Author's Note: All right! The official first chapter at last. I was going to put more content into this, but decided to stop when I saw that it was already long enough as it was. Anyway, please let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is welcomed!
Disclaimer: I do NOT own The Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. It is owned by CLAMP. I also do NOT own One Piece. It is owned by Eiichiro Oda.
Chapter One
Arriving in the Grand Line
Lounging on the Going Merry's figure head, Luffy groaned. "Ugh! Nami! I'm boooorrreeed!" He whined. "When are we gonna get to Angler Island?"
"I already told you five minutes ago, Luffy." The navigator's eye twitched irritably. "According to the information that Robin received, Angler Island is at least a week's voyage away. We've only just set sail, yesterday."
Luffy let out another dramatic groan. "So long!"
Sanji, who had come outside with two small plates of dessert in his hands, retorted, "Luffy, quit bothering Nami-san! Listen, if you want something to do, then why don't you fish with Chopper and Usopp? Knowing you, it's only going to be a matter of time before you raid the fridge."
Luffy gasped. "Whoa! Cool! You can read minds!"
Vein throbbing in his forehead, the cook let out an agitated sigh. "Yes, that's right, Luffy…I can read minds…yours especially."
It had been barely ten minutes since Luffy had started fishing when he declared, "It's no good. I'm still bored." He sighed. "I wish something exciting would happen."
"Oi, Luffy! Don't say that!" Usopp reprimanded. "Otherwise you're going to jinx us and some gigantic monster is going to show up and try to eat us!"
"Really?" Chopper turned to him with wide-eyes. "Just by saying it, a monster would appear?"
Robin, who had been reading a book up to this point, gave a light chuckle. "I believe Long Nose-kun was using a figure-of-speech, just now," she said, not taking her eyes off her book.
"Oh, really? That's good." Chopper looked relieved.
"Though considering Captain-san's luck and the fact that we're in the Grand Line, we just might have a chance of encountering something strange and dangerous, today."
"No more! Please, no more!" Both Chopper and Usopp screamed.
"And why do you have to sound so casual about it?" The sniper added.
Luffy grinned widely. "Something strange and dangerous, huh? I like the sound of that!"
"You would, wouldn't you?" Usopp snapped.
As Chopper was sniffling, "I hope nothing strange and dangerous appears" and Usopp was ranting about how dangerous it was being on a ship full of virtual monsters, Luffy caught sight of something several yards away.
"Oi, what's that?" He said, pointing to the object of interest. His crewmates, excluding the cook working in the kitchen and the swordsman sleeping on deck, all looked at him before turning their gaze towards where he was pointing.
Amidst the clear blue sky, a big purple bubble appeared before falling towards the sea like a drop of glue from a bottle. It was still several feet above the water before it suddenly vanished—and in its place were three human-shaped silhouettes crashing down to the waves. It took the Straw-Hats a second to see that the three (no, four) people were treading the water.
It was strange. Whenever they were going through the interdimensional vortex that Mokona used for them to travel, it always felt that they were gently falling. That sensation always, without fail, changed to that of violent crashing whenever they arrived in a new world. This time around was no exception.
Wincing at the sudden appearance of sunlight, Syaoran, Kurogane, and Fai became keenly aware of how much air was making up for the lack of ground beneath them. The three men let out a loud cry (or in Fai D. Flourite's case, a loud "Wheeeee!") joining in with Mokona's delighted squeal. As he saw the vast blue sea rising up to meet them, Syaoran immediately secured his hold on Sakura, making sure to shield her from the impact that was sure to come.
When the comrades finally crashed into the water, they had that initial shock of the collision before swimming back up, Syaoran carrying his princess with him. Heads breaking through the surface, the men coughed, spitting out whatever salt water had made its way into their mouths. Syaoran, on the other hand, only allowed himself a few seconds of reprieve before turning his attention to Sakura.
Shaking her, he whispered, "Hime…Hime!"
At first, there was no response, and Syaoran was almost afraid that she had drowned. Then, letting out a series of sputtering coughs, Sakura slowly opened her eyes. "Syaoran-kun…?" After a glazed look at her surroundings, the princess's eyes widened as she let out a loud, "Eh?"
Fai chuckled. "Well, I suppose this would be a shock to the system, especially since we were in a forest when you lost consciousness."
"What are you laughing about?" Kurogane grumbled. "Once again, that damn manju made another lousy landing, and now, once again, we are stuck in the middle of the sea with no land in sight (1)!"
Mokona, who had been sitting on top of Fai's head, pouted indignantly, "Aww! Kuro-poo's so mean! Mokona always does its best!"
"That's right!" The mage chimed in. "And we were lucky enough to catch a ride on a ship last time."
Kurogane snorted. "Yeah, and who says we're going to be lucky again this time?"
Smiling, Fai pointed past the ninja's shoulders, directing his companions' attention to where he was indicating. "I do believe that's a ship, Kuro-rin."
The pirates stared, their mouths wide open in astonishment.
"No way…!" Nami said, in a hushed voice.
Usopp, whose legs were shaking, stuttered, "P-people…Th-they…they just showed up out of nowhere…right when that…that…thing appeared out of the sky! W-wait! Don't tell…they're—
"Aliens!" Luffy cried out, his eyes sparkling with joy.
"There's no way!" Nami protested. Shaking her head, she muttered, "Look, what we just saw—that bubble or whatever it was—it was probably just a trick of the light. Yeah, that's right!" She said, as if trying to convince herself, "That thing was just an illusion. And those people, like us, they must have just returned from a sky island. Of course, that's the only logical explanation."
"I don't think that's quite it, Navigator-san." Robin replied. "We were fine when we landed back in the Blue Sea because we had our ship as well as a means to slow down our fall. It looked like those people," she said, pointing to the drifters at sea, "had neither. If someone had just fallen from a sky island with nothing but their own person, well, falling into the ocean would be the same as falling onto a rock. And we can safely say that those four are alive."
Knowing that the archaeologist was right, Nami frowned contemplatively before once more turning her gaze to the four people in question.
Luffy, on the other hand, was not about to waste a second over pondering the strangers' sudden appearance. Waving his arms at them, he called out, "Oi! Aliens! Be my nakama!"
"Luffy, you idiot! Shut up!" Usopp hissed, clamping his hand over his captain's mouth. "For all we know, they could be after our brains!"
"Really? Our brains?" Chopper looked appalled.
"Would you three just knock it off?" Nami snapped. "Look, they're not aliens, all right? Because aliens don't exist (2)!"
"Well, whatever they are, it looks like they're not going to last much longer." Robin said, nonchalantly. Everyone looked at her, puzzled, before glancing back to where the four drifters were. Cutting through the waves was a large yellow fin—which was heading right towards the strangers.
About two minutes ago…
Yes, it was a ship. Syaoran could not make out too many details from such a distance, but he could see the figure-head shaped something like that of a ram and—were those trees on the main deck?
At that moment, he caught sight of a figure on the vessel waving their arms at them; the person shouted something, although Syaoran could only catch the words, "Oi! Aliens!" and "nakama". Fai, of course, waved back. "Hyuu, it looks like we caught their attention. Kuro-chan, don't be rude! You should wave, too!"
Before the ninja could yell at him for yet another twisted version of his name, something, something of large proportions, suddenly rose up out of water, taking the comrades by surprise with the shock waves. Looking up, what they saw, staring down at them…had to be the strangest looking monster they had ever seen. Its long scaly body was of a light pink, and its snout, instead of the serpentine nose you'd expect from a sea monster, was actually a large crooked beak, like that of an eagle, which might have looked intimidating had there not been blue caruncles hanging down from the bridge of it. It was Kurogane who pretty much voiced everyone's thoughts. "What the…?"
The creature's small beady eyes gazed at them intently, then slowly opening its mouth, it led out a great, reverberating roar. The group gritted their teeth in agony as their ears rang out in pain. As the last vestiges of the cry sounded, the monster opened its mouth once more, this time posed to strike.
"Dammit!" Kurogane growled.
At once, Syaoran placed himself between the princess and the monster, even though he knew how futile it was. They were all in the water, doing whatever they could to keep their heads above the surface. With the position they were in now, there was no way they would be able to fight. And trying to swim away would be pointless, as they were in the sea monster's domain.
It was at that moment that when the group was facing the cavernous mouth that gaped before them that they caught sight of a pair of arms stretching, literally stretching out above their heads before grabbing onto the monster's thick neck. Before anyone could say a word, the limbs, still holding onto the beast, retracted, pulling in the body of a young man, who, as he landed on the monster, let out an exuberant, "HEEERRREEEE IIII COOOMEE!"
While the five comrades were aware of the newcomer, the sea monster did not seem to notice the passenger it had gained, as it was still closing in on the people before it. But before it could swallow them whole, the boy on top of it stretched his leg, high, very high up into the air until the foot was indistinguishable in the vast blue sky; a second passed before he brought it down hard onto the monster, his shout just breaking through the creature's pained gasp, "GOMU GOMU NOOOOO…ORO (3)!"
The travelers cried out as great wave crashed over them, right as the monster's body spasmed from the blow. Sputtering as the water finally calmed, they turned once more towards the sea creature, which was now unconscious, as it laid half-submerged in the water. The boy who had rendered it in such a state hopped onto its beak, before turning his attention towards them.
Now that their lives were no longer in any immediate danger, Syaoran was now able to take a good look at their savior. The boy seemed to be about his age, wearing clothes similar to the ones in the Country of Hanshin, with sandals, rough blue pants, a buttoned red vest, and straw-hat on top of his head. Staring at them with wide eyes, he was very scrawny and did not like someone who could take down a gigantic sea serpent with one hit.
At the moment, the stranger was giving them a long, hard gaze before pouting, "Awww…this sucks! You look normal."
Syaoran blinked, taken aback by this remark. As for Kurogane, he was gritting his teeth, saying, "And what made you think we would be otherwise?"
"Well, you're aliens, right?"
"Who the hell are you calling 'aliens', you brat?"
Unfortunately for the ninja, the boy's back was turned, focusing now on the monster he had defeated, saying to himself, "I wonder if this is good to eat."
"Listen when people are talking!" Kurogane shouted. "We just saw your limbs stretch! How the hell did that happen? What are you?"
Facing the man once more, the boy let out a wide grin. "I'm a rubber man!" In emphasis, he grabbed his cheek before stretching it out far more than any normal human could.
The group stared at him incredulously before Kurogane exclaimed, "Who the hell are you?"
Still grinning, the boy replied, "My name's Monkey D. Luffy, and I'm the man who's gonna be King of the Pirates—hey! When did the water get so high up-?" He yelped, his waist was now submerged. While he had been talking, the monster he had been standing upon had been slowly sinking.
At the moment, Luffy was flailing about in the water, gurgling out frantically. Fai, with Mokona still resting on his head, swam forth before grabbing onto the struggling boy and holding him up. "There we go. There's no need to panic now, Luffy-kun."
Coughing, the boy gave out a weary, "Right. Thank you."
Kurogane did not seem very impressed. "For a pirate, you sure are a lousy swimmer—oi, kid! Quit tapping my shoulder."
Syaoran gave him a strange look. "Eh? But I wasn't tapping your shoulder."
"Well, somebody was!" The ninja spun around and almost immediately barked out a sharp, "What the hell is this?"
His companions at once looked to see what had alarmed him so and stared at what they saw. Reaching out from the hull of the ship, which had gotten closer during the episode with the sea monster, was a series of arms, each one branching out from the one before it until the hand at the very end was proffering itself to Kurogane just inches away from his face. Syaoran had seen many strange sights before in his travels (the bird-faced sea monster and the rubber boy included), but this was just bizarre!
"Well? Are you going to grab on?" Everyone glanced up to see a dark-haired woman standing on board the ship, her arms crossed in a way that looked like she was conjuring up something. It only took a second for Syaoran to realize that what she was conjuring was the long rope of arms before them.
Kurogane, having realized it as well, gaped at her, crying out, "Just what are you people?"
"Now, now, Kuro-poo," Fai said, "I don't think you should say such harsh words to her especially since she's offering to bring us on board."
The ninja glared at him before directing his scowl towards the woman. She just gave him an enigmatic smile.
Author's Note: Again, please review and tell me what you think.
(1) About the previous time they had landed in the sea, this actually only occurred in the anime.
(2) Shun the non-believer!
(3) From the translation I could get, that would mean Gum Gum Axe.