Author's Note: Here's chapter two! I hope you all like!
Disclaimer: Oda owns One Piece and makes the money off it, not me. No sue.
Chapter Two: Island of Meat
The kitchen door closed with a bang. Luffy pouted. "Now there's nothing fun to do…" He leaped up onto his special seat to take a better look at the new island.
As Hoshi ate her food, she watched Usopp came out of the hold, yawning. "Good morning," he said sleepily. "Are we getting close to a new island? That's what I thought I heard."
"Yup!" Luffy laughed, his characteristic grin splitting his face in two. "I can't wait!!"
"Sanji cooking breakfast?"
"All the girls are eating now, he won't let us in yet."
Usopp made a face. "That Sanji… so what should we do until then?"
Luffy thought for a moment (Luffy… thinking?!?!) before he laughed, "Let's play tag!!"
Usopp cheered.
Zoro grumbled and sat back down. "Shut up would you? I need to take my pre-breakfast nap."
"No, you have to play too Zoro!" Usopp said, poking the swordsman.
"How old are you two?!" Zoro stood up in exasperation and started to walk towards the other side of the ship to try to find some peace.
"He's afraid he's going to loooooooose," Usopp said in a stage whisper to Luffy. Luffy chuckled as Zoro froze, a stress mark appearing on his head.
"He's afraid he's going to lo-ose!" Usopp sang, louder this time.
"Shut up!" Zoro said, starting to chase Usopp around the ship.
Usopp started laughing his head off as he ran. "You're way too slow! Can't catch me!"
"Shut up! You just wait until I get my hands on you, you damn long-nosed lia-"
Luffy stretched and hit Zoro on the head. "Oi, Zoro, that's no fair," he whined. "You have to chase me too!"
"I'M NOT PLAYING!" Zoro roared.
"Geez, they're so loud, even when it's this early," Nami muttered around a mouthful of food. She swallowed and stomped outside just as Chopper stuck his head out of the hold.
"Morning already?" the little reindeer mumbled, looking at the sun. He was knocked back into the hold when Luffy, Usopp, and Zoro all stepped on his head, using him as a stepping stone to get across the hold floor. Hoshi could hear him yelling, "AH!! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"
"JUST SHUT UP AND GET IN HERE FOR BREAKFAST!!!" Nami roared.
Hoshi winced. "O-ow… I think I've gone deaf in my left ear…"
Robin chuckled.
"Nami-san's so cute when she's mad!" Sanji swooned.
A couple minutes later, Nami was regretting telling the guys to come in and take their share of food… namely because Luffy was stretching every which way and stealing everyone's food. Everyone was trying to shield their food and wolf it down at the same time… a feat which most of them were failing miserably at, considering that they had about a quarter amount of the food they originally had. Watching Luffy's pattern carefully, the navigator stabbed her fork into Luffy's hand when it came towards her plate.
"Stop stealing everyone's food!" Nami shouted at him, punching him in the head.
"OOOOOWWWWW!!!" Luffy yelled, spraying everyone on the other side of the table from him with chewed bits of food.
There was a dead silence.
Then Hoshi and Zoro snapped at the same time, leaping over the table in order to beat their captain to a pulp.
"DAMN YOU LUFFY! WATCH WHERE YOU SPIT YOUR FOOD!" Zoro roared tackling Luffy.
"WHY THE HELL WERE YOU STUFFING ALL THE FOOD INTO YOUR MOUTH AT ONCE?!?" Hoshi demanded as she kicked Luffy in the head.
A dust cloud formed. Usopp got dragged into it, while he was trying to stay away from it, and poor Chopper started getting all beat up as he tried to stop the fight. Sanji got involved with a frying pan, telling everyone that no one had better be hurting the lady. It went out the kitchen door and started traveling in crazy patterns across the deck.
Robin delicately wiped her face with a napkin. "I believe that we should make plans for what we are going to do when we land on the island," she said to Nami, the only other one who wasn't in the dust cloud.
Nami sweatdropped. "I suppose you're right… but we need to get the others in here somehow. They don't know the meaning of 'quiet', do they?"
Robin smiled. "If they did, then it wouldn't be the same."
"I guess you're right," Nami sighed, before pushing aside the discarded plates and unrolling a map. "This says that the island coming up is called Kiken Island…"
"I've heard of it," Robin said, leaning over to look. "It's a pretty popular island, like a tourist trap, but I've never personally been there, so I don't know why."
Nami sweatdropped. "Who in their right minds would sail the Grand Line as tourists?"
"Well, it's more like a rest stop than anything," Robin corrected.
"Sounds good!" Nami said, standing. "We need to restock on our supplies."
Shouts came from inside the dust cloud.
"What the hell am I doing in here!? OW! THAT WAS MY NOSE!!"
"If any of you bastards lay a finger on Hoshi-chan-"
"LUFFY YOU MORON! WHY'D YOU SPIT FOOD ALL OVER ME?!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!!"
"Plea- ow! Please stop fighting you all!"
"Who's this? I've bending a long pointy thing here…"
"OWW!! THAT'S MY NOSE!!!"
"Oh, hi Usopp."
"Hoshi?!"
Nami sweatdropped before stepping inside the cloud and quickly breaking up the fight. The dust cloud died, and six figures came into view, clutching huge bumps that had risen on their heads.
"Geez, you all are way too loud in the morning," Nami grumbled. "What's the matter with you people?"
They all just groaned.
"Anyways, the island we're coming up on is Kiken Island. According to Robin, it's a good spot to restock on our supplies." Looking pointedly at Luffy, Nami continued. "I don't want anyone causing any trouble or anything that will get us kicked out of town… at least, not till we get our supplies."
"What? Who would do that?" Luffy asked, patting his hat. Everyone sweatdropped.
Nami sighed. "Well, let's start getting ready to dock. Everyone help out!"
Luffy jumped onto his special seat and punched the air in excitement. "Yosh, let's set a course for Kiken, the island of meat!!"
"AYE!" his crew responded.
"Who said it was the island of meat?!" Nami demanded, exasperated.
A couple hours later, everyone was staring until their eyes popped out.
"Whoa…" Nami was speechless.
"I think I'm dreaming…" Usopp muttered.
The crew had docked onto the new island at about noon, and they found out that the island of Masao was actually what Luffy said… it was an island of meat. Meat shops were up and down every single street. There were restaurants that specialized in chicken, fish, pork, beef, and whatever other sort of meat there is.
Luffy had yelled with excitement on first docking… now he just sort of oozed on the ground in a happy daze. Hoshi was laughing herself silly at seeing Luffy. She laughed so hard, tears started streaming out of her eyes.
"Well…" Nami cleared her throat. "Let's restock and supply. We'll meet back here at about six o'clock. Here's everyone's allowance, and don't spend all of it at once."
Everyone lined up to get their allowance. Once they had all received it, they went their separate directions. Luffy raced into the first restaurant he saw, followed by Usopp. Robin and Chopper set out for the nearest bookshop. Sanji went out shopping for the ship's food supply. Nami was running low on paper for her maps, and some of her scoping tools needed updating, so she went to a tool shop. Hoshi set out to find a music store: her flute needed to be cleaned. She walked around, peeking in one shop window and the next. The whole place was like one big tourist trap. Zoro followed her at a distance, keeping an eye on her.
Following Hoshi at a distance proved to have its advantages, as Zoro was able to spot several thugs who were a little shifty-eyed and throwing glances in her direction. They stood grouped around a corner of a fish store, smoking and just standing around.
One of them wolf-whistled softly. "That's one sweet girl Boss," one of the underlings muttered.
Zoro pretended to be interested in a glassy eyed fish looking at him through the store's window.
The 'boss' had torn off the sleeves of his T-shirt, displaying a tattoo of a spiked anchor on his shoulder. He smoked a big cigar, and he looked up to see who his subordinate was referring to. A smirk spread slowly over his face as he realized who he was looking at. He took a big drag on his cigar and then stubbed it out on the wall next to him. "Who's up for a little fun?" he asked.
His subordinates grinned nastily before stubbing out their own cigars. They tramped off in unspoken agreement after Hoshi.
"Tell the others to block off the street," the leader commanded.
Zoro listened to them go, his eyes shadowed under his hair.
Unaware of the danger coming her direction, Hoshi looked at a glass representation of hanging meat through a store that sold souvenirs. "Wow," she murmured. "The artists here are really talented." She leaned in a little closer to the store window, and then noticed several shadows fall across the glass. Looking in the reflection of the glass, she saw the thugs surrounding her, their nasty grins still pasted on their faces. Hoshi felt a flicker of fear. There were six of them, and looking at the reflection of the street behind her, she spotted five more of the same gang. She also noticed the street was strangely deserted… which meant that there were even more of them blocking off both ends of the street.
Dammit, I'm in trouble, she thought. Deciding on an unorthodox method of facing people, she spun around and waved cheerily at the six surrounding her. "Good afternoon!" she chimed.
They hesitated for just a second, caught off guard. They had expected her to be intimidated. That second was all Hoshi needed. There was a blast of wind, and Hoshi held her whip in her hands. Cracking it, she knocked one of them over. Not wanting to hurt anyone more than necessary to get away, she left him only a little scratch instead of a fatal cut through his chest.
She ran through the gap as the guy fell over, and sprinted towards the end of the street. It would be a VERY bad idea to fly to escape. The last thing she needed was the underground organization of this city to know her secret.
"There she goes!"
"Don't let her get away!"
"Dammit, she's fast."
Words floated up from behind her, accompanied by running footsteps. Being chased by people who intended to trap her was a horribly familiar experience to Hoshi. Something was pouring through her veins, making her run faster and faster until she almost was flying… whether it was adrenaline or fear, she couldn't tell.
An image of her father figure, bleeding on the ground, struck Hoshi with the equivalent of a physical blow. She fell hard, scraping her right shoulder and elbow on the pavestones. She tried to get back up to keep running, but they were on her before she could do anything.
"Hold her arms!"
"Get that whip out of her hands!"
"Dammit you bastards, let go of me!" Hoshi screamed, fighting a thug who had grabbed her left arm. She cracked her whip on his head a couple times, but because she was lying on the ground, those blows didn't make him do any more than let go. She dodged a second pair of groping hands, and jumped back to her feet. She didn't have time to call up one of her weapons, so she let loose some of her martial arts knowledge. Most of the thugs stepped back, nursing bruises, until they formed a circle around her. More of their nakama started streaming out the alleys in a flood. Soon there were more than forty strong against Hoshi. Zoro watched. Now what're you going to do, Hoshi? he wondered. He wasn't worried, really. Hoshi was strong, and he could step in if it looked like Hoshi was going to loose.
One of them screamed, "What the hell is that sort of fighting?!"
Hoshi grinned wolfishly. "One that I bet you've never seen before," she replied, before launching her next attack. She was DONE being nice.
Hoshi moved like water, flowing seamlessly from one position into another, dealing kicks and punches primarily to exposed necks and guts. She didn't mind breaking a bone here or there either, and she wasn't picky about giving bruises either… she couldn't be picky now. The numbers were too big. She blocked and attacked in a strange manner, her stances and postures unlike anything that had ever been seen before… but that wasn't to say they weren't effective. Zoro, watching from the shadow of a nearby store, grinned. Hoshi was full of surprises.
"Very well done," said a voice. Hoshi spun to face the owner.
"So… are you the leader of this happy little party?" Hoshi asked, her voice light and casual. Her body movements sent a different message. You are so dead.
"You're quite the chick, aren't you?" the anchor-man asked, paying no attention to the death threat. "How's about spending tonight at one of the nearby bars?"
"Over my dead body."
The anchor-man was unfazed. "There's partyin' every night in this town sweetie. It's not a bad thing."
Hoshi scowled. "I know partying's not all bad."
"Then come with me! There's gonna be rum and karaoke."
"No. You aren't my type at all."
"What sort of man is your type then?"
Hoshi didn't answer before she drew back her fist and punched the man's face with all the strength she could muster. Zoro winced as a nasty crack split the air. The anchor-man fell, his nose horribly misshapen. His eyes were rolled back into his head: he was clearly unconscious.
The rest of the men who were still standing didn't know how to react to their leader being defeated so easily, so they did the only thing that made sense to them at that second… they picked up their leader and ran away.
Hoshi watched their backs distastefully. She groaned and stretched. "Man," she said to the sky, "those guys are nothing but crap."
"I agree with that," Zoro said, stepping out of the alley, grinning. Hoshi grinned back at him.
"How long were you there for?" she asked.
"Long enough."
"Luffy'll be pretty happy, did you hear the part about there being parties every night?"
"Yeah. I bet they'll be giving out some booze, so I'll be there if the rest of us decide to go."
Hoshi groaned. "You drink way too much."
"Shut up!"
She laughed. Glancing at the sky, she saw that the sun was sinking rapidly. "Whatever parties are going to happen are going to happen soon, if my guess is right. Let's get back to the ship and tell the others."
"Sounds good."
They walked together for a short distance before a thought struck Hoshi. "By the way… what were you doing there?"
"Nothing. Just watching," Zoro told the sky.
Hoshi grinned. "Okay by me."