Disclaimer-I don't own Victorious, Naruto, Percy Jackson, Dr. Who, Batman, American McGee's Alice, Power Rangers, or One Piece
Chapter Seven
Percy slowly made his way up the stairs leading onto the deck, doing his best to remain stealthy. Just as he was about open the door however, a hand grabbed him by the shirt collar.
"And where do you think you're going?" Jade asked with a smirk, pulling Percy back down the stairs.
"I was just going to go and make sure we were still on course for Knoxtown." Percy said, lying through his teeth. Unfortunately for him, Jade could tell that he was lying, and wasn't impressed.
"Come on, we're holding a meeting in the galley." Jade said, sounding amused, as she dragged Percy along. Tori shot him a sympathetic look when Jade pushed him down into a chair, but he could tell that Eric and Tayuya were trying not to laugh.
"Alright guys, we're going to reach Knoxtown sometime tomorrow, depending on the winds. After we resupply there, we'll reach Reverse Mountain, the entrance to the Grand Line. The Grand Line is a hundred times more dangerous than the South Blue though, so I don't want anybody to be confused. So this essentially the time to ask any questions you might have about our situation. I'll go first." She pointed at Percy. "Explain your powers. You can swim, so I know you didn't eat a Devil Fruit, but I also know that you can breathe underwater and talk to fish." Percy sighed.
"I'm a Mako Shark Fishman." He said. "Five years ago the World Government captured me in the Grand Line so that they could try out a new solution to the 'Fishman Problem'. They cut off my fins and the webs between my fingers and my toes, ripped out my teeth and replaced them with human dentures, and sowed my gills together, then began to attempt to brainwash me into thinking I was a human. It didn't work, and I escaped, tearing out the stiches holding my gills shut in the process. Unfortunately, while the brainwashing didn't work, it might as well have. Most of my fellows, you see, hate humans. As a result, I was ostracized by my people and forced to live among humans. I became a despised figure among the fishman community, and there were repeated attempts to kill me. As a result, I fled to the South Blue, where there were no members of my race." The others stared at him in silence for a moment.
"And you're willing to go back into the Grand Line?" Tayuya demanded incredulously. "Why?" Percy shrugged and gave a small smile.
"You guys are my friends, the first I've had in five years. I'm not going to abandon you just because I might meet a few assholes in the Grand Line. Besides, if the last few weeks have proven anything, it's that we can handle anything that comes are way." Jade chuckled.
"I'll drink to that." She said, raising her mug of coffee. "To the Nightblade Pirates, the biggest badasses in the South Blue, and soon, the entire world!" The others laughed and raised their own drinks. Oswin turned to look at Tayuya.
"Okay Tayuya, now it's your turn." She said, poking her with her 'plunger'. Tayuya scowled and took a hasty gulp of sake.
"I have no idea what the hell you're talking about." She growled.
"Tell them about your mom." Oswin prompted.
"There's no need." Tayuya snapped.
"I think there is a need."
"Tori's dad is a Marine and that didn't matter, why should I talk about me?"
"Having a Captain for a Father isn't the same as having a Vice Admiral for a Mother." Oswin pointed out.
"Come again?" Jade demanded, staring at the two. Tayuya sighed.
"Fine! My mother is Vice Admiral Mitarashi Anko, happy?" She snapped. The others looked at each other, then back to her, and nodded.
"Yeah, it's no problem. Do you want us to go to her base so you can beat her up, or just rub your current status as a pirate in her face?" Jade asked. Tayuya blinked incredulously, and then shook her head.
"No, I've got no real quarrel with my Mom." She said with a shrug.
"Anybody else have deep dark secrets about their past?" Eric asked jokingly.
"No, but I do have a question." Tayuya said, leaning back and putting her feet on the table. "What's the endgame here? We've all been so focused on taking down Might Gai that I never bothered to ask what our ultimate plan is."
"I'm going after the One Piece." Jade said simply.
"You mean we're going after the One Piece." Tori corrected her gently, patting her on the hand. Jade stiffened and stared at her for a moment. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds, until Percy coughed.
"Sorry, but, what the heck is the One Piece?" he asked. The others all stared at him incredulously.
"Did you really just ask that?" Eric demanded.
"Look, I have ADHD and Dyslexia." Percy growled. "I wasn't very good at the little amount of schooling I got, and fishmen tend to ignore anything about human affairs unless it directly threatens them."
"Ok, summary, short and sweet." Jade said, and then paused. "Actually, Vega, you like talking, you tell him." Tori rolled her eyes, and then turned to Percy.
"Fifty years ago, the Gol D. Roger, King of the Pirates, was captured by the Marines and executed in the public square of Loguetown. Before they killed him however, they asked him where he'd hidden the massive treasure he'd gathered over the years. He told them that, and I quote, 'My treasure? Of course it exists! I left all together in one place. Now you just have to find it!' Those words turned what was supposed to be the death toll to pirates everywhere into the instigator for the Golden Age of Piracy we live in today."
"Not bad Vega. Though I'm not sure the gruff voice was necessary for the quote." Jade said, smirking as Tori blushed in embarrassment. "Next time, leave the mimicry to me, ok?"
"So the entire Golden Age of Piracy was kicked off by the vague words of a man who was about to be killed?" Jade shrugged.
"Isn't that pretty much how all historically significant stuff happens? The vague words of random dudes?" She pointed out. Percy nodded in acknowledgement of this point, and Jade stood up.
"Anything else?" She asked. Nobody said anything, and she nodded. "Alright then, I'm going to bed."
Twelve hours later
Tori was flipping through the newspaper when a sheet of paper fell out. She frowned and picked it up, then stared open mouthed in shock as she read what it said. "You're going to swallow a fly if you keep your mouth open like that." Jade said dryly, raising an eyebrow. Tori said nothing, she just handed the bounty poster over. Jade read it, then grinned. "8o Million Belli!" She yelled triumphantly. "Best in the South Blue! Suck it!" She yelled, strutting around the deck. Tori rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile anyway as Jade began flaunting her new bounty in front of the rest of the crew.
"Oh now that's bullcrap." Percy growled, staring at the poster. "I never got a bounty, and I broke out of a World Government facility!"
"I doubt they wanted to admit your existence." Oswin told him. "That's probably why I never got a bounty either."
"20 belli says I get a higher first bounty." Tayuya said confidently. Eric shook his head.
"Nah, Tori's going to get the next bounty since she's the first bounty. We'd have to do something huge for the whole crew to get bounties." Tayuya rolled her eyes.
"Think about who we are, and who our captain is. What are the odds of us not doing something huge enough to all get bounties?"
"Point." Eric acknowledged.
Two hours later
Jade divvied up the money they'd collected so far; giving the bulk of it to Eric since he had to buy food, then looked around at her crew. Oswin was telling Tayuya the medical supplies they needed since she couldn't leave the ship in a town with such a high Marine population, Eric was running through a list of supplies they'd used so far so that he could figure out what he needed to buy, and Percy and Tori were talking off to the side, plotting to buy Jade a pair of bunny slippers. Jade shook her head, then walked over to Oswin and Tayuya. "Hey Oswin, I don't need to buy anything, you want me to stay here and keep you company?" Oswin shook her head, and Jade got the weird feeling that she was smiling.
"I'll be fine. I'm the best choice for shipguard after all." Oswin told her. "I'll just stay here and make some soufflés." Jade blinked, wondering how she was planning on cooking without fingers, and then shrugged.
"Ok, suit yourself." She said, moving over to Tori and Percy. She patted Eric on the back on the way over, then stopped in front of the plotters and glared, folding her arms. "No pink." She said simply. Tori pouted.
"C'mon, you'd look so cute!" She pleaded as Percy struggled not to laugh.
"I am not cute! No pink." Jade growled back, turning to walk away. Tori grinned and latched onto Jade's arm, dragging her feet.
"C'mon Jadey, please?" She pleaded. Percy lost it and started laughing out loud, and Jade stopped, and then turned her head to glare down at Tori.
"What did you just call me?" She growled.
"Jadey." Tori said with a grin, drawing the nickname out.
"Never call me that again." Jade growled.
"Why not Jadey?" Tori asked with a smile. "I think it suits you." Jade sighed and shook Tori from her arm.
"Fine, you can get pink slippers; just never call me that again." She growled, stalking off.
"I am victorious!" Tori sang, doing a little dance before turning to face Percy. "You heard her; I got her to agree to pink slippers, so pay up." Percy sighed and handed over a sack of money.
"I can't believe you put your life on the line like that for a few coins." Eric said, walking over.
"Don't worry about it, Jade would never hurt me." Tori said calmly, waving off his concern.
"One day you're going to push her too far." Percy warned.
"I know where to draw the line." Tori said reassuringly. "Now, let's go get those slippers!"
Two hours later
Jade was in an office supply store looking at some new pairs of scissors when she heard a familiar voice. "Hello Jade." Jade stiffened and turned around, twirling a pair of scissors around her finger.
"Beck." She said with smirk, nodding. "What are you doing here? Don't tell me you abandoned your post for little old me."
"I'm a Major now." Beck told her. "Knoxtown is my post."
"How nice." Jade said calmly, turning back to the scissors.
"You've created quite a stir you know." Beck said conversationally. "Everyone in the South Blue's heard about the way you beat Might Gai. You even got a rather huge new bounty out of it."
"What do you want?" Jade sighed, placing ten scissors in her basket and heading for the cashier, only for Beck to stop her.
"You know what I want." Beck told her.
"Actually, I don't." Jade growled. "You know I'm not the kind of person to go around killing civilians for no reason, so why are you spending time on me and not on the pirates that will do that?"
"The most dangerous pirates of the past 50 years are Gol D. Roger and Whitebeard. Neither of them were murderers, but dreamers like you. That's no coincidence. You don't want blood, you want the One Piece, and as a Marine I cannot allow that. Besides," He said with a cocky grin, "I've got a reputation to uphold. No pirate has ever escaped Knoxtown since I took over."
"Goody for you. Scissor Bat Storm!" Beck stood perfectly still as the scissors stabbed into him. Jade frowned and called the scissors back to her, only for them to stay firmly stuck in Beck. Beck smirked, and then they all shot back at Jade, who was forced to jump to the side, knocking a shelf over.
"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" Beck asked calmly. "I ate the Clay-Clay Fruit. I'm a Logia type now. You might as well just surrender, because you can't do crap against me."
"Shit." Jade cursed. Logias were made of their respective elements like some types of Paramecia, but unlike a Paramecia, they could change between flesh and blood and their elements, and could make it so only parts of their bodies were made of their elements. Without seastone or a Devil Fruit that could hurt clay, she didn't have a chance of actually hurting him in the middle of a town.
"You're not going to surrender, are you?" Beck said, sounding more frustrated than anything else.
"What do you think?" Jade growled, picking herself up and casting shadows everywhere. "Night Storm!" Literally everything in the store suddenly lifted up and threw itself at Beck, except for the scissors, which flew to Jade as she ran from the store. Just as Jade went through the door, she saw Percy, Eric, Tayuya, and Tori running past, with both of the men carrying rather large bags. Jade looked down the street in the direction her crew had come from, and was annoyed, but not surprised, to see a group of Marines running towards them, led by a young woman a little older than Beck.
"Drop the stuff!" Jade yelled, running to join up with them.
"Hell no, we paid good money for these!" Percy yelled.
"And we need this food, we're running low and I don't know when I'll be able to buy more in the Grand Line." Eric told her.
"You know, just once I'd like to go to a town without being attacked by anybody." Tori moaned.
"Welcome to the life of a pirate." Jade said dryly. Suddenly, Beck came running out of an adjacent alley, coming to a halt in front of them.
"I've got him." Tayuya said, sprinting ahead.
"I'll help." Tori said, stretching out her body to catch up to Tayuya.
"Wait, don't, he's a fucking Logia!" Jade yelled. "Just run!" The warning came too late however, and clay tendrils lashed out from Beck's body, wrapping around Tori and Tayuya's arms and trapping them. "Shit." Jade cursed again, her mind racing to figure a way out. Before she could attempt anything though, two bolts of white energy shot out, freezing the tendrils of clay and allowing Tori and Tayuya to break them off and jump back. Beck looked around, startled, as laughter filled the air. He looked up and scowled. Jade and the others followed his line of sight, seeing two young women on the roof of a nearby building. One of them had pale white skin, even more pale than Jade's, and was wearing purple pants, and a purple long sleeved vest, both with green fringe, with bright red hair. She was the one laughing, and was sitting on the edge of the roof. Standing behind her was a young woman in a blue dress with a white apron and black combat boots and dark black hair.
"Sorry sweeties, but it looked like you could use some help." The clown girl said to the Nightblade Pirates, smiling brightly. "The more the merrier in the Grand Line, right?" She said, laughing.
"Duela." Jade said with a somewhat relieved smile. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Oh, this that and the other thing." Duela said with a shrug. "My doctor went running off in a thatways direction and we had to chase her down."
"Who are you?" Beck demanded.
"Ah yes, where are my manners?" Duela said with a smirk. "I'm Joker's daughter. You can call me Duela, and I will be your ravishing agent of chaos for the evening. Ready to dance?" Jade nodded silently towards the alley to their left, and the crew got the message and ran for it.
"Oh no you don't." Beck growled, shooting his arm out. The black haired girl behind Duela shot out her hand, which was now holding a white wand, and froze Beck's arm again.
"You're not very smart, are you?" She asked casually. "Though I suppose the pretty ones rarely are, more's the pity."
"I don't like running." Tayuya growled as they headed for the Scissoring.
"Neither do I, but there are times when you've got to cut your losses and admit you can't win." Jade said, sounding just as frustrated as Tayuya. "Unless you want to go back and pick a fight with the man we can't hurt no matter what we do." Tayuya just scowled and shook her head. "Alright then. Tori, go ahead and get the ship ready for departure, we need to leave as soon as possible." Tori nodded and began stretching out her legs, quickly leaving the others behind.
Two hours later
"I think it's time to call off the hunt." Amanda said slowly, looking at Beck, who sighed angrily. Duela and her friend had led them on a merry chase throughout Knoxtown until another friends of Duela's, a slightly less pale girl in black armor that resembled an insect's exoskeleton, appeared to tell her that she'd 'found Barbara', at which point Duela had thrown down a purple smokebomb and they'd disappeared. To make matters worse, the distraction had allowed Jade and her crew to escape as well. Beck stared silently off into space, and then reached a decision.
"Get the ship ready, we're going after Jade." He told Amanda.
"HQ won't like that." She warned him, giving out orders to the men all the same.
"I don't care. We've got a rookie pirate who received an 80 million bounty before she even stepped foot in the Grand Line. Even the pencil pushers have to acknowledge she's a serious threat." Beck growled, heading for the docks. Amanda sighed and followed him.
One hour later
Tayuya was walking aimlessly around belowdeck when she found something odd. With a crew of six, there were naturally several empty rooms in the ship. One such room however, suddenly had a sign on it that said 'Exercise Room'. Curious, she opened the door and was about to walk in, only for Percy to slam the door shut from the other side. "What the hell?" Tayuya demanded.
"No girl's allowed!" Percy yelled back, keeping the door shut tight.
"What?"
"There's too much estrogen on this ship as it is! Eric and I have declared this room a sanctuary of testosterone, not to be tainted by anyone of the female persuasion!" Tayuya stared at the door, dumbfounded, then rolled her eyes and walked away. It wasn't important; she had plenty of weights in her own room.
Author's Notes
Okay, for any One Piece fans reading this, you may have noticed that while Luffy had a 30 million starting bounty, I gave Jade a starting bounty of 80 million. The reason is that Jade simply did more. Luffy did lots of impressive things, defeating the strongest pirates in the East Blue and freeing Zoro from Marine custody, but the East Blue is considered the most tame of all the Blues, which right there probably limits his bounty potential. On the other hand, Jade freed three people from Marine custody, and took down Might Gai, who you might remember was considered the strongest pirate in the Four Blues, though not the Grand Line. As such, I felt that Jade would probably have been given a higher bounty.
On the subject of Duela and her crew. Duela is (of course) Duela Dent, a DC Comics character and daughter of The Joker (kind of. It's complicated) Here she still is the daughter of Joker, but not the one from Batman. The girl who we saw with Duela when they saved Jade was Alice, from American McGee's Alice in Wonderland. The girl in black armor was Trakeena, from Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, and Barbara is Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl. Yes, Batgirl is on the same crew as the Daughter of the Joker. This will be explained at a later date.
Thanks for reading guys! See you next time!
