A/N: This second chapter took a little longer. My apologies if any of them seem a bit OOC. I tried my best to make it work. This was a bit fun to write, though it is a little short. Thank you for the favs-reviews are welcome as well, LOL. Anyway, quit reading my ramblings and read the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own this wonderful thing known as One Piece. That genius belongs solely to Eiichiro Oda. ^_^
Luffy's head bowed, slightly, one hand moving to press his strawhat a little tighter onto his head. He couldn't follow every detail of what had happened, but he did know something.
The mystery man had done something very bad.
The mystery man had caused trouble.
The mystery man had hurt his nakama.
Slowly fisting one hand in the other, he cracked his knuckles. Deliberately.
He heard the ripple of water, the man rising up from where Sanji and Zoro had knocked him. Fury filled him from the very soles of his feet to the tips of his fingernails. He channeled it into one purposeful punch. "Gomu gomu no pistol!"
The punch connected quite solidly.
An audible grunt was heard, followed by a curse as the man was flung back against the water. He didn't simply fall though, instead, a pale streak of blue energy fanned out in his wake, rocking the ship viciously from side to side.
"Nami!" Luffy shouted to her, bracing himself and readying another punch. There was pure fury in his eyes. There was no way he was going to let this villain get the better of him.
Beside Chopper, the little girl stirred faintly. It was a slight quiver of her fingertips, then a trembling shudder that came over her entire body. Her head lolled to the side and she coughed up globs of sticky blueness, tinged with purple the moment the strange substance came in contact with the air.
Another shudder passed through her and her eyelids fluttered open, touches of pink returning to her face. Chopper shielded her in Guard Point. "Nami!" He squeaked.
"Lightning Tempo!" Nami dodged in front of him and the girl, providing a brief shield with large, jagged flashes of lightning. She providing backup for Luffy and protection for the others in the only way that she was capable.
The fight continuing on before them was a wild mesh of near insanity. Luffy wasn't holding back and neither was the winged villain. Their blows were fairly equal, with the strange blue energy emanating from the stranger—the only reason his attacks seemed to hurt the strawhat boy.
The Thousand Sunny's deck had become a strange middleground. All injured members were moved to one side of the deck, where Chopper frantically tried to tend to them. He was torn between the confusion and his duty as he realized that Robin had two broken arms and Usopp was bleeding from the side of his head.
The confusion part settled in when Chopper finally realized why the Sniper was so tongue-tied. "Usopp!" He screeched. "Your hands!"
Usopp couldn't answer. He was holding up two tanned, smooth stumps where his hands once were. There was pure fear and terror in his eyes, as all traces of courage left him. He shuddered violently, beginning to rock back and forth.
"Oi, Usopp! Get ahold of yourself!" The mini-Zoro growled up at him, attempting to scurry back and away from the giant trembling figure.
Sanji was glowering from his spot beside Robin, his face an indescribable mask. Franky and Brook had taken up flanking positions before their weary group, backing up Nami who was struggling to create dark clouds and lightening to fortify Luffy's rubber attacks.
"Ow." There was a plaintive wail from the midst of their little circle.
Chopper whirled around to see their youngest patient sitting up, a huge pout on her face and fat tears streaming down her cheeks. She sniffled loudly before her mouth opened a loud, shrieking wail made them all wince.
The unearthly wail made the winged man flinch.
Luffy took advantage of that moment to snap his hands forcefully into the man's gut with a grunt of "Gomu-Gomu no bazooka!" The fire inside of him was still simmering fiercely. He had to beat this man. Then he had to make him turn Sanji and Zoro back to normal.
Then he'd make him fix whatever else had gone wrong.
Usopp's blubbering, Chopper's shrill shouts and Nami's yells had formed a symphony in the midst of the makeshift battlefield. Luffy was trying not to listen to it. He was trying to concentrate. It was much harder than he was willing to admit.
His rubber bazooka hit the winged man clearly in the stomach, effectively knocking the wind out of him. He was flung backwards and shooting towards the water again, when the trademark flare of sky-blue energy shot out beneath him and provided a make-shift surfboard, allowing him to skim across the water's surface.
Luffy's hands snapped back to his sides as he pressed his hat tighter onto his head. He needed to end this soon. He could feel his annoyance bubbling beneath the surface and suddenly, the new flash of anger was all he needed to wind up again.
Backing up a few steps, he leaned backward and then snapped forward, using the force to throw his arms outward again. "Gomu-Gomu no Gatling gun!"
The flurry of fists exploded in the air, the winged man beginning to dodge them on his way back towards the Thousand Sunny. He was twisting his body like a thread, avoiding the powerful punches as he skimmed over the water's surface, aided by the flips of sky blue energy.
That's when Luffy felt the small hands on his left leg. They were cold and very small, but purposeful and deliberate as they closed around his left shin. He snuck a glance downward to see the little girl they'd rescued. She was staring up at him with wide, golden-amber eyes and two chocolate brown cat-ears sticking out of her head. Her nose twitched for a moment and then she spoke.
"Hit him to the left of his shoulder, just between his neck." Her nose wrinkled. "It's his weak point."
His hands snapped back to his sides again and Luffy stared down at her, his focus temporarily disrupted. "Eh? Really?"
Her head whipped around to look towards the winged man's steady approach. "Now!" She yelped. "Do it now!" Her hands scrabbled at his leg and she hugged it tightly. "I'll help you."
"Ehhh?" Luffy couldn't keep the exclamation in. But as he was about to ask how, a pale orange energy began to envelope her. Before he could protest, the pale orangeness grew until it also covered him from head to toe in a strange, tingly feeling.
"Now!" She buried her face in the hem of his shorts. "Hurry. I can't do this for-" She coughed and the pale orange energy flared to a rich, vibrant red.
Luffy didn't let his brain short-circuit. He threw his arms forward with all the force that he could muster. His aim was close and he nailed the given point between the man's left shoulder and neck.
The winged fellow gave a loud cry, but then drew back, turning to the side so that his full body was no longer an obvious target. His face had darkened by several shades of grey and there was nothing but a fierce blue energy that now burned even brighter up and around him, until he was nearly hidden behind the entire wall of flame.
As Luffy's hands returned, he took an awkward, clumsy step back to absorb the impact. Awkward because the little girl refused to let go of his leg, clumsy because he saw what had really happened.
The moment his hands had returned, an agonizing scream ripped through the air. Following the same pathway as his hands had, the fierce red energy shot out over the water's surface. It pierced the blue energy and slammed into the same point as Luffy's pistol punch.
Thrown off balance, the winged man writhed and screamed as the red energy slowly consumed him until the blue fire was no more. A curtain of shimmering blackness streamed down from the sky, enveloping him entirely. When it faded, the man was gone.
The little girl's hands fell limply to the deck as she flopped back on the grass, the ears disappearing and her eyes flickering to a light brown hue, the cat-eyed pupils returning to dark blue orbs. Her chest rose and fell in short, shaky breaths.
"Are you alright?' The whisper was pushed through her lips.
"Luffy!" Chopper was beside them in a moment.
"Luffy?" Nami ran to his side, she looked from the girl to him and then to Chopper's worried expression. She bit her lip. "Na, Luffy, Chopper. We need to get out of here." She began to bark at them to arrange the sails to alter their course. They'd deal with the weirdness later.
They needed to get out of here. Now.
"Not that way." The little girl coughed, one cold hand reaching out to grab Nami's ankle.
Nami bit back a squeal as she tried to pull her foot away. "W-what?"
"Sonreah." The girl's eyelids fluttered. "Go to Sonreah. They can help." She whispered a few words and Nami's eyes grew wide. "It's there." She coughed. "It's there." And then her little body went limp.
They were soon seated in the infirmary, Robin on the bed, Usopp on a chair, with Sanji and Zoro standing as far apart from each other as possible on Chopper's desk. Franky was taking care of the Thousand Sunny and Brook was keeping watch. The rest of them had filed into the infirmary with Chopper.
Sharing the bed with Robin, was the little girl who stirred from the dregs of sleep for the second time that day. She blinked open her eyes sleepily, struggling to focus on the new surroundings. She tried to sit up only to be restrained by Chopper's hooves.
"Don't sit up yet." He said, anxiously. "You've been-"
"I hurt." She said, simply. "Fix?" Then one little hand went to the side of her neck, she made a fist and then tapped the end lightly with her other hand. There was a muffled squeak as a red spark of energy leapt from the fist into the side of her neck. She clutched her throat for a few seconds, her legs scrabbling under the sheets as the red faded into a pale orange energy that shimmered over her from head to toe. A faint touch of it filtered over to Robin, a detail that was unnoticed by most except for Luffy.
It fizzled out a moment later and her hands dropped to her lap. Almost at once, the chocolate brown cat ears popped out from her head and the golden-amber cat-eyes returned, this time accompanied by a long, curling tail that joined the hands twining nervously in her lap.
"T-thank you?" It came out more of a question than a statement. Her eyes zeroed in on Luffy. "Are you alright?" Her eyes grew wide, the expression almost comical on her small, expressive face. "Did he hurt you?" She began to move again.
"W-wait!" Chopper tried to restrain her, but she shook her head impatiently.
"I am fine." A cultured lilt inserted itself in her voice and with a sudden air of importance, she drew her tail forward and up to her chest, sitting up perfectly straight, her head at a practiced angle. "Please do excuse me if I have caused you some form of inconvenience, I assure you that I am quite fine." Her eyes narrowed. "Are you a deer?"
"I'm a reindeer!" Chopper snapped.
The cat-eyes blinked calmly at him. "With a blue nose?" She leaned down until her face was directly in front of him. "How very unusual." Her face broke into a wide grin. "What's your name?" She swung her feet over the edge of the bed and began to thump them lightly on the frame.
"Who was that guy?" Nami moved to stand behind Chopper. "And what did he want with you?"
The grin wavered slightly. "I am Altessa Nerowith the third, daughter of Alcan and Illika, heir of the next guardian-apparent, wielder of both a Devil fruit and Sonrean magic." The cat-eyes blinked slowly and deliberately. "I am not human. I belong to the house of Mercia. That is what that wretched ingrate wanted with me." She wrinkled her nose. "What is your name?" She reached out and gently poked Chopper's hat. "I want to know your—I would very much like to know your name, please." The sentence was restructured, the slight lapse in tones disappearing.
Robin stirred in the bed behind her and Altessa turned at once. Her face brightened as the older woman opened her eyes, taking in the new surroundings.
"Hello, are you feeling better now?"
Blue eyes blinked in surprise as Robin tried to make her mouth work. She succeeded a moment later. "Doctor-san?"
"Robin!" He gasped, relieved, scurrying around to the other side of the bed to reach her head. He stood over her with an attentive air, shifting forms to help her sit up. "Be careful. Does it hurt? Do you need more painkillers?"
She stifled a grimace and shook her head slightly. "I am fine, Doctor-san. The others-"
"We're fine, Robin-chwan." Sanji spoke up from the desk, with a glare over his shoulder at miniature Zoro, as if daring the green-haired swordsman to contradict him. "Do not exert yourself-"
"You should have left me there." Altessa said, quietly, her eyes finally settling on the two miniature men standing on the doctor's desk. "There was no need for you to be involved. I told you to leave. You are very bad at following directions."
"Is that the thanks we get for saving you?" Zoro stomped over to the edge of the desk to glare at her. He didn't appreciate having his favors thrown back in his face—or the unintended insult of all things directional.
"That's no way to speak to a lady." Sanji elbowed him in the stomach.
Zoro grunted, blocking the strike.
Within seconds, the sound of clashing metal and grunts of efforts filled the tiny room. "Stop it you two!" Nami screeched, standing over them. She wanted to pound both of them, but thought better of it in their current forms. It could quite possibly injure them in a way she didn't want. They didn't quite deserve to die just yet, mostly because Zoro still owed her interest and Sanji was good at making desserts from Bellemere's Mikans.
"Hai, Nami-swan!" A weary Sanji retreated, his eyes flickering briefly to the pink, trademark hearts that would surround him whenever he was in the redhead's presence.
"Are we on course?" Altessa spoke again, sliding down from the bed to stand on her feet. She tested her weight, gingerly. "Nami-chan?" She tested the name in her mouth.
Nami jerked around to look at her. Her eyes narrowed. "You had best be telling the truth of this Sonreah Island."
"Sonreah Island?" Robin exclaimed.
All heads and eyes turned towards her.
"You know it, Robin?" Nami's eyebrows arched upwards in admiration. Sometimes it seemed like Robin really did know everything. "She said that she knew how to get there and gave me a set of coordination points for-"
"It is supposed to be a myth-"
"I am not a myth!" Altessa interrupted.
"Hush." Nami shushed her with one hand. "Why, what's wrong with it?"
"It is said that strange people live there in a world that is completely different than this." She made a gesture with her hand, a slight scowl when she realized that her arms were lying uselessly beside her. "It's said that things that happen there, don't happen anywhere else. There's hardly anything on it, but there is enough stories to hint that it might exist."
"It does exist!" Altessa protested. "I just-"
"There is said to be unimaginable treasure hidden within if you can find it."
"Treasure?" Nami's eyes flickered to Beli signs. "Ahh." She sighed dreamily. That was all that she needed to hear.
Robin merely smiled.
Nami frowned, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. She'd altered their course on a whim, because the girl had promised that her family would be willing to pay for her safe return. She claimed to live on the mystery island and had given the coordinates to plot a safe course onward before she'd fainted. She decided it was a good choice. "Ne, Luffy. She said there'd be a good reward for her safe return." She tried to smile. Luffy had been rather quiet for sometime and his head was bowed, his face shaded by the wide brim of his strawhat. "A-and treasure."
"No."
It was a single word and a singular command rolled into one.
"No?" Nami swallowed.
"We have to get Zoro and Sanji back to normal." His hands clenched into fists. "We have to make that-"
"The doctors on Sonreah can do that." Altessa trotted over to the desk. "I think. I can tell you for sure if you give me a minute."
All eyes and heads now turned to her.
She stood at the desk, the miniature men at eyelevel. Her lips pursed in careful thought. "It's not a heavy spell, it's about medium-strength and it can be lifted fairly easily, but I do not have the proper and necessary ingredients to return them to their original forms." She turned to face Luffy. "It is a basic curse, nothing too complicated?" There was a touch of uncertainty in her voice. "The doctors on the main Isle are experts in everything, they can easily fix something like-"
"Magic?" Chopper's eyes had grown wide.
"Of course." Altessa shrugged. "It is just as real as you and I am." Her head tilted to the side. "And I think we have something in common." Her cat-eyes twitched back and forth. "I ate the Neko Neko No Mi fruit."
Chopper brightened, understanding that change in subject.
"Wait a minute." Nami shook her head. "Luffy, if there's doctors there, then we can go to the island and get some help for them without giving up the reward and-"
"No." Luffy repeated. "That man-"
"His name is Atral." Altessa said, quietly. "And he's the lowest of scum that walks the berths of Nakhum streets. I do not know how he entered the island because he does not have permission to be on it nor anywhere near me. In fact, he should not have been using me to do what he was doing, much less to do what he was doing." She shook her head, as if to clear it. "He was trying to revive a forbidden spell, that sort of thing is bad. If the Magic Council knew, he would surely be punished in a way that-" She stopped again, nibbling on her fingernails. "This is all bad. Very bad. You should not go after him. That would only make things worse." Her head shook again. "Please, do not go after him. I will talk to my father and I am sure that he will do something to see that Atral is…taken care of. Please, you cannot-"
"Usopp." Luffy's voice was strained and his head finally lifted to show a face set in stone. "His hands." There was a biting touch of sadness in them. "I will not-"
"Luffy." Nami's panic had filtered away and now her head bowed as she looked down at the floor. Her eyes narrowed. "Magic." She scoffed, her mind whirling. Sure, there had many unexplainable things since they had entered the Grand Line, but this was certainly one of the most extraordinary ones. This time, there was no actual proof for it though—except for the little girl standing in front of them, her cherubic features contorted in an expression of pleading. Nami scowled. Maybe it was the fact that she had the same exact shade of red hair that she did—in long, beautiful ringlets that cascaded down her back in a matted clump, thanks to the seawater. "We'll…go after him." She managed to say.
Zoro fell over.
"Nami-swan?" Sanji's eyes bugged out in pink, fluffy hearts.
"Navigator-san?" Robin cleared her throat from her corner in the bed.
There was a loud yawn from the corner of the room and some mumbling as Usopp finally woke from his position in the chair in the corner.
"Usopp!" Chopper exclaimed. "You're awake!"
"There's no such thing as magic." Zoro said, matter-of-factly.
"Magic does exist!" Altessa gave a stomp of her little foot. "And stop treating me as if I cannot understand with-"
Usopp stared at her and then he half-laughed, half-cried into wrist-stumps where his hands would've been. She sounded like an old lady. If the situation wasn't so serious and solemn, he would've laughed outright. Then he realized that he didn't have his hands and the graveness of it all sank in a bit deeper. He scowled at Altessa, taking Nami's side. "Magic is-"
"Stop it!" Altessa whirled around and before either of them could stop her, she grabbed Sanji and Zoro, one in each hand, then slammed her hands together, squeezing her eyes shut. "Acklon-Malvean-Olith-Zenon. Acklon-Malvean-Olith-Zenon. I recant thee!" The fierce red energy exploded in a crackling red orb that flared brightly as her hands smacked together.
There was an audible snap, crackle and then a loud thump, followed by swearing, grunts and screeches. The scuffling and shuffling of arms and legs filled the infirmary before the pale pink smoke cleared out.
"Get off me!" Altessa squirmed from her position, pinned down between a full-size Sanji and Zoro, that were already sparring with each other, a fist and foot in each other's respective faces. "Oww!" The last word came out as a whine and immediately the cook and swordsman stopped.
Sanji scrambled off her at once, shoving Zoro to the side. "My dear little lady." He trilled. "I am so very sorry and I apologize for that hopeless idiot of a-"
"Magic does exist." Altessa repeated, her narrowed blue eyes fixed on the green-haired swordsman. "Take it back."
Zoro stared at her and then down at his side. Instead of three long swords tucked into his haramaki, there were three tiny knives. It took a moment for it to register that he had returned to his original size but his swords had not. "Oi, what did you do to my swords?"
"I did not do anything to them. One of them's cursed. I dinna touch it." Altessa's blue eyes flickered golden again, the cat-ears perking up. "Take. It. Back." With a sudden growl, she dropped to all fours as her body morphed into a decent-sized dark chocolate-colored cat—the size of Chopper's desk chair. She hissed.
Zoro glared at her, not moving an inch. Sanji stiffened and Nami reached forward, hesitant. Luffy frowned. "Zoro-" He began.
But Altessa beat him to it. She recoiled, her form reverting to her human-esque shape. "My apologies." She said, wearily. "I apologize for my childish, immature reaction." She bowed formally. "I am fully aware that I am indebted to you and therefore at your mercy. I do not mean to be causing extra trouble for you. I only meant to say that my hometown would be of invaluable assistance in helping you all remove your respective curses, stock your ship and exact a lovely revenge on Atral." She ducked her head lightly. "I understand that this may be more to take in than-"
"How old are you, little girl?" Robin interrupted, softly.
The red ringlets bounced limply as she turned to face the injured woman on the bed. "I am ten years old." She spoke, quietly, with a touch of firmness in her voice. "Why do you ask?"
"You said you were from the house of Mercia, correct?"
"I believe I did."
"You speak very formally."
"That is not of your concern."
"It is alright. I do not mean anything by it." Robin offered the usual, small, meaningless smile. "Are you from the royal branch?"
"I am not at liberty to answer that."
Robin stifled a chuckle. The stilted, formal speech was a dead giveaway. The girl had certainly learned what to say and how to say it in given situations. Her youthful personality was peeking through in the smallest ways and it was amusing to watch. The older woman studied the blank face before her and then decided to add her two-cents to the entire matter. Doctors on the island meant that perhaps they might be able to do something about her arms—if they were indeed cursed as the girl had implied. That would most certainly be welcome. "Captain-san, Navigator-san, I believe this girl is telling the truth and if she says there is help on this Sonreah Island, it would be a good idea to dock there while deciding our next course of action."
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Note: *Neko Neko No Mi fruit is the "Cat-Cat Devil Fruit" one variation of it was the leopard version of Lucci from CP9. Altessa is a chocolate version of a small panther. ^_^