going fishing, want to join us?" The Captain called, and Kaku hesitated.
"He can't strain his stitches!" Dr. Chopper yelled, looking panicked.
"Miss Nico said I should check out the Aquarium." Kaku offered, and was not expecting the grin the Captain shot at him.
"Shishishi! That's great, you'll see the fish we catch anyway!" The Captain returned his attention to setting up his line. "Come fish with us when Chopper lets you!"
It wasn't an order, but an invitation. Kaku was just as shocked at the revelation as he was for his earlier realization. He barely managed a nod before following the patiently waiting arms.
It was a nice place. The entire ship was a work of art, far different from what Galley-La did. He settled down to watch the various fish (and was that an octopus?). Every so often, a new fish would be added, clearly disoriented, a few slightly wounded.
"Another Octopus?" This one was tiny, followed by several others. Like the rest, they were briefly disoriented, but quickly moved to be out of reach of the hatch.
"Oi, Square-nose, did you see the octopuses?"
"Luffy, if there is more than one Octopus, they're called octopi!" Dr. Chopper chided, before hopping up onto the seat next to Kaku.
"Yeah, I did, they're pretty small." Kaku blinked as Dr. Chopper decided to use him as a ladder to climb for a better view.
"Snack size! Shishishi!" The captain laughed. "So, what do you think of Sunny?"
"Sunny? Is that the ship's name?"
"Yep! She's Thousand Sunny." Dr. Chopper settled on his shoulder.
"Then Thousand Sunny is an awesome ship, I'm impressed." Kaku really was. For what little he'd seen of the ship, it was the type of ship he'd always daydreamed about. Fun and practical, with spaces for every-
He managed to stop the sob, but he couldn't stop the tear in time.
"Are your wounds hurting you?" Dr. Chopper asked, concerned.
"No, they're fine, I just …" Should I lie? He wondered, except the doctor was looking at him with genuine concern. "I just was thinking about the others, they'd have liked this place too." Maybe not to the extent he did, but there was a weight room, a library, and a lawn, (though he hadn't yet seen the first two) which would make half of them happy.
"Of course, Sunny's awesome!" The Captain grinned, before deciding to go harass Sanji for a snack, the Doctor in tow.
Kaku was left alone with his thoughts, and not even the colorful fish could distract him. Deciding to push his luck, he made his way to the library that the Doctor had pointed out to him yesterday.
It was just as amazing as the rest of the ship, and Kaku quietly studied the books.
"The logs are on the shelf over there, if you want to read them." Kaku jumped at the voice, not having heard the other come in.
"Miss Nami," Kaku started, then paused, not sure if he should apologize for being in here, or ask about the log books.
"You can call me Nami. I don't know if you've noticed, but there's not a lot of formality on this ship." She said with a smile. "You might want to start at the beginning, it was a pain and a half to get Luffy to tell me how he started out and got Zoro to agree to join the crew, and Zoro wasn't much better." She picked up the log book in question and held it out to him.
He stared at it for a long moment, hesitant to take it. "I thought log books were incredibly personal to a ship's crew, and that the captain wrote it." There were a lot of 'Old Salts' that came through Water 7, some would talk while the shipwrights worked, mostly to explain how the damage came to exist, sometimes just because they thought a young person should learn about the sea.
"Luffy doesn't really have the patience to sit down and write entries in the log." Nami smiled. "And you're technically part of the crew, even if it ends up as only a short time."
Kaku quietly took the book, and Nami gave a small nod, before going to the desk which had a stack of charts. Finding a place to sit, he opened the log book, and started reading about his new crew.
He only took a break for lunch, and to wash the lunch dishes,(and by the time dinner came around, he reached the entry for Whiskey Peak). He wasn't sure he believed everything he had read (a man stuck in a treasure chest for years? Really?), but he had been a little shaken by the entries regarding Cocoyashi Island and Arlong Park. (Even more so by the faint traces of water damage, as if someone had been crying while they wrote the entries.)
Nami had left for a while after lunch, and had just returned to her desk, so he decided to risk it.
"M- Nami, the reason why you said Luffy wouldn't force a mark; that was because of what Arlong did, yes?"
"…" Nami glanced up at his question, and after a moment where he thought she wasn't going to say anything, she nodded. "Luffy's not the type to treat someone as a possession. However, if he decides you're going to be part of the crew, he won't give up until you say yes."
And then wouldn't let them go. Kaku thought to himself, recalling the destruction wrought by the captain just to bring Nico Robin back into the fold. When he glanced back to the desk, Nami was intently focused on chart she was working on, so he turned back to his reading.
Dinner was louder than breakfast, and a lot more crowded than lunch. Kaku watched in fascination as the Captain stole food from the other plates, and more than one person retaliated by attacking him. (The fascination turned into horror the longer dinner went on, and the Captain had long past Jyabura's record.)
Oddly enough, and Kaku was sure half of it was because he was sitting at the counter, the Captain didn't steal any of the food on his plate. Sanji noticed his confusion.
"You're still recovering, and the only thing the rubber idiot understood from Chopper's explanation was that you needed to eat, so he's not going to steal anything from you yet." Sanji gave him a wry smile. "Once Chopper declares you healthy, though, you're on your own."
"Oh." Kaku managed, before deciding to eat before he lost his appetite completely.
"Square-nose, you're sleeping with us tonight!" The Captain called out after dinner, and Kaku had planned to slip into the infirmary to get some sleep after finishing the plates.
Once again, the CP9 agent in his head started listing all the ways that the Captain's order could be a bad thing. Even though Kaku noted the crew hadn't reacted to the statement in anyway, the agent in his head reminded him that they're lack of reaction didn't necessarily mean anything. Kaku followed him, Usopp and Dr. Chopper into a room with hammocks and three bunks. Bounty posters were plastered on one wall, and Kaku noted that Sanji didn't seem to have one.
"Night!" The Captain grinned, swinging into a hammock. Dr. Chopper directed Kaku into the bottom of the 3 bunks, and Usopp got in the one above him followed by Dr. Chopper, who demanded a story.
Kaku fell asleep to a very exaggerated tale that reminded him of some of the log entries he had read, save for the amazing Captain Usopp taking center stage.
It was pitch black when a hand on his shoulder shook him awake.
"Wha?" His body was more sluggish than it normally would have been thanks to some medicine Chopper had ordered him to take at dinner, otherwise the person shaking him would have had quite a fright.
"Usopp, your turn for watch." Nami's whispered voice answered.
"I'm Kaku, Usopp's in the bunk above me." He whispered back, and blinked as a couple fingers touched his nose.
"Sorry, your silhouettes are similar in the dark." Nami apologized, and Kaku listened as she straightened. "Usopp, your turn for watch."
"I'm Kaku." A very sleepy voice responded, followed by a soft yelp and a thud as Nami apparently pulled him out of the bunk. "Ow, Nami!"
"Nice try, oh, sorry Chopper, here."
Kaku blinked as something small, furry and warm was added to his bunk. He didn't really think much more about it, as the next instant had him falling back to sleep, absently pulling the small furry thing closer.
When he woke up, he would see the Captain laying half in his hammock, half on Roronoa, Franky sleeping on the floor, and Sanji and Usopp sharing the same hammock (because Usopp had decided that was his hammock, despite having been sleeping on a bunk earlier); and would watch as Sanji pushed Usopp off of him and onto Franky, while the Captain fell completely into Roronoa's Hammock, and promptly wrapping rubber arms around the older male's torso. Kaku would also discover that the warm furry thing was in fact Dr. Chopper, and he had been cuddling with him in his sleep.
Though judging by the way Sanji and Zoro reacted, waking up with someone else on top of you was a common occurrence.
Next Chapter; Kaku's stitches come out, Franky brags about the Sunny, and hey, what's a barrel doing in the middle of nowhere?
Please leave a Review and let me know if you want this to be a complete AU or to keep following the manga. And please, let me know before this story gets to the start of Sabaody Archipelago events.
Remember, if I keep following the Manga, there are going to be slower updates. If I go completely AU, however, I will stop this story at the start of the two year timeskip, and then write a sequel.
