Helmeppo walked stealthily darted through the corridors of his naval base that lead to the Straw Hat Pirate's cell. It was extremely early; the sun was not even out yet. He was about to do something drastic, something he probably should never even have thought of doing, but deep inside he felt it was the right thins to do.
Nico's hat covered her face while she napped in her maximum-security cell. Her large Seastone handcuffs prevented her from using her Devil Fruit powers. Tony Tony Chopper was in a cell to the far right of hers, a large Seastone neck brace on him. Without his Devil Fruit powers, he was just a blue-nosed reindeer.
"Poor Chopper…" Helmeppo whispered to himself as Chopper drank out of his water dish and ate some hay out of a barrel. Helmeppo then walked down the hall and rounded a corner and walked up a flight of stairs. He then walked down a long hall that had a large window which at the time showed the incredibly beautiful sunset. Helmeppo gazed at it for a moment, its grandeur entrancing him, but then he came back to his senses and continued down the hall. He came to the rest of the Straw Hat's cell. He opened the food slot and gazed in. Sanji was lying on his side, facing a corner. Zolo had food smeared on his face and was snoring loudly while he leaned against a wall. Usopp was talking quietly to Nami, who would nod ever so often. Sanji rolled over and noticed Helmeppo gazing at them. "What the hell do you want?" he muttered. "Food already came three hours ago…"
"Who is it, anyway?" asked Usopp as he peeked through the crack. Helmeppo quickly covered his face with a large hood and deepened his voice. "A friend…" he uttered.
"Ha, that's a good one," Usopp said sarcastically. "I haven't seen a friend outside of this cell for a long time."
"I came here to offer you a deal I'm sure you won't refuse," Helmeppo said, coughing a little because keeping up his deep voice hurt his throat. "How would you like it if I freed you all from this prison cell?"
They all stared at Helmeppo like he was some sort of disease-ridden freak. "If you were trying to cheer us up," Nami grumbled, "you sure did a hell of a job…"
Helmeppo was taken aback. "I'm serious!" he cried, his real voice slipping out from his over excitement. He coughed loudly. "I mean, I'm serious. I have the key right here." He dangled the large brass key in front of them, their eyes hungrily following it as though it was the last bit of food on Earth. "What do you want us to do…?" Nami finally asked.
"All you have to do," Helmeppo said, "is help me find your captain, Monkey D. Luffy. Reports of sightings of a rubber man, along with a few other pirates, were sent to us from Windcurl Island."
"Are…are you serious…?" Usopp stuttered, barely believing what he was hearing.
"I wouldn't lie about this, believe me."
There was a long silence before Sanji said, "Why do you want Luffy? Just to put him in a cell with the rest of us, right?"
"Yeah, good point." Usopp chimed in.
"No, it's not like that." Helmeppo said reassuringly. "You see, ever since Luffy was 'killed' ten years ago, Commodore Koby hasn't been the same. I knew who he was before then, and I wish to see him smile like he used to, let alone smile altogether…"
Zolo woke up all of a sudden and eyed Helmeppo mysteriously, as though to see through his large hood, but then looked away. "I say we go with him." He finally mumbled.
The cloaked and hooded Helmeppo, followed by Zolo, Sanji, Usopp, Nami, Chopper, and Nico, silently walked down the hallways that lead to the uniform room. Once they reached it, Helmeppo dressed them all up in Navy uniforms and hid their real clothes in a large sack Helmeppo carried on his back. Chopper had to stay in his Heavy Boost form for the naval uniforms were too big for him if he were in Brain Boost form. When they walked past other Navy officers, all but Helmeppo would try to cover their faces as best as they could without looking suspicious.
"Hey," Chopper said as they walked up a long flight of stairs that lead to the entrance hall, "What are we supposed to call you?"
"Just call me…Grand Master Doragon-Man, Prince of the Deep Blue Sea!!!"
(Large sweat drops appear over everyone's head and their jaws drop to the ground. Large veins appear on Helmeppo's head) "Why are you all so surprised?! That's my real name, you fools!!!"
"…Doragon…Man...?" Nico asked, dumbfounded. (Dark lines appear over Helmeppo's head as he falls on his hands and knees, staring at the ground)
It took me hours to come up with this name…he thought to himself. I thought it was a cool name…Usopp thought to himself.
Doragon-Man regained his composure and started down the hallway again. "Let's make haste. We haven't much time until they send out other officers to handle the alert."
They all walked out the doors of the naval base and followed a long path that lead to the docks. Doragon-Man guided them to the end of the pier, to a modest-sized ship, about as big as the Merry Go. As they boarded, they noticed a number of naval officers waiting for them. The Straw Hats took a fighting stance, and Zolo grabbed Doragon-Man around the neck as though he was a hostage. "You tricked us, didn't you?" he murmured into Doragon-Man's ear.
"N-no, it's not what you think," Doragon-Man gasped. "They're on our side. I asked them to help us find Luffy, and they agreed. They work with Koby, and they know how scary he can be firsthand. They just want to help us. Now, please, let me go..!"
"How do we know your not lying?" Sanji asked.
"He's not," Usopp said. "I know a lie when I hear one."
Zolo quickly released Doragon-Man, and he rubbed his neck and coughed a bit.
"Okay, now that that's out of the way," he said, "I'd like you to meet your new crew." He motioned to a tall, rough-looking black man with bandages all over his arms and hands. "This is Walter. He was first mate on his ship, and he specializes in hand-to-hand fighting. He's also decent with a gun." Walter nodded to the Straw Hats, and they nodded back.
Doragon-Man then walked over to a little girl, no older than fifteen, that had long emerald-colored hair and large blue-rimmed glasses. "This is Felicia. She was the navigator on her old ship and she specializes in battling with the use of traps and tools. She's also a judo master." Felicia grinned, showing her pearly-white teeth, and said
"Hello Straw Hats. I've heard good things about you."
"Nice to meet you, Felicia" Nami said cheerfully as she shook Felicia's hand.
Next, Doragon-Man walked up to a short, pudgy man with a piggish face. "This is Max. He was the shipwright on his old crew, and he specializes in firearms and the use of explosives." Max tipped his hat to them and said quietly, "Pleasure to work with y'all…"
Doragon-Man walked over to the mast of the ship and tapped on it three times. A shiny golden-haired monkey peeked out from the crow's nest. It hopped out of the nest and swung down the mast and landed on Doragon-Man's shoulder. "This," Doragon-Man said, "Is Seiyuuki. He is an incredibly intelligent monkey, and he even understands English, Japanese, and Italian, and can communicate with sign language." Seiyuuki blushed bashfully. "He acts as our secret intelligence by sneaking aboard enemy ships"
Seiyuuki hopped over on Usopp's shoulder and shook his hand. He did this to everyone in the Straw Hat crew before jumping back on Doragon-Man's shoulder. "Hey, why is his fur that pure gold color?" Zolo asked.
"He ate the Rakki- Rakki- no Mi," Felicia said. "It alters reality to increase his luck probability, making him our mascot and lucky charm. When he ate the fruit, it turned him gold. Go figure…"
Nami then realized that she could feel someone's breath on her neck. She turned around, but saw nothing. Then someone tapped her on the shoulder. She whirled around to come face-to-face with a horrific lizard-gorilla demon. "Raaaaugh!!!" it bellowed loudly, causing Nami to shriek and fall backwards. The demon then grabbed its head and pulled it off to reveal and old man laughing heartily.
"Boy, you sure fell for that one!" he cried, and Nami's face reddened (large veins bulge on Nami's head and the old man becomes a laughing chibi of himself).
"This is Chuck," Doragon-Man said, patting Chuck on the shoulder, "but we all call him Chuckles because he's always pulling pranks. He was the doctor on his old crew, and he specializes in Ittōryū." Chuckles showed them his blade. Zolo inspected it carefully. It was a cleaver blade, like the ones Johnny and Yosaku carried, but it had a gold hilt and guard, and it was curved at the top into a sickle, like a khopesh. "Where did you get this blade from?" Zolo asked eagerly.
"It was made for me by a good friend, long ago…" Chuckles said.
"We should dual some time," Zolo said, grinning. "I have a feeling you're strong!"
Doragon-Man laughed. "Just make sure you don't kill each other before we find Luffy!" Doragon-Man held his arms out welcomingly. "Now that you've met your crew, we can finally set sail!"
The sun slowly rose over the horizon. Its bright rays drifted through the window of the White King's room, stirring him. A soft hand touched his head, and he slowly opened his eyes. "Sire, it's time to go." The White Queen said softly.
An hour later, everyone was ready to leave. The white King surveyed the town quickly. "Boys," he said to two Pawns who weren't doing particularly anything, "Go pick up a few barrels of rum for the voyage."
"Yessir!" They replied, saluting, and they ran off to the bar. A strong wind began to blow, and the White King grabbed his hat to keep it from blowing away. "Damn this island. The winds here are the worst!" he cried as the wind picked up.
Now the wind was blowing so hard that everyone had to take a firm grip on the ground or they would be knocked back by the wind. A couple of the weaker Pawns were grabbing onto trees so they wouldn't fly away. As the wind continued to howl around them, the White King heard a loud CRASH!!! He whirled around and saw the two Pawns he had sent into the bar fly out of the window and get carried by the wind into the ocean. "That wasn't the wind, if that's what you're thinking," The Black King said, his long cloak flailing madly in the wind. He was also, like the White King, holding down his hat with his hand. His long jet-black hair was blowing all over the place, mostly covering his face. "They were thrown out of that bar."
"By who?" The White Queen asked, her long blue hair covering her face as well.
Just then, the door of the bar burst open and an extremely short bald man ran out followed by about thirty naval officers.
"It couldn't have been that shrimp…" The White King said, pointing to the short man.
(A large throbbing vein appears on the short man's head) "Hey, you talkin' about me?!" the short man cried, hopping up and down.
"Naw, definitely not him," The White Rook #2 chimed in, and the other three nodded in agreement. "Too puny"
(Dark lines appear over the short man's head at being ignored. He then gets a large cartoon head with sharp teeth) "I AM NOT A SHRIMP!!! I AM NOT PUNY!!!"
The White King looked over at the short man, a bored look on his face. "Hey, Chiisai, quit yelling, eh?"
"HOW DARE YOU CALL ME THAT?!" The short man burst, running up to the White King angrily, his squeaky voice booming. "DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO I AM?!"
"A noisy Baka," The Black King said. (Huge throbbing veins appear on the short man's bald head. He goes completely red, and his teeth become sharp. His eyebrows twitch, and dark lines appear over his head. He is shaking madly)
"I AM THE GREAT KATSOU KATSU KEN!!!" The short man screeched, startling everyone on the island except the White King, who plugged his ears in annoyance.
"I COMMAND THIS ENTIRE ISLAND WITH AN IRON FIST!!! PEOPLE ALL AROUND THIS AREA OF THE GRAND LINE FEAR ME BECAUSE OF MY AWESOME STRENGTH!!! I-"
"How come you haven't blown away in the wind yet, Chiisai?" the White King asked. (Sweat drops appear on everyone's head and their jaws drop in surprise, including the villagers and naval officers. Ken goes back to his earlier position, completely red and shaking madly, sharp teeth and eyebrows twitching. Dark lines appear over his head and he gets large veins on his head)
"THAT IS IT"Ken tore off his naval uniform to reveal a metal chest plate. Metal extensions stretched down to his feet, covering his legs and feet in a metal coating. "NOT ONLY AM I GONNA SHOW YOU HOW I DON'T BLOW AWAY, BUT I'M ALSO GONNA SHOW YOU WHAT I DO TO INSOLENT DOGS LIKE YOU WHO TRY MY WRATH!!!"
Ken punched the metal chest plate, and a large battle suit covered Ken and also made him about 7 feet taller.
"HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW, EH?!" Ken cried, thumping his chest like a gorilla. "THIS IS THE AWESOME MIGHT OF 'IRON FOOT' KATSOU KATSU KEN!!!" Ken smashed the ground with his fists, and an enormous fissure broke open, causing a couple of the Pawns to panic. The others, however, stood their ground, not afraid at all.
"OHTRYING TO BE BRAVE, AREWE?!?!" Ken screamed, and he leaped into the air. His super armor allowed him to jump about fifteen feet into the air, and then he crashed down to Earth, shattering the ground in a 5-mile radius of him (a.k.a. the whole village but not the whole island). Still, the pirates merely jumped into the air to avoid the tremor, but were not fazed at all. Ken was furious now, and he was stomping around like a child who had just got his toys taken away.
"YOU FOOLS CANNOT WIN!!! YOU ARE NOTHING TO ME!!! I AM MERELY GOING EASY ON YOU!!!"Ken cried, so crazed now he was foaming from the mouth."I AM THE GREAT KATSOU KATSU KEN!!! I AM FEARED AROUND THESE PARTS FOR MY AWESOME STRENGTH!!! NO ONE HAS EVER BESTED ME IN BATTLE!!! I AM A MIGHTY TIGER IN THE LAND OF WOLVES!!! I AM THE STRONGEST OF ALL!!! NO OTHER POWER COMPARES TO MINE!!! I AM LIKE A GOD COMPARED TO YOU PUNY DOGS!!! YOU MUTTS!!! YOU PITIFUL-!"
"Gomu Gomu no Buretto!" The White King threw his arm forward in a rapid punch motion and it stretched forward and slammed Ken's unprotected face. Ken blasted straight out of the back of his armor and flew through the air until he was an itty bitty speck in the sky. The little speck finally hit the water, and all the other naval officers looked stunned and afraid by the White King's powers.
"You'd better go get Chiisai," the White King said, his arm snapping back into place. "I doubt a little one like him can swim well."
All the officers looked at one another, and then agreed that they should go help him. They stopped staring like a bunch of idiots and ran towards a few small navy vessels that were docked over at the port.
The White Rook 1 looked at the White King, his glass eye rolling all about, looking at all but seeing nothing. "I could have taken that pipsqueak, sire." He said.
"Chiisai was being too annoying, so he had to go…" the White King said, scratching his beard. "Simple as that."
"Well, the winds calming down, so we should leave now." The White Queen said, and sure enough, the winds were dying down to a soft breeze.
As the crewman headed back for their ship, they head a small voice in the distance. "Hey, you al forgot your rum!!!" It was the bartender, who was standing at the door of his shop with eight kegs of beer.
"Oh, can't forget that!" the White King cried, and he shot his arms forward and grabbed all eight of the barrels.
"Hey, do you have any meat as well?" the Black Bishop 2 called out, and the bartender nodded and ran into his shop. He came back later with eight large barrels full of uncooked meat. The White King grabbed all of those as well, handing the rum to the White Rook 1.
"That'll be 5,000 Belis!!!" He called out, and the White King smiled. "Sorry, but we're pirates!" And then the crew walked off to their ship, where the White Rook 2 and the Black Knight 1 were waiting.
"You all ready to set sail?" The Black King asked, his dark eyes looking the ship over.
"Yeah, the ship's fine. We're ready when you are." The White Knight, a small nerdy-looking fellow who wore too-large glasses that always slide off his nose, said.
"Alright," the White King said happily, as the White Queen pulled out her Log Post, "let's go!"
2 hours after the "Checkmates", as they called themselves, left the island Smoker and his crew docked onto Windcurl Island. Thankfully, the winds were calm enough so that it was easy to get to the island.
Smoker surveyed the island calmly while smoking three cigars. He let smoke exit his nose and ears as he exhaled. "Where are they?"
Tashigi ran up to Smoker, pushing her glasses into place. "Sir, all the villagers say that after defeating Captain Ken, the Checkmates stole some rum and meat and set sail."
Smoker grimaced in annoyance. They had gotten away. "Dammit, we lost them…"
Tashigi, noticing her Lieutenant's frustration, tried to make things positive. "D-don't worry, sir. The owner of the motel said she overheard them saying they were headed for a Moondust Tomb."
Smoker's eyes went wide in surprise. "Moondust…? What business do they have there? Haven't they heard of the curse? Unless…"
Tashigi was puzzled. "…Curse, sir…? What's going on?"
Smoker realized he looked odd, looking as though he had just seen a ghost. He looked at Tashigi and gave her a reassuring look. "Just help out the captain, and get ready to go to Moondust." Tashigi nodded, and she ran over to the group of officers who were pulling a soak and gasping Ken out of a small boat. Smoker looked of into the distance. He could see a tiny speck in the distance. Moondust Tomb. Smoker exhaled, smoke drifting from his mouth, nose and ears.
Helmeppo now wore a greatly detailed dragon mask, and "dragon scale" armor, which was basically just custom armor made to look scaly and sharp. He was quite proud of it though, and everyone believed it was true dragon scale, which made him feel even cooler.
As he looked over the horizon at the bright sun in the high sky, he pondered his predicament. Even though I'm doing a good thing right now, once we find Luffy I'm going to have to deal with all the Naval crap that's gonna come my way. I won't be surprised if I'm kicked out. Not only that, but was it right to lie to the Straw Hats and not tell them it's truly me…?
"Doragon-Man, what's up?" a voice from behind him snapped him out of his trance and almost made him fall into the ocean in surprise. He turned to see Usopp and Chopper standing behind him with smiles on their faces.
Helmeppo put on his heroic manly voice. "Oh, how's it going, boys?" he asked them, taking a heroic stance.
"Well," Chopper began, "We just came to ask you what it's like to command dragons of the sea. I mean, how do you tame them and all?"
"Well, it's not something you can do easily!" Doragon-Man said. (See how I change his name from Helmeppo to Doragon-Man, depending on what act he's putting on?) "I mean, it took me 200 years for me to master the skill, and I control the Great Eikoudan, Flame Lord of the Skies!!!" (Doragon-Man strikes a heroic pose and makes a triumphant laugh, and spotlights shine down on him while confetti flies all around and Chopper and Usopp are cheering chibis of themselves)
During all this, Zolo stands in the corner, shaking his head. Those two are completely buying this…
Zolo begins to walk away, but he bumps into Felicia, who was carrying a tray of tea and some cookies. Some of the tea spills out, and a few of the cookies fall over.
"Oh, sorry!" Zolo says quickly before walking away. As Felicia cleans up the mess, Nami walks over. "
"Sorry about that, Zolo's not one for manners." She said. "Here, I'll clean this up."
Felicia tries to persist, but Nami insists. Felicia then takes her tray and heads down to the storage room below deck. She walks to the far end to a man who is sitting in a chair.
"Here you are, sir." She says, setting the tray on the table beside him.
"Thank you, Felicia," the man says, pouring the tea into a cup and sipping it. "So, have we reached Windcurl Island yet?"
"Well, sir," Felicia said, straightening her glasses, "We intercepted a transmission from Smoker saying that they had just gotten to Windcurl, but that the pirates had already left and were now heading off to Moondust Tomb. That's our destination."
"Hmm…Moondust…" The man scratched his bearded chin. "Haven't been there in a while…But why would the Checkmates be going to Moondust? What do they want there? The place is uninhabited, there most likely is no treasure, plus, there's the curse to watch out for."
"Yes, it is quite odd, sir," Felicia said. "But we should be there soon enough. I will give you the word before and after we get to the island."
"Very good." The man said. "You had better go back up to deck, before someone comes looking for you. Take a keg of rum up, and come back in fifteen minutes to retrieve the tray."
"Yessir." Felicia said, saluting, and she grabbed a keg of rum and walked back up the stairs. The man sipped some more tea, adding some cream and sugar, and bit into a cookie. So, it must be Loup those pirates are after, he thought.
Seastone: A rare rock that cancels out the powers of Devil Fruits. The Navy made tools out of the stuff for when they capture Devil Fruit users.
Windcurl Island: A small island located in the Grand Line. It sufferes unusually strong wind storms from time to time, hence its name, and making it a difficult island to get to. Thus, the people there aren't used to pirate attacks.
Doragon: Means "dragon" in Japanese.
Seiyuuki: Means "monkey" in Japanese. Haha, not a very creative name, eh?
Rakki- Rakki- no Mii: Lucky Lucky Fruit: As I said in the story, it allows the user to alter reality to icrease luck probability. So, it's really useful in gambling and such. But it's also useful for a infultrating spy monkey who can't be seen by the enemy.
Ittōryū: Single-sword style used in the One Piece universe.
Chiisai: Means "small" or "tiny" in Japanese.
Baka: Means "idiot" in Japanese.
Katsou: Means "victory" and "manly" in Japanese.
Katsu: Means "victory" in Japanese.
Ken: Means "healthy" and "strong" in Japanese.
Gomu Gomu no Buretto: Gum Gum Bullet: A stronger version of Gum Gum Pistol.
Beli: Currency in the One Piece universe.
Eikoudan: Means "flare bomb" in Japanese.
Chibi: Means "runt" or "dwarf" in Japanese. When I say it, though, I mean when the character becomes a cartoony mini version of himself with stubs for hands and feet and a big head. I think you've probably seen it before.
Okay, thats over. Now, starting next edition I will have a small bio of some of my original characters, starting with Ken. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!