A/N: For those people asking if Smoker and/or Bartolomeo would be joining in Loguetown... Sorry, no. Bartolomeo might be joining the expanded Straw Hats eventually, but not yet. I have a thing for him to do first. Similarly, I have reasons that Smoker needs to stay a marine for now. If he joins, it will be at Punk Hazard. I haven't decided yet. As of this moment though, Smokey has even more reason to dislike the Straw Hats than he did in the beginning in canon.
"Hungry..." Ace and I groaned in unison. Ghin laughed.
"Yeah, yeah, it's almost done." It was our first lunch with Sanji as the official Straw Hat chef. I had to say it was a weight off my mind. Cooking for a pirate crew that included multiple bottomless pits wasn't something I'd actually been looking forward to.
We were making good time towards Cocoyashi Village, with Ace navigating and Ghin at the helm. I was on watch, perched atop the little boat's mast. My glasses rubbed on my nose; I still wasn't used to wearing them. Actually, I wasn't used to trusting my eyes yet either. So though I was on watch, my eyes were closed, listening. Eventually I caught a strange rushing noise coming from the water.
My eyes snapped open. "Thingy off the port bow!"
"Thingy?" Ghin questioned. Ace laughed at his confused face.
"It's a technical term our crew uses. Means we're not sure what it is yet."
"Right... This whole crew's made of kids, isn't it?"
"Pretty much." Then Ace suddenly started sulking, a blue pall surrounding him. "Wait... You're older than me, aren't you? I'm not the oldest anymore."
Ghin sweatdropped. I laughed. Sanji finished cooking and handed out plates. "Blue-chan! Your food is ready!" The cook noodle-danced under the mast.
Ace growled. "Keep your pervy thoughts away from my sister Spirals. She's five years younger than you."
The strange rushing noise got louder before turning into a splash and roar. A massive cow with fins and fangs exploded from the water. I yelled down at my brother. "Ace-nii! Thingy!"
Giant eyes blinked at us. The cow thing looked hungry. Sanji offered it some of our food- until the cow tried to take his hand too. Then he kicked it in the face. "How dumb do you think I am? Overgrown surf'n turf."
I looked from the confused cow to my crew mates. It gave me an idea. "Ace-nii should use the cow thing for fire target practice. It looks like it might taste good."
Sanji pouted. "But Blue-chan, I just made lunch for you!"
"Ace-nii needs practice."
My oldest brother frowned in concentration, his eyebrows catching fire. He punched towards the cow, just as he had when fighting Don Krieg. "Hiken!"
A flaming fist shot out, brushing by the cow thing's ear. The creature roared fearfully, turning and swimming away. Ace grinned. By fleeing, the cow had triggered his hunting instinct. "Hiken! Hiken! Get back here dammit! We just wanna eat you! Hiken!"
The sea cow dodged each flaming fist, squealing in panic. It couldn't escape forever though. After several minutes of punching, Ace hit the cow in the back of the head, knocking it out. A few more fiery fists ensured that once we sailed alongside it, our surf'n turf would be pleasantly boiled.
I raised my eyebrows at Ace. "Hiken? Fire fist? Seriously Ace-nii? Don't you have an imagination?"
"Shut up!" Ace flushed and looked away. "I'm not used to naming my techniques, okay? It just feels weird to use my powers without saying anything."
When we pulled up beside the dead sea cow, Ace and I insisted on stopping to eat. Sanji was appalled. Whether that was because of how we'd cooked the thing or how much we ate, I couldn't tell. Ghin looked a little green around the gills too.
We lost a couple of hours eating. What can I say? It was a big cow. It was made worse by the fact that Ace throwing all those Hikens had pushed us off course. Naturally, as soon as I noticed this, I had an idea to make up for lost time. I grinned. Ace noticed and raised an eyebrow in question.
"My D senses are tingling. What are you up to?"
"Ace-nii, can you shoot fire off the back of the boat?" I tried to do the puppy eyes, but had no clue if I succeeded. Yeah, they were definitely Luffy's thing. "Not a Hiken- a continuous stream?"
"Okay..." Ace positioned himself on the back of the boat. Sanji looked at me with confusion; Ghin's eyes widened comically.
"Did- did he say his D senses were tingling? He's a D?"
"Yeah. Ace-nii's full name is Portgas D Ace, and Nii-chan's is Monkey D Luffy."
Ghin gulped and grabbed the mast. "No wonder your crew is weird. Hang on Sanji; we're in for a bumpy ride."
Our cook looked dubiously at the tonfa wielder, but grabbed the side of the boat firmly. "Why? What does D mean?"
"Not sure, but from what I've heard, every last one of them is bat-shit insane."
As if on cue, Ace-nii's flames sparked to life. A massive column of fire roared from his hands. An instant later, the boat shot forwards. I leapt to the tiller to steer us back on course. Ghin was right; the ride was quite bumpy. It required constant steering to hold the boat steady as we accelerated. We were basically skipping across the sea.
A couple of hours after starting our Ace-engine we saw another boat in the distance. At first it appeared to be approaching backwards, but that was impossible. We were just going so fast that we were catching up. As we got closer, I recognized Luffy and the others. Our fire-powered boat would pass them quickly, so I called out to my rubber brother. "Nii-chan! Grab on!"
"Shishishi! Okay!" Luffy grabbed the back of our boat, legs wrapping around the mast of his own. There was a snapping noise as he stretched taught, then the two boats were bouncing across the sea in unison. Ace had to be more careful where he aimed his fire, but he seemed to be doing alright.
After picking up the rest of the crew, it took us less than an hour to arrive at an island. We could see the Going Merry at anchor by a beach. As we made our rapid approach, a problem occurred to several of us at the same time. Ace looked at me, worried. "Blue... How do I slow us down?"
"Uh... Haven't thought about that part."
Sabo gripped his hat and pipe tightly. "Will someone please give my sister a good whack on the head?"
Sanji and Ghin- who Sabo had been addressing- both looked mortified. In the end it was Ghin who did as my brother asked. His hit was tentative and light, as if he couldn't believe what Sabo had asked. I barely noticed it. My blond brother sighed.
"No, like you mean it. She needs to learn not to turn boats into brake-less Ace-rockets."
The resultant wallop was much more like what I was used to. I grunted as my face slammed into the floor of the boat. Ghin had a good arm; I guess that was only natural, with tonfa as his main weapons.
Before I could get back on my feet, the keel of our lead boat hit the beach. Both boats were sent flying, tumbling end over end through the air, tossing our crew all over the place. Various manly yelps and girly shrieks filled the air (and the latter weren't always from girls). I got the impression that at least three of my crew mates wanted to kill me. Nii-chan, unlike the rest of us, was laughing his rubber ass off.
We were scattered. I landed with Ghin and Coby in the middle of a forest. It was kind of funny to watch- we each had our own way of landing. I ended on all fours like a cat, trained through years of being thrown around by Ace. Ghin swung his tonfa in an odd way as he fell, changing his momentum and allowing him to roll easily to his feet. Coby landed on his back, wind knocked out of him. It was probably thanks to training with Luffy that the pink-haired boy wasn't hurt worse.
I wiped off my glasses on the hem of my shirt and put them in their case on my belt. Ghin, who had never seen me without them, looked at me with confusion. "What are you doing?"
"We're prob'ly gonna get in a fight soon. Don't wanna break 'em."
"What? Are your D senses tingling now too?"
Grinning, I shook my head. "Nah, I'm no D. Just Bluejay; I'm adopted."
"...Somehow that doesn't reassure me. At all."
The three of us wandered through the forest for what felt like a couple of hours. We didn't see any signs of our crew during that time. We weren't lost per say- not the way Zoro probably was- we just didn't know where anything was on that island. As soon as we made our way out of the forest we should be fine though.
Not so. When we eventually got out from under the trees, we found a large building with a walled courtyard. A giant sign book-ended by poorly painted sharks proclaimed the place Arlong Park. The courtyard was full of large men with strange, fish-like features. They didn't notice us at first.
My group weren't the only ones to arrive at the park. Zoro and Kaya appeared from the opposite direction at the same time, the latter nagging the former to rest. Blood and crusty yellow fluid had seemed through some of Zoro's bandages; the fall probably reopened some of his wounds.
Zoro shot Kaya a smug look. "See? I told you we weren't lost."
"Keep telling yourself that," Kaya said with a smile.
That was what let the fishmen know we were there. A few dozen pairs of shiny aquatic eyes glared at us. Except one pair that were compound and lidless- I don't think that guy was physically capable of glaring.
"What are those humans doing here?"
"They're armed- rebels!"
"Get 'em!"
A fishy tide- school?- swarmed us. Coby squeaked. Zoro went to draw his swords, but was flicked in the forehead by Kaya. "No fighting! Most people wouldn't even be walking yet!"
"But-!"
Kaya glared. "No Zoro-san! Let Blue-san, Coby-san, and Ghin-san handle it."
"Fine," Zoro grumbled. He sat off to one side, glaring at the ground.
The first fishman to reach us looked like a goldfish crossed with a gorilla. Coby screamed and closed his eyes while kicking the fishman in the crotch. It worked surprisingly well, given that the fishmen's battle cries were all about how they were different and better than humans. Their anatomy didn't seem that different.
More fishmen closed in. I pounced on the nearest, fingers curled into claws, teeth bared. Fish scales gummed up beneath my nails as I clawed my target. When I bit down on my opponent's neck, it tasted like tuna.
"You're nasty," Ghin informed me, smashing a fishman in the face with both tonfa at once. I grinned.
"Not always. But fish are right up my alley."
"I'd like to say you get used to it, Ghin-san," Coby put in. He punched his own fishman in the gut multiple times before kicking them in the face. "Sadly, from what Ace-san says, I don't think you do."
Releasing my first target, I kicked the next in the face. His strange glowing-lure eyebrows smooshed under my foot. "Hey! Ace-nii doesn't have room to complain. He's the one who told me I could bite Gramps."
Ghin sweatdropped while spinning his tonfa into two separate fishmen. "I don't think he meant you should eat your enemies."
"I don't eat them!" Which was true. I was no cannibal. Although my protests would probably have been more believable without the blood on my hands and face.
"Coby, duck." Ghin's words sent our pink-haired friend diving to the ground. Two fishmen collided in midair above his head. A pair of tonfa spun quickly into the fishmen from below, launching them airborne.
"Bremen's Charge!"
Ghin's attack left his back open. A fishman promptly took advantage of his position, only to receive Coby's foot in the stomach. The pink-haired boy made a face somehow both confused and constipated. "Um..."
"Don't try to make up technique names mid-fight," I warned, dodging a scaly punch. "Do it in practice, so it'll be automatic when you get in a real fight. Otherwise you'll end up with something lame at best; at worst, it'll distract you."
"Okay. Blue-san, look out!"
I ducked under a fishman's kick. "White Tiger Claw!" My palm slammed into my attacker's solar plexus. I kicked the fishman's legs out from under him while he caught his breath.
It was my first time fighting alongside someone other than my brothers. We didn't seem to do too badly. Sure, as the fight wore on, we got in each others' way a few times, but never badly enough to get each other killed. Though we did hurt each other a bit. Some of my attempts to trip enemies got Coby instead, while Ghin hit me once with his tonfa. Although that one sent me flying into a shrimp fishman, crushing him, so it worked out in the end.
All in all, it took about ten minutes to defeat the fishmen. I honestly couldn't decide whether to call them mooks or not. They were far more durable than the usual cannon-fodder, but none of them looked or acted like officers.
As Coby, Ghin, and I recovered from our fight, Zoro yawned at us from his seat. "Not bad, but I would've done it faster."
"You would've torn more stitches," Kaya chided, flicking Zoro in the head. Ghin chuckled.
"Yeah, yeah. So would I, but I'm still recovering."
Coby looked around in confusion. "So... Now what do we do? I'm still not sure where we are."
Zoro yawned again, closing his eyes. He didn't look at all concerned- Hell, he looked like he was about to fall asleep. I growled and bounded over to poke the swordsman repeatedly. "Oi Shrubbery! You're supposed to be the first mate here! What should we do?"
One eye opened to stare at me. Zoro smirked. "Maybe, but the captain always says you're one of the smart ones. You figure something out."
I frowned. "But without Ace-nii or Usopp there's no way to signal the others!"
"Relax," Zoro told me, ruffling my hair. "Ace, Sabo, and the captain won't leave the island without us- you especially. They'll show up eventually if we just stay here."
"True..." I calmed down. Our first mate smiled and closed his eye again.
"If you're bored, why not teach Coby some of those team maneuvers you and your brothers claim to be so fond of?"
I looked over at Coby; he shrugged. Since in my family anything short of screaming in abject terror was considered a yes (when it came to training at least), the two of us spent the next several hours drilling combination techniques while Zoro slept. Ghin and Kaya watched with amusement.
Working with Coby was unusual for me. For once I found myself larger and stronger than my partner. That meant I was in the position usually occupied by Ace or Sabo as we trained. This led to some rather interesting screw-ups, especially since I hadn't put my glasses back on. That was a good thing though. Coby kicked me in the face the first time I threw him.
The second time ended with him ploughing face-first into a tree. No, my poor aim had nothing to do with revenge. Why do you ask?
Our training eventually came to an end when I successfully launched Coby through the park's gates, only to have him flying kick a returning fishman in the face. Coby squeaked and raced back to me.
There were four of them: a shark, a ray, an octopus, and a- lip thing? I wasn't sure what the last one was supposed to be. Those four though... They felt much stronger than the ones my crew mates and I had beaten unconscious before. They also felt pissed. The shark man glared at us.
"Puny humans! How dare you do this to my men?!"
"Ksesese... Oops?"
Zoro woke up; Ghin looked like he wanted to run. Coby was rooted to the spot. I could still move, but I knew there was no way I could do anything on my own. Zoro tried to stand and draw his swords, only to be held down by Kaya.
"No Zoro-san! You'll tear your stitches!" For a supposedly sickly girl, Kaya had quite the grip- and forehead flick.
"But they need help! And the octopus has swords!"
"Feh. As if a human like you could do anything against me." The shark man backhanded Zoro and Kaya through a wall. Our swordsman protected our nurse as best he could, though it resulted in more blood seeping through his bandages.
"Zoro-aniki!" Johnny and Yosaku had been approaching on the other side of the newly-perforated wall.
"I'm okay," our first mate grunted. "Kaya?"
"I'll be alright Zoro-san. Thank you."
Johnny and Yosaku charged the fishmen with wild yells. They were no match. The ray and the octopus beat them easily. I wanted to help, but they were even less acclimatized to me than Coby and Ghin were- I would've only gotten in the way. So I launched my own attack instead.
"Red Tigress' Hunting Grounds!"
The lippy fishman turned towards me as I pounced. A water pistol hit me point blank in the chest, firing me backwards through a wall. My head bounced loudly off a brick. I stood to attack again, but staggered, barely able to stand. My eyes spun.
A large hand rested on my shoulder. I looked up to see a scarred man with a pinwheel on his hat. Behind him stood a random grab-bag of villagers armed with everything from pitchforks to rolling pins. The man smiled grimly. "Don't kill yourself fighting our battles girl. We've a bone to pick with these fishmen. Patience is no longer the answer!"
I didn't understand what he meant. Apparently though, Johnny and Yosaku did. The battered bounty hunters moved into the holes in the wall, swords drawn. "We can't let you through!"
The scarred man stared. "What? Why? This island- these fishmen aren't your problem!"
"No," the bounty hunters agreed, "But they are his."
Up the road, behind the villagers, four sets of footsteps approached. I shook my head to clear it and put my glasses on. Then I grinned. The footsteps belonged to Luffy, Sabo, Sanji, and Usopp. My grin faltered. Nii-chan looked pissed. He also wasn't wearing his hat. A fifth set of footsteps appeared behind him- Nami, running. The straw hat was on her head.
"Arlong! I'm gonna kick your ass!" If Luffy had been Ace, everyone would've fallen unconscious. As it was, most were still badly shaken.
The shark man snorted derisively. "Stupid human. Why would you throw your life away at such a useless endeavor? You're doomed to fail- a fishman like me is ten times stronger than you could ever be."
"I don't care! You made my navigator cry!"
Luffy launched himself at Arlong, eyes narrowed in anger. The ray, octopus, and lip fishmen tried to stop him, only to be knocked out of the way by a foot, a pipe, and a pachinko ball. Although you could tell from his face that Usopp immediately regretted his decision- especially after the lip fishman chased him into the forest. Ah well, live and learn.
Sabo and Sanji both fought cleverly, keeping their opponents away from the water. The fights were eerie mirrors of each other. Both started with the blond men being knocked around a bit, although they still managed to control the battlefield. Sabo's fight had a cheerleader though. At least, sort of. Does Zoro shouting from the sidelines about how swordsmen should fight swordsmen count as cheerleading?
They weren't exactly working together, but once they went on the offensive, Sabo and Sanji were in near-perfect sync. Although I supposed it made sense. Both were conscientious, technically-skilled, self-professed gentlemen- it only made sense that they would have similar rhythms.
"Collier! Épaule! Cotelette! Selle! Poitrine! Gigot! Mouton!" A flurry of kicks knocked the ray fishman up into the air, then slammed him into the ground. "As if a cook like me would ever lose to an ingredient."
"Dragon's Tail! Heavenly Dragon's Descent! Five Toes of the Emperor!" Sabo's pipe broke the octopus' swords before slamming into his head and knee. The octopus panicked.
"How did you do that?! No human has the strength to break even one of my swords, let alone all six!"
Sabo glared. "You're just like the nobles back home. Just because you were born differently doesn't make you better than everyone else!"
His words struck a chord with the octopus man. Dropping the remains of his swords, the octopus looked at the ground. "I- I didn't mean-"
"It makes me sick! If the nobles had their way, my family would've burned to death!" I doubted Sabo was coherent anymore. His eyes were glazed over, reflecting imaginary flames. It took a lot to work Sabo-nii up, but remembering the fire the nobles had ordered in Grey Terminal would do it.
Meanwhile Sanji's opponent had stood up. The ray fishman appeared to be readying himself for some sort of special attack. Too bad for him it took so long. Sanji's kick struck at the same time Sabo attacked the octopus in a blind rage.
"Mouton Shot!"
"Dragon's Tail!"
The two fishmen were thrown into the air, where they crashed into each other. Both were knocked out by the force. The octopus fell into a pool connected to the sea; the ray crashed down on concrete.
Usopp reappeared around that time. He was badly bruised and covered in dirt and ketchup. How the ketchup got there I couldn't tell. But our sniper was smiling, so I guessed his fight had gone well.
On the other side of the courtyard, Nii-chan was still engaged with Arlong. Luffy's punches had shattered a few pillars and there were teeth marks in others. Blood dripped down Nii-chan's arm from a bite on his shoulder. In a totally bizarre move, my brother had grabbed Johnny and Yosaku's swords and was swinging them about wildly. Arlong laughed at him.
"You can't even use a sword little boy! Truly humans are a pathetic lot."
Luffy growled and tossed the swords away. "Yeah? So what if I'm no good with weapons? So what if I can't cook or sew or navigate? I'm not the best at first-aid... I can't even tell lies! I know I need my friends and family! Without them I'd never get anywhere!"
Arlong grinned maliciously. "Indeed. Then tell me, is there anything you can do to justify their faith in you?"
"I can beat you." Rubber fists slammed into Arlong's stomach, firing him through the wall of the building. Nii-chan followed.
The next few minutes were full of crashing and banging noises. A wall exploded three stories up; bits of paper and broken furniture fell out. I grabbed one of the papers as it drifted past my face. It was a map. Bloody fingerprints stained one side. They were too old and small to have come from Nii-chan's fight.
Above us, the roof of Arlong Park shattered, a foot flying high into the air. Nii-chan's voice rang out over the battlefield. "Gomu-Gomu no Axe!"
Crash! Luffy's foot snapped downwards. The ground shook; the main building of Arlong Park collapsed in on itself. Within seconds it was a pile of rubble. Nami let out a strangled whimper.
She needn't have worried. Nii-chan burst out of the rubble almost immediately. He was streaked in blood, eyes shining with the same determination as when he used to chase after Ace. "Nami! You're one of us, okay?"
"Yeah!" Nami was crying. I would need to get someone to tell me the story there later.
What truly concerned me at the moment was that one of my brothers was still missing. Ace-nii was out there alone somewhere- all the rest of the crew was accounted for. I hoped he hadn't fallen asleep and tumbled off a cliff or something.
Speak of the devil and he shall appear. A familiar orange hat popped up as Ace climbed over a wall. He carried a beaten marine in one hand; the man looked like a battered rat. A closer look revealed that Ace-nii had burned the marine's mustache off. "Hey, I found this guy loading the treasure we took from Buggy onto his ship, plus some other stuff. Did you give it to him Nami?"
It was as if a switch had been flipped. Nami went from crying to enraged in two seconds flat. Her eyes turned into beri symbols; her teeth were suddenly sharper than Arlong's. If I hadn't known it was Ace who'd eaten the Mera-Mera no Mi I would've expected Nami to catch fire. Our navigator stalked over and walloped the marine over the head with her staff.
"Give me back my money!"
xXx
Old man Genzo explained it to me while we prepared for the party. Apparently he was under orders from Sabo to keep me away from the cooking. So Genzo told me how Arlong had conquered the island, and about Nami's deal to try and buy her village. It made me sick. I wished I had joined Nii-chan in kicking the boss shark's butt. Sabo-nii was right- the fishmen were just like the nobles.
Once the party was in full swing, I holed up in a corner by the buffet, where I could easily reach the food without being in view of the dance floor. Mostly I didn't want Sabo to drag me out for dance lessons. He was still trying to turn me into a lady. Why, I would never know. It's not like we were a family with high society aspirations- Hell, we tended to hate those families. Maybe he thought I would need to infiltrate a marine ball someday?
Sanji found me in my corner. He looked around to see if my brothers were nearby before opening his mouth. Before our cook could say anything, I shot him a glare. "I'd rather you just treat me like one of the guys. Forget my brothers- if you bother me, I'll kick your liver through your spine."
"You really like that threat, don't you Blue-chan?" Sanji lit a cigarette and sat down facing me. I gagged, pulling my bandanna up from around my neck to cover my nose.
"Look, I'm not here to flirt. Your brother's right; you're too young for me. But you're a little lady Blue-chan, so I'll continue to treat you like one."
"Not a lady, no matter what Sabo-nii says."
"Every girl is a lady, and every lady is beautiful in her own way. But that's not what I'm here to talk about right now." Sanji took a long drag on his cigarette. "I was wondering where you're from."
"Oro?"
Sanji smiled. "The others may not notice, but I was born in the North Blue. There's something off about your Deutsch and Francais, and even speaking English, your accent isn't quite normal for the East Blue."
I'd lived on Dawn Island for ten years and no one had ever commented on that, even when I first showed up. To be honest, I'd never noticed. Although now that Sanji mentioned it, how would my accent have survived ten years? I could barely remember my home!
"Sorry Sanji, but I don't remember where I came from. Makino- the woman who used to look after Nii-chan- found me in the jungle when I was four. I'm not even sure how I got there."
"Really?" Sanji's visible eye widened in surprise. "You don't remember... anything?"
"Just bits and flashes. I didn't even know I could speak Francais until you asked. The only things that come easily are songs."
"Huh. Well, are you up for singing right now Blue-chan? Maybe I can use it to figure out where you're from."
No one had ever had that idea before. Then again, Sanji was the first person I'd met who'd been to another Blue- except Gramps. Maybe it was worth a shot. I took a deep breath and started.
C-A-N-A-D-A
Tell me, what's a Douglas fir?
C-A-N-A-D-A
Bet you never heard a bobcat purr
C-A-N-A-D-A
Have you ever seen a lobster crawl?
In Canada we get to see them all...
When I got to the end of the song, I looked at Sanji expectantly. He shrugged. "Sorry, never heard that one before. Haven't even heard of the place it's describing. Sounds like some sort of fantasy land."
I sighed. "Well, thanks for trying. Now could you take your smokes somewhere else? You're hurting my nose."
"Of course Blue-chan!" Serious demeanor dropped, Sanji noodle-danced away to flirt with Nami. Unfortunately, his dance and high-pitched farewell attracted the attention of two nearby older brothers.
"Blue!" Ace glomped me before Sabo could drag me out to dance. Normally I would've been grateful, but Ace-nii was currently far more than three sheets to the wind. It was like being glomped by a quilt that had been soaked in sake and rum.
"Ace-nii! Get off!"
"Aww! Blue-chan! Nii-san just wants to cuddle!" So Ace was a clingy, whiny drunk. Who would've guessed?
I looked up at Sabo, deciding dancing was the lesser of two evils. Not that looking up was easy, what with Ace trying to bury his face in my ponytail. "Sabo-nii, get him off!"
"Wah! Blue doesn't love me!" Were those tears? Was Ace crying into my hair?
Sabo smiled, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry Blue. I tried to save you, but he was too quick. Still, at least he isn't doing what he did to Lu earlier." My blond brother's eye twitched. "So... much... snuggling..."
xXx
It was dark. Everything was covered in magma and ice, so what little light there was was an eerie red. I was running across a battlefield with no idea how I'd gotten there. My heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest. Guns roared around me; swords flashed in the dimness.
Beside me Luffy fell to the ground, exhausted. I tried to turn to see who was chasing us. Just as I managed (it was like being stuck in syrup), a blaze of magma and fire lit up the air. A fist of molten rock poured towards Nii-chan, with Ace-nii moving to intercept. I opened my mouth to scream-
-And inhaled air that stank of smoke and booze. I lunged upright. Somehow I'd managed to fall asleep between two buffet tables. To be fair, I could see people sleeping in all kinds of odd places. My brothers were nowhere in sight, however, explaining why I'd had a nightmare.
I stomped off through the dozing remains of the party, still half asleep. Eventually I found my brothers cuddling outside the bar. They lay tangled on Zoro's lap, assorted limbs wrapped around- Coby? I wasn't awake enough to question it. A half-hearted kick to Sabo's ribs was enough to get him to roll over and open his arms. I lay down and snuggled contentedly into my brother's chest. It was so much easier to sleep when I wasn't alone.
Coby's scream woke me several hours later, just as dawn rose over the horizon. The pink-haired boy had become squished between Luffy and Ace, with his head resting on my arm and his feet somehow pinned under Sabo's leg. Honestly, I couldn't figure out how we got into some of these positions. Unlike Luffy, most of us couldn't defy standard human anatomy on a whim.
Zoro opened his eyes, glared, and sighed. "Not again..."
"Zoro-san! How do I get them to let go?" Coby tried to shove Luffy away, but Nii-chan just hugged his arm and stretched.
"You can't. Once the captain and company latch onto you, all you can do is wait for them to wake up."
I lifted my head, dislodging Ace-nii's arm. "If you want them to wake up faster, just tell them breakfast is ready. That or call a shitty gramps alert."
"Breakfast?" Luffy rocketed away before anyone could say anything. He probably went looking for Sanji.
"Shitty gramps alert?!" Ace jumped up and hid behind a chair. He kicked Sabo in the stomach as he moved.
Sabo-nii groaned into my hair. "Did you have to wake them that way?"
"Not really, but Zoro should know how to do it. He's our first mate after all."
"Fair enough."
The next few hours were spent rounding up crew members and supplies after the three day party. We found Sanji under a chair, Ghin in a wine barrel, and Usopp and Kaya cuddling in a bathtub. We couldn't find Nami at first, but her sister Nojiko assured us Nami would be ready when it was time to leave.
We had just finished loading the Merry when Nami appeared on the hilltop. Her staff was divided in three and strapped to her leg; a small pack bounced on her back. The tank top she wore revealed a scar on her left arm, mostly hidden by a tattoo of a- pinwheel with an orange on top? Hadn't it been something else before? I couldn't remember- hadn't gotten a good look in the past.
"Set sail!"
"Huh?" Ace and Usopp blinked in confusion. Luffy shrugged.
"It's her home. If that's how she wants to leave... Set sail!"
It didn't take long to untie the Merry. Once we did so, Nami came racing down the hill, weaving through the people who'd come to say farewell. She jumped on deck with a smile. Our navigator turned to wave a cheeky goodbye to her hometown- while all their wallets fell out of her shirt.
The air filled with angry shouts as we sailed away. Sabo whistled. "Wow Ace... I think she's an even better pickpocket than you and Blue combined."
Nami raised an eyebrow. "The fireball and the little bird can pick pockets?"
Luffy shoved a finger up his nose. "Um... Yeah? Where else would we've gotten the money for the Moon Boat? People stopped falling for Sabo'n me begging after our seventh dine'n dash."
"Heh. So you guys do know how to act like real pirates." Nami looked at Ace, who had fallen asleep draped across the cannon. "Some of the time, at least."
