Inumaru12: Wow. I got a lot of reviews (Well at least I think so.) for just the first chapter. Sorry if this is later then what you wanted but I have had to do school, Drama club and all that crap. I hope you all like this and is up to all your standards. Remember that Reviews are what keep me alive and going. So PLEASE REVIEW!!!
And things from why Shanks and Ace are there to what Yoniko's devil fruit powers are going to be explained this chapter. Nothing much is going to happen this chapter but it is very necessary for the story to go on. Next chapter is when everything exciting happens. Anyway, let's go.
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, if I did this would probably be one of the movies.
Warnings: Some Yaoi, some angst, cursing, somewhat smarter Luffy, maybe some spoilers, yatta, yatta, yatta.
"Talking"
'Thinking'
Infractus Mens, Convulsus Monumentum
Chapter 2: Shanks, Ace, and an explanation
It was a bright day as Fire Fist Ace set foot on Star Wish Island. Star Wish Island was a small city, or a big town, however you looked at it. Its people were cheerful and kind, always willing to help travelers, but strong when the time needed them to be. The small city was clean and smelled of the forest that was on the border of the city and it mixed with the smell of the ocean. Ace noticed that they were getting ready for some kind of festival it seemed, and they were all eager to help another.
Ace gave a small grin as he took a deep breath. He could really enjoy his time here if he wasn't on a mission. The thought of his mission made the grin on his face disappear completely.
Ace was sent by his Captain Whitebeard to find and kill the one who went by Blackbeard. He had heard rumors that Blackbeard had run off to this small island. He had to see if they were true or not.
Ace quickly found a small but cozy hotel and got himself a room. As he laid on the futon he gazed out the window at the stars.
'Wow, the stars are brighter here.' He thought, before he fell asleep.
XxXxXxXxXx
"Captain, are you sure?" The crew asked, looking at their Captain with uncertainty. The captain smiled, which seemed to lift their spirits a little bit but they were still uncertain.
"Don't worry, all I have to do is find Ace, sit him down, and talk him out of finding Blackbeard." "Red Haired" Shanks said, making it sound as easy as hopscotch.
His first mate snorted and just rolled his eyes. When and if, his captain found Ace he doubted the boy was just going to give up his orders from his Captain and goes back and does nothing about Blackbeard. This boy was stubborn, and the boy's brother was even worse.
Shanks eyed his first mate, Ben, for a second and then looked at his crew again.
"Don't worry; I'll only be gone for a week or so. In the time I'm gone Ben will be in charge." Shanks said and no protests were made. They all knew that once Shanks had something set in mind that he wouldn't come off it until he did it.
Ben sighed. "Come back soon Captain." He said, the rest of the crew nodding in agreement.
Shanks laughed. "You all are acting like I'll be gone for months, I'm only going to be gone a week or so, as long as Ace is at where the information said he was." Shanks said, with a thoughtful look on his face as he thought of one of his friends that gave him the info. He knew that the person wouldn't lie. He just hopes that he gets to Ace in time.
As he pushed those thoughts away and smiled to his crew and then stepped into the small boat that he had prepared.
"Okay crew, stay low and don't cause too much trouble. Take care of your self." Shanks said as he put the sail for the ship up and was almost immediately taken by the wind and was off towards the island.
The crew watched in somber silence. They knew their captain would be fine but they just hoped he took his own advice and didn't get into trouble.
XxXxXxXxXx
When Shanks made it to land it was late. He found the nearest hotel and rented a room. He was lucky since there only seemed to be one room left because of the oncoming festival, is what the hotel keeper said as he gave Shanks a key.
Shanks fell asleep quickly, not realizing the person in the room next to him was the person he was searching for.
XxXxXxXxXx
The next morning when Shanks woke it was almost noon. Shanks was shocked, because he didn't even think he was that tired. But Shanks got up, yawned, and headed towards the bathroom. He took a quick shower and got ready for the day. As he headed down into the lobby he could hear people screaming and yelling. Wondering what was going on, Shanks picked up the pace a bit.
When he reached the source of the noise there was a yelling and some smashing. When Shanks looked in he got an amusing sight. He saw Ace being chased around by innkeeper's husband (who was also the cook) who was waving a broom around like it was a sword.
"I swear, I wasn't hitting on your daughter!" Ace tried to explain.
"Are you calling my daughter a liar?!?" The husband asked, furious.
"NO! I don't even like girls!" Ace cried out.
"Ah-ha! So you were hitting on my son then!" The man made a swipe at Ace who skillfully dodged…only to slip on the pancake batter the cook had dropped when he had walked in the room. The bowl flew into the air and did some spins…just before it landed on Ace's face.
Ace pulled the bowl off slowly, and used his hand to wipe off all the batter. He saw the man coming forward with the broom when Shanks stood in.
"Hello. I'm a friend of this young man. Sorry for all of this. Children can be quite a handful can't they?" Shanks said.
Tears of happiness that someone understood him welled up in the man's eyes.
"Yes, yes! And my wife is the devil incarnate who over charges people with kids." He confessed.
"There, there. Let it all out. But sorry to be the bearer of bad news but…isn't that your daughter flirting with the milk boy?" Shanks asked.
Soon after, the cook was seen chasing his daughter and the milk boy with a broom across town.
"Shanks, why are you here?" Asked Ace, a bit suspicious.
"Let's not talk here." The pirate said.
The red haired emperor finally managed to pull the fire boy out of the hotel and onto the streets.
"Ace, listen to me, I know you don't want me to say this but I think you should stop this 'mission' of yours. BlackBeard is stronger then you think." Shanks said, with an air of seriousness around him and Ace. To Ace it seemed it was almost choking him. Ace hadn't seen Shanks this serious since he had lost his arm.
"I'm sorry Shanks." Ace said, lowering his head so the shadows of his hat covered his eyes. "I can't do that. I love and respect my Captain and when he gives me an order I can't not do it. It would be wrong. And besides, I know the risks but I also know that if anything happens to me that is too bad that Luffy will come help me." Ace said.
Shanks blinked then tightened his lips then loosened them again when he sighed.
"Fine. I understand about you not wanting to disrespect Whitebeard's orders but how do you know for sure that Luffy will come and help you. I mean, Luffy could be totally oblivious to your impending fate and the Navy could hide the fact that they have you. So how do you figure he will know?" Shanks asked curiously and a little perplexed.
"I gave him the paper." Was all that Ace said. Shanks didn't even pretend to know what he was talking about but just shrugged.
"Can we talk about something else please?" Ace asked, not wanting to get into this conversation anymore.
Shanks looked at him briefly for a second but then decided that maybe a topic change was for the best.
"So tell me. How is Luffy's crew, and Luffy for that matter?" Shanks asked.
Ace smiled and began to recollect about the time he spent with them when he was in Alabasta to the older pirate as the strolled on the busy street.
XxXxXxXxXx
As the Straw Hats ran into town, each one of them was fueled by their strong and similar emotions.
Shock, anger, hatred, confusion, and worse of all. Fear.
The adrenaline coursed through their bodies and their hearts were beating so fast that they could hear the pounding in their heads.
Suddenly they came to a lot of ways in the road and they stopped briefly to try and figure which way the girl went. Usopp suddenly realized something and opened the bag that he was carrying.
"Here! In case we find her!" He said as he handed them all flares, except for him self.
"What about yourself Usopp?" Nami asked.
"Don't worry about it. I've got my exploding stars." The sharpshooter said with a fierce look in his eyes. It made Nami a little shocked. She hadn't seen this look in Usopp's eyes in so long. The last time she remembered that he had such an angry and fierce look like that was when he heard that Kuro was going to try and kill his friend Kaya. But Nami knew she probably shouldn't be surprised. After all, as much as Usopp was a coward he was even more of a loyalist to Luffy. Even though he was scared he was always with his crew and their Captain.
Everyone took a flare and then ran off onto a different direction. As Usopp ran past people he saw a blink of red and orange in the corner of his eye but hardly paid any attention to it. All that was important was finding the one that hurt Luffy. With those thoughts in Usopp's head he pushed himself to run faster.
Suddenly the sharpshooter turned a corner and saw who he was looking for.
The long-haired brunette was in the middle of what seemed like an abandoned town square and had her hands on her knees and was bent over to catch her breath. Without hesitation he pulled out his slingshot and shot an exploding star into the sky. It sailed high into the sky until it finally exploded, causing a huge red cloud.
"I FOUND HER!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.
XxXxXxXx
The Straw Hat pirates reacted quickly, turning and running towards the cloud of red. They felt all their emotions swirl into one. And one thing they wanted-no, they needed.
Blood.
The want for vengeance was strong and filled their bodies. They all ran towards the cloud with renewed vigor, and hoped they weren't too late.
XxXxXxXx
Usopp watched as the girl realized she was caught and had a strange feeling of giddiness and an almost sickening satisfaction welled up in his chest.
'This must be what the cat feels like when he catches the mouse in the corner.'Mused Usopp.
The girl turned to run, only to see Sanji standing there. She turned to run to the right but found Zoro standing there also. She turned to her left in one final desperate escape but saw that Nami and Robin were there and waiting. The girl seemed to realize she was in deep as they all began to surround her, their bloodlust obvious.
Suddenly a voice cut out from behind Usopp.
"Hey guys!" Called a voice, ringing with joy.
The Straw Hats turned and looked in shock and confusion as they saw their Captain's brother, Fire Fist Ace, standing there waving with a smile on his face. The Straw Hats blinked with disbelief.
"Ace?!?" They said, all of them wondering why their Captain's big brother was there. Even before they could wonder out loud, another voice called out.
"Oi! So you're anchor's Nakama huh? You all sound like a good group from what Ace has said." The Straw Hat's eyes widen. If they were shocked by seeing Ace here, this was nothing compared to seeing the legendary "Red Haired" Shanks standing there, with a smile on his face.
'Could this day get any weirder?' Thought Usopp.
XxXxXxXx
Ace and Shanks were deep in their conversation when they saw a girl run past them, almost completely rammed right into them, but she kept going like she had the devil on her tail. Soon she disappeared from sight and Shanks and Ace went back to their conversation. No more then a few minutes later did a brown and dark figure run past them, into the same generate area.
Ace stopped talking and squinted as he tried to get a better view of who the familiar person was.
"Hey, I think that was Luffy's sharpshooter…Usopp, I think his name is." Ace said.
"Hmm..? Usopp? Hey, I think that's Yasopp's son's name isn't it? So Anchor has my sharpshooter's son as a sharpshooter?" Shanks laughed. "What luck is this?"
Ace smiled. "Who knows? With the luck Luffy has it can nothing short of amazing."
Shanks laughed again. "That's true."
The two of the started to walk towards the area were they saw the Straw Hat sharpshooter run to.
Suddenly there was a huge cloud of red and the two of them walked faster to the area. When they finally got there it looked like there was going to be bloodshed.
Deciding to let them know he was there, he called out. Soon after he got their attention Shanks spoke.
"Speaking of Luffy, where is he? I want to see how he is doing." Shanks asked, excited at the fact he was going to see Anchor again.
But as soon as he did that, all the faces of the Straw Hats had hardened and they all looked at the girl in the middle of them. The girl seemed to be sweating bullets by now and looked like she was going to faint at anytime.
"She," said a green haired man as he pointed to the girl in the middle with his sword. "Did something to Luffy and now he's back at the ship unresponsive and we don't even know what's wrong with him." Shanks guessed from Ace's descriptions that this was Zoro, Luffy's first mate and swordsman.
Both Ace and Shanks felt anger race through their blood.
"What did you do to Luffy?" They both asked, killer intent in their voices, making the girl quiver a bit. The two of them walked down to the group and they moved out of the way so these two could face her.
The two of them looked this girl over and saw her as a pale frightened young girl but she still stared them in the eyes.
Shanks grudgingly gave her a little respect. After all, he had met men older and stronger then her that had fainted on site of him and soiled their clothes when he even glared at them. Yet this girl who looked like she wasn't even eighteen yet was still standing (Barely) and who didn't seem to soil her pants (Hopefully).
Shanks looked at Zoro, who was staring at the girl angrily with his hand resting on his swords.
"You're the first mate right?" Shanks asked.
Zoro snapped out of glaring at the girl and nodded to Shanks, wondering how he knew but then just figured that Ace must have told him.
"Well then it's your decision: Do you take her and keep her alive or do you kill her?" questioned Shanks, his face blank but his eyes full of emotion.
There was heavy silence as Zoro seemed to think about it. Then the green haired bushido pulled out one of his swords and then held it out next to the girl's neck.
The girl gulped as the sharp blade reflected her green eyes. It made her see just how scared she was, how afraid to die she was.
Everyone seemed to watch with a blank face, only Sanji turned away. It wasn't that Sanji had never seen someone killed before but he was a ladies man and even though he understood this had to be done he still didn't want to see it. He could go into denial and say it never happened if he never saw it.
Zoro began to pull his hand back and the girl closed her eyes so she didn't have to look at the fear in her eyes from the reflection anymore.
There was the clink of familiar sounding metal and then nothing. Sanji turned around to look and the girl opened her eyes to see Zoro with his swords sheathed.
"We'll take her to the ship and have her tell us what she did to Luffy." Zoro said.
Yoniko and Sanji both felt relief flood through them.
Yoniko because she wasn't going to die and Sanji because he wasn't going to have to deal with the fact that he knew a girl was killed in front of him and he did nothing to stop it.
But what Zoro said next made both stop in mid-relief.
"After we find a way to help Luffy, then we'll kill her."
And thus, Yoniko was pulled up and dragged to the Going Merry, and since Yoniko seemed to be a bit dramatic, 'To my doom.' She thought as they continued down the road.
XxXxXxXx
When they made it to the ship the hauled Yoniko onto the ship and threw her onto the ground. The girl had enough sense not to glare and bit back a shout at the moss head swordsman. Next thing Yoniko knew was that she was picked up and her arms were brought to her back.
The brunette winced as she felt rope being tied around her wrist, not too kindly either, mind you. She was dragged, once again, towards the middle of the ship, to where she could see the little raccoon thing standing over the Straw Hat captain who was lying on the ground.
"Oi Chopper, we're back." Said Zoro. "How is Luffy?"
"Hmm…Not good. His pulse is still weak and he is still not responding to anything I do." Chopper said, not looking up form Luffy. Chopper began to tear up a bit. "I don't know what to do." He whispered.
Nami squat down next to the small reindeer and gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze.
"Don't worry Chopper, we'll all find out what's wrong with Luffy." She said.
Chopper wiped his tears away with his hooves and smiled up at Nami. "Yeah! We will." Chopper agreed. When he looked up he suddenly took notice of Shanks and Ace. Chopper blinked then gave a small squeak and hid behind Nami. Well, more like he hid his head behind her but the rest of his body was showing.
Shanks blinked, not fully understanding the ways of the little doctor. Even though, Shanks bent down and looked at the reindeer with a smile on his face.
"Hey there. My name is Shanks. I'm a friend of Anchor-I mean Luffy's. What's your name?" Shanks asked kindly.
"T-Tony Tony Chopper. I'm the doctor." Chopper said, starting to come out of his shyness a bit.
"A doctor? Wow, you must be really good for Luffy's crew then." Shanks smiled.
Chopper blushed and swayed side to side a bit. "Bastard. That doesn't flatter me, dumb ass." He laughed with a pleased smile on his face.
Shanks blinked again and looked up at Nami, who had a small smile on her face. "He's really happy with your compliment." Nami translated. Shanks nodded his head.
"Well as nice as this is, I think we have someone to take care of." Shanks then got up and glared at Yoniko. She felt a shiver go down her spine as everyone walked over to her and stood around her with angry and determined faces.
"What's your name?" asked Shanks, as he started the interrogation.
"Y-Yoniko." She stuttered back.
"Now tell me Yoniko, where in your right mind did you get the idea to do something to Luffy? And if you wouldn't mind tell me what you did to him?" Shanks said, making it sound like she could choose not to, but with Shank's hand on the hilt of his sword there was no other option then 'yes'.
"Well, I was going to steal any of the money I could find," At this point, Nami saw her pouch of money tied to the girl's waist and snatched it back and growled some nasty words to her that made everyone take on step back from her.
"But the guy with the long nose came in and then shot at me so I pushed him out of the way and ran on deck. The others saw me and then they caught me for a few seconds. I managed to get free for a few seconds and then I used my devil fruit powers on him and escaped…but then they caught me again." Yoniko said softly at the end.
"Devil Fruit powers? What kind of Devil Fruit powers does that?!?" Yelled Nami, pointing to Luffy who was still unmoving on the floor.
Yoniko winced slightly. "Well I'm not exactly sure what kind of Devil Fruit it is…I've never heard of anything with its sort of powers anyway."
There was a few seconds of silence before Shanks asked. "What does your power do?" He asked.
Yoniko squirmed slightly as everyone looked at her.
"W-well it kind of…shatters the person's mind." She muttered, looking anywhere except at them.
Even though she had mumbled, everyone had heard.
"Are you joking? There are no Devil Fruit with those kinds of abilities." Usopp yelled.
Shanks face seemed to tighten at what the young girl said.
"Tell me, when you ate the Devil Fruit, what color was the steam?" Shanks asked. Everyone looked at Shanks with confusion but looked back to the girl. Yoniko blinked, she was also confused. What did this have to do with anything?
"It was blue. Why, isn't every steam of the Devil Fruit blue?" She asked.
"No." Robin answered. "The one I ate had a brown steam."
"Me too." Said Chopper.
The girl scrunched up her face in confusion. "So I got a blue steam, so what?"
Shanks sighed. "As most people know there are three kinds of Devil Fruit categories. The Paramecia group is the fruits that usually affect the person's body in some way. The Zoan group allows the user to transform into an animal. Logia allow the person to actually become a natural element, like fire." Explained Shanks.
"But what most people don't know is that there is a fourth group. That group was named the "Specials" by the marines. These Specials have the abilities to do things that people thought that even Devil Fruits would be unable to do. They can travel through objects, possess people and things, move things with their minds, and I've even heard of one that can predict the future because of the fruit. But because of these unique and unusual powers the Marines see these people as threat so when ever they find one, they kill the person. They have never been able to find a fruit themselves because supposedly the fruit chooses who eats it. From what they gathered from the people who ate it before they killed them was that they felt as if the fruit choose them because one minute it wouldn't be there and the next it was.
"They never knew if that was what really happened because they usually kill the person before anyone ever has any proof. A couple of years back, when I was still young I heard a rumor that a small group of specials escaped from the Marines the day before they were about to be killed. But after that I never heard anything about them again. So it might be a rumor." Shanks said, taking a breath from the long explanation.
Everyone looked at Shanks and then Yoniko with awe.
"But what I don't understand is why people don't know too much about it. I mean, do all of the Navy know about it?" asked Usopp.
"The Navy doesn't want people to know that they are killing people because of their Devil Fruits. And the only Navy that knows about it is the high officials and us emperors." Shanks explained.
Yoniko felt shock and then anger go through her.
"That's bullshit! I've gone to the marines plenty of times and they've never done anything to me! Why should I believe you pirates?" Yoniko asked angrily, her eyes narrow.
Shanks looked at her with an unreadable look on his face.
"Have you ever told them that you have this power?"
"No…but they wouldn't care if I did. I'm not a pirate so they should have no reason to deal with me." Yoniko said stubbornly.
"To the navy, it doesn't matter if you are a pirate, a man, a woman, a child, or whatever. If you have eaten the fruit then you are a danger, and the Navy destroys any threat of danger. It doesn't matter who or what." Shanks said. His voice seemed to echo a bit at the end, making everyone realize just how serious the marines could be at times.
Yoniko put her head down and closed her eyes. Was what he said true? If it was these people could just hand her over to the marines and tell them of her powers and then she would be as good as dead. Or they could just kill her here and now.
"I-if I figure out a way to put Straw Hat's mind back together will you let me go?" She asked timidly.
That got everyone's attention.
"You can fix what you did?" Zoro asked, his voice cold as steel.
Yoniko winced. "I'm pretty sure I can. All I have to do is go into his mind and-" She was cut short as Zoro growled.
"I do not trust you anywhere in Luffy's mind." He growled. It made Yoniko think of a cat hissing because of the way his teeth were bared.
"Well, you can come too. I can transfer your mind and mine into Straw Hats." She said rapidly, seeing that her window of escape was quickly closing.
Zoro seemed to hesitate. He glanced over at the rest of the crew and they all seemed to be completing it.
"Can you bring all of us?" A voice asked.
Everyone turned and looked at Ace, who had been silent for a while. Yoniko bit her lip softly and thought about it. She nodded.
"I think so. It shouldn't be too difficult." She said, and after a second she gained more confidence. "Yeah! I can do it." Said Yoniko, sure of her self.
"So what do we do?" Robin asked.
"Well first we have to sit in a circle around him and then join hands. Whoever is next to me, please put your hands on my shoulders and I'll hold onto to Straw Hat's hand." Yoniko instructed. Everyone did what they were told and sat in a circle around Luffy. (Sanji was really happy since he was holding both Nami-san and Robin-Chan's hands.)
With Zoro's hand on her left shoulder and Ace's hand on her right shoulder she gripped Luffy's hand.
"If you do anything wrong, I'm not afraid to hurt a girl." Zoro said, his eyes promising pain. Ace nodded the same threat. Yoniko could feel the fire man's hand start to heat up a bit. The brunette shifted uncomfortably.
'This is now or never.' She thought. She then pushed all the energy in her body and through the hands of the ones holding her and then they then traveled through the circle, collecting all of their souls and then running down their hands into Luffy.
There was a bright light, and then nothing.
TBC
Inumaru: YATTA!! Another Chapter done!!! It's even longer then last chapter! I'm so proud of my self! I hope you all enjoy it and thank you so much for all the reviews you guys gave me last chapter. I never expected to get so many. BTW I'm all done with drama so you don't have to worry about that taking up with my life anymore! (Cheers) But sadly I got SOLs and Exams coming up so forgive me if I don't update very quickly. PLEASE REVIEW!!!
Btw:…Is it bad that I already have another idea for a ZoLu chapter story? XD I'm not going to do it until after this, but I've got to say. It will definitely have more ZoLu love then in this. ^_^ Anyway, thanks for reading and tell me what you think. Until next time!
Ja Ne
Inumaru12