Muzzle
"Would you stop saying nope with each door you open?" Danni grumbled, rubbing her nose in irritation. It hadn't stopped itching since they'd reached this hall full of doors, and it was making her a bit snappish. Usopp scratched the back of his head sheepishly, before he recovered his usual pride and opened the next door with a laugh.
"Have they all fled from me?" he asked cheerfully, stepping into the new room.
Danni gave him a deadpan look and retorted flatly, "Doubtful." She then turned her attention to the room and promptly got slammed with a plethora of flora scents. She gagged silently, hunching over and covering her nose. She breathed heavily through her mouth and followed Usopp automatically as he made his way forward towards the source of the snoring.
She had the brief thought of what the hell the normally cowardly teen was doing going straight towards the enemy, before it was shattered to pieces as she got the sudden image of Usopp being slammed against the wall with a powerful blow to the face. She forced herself to ignore all the clamoring scents, just in time to see a rooster chirp and Usopp to scream, "Roosters don't crow like that!"
"Usopp—" Danni started, but had to stop herself as her chest clenched painfully. She could taste blood welling up in the back of her throat and she nearly whimpered. The room had blooming ferrywings planted somewhere.
The large man on the floor blinked his eyes open, "Oh? You've come, pirates." He stood lazily, picking up the key nonchalantly up from the ground as he did so, yawning, "Now then. Shall I wreak some havoc?"
Danni just barely managed to push her crewmate out of the way and take the powerful blow intended for the sniper on her side. There was an audible snap as she flew back and smashed into the wall, which shattered upon contact. Blood poured from her mouth as she coughed harshly, clutching her side tightly. She could feel her cracked rib, and was just thankful it hadn't punctured her lung.
The gunner forced herself to stand, brushing the back of her hand against her mouth, smearing the blood on her hand and on her face in the process. Usopp was scrambling to his feet even as he crab walked backwards and away from the now awake CP9 agent. "Ehh. I meant to hit the boy," the agent yawned, taking a swig of his gourd that from the smell of it was some good quality alcohol. Danni coughed harshly, blood splattering across her palm.
"Well, sucks for you," she growled, clearing her throat and spitting a glob of blood off to the side. She shifted her grip on her rifle, readying it like a bat rather than a gun.
The man laughed, rubbing his mouth as he grinned, "I'm sorry for attacking all of a sudden. That was painful, wasn't it?" Danni scowled at him, shrugging her shoulders and deigning to give no reply. "But don't worry..." His body began to morph, much like Lucci's had, and she took a startled step back as the man morphed into a humanoid wolf. "Despite my appearance, torment isn't how I do things."
Usopp let out a startled yell, falling back on his butt from where he had managed to stand. The force of Jyabura's transformation made the wind pick up, and thus Danni's nose was assaulted once again with ferrywing. She hunched over coughing brutally and even more blood splashed against her palms, slipping through her fingers. Whatever Jyabura was going to say, was ignored in favor of peering closer at the woman and taking a deep sniff. He gave her a narrowed eyed stare and stated, "You're sick. Fatally."
She managed to glare up at him and snap back with a snarl, "Your point?"
He gave her a measured stare before scoffing, "I don't want to fight someone already dying. They're too weak." Danni's eyes flashed and she straightened immediately, deeply insulted.
Her lip curled up dangerously and she quipped, "You want a muzzle, puppy?"
He was about to respond, lips pressed back in a furious snarl, when his attention was diverted from her and to something behind her, "Hey, what are you doing? You don't look that strong."
Behind her, Usopp was standing once more and readying his new slingshot as he shouted back, "Shut up! I'm up to it no matter what! I came all the way here to rescue Robin!" Dust and a suddenly ominous rumbling successfully distracted all three of them as they stared up at the ceiling. Usopp gaped and stuttered, "The ceiling's caving in!"
Key
Danni couldn't help but stare at the...giraffe and the wolf (who was laughing hysterically), blinking wildly. "You have got to be shitting me," she muttered under her breath, muffling her harsh coughing with her shoulder.
Zoro gave her a sharp look and snapped under his breath, "Oi, what's wrong? You haven't overworked your body." The swordsman knew her limits very well, and knew she hadn't overworked herself quite yet. It would take a little longer before that point was hit, and he knew she would push past it anyways.
She grimaced at him and answered shortly, "There's blooming ferrywing in this blasted room." Zoro snarled silently, but was startled when something suddenly clicked around his wrist. Danni jolted slightly when she felt something cold closing shut around her own wrist, and she looked down with wide eyes.
The two gaped down at their now handcuffed together hands, before whipping their heads around to look at Usopp who had let out a shocked yell and then, "Shit! Sorry, Zoro, Danni!"
As one the two shouted back furiously, "Hey, what the hell are you doing!?" Danni swore if the teen didn't have a good answer she was going to whoop his ass when she was out of these cuffs. Usopp sweat dropped and fidgeted nervously.
"They're—I figured those were seastone cuffs, like the ones they were talking about earlier. And I thought, well, since we're fighting against devil fruit users, I thought they'd be weakened by those if they wore them!" the teen called back, trying not to shrink at the furious glare Danni was shooting him (which looked a lot more demonic with blood smeared around her mouth).
Zoro's eyebrow twitched and he shouted, "And why the hell did you think we needed them on, huh!?"
Usopp shivered and shouted back, trying to ignore the withering glare as he pointed at Kaku, "C-cause the face of the giraffe was so funny...my hand just slipped!" Danni tensed at that as a sudden dark aura exploded outward.
"I've had just about enough!" Kaku snarled, before he started swinging himself around. Danni shared a look with Zoro and the two rushed at Usopp, tackling him to the ground. The gunner got a terrible sinking feeling in her gut when she felt something cold click shut around her other wrist.
Zoro sat up, one of his swords drawn and scowled, "I see. Reach, huh. Between the centrifugal force and the power of that humongous body, his attacks have become deeper and sharper."
Usopp sat up, looking around in confusion, and Danni was forced to follow both of their movements as her wrists were tugged with the motions and the sinking feeling grew to epic proportions. "Wha-what? Hey, nothing's broken!" Zoro glanced over at the teen and told him to look at the ceiling. "Huh? Why can I see the sky up there?" As it sunk into the sniper's head on why exactly he could see the sky he had a monumental freak out.
Danni felt like she wanted to cry as she stood with the boys, the clinking of the chains finally getting their attention. The two gaped down at the connected handcuffs attached to both of Danni's wrists and one of their own. Zoro immediately glared at Usopp and yelled, "What the hell do you think you're doing!?"
Usopp was crying as he shouted back, "It's not my fault! You rushed into me; that's how we got like this!"
Zoro's eyebrow twitched and he yelled right back, "Because you were just standing there, spacing out! Ugh, nevermind! Just get this shit off!" Danni kept her face blank as the two children cuffed to her fought around her like she wasn't even there. Of course, it was a bit nice that they weren't blaming it on her (granted it wasn't her fault anyways, but hey).
"I don't have the key!" Usopp snapped back.
Danni froze and she turned to look at the younger teen with a demonic face as she whispered, "What." Zoro's own exclamation of what died in his throat at the acidic tone the normally calm woman was using. Usopp whimpered piteously.
Swallowing heavily, the sniper managed to stammer out, "Basically, we're in the same position as Robin. One of the CP9 agents has the keys to our cuffs. We have to beat them to get it."
"Don't be stupid! How can we fight them like this?" Zoro growled raising his and Danni's connected wrists up for emphasis. Danni was getting rather annoyed with the bickering on both sides of the battle.
"Hey, guys! Tell us the numbers on your handcuffs!" Kaku shouted at them suddenly.
Usopp blinked at them and asked, "Numbers?" The two CP9 agents proceeded to explain the system of keys and handcuffs and Usopp immediately searched the cuffs for the numbers. "Two and three! Please open it!"
Both agents looked at the back of their keys. "Not mine," Jyabura sighed.
"Not mine, either," Kaku grumbled. "How disappointing."
In a completely flat voice, Danni said, "Usopp, I am going to murder you brutally when we get out of these cuffs." The sniper whimpered and Zoro gave the woman a wary look.
Blood
Zoro started when Danni's body shuddered and froze suddenly. He looked over at her and had to refrain from flinching back violently. Danni's eyes had gone completely lifeless and her body was completely slack, barely even standing. Usopp looked at her with wide eyes and stuttered, "Danni!? What's wrong?"
The trio had stopped running, and the CP9 agents were catching up, but everyone froze when the gunner's head snapped back and her mouth opened wide as a piercing, blood curdling scream cracked through the air. Her eyes suddenly cleared as her scream abruptly stopped and she coughed, blood spilling past her lips, "Ch-chopper..."
Zoro looked at her in confusion, "Chopper?" As if in answer to his name, a humongous monster smashed through the wall with a loud roar. The creature was wearing Chopper's hat and shorts, but everything else about it made it hard to see the cute doctor anywhere in it. It sniffed the air before its eyes zeroed in on the handcuffed trio and with another great roar it began chasing after them smashing things in its path with its hands.
"Hey! Is that really Chopper!? How come he doesn't recognize us!?" Zoro shouted, looking at Danni, who had tears and snot dripping down her face, which was smearing together with the blood already caked on it.
She moaned, struggling to keep up with the fast pace. "It is Chopper, but Chopper's lost," she stammered voice cracking as she coughed and sniffled. She continued to cry, barely keeping herself from sobbing at the darkness threatening to overtake her and swallow her whole. Just like Chopper. She let out another whimper at the thought and the emptiness surrounding her heart.
"But then what about our keys?" Zoro asked wincing at the lost look Danni shot him, as if she was asking how come he wasn't fixing this.
Usopp had tears streaming down his face, but it was more out of sheer terror than anything else. "Don't know. This is it. We'll die here—," the teen moaned.
Zoro's eyes flashed and he snarled, "No we're not!" He then glanced back at Chopper, who looked as if he were sweating and was wheezing heavily. "Besides, isn't...he the one who looks about to die?" The three stopped running as Monster Chopper had stopped chasing them, standing in place panting heavily. "His vitality seems to be decreasing drastically..."
Danni whimpered, threading her fingers with Zoro's as best as she could and gripping them tight. Zoro winced, looking down at her with worry, considering she was beginning to look sickly pale, and was trembling slightly. "Wh-what do you mean?" Usopp asked, also looking at Danni worriedly.
"Maybe he's using too much energy to stay in that form. If he stays like that, he might collapse at any time!" the swordsman theorized, looking up at the monstrous form warily.
Danni's ears perked slightly as Kaku said, "...What an interruption. What is that monster?" She turned her head to look at the two agents, her tears slowly coming to a stop.
"Of course he interrupts. He's probably one of those pirates," Jyabura scoffed, glaring at the monster. Danni slowly straightened, still keeping her eyes trained on the two zoan fruit users.
Kaku hummed, and said, "Buster Call is coming soon, too." Danni snarled, a surge of anger overcoming her as her mind connected the conclusion the two enemies were going to come to about Chopper. It wasn't about to happen on her watch. With the hand connected to Usopp she shoved it into the pocket of her overalls, and pulled out a bright yellow paper cartridge. The teen stared at her with wide eyes behind his mask, letting his arm go slack so she could move her hand with "relative" ease.
She ripped the cartridge open and poured it down the muzzle of one of her pistols she had Usopp grab with his free hand, before shoving the bullet down after it. The flash pan had already been primed and filled, and the gun only needed to be shot now. She turned to the still wide eyed teen and ordered, "Shoot this at them, and don't you dare miss."
The sniper straightened his back and nodded firmly, grasping the pistol with a practiced hand and aiming it at the two agents about to attack their nakama. He wasn't going to let that happen, even if he wasn't a part of the crew anymore! He pulled the trigger and the recoil came back harshly, but with the help of Danni, his shoulder wasn't wrenched out of its socket. The bullet was lost in the glowing stream of bright yellow that ripped up the floor in its path.
The two agents dodged to the side as the bullet landed in between them, but they couldn't avoid the sudden explosion the collision with the ground caused. They were thrown back even further, and an unfamiliar voice called out, "Get outta the way, guys!"
Zoro turned his head and yelled at Franky, who had his hands up and pointed at Chopper, "Franky! What are you doing!? He's our—"
Franky cut him off, "I know! Just shut up! I don't see any other way to take care of this. Devil Fruit users have one weakness. I'll push him down into the ocean! I'll adjust the power, so please bear with it!" Chopper let out another explosive roar. "Coup de Vent!" The force slammed into Chopper and sent him careening into the wall and through it and thus down into the ocean.
"Franky! You bastard! What the hell did you—" Usopp started yelling, but Nami's voice interrupted him.
"Don't worry; we had it all planned out from the beginning," the orange haired navigator said, coming up from behind them as their position was covered by the dust from the crash. Danni looked back at the girl, sniffing hard, but thankfully no longer crying. Nami didn't give any reaction to the state the older woman was in and merely held up two keys with a wide grin, "You guys need something?"
Anxiety
Danni couldn't shake the anxiety clawing at her stomach. She had no doubt that Luffy would win, but she couldn't shake the feeling that cost of winning would be rather high. She shoved the thoughts away, continuing to focus on running, trying to ignore the water rushing at them from behind. She wasn't able to give much more to thinking as they ran into Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp and the water swallowed them completely.
Danni tried to hold her breath as best as she could, but darkness was beginning to blur her vision as the water tossed her about violently. Just as she was about to lose all of her breath, she was suddenly being pulled by something that she thought was supposed to be a...mermaid? She stared, unable to do much else as she and her nakama were pulled along by Kokoro, who suddenly now had a fish tail.
Her vision began to darken again but just as she was about to black out completely, they broke the surface. She gasped, gulping in big breaths of fresh air as they all smashed into the deck of a ship. Unlike her fellow crewmates she wasn't as so in deathly shock over Kokoro's visage, so she managed to roll onto her knees and cough violently, blood splashing on the deck as she held herself up on trembling arms.
She panted harshly, struggling to climb on her feet, but her body wasn't responding to her will. She was startled when large hands helped her to her feet and she looked up and was greeted by the sight of Franky (that was his name, right?). "Thank you," she mumbled, voice hoarse and cracking slightly. She tried to let go and stand on her own, but her legs refused to cooperate, and this time it was Zoro who kept her from falling face first.
He gave her a level stare and said sternly, "Sit down and rest, Danni." She opened her mouth to protest, but thought better of it and simply nodded instead. He easily picked her up in his arms and carried her over to where the mast was, and set her down against it easily. She sighed wearily and closed her eyes to take a little power nap, keeping her ears open for anything that she needed. Zoro gave her an exasperated look and shake of his head.
Harsh
"This is bad," Danni muttered, smashing her rifle into another marine's head before kicking him straight in the groin. She was further away from her crew and thus couldn't really call out to them that it really was impossible for Luffy to move. It was a harsh reality, but it was the truth. She would know.
She winced as an explosion rocked from behind, destroying their getaway ship. The blast nearly swept her off her feet, but she managed to keep her balance and start making her way towards the rest of her crew. She made it there about the same time as Sanji and tried to stay calm even though they were now stuck on the prop and surrounded by marine warships.
Underneath everyone's screams for Luffy, Danni could hear a voice. Blinking, she cocked her head to the side, drifting over to the edge of the prop. "Who...?" She fell to her knees next to Usopp, looking down at the sea in confusion.
"Jump into the ocean!" Usopp shouted, voice rising above all of the noise and confusion. "Into the ocean!" Zoro looked over in confusion, calling out the sniper's name. Danni continued to stare down at the ocean, face screwed up into a look of concentration. "Robin, can you drop Luffy into the ocean?"
Robin nodded, "Leave it to me!"
The gunner's head shot up and she called out before Zoro could open his mouth to shout at Usopp, "Everyone into the ocean! We've got one more nakama!" Zoro looked at her and she stared back seriously, as Robin got Luffy into the ocean. Finally, the swordsman nodded and everyone began to leap into the ocean.
Danni couldn't stop the tears from spilling over as the Going Merry arrived beneath them. "—Let's go back, everyone! Back to the sea of adventure again! I've come to take you home!" Danni let out a jubilant laugh as she landed in the ocean next to the ship that had carried them across the Grand Line and flew through the sky. She quickly swam over, the tiredness of her body seeming to disappear at the reappearance of their beloved ship.
She pulled herself up the ship and hugged the railing, whispering, "Thank you, Merry."
Doubtless
"I'm...seeing a miracle, right now," Iceburg said solemnly. "A miracle from a ship that has reached its limit a long time ago." Luffy looked startled and Danni had no doubt that the shipwright's words were true. "I've been a shipwright for many years, yet I have never seen such an amazing pirate ship... It lived a very admirable life."
Danni bit her lip, her fingers digging into Merry's railing. Luffy closed his eyes, sighing deeply, "I understand." Nami covered her mouth, eyes tearing up. Soon, everyone was on one of the small ships from the Galley-La's ship, while Luffy stood on a dinghy boat in front of the Going Merry holding a torch in one hand. "Then, are you ready, guys?"
All of the Straw-Hat's gave affirmative answers, and Luffy stretched out the torch towards Merry. "Merry, the bottom of the sea is dark and lonely," Luffy started. "We'll see you off here." He swallowed, but stayed firm. "Maybe it's for the best that Usopp…isn't around... There's no way he can endure this..."
Zoro glanced over at Usopp and asked, "And what do you say to that?"
Danni didn't look over at them, but she did keep one ear on them, as she held onto the edge of Zoro's shirt to ground herself from the myriad of emotions felt by her crew. "He'll be alright," Usopp started solemnly. "A time of separation has come. When men part ways, tears should not be involved in it. He's fully prepared for this moment."
Merry was set ablaze and Luffy stared at it solemnly as he said, "Thank you for carrying us all this time, Merry." Danni bit her lip and let her tears flow freely as all of her memories of their ship flowed into her mind. All the times she had taken comfort in the crow's nest with Usopp telling her wild stories. Her time's spent in the kitchen with Sanji. Taking naps together with Zoro and Luffy against the mast. Braiding Nami and Robin's hair and getting her own hair braiding by them. Visits with Chopper. The drinking contests...the stories...the sheer joy of being together.
"I'm sorry." Danni started, her fingers tightening their grip on Zoro's shirt as she stared at Merry with wide eyes. Everyone was staring at the ship, some with teary eyes, others with solemn looks. "I wanted to carry you just a little bit further...I'm sorry. I wanted to go on more adventures with you..." Danni sobbed, the emotions becoming almost too overwhelming for her to bear. "But I..."
Luffy cut Merry off by shouting, tears thick in his voice, "We're the ones who have to apologize, Merry! I'm not good at navigating, and I crashed you into an iceberg! I even ripped the sails, sometimes! Zoro and Sanji are idiots, so they broke many things, too! Usopp always tried to fix you every time, but he's not good at that either! We're so sorry—"
"But I was...happy. Thank you for taking care of me until now. I was really happy."
Danni threw her head back and sobbed loudly, eyes screwed shut as tears and snot dripped down her face. She brought her hands up to her face to cover it, and couldn't even begin to stop crying. All of the emotions and memories.
Goodbye, Merry.
Family
"Eh, dad?" Luffy asked. "What do you mean dad? I have a dad?" Danni frowned as she moved towards the ridiculously large crowd surrounding a hole in the wall of the place they were currently staying in. What on earth was going on?
"Oh, what? He didn't introduce himself? I heard he saw you off in Loguetown," an unfamiliar voice answered her captain. Frown deepening, she elbowed a marine in her way, giving him a scathing glare when he yelped and protested at her.
"What's my dad like?" Luffy asked. Danni knew the other's had said things, but she couldn't really hear them. She shoved another marine out of the way, ignoring the urge to take her rifle off her back and just batter through them all.
"You father's name is Monkey D. Dragon, the Revolutionary," the unfamiliar voice responded. Danni barely managed to not get herself trampled as everyone within hearing distance freaked out. She finally managed to make it to the front, shouldering her rifle irritably.
She somehow managed to go unnoticed by everyone as they were freaking out and Luffy (clueless as ever) received an explanation of just who exactly his dad was. "Ack! Maybe I shouldn't have said that!" the unfamiliar voice said, and she finally got a look at the old man that was speaking. Oh. It was Garp the Fist. Luffy sure had an interesting family tree. "Then nevermind what I just said!"
"Geez, captain," Danni said, somehow easily heard over everyone's exclamation of disbelief. "You sure attract some odd company."
Luffy turned to her with a large smile, "Danni!" The gunner was carrying a bag in one hand, and had her rifle slung over her back as per usual, but didn't have any of her revolvers or pistol. They had been irreparably damaged by the water back on Enies Lobby, while her rifle, made of a rather rare material, hadn't gotten any water damage whatsoever. "Where've you been?"
She switched the unlit cigarette to the other side of her mouth and shrugged, "I needed more ammo and new guns." She then noticed she was being stared at rather intently by Garp and she quirked a calm eyebrow at the marine. "What?"
"You're the daughter of Benn Beckman, aren't you?" the marine asked, causing another large shocked reaction, her crew included (sans Luffy).
Her response only furthered the shock, "Yeah, so?"
Last
"Oh, the new bounty posters," Yasopp said idly, pulling them out and flicking through them lazily, before he hit a certain name. He stopped and stared. Straw-Hat Luffy. 300, 000, 000 Belli. The smiling image and words stared up at him as if mocking him. He hurriedly flipped through the rest of them and gaped when he reached another one with a rather familiar face on it.
Dark Breaker Danni. 99, 000, 000 Belli.
Clutching the two posters the sharp shooter dashed across the deck yelling, "Captain! Captain! Benn! You're gonna wanna take a look at these!" The rest of the crew watched as the dreadlocked man ran across the deck to their still irritated captain, who had looked up at the shout, as had Benn who was leaning back against the railing, smoking. The last time Yasopp had ran yelling across the deck, some poor unfortunate soul had paid the price.
"What is it, Yasopp?" Shanks asked, smothering most of his irritation at Whitebeard away to see what had one of his close friends shouting. He promptly got a face full of papers for his question and he sputtered as he swiped them from the sniper and gave him a miffed glare, which the man shrugged off easily. "Now, what's got you in such a—"
The redhead had to stop as he stared at the two bounty posters in his hands. He wasn't all to surprised to see Luffy, though he had to wonder what the hell Anchor did to get such a large bounty increase, it was the second one that caught him by surprise.
The picture was of a dark haired girl with lazy eyes that had dark bags under them and had an unlit cigarette in her mouth as she stared at the camera with a raised eyebrow. He blinked. Once. Then twice. Before he blurted out, "Benn, when did your daughter become a pirate?"
The smoker looked over with an incredulous look and asked, "What?"
Shanks shoved the poster at his first mate, saying, "Your daughter. She's a pirate. With a high first bounty, too." Benn simply stared down at the picture of the girl that was of a surety his little Danni, and couldn't stop the proud feeling bubbling up inside of him.
xxx
FOXGEISHA: So that's the end of the Water 7 arc! I didn't write the scene where Franky joins the crew, because nothing actually changes, hahaha. Although, I will say that Danni draws great amusement from Robin's actions, much to everyone's horror.
Thriller Bark is next, which means Brook! Yay! I should be posting the first snippets of the Alternate!Danni series sometime soon as a separate story, so keep a look out for that! But dang, I have so many ideas bouncing around for the Saboady Arc, and the time skip, that I'm having problems writing all that happens up to that point! Whoops. Anyways. I'm posting this chapter a bit early, but I'm getting a bit impatient, eheheheh.
Reviews are very much appreciated and anticipated, and I adore each one I receive! They give me the will to continue writing this story! C: