Author's Note:
Disclaimer: Okay for the last time I don't own One piece. GOT IT? However, I DO own Hoshi.
Chapter Four: Hoshi
"Robin-chwan! Nami-san! Hoshi-chaan!"
It was the next morning. All of the Straw Hat pirates were awake and getting prepared for another day on the Grand Line. Hoshi, starting to learn how her new nakama operated, watched from the side and helped where she could. Luffy pulled up the anchor by himself, Zoro and Chopper let down the sail, Nami had placed herself in the crow's nest and yelled the day's weather forecast to no one in particular, and Usopp was in his workshop working yet another random invention. Sanji had just cooked up a storm for breakfast, and, as usual, had called the ladies to come get their share (and the best food) first.
Unfortunately, Luffy had learned by now that when Sanji yelled the ladies' names like that, he knew the best food was on the table. It also meant that whoever managed to get past Sanji would have all the best food for grabs. The crazy captain decided on a plan of action.
Sanji was preoccupied with calling his 'loves' to breakfast, so while he had hearts in his eyes and was supposedly blind to the world, Luffy stretched his arm and grabbed a branch of Nami's mikan trees. He prepared to swing himself into the kitchen, watching Sanji carefully for the right moment (namely, when Sanji began talking).
"NAMI-SAAN!!"
Luffy jumped.
"We really need a giant mousetrap!"
Nami, coming up the stairs, had seen Luffy jump off her mikan tree and decided to play along. "Why, Sanji-kun?"
Luffy was 10 feet in the air.
"Because…"
Luffy grabbed the branch for the second time, and swung.
"We need to…"
Luffy was actually in the doorway.
"KEEP THE IDIOT CAPTAIN OUT OF THE FRIDGE!!"
Sanji turned around with inhuman speed and gave Luffy a spectacular kick, so poor Luffy found his head slammed into the doorway of the kitchen rather than IN the kitchen. He landed in a miserable heap.
Sanji opened his mouth and drew in a deep breath to yell at the captain, when suddenly laughter exploded like a golden star over the ship. Hoshi was laughing, and her the sound of it stimulated a flash of tenderness in all the crew members. This girl had been through a lot, and they felt good that all it had taken was a kampai to make her join them.
Hoshi felt secure and happy… more so than ever before. Robin and Zoro smiled to themselves, and glanced at the girl's shining black figure. Her wings, no longer rumpled but feathers in uniform rows, were flaring a bit, reflecting Hoshi's happiness.
"Alright! On to the next island!" yelled Luffy at the top of his lungs. It was after breakfast. Luffy was sitting on his special seat, and the crew was gathered around, looking over the vast ocean in front of them. Luffy saw a million adventures just waiting to happen and One Piece; Zoro saw himself as the greatest swordsman to ever live; Sanji saw All Blue, full of fish just waiting to be cooked; Usopp glimpsed a brave warrior of the sea, feared by all; Nami saw a huge map in front of her, just waiting for her itching fingers to draw it; Chopper saw a million medicine books that he had written, holding cures for all the sicknesses in the world; Robin saw the Rio Poneglyph; Hoshi saw an ocean, vast, never ending, and somewhere out there, her own dream waiting to come true…
"Nami! Are we on course?"
"Aye Captain!" said Nami, flicking her eyes to the Log Post on her wrist.
"Good! Sanji!"
"Don't you dare say it," growled Sanji.
Luffy ignored that. "I'm hungry. I want some meat!"
"No! You just had breakfast!"
"I'm hungry again! Feed me!"
"No."
"MEAT!!"
"NO! When I say no for the first time, LISTEN, damn you!"
"But I'm hungry!"
The conversation went on, and seemed like it would not make any progress. Zoro leaned against the railing and prepared to go back to sleep. Opening his eyes the barest fraction of a centimeter, he watched the blurry outline that was Hoshi. She had kept her black attire, so she was easy to identify from the other blobs. Her short hair was streaming forward with the wind, and her wings seemed to cushion her body, keeping her fragile figure upright. Zoro felt the feather he had picked up last night rub between his shirt and waistband. He smiled and leaned back, closing his eyes fully. He had not really been sure what to do with the feather last night, but he decided to just keep it close to him in the end.
Robin also smiled. She could understand how Hoshi felt. Being with this crew gave them both a sense of security that had been denied for most of their lives. Robin could relate with Hoshi's hatred of the World Government, and the feeling of never having been able to fully trust anybody… yes, she really could understand. Robin felt dimly surprised, realizing that she really cared about this winged girl.
As for Hoshi herself, it was the first time that she had actually looked forward to what the new day was going to bring. She felt surprised that she could change so much in merely one night, but it seemed that having been given a new name, she had left her old self behind with her old name. She felt reborn and alive, a new person… or maybe it was the person who she could have been without all her past pain waking up in the warm welcome of this boat…
Hoshi shook her head. Leave that sort of reasoning to scholars and whatnot. Of course, she wasn't completely renewed yet. There was that little shadow, that imp of doubt dancing cruelly, trying to find some way to squash her happiness. She pushed it away and snubbed it under a mental thumb.
Suddenly, under a random inspiration (probably a Luffy influence), Hoshi asked the crew, "Does anyone want to go swimming?"
The crew all looked at Hoshi, with the huge smile on her face.
"Sounds good!" said Nami.
"I could use a swim," said Usopp. "I want to test a new fishing rod I invented." He waved around his 'fishing rod'… it looked like a miniature cannon with knobs and a trigger.
"Catch some fish and I'll fry it up for dinner, okay?" said Sanji.
"YOSHA!! LET'S GO SWIMMING!!"
"Not YOU, moron!" screamed Nami, punching her captain on one side of the head. She flounced off.
"IDIOT!" yelled Usopp, stretching Luffy's face as far as he could to the left. He then flounced off after Nami.
"S-sorry!" pleaded Luffy. Usopp let go, and Luffy's face snapped back into place.
Hoshi looked startled and confused. "Why can't Luffy swim?" she asked.
"He ate the Gomu-Gomu no Mi, a Devil's Fruit," Robin explained. "If you eat a Devil's fruit, your body looses the ability to swim, but you get some superhuman power in exchange."
"Oh, I see. That's why he's so stretchy!" Hoshi exclaimed.
"Exactly. I can't swim either. I ate the Hana-Hana no Mi," Robin replied, sprouting several hands from her elbow as proof.
"And I ate the Hito-Hito no Mi," said Chopper, transforming from his cute little reindeer form to the big muscular man to prove his point (albeit a man with a blue nose).
Instead of being shocked or amazed, Hoshi surprised them all by giving a small smile and saying, "As expected of the Grand Line."
Zoro, hearing this, laughed to himself. Had anyone ever reacted to a display of Devil's Fruit powers like that? He guessed not. Peeking through his eyelids again, he thought That girl has character.
"Guess I'll take a swim too," he informed no one in general.
"Hoshi! If you want to go swimming, don't you need a swim suit?" called Nami. She herself had already changed into an aqua-colored bikini, making hearts appear in Sanji's eyes again.
Hoshi looked disgusted. "Wearing something like that?"
"It's more comfortable for the water!" Nami retorted.
"Well…"
"I have a spare one piece swim suit, if that makes you feel better," Nami wheedled.
"Okay… I guess…"
Half an hour later, Nami, Zoro, Usopp, and Hoshi were all jumping off the sides of the ship. The crew that had stayed on deck was still pretty shaken up by Hoshi's recent display.
After the two girls had disappeared into Nami's room, Nami had let out a piercing shriek. Hoshi had tried to calm her down, but it was no use. Nami had gone running in a panic around the deck and had had several Chopper moments before allowing herself to be calmed down. Hoshi had run up on the deck after her, in the borrowed swimsuit, and wingless. The rest of the crew had just stared at her, until Luffy demanded to know what she had done with her wings. Hoshi retorted that she had just 'pulled them in' to keep them out of the way while she was swimming. When Luffy demanded to know where, she had said that she didn't really know how to explain… Then she had decided to give an unannounced demonstration. There was a blinding flash of light, and Hoshi's wings had reappeared. A second flash of light, and the wings were gone.
Luffy had gotten stars in his eyes, and demanded to know what else she could do. Hoshi complied by taking her necklace off, holding the crystal in both hands over her head, and there had been a mighty gust of wind. When it died down, a magnificent katana was in her hand. It was perfectly balanced, and the color of the blade was smoky and light. Luffy demanded for more, and Hoshi changed her weapon into a dagger and a whip. She had made the wind blow and had made a mini cyclone form in her hand. With the rest of the crew looking at her bug-eyed, she had given a brief explanation.
"I have the power to control air."
Whoa, now that was an unexpected turn of events. Who would have thought that Hoshi would have this sort of power? Where does it come from? Has the mysterious person of the night before disappeared, or just went away to call reinforcements? What sort of bird was Hoshi's DNA grafted with?
