Chapter 2: A Partial Answer
AN: Well, this was a bit later than I had hoped. Unfortunately, stuff happens sometimes, and this post got a little delayed (Oh well, one and a half weeks is still fairly fast on the update schedule, at least by my writing standards). Either way, I got a pretty good reception to last chapter. I hope you enjoy this chapter too. I know some people found the genderbending a little bit offputting, and a little but unnecessary.
Fun fact- this fic could work exactly the same without the gender change… but then again, IROB is an incompetent dick. And I think I have learned through much experience that since I enjoy putting my Self Inserts through hell and back, I should probably dispense with the formalities, and just roll with it.
Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to the almighty Goda, praise his name and his capacity for world building and feels inducement.
"Before, I asked myself how hard could it possibly be." I spoke aloud. "Now I know. It looks like it will be quite a bit harder than I anticipated. Quite. A. Bit…"
"So then, Cactus, how long are you going to kneel there?" Horace eventually asked me after about a full minute of me giving into total despair at my situation. "'Because, your knees are bound to be aching by now."
"Just… give me this moment, okay? I feel like I just need one moment to futilely lament my situation before I get up and walk it off."
"Care to tell us about what your little freakout was about, girlie?" My eyebrow twitched, almost unconsciously.
"Well Verte, sometimes the world disappoints you. And sometimes you tend to be very wrong about something you were very certain of. And then there are those times where you just wonder if it's even worth getting out of bed the morning."
"Is this one of those times?"
That was a silly question. I'd made a terrible deal with the most uncreative ROB ever, had been tossed into One Piece, was presently the wrong gender, and had just found out that any hope of an easy journey to find Luffy had just been sucker punched. So yeah- a shitty day.
I scratched my chin idly. "I think so. Honestly, I've just found out that I'm literally in the wrong ocean compared to where I thought I was, and now I'm going to have literally cross half the world if I ever want to get anything done."
"Still not quite sure what your problem is or how you could get so lost you forget which body of water you're in, but you do realise that barely ten percent of people ever get the chance to leave their home Blue, and most of them are either pirates, Marines or merchants?"
"Sure, it looks like it will be difficult. But damn it, I don't think I can give up now." Mostly because if I give up before I even try to find Luffy my IROB will get bored and try to find other ways to draw entertainment from me, and because I really didn't want to be known as that one Self Insert Guy (Still a Guy on the inside, dang it!) who gave up a life of adventure to work at a sandwich shop before he'd even tried to set sail.
"So, what are you going to do now?" Horace queried. "Am I wrong in assuming that you possess literally nothing, which kind of puts a stopper in any cross oceanic adventures? Do you have a home nearby you can get to?"
"Let's just say that my home is very far away and the South Blue isn't my native ocean. I literally have no idea how I washed ashore here."
Verte shrugged, utterly brushing the issue off. "Fair enough. I've seen and heard weirder." And the sad thing was she likely had. "So, no home to return to, and nothing but the ill-fitting clothes off your own back. Your prospects don't look good."
"Yeah, but I also have a Devil Fruit power of some kind which will no doubt be awesome once I figure out what it is." I couldn't claim to be a True Spacebattler seeing as I barely use that website for anything but to read, so I wouldn't be making any orbital lasers any time soon, but I like to think I'm still Munchkin enough to figure out a creative use of my power (When I figure it out). "I'm sure there's some way for me to get a ride to the East Blue."
Horace just gave me an sceptical look and readjusted his hat. "There's a difference between 'hitching a lift' somewhere and finding yourself halfway across the world."
"I'm sure something will come up." Mostly because IROB isn't likely to find the sight of me working my ass off at minimal wage somewhere- just to get enough money to find myself with even a chance to get close to the Plot- very interesting to observe. I probably shouldn't rely on the fact that a literal omnipotent entity wants to get some entertainment out of me as a justification and means to get myself out of any situation, but it's not like I'm asking for a lot. I just need an opportunity- to be given a simple way to find myself closer to the action.
"Really?" Verte raised an eyebrow.
"Really." I agreed.
"You sure you don't want to, I don't know, find some level of stability and security before you go rushing off blindly and hoping that you'll get lucky and somehow find a way to get to the East Blue for whatever reason you want to get there for?"
"Don't be silly." Common sense is like the antithesis of a Straw Hat Pirate. I should probably get used to disregarding it altogether.
Verte merely rolled her eyes. "Fine. See if I care that you're gonna get yourself killed."
I winced. I was in no position to survive the Grand Line as I was now. If I didn't find Luffy, I would be in a lot of trouble. Sheepishly, I rubbed the back of my head. "Ah- I don't suppose I could stick about for maybe a day or so? J-just until I actually figure out what my power is, y'know?"
There was skepticism in the old lady's eyes- but as she looked at me a small smile crept onto her lips. "I think we can accommodate you, at least for a day or two."
XXXXXXXXXX
When I woke up the next day, the first thing I did was push off my sheets, pull down my pyjama bottoms and clarify whether everything I remembered over the last day or so had been a terrible, terrible dream.
Unfortunately, the events of the previous day were clearly as real as I could remember them being- there is nothing quite as legitimising as finding a wild Cloyster in your pants when you expect to see an Onix.
"For the record, this is completely unnecessary." I said aloud, almost certain that IROB would be listening in… somewhere. "Couldn't you have given me some other crippling weakness? Unnaturally clumsy? Horrifically ugly? Merely looking like a girl? As a writer, I get that I needed some kind of ironic payment for everything I 'gained', but come on! This," I gestured at my lower plumbing," is a dick move. Trade in?"
The world was silent. There was no indication that I'd been heard, or that IROB would even bother responding even if he could. "Plus, as much as I hate to admit it, he couldn't have picked a more ironic wording for our deal. I wanted a new body- one that complies with the laws of One Piece and stood a chance of letting me survive my upcoming adventures, and he gave me one- I just never specified a gender, so he fucked me over on that rather than one of the other ways he could have screwed me."
So yes- I could kinda see why I'd been put in this mess. "Though in turn, that makes me fearful of what my OTHER payments were."
Afterall, I'd asked for three things: a new body, a Devil Fruit and a fancy pants D in my name. The genderbending was clearly the payment for the first, but what were the other two?
I had my suspicions about the Devil Fruit situation- especially as I'd been hit particularly hard by my brief contact with sea water. Even by my understanding of One Piece, my reaction had been particularly bad. But what, oh what, could the payment for something as abstract as a 'D' in my name be?
"Fuck it." I sighed, and pulled my bottoms back up. "Enough complaining. Enough musing. Big day ahead of me. Got things to do. Can't afford this shit."
And with that mild bit of self-motivation, I rose from the bed I'd been assigned, fully intent on getting ready for a full day of trying to figure out my Devil Fruit power. Except, there was one problem. In all my time, so far in this new world, there was one thing I had yet to do. Something I'd been dreading. Something that was going to be such a steadfast presence in my life, that I was going to get used to it- whether I liked it or not.
"Oh no. I need the toilet."
XXXXXXXXXX
I'd been sitting here, with my pants down (Literally and metaphorically), for the last five minutes, and I still had only one question. "HOW IN THE WORLD AM I MEANT TO DO THIS!?"
XXXXXXXXXX
"Come on! Go, go Gadget Bazooka!" Nothing. "Kame Hame Ha?" The pose did nothing. "Trace on?" Nada. "Moon Prism Power, Make Up?" Luckily, I generated no response from using those last words. "Really though, what does it take to figure out what your dumbass super powers are!?"
It seemed like working on my Devil Fruit power would be a nice way to kill time (And distract me from those quieter thoughts I was trying to ignore), but honestly, I'd been getting such lacklustre results that I was wondering if it was even worth doing.
"Kekikekike!" Verte laughed from her rocking chair while she watched me stumble around outside the front of the cottage, doing everything I could think of to try and figure out what the hell my Devil Fruit power was. I knew that the power gained from eating a fruit was literally random, and that they were often abstract in nature, but this was seriously killing me. "I swear, seeing you struggle is hilarious!"
"Shut up, you old bat!" I growled. "I'm totally making progress!"
"You've been posing like a Super Sentai character for the last half hour, and looked like you were having a stroke for the hour before that."
"I was concentrating." I grumbled. "Very intently at that. And for all I know I ate the 'dance, dance' fruit and NEED to make ridiculous poses for my powers to activate."
"So, have you figured out anything in the last hour and a half of you making a fool of yourself?"
"Yes, actually." I told her defensively, crossing my arms sternly. "Ever since I got up this morning, I've been trying to figure it out in a very methodical fashion. I already know quite a bit."
"Like?"
"Well, I know I haven't eaten a Zoan fruit. I've tried to imagine myself transforming in every way possible and I've felt no change, so it's likely not that. Likewise, imagining myself turning into materials or most of the common elements hasn't worked either, so I guess I'm probably not a Logia. I like to think that eating a Devil Fruit would give you some immediate benefit or changes, so there's nothing too obvious. If it was a Paramecia, it certainly didn't permanently change my body otherwise I would have noted too."
Not anymore elastic than before, not much harder, I still bleed and I don't feel much different.
"Maybe you ate the Useless-Useless Fruit!" She jeered.
"It's not like you HAVE to be here to laugh at me!"
"Maybe not, but this is the funniest shit I've had to entertain me in weeks. Haven't you noticed that I'm a little old lady that sits around outside her cottage all day? It's not an exaggeration to say that this is literally the most interesting thing I can do."
"… point. Being a pensioner sucks."
"Heh- you'll be old and wrinkly and grumpy like me some day. Oh wait, you already are grumpy."
"Come on Sam, calm down. She's just riling you up. DON'T do something you will later regret because you still need to eat and sleep and she's providing both bed and board."
"Maybe we should just start throwing things at you and see what sticks?"
Wait- is she being serious? "Why the hell would that- OUCH!" I rubbed my arm, and then glared at her for throwing a rock at me. "That hurt. What was that for?"
"I'm helping." Then she threw another.
"Hey, quit it!"
And another.
"Seriously, it's gonna bruise if you- THAT HIT MY FACE!"
"You still look young and pretty!" She cackled, lightly tossing another stone from one hand to her other, then readied herself to lob it at me. "Now stop complaining and do something about it!"
"I will, you old bag of bones!" I sure as heck didn't want to be 'young and pretty', but even so, her attitude sucked, and that rock had hurt, and for that alone I was gonna damn well do something about it. Then she threw the rock, and it arced through the air towards me. "I swear to god I'm catching that. There is no way I'm letting that hit me. Then I'm gonna throw it at her and see how she likes it!"
My body was superior to what it once was, and so were its reflexes. I was still adapting to the new body (In more ways than one. I feared that I wouldn't ever get used to hearing a stranger's words when I spoke, or seeing another person's face in the mirror), but surely catching a rock thrown in an arc at me couldn't be that hard in comparison, especially when I was concentrating and motivated like this?
The stone curved towards me, and I saw its path. I raised one hand in front of me "Catch it, catch it, catch it!", my stomach dropped in anticipation, then my hand met the stone… and I felt nothing.
"Huh?" My hand felt nothing. I looked down, then behind me to see if I'd somehow miscalculated the direction of the throw, but it was gone. "That's odd." I'd been meaning to catch it, and I could swear that I'd touched it, but now it had just vanished.
"There we go!" Verte grinned like a vulture. "Progress!"
"What do you mean?"
"The stone is gone. My eyesight hasn't gone yet, and it undeniably vanished."
Now that she mentioned it… I had been certain my hand had met it. "Then… where is it?"
"Why don't you tell me that, Miss Devil Fruit User?"
"True. The stone is gone, but where? Is my power the ability to vaporise things or something?" I wondered, then I went on. "But where did the stone go? Where? Can I bring it back?"
Shrugging, I figured there was no harm. I raised my hand until it's palm was adjacent to my face, imagined the stone appearing in my left hand, focussing intently on the image of the stone emerging, and watched carefully. There! A slight tugging in my gut, as if some muscle I'd never used before was being tensed, and then a ripple appeared right in the centre of my palm. Except it wasn't really a ripple, so much as a distortion an inch or so atop my skin. A moment later and the stone shot out, flying up for a metre, until gravity took over and stopped its motion. It dropped into my ready hand.
"Huh. So that's where the stone went." The real question was, could I repeat it? I tried to replicate the feat, and imagined the stone vanishing again. The gut tugging sensation returned, and then the stone sunk into my hand. As I now knew what to look for I carefully made sure to memorise the process, and could almost feel something was being added to. I waited ten seconds, then imagined the stone returning to my other hand. Like before, the stone reappeared, but this time was slowly elevated from the ripple as opposed to being shot out like a fastball.
"Well, at least I've made progress." I said softly, because holy shit, I still had no clue exactly what I'd just done, but I'd just magically transported a stone from one hand to the next. This was proof that I had powers- I was a fucking superhero. Or, well, like every third person in the Grand Line. Still. "Hell yeah! I have powers!"
"So… happy I started throwing rocks at you yet, Catcus?" Verte smirked at me, with another rock somehow in her hand again, despite the fact that I'd never seen her leave her seat and that she was on a wooden porch where there were no rocks nearby to pick up.
"No, because that was a jackass move." And then I threw the rock at her, because I said I would, and she effortlessly plucked it out the air with her free hand.
"You're a few decades too young to think you can hit me." She said. "Still, while a 'jackass move', you can't deny my results."
I really couldn't.
"From what I know, Devil Fruits are mostly instinctive. It doesn't matter how much you overthink things and try to 'work it out'. You don't think about it, you just do it. Notice how as soon as you stop deliberating over how to do it, you were able to get some results."
"How do you know so much about Devil Fruits anyway?" I asked her. "I thought most people in the Blues were ignorant of their mechanics?" Or at least that was the impression East Blue gave me, since even a Marine Captain seemed largely ignorant of them, while everyone else seemed to think of them as myths.
"Most people are." she agreed.
"Plus, how did you catch that rock?"
"With my hands? I'm old, not out of shape?" The look she gave me was scathing.
"You get what I mean." I rolled my eyes. "Who are you anyway?"
"I told you, my name is Verte. When I was married, I took on my husband's family name- Mascade. But my maiden name is Portgas."
"So your name was Portgas Verte?"
"If you want to be strictly accurate it was Portgas D Verte, but I hardly use my middle name anymore because everybody used to ask me what the D stands for, but I could never give a straight answer about it because the D just seems to be… well, Dee."
"Dee? A fucking D!"
I reeled for a moment from the revelation. Because holy shit, she just said she had a D in her name! You don't just get that initial handed to you! Admittedly I did, but I'm a Special Snowflake like that! But her- she's a natural born D. Plus there's that Portgas bit.
Where have I heard that name before? Oh yeah!
"Holy shit! You're related to Portgas D Ace!" I accused.
"Why yes, yes I am. He's my grandson through my dearly departed daughter."
"Holy shit! You're Portgas D 'I'm a gonna fire punch you' Ace's grandma."
"Why yes, yes I am. I just said I was, actually."
"Holy shit! You said these were your daughter's old clothes, so am I wearing Portgas D Ace's MUM'S clothes!?"
"Oh for the love of-" Verte planted her face into her palms and groaned. "Yes, I am! Now are you done freaking out already?"
Good question? Am I done freaking out? Apparently I've been arguing with the bonafide grandmother of the son of the King of Pirates. Hell, she was literally the Mother in Law of Gol D Roger. So, am I done freaking out? "Probably not." I admitted.
WHOOSH! "Sonnuva-" She threw another of her rocks at me! "You threw a rock at me again!"
"I did, because you're being hysterical and pissing me off. Now pay attention because I'm throwing more rocks at you now, and if you have another freak out about just who grandkid is then I'll find a really big rock."
"How big?"
"REALLY big." She threatened. "Now, start reacting. We're either going to bruise you black or blue, or we're going to find out what your Devil Fruit power is."
"Yes Ma'am!" I cried, preparing myself. "Why is every old woman in One Piece apparently a badass!? And really cruel!?"
XXXXXXXXXX
"Honey, I'm home!" Horace shouted triumphantly, brandishing a tied-up fish and rod as if all should kneel beneath his superior fishing ability. "And I come baring carp!"
"That's good t'hear. Now get out the way. You're blocking my throwing range." Verte demanded.
Meanwhile, I could give no coherent reply, too busy rocking on the floor in a tight ball of trauma. Verte was not only an apparent Retired Badass, she could also hit hard with a rock, and had deadly aim. Even with my new reflexes and power I was still sporting a dozen or so bruises all across me. That wasn't the problem though. "The rocks. The rocks. Where does she get them from? I watched her! She didn't get up from that damned rocking chair once, and she's on a wooden porch, so where oh WHERE did the rocks come from!?"
"Just don't think about it." Horace declared wisely, leaning over slightly to pat my shaking form reassuringly. "Still, I see that you've finally met Hurricane Verte. Quite the violent shrew, isn't she?"
"Shrew? More like a maniac! Screw sticking around, I'd be safer lying down in the shallow end of the sea!"
"Come now, aren't you hungry from the beating this little old lady gave you?" Jeered the surprisingly violent lady. "We have fish ready for dinner."
"Which I caught." Reminded Horace proudly.
"And I think we've learned all we can from this training session."
"Training!? All you did was throw rocks at me! What could you possibly have learnt!?"
She pondered for a moment, then finally got her ass off that chair. "Well, firstly we know that you're really bad at dodging."
"Dodging!? You told me to catch. That was specifically what I was meant to be doing!"
"You are also apparently bad at catching rocks."
"That's because you were a cricket pitcher in another life!" She had also likely been tutored by Garp in the act of throwing unusual projectiles at high speeds.
"Plus, we learned a bunch about your power."
"Like what?"
She turned to me and gave me a wry smile. "You don't have to catch with your hands. I distinctly recall you missing the rock but still 'absorbing it' before it bruised you- through your shirt at that. Plus, you aren't limited to one thing at a time, as when I threw two rocks at you at the same time you were able to catch them both. Speaking of which, you only released one, so you might want to do that."
"Huh. I never noticed." Without another word, I recalled said rock from wherever I put it, let it shoot into the air and caught it in my hand on its way down again.
"Question, can you summon it from anywhere but your hand?"
"Who knows? Let's find out." I pulled it back in, noting the familiar sensation of absorbing it, then tried to imagine the ripples appearing on my feet. Seconds later and I could distinctly feel a stone in my shoe. "Yup. Doesn't have to be my hands." I promptly sucked it back up and dropped it from my open palm straight to the ground.
"So that's one more thing we know." Verte reminded. "Next, you don't have to release the captured item immediately or release simultaneous captures together either. I threw that rock right near the beginning of the session, and it's been sitting there wherever it was until now. Furthermore, your power isn't limited to rocks. I threw a spoon at you somewhere in the middle, and you fired it off at me without even noticing."
"And I still don't know how you blocked every shot." I spat.
"It's because I'm old, not incompetent." She waggled her pointing finger at me chidingly. "And don't you forget it, Cactus."
"Name's not Cactus." I reminded.
"Yes, but you still haven't actually told us your full name, so that's what your called." She was right; somehow, I still hadn't gotten round to naming myself. "Still, you're a smart girl." I flinched, almost unconsciously. "A-anyway, now that I've stopped training you, surely even you can figure out something about your power."
In my defence, I'd been too busy trying to not get hit by rocks to really pay attention to the exacts of what I had been doing- when it's a case of get bruised or get good, my attention had been largely focused upon survival. Still, Verte had given out some good analysis of our session, and I'd had a little breathing space to think.
Quite frankly, there was one little detail of our session that really stood out to me.
"I think the biggest and most abusable thing I've learned about my power, is the simple fact that anything I Absorbed into that rippling Field maintained its speed and momentum."
And holy shit was that a good thing. In the words of GLADOS, 'fast thing goes in, fast thing goes out'. I still didn't actually know what my power was, but I could already imagine a dozen situations where that could be helpful.
"Anyhow, I think I've beaten you up for now. Head on in and get washed up before dinner." Verte dismissed me.
"Yes Ma'am." I saluted tiredly, then marched inside. I was already at the bathroom by the time I even thought to think through what I was doing. "Holy shit, she really is a D, isn't she?" Why yes, yes she was. "And she's good- really good." For all I complained, Verte's 'training session' turned out to be quite fruitful. I could now activate my power whenever I wanted (Even if I didn't fully understand what it was I was doing), and those observations she made at the end were actually quite useful.
"She might be good, but that doesn't make her any less of a bitch." I firmly decided. Feeling a bit better at myself for not getting soft, I washed my hands and slapped some water onto my cheeks to wake me up. This still felt a little unreal, and the face in the mirror still seemed like that of a stranger, but I at least felt a little better about my situation now that I'd trained a little with my Devil Fruit.
"Wonder what it is though?" I pondered. "The Catch-Catch Fruit? Portal-Portal? A spatial Fruit of some kind? Or was what I did earlier just a peripheral use of my real power?" It was hard to tell, but I wasn't going to get any more answers today. And I was far too hungry and tired and sore to worry.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Anyway, now that I am fed and arguably less grumpy now, I don't suppose you'd mind if I ask some questions?" Like the humble house cat, with my stomach full and my needs sated, my metaphorical claws had subtracted, meaning my question actually came out without the usual snark.
"Nah, I don't mind, girlie." again, a flinch from my end. "Nothing wrong with questions. Unless they're dumb ones."
I raised an arm, much like a student before a teacher, "Soooo… isn't this where you say sagely 'there are no dumb questions'?"
Sceptical look is sceptical. "No, because there are dumb questions."
"Well, let's assume mine won't be."
"Then go ahead and ask."
"Sooo… about you and Ace…"
"How's about a question that isn't gossip related?" Verte smiled pointedly and in a definitely-not-nice fashion.
"Fair enough." I suppose there are some questions just not asking, even with the curiosity of a cat to match the eating habits. "More seriously, just where is thingymejiggy island?"
"You mean this one? Baterilla?"
"Indeed."
"Well, I'd say we're towards the centre of South Blue. We aren't exactly a massive island, but we're big enough."
"Big enough for boats, right?"
It was at this point that Horace chimed in. Up until now he'd been emulating the Grizzly and been hibernating on the sofa to sleep off the massive meal, but here his head popped up and said "This is about the 'going to East Blue' thing, isn't it?"
"I'm not giving up on that idea." I said firmly.
"Not asking you to either." He waved his arms in an exaggerated fashion. "Just checking. Because it's not an exaggeration to say that you've got a tricky journey ahead of you. I don't necessarily have a problem with the fact that you want to be a pirate, save for the fact that I wonder if a girlie like you is cut out for that kind of life."
I was about to either interject to defend my honour, or to finally shout out about just how little a 'girlie' I really was, but he pressed on before I could speak. "And yes, I know, Cactus, that you can survive, I'm sure. Point is, I have no problem with that. It's just that if you want to be a pirate there are easier and quicker ways to do it than to run off to the Weakest Sea."
"Yeah, but I don't just want to be a pirate. I wanna be a certain kind." I couldn't really go into too much depth considering Luffy wasn't likely to be notorious yet, but I didn't want to join just any Pirate crew. At this point my expectations had been raised- it was either Straw Hat or nothing. "So, if I wanted to go to East Blue, how would you suggest I get there?"
"No clue." Horace shrugged, and then his face vanished as he slumped back onto the sofa. "There's nowhere around here that I know about who would ever sail to East Blue. For one thing, you need a very fancy ass type of ship to get there, since you have to cleave straight through the Grand Line normally to get there."
"So, I need to go elsewhere at the very least?"
"Head to one of the bigger islands." Verte recommended. "The Briss Kingdom has its problems, but they have a big focus on merchants and goods transportation. Worst comes to worst, you could enter the underbelly of Briss and enter as a Smuggler. If you could figure out the limits of your power, you could be quite useful for sneaking contraband items through security, and doing a job or two might be enough to get you to East Blue. Meanwhile, Karate Island is less busy, but people come from all Four Blues to study and battle there, so I'm sure at least somebody there would be aiming to return to East Blue at some point."
"This is all I can do? Travel to a larger island, then hope for the best?" It didn't seem like the odds were that high of finding a reliable way to get there.
"Basically." I heard Horace sigh. "Go there, and hope for the best."
"I suppose that's all I can do." I released my own sigh. "I don't necessarily want to do anything too Illegal or harmful, so smuggling is out unless I'm desperate. I guess Karate Island is as good a start as any." And if it does end up as a dead end, I might be able to get in a bit of training there.
"When do you plan to go?"
"As soon as possible." While I'd like to stay, I'm a procrastinator. If I don't do it now, I never will.
"You sure I can't tempt you to stay for more training?" Leered Verte.
It was tempting, as she was fairly competent, but I didn't much like her training methods, and if I stayed too long I might end up missing Luffy. Best just to train on the job. I'll have plenty of chances once I join up with Luffy, anyway. "No thanks. I'm grateful for your hospitality, but the sooner I leave, the better."
"Welp, I guess that's that." Horace stood up suddenly. "I'm heading into town tomorrow. Got some bits and bobs to buy. If you want, I can lead you there."
I smiled honestly. "Thanks. I'd really appreciate that."
XXXXXXXXXX
I was as ready to leave as I was ever going to be. I had dressed myself in whatever I could of my original clothes, though the jeans were too large now and had to be held to me with a belt and the hoodie a bit too warm for the tropical climate and thus had to be tied around my waist, while my t-shirt was too uncomfortable to wear with my new breasts (Modest though they may be) so I had been forced to 'borrow' one from Portgas D Rogue's old clothes. I was still using male underwear and had to chosen to forego a bra though- because fucking hell. There was only so far I was willing to accommodate this pesky new body of mine.
"You ready to go, Cactus?" Verte asked gently from her rocking chair.
"I believe so. Ah- thanks for the supplies and stuff, by the way." I thanked her, because I hadn't just gotten a shirt from her, but she had also given me an old bag and put some basic supplies in it for me.
"Heh- it was just going to waste in my cupboards. Try not to die though."
"I won't." I told her, and hefted the bag onto my back. "By the way, my name is Samu-" No, not Samuel. Not anymore. "Sam. Sam D Clarke. Keep an eye on the news. I'm sure someday you'll see me on it someday."
"A Dee too, eh? I suppose I might do. By the way, if you ever figure out what that damn initial means, make sure to give me a holler, y'hear?"
I rolled my eyes. "Sure. Horace, you ready to go?"
"Of course." Horace smiled, already starting to walk along the path to the next town. "Follow me."
XXXXXXXXXX
When we got there, the town was on fire, and it wasn't my fault. As in it literally had nothing to do with me, and was burning even before me and Horace got there.
"Fuck." Horace growled as we entered the outskirts of the seaside town. "Its… its burning."
Not necessarily all of the town, but a significant number of buildings had been put to the fire, and I could hear screams in the air and the sound of gunfire.
"What the hell is going on here?" I asked, though deep down I already knew the answer.
"Pirates." Horace said, then gestured to the coast where a single, lone ship was docked. One with proud black sails, and white skull and crossbones.
"Pirates." I repeated, tasting the word. Yes- this was the typical sight of piracy. A town on fire, civilians in danger, looting and pillaging galore. This was the precisely the kind of thing the Straw Hat pirates stood as the anti-thesis of.
It was people like this that I was no doubt going to have to fight someday. Except someday might just have to be today. I had hoped to have way longer to train and hopefully figure out my powers, but time had run out.
Honestly, I was terrified. I'd never fought a proper fight in my life. Never went beyond minor schoolyard scuffles, and pulled hair and punches. And if I were to fight, I could die. More than that- I was ill prepared. The real question was: 'do I walk away until I'm in a position to fight', or 'do I dive into the deep end now'?
"Come on, Sam. We should go." Horace grimaced. "We can't do anything here, and if we leave they might never know we were here. Chances are they'll skedaddle when they've had their fill, before any Marines show up."
"No." I shook my head sadly, stepping forwards instead. "You can't do anything, but I can. I have a Devil Fruit, which puts me at a higher level than most other people."
"Maybe so, but you also only got it a day ago, and still know JACK SHIT about how to use it."
I winced at his brutally honest words. I really wasn't in a good position, but heading forwards was the only way to left for me to go. Ultimately, I must get strong to survive the Grand Line, but to get strong I must fight. Therefore, logically, I should fight while I still can before things hit the insane level of the Grand Line. Maybe I'll get really badly hurt, but I have to start somewhere, and fighting off some no-name pirates might be just what I need.
Plus, there's no way this is random. I could definitely feel the unsubtle presence of IROB about this, because like hell would I be just unlucky enough normally to wind up walking into a pirate attack just as soon as I set off on my adventure. IROB put this enemy in front of me, so on a meta level that means I can probably win, as IROB wouldn't send someone too strong after me.
Then again, much of my argument only works from a meta level. Grind early game to serve better later on in the Campaign, and desperately hope that the unseen hands of the Gamesmaster are at work to direct me down the narrow path to victory.
"Sam, you're gonna get yourself killed." Horace said harshly.
I stepped forwards again. "Maybe. Maybe not. We'll have to see, won't we?" Then before I could change my mind, I ran away from him, towards the burning town.
AN- Well, that was that.
In case anyone cares about Verte, she is technically an OC, yes, but there were also so few named people in South Blue named that I think I can be excused. For a starting island, I picked Baterilla as it had some nice lore to it, and I ended up making Verte his grandma because I realised halfway through writing her that it made more sense for this grumpy old goat to be peripherally involved with the canon, as opposed to being some random NPC.
Fun fact. I didn't find room to bring it up in story, but the only reason Verte took in Sam was because 'she' reminded Verte of her dead daughter, back during her teenage years. Why is it that most One Piece characters parental figures keep getting offed?
Actually- don't answer that. Anyway- next chapter will be out in a few days time. A reward for your patience, I guess. Undying Soul out.
