Quick A/N
Okay, let me say how crazy it is the very first person who commented on the updated story got the new paring correct! A lot guessed Zoro but nope!
Zeowolf9 got it right! The new pairing is UmikoxKatakuri! I felt that he would complement Umiko's personality the best. I was going to create a new story with different OCxKatakuri but I kept coming up with an OC who was drastically similar to Umiko.
I know many are down that it will no longer be a Sanji paring but I think this one will be better. So thank you to all the readers and hope you guys enjoy the newer story.
Tom -Yes, I am up for the challenge!
The Adventure of Water 7 Heats Up! - Franky House Here We Come!
Umiko's Yagara was a fast one so getting to her destination took little time. She pulled up to a small shop reading the sign above. In ornate cursive lettering the sign read Gourmet Grannies, a well-known bakery within Water 7.
Umiko looked from the sign to the letter in her hand wondering why Iceburg wanted her to deliver this to the bakery. She didn't think too much on it, Iceburg often did odd things that made no sense.
As she entered the shop a bell chimed overhead signaling to whoever was inside that someone was coming in.
Umiko looked around the shop but it was empty, not a single person inside.
"Hello?" Umiko called out.
Shuffling sounded from the back of the store. A door opened and an old woman came out, she was wearing an apron and was dusted in flour. With her appearance, Umiko assumed the woman had just come from the kitchen.
The woman's face lit up as she spotted Umiko, she wiped off her hands on her apron walking over to the girl.
"Hello, Umiko! My my it's been a while!"
The woman, also known as Rose, was the owner and head baker of the establishment.
"Hello, Rose it's very nice to see you as well." Umiko greeted giving a slight head bow.
"Haha, it seems like every time you come into my shop you get even lovelier. It seems just like yesterday you were just a small little girl coming into my shop eating anything you could get your hands on." Rose chuckled reminiscing.
Umiko remembers too, she would often devour plethora's of food like it was nothing, she could consume several whole cakes in one sitting and have plenty of room for more. Some theorized that Umiko was so strong because all the food she ate converted into pure muscle, another rumor that was going around was that Umiko didn't actually have a stomach but some kind of black hole where the digestive organ should be.
Umiko pulled out the letter from Iceburg handing it over to the older woman.
"For you."
"Oh?! A letter," Rose took the letter from Umiko, "Let me see here." She opened the letter reading it over.
After she was done Rose folded the letter back up and nodded her head.
"Thank you very much for delivering the letter Umiko."
Umiko bowed, "Your welcome."
She turned to leave but was stopped as Rose grabbed her arm.
"Leaving so soon?" Rose asked
"I have to go hel-"
"I've haven't seen you in ages. We have to catch up."
"But I ha-" Umiko attempted to leave again but was once again pulled back.
"Nonsense Umiko," Rose replied, cutting Umiko off again.
"I'm sorry bu-"
"I just made a fresh batch of cookies and I'm about to ice a cake, I'm sure you'll enjoy, it's a new recipe."
Umiko stopped listening to what Rose said after the woman mentioned cookies.
Umiko rushed out of the bakery. One batch of cookies turned into two then three, then there was the cake plus the added puff pastries, cupcakes, and other desserts Rose had presented to the ocean-eyed girl. Safe enough to say Umiko had gotten distracted by the enormous amount of confectioneries that were served to her, and she ended up losing track of time.
She hurried to her Yagara about to hop in but stopped. Her head tilted up towards the sky and her nose twitched as she sniffed the air.
Without a single word Umiko took off running.
Umiko kept sniffing the air following the distinctive scent she had picked up which led her deeper into the shopping district. As the scent got stronger Umiko came across a small pool of blood. Getting closer to the blood she took a strong whiff concluding that this was indeed the source of the scent and the blood belonged to the long-nosed Straw Hat crew member. Usopp was his name if she remembered correctly.
The trail of blood continued down the walkway and Umiko was about to follow it until she heard shouting.
"Usopp! Usopp! Usopp! Where are you!" Voices shouted
Umiko turned towards the source of the voices and spotted three men on a Yagara. Well, two men and a reindeer.
"Over there! I can smell him over there," The small reindeer shouted
The three of them veered coming to a stop pulling their Yagara up to the sidewalk before getting out. They were calling out for Usopp, but the blonde one stopped once he spotted Umiko.
"Ahhhhh what a beautiful woman!" He shouted with heart's in his eyes. He got on one knee and grabbed Umiko's hands, "My lovely lady, I've never seen such an exotic beauty such as yourself! Your beauty has taken my breath away!"
Umiko had stopped listening to the blonde haired guy staring intently at him taking in his appearance. Umiko removed her hands from his and without any regards to personal space used her pointer fingers to mess with his eyebrows.
The blonde, along with his friends were all thrown off by this. Umiko simply continued to mess with the curled brows fascinated by them.
"I like," Umiko simply stated.
". . . !" Sanji fell back grabbing his heart. "MELLORINE! THE GODDESS HAS STRUCK MY HEART!"
He danced around with a large goofy smile shouting mellorine and something about a blue haired goddess.
His other crewmates watched confused about the whole interaction. Umiko just tilted her head wondering why the man was spinning around her.
The love-struck dancing doesn't last too long as the blonde Casanova was stopped when a foot connects with the side of his face sending him sprawling to the ground.
"We don't have time for this!" The green haired one yelled.
The blonde immediately jumps to his feet, "Bastard who do you think you are!"
The two were face to face glaring at one another.
The small reindeer ran up to them getting in between the two.
"Stop it! You guys we've got to find Usopp!"
"Usopp was here," Umiko spoke up grabbing the trio's attention.
"You know him?" The swordsman questioned with a raised brow.
Umiko nodded her head, "Yes. I saw him in Dock 1 with the boy and girl, Luffy and Nami."
The small reindeer approached Umiko, "Have you seen him recently?"
"No, but this is his blood right?" Umiko asked, pointing down.
"How would you know that?" The Swordsman questioned suspicious.
"It smells like him," Umiko stated bluntly.
"Beauty and talented! Lovely goddess, please tell me your name." The Blonde asked
"Umiko." She replied
"Mellorine! What a beautiful name for such an enchanting creature!" He shouted, "I'm Sanji!"
"Hello, Sanji." Umiko greeted before she introduced herself to the other two. "What are your names?"
"Ah I'm Chopper," The reindeer then pointed at the swordsman, "and this is Zoro."
"Hello Chopper and Zoro," Umiko said bowing.
Umiko got on her knees before Chopper, staring at the reindeer. It was unnerving for the small animal as Umiko refused to break eye contact.
"Wha-What is it?" Chopper asked nervously.
Umiko put her arms under Choppers and picked him up so that they were at eye level.
"I like, you are very cute," Umiko said
At the sudden compliment Chopper blushed, "That doesn't make me happy you bastard!"
Umiko brought Chopper into her arms as if he was a stuffed toy and started petting his antlers.
Now it was Sanji and Zoro's turn to watch the interaction confused. The two didn't say anything as Umiko continued to pet Chopper, the reindeer relaxing in her arms due to the soothing motion.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The confusing yet cute moment was interrupted by familiar screaming ringing throughout the area. The screaming got louder and before anyone could react Luffy fell from the sky. He slammed into the ground but thanks to his rubber body he rebounded off the ground and into a wall which then ricochets him into the canal.
The group was stunned staring wide-eyed as Luffy's head pops out of the water.
"Ugh help!" Luffy shouted flailing his arms around in the water.
"LUFFY!"
Zoro sighed, "I'll get the idiot."
After Zoro fished his captain out of the water everyone gathered around Luffy who was currently spitting up water.
"What are you doing, and where the hell did you fall from?" Sanji questioned
"The shipyard." Luffy stammered out trying to catch his breath. "I was trying to jump around the city like that carpenter guy to look for Ussop."
"You mean like Kaku?" Umiko said
Luffy finally noticing Umiko's presence points at her, "Hey it's you!" He ran up behind her, "The girl with the tail!"
To prove his point Luffy grabbed her tail pulling at it in the same manner as before.
Umiko once again unfazed by Luffy's actions simply said, "Please let go."
Sanji was quick to her rescue and kicked Luffy making him let go of Umiko's tail.
"You idiot! That's not how you treat a lady!" Sanji yelled
"She has a tail?" Zoro muttered
"Cut it out you two we've got bigger problems." Chopper waved his arms around the best he could since he was still in Umiko's arms.
"Uh? That's right. Usopp's been kidnapped along with the money by some guys called the Franky Family." Luffy explained
"Yeah, we know that's why we're here. Were looking for Usopp too. I bet if we look for the hideout of those guys we'll find Usopp and the money." Sanji said
"The Franky House," Umiko said as she set down Chopper.
"What?" Everyone asked
"The Franky House. That's their hideout. I know where it is." Umiko told them.
"Huh? Really!" Luffy exclaimed
Umiko nodded her head. "I can take you there."
"Oh, Umiko you truly are an angel with such kindness." Sanji gushed clasping his hands together.
"Well then what are we waiting for! Let's go!" Luffy cheered
He was about to get into the Yagara that Zoro and the others rode on, but he's stopped when someone grabs his shoulder.
"Huh?" He questions looking over his shoulder.
"We'll take mine it'll be faster," Umiko said
Umiko raised her pointer finger and thumb to her mouth and gave a sharp whistle. After a few short moments, a familiar white Yagara came speeding down the canal towards the group.
The Yagara stops right in front of the five giving off a happy ney towards Umiko.
"This is Amour. He'll take us." Umiko said
While the four boys were staring at the strange white Yagara, Umiko was busily disrobing herself, neither Paulie nor Iceburg around to stop her. She first took off her tool belt setting it off to the side before she unhooked the clasps on the top of her overalls before pulling them down as she wiggled out of the denim.
Zoro was the first to notice what Umiko was up to.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Zoro shouted, drawing everyone's attention to her.
Umiko ignored his shouts and threw her overalls off to the side. It wouldn't be the first time she abandoned her clothes in the streets of Water 7, it's a good thing Iceburg had such a large wardrobe for the girl.
With her overalls out of the way, Umiko started taking off her shirt. Grabbing the bottom she pulled the shirt up and at this point everyone, minus Luffy, had red stained faces. Sanji was affected the most as he had fallen over into his own pool of blood from his severe nose bleed.
Umiko put her tool belt back on picked up Chopper. She got into the front of Amour's saddle and placed Chopper in her lap.
"Let's go." Umiko waved her hand beckoning the rest of the boys to get in.
Zoro shaking off the brief embarrassment grabbed a still dazed Sanji by the back of suit jacket tossing the chef into the back of the Yagara, before he stepped in. Luffy laughed hopping into the Yagara taking a seat next to Umiko.
"How's this thing supposed to get us there faster?" Zoro asked
"I am a shipwright. I specialize in custom upgrades to ships." Umiko said
"Wha-?"
Before the words could leave Zoro's mouth Umiko flips up a panel in front of her revealing a switchboard that had various levers and buttons.
"Are you ready Amour?" Umiko asked the Yagara.
"Ney Ney!" The animal happily brayed.
Umiko pulls down a lever and two panels flip open on the back of Amour's saddle. What looks like two cannons come out of the holes the panels created. Umiko pulls down on a second lever and low humming sound can be heard.
"Okay everyone," Umiko pulls out some goggles from her tool belt, "Hold on."
She presses a button and the cannons fired propelling the group across the water at a high speed.
"WAAAAAAAA!" Everyone cried out, minus Umiko and Luffy, screaming out not expecting the abrupt blast-off.
"HEHEHEHE! ALRIGHT! Usopp here we come!" Luffy shouted