Hello! BerryBlast99 here with the next chapter! And I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's reviewed, favorited, or followed! I'm both surprised and extremely happy that anyone gives this story the time of day! Also, I noticed a few people saying how they look forward to Rita and Chopper meeting and yeah I'm sure that's going to be a fun and cute when it happens but personally I'm wondering how Ash is going to react. she's the difficult one to write for as her personality keeps shifting in my head. And fun fact she wasn't originally going to be in the story when I first thought all this up but I'm really glad I changed that idea as I think she's a good foil for Rita.
Anyways, I was stumped where to go after Buggy but I finally figured it out! So I hope you all enjoy and don't worry there's still more to come!
Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my OC's
And without further ado enjoy!~
Chapter Eleven
"So, where to now captain?" Zoro asked as he relaxed on the boat. It had been about an hour since they left the town that Buggy had been harassing. Luffy was waiting with anticipation while Ash tried to sew his hat back together with some sewing supplies that were conveniently on the boat Nami had… acquired. Perhaps one of the pirates liked to sew or maybe the others just tore their clothes all the time who knows. Rita was currently taking a nap in Nami's boat after she had a band aid placed on her leg.
"To the Grandline!" He cheered.
"Not like this we're not!" Nami frowned and wondered if these pirates were capable of taking anything seriously.
"What do you mean?" Luffy asked as he tilted his head in confusion.
"We don't have any supplies for one thing." Ash mumbled as she tried very carefully to sew the straw hat back together. Straw wasn't the easiest material to work with after all.
"Thank you! Finally someone with a little bit of common sense! How long have you all been without food or water for?" Nami sighed in relief, glad that at least one person was taking this seriously, before she asked more about the food issue.
"About… oh… Zoro do you remember when Luffy ate all the food?" Ash asked the swordsman as she strained to remember when that was. It was sometime during the week she knew that much.
"About three or four days ago." Zoro shrugged. "But we did eat some fish for a few days."
"You guys ate raw fish? Without rice?" Nami's nose scrunched up in distaste.
"Please don't remind me." Ash shuddered. "We didn't really have much choice in the matter."
"Yeah we should stop somewhere and get some more meat." Luffy mumbled as he realized they didn't really have much of anything at the moment.
"WE NEED MORE THAN JUST MEAT!" Nami snapped at him before taking in a deep breath to calm her nerves. "And we need to get a proper ship. These two boats can barely get us through the east blue let alone the Grandline."
"What are you talking about? This ship has been good so far." Luffy pouted.
"It's a miracle it has gotten you as far as it has! What do you think will happen if you run into a severe storm? You'll capsize that's what! Lucky for you guys I'm the best when it comes to predicting the weather, but even with that if we don't have a good enough ship we won't be able to avoid said weather." Nami explained with a smidge of bragging though it was entirely true. Sometimes it didn't matter if you could predict the weather the storm could be too large to avoid and the currents could become too rough for a ship to handle. The boat the straw hat pirates had been using was made for small trips near an island not for traveling around the world and though the ship Nami stole from Buggy was slightly better there wasn't enough room for everyone to stay on nor keep a large amount of food.
They needed a proper ship.
"She has a point Captain." Zoro shrugged and leaned against the mast.
"You're right we need to get a ship. A cool one! With a cannon!" Luffy grinned as he imagined a humongous ship.
"Should we get food first or a ship?" Ash asked.
"FOOD! Food always comes first!" Luffy sternly slapped his knee to emphasize the importance of his words.
"Of course it would…"
"Let's see…" Nami mumbled as she unrolled a map and scanned it. "Oh good! If we keep heading in this direction we should be able to spot some islands soon, though judging by the map they won't be very big. In fact a few might not be inhabited at all so we might as well skip those."
"What? But I don't want to skip anything!" Luffy pouted. "I want an adventure!"
"Whatever. We shouldn't see any soon anyways so if you spot one I'll be able to tell you if we could get a ship there or not." Nami shrugged confident that when he saw how boring the uninhabited islands looked he'd want to skip them too.
'Why do I suddenly feel like I'm being laughed at for some reason…?' Nami thought to herself before shrugging it off.
"Ash, we should probably change your bandages now. You were running around in awful lot when you should have been resting." Nami addressed Ash, who had just finished fixing Luffy's hat that he gratefully took back.
"Are you sure? I feel fine maybe a bit tired but-"
"No buts! That thing could get infected or something and I'd rather not have to deal with a sick pirate." Nami frowned and dragged Ash into the ship. Ash frowned as well but didn't protest knowing the sooner this was over with the better and then she could finally take a nap.
Because it has been a rather exhausting day. First Luffy got carried off by a bird, was almost blown up when he was trapped in a cage by bunch of clown pirates, then she herself was stabbed by the leader of the clowns, then she had an emotional fight with her best friend, learned she was actually in a fictional comic book world, was nearly blown up again by the leader of the clowns, then they all had a showdown were there was a lot of yelling, running, and fighting going around, and now they have a new crew member who she didn't know what to think about as they had just met.
"A lot happened today…"Ash mumbled as she tried to process everything that only happened in a few hours.
"Tell me about it." Nami agreed as she went over to grab some fresh bandages. "I totally get why you would want to take a nap, I wouldn't mind one myself but we have things to get done first."
"You know you don't have to do my bandages I'm sure I can do it myself."
"You're lucky you didn't need stitches for that! Not to mention how you could barely walk around at first after you got stabbed, you clearly have been pushing yourself since then so I'm going to make sure that these bandages are going to go on properly." Nami insisted.
"I'm honestly feeling better! But if it'll make you feel better have at it." Ash shrugged.
"…So no offense meant or anything but…" Nami began as she lifted up Ash's shirt a bit in order to see how the bandages were holding up. "What's with your ears? Were you born like that or-"
"No!" Ash snapped. "Why do people keep asking about that? Seriously!?"
"Sorry, I didn't realize you were going to blow up like that!" Nami apologized.
"Sigh, no it's fine. It's just a little hard to explain what happened and I'm still getting use to the new look is all."
"Okay…" Nami frowned in confusion and idly wondered if the long eared girl had eaten a devil fruit too, but decided to drop the questions for now. At least about Ash anyways.
"What about the weasel? What's up with that did she eat some kind of devil fruit too…?" She glanced at the little Ottsel napping on a pillow by the end of the bed and just had to ask.
"No, Rita and I… well it's complicated." Ash struggled to think of how to explain their situation to Nami.
"Hey don't feel pressured to answer if you don't want to I was only curious." Nami reassured.
"Heh thanks. Maybe later I'll tell you more about it… once I know more about it myself."
"What do you-AH!" Nami asked before leaping away when she glanced at Ash's wound that she had just un-bandaged.
"What is it-AH!" Ash instinctively slapped her hand on her wound from being startled. They were both startled because of the wound actually. It was glowing.
"DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE A MONSTER TOO!" Nami yelled anger rising within herself from being startled in the first place.
"OI! THIS IS NEWS TO ME TOO ORANGE TOP!" Ash yelled back, insulted by being called a monster and was internally freaking out that her body was doing something weird again without her control.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING ORANGE TOP!?" Nami smacked Ash right upside the head. Ash growled and smacked Nami's arm which earned her a fist to the head and boy could Nami throw a punch… but then so could Ash. The two soon ended up having a fight which only ended when Ash grabbed a pillow to smack Nami with… which happened to be the one Rita was napping on.
"Whoa ow!" Rita yelped when fell to the floor. She groaned and looked to see Nami and Ash playing tug a war with her pillow while glaring at each other, their teeth having become fangs, and throwing insults at one another. She idly wondered if this was going to become a regular thing to wake up too in the morning…
"Um… Guys? Why are you fighting?" Rita asked though she wondered if she would be heard at all with the intensity building between the two girls.
"SHE STARTED IT!" the two roared, never taking their eyes off the other.
"She called me orange top!" Nami hissed and yanked the pillow closer to her.
"She called me a freak!" Ash yelled and pulled the pillow back towards herself.
"NO I DIDN'T! I CALLED YOU A MONSTER!"
"WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE!?" the two began pulling the pillow so tightly you could see it strained to so much that with any more pressure it would burst. Rita felt pity for the poor pillow and decided to try and be reasonable with the girls.
"Nami, Ash breathe. Think of the pillow! If you two tear it up then what?" Rita tried… She wasn't exactly mature enough to handle defusing a fight like this.
The girls only growled louder, but then Ash released the pillow allowing Nami to fall to the floor with a grunt.
"Okay now before you two start going at it again I want answers! Nami, why did you call Ash a monster?" Rita addressed the navigator first as it seemed like the logical choice.
"Because she started glowing! Normal people aren't glow in the dark toys!"
"What did you call me!?"
"Ash! Wait!" Rita hopped up and wrapped her arms around Ash's forearm in hopes of calming her down. "Shush, shush breath in… and breathe out."
Ash glared at her for moment but seeing that the Ottsel was resting her head against her arm and patting it in a sincere attempt to calm her down made her loose some of her steam.
"Okay are we all good now?" Ash nodded and Nami wrapped her arms around the pillow like it some sort of prize.
"Great! Now then… can I have my pillow back? I was having a nice nap and-"
"You only care about the pillow!?" Nami yelled. There was a more pressing issue she felt needed to be discussed here…
"It's a very nice pillow! And you guys woke me up for something silly like Ash… wait, what did you mean by glowing?"
Ash sighed in exasperation. Of course Rita would be more concerned about a pillow then about something weird happening. When she noticed Rita was staring at her in hopes of an answer, Ash decided it was best to just show the girl what was going on instead of trying to explain it.
"My wound it kind of started to… do this I guess?" Ash showed her wound for everyone to see, clearly looking a little uncomfortable about it though. The wound itself was glowing a faint blueish color around the edges of Ash's skin and glowed a lighter blue as it seemed to be sealing up the skin. In fact as they were watching it the wound fully sealed itself up and the glowing disappeared as if it, and the wound, had never been there in the first place.
"…OH! Cool you have healing powers Ash!" Rita jerked her head up and snapped her fingers as she suddenly remembered something.
"I have what now?" Ash blinked. And here she thought things couldn't get much weirder…
"She does?" Nami leaned closer to inspect the area of skin with her own eyes. She had, thankfully, calmed down enough to pay attention to the conversation and was more curious then weirded out now.
"Yeah, yeah now I remember! White eco was mostly used for defensive stuff like your shield, however it could also allow you to heal yourself and do some other cool things too if there was enough eco around. I guess since we fell into a whole bunch of the stuff you don't necessarily have to get more per say. You just need to have enough energy to perform the certain tasks needed. Also since you're still new to this you can probably only use one ability at a time." Rita nodded to herself proud of her nerd knowledge and completely forgot that Nami was even still in the room.
"…Did you catch any of that? I'm seriously lost over here." Nami felt a drop of sweat fall down her neck.
"Nope. I don't follow nerd speak well." Ash shook her head completely lost in what Rita was talking about. Though she felt kind of bad for Nami who knew even less then the situation then they did… wait… 'Aw, crap…!'
"White eco? What is that? You fell into what…?" Nami felt like her head was swimming in a lake questions.
"Eh? Oh… right um… Ash may I? Just the basics at least?" Rita asked knowing Ash was more skeptical of telling people about themselves and what happened.
"…You might as well. You practically told her what happened and leaving her off with only that seems kind of rude." Ash sagged against the wall. She wondered if Rita was going to tell Nami the whole truth or the edited version they had come up with on the spot earlier. She knew, if they were to stay with everyone for much longer they would have to spill the beans at some point. Especially if the others start to figure things out. Rita may know things about this world but she sure didn't. One day she'll say or do something that will make no sense to everyone around her like when she asked what the 'one piece' was.
A part of her was sure none of the crew would believe them and would think they were mad. At worst they would ditch them at the next island and at best…? Who knew? However another part of her, a part that had only recently been growing, told her that her captain would at least believe them. And if they had the captain's approval then Zoro wouldn't complain much.
She would be lying if she said she wouldn't care about their reactions. Nami was an exception, she just met the girl why would she care if the thief believed them or not? It was more rather Zoro and Luffy she was worried about. She didn't know if she would call them friends but… they were hard not to like, if only a little.
'In the end does it even matter if we tell them? Man this all way to confusing... Maybe we should just get it over with and see what happens? Or we can keep silent about it but that feels like we're lying…'
While Ash was taking time to muse about her relationships with the straw hat crew Rita thought about how the best way to put it with Nami.
"Okay… Basically what happened was Ash and I were exploring a forest and we found this hole filled with this white glowing goo, which turned out to be white eco, and I fell into it and Ash jumped in after me then the next thing we know we were in an alley somewhere and we looked like this!" Rita pointed at Ash's ears and then waved her hand vaguely around her own body. "Then Ash and Zoro were arrested for trying to protect a little girl from being eaten by Captain Morgan's son's pet wolf and then Luffy showed up and helped them escape and that's when Ash used her new powers for the first time creating this shield like thing to protect them from bullets and, and, and yeah…"
"That didn't really answer much of anything. In fact it only gave me more questions." Nami mumbled trying to make sense of the rushed explanation from the Ottsel. "Okay… first off you said you looked different before…?"
"Yes, I'm actually a human and Ash use to have normal-er I mean her ears looked a bit different?" Rita glanced at her friend hoping she didn't offend her in anyway, but it seemed Ash was still thinking about something else. Rita sighed in relief.
"Right… and about Ash's powers?" Nami looked between the two skeptically.
"Well I assume she got them when we fell into the eco." Rita shrugged.
"And what is eco?"
"It's… well how to explain? It's a little complicated but the summed up version is that it's an unstable magical energy that can be found in various different forms like in crystals or liquid form like what we found. Not much is known about eco itself or where exactly it came from but the little I do know is that it can be found in various parts of the universe and because it's unstable it may react differently than one would expect, also there's more than one kind of eco."
"Wait there's more then what we stumbled onto?" Ash's head jerked swiftly in surprise.
"Oh yeah, honestly white eco I assumed was the rarest form of eco." Rita shrugged. "But odds are we won't find anymore of any kind of eco around here… well optimistically we might find some in the Grandline but the chances are still very slim."
"How do you know so much about this stuff? I never heard anything about this not to mention it sounds less believable then devil fruits." Nami frowned. She had at least heard rumors and stories of people who had eaten devil fruits but never had she heard of this… eco the Ottsel was going on and on about.
"It's kind of obscure knowledge. Honestly I read about it when I was bored one day but it kind of stuck in the back of my mind you know? I never believed it was real naturally or else I'd be a lunatic!" Rita explained. "However, with all that has happened to us there is no other explanation I can come up with so I guess it was real."
'Plus it helps that I learned about the alternate universe theory or else I'd probably be a broken vegetable right now…'
"Why would it be a good thing if we found more?" Ash asked remembering Rita's comment about possibly finding some in the Grandline.
"Well eco brought us here so maybe if we find some, we could hopefully find a way to make it send us back." Ash blinked at the answer but hummed to herself as she realized Rita's logic was fairly sound.
"Why do you need to find eco to go back home? Why don't you just sail there? Sounds easier to me." Nami questioned. The two friends looked at each other briefly before giving the navigator deadpan looks.
"It's complicated." They answered simultaneously.
"I'm beginning to regret asking anything." Nami mumbled as she felt a drop of sweat run down her forehead.
"HEY GUYS! I SEE LAND!" They heard Luffy yell outside.
"That was fast." Rita frowned. It looked like she wasn't going to be able to take her nap again anytime soon.
'Still, I didn't expect to make it to Usopp's island this early…'
"Wait Luffy! Let me see what island it is!" Nami yelled abandoning the pillow she held to rush outside.
"…There's not going to be anymore explosions or bombs on this island is there?" Ash inquired as she stared at the door debating whether or not to follow after the orange haired navigator.
"No not really." Rita replied. They most likely wouldn't see a 'proper' explosion until Don Krieg. Guns, fire, and swords, however, were a completely different story.
"Good." Ash relaxed and headed outside with Rita following close behind. Outside Nami was yelling at Luffy about why they should just skip this island while he kept insisting that they check it out. Zoro had wisely decided to take nap and ignored their 'argument'.
Ash leaned against the wall as she listened to them while Rita walked over to get a better look at the land.
'Wait that doesn't look like Usopp's island…' Rita thought as she stared at the small island out in the distance.
"Let's go!" Luffy cheered as his boat started towards the mystery island.
"But Luffy there's nothing there!" Nami yelled trying in vain to get her 'temporary' captain to see sense.
"There might be some food though. If nothing else we could actually cook some fish for once." Ash pointed out.
"We don't have any fish!" Nami replied.
"No problem. Oi, Rita!" Ash caught the Ottsel's attention. "Think you could get some fish for everyone?"
"Huh? Oh why yes I can!" Rita gave them a thumbs up before diving into the water.
"I didn't expect her to do it right at this second but alright…" Ash mumbled before looking at the island they were approaching and inwardly hoped there wasn't some maniac on it who wanted to kill them. It was a disturbing trend so far.
'Perhaps I should have talked more about this place with Rita…'
Meanwhile with Rita…
'So… If it's not Usopp's Island then it's one of two options,' Rita thought as she swam about looking for fish, her whiskers twitching as she sensed something nearby but she couldn't quite figure out what. 'option a: it's a random island that didn't have much interest to be put in a story so they left it out entirely and I'm sure there's probably a few islands we'll come across like that… or option b: this is Gaimon's island.'
Her whiskers were twitching even more now but she still couldn't spy any fish in the area and did the water seem to be moving more roughly then before…?
'But I thought Gaimon came after Usopp's island… unless this is more like the manga then the anime which I suppose is possible but-WHOA!'
Her musing was interrupted as she was swiftly dragged away by a strong current. Which was pulling her down further away from the surface and the boats then she was comfortable with.
'CRAP! A CURRENT? WHERE IS IT TAKING ME? I CAN'T SWIM OUT OF IT! OH NO! WHERE ARE THE BOATS!? SOMEBODY HELP!' She thought frantically as her body tossed and turned with the water and the light from the surface seemed to dim as she was pulled ever further away…
Meanwhile with the crew…
"I told you guys this place was uninhabited." Nami spoke once they landed and realized that there didn't seem to be any sign of human activity in the area.
"Hey Zoro! Come and check out the deserted island with us!" Luffy yelled when he noticed the swordsman wasn't out there with them.
"I think I saw him taking a nap Luffy he's going to be out for a while trust me." Ash informed him.
"Oh okay," Luffy frowned and swung his arms behind his head before asking where Rita went.
"She went to get some fish for us." Nami told him. Luffy grinned at that as he imagined having cooked meat to eat.
"Hey we should get some fire wood while we explore the place! What do you guys think?"
"Sounds good to me."
"Hey maybe you should take a nap too I mean you were stabbed and all…" Nami trailed off as she remembered that Ash's wound was now healed. Of course who knew how much energy that took to do? And she said that she was feeling tired earlier…
"Nah, its fine. This might be the last time I get to stretch my legs for a long while. Plus, I want to make sure we actually grab some fire wood because that one tends to be forgetful…" Ash replied before jerking her thumb at Luffy who was gushing over getting to have an adventure at a 'mystery' island.
"Fair enough." And with that the trio went off into the woods.
All was normal at first Ash was grabbing small branches and twigs she spotted while Luffy kept looking around for anyone who might be on the island and Nami tried to explain to him that nobody besides themselves were there.
"Maybe they're just hiding really deep in the woods!" Luffy grinned.
"I'm telling you! No one is here!"
"Cluck, cluck!" A rooster barked… wait.
Everyone turned to see a dog with a feathery tail and those red things that roosters have on their necks walk past them.
"Whoa check out that weird looking rooster!" Luffy gasped in delight.
"That's more of a dog then a rooster." Nami pointed out, then the trio noticed a pig with lion's mane.
"A lion?"
"THAT'S A PIG!" Nami growled.
"Wow, Rita would fit right in…" Ash commented as she spotted a few more animals that looked like two animals mushed together. Like that rabbit snake that was slithering near them…
"DO NOT COME ANY FURTHER!" a loud mysterious voice yelled out of nowhere.
"Huh? Who was that?" Luffy asked as he looked up toward the tree tops.
"Hey who's speaking!?" Nami yelled also looking up as she tried to spot a man hiding somewhere in the branches.
Ash took a more practical approach and scanned the bushes near them for any unusual movement.
"I… AM THE GUARDIAN OF THE FOREST!" The mysterious voice answered.
"Seriously?" Ash frowned. Of all the places to end up at they end up on the island with the crazy local.
"Guardian of the forest?" Luffy repeated, confused as to why the forest needed to be guarded.
"THAT'S RIGHT! IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIVES, YOU'LL LEAVE THIS PLACE NOW!" There was a brief pause where everyone stood still. "…ARE YOU GUYS PIRATES?"
"Yeah!" Luffy naturally answered.
"Why would he ask that?" Nami frowned.
"Because he's probably a hermit who's afraid that pirates are going to come and kill him or something." Ash shrugged, mindful of all the wood she was still carrying.
"SO YOU ARE PIRATES!" The mysterious voice yelled ignoring the women's comments. "DON'T YOU DARE TAKE ANOTHER STEP INTO THIS FOREST! IF YOU DO, YOU MUST FACE THE TRIAL OF THE FOREST. WILL YOU RISK HAVING YOUR BODIES DISMEMBERED?"
"Who cares? Why is he asking all these weird questions?" Luffy grumbled.
"Why would he go around dismembering people? That's messed up." Ash commented.
"Hey yeah! What's wrong with you? You weird tree guard!" Luffy yelled at where he thought the mysterious voice was coming from.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?" The mysterious voice cried in offense.
"I bet he dismembers people to feed his weird pets…" Ash continued.
"YOU TURN PEOPLE INTO PET FOOD!?" Luffy yelled out horrified.
"WHAT? NO! I JUST WANT YOU PEOPLE OUT OF MY FOREST!"
"Ash! Quit riling them up!" Nami yelled as she realized the blonde's comments were becoming very unhelpful.
"What?"
"I think the weirdo is over there…" Luffy mumbled and took a step in the direction he assumed the mysterious voice was coming from.
"I WARNED YOU NOT TO COME CLOSER! NOW YOU MUST FACE THE TRIAL OF THE FOREST!"
BANG!
Nami screamed when a gunshot was fired and witnessed Luffy's body stretch as the bullet hit him.
"WHAT ARE YOU!?" the mystery voice yelled as Luffy's skin stretched back, throwing the bullet in the opposite direction clearly unharmed.
"So bullets don't hurt you either huh?" Nami mumbled. Luffy nodded and while those two talked more about that Ash carefully put the pieces of wood she was carrying down before grabbing one and throwing it with all her might right at the bush that the bullet came from.
THUNK!
"OW! THAT HURT!" the bush yelled.
"Found him." Ash spoke and grabbed another branch for protection before heading towards the bush that seemed to be shacking in fear.
Then the bush… began to run away?
"What the…? The bush is moving?" Nami yelled out in confusion.
They watched as the bush ran swiftly away… before tripping on a root and they were able to see that under the bush was a chest and under the chest was a pair of feet that were moving about frantically.
"HEY! HELP ME UP!" the bush yelled at them as it continued to wiggle trying to right itself. The crew looked at one another before heading over.
Luffy turned the chest around to reveal… a man stuck in a treasure chest?
"It's a person?" Nami looked at the oddity numbly. Between Luffy being made of rubber, Ash having healing powers, Rita being a talking weasel otter thing, and this guy who was a living shrub… she beginning to suspect nothing was going to make sense anymore…
"Wait so the bush is his hair?" Luffy blinked.
"I SAID HELP ME UP!" The shrub man yelled out indignantly.
"You…" The man paused when he saw the anger on Ash's face. And how tightly she was gripping her branch. Glaring at him, she raised the branch high in the air, fully prepared to smack the man, when Luffy grabbed her arm holding her back.
"Whoa! Calm down."
"Calm down!? This creep shot at you! If you weren't made of rubber you could have been injured or killed! And for what? Casually walking through a forest!? And then he asks for our help like he didn't do anything!?"
"Ah, I see why you'd be upset but I'm fine! See? Not a scratch on me! It's going to take more than a bullet to keep me down! And I mean look at him…" Luffy gestured to the crippled man who couldn't sit upright on his own. He was rather pitiful.
"…You're right. Sorry about that mister…?" Ash sighed and held out her hand for the green haired man to take.
"M-my name is Gaimon." Gaimon replied before blinking and scowled at them. "AND I WOULDN'T HAVE SHOT IF YOU HAD JUST LEFT THE FOREST!"
"Don't push your luck Mister Jack in the box." Ash instead grabbed the chest the man was stuck in and pulled him upright.
"MY NAME'S NOT JACK!" He hollered.
"So why are you stuck in a box?" Luffy asked.
"It's a chest! And how did you do that thing with the bullet?" Gaimon asked instead of answering.
"Oh that? I ate a devil fruit and now I'm made of rubber." Luffy shrugged.
"A devil fruit?" Gaimon blinked in surprise. "I've heard tales about them but this is the first time I've met someone who's eaten one."
"And this is the first time I've ever seen a guy stuck in a box! Are you a boxer?" Luffy asked while Ash snorted in the background and Nami smacked her forehead with a groan.
"Well, when I was younger…" Gaimon trailed off. "HEY! THAT'S A STUPID JOKE!"
"Yeah wasn't it great?" Ash lightly teased.
"You're doing it again knock it off!" Nami scolded and smacked Ash upside the head. To which the blonde haired girl snarled in reply. Which made Nami snarl back and pressed her forehead against Ash's. And it soon dissolved into an aggressive staring match as each girl pushed against the other with their heads, sparks shooting from their eyes, and snarls escaping their lips.
"Uh… are they alright?" Gaimon asked felling a drop of sweat run down his head.
"Yeah, they'll be fine I think." Luffy replied before bring his attention back to the shrub man. "So how long have you been stuck in there?"
"I've been stuck for about twenty years." Gaimon answered.
"TWENTY YEARS!?" Ash and Nami whipped their heads around to stare at the shrub man in shock, battle of wills temporarily postponed.
"Yeah… honestly this is the longest conversation I've had with actual people in a long time…" Gaimon admitted looking miserable.
"So you're alone on this island?" Ash frowned.
'Then again he's been chasing people away and shooting them so he kind of brought it on himself…' she thought to herself.
"Yep have been for twenty years. It's been this way for so long that my hair and beard has grown out… and I use to have two eyebrows." He informed them. There was uncomfortable pause as they let what he was saying sink in. That Luffy broke when he attempted to pull Gaimon out of his box.
"OW! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Gaimon hollered in pain afraid the boy was going to snap his neck.
"I'm trying to get you unstuck!" Luffy explained as he continued to pull Gaimon.
"Wait Luffy if you go about it like that you're only going to hurt him!" Ash ran over and pulled Luffy away from the shrub man. "Maybe we should find a way to break the box instead. I wonder if Zoro could cut it open…"
"That's a great idea-"
"THAT'S A TERRIBLE IDEA!" Gaimon yelled at the two in exasperation. "LISTEN, DON'T BE RECKLESS I HAVEN'T HAD ANY EXERCISE FOR ALL THESE YEARS! BY NOW MY BODY'S GROWN INTO THE SHAPE OF THIS BOX!"
"I CAN'T GET OUT!" He yelled at Luffy and then at Ash. "AND IF YOU BREAK THE CHEST YOU'LL BREAK ME ALONG WITH IT!"
She had the decency to look sheepish.
"Oh, well if you put it like that then yeah… your spine would probably snap and who knows how deformed your legs must be to run around the way you do…"
"Exactly!" He nodded.
"But how did you end up like this?" Nami asked.
This lead Gaimon explaining how he used to be a pirate and that he and his crew were looking for treasure, how he fell when he found treasure boxes on the top of a cliff and ended up stuck in a treasure chest, and to top it all off he was abandoned and forgotten by his crew as they sailed away.
"Ouch…" Ash winced. They never went back for him? Did they ever notice he was missing? It felt a bit harsh to her. Then again if he didn't get greedy or asked someone to go with him he might have been able to keep exploring the seas, box free…
"And you never tried to leave the island? Why?" Nami asked.
"Because I still have hope! Hope that those chests are full of treasure! I just can't bring myself to part with it especially after all these years!"
"And nobody's been here for 20 years?" Luffy asked.
"Oh no people came lots of people actually. Almost all of them were pirates though and wanted to look for treasure. But I scared them all off with my trial of the forest bit." Gaimon explained.
"…Question, if you've been here for twenty years and have been scaring people off with your trial thing by shooting at people where do you get your bullets?" Ash questioned. Surely he would have ran out ages ago…
"Well usually they run off after the whole guardian bit, but if they linger then I go into my trial of the forest. After that then they usually high tail it out of here and take their hurt friends with them. Sometimes they're so scared that they drop what they're holding which sometimes happens to be loaded pistols." Gaimon shrugged.
"And they didn't think to use them?" Ash asked thoroughly confused.
"People act strange when they're afraid… and usually they weren't the brightest bunch." Gaimon offered not sure himself why they didn't do just that, though he was very thankful they didn't.
"Fair enough."
Gaimon sighed. "If only I weren't stuck in this chest I could have seen the treasure for myself ages ago…"
"Gaimon!" Nami addressed the shrub man gaining everyone's attention. "We'll go up and get that treasure for you!"
"What?" Gaimon blinked.
"We'll get your treasure down for you! Just lead the way!"
"But you're a pirate and a thief…" Luffy mumbled confused that she would find treasure and willingly give it someone else.
"SHUT UP! I'm a thief but I'm not heartless!" Nami snapped.
'You seemed a bit heartless to that town we just left a while back…' Ash felt a bead of sweat roll down her neck as she observed the change of attitude Nami had.
"You… you'd really do that for me?" Gaimon looked truly touched.
"Sure! It's rightfully yours after waiting twenty years." Luffy reassured him. "What do you got to lose?"
"I'm glad I told you people my story! Here I'll lead the way!" Gaimon began to run off excitedly as the others followed after him…
To be continued…
Okay I do have more written down and I'm working on the second part to this as fast as I can. I just ended it here because it felt like it was already kind of long and I've been writing non stop for a couple of days now and I'm sooooo tired. However I noticed that I could divide the chapter so as to give you guys something a little faster!
Now to address a few things: I'm seriously debating whether or not to tell the straw hats that not only does Rita and Ash come from another world, but that where they are from the Straw hats are from a comic book. But I'm also fine with them not saying anything. If they do confess though it will heavily impact the story and I'm not sure if my writing skill up to snuff for such huge changes in both story and characters. On the other hand it would be kind of nice to challenge myself and improve my writing... Eh so many choices T-T
And for those who are worried about Rita we'll see what she's up to in the next chapter. After I watched a few movies based on true events and studying my Earth Science I realized that ocean currents are a thing that should be addressed when I have a character who regularly swan dives into the ocean! No joke currents are very dangerous and should not be taken lightly. That being said boy did it make writing the whole Gaimon island thing much more interesting! And if you're wondering what material I am using as a base for this One Piece story its a mix of both the anime and the manga as I have some of both. so whatever one feels more convenient at the time that'll be the one I use though it'll probably be mostly from the anime.
Okay ramble over! I hope you guys enjoyed and had a few laughs! Tell me what you thought, did you like the interaction between Ash and Nami? Do you think Ash and Rita should confess or not? let me know! :) Or not that's fine too! Anyways, you all keep being awesome and have a fantastic day!
