Diction guide;
Dad; tou-san
Mom; kā-san
Older brother; nii-san
Older sister; onê-san
Little sister; Imouto
I… don't own One Piece… ack! Time to run! Kapwing! *Escapes *
Bast woke up. Although her eyes were still closed, she could still see the golden sunlight shining on the back of her eyelids.
Bast's mouth turned down into a tiny frown. It was a week with Law tou-san, wasn't it? Her window was almost always underwater, so this shouldn't be happening- oh. Bast finally remembered where she was.
But that's not right either! The basement didn't have any windows so… Bast thought.
She finally opened her eyes. The ceiling above her was partially gone. In places, beams crisscrossed a blue sky.
Bast sat up and looked around. Liza still lay next to her, now with both parents beside her. Law tou-san was asleep in a corner, as usual using Bepo-san as a pillow. Penguin was slouched in the seat of a cracked plastic lawn chair, his best friend Shachi underneath. Everyone was asleep.
Killer-san was nowhere to be seen, but Bast could tell he was nearby. Kid tou-san had pitched forward face-first into the card table. The now slightly broken card table.
"Nii-san?" Bast called.
"Up here," came Killer's reply.
Bast ran to the stairs, jumping over Law tou-san's legs and several broken bottles.
"Nii-san?" What's it like?" Bast asked when she was halfway up the stairs.
Killer didn't answer.
Bast ran over to her brother and clutched his hand.
"Wow… I didn't know I could do this," Bast said.
The city had been partially flattened. Many houses still remained, but somewhat damaged. Half the two-story store, the first floor of the small townhouse, and only a few bricks of the building across the square. The only thing that was untouched was the central fountain in the middle of the square. Water still poured out of the statue's vases into the first pool, then splashed down to the second and third.
"Pretty impressive power you got there," Killer said. "Kid will like this."
"You think so?" Bast asked. She was still staring out at the town.
"Nii-san… do you think our Nakama are okay? You and Kid tou-san are here, Law tou-san and Penguin-san and Shachi-san and Bepo-san are here. But what about everyone else? Heat-san and Wire-san, Scar-san, Ikkaku-san, Cilone-san, Uni-san… are they okay?"
"You remember how Kid and Trafalgar made those calls last night?" Killer asked.
"Yes," Bast said.
"Scar and seven others hid out in the basement of an abandoned building. Wire, Carbon and Scissors took over an old restaurant. Heat and the rest of our crew are in Trafalgar's submarine. Scarecrow said that a guy named Uni let them in," Killer said without looking at Bast.
"Do you know what happened to Law tou-san's crew, nii-san?" Bast asked, clutching his polka-dotted shirt.
"Uni-ya is in the Sub," added a voice from behind the redhead and blonde.
"Law tou-san!" Bast exclaimed.
"Along with Ikkaku-ya and most of the crew." Law continued. "Cilone-ya talked his way into a group of longarm tourists who are in the basement of an old daycare. Fugu-ya and Kurage-ya are with a grocer and his family."
Bast broke into a wide smile. "So everybody is okay!"
"Yep. No need to worry," Killer said.
…
Once everybody was awake, the two pirate crews thanked Creemee-ya and his family and left.
"Liza," Bast said. "I'm leaving forever now, but I'm not gonna say goodbye, cuz I know we will meet again."
"Highly unlikely," Liza said, although she was smiling.
"Liza, that's not nice! You just made a friend who said they wanted to meet you again in the future!" Liza's mom raged.
"I'll see you again!" Bast called as she walked off with her family.
…
Pirates will be pirates. Once both crews met up again, they set out to do what pirates do; pillage. They raided the bank. The grocery store. (not the one Fugu hid in, a rival grocery store) Bast wandered the streets with an ice pop and watched with glee as her family benefited from her storm.
"Hey, Killer!" Bast called.
"Mrph?" he replied. He was devouring a giant bowl of lo mein. The ground was littered with similar bowls, all empty.
Bast continued down the street. She passed what remained of the weapons shop. Kid was rifling through barrels of weapons.
"Hi, tou-san!" Bast called.
"Look at this!" Kid shouted with a gleeful grin. "It's a 9mm caliber flintlock knife pistol with a kairouseki blade! They don't make those anymore! It's easily worth 150 million beri, even without the seastone! What a find!"
"What ever floats your boat, Tou-san," Bast said, as she skipped down the cobbled streets.
Bast kept going until she reached a toyshop. It had been hit by several large hailstones and the top floor of the building was completely destroyed, but the sign still hung from the storefront. It read; Camilla's toys.
Bast smiled and skipped into the building.
"Woow!" She cheered. The store was completely filled with stuffed animals and model figures, toys and robots. She grabbed a plastic shopping bag from behind the counter and filled it with what she wanted.
"They even have Pirate action figures!" Bast yelled.
She completely ignored the section of Marine figures, although on second thought she grabbed two that looked like Mike and Jeff, plus one of the admirals.
"I didn't know they sold models of Captain-san," Ikkaku said when she walked in behind Bast.
"I know! There he is in the 100 million beri rookies section! I didn't know that his bounty increased!" Bast said, grabbing a smirking figure of Law and stuffing it in her bag. She added figures of Killer and Kid.
"Why did you get ones of the marines? Plus why one of Admiral Akainu?" Ikkaku asked, looking through the bag of claimed toys.
"So when I play battle, I can have Law tou-san and Kid tou-san beat up the Marines!" Bast said.
"I see. Look, they have one of you, Bast! You want it?" Ikkaku said, showing the figure. "I suppose you'd have appeal, because you are one of the youngest pirates of the century, perhaps in history."
Bast considered, but then she shook her head. "Nah. That wouldn't be right. That would be… what's the word?"
Ikkaku smiled. "Conceited."
"Woo! Look! This guy looks like a pineapple!" Bast exclaimed, not paying attention to Ikkaku.
"That's Marco, 1st division commander of the Shirohige Pirates," Ikkaku said.
"This is Shirohige, then?" Bast picked up a the figure from the center of the display.
"That is him. His real name is Edward Newgate. He is one of the Yonko." Ikkaku frowned and picked up a figure of a redheaded man with a ducktail. "Thatch. He died recently, or so I hear."
"Okay!" Bast said as she ran back to the super rookies shelf. She picked up a figure of a young man in a red vest and a straw hat. "Who's he?"
"Monkey D. Luffy, captain of the Straw Hat Pirates. Last time I checked, his bounty was 100 million, but it might have gone up. That's his first mate, Roronoa Zoro."
"He looks cool," Bast said, and added him to the bag.
…
Bast left the toy store with five bags of figurines, stuffed animals, models, robots, kits and puzzles.
"That was fun! Ikkaky-san, can you help me carry these?" Bast asked.
"Of course." Ikkaku picked up four of the bags, and Bast picked up the last, lightest one.
They walked for awhile.
"Where's Tou-san?" Bast asked.
"He's at the tourist shop. Captain-san has a strange love of commemorative coins."
"Okay."
The two pirates brought the bags aboard the two ships. Bast carefully divided the toys so she would have some when she was on Law tou-san's submarine and some when she was on Kid tou-san's ship.
Then Bast walked up to the deck of the Polar Tang and stared dreamily out over the ruined town.
"Imouto?" Bast hadn't realized Penguin was standing there.
"What is it, Nii-san?" Bast asked.
"You know all the big cusswords, you know, the A word, the B word, the C word, the F word, the W word… but why do you use meanie as the strongest insult?"
"Why do you ask, Nii-san?"
"'Cuz I was talking with Jeff the Marine the other day, and he told me about you swearing your head off at the Marines."
Bast took a long time before answering.
"I don't really know what those other words mean, but meanie means someone who isn't a good person."
"I see." Penguin said.
Hello! It's me! This entire chapter was written while dodging people who were trying to make me help pack for a camping trip. Heh! Also, if you are one of three people who knows what I was quoting in this chapter, PM me! I will be really shocked if someone knows what I was talking about, though. There were only three people around when I said it.
Thanks to guest for pointing out a grammar mistake in the endnote of the last chapter!