Feather Storm
Chapter 2: The Stowaway Found, Luffy's Ridiculous Battle.
Author's Note:
Hello again people, if you're still actually here. It's time for chapter two.
I hope you are all ready for this.
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"You smell anything Chopper?"
"Give me a minute. Nami's perfume is everywhere and it's terrible."
"Don't let her hear you say that."
Zoro, with the reindeer's help, had finally managed to find his way to Nami's room. He was inspecting the damage while the doctor sniffed around the room. The navigator hadn't been kidding when she said her room was messed up. The window had been bashed inward, spraying glass shards all over the room. Her bed had been shredded; whatever had been in her room definately had a blade.
"Or claws" the swordsman mused, looking at the slashes in the navy blue bed sheets. He turned his attention to the window, considering the damage.
"The glass shards are all on the inside." He muttered to himself. "Whatever did this must have come in through the window." The window was sizable, but not too big. Big windows weren't really safe on a ship like the Sunny.
Too many storms and idiot captains who loved to roughhouse.
The window was too small for a person to fit through; maybe it had been some kind of animal? But why come in through the window? Nami didn't keep much food in her room, and the windows weren't easy to break through.
They had to be reasonably Luffy-proof, after all.
Spotting something beneath the windowsill, the swordsman stalked forward and bent down. Reaching through the glass shards, he pulled something out.
"A feather?" he muttered. It was a feather. A glossy black feather with several orange stripes. It was a little raggedy, most likely from crashing through the window.
So the mysterious intruder was a bird. Then again, maybe it was from a fish or reptile of some sort. Heck it could even be a person with feathers on them.
There were some pretty weird things living in the Grand Line.
But probably not too big, not if it fit through the window. Unless, it was some kind of creature that could alter its size at will.
Again, Grand Line.
"Hey Chopper. I think I've got something."
The reindeer pulled his head out from Nami's closet, not noticing several shirts clinging to his horns as he examined Zoro's find.
"Can you follow this scent?"
"I think so. It smells like corn." The reindeer pressed his nose against the floor for a minute. "I got it."
"Great job Chopper."
"Shut up! You bastard. Just cause you say things like that doesn't mean I'm happy."
"I know, now follow it."
"Right!" Chopper raced out the door, paused for a moment, then turned right and raced off.
"Oy! Wait for me!" Zoro rushed out into the hallway and turned left. "Damn. He's already out of sight… wait up Chopper!"
"I'm warning you! You're t-trespassing on the ship of a m-man who once defeated one thousand monsters with a t-toothpick! S-so why don't you s-surrender and make it easy on yourself."
Luffy had dragged him down below deck to the Sunny's hold. This room had always given him the heebie-jeebies, probably because he kept some of his failed inventions down here. Like his ill thought out battle clown mask he had made that one time that was currently leaning against the wall.
Staring at him.
Usopp shivered, turning away from the creepy mask to bump into a monstrosity of blades and gleaming metal.
"Aaaaaahhhhh! MONSTER! Usopp Hammer!" he bashed the nightmarish creation in the face with his trusty hammer.
It harmlessly collapsed in a pile of scrap metal, sending the sound of clashing metal echoing around the hold. Usopp stared at the pile for a few minutes until the noise died away.
Oh Yeah! He remembered this thing. He and Franky had tried to create a robotic attack dog when they got drunk that one time. The resulting robo-rover had destroyed several houses and one very unlucky cabbage cart.
He distinctly telling Franky that the lasers were, in fact, a bad idea.
Nami had forced the sniper to pay back the villagers out of his own pocket and made him clean up the mess. Franky too.
The pair had agreed to never again perform drunk-science.
"Hey Luffy, why did we even keep this thing?"
"…Luffy?"
"L-luffy? Where are you?" The rubberman had been here with him a minute ago; rooting through some crates and whistling a song about food or butterflies or whatever it was that Luffy thought about when he was bored. But he had disappeared, he hadn't popped up to laugh at Usopp for his little freak out, he was just gone.
Leaving the sniper all alone… in a dark scary room…with a stowaway on board.
Usopp tried very hard to spontaneously be somewhere else.
When that didn't work he began to slowly inch towards the doorway, pausing every couple of steps to strain his ears against the dark, desperately trying to hear.
Wait! He could almost hear something… it sounded like… like breathing. Breathing that wasn't his.
That tore it. He was so outta here.
Whirling around he rushed towards the light of salvation, only to come face to face with a visage of horror. A face of blue and white fangs, shrouded in the shadows of the ship.
"Hi."
"AHHHHHHH! USOPP EXPLODING STAR!"
The figure flew backward in a burst of light and fire. It crashed into the wall and slid downward, clutching at its face.
"OW! Damn it, Usopp! What did you do that for? Friggin hurts."
"…Luffy?"
"Duh." It reached up and pulled off its face, revealing his captain glaring back at the sniper. "I found this cool samurai mask and wanted to show it to you. Then you tried to set me on fire. What's that about?"
Usopp giggled. "Oh… just a mask. Hehe. That's okay then." His voice started to crack as he approached the rubberman. Then he lunged, wrapping his hands around Luffy's neck and shaking him.
"You bastard! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"Hey! It's not my fault you're a scaredy-cat!"
"That doesn't excuse scaring the crap out of me like that! You could have just said 'Hey Usopp, check out this cool mask!'"
"But that wouldn't have been nearly as funny."
"Why you!"
Crash!
The quarreling pirates froze as the noise echoed around the hold. Slowly they turned and looked. A barrel had fallen from one of the piles and was rolling across the floor.
"Oh good it was just a barrel. Nothing suspicious about that, just the waves rocking the boat. Definitely not a scary monster hiding in the dark waiting to suck out my eyeballs and crunch my bones."
"No it wasn't. I saw something moving."
"No you didn't Luffy. You're obviously delirious. Come on let's get out of here before the monster, that is totally not here, eats us." The sniper tried to drag him through the door, but Luffy stood up and started walking towards the barrel, his arm stretching out behind him as Usopp tugged furiously.
"Don't be silly, we gotta check it out. Come out! Come out! Mr. Stowaway. I know you're in here." Luffy said in a singsong voice. He started bending down looking under some of the stacks and crates, completely oblivious to Usopp stretching his arm up the stairs.
Usopp gave one final yank on his captain's arm, and was whipped off his feet as snapped back to its master. Sending the coward rocketing back towards the den of scary things. He slammed Luffy, who in turn slammed into the stack of boxes he was looking at.
Which then collapsed on them.
Usopp sat still, waiting for the noise to die down. Boxes were banging and crashing all around, whatever was in them shattering. Slowly the cacophony dying out as one final barrel fell, coming to stop right next to the sniper's head. He listened to the quiet fizzing of the barrel's contents, as he waited for his ears to stop ringing.
Wait… fizzing? The only thing that might make a noise like that was one of Franky's barrels of cola.
Oh.
The barrel ruptured, sending a spray of sweet sticky foam over the prone pirates. Soaking them in sticky cyborg fuel.
Usopp just closed his eyes. Desperately trying to will the day to just go away. It would be a lot easier if whatever was making that squawking noise would just shut up.
Wait.
…Squawking?
He opened his eyes and was met a pair of bright beady eyes, blazing with anger as they stared down a dagger-like beak at the unlucky sniper.
There was only one thing to do.
The Great Captain Usopp, Brave Warrior of the Sea, shrieked like a little girl and fainted.
"How could Chopper have gotten lost so fast?" Zoro grumbled.
This always seemed to happen. He'd take his eyes off a crewmate for half a second and BAM!
Crew. Hopelessly. Lost.
Then he had to go through all the trouble of tracking them down again. Which wasn't easy, even on the Sunny. He'd have to have a chat with Franky at some point in the near future. Seriously? What had the cyborg been thinking when he installed all these moving hallways and rooms on the ship?
The swordsman took a left, coming to a dead end he turned around and took a right Let's see… if he was correct this door would lead to the deck.
He closed his eyes, shaking his head and smirking.
Child's play.
He walked through the door.
"Oh. Hello Mr. Swordsman. What brings you to the library?"
Damn.
Man this bird thing was fast.
Luffy hadn't gotten a good look at it when Usopp had shrieked. But he had glimpsed something flapping its way up the stairs.
Once he'd made sure Usopp was okay, he'd immediately given chase.
But the little bag of feathers was really zippy. Always managing to stay just out of reach, turning corners when Luffy tried to stretch his arms out for a quick grab, and generally being a slippery little devil bird.
It didn't help that it smelled delicious.
Sanji made some really good chicken recipes, and weren't all birds supposed to taste like chicken? Luffy was drooling just thinking about it.
As the chase turned another corner, Luffy grinned. This led to a dead end, he had his future dinner cornered now! As he turned around the corner, the hungry rubberman finally got a good look at his prey.
Huh? What do you know? It actually was a chicken.
A big chicken, standing almost two feet tall, and sporting glossy black feathers with orange stripes, It had finally come to a stop, standing still and glaring up at Luffy with its beady black eyes. Oh man! This thing was gonna be tasty.
"Come here little chicken! I'm gonna eat you." He sung as he moved forward. The chicken just stared back, motionless, just daring this mutated son-of-a-monkey to try.
Luffy accepted the fowl's challenge. Stretching his hand forward to grab his potentially delicious foe. The chicken just hopped upward, neatly landing on his wrist as it shot past.
"Hey! Get off!"
Luffy retracted his arm bringing the chicken with it, the bird leapt over his other outstretched hand, and slammed its beak between the pirate's eyes.
"OUCH! Damn it, that hurts!"
"Bawk-bawk." The bird flapped over the staggering captain and took off once more, its derisive squawks mocking the rubberman.
"That's it! You're dinner! Do you hear me? Dinner!"
Luffy gave chase, shooting through the corridors after it. The chicken jumped into the air, and flew through an open window. Luffy leapt, following it through the porthole.
Then he got stuck.
His shoulders had jammed in the window, wedging him in place. Luffy cursed as he tried to force the rest of his body through, but it wouldn't budge.
Curse Franky and his ridiculously sturdy designs.
The chicken just sat on the open deck, staring up at the trapped captain. Before now, Luffy couldn't have imagined what a smug chicken looked like. Well, he definitely knew now.
"Meep Meep!" the chicken stuck its tongue out.
"What?"
"Bok Bok." The chicken flapped upward and hovered in front of his face, a wicked gleam shining in its eyes.
"H-hey! I didn't really mean what I said about you being dinner. I was just kidding."
"Bawk." The winged demon slammed its beak into Luffy's forehead, right where it had pecked him before.
"OW!" Luffy roared, redoubling his efforts to break free from the window, as he got stabbed with a series of vicious pecks.
The chicken stopped pecking for a moment, and considered then trapped man. It bobbed its head forward in a satisfied nod, and turned, whipping Luffy's nose with its tail feathers. It began to strut off.
Okay, that was it. The king of the pirates wasn't going to get beaten by a stupid little pair of feathery drumsticks. Forcing his arms forward, he felt around until he had a good idea where the window frame was. He may be stuck, but he wasn't gonna stop.
"Gum-Gum: Gatling Gun!"
"How dare this savage disturb the sacred sanctuary a lady's room!?"
Sanji stalked around the deck, ranting about the depraved nature of every man, except for him of course, he was a perfect gentleman. The cook was sticking close to the navigator, determined to make sure she was safe. Franky and Brook, had gone to search the crow's nest and engine room, leaving him alone with the lovely Nami.
"Sanji could you be quiet for a minute? I'm trying to figure out what's happening with the weather."
"Oh course, my sweet."
"Let's see." The orange-haired woman cast her eyes out across the sky. "The air pressure is shifting slightly, could be a storm, but it will probably blow itself out before it hits us. Still, better safe then sorry, we need to deal with any stowaway now-"
She was pulled out of her musing by a crash from the back of ship. She turned and…
Saw a chicken, blitzing across the deck.
She blinked.
Her captain followed the chicken close behind. Luffy had a furious expression on his face; he also had a windowsill jammed around his shoulders. Jagged pieces of wood sticking out like some kind of weird flower petals.
She blinked again. Then sighed. Of course. It was going to be one of THOSE days.
"Luffy, what the hell is with the chicken?" Sanji yelled, moving to intercept the pair.
"Get outta the way, he's mine!"
"Well… alright then." Sanji stepped back, and took his place next to Nami.
The two watched in silence as the chicken circled, ran, and flapped its way around the deck, running circles around the rubberman.
"Get back here you little chicken leg!"
"Bok bok bagawk!"
"Ouch! Damn it! What kind of chicken bites people?"
Sanji and Nami leaned against the upper railing, watching the fight below with airs of general befuddlement.
The pair heard footsteps echoing up from the doorway behind them "Hey! Any news on the stowaway yet?" Came Franky's voice.
"It's a chicken."
"…Is that some kind of secret code?"
"No. The stowaway is an actual chicken. Luffy's fighting it."
"…" Franky worked his way up the stairs and joined them. "Woah. It actually is a chicken."
"Yep."
The trio watched in silence as the fight raged across the lower deck. With a quick grab, managed to get a hand on the bird and latched his other around its beak.
"HA! I got you now you stupid hen!"
"Hey Luffy." Franky called down. "Just so you know, that's actually a rooster."
"How can you tell?"
"Roosters have the big sharp spurs on their legs."
"Spurs?" The roster twisted in Luffy's arms and stabbed the aforementioned bony spikes into the captain's arm with a furious squawk.
"OUCH!" Luffy dropped the bird clutching at his arm.
The rooster stabbed him in the shin and ran off.
"OKAY THAT'S IT! GUM-GUM: PISTOL!" Luffy's arm blurred as it rocketed out, slamming into the rooster and blasting it into to the wall with a savage thud.
"Well that's that." Said Nami, matter-of-factly.
Then the rooster got back up. It turned back toward Luffy.
"BAWK!" with a furious cluck, the rooster started glowing red and steam began to pore out of its body, as it hopped up and down in fury.
Luffy blinked. "But… that's my thing…" he muttered weakly. But had no time to be indignant as the furious fowl charged him. He leapt over the bird, only to be hit by something from behind. He bounced to his feet and saw a second chicken had joined the first, adding it's own angry clucks to the noise.
Then he got hit from behind again, and suddenly the air was full of angry chickens, flapping and clucking in rage as they mobbed the captain.
"OW! OW! STOP PECKING MY HEAD YOU STUPID CHICKENS!" he yelled. Punching out in a futile attempt to knock the birds from the air.
"Uhh…" Franky muttered blinking in bemusement at the sight of his powerful captain being manhandled by a flock on barnyard fowls. "Should… should we help Strawhat?"
"…No… I have a feeling if we went down there, Luffy would wind up accidently punching us instead of these weird chickens." Nami answered. Staring in slight horror at the massacre below.
"But… he's getting slaughtered out there."
"It's Luffy. He'll be fine. Besides, I think I might have a slight allergy to feathers." Sanji added, watching in bafflement as Luffy crouched, trying to shield his head from the furious storm of beaks.
"ALRIGHT! NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!" the rubberman roared. "Gear second." His body started to glow and he began to add his own steam to the rooster's.
"Jet Gatling!" A barrage of blows blasted into all the chickens blasting them back all over the deck.
He saw the rooster dodge his shots, and narrowed his eyes. Not this time.
"Jet Pistol!" his arm blasted forward and nailed the chicken right in the beak. It bounced off the wall and collapsed, twitching against the deck.
The glow faded from both their bodies and the steam dissipated from the air, all the extra chickens disappeared, leaving Luffy and the rooster alone on the deck. Luffy gulped down air for a few minutes.
Slowly, the bird began to move, getting its wings underneath it and pushing itself back to its feet. Luffy grinned.
"Man! You are one tough chicken!" he started laughing. "I like you." The bird just glared at him for a second. Then weakly flapped its wings, forcing itself to become airborne.
"Nu uh! Gum-Gum: Net!" Luffy shot a hand forward. His fingers extending and wrapping around the rooster, gripping it tightly and pulling it back to the victorious pirate.
Luffy held the rooster up towards his spectators and grinned, covered in dirt, bruises, and more then a few cuts, he declared. "Check it out! I won."
"BWAHAHAHAHA! THAT YOU DID BOY! WELL DONE TOO."
The Strawhat pirates all turned at the unfamiliar voice. There was a man strutting the far stairs of the deck as he applauded. He was a big mountain of a man, his bare-chest half hidden from view by his bristly red beard and an enormous single-bladed ax strapped to his back. Following quietly in his wake was a smaller man; with brownish grew hair, styled into an oddly flat hairdo. The smaller one was rubbing his hand against the wooden railing with a slightly puzzled look on his face.
"Hey!" Luffy called. "Who are you and what are you doing on my ship?" as Franky, Nami, and Sanji tensed. These two looked like trouble.
"WELL, IF YOU MUST KNOW, I'M AXE, AND THE TINY GUY BEHIND ME IS STUMP. DON'T MIND US, WE'LL BE GONE IN JUST A SEC. JUST HAND OVER THE BIRD AND WE'LL BE ON OUR WAY!"
"No way. He's mine. I got him fair and square." Luffy pulled the feebly struggling rooster close to his chest and stuck his tongue out at the stranger.
"AWWW! COME ON! PLEASE!"
"No! Go get your own magic chicken. This one is mine."
The smaller man, Stump looked up from his study of the railing. "It's no big deal. Axe." His voice was hard and grainy, rasping against the ear and giving the rubberman and odd impression of tree bark. "These people are obviously pirates. We can just kill them and take the bird. Chances are they'll have a bounty too."
"RIGHTYO! LETS DO IT!" Axe roared. Whipping the axe off his back and lunging at the captain.
"IN THE NAME OF THE AGRIFARM DIVISION OF THE MARINES, I SENTENCE YOU TO A GOOD CHOPPING! BWAHAHAHAHA."
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I only have one thing to say:
Yes I am completely serious. Pheather is a chicken.
I regret nothing.
Challenge: see if you can guess the name of the chicken's devil fruit.