Gateways: First Coming
Chapter Four ::: The Most Stupid Ideas :::
Aka ::: Nami Enters ::: Pt. 2
Aka ::: Evil Woman ::: Pt. 1
The flight with the bird was a lot faster than I expected. I guess it was because the manga shows Zoro rowing like crazy and cuts from him after he saves the three Buggy pirates to Nami running with her newly stolen map and Luffy being shot down by the cannon. That was also something I forgot to consider.
I had originally planned on getting on top of the bird and somehow forcing it to land once we got to the island. However, that would keep us from meeting Nami and therefore we wouldn't get the best navigator there is. That idea's crossed out. Then I planned on jumping from the bird once we got close enough to a building. The problem with that? My jacket was caught on its beak, preventing me from doing any kind of jumping whatsoever. Scratch that too. Then there was my last idea. Scream like hell until we were shot down.
That was the only one that seemed to be working.
"AHHHH!" Luffy and I screamed together again as a giant cannonball hurdled through the air, directly at us. "HELP!"
BOOM!
The cannonball collided with the bird once we were beginning to fly over the island.
"SHIIIIIT!" I screeched, flying in the opposite direction, away from Luffy. Thinking I could maybe save myself some pain, I curled up into a ball, squeezing my eyes shut as my throat became raw from all the shouting I was doing.
FLUMP!
I blinked, knowing this was definitely /not/ the sound a body makes when it hits the ground. I lifted my head up from my knees and looked around me, sweat dropping. I had landed on top of Richie in the middle of the Buggy pirates.
"What's this?" the big nosed captain asked silkily. My eyes flickered from him to the Log Pose peeking out of a bag a few feet away, then back to him. An idea began forming in my mind.
Of course, it was an extremely stupid one, but a lot of times, the most stupid ideas are really good ones.
"Heya!" I said cheerfully, unfolding myself and wavily goofily at the clown pirate. "You're Captain Buggy, right?"
"Yes," Buggy said, surveying me.
"Great!" I hopped off Richie, landing next to his paw. My head tipped all the way back as I tried to see his face better. I couldn't. "Whoa, that's one /big/ lion. Anyways, I got a proposition for you. You see, I'm an alchemist. I can change stuff like lead into something like gold and pretty much make whatever I want, except for life and food if there's no grass."
"You can make gold?" Buggy asked sceptically. I grinned like the Cheshire cat. If I could pull this off, I was set.
"Got any lead bullets?" I asked. Buggy watched me for a moment, then nodded at one of his men, who handed me a single bullet. I held it up to my face and examined it. "Not a lot of lead, but enough to show you what I mean." I clapped my hands and touched them to the bullet. The lead slid off of it, turning to gold as it fell.
My alchemy was a bit different from the kind found in FMA. I had figured out, instead of having to make something out of something else of equal value, all I had to do was picture the Gate in my mind and image whatever I was trasmutating as what it would become, if that makes any sense. I think it has something to do with the irrationality of this world. I mean, come on, sky islands, Devil Fruits, zombies? Why should alchemy be any sort of normal?
The Buggy pirates watched the gold drop to the ground, hardening to a little nugget no bigger than my pinkie nail. I bent down to pick it up, but a pirate knocked me out of the way and snatched it up himself. I scowled as he handed it to his captain. Buggy examined it for a moment, eyes narrowed.
"You say you can do this with anything?" he asked, looking at me. I shrugged.
"Just lead. If I have a lot of it, I can make more gold." I clasped my hands behind my back. "Now, if I join your crew, I can make you as much gold as you like, provided I have the means for making it."
"What's the catch?" Buggy asked, slipping the gold into his pocket.
"I want a Log Pose," I said lightly, rocking on my heels. "I know you've got one, after all, you're going to take the Grand Line by storm, right? Only an idiot would go in unprepared." Buggy considered this for a moment.
"We can always get another one at Logue Town," he said, tossing me the Log Pose from his bag. I grinned and strapped it to my wrist. "Welcome to the Buggy pirates!"
"Great! You can call me Miyaki!" I used an anagram of my name, not wanting to be called Kim by them. Only my friends were allowed to call me by my nickname.
"Have a seat, Miyaki-san." Buggy said, pointing at a little beanbag like chair near his throne-like chair.
"Okay!" I said, skipping over to it and plopping down, snatching one pirate's dark sunglasses as I went. Once I was settled, I pulled off my jacket and tossed it behind a barrel.
I wore a pair of baggy cargo pants with regular tennis shoes and a black tank top with a cracked skull over a dark purple tank top. There were three rings on both of my hands, six in total. One on each of my index fingers and two on my middle fingers, one at the base of my fingers and one just above my knuckle. My fingernails were black due to the fact I drew on them with a black marker, a habit I was trying to break. There was a black choker around my neck, with thin metal plates going around it, chains dangling from them, and of course, there was my Flamel necklace. I wanted to get my ears pierced like Pein's from Naruto, but I due to complications (aka: getting murdered in an alley way) I had never gotten around to it.
I pulled my Flamel necklace and choker off too, trying to make myself as unrecognizable as possible so that Luffy wouldn't blow my cover when he and Nami arrived. Knowing it was probably a lost cause because the boy could recognize some people when they looked nothing like themselves. Though, I never figured out how he recognized Sanji in his wanted poster when he couldn't tell that Sogeking was really Usopp wearing a mask. I slipped the sunglasses on my face as a man ran up.
"You still can not catch the thief?" Buggy asked dangerously, glaring at the man, who was sweating like crazy. After that, I kind of zoned out, not bothering to listen to Buggy yelling at his men and ultimately killing the messenger.
"Miyaki!" My head snapped to Buggy and I wiped my chin, which was covered in drool from my daydream.
"Hm?" I asked, blinking up at him behind my sunglasses.
"Prepare to witness an example of my great power!" he laughed, then I noticed that his men were loading the cannon with a Buggy ball. I waited silently, watching as the fuse was lit and burned down.
"I didn't do anything wrong!" The messenger cried, practically sobbing. A sick feeling bubbled in my stomach, listening to his pleading. I tried to block out his next words, but they wormed through. "H-Help me!" I closed my eyes as the cannon went off, swallowing hard against the bile in my throat as the man screamed one last time.
This is a world of pirates, I reminded myself. People will die. I opened my eyes again, but instead of seeing the Buggy pirates, I was at the Gate again. Unlike the last time I was here, the doors were open and a light was shinning out of one half, the other side bathed in darkness.
My clothes from before were gone, my body wrapped snugly in white ribbons, which started just below my collar bone and went all the way down to my hips, were they fluttered out like a skirt. It felt like I was wearing a dress.
"Wha-" Suddenly, a light began to shimmer in front of the Gate. The man who had just been killed by the Buggy ball faded into sight, looking terrified and confused.
"This is the crossing over." a voice said from behind me. I whirled around, skirt flying out around me, and came face to face with Akako.
"You!" I cried, half relived was alright, half terrified that he was going to kill me again. He looked at me, bright green eyes meeting mind.
He was covered in ribbons too, his a bright scarlet instead of white. They started at his neck and went down his body and arms, stopping at his wrists and hips. Instead of a flowing skirt, he wore loose black pants, and was barefoot, like myself.
"Yes, Kimiya Leonore, I am still in exsistance." he said coldly, looking down at me. I flinched and looked away from him, stepping back nervously.
"Where are we?" I asked, trying to turn the subject to something else and rid myself of this strange curiosity. "What's happening?" Akako grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me so that I was looking at the dead pirate again. My skin burned beneath his hands, but not in a bad way.
"This is the Gate during the crossing of a soul. He will either cross into the light, where there is peace, or he will be pulled into the darkness."
"What's in the darkness?" I whispered, terrified by the severity of the situation.
"Pain."
I shuddered, shrinking back into Akako's grip, trying to find some comfort after the words were spoken. The red head froze, standing stiffly as I leaned against his chest slightly.
But I couldn't care less, because the door on the side of the light was beginning to close. A hand shot out of the darkness, grabbing the man's ankle. He screamed loudly. My hands shot to my ears, covering them as I once again tried to block the sounds of his pain out. More hands shot out and I squeezed my eyes together so tightly that it hurt, pressing my hands to my ears in a vain and desperate attempt to hear nothing. Tears leaked out of my eyes, remorse and guilt filling me up as I stood in place against Akako's chest, not even trying to help the man.
Was it wrong that I was scared? Scared to die? Scared to be pulled in myself? I didn't want those hands to touch me, rotting and bony.
I could faintly hear someone else screaming along with the man and, with a jolt, I realized it was me. Strong hands grabbed my shoulders, pulling me towards something tall and steady, and I was lifted into the air. I felt a steady rocking motion as Akako carried me away, and my screams dissolved into sobs.
I didn't want to be here anymore! My afterlife was hell! Was it going to be like this everytime someone died around me? I'd go insane before we even made it to the Baratie!
Akako set me down, the screams in the distance having faded away. My tears turned to sniffles with the occasional hiccup.
"Perhaps I was mistaken about you," Akako sighed and, for the first time since I had heard him speak, there was emotion in his voice. Regret.
I looked up at him, blinking my wide golden eyes and found that he was staring at me. I looked away quickly, not wanting to anger him for staring.
"I'm sorry," I whimpered, not really sure just what I was aplogizing for. Akako sighed again, brushing a piece of my shoulder length dark brown hair behind my ear.
"Return to your body, Kimiya Leonore." he said. "Deal with this at another time. There are more important things going on around you than this moment.
"How do I return?" I asked, utterly confused. I could have sworn I saw the red head's lips twitch as everything began to fade.
"Do not worry about how," he said, voice fading. "You have already begun to do so."
SBS
santa. claus. is. a. stalker: Thanks for the Review and for Story Alerting! Yes, she's going to get into a lot of trouble as time goes on, particularly with Akako and the Gate.