Eleutheromania
Chapter Seven
Monkey D. Rasta – no I wasn't giggling happily like a noob for an hour after your comment! (Shush Shibo, you were sleeping!)
Lami made sure that her face was hidden beneath her hat brim. Her life, and this idiot's, depended on how convincing she could become.
"Wow, a Fishman!" She gushed. "Tell me, is that Arlong-san the same one who sailed with the Shichibukai, Jinbei-sama?"
The hulking Fishman puffed out his chest proudly. "Arlong-san sailed with the Sunny Pirates, and so did I!"
Dammit! Lami thought. A real pirate!
Sabo had half-relaxed behind her back at the mention of Shichibukai, but he must have picked up on her mood, because he tensed again, one hand still on her shoulder.
"How cool!" Lami forced. "You must be super powerful!"
Had he been a birdman, Lami believed he would have started preening by now. "Waa, you've really got everything, haven't you! The looks, the fame, the power…!" She broke off in a sigh. "The Arlong Pirates sure are something else! I wish I could join such an amazing crew! Don't you think so, Sabo?" She smiled at him winningly, and Sabo had to physically stop himself from doubletaking – she looked very different when she smiled – and just managed a small nod. Thankfully, their mast and thus, their flag, had fallen into the ocean, and if they were lucky, the fishman wouldn't notice that they were already pirates.
"Sharrararara! Do not worry, pathetic humans! For I, the Hammer Head Fishman Bob-sama, shall speak to Arlong-san for you!"
Lami made her gold eyes shine deeply and her face light up, clasping her hands to her chest. "You would really do that for us? Oh, thank you, Bob-sama!" She saw his grey skin turn a faint pink and called it a success. Within a matter of minutes, Bob had taken a hold of what remained of their prow and took off across the ocean to a place he called Arlong Park, the main base of the most expensive head in all of East Blue:
Nokogiri no Arlong.
Arlong the Saw.
Bounty of 20, 000, 000 Belli
If she managed to survive this to find her brother, it would be a miracle!
Hatchan the Octopus Fishman had decided to spend today fishing. It wasn't that there was anything strange in that idea – it was how he passed away most of his time here in East Blue. What was strange about today, though, was that someone actually sailed a ship all the way to the front of Arlong Park! It wasn't flying Marine flags, though, so it couldn't be that bad, especially as there wasn't a Jolly Roger, either! Ah, but there was a dark red pennant flying – did that mean anything?
Something dropped from the strange ship into the water, and with the speed of a fishman, a young human girl suddenly jumped out of the water! She had a yellow dress with deep pockets, kneehigh boots and a dark pink newsboy cap over top of dirty blonde hair, a Log Pose on her right wrist.
"Hachi-san!" She exclaimed, positively beaming, before fumbling with one of her pockets and pulling out a small blue pebble. "Which hand? Go on, guess!"
He suddenly had a memory of another smiling young girl with big violet eyes and blonde hair, guessing as he held a blue sweet in one of his own hands.
"Koala? Nyu, Koala! What are you doing here?" He exclaimed, grabbing the girl – no, young woman – up in a hug, spinning her around.
Koala laughed. "It's so good to see you, Hachi-san!" Her smile faded though, and he put her down, worried. "I'm … I'm really sorry about Tiger-ojisan." Her voice wavered. "I didn't find out about what happened until six months later."
"Nyu, what did you do?" He asked, concerned. It was a long way from Foolshout Island, Grand Line, to Conomi Island, East Blue!
"I sailed to Baltigo and when I was thirteen, I joined the Revolutionaries," Koala told him proudly. "I'm now the –"
"Who the hell are you?" They both turned around to face an angry girl with orange hair, Arlong's mark tattooed on her left shoulder. Koala noted that she was younger than her, fifteen or sixteen, maybe.
"Nyu, Nami, you're back!" Hachi said cheerfully.
"My name is Koala!" The girl replied cheerfully. "Do you sail with Arlong-san and Hachi-san, too?"
Nami curled her lip in disgust. "What are you doing here?"
Koala continued to smile. "I had a mission in this Blue, and I thought I'd come and visit. Do you know where Arlong-san is?"
The other girl sniffed and jerked her thumb towards the wall. "Some idiot humans are trying to join his crew – I imagine he's making short work of them, that Sabo and Lami."
Koala's eyes grew very wide then. "Sabo? Blonde hair, top hat and goggles?"
Nami's eyes narrowed. "Yes?"
Koala was over the wall in seconds, in a surprising show of speed.
"Arlong-san!" Bob exclaimed upon arrival. "Look! I found some pathetic humans who really want to join the crew!"
"So you want to join my crew." He said. "What's your name, brat?"
"Lami – this is Sabo". The doctor replied, voice cool.
There was a snort from an orange-haired teenaged girl at Arlong's shoulder. "What idiots, then. They probably can't bring anything to the crew – you should just let them go."
"Oi," Sabo began, slightly affronted. "Lami is an awesome doctor! And I'm a good fighter!"
"Shut up, Senchou-ya," Lami hissed quietly.
The orange-haired girl snorted derisively and left, saying something about someone called "Hachi".
"Nokogiri-ya." Lami nodded at the sawnose shark once the other girl was gone, her stance casual and Senzo no Chi slung over her back by the dark green sageo. "Actually, I just want information. Do you know where I can find the Shichibukai, Kaikyō no Jinbei?"
Arlong's eyes narrowed. "And what do you want with Jinbei-aniki?"
"He's a Shichibukai, so he'll know where that monster is. Otherwise, I have no interest in him, or you."
"Arlong-san!" There was a shout just as the fishman was rising, angrily, to his feet. A girl between Sabo and Lami's ages jumped over the far wall, disregarding the fact that she was in a dress to do so.
She took in the scene, eyes lighting on Sabo longer than anyone else, to Lami's annoyance, before settling into a stare with Arlong. "I won't let you kill them." She stated firmly.
"Oh?" Arlong drew the sound out. "And who do you think you are, trying to stop me?"
Wide violet eyes narrowed. "Have you forgotten me already?" She asked quietly, eyes shadowed under a newsboy cap. "It's only been seven years."
There were several exclamations of 'Koala', at that, and Arlong's eyes grew impossibly wide, first with shock, and then with rage. "You –!" He drew his hand back, a drop of water forming. Lami tackled Sabo out of the way.
The girl, Koala, bowed her head and took a deep breath, before looking up with resolve that Lami could feel from where she and Sabo had fallen on the ground, her own hand falling down, back, and forward again, releasing a large tear-shaped drop of water that exploded against Arlong's.
"I'll take responsibility for what the villagers on Foolshout Island did to Tiger-ojisan." She called loudly. "But I'm not going to die because of them! I'm going to live, and teach other humans to be better! That's why…" She was shaking with emotion. "That's why I joined the Revolution! I want to help this world to be better!"
"IT'S YOUR FAULT HE'S DEAD!" Arlong screamed, beyond emotional, taking staggering steps forward. "IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU, HE'D STILL BE ALIVE, YOU STUPID HUMAN!"
Carefully, so that these people wouldn't notice, Lami began to inch towards the far wall, dragging Sabo with her by his collar. They'd seen Koala's ship in the mouth of the inlet that led into Arlong Park – that's why Bob had brought them around through the side door. If they stole Koala's ship, they could leave before anyone was the wiser. Even if it hurt her heart, she had to survive, for her brother. And this fool of a captain was going to help her!
Remember how I said I was struggling with motivation? Well, I still am, but I've made a war with Shibo26 (again). This time, it's a race to see who can get to the 3D2Y timeskip first, and the winner gets to start publishing one of our little side story colabs we've been working on behind the scenes! At the moment there's two, the one we're racing for, and one that will appear in both of our fics as a bit of a filler for the timeskip.
So if you totally want to play favourites and drop ideas … ;)
