Chapter 2: First Encounter With The Marines
We go a few minutes back in time. A marine was storming through the hallways of Hyrule Town Marine HQ, the marine base on Gamoa Island, situated in, as you have probably guessed already, Hyrule Town.
"The Conference Room… where is the Conference Room! I need to find it before it's too late. Crap, why did I have to do this! Ah, there it is!"
The marine halted and without hesitation, threw the door open. It slammed against the wall. The marine stood heavily panting in the opening of the door, leaning on his knees.
"F-Found you, Captain Uhibi. S-Something terrible has happened," the marine said through his panting and coughing. The marine looked into the Conference Room and saw a total of twenty-two eyes directed at him, two of which belonged to aforementioned Captain Uhibi.
"Lieutenant Trungil! What in the name of everything that's unexpected are you doing here!"
"The ship," Trungil couldn't get the words out correctly. He stopped, panted a few more times and started on the sentence again:
"The ship we brought along… it has disappeared."
Captain Uhibi abruptly stood up from his place with a shocked expression.
"W-What are you saying!" he yelled. He looked at the other people present and said:
"I'm sorry, but I suddenly have something very urgent to attend to! If you'll excuse me," Captain Uhibi said, while he wanted to move to the door of the room.
"Uhibi," a stern voice said.
Uhibi turned around and faced the person sitting at the end of the table.
"Yes, Commodore Delbin!" Uhibi politely answered to the higher ranked person.
"Remember what I said! We are starting to lose our trust in you! This better not have to do with anything clandestine! I take my job as Marine Commodore very seriously and you should too!"
"Understood, sir! May I make my leave now?" Uhibi asked politely.
"You're dismissed," Delbin said.
"YOU IDIOT!" Uhibi scolded Trungil as they ran through the hallways of the marine base, "Are you crapping retarded! What did I say about mentioning that boat to others!"
"I'm sorry, Captain! I thought I should make the situation clear from the very beginning! That's what you always say, Captain. When reporting, make it as clear as possible!"
"Don't use my words against me!" Uhibi scolded the Lieutenant.
"More importantly," Captain Uhibi continued, "what do you mean with "disappeared"?"
"Well… exactly what it sounds like, Captain! The ship is not there anymore!"
Just as Lieutenant Trungil had said that, a "purupurupuru"-sound came from the Lieutenant.
The two halted as Lieutenant Trungil lifted his arm, which showed a baby Den Den Mushi strapped around his wrist.
"Lieutenant Trungil here!" Trungil sternly said to the device.
"Chief Petty Officer Madgalena reporting," a woman's voice sounded through the Den Den Mushi, "we discovered the whereabouts of the ship! It is reported that it has sailed out with at least four kids on board! One of our ships has gone in pursuit and is currently in firing range!"
Trungil looked to his side where he saw Uhibi with a furious look on his face.
"C-Captain! Shall we order the ship to fire?" Trungil asked.
Uhibi grabbed the lieutenant's arm and said into the Den Den Mushi:
"Captain Uhibi here! Don't fire at the ship! There's something valuable on that ship! Keep following it!"
"But, sir, the ship is faster than our ship is! We will soon be out of firing range! Wait… a moment, Captain…"
On the other line, a faint voice sounded for a few seconds. Then came Magdalena's voice again.
"Captain Uhibi! It has just reported that the sailors on the ship have just raised a pirate flag! Their captain has been yelling at us for quite some time, stating that his ship will make him the next Pirate King and…"
Those words seemed to unlock something in Uhibi. He had a wicked look and yelled:
"Commence attack! Sink that ship NOW!"
"Yes, Captain! Understood!" Magdalena's voice came from the other side of the line. Soon after, the contact was broken.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAH! They're gonna shoot at us! They're gonna sink us! HEEEEEEEEEELP! Aaaaaah! They're gonna think I'm a pirate!" Falarda yelled, running blindly on the deck. Colphor was standing at the Behind Deck… the Back Deck… whatever it is… Colphor stood at the back of the ship, waving at the marine ship, continually yelling at the marines. Behind him, Falarda fell on the wooden deck, crying as if his life was over.
"Please, stop the ship! They're gonna sink us! They're gonna think I'm a pirate!" Falarda begged.
"But you are a pirate, right?" Colphor said back to him.
"NO, I AM NOT! I'm a poor marine that's been abducted by pirates! Please at least tie me up so they won't mistake me as your apprentice!" Falarda begged.
"Nope," Colphor answered, "cause you won't be able to swim if they sink the ship… by some miracle."
Falarda stayed silent, realizing that Colphor was right.
"Let me correct you," Petro said, leaning against the railing of the ship, "it'll be a miracle if they don't manage to sink this ship."
"How would you know, chainman," Colphor said.
"That's common sense," Petro said, "and don't call me chainman!"
"Whatever," Colphor said, not caring one bit about the danger right in front of us.
"They're gonna shoot! They're gonna shoot! They're bringing out the cannons! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!" Falarda yelled in fear.
"Hey, you're right," Colphor said, noticing how the ships cannons were aiming at their little ship.
A second later, the cannons shot their load at the little ship. The ship shook and creaked as it got five direct hits.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I'm dead! I'm dead! I'm deeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaad!" Falarda yelled. He looked at Colphor who was still standing at the same place. He hadn't stopped waving, even though the ship had taken five direct hits.
"Colphor! WHY ARE YOU STILL WAVING AT THEM! YOU'RE GONNA DIE!" Falarda yelled.
"Die? Why?" Colphor asked.
"We've been hit, you dimwit! We're gonna sink to the bottom of the sea!" Falarda screamed.
"Oh, we have been hit? Let me take care of the damage then," Colphor said, stopping with waving, "Repair Kit!"
The crew on the small ship couldn't see it, but the marines had a great view on what was now happening.
"T-the… the ship… it's repairing itself!" one of the marines yelled as he witnessed the ship's wood growing over the hole the cannonballs had caused.
"What's happening!" another one yelled.
"It's a miracle!" yet another one yelled in amazement.
"We're gonna dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Falarda screamed once more.
"No, we aren't," Colphor said, "I repaired the ship.
That made Petro curious.
"You repaired the ship?" he asked.
"Exactly! That Devil's Fruit I ate gave me control over wood, plants and other growing stuff… I can sense when and where wood and plants are being hurt and repair it, among many other things," Colphor explained.
"You might actually be useful," Petro said, with a smile on his face. He looked up at the main mast, particularly the pirate flag that was now waving in the wind.
"So that's what the stick stands for," Petro said.
Colphor turned around.
"It's not a stick!" he yelled angrily, so hard that even the marines could hear it, "It's a cane! This cane, to be exact."
He grabbed a cane that he had strapped on his back. He looked at it as if it was the most valuable thing on earth.
"This is my greatest treasure! There's nothing more valuable than this cane! Because of this cane, I decided to name our pirate crew the "Wooden Cane Pirates"!" Colphor yelled.
"Are you an idiot!" Falarda scolded, "that name makes us sound like we're old geezers!"
He was silent for a few seconds before he moved his hand in front of his mouth.
"You, I mean," Falarda tried to correct himself, "that makes you sound like you're an old geezer! It's not like I said "us"."
"No need to be shy. You're a full pirate now… you should be proud!" Colphor said with a wide smile on his face.
"That's not something to be proud of!" Falarda yelled back at his captain.
"Hey, kid!" a woman's voice suddenly sounded from the marine ship, "I want to make a deal!"
Colphor turned to look at the woman that was shouting at him.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"That doesn't matter now. If you throw the girl and the boy you found tied up in the water, we'll let you go off freely!" the woman yelled over the water.
Petro came out of his relaxed stance and immediately transformed his hands into chains.
"I refuse!" Colphor said after two seconds. There was no hesitation in his voice. The answer surprised both ally and enemy.
"Why are you throwing our only chance at surviving this away, you moron!" Falarda scolded.
The woman started speaking again.
"Those two are vicious criminals. They will kill you if they get the chance! It's safer to get rid of them," she stated.
"Like I care," Colphor answered, "They're my nakama now! Only a coward would put their own life before their nakama!"
"Very well, you've chosen your fate. Fire!" she yelled. At her command, a second load of cannons were shot at the ship. This time, Colphor didn't let the cannonballs come near the ship.
"Vine Protection!" he yelled. At his comment, thousands of vines grew out of the ship's hull, effectively grabbing the cannonballs while still in the air.
"Reflection!" he then yelled.
At his command, the vines started swinging the cannonballs around, before letting go of them, aiming for the marine ship. The marine ship took several hits.
"And to finish it off, Surfspike!"
From the hull of the ship, a wooden sipe started to form. Colphor jumped on the spike and by extending the spike more and more, Colphor surfed over the surface, avoiding the high waves. Just before the spike had reached the ship, it split into at least ten big spikes, which all went underwater, effectively piercing the ship's hull.
"Retract!"
The wooden spike retracted and without any problems Colphor came back on his ship.
"A-A-Awesome," Falarda said in awe of what he just saw, "What are you?"
"Didn't I tell you already? I am Menar D. Colphor!"
"Chief Petty Officer Magdalena! We have severe damage to the hull! We're making water!" one of the marines reported.
"Drat! We failed! He's a Devil Fruit user, eh?"
Magdalena turned to the marine that reported and said:
"We're stopping the pursuit here! Repair the ship as fast as you can! Make it our top priority!"
"Immediately, sir!" the marine said, turning around.
"What a shame… to be taken out so easily… it's truly a shame… we've let our guard down because he was so young. What was his name? Menardy Colphor? The Wooden Cane pirates. I think Captain Uhibi is not going to like this… prepare yourself, kid… that man is gonna make you his top priority. Be prepared for a high bounty!"
"Whoo… that was fun," Colphor said as the marine ship was but a small dot in the distance.
"FUN! I thought I was gonna die! Besides that, they didn't even make attempts to save me!" Falarda yelled.
Colphor ignored the scared marine and searched for Bartho and Tybo.
"Hey, Bartho! Tybo! Where are you guys!"
A door underneath the Back Deck, as Colphor had decided to call it, opened and the twins both answered.
"We're here."
"Could you two start cooking on a meal for six persons?"
"We're already ahead of your orders!" Tybo stated.
"We already started," Bartho finished.
"Okay then… have fun!" Colphor said.
He then turned to Petro.
"Where's your sister?" he asked.
"She went back inside as soon as she saw the marine ship. I figure she's now in the cannon storage room."
"Ah, I see… so she's safe. That' good. By the way, do you know which way the next island is?"
Petro shrugged.
"How should I know? I'm not a navigator."
"Ah, I see… so we still need a navigator, a first mate, a doctor, a musician, a sniper and a prince."
"You forgot three things," Petro reminded the captain, "a shipwright, a helmsman and a cabin boy."
"We already have those," Colphor said, "Falarda is the helmsman, I act as the shipwright and you are the cabin boy."
"WHAT! I am the helmsman!" Falarda yelled.
Petro was equally surprised.
"If you're making me a cabin boy I'd rather not join your crew at all," Petro said. He wasn't planning on staying with this idiot in the first place, but he wasn't going to be humiliated by being a cabin boy, doing the dirty, hard work.
"Don't worry," Colphor said, "you won't have to do anything… as cabin boy you can just relax and help me fighting when needed."
"That's not the definition of a cabin boy, mind you," Petro stated.
"Well, I'll change that definition then," Colphor simply said.
Petro shrugged.
"Whatever. If what you described as cabin boy is what my job will be, I'll gladly accept it."
"For the time being. I can't wait until I leave this idiot behind on his stupid boat. I've had enough of this crew already. Two freaky twins, a coward and a nuthouse as captain… and the rest of the necessary crew is missing… this journey of him is going nowhere."