Hello dear readers~!
Welcome to me next installment of Ocean Soul! Thank you to all those who have faved and put this fic on story alert. And the Rievews are nice too ^3^
Now, I feel I should mention a few things... Firstly, I am following the manga, buying it actually. However, there are parts in the anime that I love and/or are important to this story, so they will be put in here.
Second, I plan on seeing this thing till the end. But since it's so damn long (love it anyway XD), I might have to separate into different parts. Though I get the feeling that by the time Azure gets to Fishman Island, Luffy will have found the One Piece and he will do it! :D
Finally, I think (it's 4am, cut me some slack), I have a poll on my profile: Should I upload Ocean Soul onto Deviantart? Please help me let me know.
Anyway, read, review, enjoy!
Chapter 4 ~ Thief in Broad Daylight
"I'm starving!"
I sighed as Luffy started up again. It had been two days since we left the base and unfortunately we finished our rations last night. No thanks to our captain.
"Don't you think it's strange that you can't navigate?" asked Zoro skeptically.
"Nope," replied Luffy from his spot beside me. "Drifting has always been pretty good for me. What about you? You're supposed to be the 'Holy Terror' of the seas!"
"I don't ever remember calling myself that," Zoro retorted as he leaned back. "I followed a pirate out to sea, but I couldn't find my way back to my village. So I made the best of things and went after pirates in the area. Had to earn money somehow."
"So you're just lost," Luffy and I said in chorus.
"You don't have to put it like that!" yelled the swordsman. I snickered. "Can you?"
I closed my book and glanced at the man. He cocked an eyebrow questioningly, as if waiting for me to admit to failure. Luffy was just watching expectantly. I sighed and looked at the sun.
"All I know is that we're going east and that it's around noon."
"How do you know we're going east?" asked Luffy as his head tilted in confusion. I was adorable, I must say.
"I was up at dawn," I replied. Then after a second, "Did you know you guys sleep like logs? I mean, I was in for an hour and you were still out by the time I was dry."
"Huh?" I see I confused them… not that hard to comprehend I don't think.
"I went for a swim," I replied. "I'm a deep seas diver; been doing it since I was little. You find so many cool things below the surface! And, since I've been doing it for so long, I can go far deeper than most. I found three sunken treasures when I was with Alvida."
"Really!" exclaimed Luffy. He seemed particularly happy. "You can go that deep?"
I grinned widely. The ocean was my life, it was one of the reasons I had set out to the sea. I can't stand long periods on land. Although, that might be because I had never stayed on an island for more than four months growing up. My foster parents had made sure we were always moving.
"What about Sea Kings?"
"What about them? They're easy to take care of," I waved the moss-head off. "Not the point here. Luffy, we need to find a navigator or else we'll never reach the Grand Line."
"She's right," sighed Zoro. "Finding one should be our top priority."
Luffy nodded and grinned, "And we need a cook, and a musician, and—"
"Those can wait!" we yelled in annoyance. I put my book on marine wildlife in my bag as the two flopped onto their backs.
"So hungry…" I rolled my eyes at them. I mean, I'm hungry too but complaining about it isn't going to suddenly make food appear.
"Hey, look," we looked to the captain as he squinted his eyes in the sun. "It's a bird."
"Your point?"
"It looks pretty big," commented Zoro.
"I know!" said Luffy as he jumped up. "Let's eat it?"
"How?" He's not planning anything stupid is he?
"Leave it to me! I'll catch it! Gum-Gum..." he stretched his hands up to grab the top of the mast. "Rocket!" and went flying up towards the bird.
"Oh…"
"Okay," Zoro said as he went to shield his eyes. Thing is, Luffy didn't come down right away as he should have. Instead…
"HELP!"
"YOU IDIOT!" we bellowed as our 'captain' got carried off by our lunch.
Zoro grabbed the oars and started rowing like a madman. "Dammit! What are you doing!"
I facepalmed; what the hell did I get myself into?
With his crazy rowing speed, we came across some people in the water. "Ahoy! Wait!"
"Shipwreck survivors?" I asked. They couldn't be... there was no debris. Thrown overboard?
"At a time like this?" growled the swordsman. "Can't stop," he called. "Just grab on and climb in!"
As we passed, the tree men hurried to grab onto our boat. "Congrats on making it!" I grinned.
"You would have left us to die!" they yelped.
"Probably… we're in kinda a rush." I said propping my head in my right hand.
"What kind of people are you!" one huffed.
My grinned broadened. "One of a kind."
After they caught their breath, the one with the hat brandished a knife. "Stop the boat. We're pirates of Buggy the Clown."
"Huh?" Zoro looks rather evil right now…
"Keep going," I sighed. The moss-head gave me a look, then nodded. There wasn't a lot of room to move in, if I wasn't careful, we would capsize.
The man with the hat growled and lunged. I dodge his blade to the right and twisted around to give him a roundhouse kick to the side of the head. Then I dragged my leg down, bringing him with it as he faceplanted into the deck. The other two didn't seem too happy. The dude with the ginger afro came up behind me. I shot my arm back, elbowing him in the diaphragm and spun to punch him in the face before he could recover. He went down too. My body tensed again as the round one came up from my left. I sidestepped as he went to punch me but grabbed his arm and flipped him. Just before he would have hit the deck of the small boat, I kneed him in the chest before I dangled him over the water.
"You know, I can just leave you guys out here, right?" I said as I made two fingers let go of his large wrist.
"W-wait!"
"Hey Azure," I turned to the smirking swordsman. "I have a better idea."
And so, we made them row. "We're very sorry Mr. Pirate Hunter Zoro, sir! We deeply apologize Miss Azure! We didn't realize who you were!"
I stuck out my tongue, "You made us lose our friend."
"Keep rowing," ordered Zoro. "If there's land nearby, he'll get there."
"So how did you lot end up in the middle of the ocean?" I asked.
"I'll tell you how!" said the one with the hat. "Thanks for reminding us!"
Basically, after looting some ship, they came across a girl nearly dead in a boat. She had offered them her treasure in exchange for some water. But she tricked them and stole their boat and treasure. She had predicted a squall, which had caused the boat to capsize.
"Amazing," said Zoro after their tale. "She used the weather to her own advantage. She must really know the seas."
"Good navigator material," I nodded in agreement.
"She'd make a good corpse!" growled the ginger afro.
"Cap'n Buggy will be furious if we return empty-handed," said the round one worriedly.
"Who's this Buggy guy anyway?" asked the swordsman.
"Only the most ferocious pirate in these parts!" claimed the one with the hat. "Haven't you heard of Buggy the Clown? He ate a Devil Fruit!"
"Devil Fruit?"
Now, in case you're wondering, I should probably explain what the Devil Fruits are. They're a mysterious type of fruit that grants whoever eats it strange and terrible powers. They come in various shapes and colours but they supposedly all taste horrible. And even though they give you insane abilities, like a rubber body or the ability to sprout wings, they all have the same weakness; they can no longer swim, become too heavy for their bodies to move and sink. I've traveled my whole life so I've seen a few Devil Fruit users.
I sighed as I settled by the edge of the boat, leaning over to watch the waves as my left hand grazed the surface. For some reason I felt tired. Maybe it was the gentle rocking of the waves, the warm sun of the cool water lapping at my fingers. From what I could tell, the pirates knew where they were going and Zoro can keep them in line. I yawned slightly.
"Hey Zoro?" I called.
I could fell his eyes on me. "I is going for a nap. Wake me up when we get there, 'kay?"
He grunted and I took that as his response as I drifted off to Lala-land.
I growled as something, which felt suspiciously like the sheath of a sword, poke my side.
"We're here," said the swordsman, stating the obvious. I groaned as the sun assaulted my eyes. I pushed away from the edge and stretched my stiff limbs, a yawn escaping my lips. I blinked away the sleep and noticed the three stooges tying the boat to the dock.
"This is it Master Zoro, Miss Azure," the round one said politely.
"It looks like a ghost town," mumbled the moss-head. A town this size should be filled with people this time of day. "Where is everyone?"
The three paused of a moment, as if weighing their options. "Well you see sir, we've taken over the town," said the large one with a sheepish grin.
I frowned. Did that mean the villagers were dead? I certainly hope not. Though I may be a pirate, I frown upon hurting the innocent.
"We'll just have to tell him the truth," said the hatted on. "It's all that girls fault anyway!"
I pulled my bandana from my pocket and tied it to my head. "Well take us too your captain."
Zoro nodded, "Maybe he's seen Luffy."
So we followed the tree into town until we could no longer see the docks. They stopped for a second before the one with the hat spoke up, "See the tallest building ahead?" we both glanced in said direction. "That's the tavern. We've kinda taken up shop there. The captain is usually partying with the crew on the roof."
I nodded then noticed that they weren't planning on going with us. "And what will you be doing?"
"We're going back to the docks to wait for the thief," said the one with the hat.
"And we don't want to deal with the cap 'n's wrath," said the ginger. I cocked an eyebrow at their cowardice and shrugged; not my problem.
With that, we walked towards the tavern… well I did. My eyes widened at the sheer idiocy that was Zoro. I mean, how can he go in the wrong direction when the inn was right in front of us? I can understand how he can lost at sea; not being a navigator, but this was ridiculous. I has no idea ones sense of direction could be so shot!
"Zoro?" I called facepalming.
"What?"
"It's this way…" I jerked a thumb behind me. He blinked for a moment before frowning and following me, finally going the right way.
Walking up to it, the tavern was three story building with fencing around the edge of a flat roof. The sign along the second floor railing read 'the Drinkers Pub' and there seemed to be a party going on the roof. As we drew near, my body tensed; something was coming. My instincts proved right when a loud shot resounded and instantly blew up on the left side of the inn. I ended up turning to the side and brought my arms up to shield me from the blast.
When it had died down, I chanced a look. Holy… shit… The buildings were gone, leveled, nothing but a burnt pile of wood now.
"What the hell was that?" I turned to my crewmate who, while rather stoic, I could see the surprise on his face.
"Smells like trouble to me," I said turning towards the tavern. I grinned, "Let's go!"
We sped towards the building and up the stairs to the landing. The bar had two pieces that jutted outward from the rest, probably giving their respective rooms more space. With enough lift, I should be able to grab the roof; I'm kinda short we see.
I ran at the furthest wall piece and jumped, planting my foot and pushing off, the twisted myself so I could grab the roofs edge. I smirked as I easily pulled myself up. I grinned down at the swordsman and extended my hand. He scowled but took my hand anyway. Although heavy, he was fairly easy to pull up.
We crawled up the slanted roof, making sure to keep low. The cheers of the seemed to be about… killing someone? Sigh, what else is new?
Peeking over the rail was quite a sight. Where to start? Well the Buggy Pirates seemed to follow a circus theme from there getup. I could also see Buggy—and true to his name—he looked like a clown; what with the face-paint, the big red nose and an orange captain's hat. A few things seemed a little off though; one being a girl with orange hair and a bo staff whose back was to us, standing beside a large cannon. She didn't seem to fit the theme. Second, was the large cannon, which I assume was the one who leveled the block, was pointed at a cage. It was what was in the cage that had me worried. My captain all tied up, in a cage, chewing on the bars to escape.
How does he manage these things?
"Looks like we found him," muttered Zoro. He made to stand but I quickly yanked him down by his haramaki. "What the hell?" he whispered.
"Let's just wait a second," I murmured keeping my eyes on the pirates.
"I just got carried away!" the girl called. "I just don't want to become a low-down murderer like any of you! YOU PIRATES TOOK SOMEONE DEAR TO ME! I'LL NEVER BECOME WHAT I HATE!"
"So that's why you hate pirates," said Luffy from the cage. Then he yelped, which is very odd for him, "The fuse is lit!"
Shwha?
The long fuse was indeed lit and was slowly burning along. Luffy actually seemed afraid as he started to chew the bars with renewed vigor.
"Uh-oh, I'm gonna die!"
"Little girl, you tried to make a fool out if me," said Buggy. "And for that you die!"
Some of the pirates came at the girl, knives and swords at the ready. She glanced at the fuse and bit her bottom lip as if weighing the odds. She grit her teeth as the pirates attacked and swung her staff. Her eyes widened as all four jumped out of the way.
"You missed!" one called as they went to attack again. She ducked to the right and threw her staff, then bolted over to the cannon.
Whatever she was going to do, I didn't expect what she did.
The fuse was burning dangerously close to the cannon, Luffy was almost through one of the bars—which really says something, I think those bars are iron or something— and the girl? The girl had rushed over the fuse and snuffed it out with her bare hands. She let out a muffled cry as it burned her.
"Hey!" called Luffy. "Behind you!"
A blur from my right.
"How many pirates does it take to handle one girl!" someone called and BAM!
I giggled as I watch the scene unfold. The four pirates had run straight into the side of Zoro's swords, knocking themselves out in the process. Those retards…
"Zoro!" Luffy grinned in relief. "Phew, glad you found me! Now get me outa here!"
"Always fooling around," said Zoro as he tapped a sword on his shoulder. "First you fly off with a bird and now playing in a cage…idiot!"
"It's an interesting story actually," said Luffy.
I sweatdroped, these guys... I slipped my bandana from my head and tied it around my wrist, I then managed to find a hair elastic in a pocket. As I'm tying my hair up, I realize something; the little idiot didn't even ask about me.
"Hey Zoro," asked Luffy, "Where's Azure?"
"Gee, thanks Captain," I sighed as I sat cross-legged on top of the cage. This was a fine predicament.
"So, you're Roronoa Zoro, eh?" Buggy said smugly. But that conversation didn't seem that important as I actually managed to get a good look at the girl 'we' saved.
This girl was slightly taller than my 5'6'' with orange hair cut just above the shoulders and curled out a bit at the ends, pushed behind her right ear while a small part fell in front of her left ear. She had brown eyes and was wearing a white V-neck t-shirt with two blue stripes at the neckline, two stripes at the end of each sleeve and three stripes around the middle. The shirt was pretty long, coming down past her hips. She also wore a very short orange skirt with two circles that were white on the outside and dark orange on the inside on the sides of the skirt and reddish-brown heeled ankle boots.
She seems familiar… huh…
"Get 'im Cap'n Buggy!" the cheers from the crew breaking my train of thought. "Cut 'im to pieces!"
There stood Buggy with four knives in one hand, held between his fingers, and one in the other. He charged, "Give me all you've got, pirate hunter, 'cause I'm about to get a look at your blood!"
"You asked for it!" Zoro drew all of his swords. The two clashed and it was easy to determine the victor because not only had Zoro cut the clown in half, but his arm and leg too.
"Hey! That was too easy!" said Luffy from beneath me.
"No way…" breathed the girl as she processed what had happened wide-eyes.
"There has to be a trick," I muttered as his crew started to laugh. Why would a crew laugh at their fallen captain?
"Oi, Zoro! Get me outta here!"
The swordsman sighed as he made his way over. The crew started to laugh louder. I looked back over to where the pirate had fallen and noticed something odd; no blood, or innards for that matter. Another oddity was that his hands had yet to release the knives. That's impossible. Then I remembered what the three stooges had said and it made sense. My eyes widened.
"Zoro!" I yelled, "Devil Fruit!"
My warning came too late as the swordsman's eyes went wide. He got stabbed in the side by… by… by a floating hand! He fell to his knees as blood flew from his lips.
"Zoro!" Luffy and I shouted.
"What the— That hand—!" said the girl in utter shock.
"What's going on!" gasped Zoro as he pushed the blade out. He managed to spin and draw a sword to bat the knife away.
"The chop-chop fruit…" I grit me teeth when Buggy spoke as his pieces reattached themselves. "Is the Devil Fruit that I ate! You can slice and dice me but you can't kill me! I'M A CHOP-CHOP MAN!"
"Chop-chop man!" exclaimed Luffy. "That guy's a freak!"
I sweatdroped. "Look who's talking…"
"Roronoa Zoro! You never had a chance! Looks like I missed your vitals, but you still took a serious wound!"
I watched as Zoro put pressure on his bleeding side and the girl looked like she was having a mental break down.
"Captain Buggy, you're the greatest!" his crew praised. "Finish him!"
I hopped down from my perch and got ready. The girl seemed to have some fighting skill, but not enough to beat these guys; Zoro is severely wounded and Luffy's in a cage. Now, how am I going to get us out of this one?
Luffy growled, "Stabbing someone in the back, that's fighting dirty. You got that big nose!"
There was a collective gasp. Apparently calling out Buggy's nose was suicide.
"You idiot!" yelled the ginger. "That's the one thing you never—"
"YOU DARE CALL ME BIG NOSE!" roared Buggy as his arm detached and flew towards the cage with a sharp pointy knife.
"LUFFY!"
"I swear," Luffy lifted his head, showing that he had caught the knife in his mouth, and snapped his teeth together, breaking it in half. "I'm gonna clobber you!"
"Clobber me?" the clown burst into laughter. "Don't make me laugh! You four are about to die!"
"It's hopeless, we're dead…" mumbled the girl. Talk about a pessimist.
The rubber-man just laughed, "No way! I'm not going to die!"
"And just how do you plan to clobber me now? Ain't that a laugh, boys?" the Buggy pirates just laughed at our misfortune.
"ZORO! AZURE! RUN!"
"What!" gasped the swordsman. "I'm not going anywhere! We're trying to save you! They'll kill you the moment we go!" then he paused for a second. Luffy just smiled. I grinned as I understood the plan. Zoro smirked, "Oh… gotcha…"
Apparently the girl didn't because it looked like she was about to have a panic-attack.
"Roronoa Zoro! You won't get away so easily! CHOP-CHOP CANNON!"
Buggy's arms fly towards Zoro, each with a knife. Zoro fended off the hands with two swords, using his other hand to staunch the bleeding. I snatched the matchbox from the girl as the swordsman made it to the cannon and sheathed his blades. He then grabbed the nose of the cannon and heaved, with an amazing feat of strength, making it point towards the Buggy pirates. I couldn't stand in shock like the others and moved quickly to light the short fuse.
Cue enemy freak-out.
"Ah! The cannon's pointed at us!"
"And it's loaded with a Buggy Ball!"
"NO!" Thundered the clown before the cannon went off, causing a huge smoke screen.
"Now's our chance," panted Zoro as he caught his breath. He looked to the ginger. "Who're you anyway?"
"I'm a thief," she said before looking at me. It looked as if she was trying to see if she knew me, I hope she did cause the thief bit sounds familiar.
"Actually," said Luffy still in his cage, "that's Nami, our new navigator!"
My eyes widened again. Holy shit!
"It's you!" we said together as we pointed at each other.
"You're that thief I saved!"
"Saved! You nearly got me killed!"
"Only 'cause you wouldn't leave the damn gold!"
"It was MY gold!"
"Who's stupid enough to try and take gold from an active, about to erupt, volcano!" *
"Enough!" yelled the swordsman. "Solve this later!"
"Sorry," I mumbled apologetically. I took a deep breath to calm myself then glanced down at Luffy. "Hey, how ya doing?"
"I'm okay, wish I could get out though," he shifted a bit before smiling.
"No problem," Zoro smirked. "You just stay in the cage."
"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!" Buggy exclaimed, even though he couldn't see with all the smoke.
I sighed at the sad clown then squatted down next to the bars. "Luffy, move over this way."
He looked at me for a second before shuffling over to me. I pulled out my knife —which is more a dagger then a knife— and cut the ropes around his torso and wrists then moved to the one binding his feet.
"Thanks," he grinned as I put my pretty dagger away. I nodded and moved out of the way so Zoro could do whatever he had planned.
I backed up unintentionally as Zoro began to lift the cage to his shoulder. Is he insane? He could hurt himself more then he already is!
"Zoro, don't do this!" Luffy protested, clearly worried about his friend. "Your guts'll squirt out!"
"Then I'll just shove 'em back in!"
"How can you do this?" gasped Nami.
"Zoro, this really isn't the best—"
"I do things my own way!" he growled as he steadied the cage, his side bleeding more with strain. "So don't gimme any lip about it!"
I sighed. If he really wanted to do it this way, I could have used a less painful method. Although, then my little 'secret' of sorts would be exposed. That's not a good thing; not at all. So I just went with it and followed Zoro, keeping a watchful eye on him.
* There's a volcano in the East Blue, dammit!
Anyway, I'm going to sleep for an hour before i have to get ready for school. Night :)
Silver
