I make no money off of this work of fiction. One Piece is the work of Oda Eiichiro and Naruto is the work of Masashi Kishimoto.
Ninja Pirates
Chapter Ten: Chakra
After Nami and Chopper were able to bid the children a farewell Luffy rushed everyone onto the Sunny. He was eager to get going on the next adventure. Law had no complaints about leaving the island so soon. He was certain that more enemies would be coming in an attempt to reclaim Ceasar. The sooner they were away from the area the happier he would be.
Merissa stood at the railing of the Sunny. She was facing the direction that she and Reecheru had left their boat. Tears were running down her cheeks that Reecheru noticed out of the corner of her eye. "What are you crying over?" she asked.
"I left some of my equipment on the boat," Merissa sniffled.
Rae turned to fully face her, eyes wide. "Don't tell you me you left the stuff the boss man entrusted to us," she said in horror.
"I still have that on me," Merissa dismissed. She held up a sealing scroll to Rae as proof that she had it. "I left my wakizashi, about a hundred kunai and several of my fire seals back there."
Rae let out a sigh of relief. "Well if that's all," she shrugged her shoulders. "Then there's no real loss."
"What are you talking about 'no real loss'!?" Merissa demanded. "I'll have you know that I spent a lot of money and time on those things!"
"That's your own fault," Rae said. "You should have packed it all in the sealing scrolls so that you wouldn't leave them. Besides, if they mean that much to you then you can always just go back and get them." Rae had a teasing glint in her eye.
"I rather like being alive," Merissa responded. "I suppose that I have no other real choice except to accept my losses." She then stared at Rae's face. "Speaking of losses, what happened to your sunglasses?"
"I guess that they got lost when I was caught up in an avalanche," Rae shrugged.
"You were in an avalanche?" Merissa had a small smile now. "Somehow that doesn't surprise me at all."
"I was concentrating on getting out of the snow and living," Rae rolled her eyes. "I didn't much pay attention to replaceable objects. Which reminds me, I still have to thank Zoro, Brook and Kin'emon for carrying me to the lab." Rae started looking around on the deck of the Sunny. The crew was gathering towards the mast head, looking to Luffy who was standing at the top of the stairs. "Something big seems to be going on over there." The two started over to join the crew.
When they joined the others Luffy took a deep inhale. "LET'S SET SAIL!" As he yelled, Luffy threw both fists in the air. The members of the Straw Hats either smirked, smiled, grinned or laughed depending on which one you were paying attention to. Law looked indifferent to the apparent tradition. Kin'emon and Momonosuke were watching everything with a sense of wonder. Ceasar was out cold in the grass. Between getting beat by Luffy, getting electrocuted by Nami, nearly drowned by Usopp and tortured for information from G-5 the mad scientist had a pretty rough day.
The members of the crew went about their various duties to begin the next voyage. Rae walked up to Nami as she was discussing the course with Law. "If there's anything we can do to help then let us know," she offered.
"Speak for yourself!" Merissa snapped.
"Are you telling me that you'd just lounge around and do nothing to help out the people who are saving our hides?"
"I never said that," Merissa corrected. "I'm just saying that when it comes to offering to do manual labor of some kind that a person should only offer their own skills and not the skills of others."
Rae blinked at Merissa for a moment then turned back to Nami. "Anything WE can do to help?"
"You're not listening to me!" Merissa's teeth grew sharp as she snapped at Rae.
Robin was off to the side, giggling. Zoro and Usopp were standing close to her. "To think that these two are the best duo team the Revolutionists have," she commented. Both Zoro and Usopp stared at her in wonder. "One has to think if they ever put aside their bickering or if they fight like that on jobs as well."
"You're saying they're in the Revolutionary Army?" Usopp asked.
"They're not really," Robin shook her head. "I guess you could more call it that they're on loan from their home village. Their village wants to remain outside of the grasp of the World Government. They feel the best way to do that is to not only gather information they are sorely lacking, but to also help the one most opposed to it."
"How do you know all this?" Zoro asked.
"It's only a secret from the World Government," Robin winked. "All the higher ranked Revolutionists know about them. They were brought in by the Chief of Staff. He had spent a few years on their island, learning their techniques. While he was there he was assigned to a three person team to carry out missions. You've already met two-thirds of that team when you met those two."
"Is that a big deal?" Usopp asked.
"The Chief of Staff is the second strongest fighter in the Army," Robin informed. "He's second only to Dragon. These two, while not technically part of the army, could be of equal strength to him if he was assigned to their team. So I suppose you could say that 'yes' it is a big deal."
"We haven't seen them do anything," Zoro pointed out.
"That's not true," Chopper came up to join them. "I've been meaning to ask Rae something I saw back in the lab."
"You mean how she instantly increased our numbers?" Robin asked. Chopper nodded his head silently. "I wanted to ask about that as well. There just didn't seem to be time while we were running for our lives. With the Sunny already out of sight of the island we have time now." The group of four then approached the two women that seemed to be arguing over nothing.
"Can I ask you something Rae?" Chopper came up.
Rae looked to the side and gave Chopper a sly look. "You just did," she teased. Chopper blushed and looked down. Deciding to take it easy on him Rae faced them. "What did you need?"
Chopper put his front hooves together. He seemed to be making the same motion as a human would if they were wringing their hands together in nervousness. "Back when we were running after the kids," he reminded. "We came to that intersection and you wouldn't let us split up. Instead, you suddenly made another four of yourself and they split off in different directions."
"That's what you want to know," Rae said in understanding.
"I wanted to know what the name of the fruit you ate is called," Chopper added. "I was thinking it was something like the 'multi-multi fruit' or something."
"What would you say if I told you I've never eaten a devil fruit in my life?" Rae smiled down at the doctor.
"How is that possible?" Robin asked.
"It's a technique in the village," Merissa put in. "Most people can only disguise themselves as someone or something else. Rae's family had the fortune of one of her ancestors reading a forbidden scroll. It told the reader how to use their chakra to create copies, or clones of themselves."
"It's called 'Shadow Clone Jutsu'," Rae continued. "I can make as many clones as I want or as many as my chakra reserve allows."
"What is Chakra?" Zoro asked.
"Everything has a flow of energy," Merissa explained. "So, just as there are different types of people and living creatures there are different types of energy. When you use Haki you use one form of energy. Devil Fruit users have a different energy source then normal. Different fruit, different energy and the way it's used. Everyone has chakra, though some use it more than others."
"I remember something about that," Robin spoke up. "Just before riding the tram through the passage you both showed us your hands. You called the glow 'chakra' then and said it would help you hold on."
Rae started walking towards the main mast. "I suppose a little demonstration wouldn't hurt," she said. When she got to the mast she surprised the four Straw Hats by not stopping. Instead she put one foot on the mast and then the next. To their shock she started walking up the mast. When she reached the lookout room she walked upside down along the bottom of it.
Rae waved to the gawking people and then made her way back down. Once she was back on the deck she blinked in surprise. Luffy was right in front of her face with stars in his eyes. "How did you do that?" he asked. Rae and Merissa sighed and began the explanation again. This time, however, all the people on the ship were gathered around to hear it. All except the still unconscious Ceasar Clown.
Once they were finished Rae turned to Merissa. "I was hoping to ask you for a favor," she said. Rae produced a scroll from her pocket.
"What do you have in there?" Merissa asked. Robin being the only other one to know what it was started giggling when Rae shocked everyone by having a large candy pop onto the deck.
"This is the drug that Ceasar was using on the kids," Rae informed. "I didn't have time to look for an incinerator at the lab. I was hoping that you could help me by incinerating it yourself."
"You just can't do anything without me," Merissa chastised.
"So you're saying you'll help me kick your own ass?"
"Throw that thing in the air and I'll take care of it." Merissa ignored the threat, knowing better that to tease Rae when she got that snippy. She waited for the drug to reach the climax of the throw. "Katon! Fireball Jutsu!" She made some hand signs then held the tips of her thumb and index finger an inch away from her mouth. She forcefully blew air out of her lungs. As the air passed her fingers it turned into giant flames. The flames surrounded the drug and incinerated them as Rae had asked.
Merissa turned around to see several members of the crew staring at her with stars in their eyes. Rae walked past her with a smirk. "Your turn," she taunted as she left Merissa to fend for herself.
