Arts of the Ocean
Disclaimer: I sadly do not own One Piece…this awesome manga belongs to the brilliant Oda sensei!!
The Mystery Artist
The girl was sitting on top of one of the roofs in the street. It was the girl that Luffy and Nami had encountered earlier, the one who had stolen the food and ran. She had extremely long black hair that was tied up in a pony-tail and was wearing a simple white T-shirt and long baggy green army pants. She wasn't looking at any of them, but rather at what seemed to be a sketchbook in her lap, which her hands that were clad in black gloves seemed to be drawing something on.
"Hey! What do you want?" Nami asked frowning. The girl didn't answer her question but rather kept on drawing on her paper.
"Black Leg Sanji, 77million Berries…" she muttered and threw a piece of paper down to them. More specifically, to Sanji, who caught it and dropped his cigarette out of surprise.
"Cyborg Franky, AKA Cutty Flam, 44million Berries…" she threw another piece of paper, this time to Franky.
"Cotton Candy Lover Tony Tony Chopper, 50 Berries…" a piece of paper came flying down towards Chopper who stared at it for a second and then said "WOW!"
"Cat Burglar Nami, 16million Berries…" Nami caught her paper.
"Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro, 120million Berries…"
"Demon Child Nico Robin, 80million…"
"And Straw Hat Monkey D. Luffy…300million Berries" the girl threw these down to the astonished crew who were staring at the pieces of paper that the girl had thrown to them. On each one was a drawing of a Straw Hat pirate. But the drawings themselves were so good, they thought they were black and white photos.
"Wow! You're awesome!" Luffy shouted, clearly amazed. The girl only smiled and twirled her pencil between her fingers.
"So, why weren't we supposed to go this way again?" Nami asked. The girl jumped off the roof and landed on her feet in front of the crew.
"I didn' say ya couldn't go, but y'all get caught by the marines that just docked there if you do go," she said.
"Marines!!" they all said together. Then again in perfect unity, "Oh no, Usopp!"
"Oh that long-nose kid that calls himself Soge-king? I went ahead and warned him to get the ship outta there…he should be docked on the other side of the island by now," the raven-hair girl said. They all looked back at her.
"Who exactly are you?" Nami asked, a slight suspicious tone in her voice.
"Oh, me? My name's Mira and I'm a resident o' this island," she answered simply.
"Hey Mira, do you know where I can get food?" Luffy asked his famous question. To their surprise, Mira's face split into a smile much similar to Luffy's or Ace's or Garp's.
"O'course! Follow me!" she said happily as she signed to them to follow her.
"Excuse me Ms. Mira, but where exactly is our ship docked?" Sanji asked her.
"I'll take you there along with Luffy's request," she answered. Immediately, Sanji's eyes turned into hearts and started saying things in the background like, "Sooooooooo cute! I love her tom-boyish style!"
Meanwhile, Luffy seemed to be getting along well with Mira. They both seemed to have similar characteristics which included, freedom-loving, ocean-loving and food-loving.
"You're goin' after One Piece too? That's so cool!" Mira was heard saying.
Luffy grinned and answered with his hands folded behind his head, "Yup! Then I'm gonna become Pirate King!"
"Well then you guys get to travel all the way to Raftel…that's so cool…I wish I could travel that far too…"
"Why don't you?" At this point, a very frustrated navigator jumped in between them, mainly to prevent Luffy from recruiting this stranger to the crew and the other reason…she herself really didn't know.
"Are we almost there Mira?" Nami asked trying to keep calm. Mira pointed straight ahead. Where she was pointing at looked like a small village with several small houses scattered around the place, and one building in what seemed to be the center of this little community that looked larger than the rest. The rest of the terrain was covered in emerald-green grass and trees that were strewn all over the place. On the opposite side from where they were standing, was the coast line with a sandy white beach spread out on the rim of it. To either side of the resort-like shore were cliffs that weren't that high but high enough to hide a ship well.
"Oh yeah, and you're ship is righ' over there," she added pointing towards the right cliff. Half hiding behind the tall sea cliff was indeed the Straw Hat pirate's ship, the Thousand Sunny.
"My ship!" Franky yelled in joy as he encountered his masterpiece, safe and sound once more. The seven pirates and Mira walked over towards the large ship that bared the Jolly Roger wearing a straw hat.
"Oooooi! Usopp!" Luffy yelled towards the deck. Immediately, the long-nose sharpshooter sprinted to the side of the deck.
"WHAT DID I TELL YOU??? THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU LEAVE ME BY MYSELF TO GUARD THE SHIP!!!!" Usopp yelled back, looking as though he had seen a ghost. "NAMI!!! THIS IS YOUR FAULT!!!"
Nami only shrugged and said, "Sorry,"
"Oioi…'sorry'…" Usopp only muttered to himself, hanging his head. "…I thought this was the end of my life…"
"Ya okay Soge-king?" Mira asked so that he could hear.
"Yeah…thanks back there…so who are you by the way…?" he asked curiously.
Mira only shook her head and said, "I'll tell y'all everythin'…but first follow me." And with that, she started walking over towards the village.
"What about the ship?" the pirates asked. Mira smiled.
"Ya don't have to worry 'bout that," then she added, "The marines won't be commin' from this dock any time soon." So, without any further questioning, they followed the raven-hair artist into the village after Usopp had disembarked from the ship.
"Is this your village?" Robin asked Mira.
The artist smiled again and said, "Guess y' could say that."
The Straw Hats confirmed two things while walking through the village. The first thing was that this was indeed Mira's home and the second was that Mira was liked by everyone in the village. As they walked down the small roads past houses, people would stop to greet the girl or even start up a conversation with her. No one seemed to be suspicious of the eight pirates that were following her. Instead, they greeted them like they were long-lost friends!
"Sorry 'bout that guys," Mira apologized after having a rather long conversation with one of the villagers.
"Mirrrrrrra, I'm hungry!" Luffy whined holding his stomach.
"Don' worry Luffy, y' can get food at that place straight ahead," she said pointing towards the largest building in the small village. And like a bullet, Luffy was off! Mira started to laugh at his reaction and then followed in a jog saying, "C'mon!" to the rest of the crew. A vain in her temple twitching for some strange reason, Nami led the rest of the group to the building.
"Come on!" Nami growled to the others, marching off after Mira and Luffy. Seeing Nami's reaction, a certain archaeologist smiled and a swordsman grinned.
The inside of the building looked something like a mix between a restaurant and a bar. It was a very clean place, furnished with dark wood, and a large fireplace on one of the walls, opposite from the entrance. To the right of the main large doors, was a tall bar counter with tall wooden stools and behind this counter was one middle-aged bartender who was wiping glasses with a clean cloth. In the middle of the wide room were small round tables and chairs. It was a place that made you feel quite at home and it had an obvious, friendly atmosphere to it.
"Oh, hi Mira-san!" the bartender said looking up as Mira entered.
"Hi Mr. Kawara…I see you've already met one of the crew…" she said spotting Luffy sitting on one of the high stools by the tall counter, fork and knife in his hands.
The man named Mr. Kawara laughed and said, "Yeah, this kid seems to have an appetite as big as you do." Mira laughed as well.
"Yeah, as that stingy cook found out today."
"Where you stealing food again?" Mr. Kawara asked. Mira grinned and nodded.
"Yeah! I saw her too! She ran right past Nami and I when we were out shopping," Luffy said. The bartender laughed again.
"That's Mira for you," he said. At that moment, the door opened and in walked an anxious-looking navigator, followed by the rest of the crew.
"Oh and this is the rest of them," Mira told Mr. Kawara.
The man greeted them and said, "So, I hear that you're the Straw Hat pirates. Nice to meet you all." A astonished crew said, 'nice to meet you too," while wondering why this man, and these people living in this village were not scared of them at all but instead treated them like friends.
"Please tell us about this island…and this village," Robin first asked as the Straw Hats sat down around two of the round tables. After they had all introduced themselves to the bartender and the other people in the building, Mr. Kawara had made up a meal for them of which they were now in the middle of consuming. (That is, a certain captain was consuming).
"Well, the first part o' the island that y' were shoppin' at doesn't have anything special 'bout it. It's just an area in the norm. But this village is a different story," at this moment, she paused and stared outside the window for a second. "The marines won' come here 'cause everyone it the village hates them."
"Why's that?" Sanji asked. Mira sighed.
"Every single person living in this village have lost something or someone 'cause of the World Government and that causes 'em to be hostile towards them."
"But couldn't the marines dock here anyways?" Robin asked. Mira tilted her head to the side a little.
"Well…they could…legally…but they get chased out every time they try…"
"By who?" Mira grinned.
"Oh, there are…people capable of that…"
"Wirree? (Really)?!" a voice came from Luffy who had his mouth stuffed with food at the moment, but swallowed it in one gulp when he noticed that his words didn't make any sense.
"Who are they? Are they strong?" he asked excitedly like a little kid. Mira continued to smile.
"Oh, they're strong alrigh'. But I can' tell you who they are."
"Final question," Nami said in an interrogating manner, "Why did you help us back there?"
"I thought it would be obvious," Mira started, "This is a government-hating Island…this whole village an' I are thankful for what y'all did back at Enies Lobby y' know. We welcome any pirate or anyone else that's had the guts to go against the World Government, especially like that." Nami still didn't seem to be satisfied with that answer, nor did Zoro.
"Hé Mira, did you hear about that?" Luffy asked.
Mira raised an eyebrow, "O'course, every single person on this earth heard about that," she said.
"Yeah and it was cool 'cause I fought this pigeon guy…"
"Pigeon guy?"
"Yeah, he was a pigeon guy that turned into a cat…"
"???"
"He's talking about Rob Lucci," Robin confirmed for the very confused Mira.
"Oh…"
Luffy went on talking about the pigeon guy who turned into a cat and eventually his story was tied together with the others from the rest of the crew members to complete the story. Mira sat there listening carefully and interestedly. However, this time of adventure story telling didn't last too long as something or more specifically, someone disrupted them.
"Mira-san, Mira-san!" a little girl around the age of ten came running into the building calling for Mira. They all looked up to see what the little girl wanted.
"What's wrong Haru?" Mira asked. Haru had to catch her breath first before she could continue.
"Mira-san, I came running from the other town to tell you that the marines are heading this way! And they're looking for the Straw Hat pirates!" Immediately, Mira stood up and walked over to Mr. Kawara. He had heard the news too and he quickly handed Mira a key. The artist took it and walked over to the fireplace.
"Get over here guys!" she said to the pirates. They too, quickly stood up and walked to where Mira was. Mira then was fumbling around the brick mantel of the fireplace. One of the bricks proved to not really be a brick as it opened like a small door and inside this was a key hole. Mira inserted the key and turned it. To the Straw Hat's surprise, the inside of the fireplace shifted to reveal a secret passage or a room.
"Hurry and get it and don't come out 'til I say its okay," Mira ordered. The eight pirates obeyed and hurriedly climbed into the small dark room. Once they had all got in, Mira closed the door (fireplace) again and locked it and put the fake brick back into place. Then she calmly sat down at the high counter and ordered coffee from Mr. Kawara.
About ten minuets later three marines walked in. The people in the bar continued to do what they were doing and totally ignored them. The three very unwelcome newcomers walked over to the counter where the bartender was putting dishes away and Mira was sitting and drinking a cup of coffee.
"Excuse me sir," one of the marines said to Mr. Kawara, "We have had news that Straw Hat Luffy and his crew have disembarked on this island and we were wondering if anyone in this village has seen…"
"No one's seen anyone," Mr. Kawara said a little harshly. Mira continued to sip her drink, pretending to be oblivious to what was going on next to her.
Meanwhile…
"Ow! That's my foot!"
"Sorry…"
"Shut up or they'll hear us!"
The Straw Hats were having an interesting time hiding in the secret room behind the fireplace. It was very dark and cramped and they were having a hard time trying not to step on each other's feet. They were trying to keep as quiet as possible, but if your captain's name was Monkey D. Luffy and you were apart of his crew, the words 'quiet' or 'calm' or 'careful' was very unlikely to be in your vocabulary.
"Ouch! My nose!" Usopp's voice said painfully. "Sanji! You broke my nose again!"
"Aaaaa, we need a doctor! Doctor! Doctor! …oh no wait, I'm the doctor!" Chopper said.
"I'm not Sanji!" Franky's voice came.
"Robin-chwan, Nami-swan! Are you okay?"
Franky continued, "See, that's Sanji!"
"I don't care!" Usopp almost yelled.
"Ow," a soft exclamation came from Robin.
"Oh sorry about that," Zoro said, realizing that he had just bumped right into her.
"Marimo! Get away from Robin-chan!" Sanji's voice came. And of course, just as they always did in critical times, they started fighting.
"Shut the heck up you two! They'll find us!" Nami's voice joined the confusion as she somehow miraculously managed to find the cook and swordsman in the dark and give them the beatings of their lives.
"Luffy? Where are you?" Nami said, realizing that she hadn't heard anything from her captain yet. She looked around and saw Luffy staring at something through a small crack in the wall were there was light coming in from. Nami walked over to him, curious.
"What's wrong Luffy? Have they left yet?"
"No," he answered slowly, "Hey, can people float?" Three question marks appeared over Nami's head, until she joined Luffy in watching what he was. Her jaw dropped so low, it almost hit the ground.
Back in the main room…
The three marines had not given up in trying to ask people about the Straw Hat. However, no one replied to their questions but instead completely ignored them.
"That's it! We know that the Straw Hat's came to this island and that they're here somewhere! If you don't tell us where they are, we will report this matter to the government," the marine who seemed to be the head of the group said. This statement resulted in death glares from every single person in the building with the exception of Mira who was finishing off her drink calmly and coolly as if nothing was going on. Then finally when after she had taken her last sip, she spoke.
"If I were you, I'd be headn' out that door right 'bout now." The head of the three turned to her.
"Why would that be Miss?" he asked. Mira paused, staring down at the counter. Then all of the sudden, something very strange happened. The man who had been speaking suddenly looked as if he couldn't move his body. Then the next second, he was lifted off the ground, unable to move but up.
"That would be 'cause you're really gettin' on my nerves," Mira finished, still in her cool voice, not even looking at the marine and his comrades and the expressions on their faces.
The Straw Hats, seven of them assembled by the crack in the wall to see what was going on, and Robin who was using her Devil Fruit powers, all stared at the scene in front of them.
A small mischievous smile spread on Mira's lips.
What's up with Nami???
And what's up with the last little bit???
To answer Dragonzair's question, I want to say that this story takes place after Thriller Bark but unfortunately for me, Luffy might recruit more people to the scene so I'm not specifying anything.
Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed on the last chapter.
I appreciate it a lot…so please review this chapter too!!