Hey everyone. So, I've been reading this fanfic over, and I figure I'm going to do more editing. Hopefully this chapter puts things into more detail.
Koe: It's about time.
FM13: Yeah yeah... Just say the disclaimer.
Koe: frostmoon13 doesn't own One Piece or any of its characters. This fanfic is written purely for amusement.
Chapter 4
It had been a good few days since Shanks and his crew left.
It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, and Luffy and I were outside of Party's Bar, sitting cross-legged on the grass. Luffy was trying to teach me a few words by pointing at something and saying it. He wasn't really meeting with much success. He would hold up an object, say for example a fish, say a word, and then lose focus and start babbling, so I had no idea which words I was supposed to copy.
I would just sit there staring at him, trying to look interested at this point. We'd been at it for half an hour, and I was starting to get really really bored.
My eyelids were starting to get really heavy when Luffy poked my forehead. "OI!" he snapped.
I started and stared at him wide-eyed. We kept eye contact for an awkward few seconds, then, for no reason I could think of, I grabbed his nose and pulled. I stretched it out to my shoulder, then let it snap back.
"Oi!" Luffy said, a tear in the corner of his eye.
I got up and ran.
Luffy's frown turned into a grin and he began chasing me around the building.
I managed to lose him by hiding, and Luffy ran right past me.
Finally, he seemed to get bored of not being able to find me. "Koe!" he called.
I peeked at him from my hiding place behind an empty barrel. "Yeah?"
He stared at me, confused, then he motioned for me to come closer. When we were almost nose to nose, he flopped down on his butt. "Ore wa taikutsu desu!" he pouted.
I bit my lower lip. I didn't know, but I could guess. I sat down beside him. "Hey, I'm bored." I said. "Let's play something else."
Luffy just raised an eyebrow at me.
I frowned. Then, I poked him in the side.
He pulled away and giggled.
I smirked. That is, until he started tickling me back. At that point, I had no way of resisting him. I'm just too ticklish for my own good.I put my foot up to keep Luffy off me, and I felt my foot contact something squishy. I had my eyes closed.
"Oi." Luffy sounded kinda nasal.
I opened my eyes, and noticed that I had stuck my foot right in his face. "Sorry!" I pulled my foot away. I was aiming for his chest.
We both sat there for a second, then laughed. Luffy caught me around the neck and gave me a noogie, then stopped short. He didn't loosen his grip or anything, he just stopped.
I struggled against his grip. "Luffy... Leggo!" When he didn't respond, I looked up. "Luffy?"
His face was white as a sheet. Eyes wide, he stared over my head. His grip slackened, letting me turn around to see what got him so scared.
Standing there was a large old man, with white hair cropped short, tanned skin and a semicircle scar around his eye. And when I say large, I mean large. His chest must have been twice as big around as his hips. He was smiling... No, not smiling so much as grinning. And it was scary.
Luffy's mouth started opening and closing like a fish. "J-Jii-chan!?"
The old man laughed and clapped him on the back so hard he fell forward on his face. "Ohayo, Luffy!" he laughed. "Hisashiburi."
Luffy hauled himself up from the ground, his eyes filling with tears. "Anata wa koko de nani o shite iru no?"
The old man's eyes narrowed. He pulled back a huge fist and punched Luffy into the side of the bar. "Urusai!" he snapped. A vein pulsed over his right temple.
I was terrified. "Luffy!" I ran up to him and pulled his head out of the bar wall. "He didn't kill you did, he?! Talk to me!"
Luffy sat up, rubbing his head. "Atatatata..." he muttered. Then, he looked up and his eyes grew as wide as saucers. "Koe! Abunai!" He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to the ground as the old guy sailed over our heads, crashing even harder into the wall.
We just stared in awe at the old man, who, now stuck in the wall, pushed against it with his feet trying to get his head unstuck.
When he finally got loose, he brushed off his shirt, and then looked at me. He frowned. "Dare desu ka?" he said. He knelt down on his hands and knees and looked me right in the eye. "Oi. Kiku!"
I stood there frozen for a second, then darted behind Luffy.
Luffy spread his arms. "Jii-chan! Koe wa ore no tomodachi desu!"
He stepped up to the old man cautiously, and took his hand. He placed it on his heart, then said, "Jii-chan... Anta no namae..."
Jii-chan seemed to get it. He said, "Monkey D. Garp."
Garp? What kind of a name is Garp? I shook the old man's hand. I immediately regretted that. The crazy old man nearly crushed my hand. I pulled away and held my sore hand to my chest.
Luffy and Garp broke into a very fast talk that I could in no way follow. The only word I could pick out in that conversation was when Luffy stuck his tongue out at Garp and said 'kaizoku.' Luffy did seem to say that word a lot. I wondered if he was talking about food.
Whatever it meant, Garp didn't seem too happy about it. He grabbed Luffy by the cheek, and started dragging him away.
"Luffy!" I shouted. I grabbed my book, which was propped up against a rock, and followed them. Luffy argued with Garp in a loud voice, as Garp dragged him away.
I had a hard time keeping up with the two of them, because the road they were treading was so wild and overgrown. More than once I tripped over a root and nearly flattened my nose when I fell.
Garp hadn't let go of Luffy the entire time. I still didn't know what a Jii-chan was, but to me, it couldn't mean anything good.
We had been walking for about twenty minutes when we came to a beat up old hut. Garp rapped on the door with his huge knuckles. "Dadan!" he shouted.
The door flung open, and standing in the doorway was the dumpiest old woman I'd ever seen. Her blond hair was tied up in greasy bunches at the back of her head. Her white shirt was stained, and her pants were fraying at the cuffs. She was smoking one of those cigarettes things. There was a large group of people behind her, staring fearfully at Garp.
She took one look at Luffy and started freaking out. I couldn't understand her at all, but for some reason Garp seemed to scare her.
As she and Garp had an animated conversation, something hit Luffy over his eye. Spit.
I didn't need to be able to understand Luffy to tell he was wiped the spitball off his face and wildly shook it off of his hand.
I looked up to where the spit had come from, and sitting on a tree branch was a boy of about ten. He had unruly black hair, brown eyes, and his face was splattered with freckles. His clothes were torn and ratty. He looked like he'd been living off the land for frowned at us.
Luffy glared at the other boy. The other boy glared back. Then, I heard the dumpy lady yell, "San?!" San? I wondered what that meant. Garp started to leave, motioning for me to follow.
I stared at him. I looked at Luffy. "What's he saying?" I asked.
Luffy shrugged at me.
"Oi! Koe!" Garp shouted.
I stood there, rooted to the spot. Luffy stood beside me and took my hand, glaring at the old man.
Garp turned and grinned at the dumpy lady, who looked like she was about to explode with anger.
The lady grabbed Luffy and me by the scruffs of our necks, and dragged us into the hut. She sat us both roughly on the floor, around a pot over an open fire, and handed us both a glass of water and a bowl of rice each.
Luffy started talking to the dumpy lady, who was surrounded by a bunch of people who reminded me of the bandits that Beckman had walloped. I sat beside the big kid with the freckles, who was eating a huge rack of meat. I grabbed my rice bowl, and started wolfing it down.
I looked up at the older boy shyly.
He glared at me out of the corner of his eye.
I flinched, and stared at my empty bowl of rice. I took a deep breath. Maybe he just thinks I'm stupid, since I can't understand... I looked up at Freckles again, and smiled this time. "Hi!" I said. "I'm Koe." I put my hand over my heart to make a point.
Freckles did turn from his food, but he glared at me. "Urusai..." he muttered, then went back to his food.
I blushed, and turned to Luffy. He was still arguing with the dumpy lady. The two of them were shouting about as loud as they could, and some of the other men were trying to calm her down. Luffy snorted, then he puffed out his chest and "Kaizoku-o ni ore wa naru!"
That was the same thing he had said to Shanks. I had no idea what 'Kaizoku-o' meant, but it upset the older boy, anyway.
He stood up, frowned, pushed me over, and stomped out the door.
"Hey!" I protested.
Luffy stood up, ignoring his unfinished bowl of rice, and followed him out the door.
"Hey!" I called. Luffy wasn't leaving without me, no way.
I shot up, ignoring the dumpy lady's shouting, and followed Luffy outside. I wasn't really looking forward to going back out there, the forest was full of creepy noises, but I wasn't crazy about staying in that smelly hut, either.
I caught up to Luffy, who was looking up at Freckles, waving his arms and shouting something.
Freckles glared at us from his perch on a log. He jumped off the log, kicked off, and darted off into the woods.
Luffy and I started after him, but stopped when the log, which was on the top of a hill, creaked, and rolled towards us, bumping over stones and crushing smaller trees. We had to scatter, before we got crushed by a twenty-foot log.
As soon as the log passed us by, Luffy and I stood there in shock, panting. My heartbeat throbbed in my ears. "That big guy's trying to kill us!" I said through gasping breaths.
Luffy looked down at me, confused as to what I'd just said.
I rolled my eyes, then did the best imitation of the big guy I could. Then I mimed what I hoped looked like great effort. At last, I drew my finger across my neck and made a 'gckkhhk' sound.
Luffy stared at me, a look of amazement in his eyes. We stared into each other's eyes for a moment, then we burst out laughing.
For the next few days, Luffy and I spent our time following Freckles. Normally, we failed miserably. We spent hours picking through dense foliage, climbing over stones, and climbing up and down trees, only to end up attacked by crocodiles, vultures, and, oh my god, tigers.
At one point we ended up at the bottom of a gorge, and we ended up being chased by wolves. Seriously, wolves. With big teeth. Really big, sharp teeth. And boy did we ever get in huge trouble when we got back, battered and bloody. I had found that I was no good at swimming, and Luffy was no different. Except he had a cool ability. I didn't, and that really sucked.
By the second week, Luffy and I actually managed to follow Freckles all the way to where he was took forever. By the time I managed to catch up to Luffy, I doubled over, trying to catch my breath. That only lasted a few seconds before I smelled something like a trash can wrapped in old socks, and I choked. The place smelled absolutely awful. In fact, it was a junkyard. It was pretty much a giant mountain of garbage.
Luffy grabbed my arm.
I looked up at him. "It's really stinky." I managed to gag.
Luffy pointed up at a tree in the middle of the garbage pile. Freckles was perched on one of the higher branches, along with another boy about his age.
This boy was a little shorter than Freckles, with blond hair, ratty clothes, and a huge black hat with hexagonal goggles. His nose was a little upturned. They were talking and laughing.
Then I caught the word 'kazoku'. That caught Luffy's attention.
Luffy shouted at the two boys. He was so excited, I could have sworn his eyes started to flash.
They both jumped. It was kinda funny when the goggled guy nearly fell off the branch. The other two didn't look like they were too happy to see us. They started to get into a shouting match which I couldn't understand, so I decided to look around. There were piles and piles of trash. I wrinkled my nose.
I turned around when I heard a shout from Luffy.
The two older boys had tied him to the tree. They were glaring at Luffy with malicious looks on their faces.
Freckles frowned and said, "Wareware wa kare o korosu tame ni hitsuyō ga arimasu."
I cocked my head to one side, unable to understand.
Luffy, however, screamed. "Tasukete!"
I ran forward. No one was going to hurt my friend! I charged Goggles and kicked him in the shin.
Goggles fell to the ground, clutching at his shin. He yelled something I figured was a swear word, and Freckles grabbed my arm.
I winced at his grip.
He threw me aside like a weighed absolutely nothing.
I landed hard on my right shoulder, my nose crashing into my arm.
Freckles rooted around in the garbage for a second, and then picked up a knife.
"Luffy!" I shouted, rubbing my shoulder.
Then, I heard a snap behind me. I turned, and gasped.
There were people carrying swords guy in the lead, a big guy with a flat face and squinty eyes, seemed to be looking for something.
A hand grabbed me, covered my mouth, and pulled me behind a bush. I struggled, or at least, I tried. Then a hand tapped me lightly over the head. I stopped and looked. Goggles had a finger to his lips.
I took a breath, and stopped struggling.
I looked at Freckles out of the corner of my eye. He glanced at me, but didn't say anything.
Then I heard a scream.
I stood on tiptoe, pushing against Freckle's grip on my shoulder, and I nearly passed out.
The largest of the men had Luffy by the neck.
I wanted to charge the ugly guy and beat him up, but Freckles and Goggles had me restrained.
After a fairly brief and animated shouting match, the man took Luffy away.
I struggled against Freckles' and Goggles' hands. No way would I let that ugly ape hurt my friend!
Freckles had to hold me back for almost half an hour, while Goggles went off somewhere. When he came back, I was crying, still trying to get away from Freckles. Goggles shouted something to him, and Freckles let me go. I stumbled out of his grip, and ran in the direction the ape had taken Luffy.
Goggles grabbed my hand before I could get very far, though. "Matte!" he said.
He led me in the other direction. As he and Freckles passed their tree, they both grabbed pieces of metal pipes. Freckles picked up a third one, and handed it to me.
We went to a deeper part of the junkyard, which, if possible, smelled even worse. There were other people there, too. They didn't look like the bad guys who had carried Luffy off, but just like regular people who were down on their luck. I even saw a kid who looked even younger than me rummaging through the garbage, his parents not too far away.
And Luffy was captured by some guy and he's being kept in a place like this...
A few hundred feet away, a wrecked building stood, or barely stood.
I grabbed Goggles' sleeve. "Hey, Goggles."
He looked down at me like I was crazy. "Nani?"
I pointed to the building.
The two boys looked at each other, then nodded.
I heard a loud scream, and the three of us ran into the wrecked area. Sure enough, I had been right. Luffy was there.
I bit back a scream when I saw him. He was so weak, he looked like he was just a few inches from death.
Freckles and Goggles charged the huge men. Pipes against swords. I tried to charge them too, but the first guy I charged hit me in the chest, and I flew into the wall.
Goggles looked over his shoulder at me, then shouted something at me.
I took it as a 'Leave this to us'. And I could believe that. They were absolute naturals with their pipes.
I started rummaging around the garbage, looking for something sharp to cut Luffy down with. I lucked out. There was a knife on the floor not too far from me. I rolled under one of them men's legs, and grabbed it. I ran up to Luffy, and cut him loose. He fell, and I tried to catch him, but he fell on me. I pushed him off me and undid the rope. I tried to drag him along, but he was way bigger than me, and he couldn't support some of his own weight. Goggles turned away from the fight and threw Luffy over his shoulder. , Freckles got into a fight, metal pipe against sword, with the big ape.
I looked for him over my shoulder, but Goggles just grabbed my hand, and pulled me along.
The last thing I saw of Freckles in that fight was when he was slashed across the forehead.
We made it back to the tree and Goggles started patching him up.
Luffy pretty much spent the entire time bawling his eyes out.
Freckles grit his teeth, then shouted at Luffy, and he shouted back. I couldn't really follow.
Then, the conversation quieted down, and they all stared at me.
Luffy began our little introduction procedure. I followed his example and introduced myself. The two older boys looked at eachother, then they did the same thing. Freckles introduced himself as "Ace", and Goggles said his name was "Sabo".
Then we all went back to the hut where we lived with the bandit-like people.
After that, Luffy, Ace, Sabo, and I spent a lot more time together. At one point, Ace stole a bottle of something alcoholic from the dumpy lady, and a few cups. Ace poured some of the clear liquid into the cups, and they took up a cup each. Luffy handed me one.
The three of them linked their arms together and pointed the cups towards their mouths. Luffy motioned for me to do the same.
The three of them raised their cups.
I raised mine. "Cheers!" I grinned.
I linked my arm with Luffy's and Ace's, then took a drink.
My god that stuff tasted awful. I coughed, and reeled. Ace caught me by the arms, and set me down on the grass.
Luffy, Ace, and Sabo looked at each other, then they burst out laughing.
So, that was chapter 4. Hopefully it's an improvement. If you like, tell me what you think. I'll be doing more chapter edits/updates over the next couple of weeks.
