Akemi should have remembered that they wouldn't be staying long. Whilst she had forgiven the rubber boy fairly quickly, she wasn't exactly happy that her old friend was leaving. It was likely she'd not see him or his crew for a very long time and it made her feel oddly lonely. As much as she loved her guardians and the twins, the only other thing keeping her on the island was her fears. The people on the island weren't exactly her friends. There were some she was closer to than others and they were all typically friendly people, she only knew them because of her job. She couldn't ask Luffy to stay any longer and she doubted she'd ever be able to bring herself to go with him.
Could she? She had the thought of leaving the island many times.
She honestly had no idea why she freaked out so much when she was on the ship the day before. Perhaps the events of the day had caught up to her, her mind tired even though she had mainly watched all of the action. Or something else was going on in her mind at the time.
She couldn't stop thinking about the possibilities of what could happen if she went with them. She didn't sleep well that night, she doubted that she would have even if she wasn't thinking about joining them. Her childhood friend was leaving her this time. But she did eventually make up her mind.
She'd try to go with them.
At least until the next island anyway. They were heading for the Grand Line and Logue was the last island before Reverse Mountain. Once they went past there, then there was no turning back. She had to make sure she was prepared for a boat journey anyway. She did have medication to keep her somewhat calm, but she didn't know how long it would last her as she hadn't needed it in ages. She'd have to make do with what they had then picked some up whenever she could.
She spent most of her morning preparing, packing a few bags with what she needed and nothing more. She had plenty of savings to pick up things that she didn't have anyway since she did technically have two jobs. Her parents didn't seem to mind too much either, Suzu saying that she had expected this to happen the moment Luffy had shown up.
There was only one other thing she had to be sure of and that was if Luffy wanted her with them or not. She supposed all she had to do was ask, so that's what she was going to do. Surely he'd accept, they'd known each other for years after all.
"No."
"What!?"
Everyone seemed shocked at the curt answer from the boy. His expression never changing as he stuffed his face with their breakfast. He didn't even think before answering the question and oddly enough, Aki wasn't surprised. However, like the others she was surprised about the answer.
"Why? But I thought you were friends?" Nami blinked, looking up from the paper spread out in front of her.
"How can you deny another wonderful lady on the crew!?"
Luffy didn't even answer the questions as he shoved an entire loaf of bread into his mouth. Aki couldn't help but think that his devil fruit helped his appetite. Letting his stomach expand and never really feel full. If people thought he ate a lot before it, she had no idea what they thought after.
Aki looked around at the others. Zoro had said nothing since the initial outcry from everyone in the room, now only wearing an expression of slight surprise. Sanji looked horrified at being denied the chance of having another woman on the ship he could dote on, whilst Usopp and Nami looked genuinely confused. Luffy, however, looked like nothing was wrong. Instead he paused, swallowing a mouthful before point a finger at Akemi.
"She knows why."
All eyes turned to Aki, who immediately grew nervous from the amount of attention. But she did immediately understand Luffy's thoughts. He was only being considerate. She brought the attention onto herself too, asking when everyone was together instead of waiting until Luffy was alone, but he still wasn't giving anything away. The only ones that didn't know where the other pirates.
"If it's to do with that little incident yesterday Luffy, then I think this is a little stupid." Usopp sighed, looking between Luffy and Akemi. He was the only other one to have seen it after all.
"Luffy what did you do to-"
"It's the sea."
Rip off the band-aid. Just get it over with.
She'd have to apologise later for interrupting Sanji, she hadn't meant to be rude but she had to stop them there. Otherwise she would be listening to them forever.
"What?"
Akemi sighed, mentally preparing herself. "I'm afraid of the sea. Well, any deep body of water actually, and, no it's not b-because of my devil fruit. I've been like this as long as I can remember. B-but! Luffy I've decided that perhaps I'll get better if I go sailing. Plus, I can help."
She knew the others were talking the moment she mentioned her fear. She was focused on Luffy though, who had finally stopped eating only because the food had practically ran out. Akemi continued on though.
"I'm sure if I s-stay inside I'll be fine. If I'm needed on deck then I have stuff to calm my nerves. I-I know I can't rely on it... A-and I wont! I'm not that great at smithing yet, but I can make something usable at least. Oh, and make minor repairs on blades."
"No."
"Luffy! I-if this is seriously about me hitting you yesterday..."
"You'll make me eat vegetables when I don't want to." Luffy grumbled, a childish pout on his face.
What.
Akemi couldn't believe what she just heard. She thought he was being considerate, not childish. He wasn't letting her join the crew because she'd make him eat vegetables. She was honestly shocked. Just how had she not seen this coming? Everyone was silent for a good while as they tried to process just what the boy had said.
"Really!? That's you're reason!?" Nami did not look impressed as she drove her fist into the top of his head.
Akemi blinked, staring at Luffy for another moment. "So if I-I promise not to make you do that... Will you let me come with you?"
Akemi had to admit she had a problem with mothering some people when she was younger. She did the exact same to Hiruka when he was being fussy, she still did. Whilst she couldn't guarantee that she'd stay off his case forever, she'd at least do it until he forgot. If he ever did. He had a thing about not remembering many things, but promises were always something that stuck in his mind.
"You promise?" Luffy asked, waiting for a nod before he continued, rubbing the sore spot of his head. "Then sure! It'll be great!"
Akemi let out the air she didn't realise she was holding, taking note of the reactions around her. The only ones that seemed actually excited were Sanji and Luffy himself. Zoro was interested but something in her mind told her it was the free sword maintenance that she could offer, since she'd be able to handle any damages. Then a thought seemed to hit Nami at that exact moment, a strange expression taking over her face.
"Wait! How much would the stuff you make sell for?"
Akemi blinked once more, staring at Nami for a moment. "Well... That d-depends on the materials... F-father tends to only sell stuff for a little o-over the material cost. S-so there wont be that much of a profit if that's what you were wondering."
"But you still said profit."
"Y-yes."
"Great! Usopp! Is there a forge on the Merry?"
Oh. That was a good point. She couldn't exactly do her job if there wasn't one.
Usopp was silent for a while as he went over the plans of the ship in his head, frowning after a little while. Aki wished she could say if she knew or not and it wasn't exactly something that the others would look out for.
"I think? I can't say if it works or not." He finally answered, Nami getting more excited.
That strange look got scary as the woman turned back to Akemi, the devil fruit user looking startled. When money was involved, Nami became scarier than normal it seemed.
"Well great to have you on the crew! I hope you can expand you're skills." She spoke with a cheery voice but Aki knew there was nothing friendly about it.
Though in her mind that was all she needed before she knew she was a part of their odd little group. It would be tough for her for a while, not only would she have to deal with her fears, but Luffy was a magnet for trouble. She still remembered the morning after Shanks lost his arm saving Luffy from the sea. The amount of times she was dragged off somewhere only to nearly get mauled by the local wildlife, and that was before his devil fruit. At least she had hers so she was able to get them out of most of it. It was the literal only reason she was somewhat used to using her own fruit powers, four legs on one animal was a lot faster that two little kids trying to clamber over tree roots. It reminded her that she really needed to get into training herself again. Apart from the odd scuffle that no one else was around to resolve, she never really fought. She always had her small blade to protect herself but now that she was on a ship for most of the time, then maybe she could ask one of the others to help her learn something else.
Akemi just hovered around the group as they finished off their morning before they moved to get all of the things together that they had brought off their ship with them. She wasn't much of a conversationalist and she was just content listening to their chatter. Suzu gave them some extra supplies that she had talked one of the nearby stores into giving her (something about having seen the husband leave one night with another woman, Suzu could be quite convincing.) While Zoro was back to the one sword he arrived with, Aki hadn't missed the select few objects Yuuto had snuck into her stuff when he was helping her move things to the ship. Either way it gave her something to do other than what she would later sell, it would be nice to see someone rising up to fame with her own sword. Maybe she would talk to said swordsman at some point.
The group was surprisingly quick at packing up, ready to move along. It wouldn't take much more until they would all be on the ship, Akemi included. She forced her tail to still behind her as she turned to head back to the bar in order to say her goodbyes. She shouldn't have been surprised that her adoptive parents and the twins were already behind her.
"So we were just told that you're leaving. Short notice don't ya think." Hiruka grumbled, crossing his arms as he looked behind Aki to look at the ship.
Shiori just chuckled, nudging his brother with his elbow. "It's kind of to be expected. She's known the pirate boy for years."
"She's known us for years too!"
"You're only annoyed because you're the last to know."
Hiruka continued complaining as Shiori just stood there with a calm smile. Yuuto laughed at the two before reaching forward to give Akemi a tight hug. She could almost feel the air being squeezed out of her lungs. Yuuto didn't seem all that emotional at that time, she knew he wasn't. He was just a cuddler, even when he'd be away for just a couple of days he would react like this. The couple were unbelievably laid-back and she didn't know if she should be offended or not that they weren't reacting more at the fact that their daughter might possibly never come back to them.
"Oi, Luffy! If I ever receive any complaints about you, I'll come and beat you up! My darling is a lady now so you better treat her like one!" Yuuto warned, watching as Luffy poked his head over the side of the ship, a cheeky grin on the rubber boys face.
Before Luffy could open his mouth however, he was dragged away, presumably to help the others doing work.
What Aki was confused at though was to why Suzu had been talking to the navigator for what seemed like ages. She had no idea what they could be talking about, perhaps just directions? But surely they already knew their way to the mountain. Though as soon as they were done, Nami heading back to the ship to start getting the others to set up, Suzu walked over.
Suzu smiled as she approached the small family Aki had on the island. Akemi finding herself in a pair of arms that seemed less intent on denying her any air.
"If you ever change your mind, stay at whatever island you're on and send us a message. We'll come get you." She told the girl, letting go and holding her at arms length with hands on shoulders.
Aki chuckled, shaking her head. "I-I'm sure everything will be fine. But Y-you wont have to do that."
Suzu nodded, giving her one last hug before letting go completely. "If you say so. We'll miss you so be sure to write when you can. We definitely want to hear what you get up to."
"Aki! C'mon we're ready to go!" She heard Luffy shout, now perched on top of the figurehead.
Akemi nodded, in the middle of saying her goodbyes when she got a sense of deja-vu, something wrapped itself around her. This time, however, Aki was much more prepared and she refused to let herself freak out when she found herself on the deck of the ship.
"Slowpoke."
"Luffy!" Yuuto's voice was loud as he scolded the boy. "What did I just say!"
A/N: OK! So next chapter will finally be on the actual story. I would have done more hear but I'm exhausted so I need to go pass out. I didn't want to leave it at only a few words to write when I woke up (I'd forget them anyway.)
So yeahh... I will possibly go back and rewrite the previous chapters at some point, probably said this but I'm running on fumes right now so I'm not exactly thinking straight. Then again, I'm never thinking straight when writing. Anyway that rewriting wont be until I get stuck at some point, which will likely happen.
Also, why did no one tell me how many times I've f'd up characters names. Been spelling Usopp wrong for the last few chapters and Hiruka and Yuuto have like three different ways I've spelt them.
Still trying to think about how to deal with the canon kitsune devil fruit but I have a loonnggg way to go before that comes anywhere near needing to mess with.
I am thinking, however, once we get passed like Drum Island, I'll make a proper start on another One Piece fic I've had going on in my head for a while now. I still need to sort out that one's oc. I have her fruit all sorted out, she just needs an actual appearance but I'll get someone on Deviantart to sort that out if needed. Also something I think I've already said. But this character is gonna be much more thought out and wont be a 15 year old's typical character (the shy and cute kemonomimi.) That's actually a big problem I have with Aki, but she'll be fleshed out as a character as the story goes on. She'll develop and I have rough ideas of when big changes happen (I do plan on the ears and tail going)