5 Reviews! YAY! So I know that's probably not a lot but for my first fic I feel really good about this. Plus they were all good reviews so here's the next chapter hope yawl like it! Yay! Though I did mean to have it up earlier but it's ok because I made it up by making this chapter lots longer than the last! So I hope you guys like this chapter lots. PLZ REVIEW!
Chapter Two: First Impressions
Luffy and Chopper fidgeted nervously as they anxiously awaited Reiko's transformation. She smirked as she watched their slight movements of desperation, her predatory instincts taking effect.
"Ok, here it goes. First I'm just going to turn into a wolf," she said watching Luffy, Chopper, and Brook; who had just sat down to observe.
A toothy grin spread across her face as red-brown fur grew across her body, taking the place of her clothes. She dropped down to all fours and her vision turned grey. She barked playfully, making Brook tremble with fear, Luffy giggle, and Chopper come up to pet her tenderly.
"You're just like me!" he said turning from his regular form to his reindeer form, to his humanoid form, and then back to his normal form.
"Yeah, kinda," she said, still in wolf form making Brook jump. "Now here's my werewolf form."
She turned back to normal and then closed her eyes, needing to focus since it was daylight. Her brownish fur sprouted again but this time, instead of dropping to all fours, she grew a foot and a half taller, her muscles got bigger and stronger, her feet turned into paws and her legs becoming more animalistic. Her hands grew larger with padding on her paws. Her nails became claws and her teeth fangs. Her ears became pointed and more alert, and her tail thicker and longer. Her face began to take a muzzle-like form and they could hear the bottoms of her pants ripping and the top of her baggy white blouse stretching. She opened her eyes, which glowed deep yellow, as a deep grumble escaped her throat. Brook and Chopper were cowering behind Luffy, who was staring in awe.
"Sorry Chopper, Brook. I didn't mean to scare you. There's no need to be worried, I've got full control of myself in this form," she said grinning wildly, exposing all her sharp and large teeth. This only made Chopper and Brook quiver more rapidly. She thought for a moment and said. "Really there's nothing to be afraid of, this is just like your humanoid form Chopper. And you're a living skeleton, Brook. So I don't know why you would need to be scared. I wasn't scared of you guys when we met."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," said Chopper coming out from behind Luffy, who was now watching Reiko's tail wag with much enjoyment.
Chopper was now morphed into his humanoid form and stood in front of Reiko smiling. She gave him a toothy grin again and put her clawed hand out towards him. He took it in his own and tightly squeezed as a mark of their new found friendship.
Brook then came out too and looked at Reiko carefully and said, "When you turned into a wolf your clothes became a part of you, but when you turn into this form they don't."
"Yeah, unlike Chopper, my clothes don't change form with my body. When I turn into a wolf they just turn into fur but for some reason they don't in this form. That's why I don't wear shoes, and my clothes are kinda baggy."
"Wow! You're so weird," said Luffy finally paying attention to her words instead of her features.
"You're one to talk," Reiko muttered morphing back into her normal form.
"So you can fight in that werewolf form plus you ate a devil fruit?" he asked as if he had heard nothing that had come out of her mouth.
"Yup. But I still need to work on my shadow powers. I really don't have them mastered too much. I need a lot of focus to make it solid, but I can handle it for the most part, unless, of course, I use all of my shadow at once. Like when I make the floating platform that I showed you guys before." She quickly made it once more and floated around the crews heads. "If I were to get hit or distracted, or if something unexpected were to touch my shadow or myself then I would probably loose focus and my shadow would go back to normal, meaning that I would fall to the ground," she stated matter-of-factly.
"Ooohh! You mean like this?" asked Luffy, immediately grabbing the dark platform.
"Yeah Luffy, just like that, wait… NO!" she said realizing she was hovering over the railing.
Her shadow immediately disappeared and she fell overboard, dropping into the ocean below.
"Woops," said Luffy looking over board at the frantic Reiko just as she dropped into the water. The all the heard the loud splash which triggered Chopper and Brook to jump after her. But strong hands grabbed them by the collar and flung them back onto the deck. Zoro shoved his swords into Luffy's hands and dived into the water after Reiko.
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Reiko sunk like a stone to the bottom of the sea. Her hands covered her mouth as she tried not to let any more air escape her lungs, but she was sinking fast and her vision was darkening around the edges. She tried to struggle but her body made no movement what so ever, refusing every command her mind could give. She thought she saw something coming towards her. It was the last image in her mind before blacking out.
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Zoro swarm quickly to reach Reiko's sinking body. He managed to grab on to her wrist and he pulled her closer to him. He threw one of her arms around his neck and his arm then wrapped itself around her waist. He swam up to the surface with as much speed and power he could manage. His head burst out of the water and he took a grateful gulp of air in. Reiko coughed up some water over his shoulder but remained unconscious.
"Oi, Luffy! Throw me a rope!" he called. A long rope came tumbling down the side of the Thousand Sunny. Zoro grabbed on, readjusted his grip on Reiko and said, "Pull me up moron! I can't climb up with her on my back!"
Luffy did as Zoro said and soon they were on the ship. Zoro dropped Reiko on the ground and then stepped away. He could hear Chopper running around frantically calling for a doctor.
"You're the doctor you idiot," Zoro said panting, and Chopper stopped dead in his tracks.
"Oh yeah, I am." He then quickly ran up to Reiko and checked her vitals. He preformed a quick CPR and got the water out of her lungs. She coughed several times and water spurted out of her mouth.
Zoro watched distantly as he took off his shirt to dry it and buckled his katana back to his haramaki.
Reiko opened her eyes and coughed again. She smiled gently and said, "Wow. That was a close one." She then sat up and saw Zoro's green wet hair. He was facing away from her. "Thanks Zoro," she called.
"Don't mention it," he muttered walking back to his weights. That's when Reiko saw the long scar that stretched from his left shoulder to his right hip. It shocked her to see him with such a deadly scar. The wound must have been extremely severe. When Zoro was far enough away that he wouldn't hear her, she turned to face Chopper and asked, "Hey Chopper, do you know where Zoro got that nasty scar?"
Chopper blinked at her in slight confusion before saying, "Uh yeah. He got it before I joined the crew. He was fighting with Mihawk and lost, hence getting that awful scar. I've been told that he almost died in the fight and that the wound itself almost killed him later on."
"He fought the Shichibukai Hawkeye Mihawk! Why would he do something so stupid? Hawkeye is the world's greatest swordsman."
"For that reason exactly," said Sanji from behind them. Reiko and Chopper looked up at him. "His dream is to be the world's greatest swordsman and to do that he's got to beat Mihawk. He's even willing to die for his own ambition, that idiot. Like most of the crew, he'll do almost everything to accomplish his dream. Though I think he and Luffy will risk it all for their goals."
"Oh wow. So what's your ambition then, Sanji?" she asked.
"Mine? Well it's to find the All Blue. It's the ocean that has every single type of fish in it. It's every cooks dream, especially mine."
"Cool."
"Well either way I didn't mean to interrupt you guys. I just came over here to tell you that lunch is ready. You should probably hurry up before Luffy eats it all. Though I'll kick Luffy's ass if he touches your food," Sanji said smoothly.
Reiko giggled as Chopper ran to the dining room. She noticed that she and Sanji were the only ones on deck. She stood up with Sanji's gracious help, wrung some water out of her shirt and walked into the dining room.
"Your hair is wet, Reiko-chan. What happened?" he asked tenderly.
"Oh, I just fell off the ship but Zoro sav-I mean, got me, so I was fine," she said.
"Well I'm glad you're ok," he said not noticing her stutter in the sentence before.
They stepped into the dinning hall and Reiko wasn't surprised to see food flying and rubber arms stretching to unimaginable lengths to get food. Sanji walked her in and she sat between Robin and Brook. Luffy was sitting at the head of the table with Usopp and Chopper at each of his sides. Beside Usopp sat Brook. Then Zoro sat beside him and finally Sanji was next to Zoro. Nami sat at the other end of the table, to Sanji's left. Robin sat across from Sanji, Reiko across from Zoro, Franky from Brook and Chopper from Usopp.
Reiko noticed that Nami, Sanji, and Robin's plates, as well as her own, had not been touched by Luffy's greedy hands. Every other plate was missing food from several places. She looked at all of the men's reaction to Luffy's greediness. Zoro was scowling at him. Usopp was strangling him, with Chopper smacking his bulging stomach begging for his meet back. Franky was standing and yelling at him. Brook didn't seem to mind as he didn't eat as much as the others. Luffy didn't take note of the other's reaction as he continued to shove food down his throat, even with Usopp strangling him he was still able to continue to eat.
He did notice, however, that everyone had sat down. A grin spread across his face and he went to grab something off of Sanji's plate, but Sanji stepped on his hand and he pulled it back in pain. Suddenly a large juicy stake on Reiko's plate caught his eye and his hand darted out to get it.
"Hey!" called Reiko as her stake was driven right towards his gaping mouth. But before it could be thrown in and devoured the solid form of Reiko's shadow appeared right in front of Luffy's face. His hand smashed into it and let go of Reiko's stake in surprise. Her shadow grabbed the stake and swiftly brought it back to her own plate. Luffy rubbed his hand for a few seconds then decided that Reiko's plate was yet another to be left alone, for the time being.
"Great idea Reiko! Chopper, use your devil fruit powers to get out meat back!" commanded Usopp.
"Right!" said Chopper morphing into his humanoid form and he began to pound on Luffy's balloon shaped belly.
Luffy wasn't paying much attention to them as he patted his stomach and said, "I'm stuffed! That was great Sanji!"
"Thanks Luffy. How about you Reiko-chan? How do you think it is?"
"It's marvelous Sanji! Probably the best food I've ever tasted in my entire life!" she said taking another bite out of her steak.
"Really? You think my food is the best! How kind Reiko-chan! You are the best too!" he said, hearts for eyes.
Zoro scowled and said, "Just because she likes your shitty cooking doesn't mean she's gonna sleep with you ero-cook."
"What did you say marimo?" asked Sanji, now standing with a foot on the table and frowning at Zoro.
"Did I hurt your feelings curly brow?" he asked irritated and now standing himself, his hand placed on his katana ready to attack.
"I'll kick your ass, you shitty swordsman!"
"You can try dartboard!"
With that both men lunged at each other, Zoro unsheathing two of his katana and using the flat of the sword against Sanji, and Sanji prepared to block and counter attack with his feet.
Nami lifted up her hands and said, "Come on guys? Is this really necessary?" hopping to stop them but to no avail.
She turned around to Luffy, Chopper, Usopp, and Franky to ask for their help, only to see both Franky and Chopper pounding down on Luffy's bloated stomach, with Usopp standing on the table cheering them on. Luffy looked as if he were going to be sick and Nami instantly yelled at them.
"You idiots! Do you want him to puke?!" she asked sarcastically.
"Yes," said Usopp plainly.
Nami came up behind him and hit him on the back of the head making him fall over. Reiko couldn't help but laugh.
"If he throws it up you still can't eat it! So quit it!" she yelled and Chopper and Franky stopped.
"Here, you guys can have my meat. I'm full anyways. That was delicious Sanji, tanks for everything," said Reiko handing her plate over to Usopp.
Sanji momentarily stopped fighting to say, "You're sooooo welcome Reiko-chan!"
Zoro hit him on the back of the head with the hilt of his katana and they started fighting again. Reiko smiled and heard Robin slightly laugh. She turned back to the men at the table nodding slightly and excusing herself from the table.
Usopp began to cut the meat and Chopper turned back to normal.
"Yay!" he said, awaiting more meat. But as Usopp was about to give everyone their share of meat, Luffy's mouth clamped onto the plate and Usopp's hands. Franky, Chopper, and Usopp all screamed in unison, though for slightly different reasons. Luffy spat out the empty plate and Usopp's hands.
Reiko walked out as they strangled Luffy once more. She could hear Usopp ranting angrily.
"I thought you said you were full you big liar!"
"It just smelled so good I couldn't help myself. Hey Sanji can you make some more meat?"
"What are you talking about you ate all the meat you bastard!" cried Usopp.
She could still hear them yelling all the way from the deck. She walked up to the mast and made her shadow become a solid platform attached to the mast. She jumped onto it and raised herself higher so she was a good fifteen feet off the ground. Then she made her shadow longer so she could lay on it. She took a deep breath and sighed.
I didn't think I'd ever feel this comfortable on a pirate crew. They're all so strange I practically fit in perfectly. But it's not gonna stay this great forever. Pretty soon this is all going to hell. She sighed again. Damn it! What am I going to do? I have to do anything and everything to accomplish my goals and save my clan. Maybe if I'm really lucky I won't loose everything.
She was startled and almost fell off of her shadow when Luffy ran out onto the deck screaming and laughing. Usopp was chasing him with his giant 'Usopp Hammer'. Chopper also came out trying to stop Usopp from attacking Luffy, knowing one of them would get hurt. Robin followed in coming out and sat in her chair from before and began reading. Then Zoro stormed out onto the deck and, not noticing Reiko, went over to the mast and sat down, crossed his arms behind his head and began to snore as he drifted off into sleep.
Reiko flipped so that she was lying on her belly, head resting on her arms, as she observed her new crewmates. She found herself watching only Zoro again. The sounds of his soft snores reaching her sensitive ears and making her own body relax. She dreamily stared at his slumped body. She observed him carefully and noted that his three katana were nestled perfectly into his strong frame and his three earrings jingled with the wind.
Her mind was in such a daze that she wasn't prepared for the sudden shake the ship gave, and she fell right off her shadow and went head first into Zoro's stomach. When her head collided with him, his eyes shot open and a roaring scream burst from his mouth. She rolled off of him, rubbing her head in pain and looked up. Zoro was standing, clutching his stomach with one hand, a mean glare plastered on his face.
"S-sorry Zoro. I really didn't mean it," she muttered.
He angrily looked away but before he could take more than five steps, his chest heaved and trembled as he went through a coughing fit. It lasted only a few seconds and he then walked into the men's quarters, pressing a hand up against his pained stomach.
Reiko wasn't the only one surprised by the swordsman's behavior. Robin had closed her book and was now looking at the door, vague worry spread on her face. She noticed that the scream that had erupted from Zoro's chest when Reiko had fallen on him, had not been in his usual annoyed tone. In fact it had been a scream of pure pain and agony. But she had seen him take much worse damage without so much as a grunt as response. She figured his injuries from Thriller Bark and his fight with Bartholomew Kuma must not have completely healed yet. Reiko saw this concern in Robin and went up to her.
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Zoro barged into the bathroom and ran to one of the toilets. He kneeled over it and vomited the contents of his stomach into the porcelain bowl. Blood accompanied his lunch. He finished a few moments later, a cold sweat slathered across his brow. He leaned his head on his arm, which rested on the toilet edge. He coughed a couple of times, blood spurting out of his mouth, and then stood.
"Damn it," he muttered as he whipped the blood off his lips with the back of his hand. He flushed and then walked to the sink and mirror. He stared at his paled reflection, the dark rings under his eyes taunting him.
What the hell is wrong with me? he asked himself. That fall really shouldn't have hurt as much as it did. It's obvious my injuries still haven't healed but I didn't think I was this out of it. Damn, this is going to make things really difficult if that small hit hurt that bad.
He stood straight and felt a bit woozy but the dizziness soon passed and he walked back out to the deck.
x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x
Robin looked up at Reiko standing beside her. She smiled kindly and said, "Hello werewolf-san. Do you need something?"
"Yeah," Reiko said sitting down on the grass of the deck. "It's about Zoro. I feel like he doesn't like me too much."
"You shouldn't worry. Swordsman-san cares about all of his Nakama, even if he doesn't show it."
"I know, though technically I'm not actually his Nakama. More like someone who's invading his space."
"Well you did fall on him twice," Robin said laughing lightly.
Reiko smiled. "That's not my fault. Both times were accidents," Reiko said happily.
Robin noticed that Reiko still seemed worried about something.
"When I first joined the crew, I was an enemy to the team. Swordsman-san was the only one who didn't approve of me joining the crew. It took a little bit but after a while he began to see me as Nakama. And when I was going to die, he and the rest of the crew risked their lives without a second thought to save me. I know it seems like he doesn't care, but he really is someone you can trust with your life. Just give him some time."
Reiko's face brightened with hope.
"Yeah, I guess I should start by apologizing to him."
"That sounds like a very good idea," said Robin smiling sweetly.
Suddenly Reiko remembered something else she wanted to ask. "Hey Robin, do you know where Nami is? I kinda wanted to ask her something."
"Of course, I believe Navigator-san is in her room. You know where that is right?"
"Yeah. Yesterday she showed me around a bit before lending me some clothes."
"Alright."
"Thanks Robin."
"You're very welcome," said Robin, smiling at Reiko.
Reiko then went on to the women's quarters. She carefully knocked on the door, and when she heard Nami's voice call out to her saying she could pass she quietly opened the door and stepped in.
"Oh, hi Reiko," said Nami, a little surprised to see her new companion coming to see her. It was usually Luffy who interrupted her mapping to ask where they were headed or how long it would be until the next island. Unfortunately enough for her, Reiko had the same questions.
"Hey Nami. I was wondering if you could tell me where we're going. I was just curious is all."
"Oh. Well actually we're going to an island called Mori Island, literally meaning Forest Island. It's where the log pose is pointing at so that's where we're headed. It's got a small down we can dock at and grab supplies until the log pose sets. At this pace we should be there in a couple of days," said Nami looking down to Buggy's map of the grand line.
"Okay great! I guess that's where we'll part and all so I don't bug you guys anymore."
"You know you don't have to leave if you don't want you. Luffy's offer for you to join the crew still stands and you've helped us out already," said Nami
"I don't know…"
"Well at least think about it. I know Luffy is going to hassle you about it. He doesn't like taking no as an answer," She said, laughing slightly.
"Yeah I will," Reiko replied happily, then she saw Zoro walk back onto the deck through the small window. "Well I'll catch up to you later alright Nami?"
"Uh sure," she said, while Reiko ran out of the room.
She jumped off of the railing and onto her feet, quickly darting to him. As Reiko got closer to Zoro she noticed he was slightly paler than before, and her quick jog turned into a cautious walk.
"Zoro?" she called as she approached him.
"Hm?" He turned around and saw her coming at him so he stopped. She was relieved that he didn't avoid her. "Yeah?" he asked.
"Um… I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for falling on you. I didn't mean to hurt you all that bad. Hell I didn't mean to hurt you at all. It was sorta an accident."
He smirked and said, "It didn't hurt, I'm fine."
Her eyes narrowed into suspicious slits. "Oh, okay. Well then I'm glad you feel better," she said smacking him on the back roughly.
His teeth clenched in pain and his eyes slightly widened. She saw the small gestures and wondered just how bad he was hurt.
"See, I'm fine," he muttered slightly out of breath, teeth still clenched shut.
"You always this pale then?"
"You're just seeing things."
She slightly frowned but walked beside him on his way to the mast. But a sudden chill down her back stopped her dead in her tracks. Zoro turned around with a raised brow.
"Something wrong?"
She didn't answer but her nose cringed, her ears perked to attention, and her tail straightened stiffly.
"Reiko, you okay?" he asked again.
She opened her mouth to answer him, but suddenly an enormous cannonball landed beside the ship, rocking it violently. Reiko and Zoro fell over. She landed in his arms and smiled at him, slightly blushing.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it," he said kindly, unlike he had when he saved her from the ocean.
Her moment of joy was cut short as the sickly smell of gunpowder, iron and blood returned to her sensitive nose.
"MARINES!" she called standing up.
But it was too late. They were surrounded by three marine galleons with all the cannons pointed at them…..
OK so that's the chapter. I hope you guys like it and I'm trying super hard to get chapter three up by the weekend (it's probably gonna be just as long as this one). Not a lot of violence in this chapter as you can see, but next chapter will be chock full of it! So YAY VIOLENCE! Hope you guys liked it and had a laugh or two while reading, plz review.
