Hey, Blue here. Due to my non-updating at the other site, I'm having to make this installment longer than all that came before it. Feel special.
"SKYLER! SKYLER! GUESS WHAT I SAW DOCK!" a child's voice shouted, putting a stop to the odd silence.
"What did you see, Ariel?" Sky asked in a calm, yet friendly way to his little buddy.
"I SAW A PIRATE SHIP DOCK AND IT LOOKED SOOOO COOL! THERE WAS A SHEEPS HEAD FOR THE BOW-THINGY AND THE DESIGN ON THE FLAG WAS SOOOO AWESOME!" she shouted from the doorway.
"Really? Now you don't see that everyday." Skyler replied, enjoying the exitment that she could bring to an utterly awkward moment.
"Ariel, is that you making all that noise?" her father's voice shouted from the back, appearing to be done with cooking the meat that Luffy ordered.
"Yes Daddy, I'm here!" she called back, without a care in the world.
"Good, than carry this food out to table two and don't drop it." He shouted again from the back. Ariel rushed back to the kitchen to help carry out the food, but struggled at the doorway, where she had a dilemma. The plate in which she was holding was as big as she was and it wouldn't go a certain way through the door but she was holding it so that was the only way she could put it. Before anyone could blink or say some helpful hints in moving the food, Skyler had lifted the food from her grasp and carried it past the doorway.
"Are you ok, miss Ariel?" he asked, noticing some red marks left by the plate on her arms.
"I'm fine." she pouted, not happy with the fact that she needed help.
"You know, it's alright if you have to ask for help sometimes." Sky responded, throwing the plate at the table, which landed perfectly in the center without hitting anybody. "Now come on, if we stay behind the bar any longer your dad'll yell at us." So he and Ariel quickly jumped over the bar and onto the stools before anyone could get in trouble. Although, it didn't stop Sky from taking a small bottle of rum that appealed to him. Ariel noticed, but as she opened her mouth to say something, Sky put a finger to her mouth. "Shh, it'll be our secret, ok?" Grinning mischievously, Ariel nodded her head, as her dad took the orders of the rest of the people at the table. "So Ariel, you never told me what your life's ambition is." Sky mentioned to his friend.
"Well..." she started, "I don't know yet, but I'm gonna be better than you at it!" Skyler chuckled at this comment and patted her on the head.
"Well, I hope you suceed in that. Oh, and would you mind going over and turning on the music box please?" At the sound of this Ariel's eyes started to sparkle with joy.
"Sure!" she exclaimed, skipping happily to the corner of the bar, where the three-foot large music machine lay. She pressed some button's and Skyler's sister's rendition of certain songs began to play. Ariel just sat there, swaying along to the music, and Sky could tell that the guy named Luffy and the long-nosed guy started to sway as well. Suddenly, a bandit slammed open the pub door.
"Hey Bartender! Give Me Some Rum! Now!" he shouted, making the pub shake. The strawhat crew readied themselves for an attack, well, apart from Luffy who was stuffing his face with food, happily oblivious. Ariel's dad peered over to the doorway and saw the lackies behind the bandit who was the 'boss,' counting to nearly 30 able men, too many for a small skirmish in the pub.
"I'm terribly sorry sirs," Ariel's dad explained as he peered into what used to be his rum section, "But I just sold the last bottle a little over an hour ago. But the next shipm-"
The bandit slammed his fist on the bar as he shouted, "I said I wanted rum and I'll get it, Now!" he pulled out a gun and pointed it at Ariel's head. "Or the pipsqueak gets it." CLANG! In less than a blink of an eye the gun was flung against the wall. By this time Luffy was paying attention only because his crewmates were looking at something and he wanted to know what was going on. All eyes except for Skyler's were glued to the wall, waiting for the gun to fall down.
"What the Hell?" the main bandit shouted, finally seeing what was keeping the gun on the wall. A dagger, no bigger than a grown man's thumb, was lodged in between the handle of the gun and the trigger, making it useless even if someone could pull it out of the wall.
"Sir, I do not believe that violence will solve anything here." Skyler said, pointing down to the ground. "But I do so happen to have the last bottle of rum. You can have it if you want, it's unopened." Sky explained, holding out the bottle toward the bandit. Smirking, the bandit slowly took the bottle of rum, raised it up to pretend to read the label, then slammed it down upon Skyler's head, instantly shattering the glass. The whole group of bandits began to laugh, but the main one laughed the hardest.
"You think I would seriously accept a bottle from the likes of you? You aren't even a threat, having no bounty of your own. I, on the other hand, have a 1.5 million dollar bounty and have killed 30 civilians. I doubt even the supposed 'hero' of this town could even beat me. In fact, I'll challenge him right now... You!" the bandit pointed at Ariel's dad, "Tell this 'hero' that I challenge him to a fight at the town square in four hours. If he's late, I'll make this town a 'ghost town.' Ya' Hear?" And with that, he left the pub along with his lackies.
"Oh Drat." Sky sighed to himself. "Now the floor's covered in glass. Ariel, don't come over here for a couple of minutes, you might hurt your feet." Ariel, completely shocked at what just happened, just nodded her head. "Sir, can I have a broom and one of those connector thingies that collect stuff so I can clean up the glass?" Sky asked Ariel's dad. He quickly nodded his head and ran to the back to fetch the supplies. Looking down at his clothes, Skyler began to pick off the larger pieces of glass and put them on top of the counter. What I need is a wave, Sky thought, That would definitely clean the floors up nice and quick As if an answered prayer, a wave of water pushed all of the glass debris to a corner of the pub. Looking up, Sky noticed tat the orange-haired lady was holding up a blue contraption to which he assumed made the artificial wave.
Skyler smiled and stood up from the bar stool he was sitting on. "Thank you miss..." he stumbled mentally, knowing that he didn't know her name.
"It's Nami, and don't expect me to do taht again. In fact, you owe me something for this." The guy with the green hair and the long nose groaned at this comment.
"I take it you do this to anyone you help?" Sky asked, running his fingers through his hair. After brushing the ramaining glass off of his clothing and hair, he grabbed a free chair and sat in front of Nami. Actually, he sat so close that his face was less than a foot away from her face.
"So, what do you want?" he asked, not fazed in the least. Nami, on the other hand, was slightly uncomfortable as anyone could tell by looking at her face, but the blonde guy got an idea that wasn't the best idea in the world.
"DON'T EVER GET THAT CLOSE TO NAMI-SWAN!!!!!" the blonde shouted, kicking Skyler in the face, making Sky fly back to the bar. Luckily, he realized this and caught himself before crashing into the bar and breaking it.
"Was that really nessesary?" Sky asked, inspecting the bar to make sure there was no extra damage done to the bar.
"Yes it was." the blonde replied, "You were too close to Nami-swan's face and it was making her uncomfortable."
"Really?! I'm so sorry! I didn't realize that that was uncomfortable for you because I could've moved without a kick to the face." Even though the kick didn't faze me at all, besides being moved back a few feet "I just don't feel that way around most people."
"Oh? And why would you say that?" the raven haired woman asked, a little curious to Sky's odd behavior. Moving the chair away from Nami about a foot and a half, Sky sat down again, but this time, facing the whole table.
"I'm kinda used to it." he explained. "My sisters loved to torment me and doing that was one of the things they liked to do."
"They put their faces right up to your's and stayed there until you did something for them?" Nami assumed.
"No." Sky thought over his options for a minute. "But before I explain, may I know everyone's names here? It's utterly confusing."
"First, answer what you were going to say. Then names."
"I have limited time, and I would not like to risk having an extensive arguement. The town is on the line and if the hero does not get to the town square in a few hours people will die."
"But if I remember correctly, the bandit specifically told the bartender to alert the hero of the town." the raven-haired woman stated.
"Yes, but he's not allowed in the woods." Noticing the confused faces of the people at the table, Skyler added, "All working personnel over 35 can't go in the forest, it's a wierd rule, I know. I just go in the forest for him everytime he needs something done by the hero."
"Who is the hero, exactly?" the green-haired one asked, taking a sip of his drink.
"Not many people know, but he appears to be around my age. He's also a great woodworker. Does many jobs around town for people who need carpentry done."
"But why is he a hero?" Nami asked. Sky's lips folded into a grin as he replied.
"Skills."
"Akuma no mi?"
"No, just skills."
"Oh... What type of skills then?"
"All I can say is.."that my life is very plain, you don't like my point of view and.. Sky trailed off and started to gaze at the ceiling. Quickly, before making an even bigger fool of hmself, Sky shook himself out of it.
"So sorry! What were we talking about?"
"What the hero's skills were." Nami said again, irritated this time.
"Ah. Well, you'll just have to find out in a few hours, now won't you?"
"SKY! YOU'D BETTER HEAD OVER TO THE FOREST TO ALERT THE HERO RIGHT ABOUT NOW, YOU WOULDN'T WANT HIM TO BE SUPRIZED NOW WOULD YOU?" Ariel's dad shouted from the back, clearly having trouble finding the broom.
Skyler grinned from ear to ear as he replied. "Thank you sir, I might've forgotten if you didn't remind me just now. And you can stop trying to find the dustpan now, the mess is cleaned up."
"Oh." was what everyone heared, "Well, in that case-" Ariel's dad came out and placed himself behind the bar once more. "Ariel, say goodbye to Sky, you might not see him until tomorrow."
"Why?" she responded.
"Because I'm not going to let you see the fight, that's why."
"But daddy." she whined, desperate to watch the action that would take place later.
"No Buts! And You'll-" as they were arguing, Skyler stood up and placed his chair back where it belonged and mouthed a quick 'sorry' to the table he was talking to a few minutes before. Sky walked silently to the door, but as he was in the doorway, Ariel's dad called out to him.
"Sky! Apparantly I'm to remind you that there's a bandit in town that wants to destroy us, starting with you."
Without turning back, Skyler responded, "Well then, we can't have that now can we?"
"P-Pardon?" Alastair studdered out.
"Alright!" Momo shouted. "I always wanted to go on an adventure!"
"That's impossible." Star interrupted, "Even if you wanted to, you have to get permission from your parents and secondly, I have to take care of both you and your family. And-"
"Cut the crap Star, you know you want to..." Momo nudged her friend in a playful manner. "I might even find my real mom and not have to live with these geezers who get money every year from her to take care of me." She pouted her lips and made her eyes water as she talked to her friend.
Star hung his head limply in defeat, knowing that he had no defenses against this. "Fine, but you're telling them." You had been listening to their small argument, and couldn't hold the exitement of two new people joining your crew.
"WOOHOO!" you shouted, "More People To Party with and Have Adventures with!"
"But," Momo said loud enough for you to hear while cheering, "Once I find my birth mother, I would like, if possible, to maybe stay with her. If it's too much to ask-"
"That's perfectly fine on one condition!" Both Momo and Star looked up at your serious face and stared in slight confusion. "You must write to me at least once every two weeks and if I don't get a letter I will hunt you down and prank you. Badly."
Changing her expression suddenly was an easy task as Momo and Star were about to find out. "So..." Emma began, "I can't go anywhere until my friend comes back so do you want to have a tour?" Momo's eyes sparkled with exitement for the thrill of going on a ship, and Star sweatdropped at his friend's immaturity.
Once upon the ship, both Momo and Star were shocked to see that the huge galleon was completely empty, except for themselves and their new friend. "Yeah," Emma said in response to their shocked faces, "It's kinda boring looking, but I plan to doodle on the edges of the ship to make it look cooler." Although this wasn't a reason for Momo and Alastair's gawking, they just nodded their heads slowly taking in what would be their home for a long time.
"Uh, Captain-san," Star said slowly, not knowing if she was listening, "How many people are on this crew?" Emma's face lit up as he asked the question.
"Well," she wrapped her arms around the shoulders of her two new crewmates, "Including us, there's four!"
"What?!" Momo turned around to face her captain. "You have been sailing on a galleon with only one other person aboard and it's in perfect condition?! SO COOL!!!!!!"
"Yeah, and I'm thinking about putting some amps over there on the mast and some speakers on the corners of the exterior, close enough so they won't fall off, and far away enough so the whole ship, on the outside of course, I doubt someone sleeping would want to hear it, hear it." Emma explained in more detail. Star, still trying to let the information soak in, just stood there and slowly nodded his head. Emma noticed something out of the corner of her eye and moved her head towards the town. "I think I see our other crewmate now." Both Momo and Alastair were very interested in who their other crewmate was so they also turned their heads in the general direction of the town. Emma rushed over to the side of the ship and leaned forward, just far enough so that her feet were barely touching the deck. Looking hard to where she thought her friend was, Emma's face lit up. "HEY WENSEL!" she shouted outrageously loud, "WE HAVE TWO NEW CREWMATES!"
Wensel, carrying a whole crate of supplies either needed or wanted at the time of shopping, looked up at her friend who was making a racket and noticed that some people were with her. A smirk grew on Wensel's face as she knew that these people weren't the type to be a spy judging on how they were responding to her captain's 'odd' behavior. The two noticed Wensel as she responded to Emma's shouting with a nod of her head and then suddenly seeming to disappear.
"Good afternoon," Wensel said politely to the two that were leaning on the railing and who now had a nice view of her knees.
"AH!" they shouted simultaneously while falling backwards. Wensel sweat-dropped, not knowing what to say.
"Hey Wensel! Did You Get The Paint For Me?!?!?!" Wensel sighed at her captain's impatience and threw her the crate of supplies.
"Yeah, I got it, pretty cheap too, if you ask me." she replied. "And you guys must be the new people to which Emma just shouted about at a level to which I think the dead heard her, what do you think?"
Regaining their posture, Star and Momo exchanged a wary glance at each other.
"I can be louder"
"She can be louder" they both said at the same time. "And you wouldn't like to hear that."
"Well, I'm Wensel," she said ignoring their comment "and I believe you know Emma by now."
"Yes we have, and I'm Alastair, but you can call me Star, and I'm a doctor for M-" He was cut short though from a whack on the head.
"I can introduce myself thank-you-very-much. I'm Momo and I'm a navigator!"
"It's a pleasure meeting you both but right now I'd like to get some shut-eye." And with that, Wensel walked over to the wall, sat down, and fell asleep almost instantaneously.
"That was...interesting." Star said for a lack of a better word.
"She's cool." Momo said as a matter-of-factly. Giving her a funny look, Star tried to focus on what she would find 'cool' about Wensel. Oh Well, he thought, Whatever floats her boat.
Thanks for reading the latest installment of Ocean's Envy!
-A shoutout to StillClueless89: (Nice quote on your profile, by the way) Thank you for saying those kind words, I'll put in some more 2nd person's after some more installments. I'll also try to make it less confusing for you to read as well. As for responding to your critiquing- I'm only about a ninth/tenth of the way through- but there won't be around a hundred chapters seeing as I'll put in some more words than I have been putting in my installments. Again, I'll try to work on the dialogue.