The Adventure of the Man of D.


III: From the Tops of the Towers

The London Docks was the greatest trading port of Europe, if not the world, and it was here that we begun our search, based on Holmes's deduction upon the river flow and the likeliest place to hide a ship.

"Meat!"

Ah, to be young and naïve again. Faced with one of the world's greatest ports, with ships majestically strolling into harbour bearing the exotic spices and fruit and goods of the world, and his first reaction is to head for the meat produce. Directly after lunch, too.

"No," Holmes intervened before the boy could make away with the entire crate. "Let's focus. What does your ship look like?"

"Hmph... Sunny is big!" Luffy chirped. "Oh, and it's a lion! And it's custom made by Franky!"

"There's no more need to describe the Sunny to them, Captain," Miss Nico pointed to the furthest dock from us, tucked away in some unseen corner of the harbour. "The Sunny is over there."

"Sunny!" Luffy immediately charged over like a bloodhound on the scent, all of us rushing to keep up with his boundless energy. I was panting rather heavily when we reached the dock and I finally laid eyes on the Thousand Sunny.

There are no sufficient words in my limited vocabulary to describe the pirate ship, Thousand Sunny, in the greatest detail possible. I will then endeavour, using a thesaurus, and Mr Franky's notes, to describe it using as many layman's terms as possible.

We saw a brig sloop type ship, double-masted, with an observation tower where the crow's nest would be. Its figurehead was in the shape of a round lion, the orange mane arranged almost like the petals around a flower. Two crossbones under the lion figurehead gave it the debonair air of piracy. Right now, the ship was at anchor, but I could definitely imagine this ship being sailed on the seas... however, seeing it as a pirate ship required slightly more imagination. Large numbers were painted on the hull: 0, supposedly to mean something.

"Well, at least it stands out," Holmes acknowledged.

"Ow!" Someone stood on the deck and posed. "Yo, captain, Robin!"

There are some sights in this world that are not worth seeing, no matter what, and this was one of them. The sight will forever be burned in my memory for there is no way of forgetting that sight, the first time either of us ever saw the shipwright of the Straw Hat Pirates.

His hair was swept up in a cyan-coloured pompadour, and he posed with his larger-than-humanly possible biceps, a tattoo of a blue star on each of them combined to form one star. He was wearing a bright-print shirt with colours only a peacock might consider, and with it... some sort of tiny lingerie that did nothing to hide his nether regions while displaying his legs in all their hairy glory. As he posed, I swore I could hear actual waves crashing on rocks behind him, such was his self-confidence.

"My god, man, you're indecent!" I yelled at him.

"No way! I'm a pervert!" he yelled back.

"Aren't they the same thing?" I retorted.

"Who the hell are you anyway?" He shot back.

"Ah, this is Doctor Watson," Miss Nico introduced us. "And the other man is Mr Sherlock Holmes. They found Luffy in connection with something, apparently, and are currently assisting us in tracking the rest of the crew. Gentlemen, this is Franky, our shipwright. He has... a constant habit of not wearing pants, but no worries."

"He's always this..." I suppressed a shudder at the thought.

"This is his normal wear," Miss Nico answered. I waited for her to continue but it appeared that no more words need be said, for she began to talk to the shipwright, Franky.

"Franky, has anyone else come back?" Miss Nico questioned.

"Ah, Usopp went to buy Tabasco sauce and spices, no problem," Franky gave a thumbs up at that. "And he's lugging back Cola for the Sunny as well. Oi, Luffy, you seen anyone else yet?"

"Nah, except Robin," Luffy bluntly answered.

"Yeah, well, I think I saw Zoro wandering around," Franky called back to him. "Fellow probably got lost again."

"Now we have to find Sanji, so we can have meat!" Luffy declared.

"I think we should find Swordsman instead," Robin instructed softly.

Luffy blinked. "But Zoro's tough. He'll be okay."

"I'm more worried, because he is tough." Robin explained. "Killing here is clearly outlawed. I fear Swordsman may be too much for those here, as will you and Cook, Captain."

"Hmm… Zoro won't fight useless battles. So if people really are that weak, he won't fight at all." Luffy reasoned.

"You know Swordsman best," she agreed, though I could sense the slight shadow of doubt.

"So, this Zoro is a swordsman?" Holmes questioned.

"He's going to be the best swordsman in the world!" Luffy exclaimed with as much joy as he had when he announced his own dream.

"He has a sword?" Holmes continued to question. No one in this day and age carried around a sword. No one else, that is. It would narrow the search down drastically if our mystery swordsman was carrying one around.

"Of course not," Luffy answered. Holmes about sighed until the boy went on. "He's got three."

I tried to imagine one person carrying three broadswords, and failed miserably. It would be more likely for the average person to collapse under the weight of the swords instead, for one thing. Still, a man carrying three swords around was bound to be noticed.

A high-pitched whistle reached my ears at about the same time a brilliant red light burned in the air, almost like a firework.

Franky looked up, his expression creasing. "Usopp!"

"You gave him a flare?" Robin archly directed at him.

"Strange place and all that," Franky shrugged. "Oi, Luffy!"

"'Kay!" the boy cheered as he began to stretch... and I suddenly realised that Holmes and I were in the direct line of fire, as it were.

"Run!" I yelled as the boy let go.

"Rocket!" he crowed as both of us were caught in the wildest hay-maker of the century and we, for lack of a better word, rocketed to the roofs of Wapping.

Holmes muttered a word I did not recognise in a language I do not expect to recognise, and was most probably a curse, as he grabbed onto a pipe to safely slide down to the ground. "That boy..."

"I agree," I began a slow jog in the direction Luffy was going. "I don't like this any more than... you...!"

We had turned a corner then and we saw three large, bulky rent-a-thugs being thrown in our direction. Holmes and I dodged back to the wall as the three landed where we would have been a few moments ago.

"Usopp! Chopper!" Luffy cheered as we finally deemed it safe to walk into the alleyway without potential fisticuffs breaking out.

Luffy was hugging a boy, his black hair curly and wild, kept down by a bandanna. The other boy's tanned frame was skinny and he wore nothing but worn overalls. Odder still, was his long nose that vaguely resembled an Italian puppet and the large stuffed deer in his arms with a large pink hat and blue nose, which he was clutching tightly to. If I did not know better, would ave sworn that the animal looked scared as well.

"Luffy!" the black-haired boy was saying. "We finally found you! I found Franky first then I found Chopper when I was buying spices and you wouldn't believe that I managed to find saffron!"

"Really? That sounds delicious!" Luffy grinned as he spotted us. "Oh, yeah, this is the nice uncle doctor I met who gave me food, and that's the cold fish he's sticking to at the moment."

"...I am Doctor John Watson," I introduced myself to the perplexed boy when it was becoming clear that a good introduction was not forthcoming from the self-proclaimed captain. "My companion is Mr Sherlock Holmes. We are currently following Mr Monkey on the premise that he is the sole witness to a potential murder. You are...?"

"I'm the great Captain Usopp!... sniper of the Straw Hat Pirates," he muttered at the end as I gave him a sympathetic look, clearly having seen through that admittedly transparent lie. "This is Chopper."

"Good day, Chopper," I greeted the stuffed animal.

"Oh, it'll be okay Chopper. These people are okay," Luffy grinned at it.

"You sure?" a little timid voice questioned. "I don't think they like my blue nose."

"Come on!" Luffy yelled. "They accept you like this, they'll accept your reindeer form too!"

Slowly, a nod came from the creature in Usopp's arms.

It jumped from his lap and stood in front of them, on his own stubby legs. It looked up at us timidly before suddenly, the small form shifted. Legs grew longer and back-jointed as the creature descended on all fours, as its snout grew bigger and its fur coat longer and more ruff-like. Both of us could only start at the reindeer that now stood in front of us. The only thing that stayed the same was the pink hat atop its head, and its blue nose.

It was a very long silence before Holmes finally sighed. "Well, Watson, today we are certainly stretching the boundaries of impossible."


We had retired to the deck of the Thousand Sunny – which, surprisingly, had a lawn and a grove of orange trees onboard – and Holmes was ignoring everything about this very strange and colourful pirate ship in favour of interrogating the reindeer doctor of the Straw Hat Pirates, one Tony Tony Chopper.

"A reindeer, you say?" Holmes asked.

"Yep." the reindeer looked more cheerful now, if reindeer could indeed give any facial expressions. If Luffy was right, and this was a reindeer over, perhaps, a raccoon, then the reindeer must be rather expressive to give off such an impression.

"How…?" Holmes seemed at a loss for words to describe Doctor Chopper.

"Devil Fruit."

I remembered Luffy mentioning something to that effect. "And, you and Luffy are the same, Doctor Chopper?"

"Robin and Brook are Devil Fruit users too!" Chopper seemed more enthusiastic onboard the ship than out to a big strange world. Almost childlike, that strange innocence of his if one did not factor species into consideration. "Calling me a doctor won't make me happy, you idiot~!" He was also incapable of hiding his emotion,s in an oddly endearing way.

"He's the best doctor I know, and he's our emergency food supply!" Luffy chuckled, hanging from the rigging. I deigned not to reply; there were some things one did not reply to, if only to maintain a semblance of sanity.

"So, we got Sanji, Zoro, Nami, and Brook left," Luffy counted. "Can we go search the other side tonight?"

"That's... one of the most dangerous parts of London..." I feebly replied. Privately, I thought that perhaps even the East End would be easy pickings for him, if his strength was any indication.

"Holmes checked his pocket-watch. "Perhaps not. It would take us too long, and nightfall would have already occurred once we arrived there. I shall take my leave now, then, gentlemen and lady. Come, Watson, we have a cemetery to investigate."

Seeing as it was not everyday that Sherlock Holmes was to investigate amongst gravestones, I followed him away from the colourful pirate ship after bidding farewell to the excitable group of pirates to ask my friend as to his reasons.

"This spectre comes out at sunset, and throughout the night proceeds to sing raucous songs that disturb the peace," Holmes snorted. "Seeing as half the force are superstitiously inclined, Lestrade has bade my investigation into this... bone spectre. Seeing as my fees are being paid for by the residents of Highbury, and that summer is a light season, I hardly have a reason to avoid the money. However, before the sunset comes, I would prefer to conduct some preliminary investigation as to potential mortal agents. I am reduced to hunting for spectres, Watson! How the mighty have fallen!"

I chuckled at his mocking shocked expression. "It would still be a relief from the case of the Thousand Sunny's crew."

"If the rest are anything like the captain, god help London," Holmes rolled his eyes. "If Miss Nico was correct, our immediate priority is the navigator and the musician. The cook and the swordsman will indeed stand out well enough for us to find at our leisure."


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