A/N: Okey dokey everyone, a couple of things before I finish this author's note.
#One: I have received reviews from somazuike and a fellow guest reader. I absolutely appreciated both of your comments and I noticed that both of you have thanked me for using a darker skinned OC this time around. So here's me saying you are welcome. As I have already told somazuike, I have been wanting to do either a latina or an African American OC for quite some time. However, I have never been able to fit an anime and a decent story line around the character's development. SO color me surprise when I began watching One Piece and found a whole plethora of different people of all shapes and sizes. It was awesome and really inspiring.
#Two: I have never imagined that, like with The Silver Surgeon and Bloodless Snow, this story would become so damn popular within two days. I'm not joking with you whatsoever. Out of the current 27 M-rated Sanji/OC stories posted out of the almost 38,000 One Piece fan fictions posted on this website, and that's extremely sad and disappointing, this story is the 3rd longest story that I know of so I could be wrong. The 2nd being 4 or 5 chapters long and the other being I think either 9 or 14 which is called Petals and Smoke. However, out of those 27 stories, including my own, there is only about 5 or 7 of them that has Sanji paired with a female OC. The rest is either yaoi or Sanji is paired with Zoro while the OC pairing is secondary. While I deeply appreciate the amount of yaoi out there since I read it myself, but the overwhelming amount of ZoSan and SanZo pairings is suffocating and gets repetitive after a while. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. However, it is when the second most popular yaoi pairings for One Piece pairings are LawLu or KiddLaw. Now I appreciate and enjoy a LawLu every once in a while, but the repetitive behavior concerning Law's behavior towards Luffy when they're together is annoying and disheartening. Okay, I'm done ranting for now so I don't piss the fans off for that one.
#Three: Fire and Fury was heavily influenced in terms of title and central idea for Sanji and Amari's romance came from the song "Fire and Fury" by Skillet. The first time I have ever that song, Sanji was the first thing that came to mind because it sounded exactly what he would say to a woman he truly fell in love with and is expressing said love through a song as a means of confessing said love in a way she would exactly believe him. So, because of that it gave me that very idea for this story's main pairing romance. It is also because it reminded me of how pissed Sanji got when he found out that Absalom peeked in on Nami while she was bathing and fire started spewing every where as a result of it. Hehe, that just gave me another idea. Oh, whoopsy. I'm stopping now before I spoil anything else.
#Four: Taking up for #2 in terms of the popularity part. This story currently has 2 people that reviewed including a guest reader, 6 people following and favoring this story (Though The Silver Surgeon and Bloodless Snow have twice that amount easily), and a whopping 178 people from 16 different countries worldwide have read and viewed this story within TWO DAYS of me posting the entire story! I'm so proud of myself XD. So I want to thank each and every one of you guys for doing what you been doing this I started posting One Piece stories. I greatly appreciate it :D.
Anyways, on with the third chapter of FIRE AND FURY!
Chapter III-Pirate Training Begins
"Okey dokey den. Now, Ace an' Sabo, I know ya said dat ya have been huntin' in da jungle for mos' of ya childhood. Wat exac'ly have ya been usin' as weapons?"
When I saw the large metal pipes that they had brought back home, I couldn't hold back a face palm to the face and a rather loud groan escaping. Luffy had heartily laughed at my reaction before stopping as a stern glare was directed at him. I sighed and then shook my head as I grabbed the pipes ignoring their shouts of confusion and set them off to the side.
"Come on Ami! Those are the only weapons that we have to defend ourselves!"
"Yea, how are supposed to fight without them?"
"By learnin' ta use ya fists an' feet ta fight."
"Huh?"
"How do we do that?"
"Like dis. Crouch down like a tiger ready ta pounce."
I got into a stance that had my right leg bent in front of me while my left leg was slightly diagonal behind me. My whole body was turned mostly sideways with my left fist in front of me bent in a 120-degree angle. Last, but not least, I had my right fist was held in front of my chest bent slightly but read to stop any incoming strikes to my vital organs. I heard all three boys exclaiming of awe and excitement causing a proud smirk to appear on my face. After years of honing my karate skills in secret, my well-earned lean muscles would appear once I started using my fighting techniques. I still had that extra bit of cushion from my natural chubbiness, but my muscles were much more visible whenever I fought and trained.
"That's so cool Ami! I wanna fight like that! Teach me, teach me please?"
"Me too. I want to learn too."
"Yea, so I can get stronger and be a better fighter."
"Jihihihi. Alright boys, get inta da same stance I'm in. I'll stay like dis until ya do."
Luffy was the first to do so, followed by Ace and Sabo each trying to compete to see who did a better job. It brought a smile to my face seeing how well they are getting along despite their, sort of, sibling rivalry. My cinnamon brown eyes looked over their individual stances before walking around checking them.
"Okey dokey. Luffy, ya need ta loos'n up ya shoulders and hips, but keep ya fists an' feet tigh' an' firm. Dis will make ya body flexible, but leaves ya main weapons hard an' deal more damage."
Luffy nodded eagerly and did what he was told, Ace and Sabo following his example. I checked their stances again and something wasn't completely right. I checked their joints and postures again and nodded once I figured it out.
"Ace ya need ta do da almos' opposite of Luffy. Ya shoulders frim, ya fists loos'ned but flexible enough ta control da strength behin' dem."
Ace gave a curt determined nod and I watched as he did as instructed smiling proudly at my first two sons. Now I turned around to Sabo as he looked at me for instruction. This caused me to smirk and then look over his form and posture too.
"Alrigh' Sabo. Ya goin' ta be a lil' diff'rent den da udder two. Ya going ta keep ya limbs completely loose, but have your whole torso tight an' frim. This make ya quick on ya feet an' have full range of how hard or how soft ya blows will be. Flexibility an' a strong centa body be ya numba one focus."
Sabo nodded and just as quickly as his brothers did, got into the correct form fit for his body structure. I smiled proudly at all three of them as I went in front of them and got back into my stance.
"Okey dokey den. Follow my lead. It may feel weird now, but once ya get used ta using the punches and kicks I teach ya den yar body will fall inta the form ya're in now."
They all nodded and for the rest of the day we did stretches, exercises, basic punches and kick, and one-to-two step katas for beginners. This brought me back to my days as a child when my ma and pa taught me all they could in martial arts before my time as a slave began. My mother was a very strict and spiritual lady that wouldn't take no for an answer and was incredibly stubborn as well as a bit naïve. My father on the other hand was a quiet, laid back, and very firm man who was more of a listener than he was outspoken. He and ma were almost complete opposites of each other, but I could tell that they loved each other in their own weird and … somewhat argumentative ways. There were oftentimes I wondered just how they could stand each other long enough to even have a decent conversation before they exploded into argument after argument. It was rather scary and creepy to say the least. Ma and I never truly got along with each other because I was more like my father than I was her. The thing I could think of that I got from her was a little bit of her stubbornness and that was about it.
As the day went by, the four of us only stopped to eat and rest. We were going at again and again until each child could do everything without my instruction and by memory alone. To say that I was proud was an extremely mild understatement of the century. I knew my boys were going to be very strong when they got older. I knew that one day Luffy would the Pirate King of the world. I knew Ace would find a crew of his own to be a part of and belong. I also knew that Sabo had the power to change the world if he should please to do so.
Later that night, I made a deal with my hyperactive children. I ate already prepared dirty rice, fried okra, and more shrimp gumbo for all of us to eat together for dinner. Once I got all our plates made and sat down before them, I gently grabbed their hands in my own large, long ones. As a mental side note, I once again noticed the contrast between their paler skin tones with my own warm walnut. I shook it off and then looked at them with my small soft smile.
"I wan' all of ya ta know dat I'm very proud of ya. Now, I wan' ya ta promise me someting. Can ya do dat?"
They all nodded in their own ways of agreement. Sabo had a look of curiosity and seriousness as he nodded. Luffy had a little pout while his childish eyes were full of fierceness and determination. And finally Ace had a calm yet serious but minor scowl on his face.
"Okey dokey den. I wan' ya all to promise dat ya won't set sail until each one of ya is at leas' 17. Can ya do dat for me? I don' wan' ta worry about my baby boys goin' out inta the world soon'r than need be."
"Of course Ami! We need to get stronger first before we set sail anyways! Shishishishi."
"I agree. That would be stupid and reckless on our parts for doing that anyways even if we did do that."
"Yep, plus I don't think I could live out your cooking anyways. So, it's not like I wanna leave before I 'm ready. That's just stupid."
A watery yet thankful smile appeared as I gently squeezed their much smaller hands before we all dug into our food. Once everything was clean and put away, as well as the boys bathed and tucked into bed, I made my way towards the little awning-like balcony attached to one of the large windows in my room. Once my butt was set into the rocking chair, my thoughts began to wonder once again.
My cinnamon brown eyes looked over to the jungle not 30 feet away. Remembering about my parents love life, made me wonder about my own truly nonexistent love life. I had no man in my life simply because the majority of my time was set on recovering from the nightmares and memories of my time as a slave. That, and raising a child also took up my time as well. Even at 18, I'm still completely and 110% pure. My virginity was not given away nor do I plan on it until I meet a man truly worthy of my undying loyalty and love. Because of this, I am extremely picky about those who might even have the slightest of chances with me. From those that I have seen and observed from afar hardly seem worth my time and effort. Yes, I have had many suitors asking for my hand, and each time I said 'no'. Eventually they all stopped coming after me and went after the paler, skinnier, brunettes and blondes. Good riddance is what I told myself at first. Then as the years went by, I started to feel lonelier and lonelier and even began feeling much older than I truly am because of it. It was rather irritating and disheartening. I sighed as I rubbed my face and closed my eyes to keep the building up tears from falling. It worked for the most part.
I can only hope that with me training my three boys that it would at least distract me from my loneliness for a little while longer. It wasn't something that sat well with me, but I had to at least endure until all three of my children were off on their own to be pirates.
These next seven years are going to be quite interesting.