21. Dragon
A/N: Thanks to those who fav/followed the story, and all the anonymous readers! ^^
Almost sixty reviews! Almost SIXTY!
-FourthWallBreaker: Thanks! I didn't want Koga to be like that with the crew for too long. He only worries about them, but doesn't cope with worry very well xD. Hehe, I still have to sort out a few things for Koga when they venture in Thriller Bark, but yeah, it'll be fun! We totally should! Maybe in another fic we could! See ya, and same for you!
-Blue VanLocke: It's one of my favorites too! Yeah he does know about their existence, but he only met one giant before.
-Ikaros Light: Yeah, Luffy, Koga and Apis. What a trio. I tried to make their meeting interesting, but... I dunno.
-dog: Yeah, Apis is SO DAMN CUTE! In the near future, I promise he'll tell them about his brother. Just stay tuned!
-Son of Whitebeard: Absolutely!
-Grandy M: Thanks, and happy birthday!
Disclaimer: I own nothing of One Piece and Soul Eater but my OC Koga and other Ocs that will appear in the future.
For once, luck was on their side as the Straw Hat crew and their 'guest' Apis sailed towards Warship Island. Everything was calm and peaceful, even too peaceful. Or at least that was what Sankaoken was bitching about all day; luckily, only Koga was able to see and hear the demon.
The fact that no one seemed to perceive the demon had been a little detail he hadn't known until a certain moment, after midday supper, when suddenly Sankaoken appeared in the middle of the table shrieking loudly. Of course his sudden appearance was startling... but only for Koga, the only one that jumped almost a foot in his chair and receiving more than one confused, startled and slightly worried look at him. Being Sankaoken, he had snickered at the chronicler's red face and a furious glance directed at his plate to avoid the others'. Once he got away from prying eyes, of course, he had berated the demon, who protested that he had been bored waiting for him to pick the katana.
He hadn't thought about it before, but he then remembered that Sankaoken had been saving too much power for his liking from before fighting against Arlong. If the demon had been secretly gathering power since then... Maybe next time he fought with the katana would be dangerous for him.
Upon arriving at the island, of course, the inhabitants were feeling pretty wary about them; but Apis stepped out for them and changed their minds effectively before everything went overboard. Once everyone calmed down, an old man with gray hair and beard stepped out of the crowd; the girl's face brightened in happiness.
"Grandpa Bokuden!" She exclaimed, running into his outstretched arms.
"I'm glad you're safe, precious!" He said to her happily before glancing at the pirates. "Thank you for saving my granddaughter. I'm in your debt."
Luffy smiled goofily as only answer, with everyone around imitating him.
"Would you like to stay at my house and have something to eat?"
"Grandpa's pork buns are the best on the whole island!" Apis added cheerily.
"I don't think our captain needs any more convincing..." Koga grinned as he watched the raven-haired boy jump up and down in excitement, already unable to wait to grub.
And thus the pirate crew was unexpectedly invited to eat something. Once at the old man's house, the delicious smell floating in the air was making Luffy drool more than usual, which led to Sanji to observe Bokuden's recipe in order to reproduce it at the Merry next time. Not that anyone of the crew was complaining; in fact, they were eager to try them.
Bokuden put the buns in a heated basket and closed the lid with a satisfied smile.
"Just a little longer now." The old man commented.
"Oh boy can't wait!" Luffy was by far the most excited of them all.
"How long will we have to wait?" Sanji asked, the chef inside him taking the lead.
"Well, if I had to guess, I'd say no more than four or five hours."
...
...
... Huh?
"WHAT?!" Usopp and Luffy yelled in unison with shocked expressions.
Hahahahahaha, your FACES! Koga heard Sankaoken laughing loudly in his head, making him flinch. Please repeat it again!
'Oh shut it!' The chronicler thought, shaking his head forcefully.
Seemingly ignoring their shell-shocked expressions, Bokuden gestured to them to get inside the house and wait.
"They'll be ready before you know it." He added, smiling softly.
Luffy's groan was barely audible as he walked inside, the others following suit. Once they all got comfortable, Nami explained how they met Apis and the fact that the Marines were after her.
"Bokuden, do you know why they are after Apis?" She asked, straight to the point.
"Hmmm..." The old man looked at his granddaughter. "Do you know why, Apis?"
"No sir." She shook her head.
"Wait a minute, earlier you said you knew but didn't tell us!" The navigator quickly caught up on her lie, an eyebrow raised in disapproval.
"Oh, uh, I lied!"
Koga's distinctive eyes glared at her, and using his intuition, discovered that she was lying. She did know why they were after only hoped that, now that the girl knew they were trustworthy, she would stop lying to them.
"Youre kidding me!" Usopp exclaimed, bringing the blond out of his thoughts.
"I'm sorry, but there's nothing significant about this island." Bokuden explained, shrugging helplessly. "Nothing except an old legend."
An old legend...? Now the old man had the chronicler's full attention. His head perked up in interest as Sankaoken, lying at his side, hummed in silent laughter.
"Some say that our ancestors are descendants of people from Lost Island which sank into the sea years ago. Lost Island is the home of the Sennenryu, and their bones are called Dragonite."
That sounded somewhat familiar, Koga realized as he zoned off the old man's suddenly soporific voice. Didn't it have anything related to immortality or something like that...? Not that the blond believed in eternal life, but if something the legend told was true –regarding of course the existence of that mystic Lost Island and the Dragonite– then it was evident why a Marine would try to capture not only Apis, but any Warship Island resident.
But something kept nagging at the back of his head, a feeling he had been having since arriving for the first time to the island. It wasn't a threatening presence, but old. Very, very old. It was somewhat uneasy.
A discreet creak coming from the door made him snap out of his thoughts just in time to notice Apis slipping out of the house. Raising an eyebrow, the chronicler glanced around and noticed the rest of the crew dozing off while hearing Bokuden's long story; no one seemed to notice the girl sneaking out of the house. Deciding to do something instead of sitting there bored to death, Koga picked up the katana and followed the girl.
Whatever was plaguing Apis' mind, she didn't seem to notice him at all. She went first to the kitchen, grabbing some pork buns and putting them inside a large bag. As the girl stood up with the bag and a huge grin on her face, she froze as she noticed a sleepy Luffy dragging his feet towards the kitchen, not noticing the chronicler hiding behind the door. The captain walked past Koga and collapsed mid-step, fast asleep.
'Well I suppose old Bokuden's story is pretty boring.' The blond young man smirked.
He could almost feel Apis deflating in relief upon being undiscovered –or so she thought, anyways–, and she walked past the slightly snoring Luffy, dragging the sack of food behind her. Outside the house, she crawled through some bushes and began climbing a hidden trail up the mountain, Koga always following her a few steps behind and making sure she didn't see him when she looked back to check.
It's not the first time she goes this way. Sankaoken commented, voice filled with boredom.
'Well duh.' He rolled his eyes at the demon's remark. 'She's hiding something.'
It wasn't long before the chronicler realized the old presence, or whatever it was, was getting near them. He had to refrain himself from stopping the girl, seeing as she was obviously familiar with that pressure; she showed no fear or hesitation even as she swung across a small cliff, risking breaking her neck. He could only admire her braveness in doing so.
At last, they both reached the top of the mountain, revealing a huge cave, dark and seemingly depthless.
"Ryu-ji?" Apis called, the bag full of food being carried behind her as she entered the cave.
The overwhelming presence felt like a physical weight upon Koga, but he tried to ignore it as he squinted his eyes to see whatever it was inside the cave.
...
What. The. HELL.
'Is that what I think it is?'
He could only see part of it, but it was enough to make him bug his eyes almost out of their sockets in astonishment. It was green, and feathery, and ungodly HUGE! Just seeing the head made him felt like an ant.
'A dragon.'
Like a flash, Lost Island's legend went through his mind, the loosened ends finally connected. Now he understood why the Marines had gone after a little girl– no, why they went after Apis specifically. It wasn't only because of her Devil Fruit powers, though normally that was reason enough for a corrupted Marine to go after her.
It was because of her friendship with a dragon. And that meant...
Apis' sudden yell snapped him out of his thoughts. She was glaring right at him, and he realized that, in his daze, he had come out of his hideout to see the dragon better. Said one was glaring at him with a warning in his huge old-looking eyes, the already empty bag on the ground at the side of its head.
'Well, there goes discretion down the sink.'
"You followed me here?" The little girl asked, once recovered from the shock of seeing the chronicler of the pirate crew there.
He nodded, wordlessly, still numbstruck upon seeing a myth coming true upon his eyes. He was a chronicler, and as such, he was more than used to myths, but not everyday you could see a living legend in flesh and bones!
"Oh, you've seen him too." Apis looked at a slightly calmed Ryu. "Well, this is Ryu-ji. And he's... well, he's a dragon. But it's okay!" She quickly added flailing her arms. "He may be big and a bit senile, but he's really nice."
"I know." Koga's surprisingly calm voice finally left his throat. He was still surprised, but nothing inside him tingled in warning, so he knew that, despite his huge size, the dragon was a pacific one. He didn't know if every dragon was like him, though, and for a moment curiosity struck him. "Nice to meet you, Ryu. I'm Koga."
"..." The dragon observed him with its depthless dark eyes, both of them ignoring the girl's surprised expression at seeing the chronicler greet so formally at a dragon.
"He... He said 'Nice to meet you too.'" She translated what Ryu said in her head. "He said you're a good soul, despite being so dark. What does he mean?"
Koga flinched, but either way he smirked afterwards and walked to the great figure lying on the ground, taking in its hugeness and the calm and wise aura emanating from it. He then frowned when, upon making eye-contact with the dragon, he perceived a glitter of loneliness hidden in those big dark eyes, tired and sad.
"Why are you looking so lonely?" The blond asked, with an uncharacteristic soft voice.
Ryu blinked slowly. Apis looked at the ground when Koga turned to her.
"Ryu-ji just wants to go home, to Lost Island." She simply answered.
'But it sank, a long time ago.' The chronicler remembered from when he heard the legend. He kept that thought to himself, though, not wishing to crush the dragon's hopes so easily.
"He's certain that Lost Island will reappear any day now. He just... doesn't remember where it is."
Uh, wasn't there some kind of telepathy?
"I've been looking through all kinds of old texts and ancient records, but I can't find anything. The legend itself has no clues." The girl put a small hand on Ryu's snout. "So, I decided to ask the Marines for help, but all they cared about was finding Dragonite. That's why they took me away."
"... Now I understand." Koga sighed while lifting his scarf up to his nose. "What a pain in the ass. Now we'll have to deal with some crazy power-thirsty Marines. Just great."
"Please don't tell the others!" Apis suddenly exclaimed, joining her hands.
"Huh?"
"It's bad enough that you know my secret, but I don't want the others to get involved in all this too. Please promise me that you'll keep this a secret!"
Koga's intuition began tingling then, as two familiar presences approached the entrance of the cave from behind the pleading girl. He couldn't help but to smirk as he pointed out: "I think I don't need to make any promises."
Just then Apis turned around and spread her arms, back towards Ryu, as if her small figure could hide its massive size. Already knowing how his dumb captain would react to the dragon's presence, Koga put his hands over his ears and was surrounded by blissful silence as Luffy freaked out over Ryu and Nami froze at the cave's entrance– whether by fear or surprise, the chronicler didn't know.
He could only admire Ryu's patience as Luffy's cuddling began to be a bit... persistent, to say the least. And when he finally calmed down and looked at Ryu's big eye, Koga's arms lowered to his sides.
"Where on earth did you come from?" Luffy asked. A full second of silence passed as the two of them glared at each other, unmoving. "Sure, I think I understand... You want to go home, right?"
Apis gasped in surprise. "How did you do that? How did you read Ryu-ji's mind like I did?"
"I think he didn't read Ryu's mind." Koga answered, and the girl looked up at him, even more confused than before. "He's only using his empathy to communicate with the dragon. In a way, it's like me using my intuition, but I can't use it the way Luffy does. Or the way you do." He smiled down at her.
"... It was because of my powers that I met Ryu-ji."
Then Apis, with a bit of the blond's help, summarized what they both knew about the Sennenryu and the Dragonite.
"The elixir of immortality?" Nami asked, wide-eyed. "Then I can definitely understand. Though it's pretty dangerous for a girl, you know."
"I know." Apis nodded, looking at the ground in sadness. "That's why I've kept it a secret. But I have to get Ryu-ji back home, no matter what. It's the only way he'll get his strength back."
The girl has balls, I have to admit it.
'Oh, shut it already.'
"Alright then!" Luffy then exclaimed. "We'll take him home!"
Koga smirked, fully agreeing with him, but Nami had another opinion.
"Idiot, we can't take him home! Lost Island sank!"
"But this is a Sennenryu! If he exists, then Lost Island exists too!"
"Wow, you used your brain to find it out." The chronicler looked at him, sincerely impressed by his display.
Then the navigator sighed, seeing that she was unable to change her idiot captain's mind. "Well, once the captain makes up his mind, there's not stopping him. I'm in."
"Really?" Apis' big brown eyes glared at the three pirates in wonder and hope. "You'll take him?"
"Of course!" Luffy nodded, a huge grin on his face.
"You'll need strong people to move this mole." The blond smirked to clarify he was only joking. "And besides, I'm pretty interested in writing about this. Not everyday can someone declare he had seen a living legend."
"Thank you!"
A few hours later, when the rest of the crew presented Ryu to them –and getting the expected reactions– Luffy and Nami both explained its relationship with Apis, her Devil Fruit powers and also the Marines' involvement in all that mess. Zoro and Sanji agreed fully –the former because of the perspective of a good fight and the latter to protect Apis– whereas Usopp took a bit more of convincing. But nevertheless, in the end everything was settled and a plan began forging in their heads.
After getting Usopp's head out of Ryu's mouth –apparently, the dragon had mistaken his head for food– Nami explained that, even having a good plan, the Marines wouldn't make things easy. According to Bokuden, they had been set out a blockade and were searching them all, even Apis. It was going to be difficult getting out of the island, let alone with a giant dragon that could barely move at all.
"But how are we supposed to get a giant dragon onto the Going Merry?" Usopp asked with a huge question mark over his head.
"We don't need to get it onto the ship." Koga intervened. "We can just carry it in a cart."
"Exactly!" Nami agreed, nodding at the chronicler. "We'll build a cart, one big enough for Ryu-ji. So everyone, let's get to work!"
"AYE!"
Making the cart went rather quickly, considering how skillful Usopp was in creating a blueprint for the cart. Zoro and Koga were put to cut logs and Sanji and Luffy to carry and put them according to Nami's and Usopp's directions. Everyone worked swiftly and without a rest, until an hour later they finished building the cart.
Apis' eyes shone in admiration.
"It's so sturdy!" She exclaimed. "Not even Ryu-ji could break it!"
Usopp smiled with pride evident on his features.
"This is only the easiest part." Koga interrupted whatever the long-nosed teen was going to say, wiping the sweat off his forehead with his arm. "Now, how are we gonna get this cart with Ryu on it to the Merry without the Marines noticing us?"
"I suggest attacking them." Zoro raised a hand, but Nami bonked his head.
"That won't work with a giant dragon with us you idiot!" She screeched, before clearing her throat and looking at the rest of the crew. "Stealth's gonna be important here, so one of us will have to get the harbor, sneak aboard the Merry and sail it to the rear of the island."
"Well, since my good friend Kaya gave us the ship, I should be the one to go." Usopp, puffing out his chest, stepped forward. "Buuuut..." He suddenly pointed at Koga with a jamming finger. "Koga's going with me!"
The chronicler deadpanned at him. "What?"
"Well, that's fine by me."
"What the hell guys...?" The young man groaned in defeat.
"Alright, we leave by nightfall!"
"No, now! We're running out of time! Bring the ship to the edge of that cape, the one that looks like your nose."
Luffy bursted in laughter and the others smirked, while Usopp sweatdropped at the comparison.
"Alright... But how are you gonna–?"
"Leave that to me. In the meantime, you two get moving!"
"You know, for a navigator you sure give a lot of orders!" Usopp complained while beginning to run to the harbor.
"Don't screw it up while we're gone." Koga nodded at the rest of the crew as he followed the sharpshooter.
"We're not like you, you shitty eye-freak!" They barely heard Sanji's response.
The chronicler quickly surpassed the long-nosed teen in running, risking their necks but more worried about getting to the harbor before the Marines –and without being noticed by them too.
In the end they reached it safely and without any incidents or witnesses, but their luck disappeared when they noticed the Merry in the harbor, guarded by four Marines. Actually, it was Koga who noticed them first, so he had to grab Usopp by the back of his overall and drag him backwards, both of them hiding behind some barrels.
"This is why I wanted to go at nightfall!" Usopp moaned as he peeked out from behind the barrel.
Koga put a hand over the long-nosed teen's mouth, trying to hear what the Marines were murmuring with his enhanced hearing. He could listen some key words, like 'search the girl' and the name of someone called the commodore 'Nelson Royale'.
"Okay, here's the plan." He murmured, dropping his hand off Usopp's mouth and turning towards him. "I'll take those four down."
"Okay!" The long-nosed teen nodded enthusiastically, relieved that he wasn't going to fight. But the chronicler hadn't finished speaking just yet.
"You cover my back in case there are more Marines in the area."
And ignoring Usopp's wailings, he drew out Sankaoken out of his hilt and dashed towards the four unsuspecting Marines, muttering under his breath the technique to increase his speed.
"Kaizen Kaizen no Speed!"
The already familiar sensation running through his veins and the adrenaline launched him forwards at an almost blinding speed, the world around him moving like jelly. Sankaoken slashed the back of the knees of a Marine to drop him to the ground and keep him there, but suddenly he felt a surge of pain on his entire body as the katana moved on its own to cut the kneeling Marine's head off in a flourish. Cursing inwardly and staring wide-eyed at what he had done, the young man tried to control his katana by imposing his own willpower; fortunately, it was strong enough to prevent the demon from killing the other three, dropping them unconscious instead.
The whole action lasted barely a few seconds, and when time began flowing as it should, Usopp blinked and then peered over the barrel to see the four bodies on the ground, one dead and the other three out-cold. Koga was in the middle, but was groaning softly as he held his right wrist with his free hand, suffering evident in his features. Everything happened so quickly the teen barely didn't have time to 'cover his back', as his friend told him to do.
"Koga!" He exclaimed, running out to him and supporting him as he staggered. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah..." The bicolor-eyed chronicler groaned in pain before trying to smile at the worried younger boy. "I'll be." He breathed heavily, swallowing his pain before sheathing the katana and stepping away from the long-nosed teen. "Okay, let's meet with the others."
They raised the anchor and released the sails, the Merry quickly leaving harbor thanks to a sudden gust of wind that they could catch in time. But they were a bit too fast, and Koga's intuition tingled as they noticed a large Marine ship heading towards them from the blockade, ready to cut their path!
"No, we're gonna crash!" Usopp yelled in fright.
"I'll get the tiller!" Koga exclaimed, rushing towards it and using his Devil Fruit powers to prevent it from breaking because of his forceful pull, the other boy running to help him.
They both got knocked to the ground when they collided with the Marine ship on the side, but sprung back up and recovering their grip on the tiller, pulling as hard as their arms could.
The Merry's side scraped against the side of the Marine ship, before another gust of wind let them take off around the island. Behind them, loud alarms blasted as the Marine ships hurried to follow them, with little success; against those giant ships, their own little caravel was way faster than theirs, and the wind were on their side.
Usopp looked out from the railing as the blockade began vanishing from their sights and sighed in relief, before laughing triumphantly. "We did it! We made it through alive!"
The blond young man also let out a sigh, but his eyebrows were still furrowed in worry.
What had been that? For a moment, he had lost control over Sankaoken, disobeying his orders. He hadn't intended on killing that Marine soldier. What could this control loss mean...?
"There's a Marine ship behind us!"
Usopp's sudden yell brought him back to the present as he reminded himself that they weren't safe yet.
"Usopp, man the rudder!"
"Uh, yeah!"
Leaving the sharpshooter with the rudder, he jumped over the railing and rushed towards the sails, catching a rope and pulled it left as hard as he could. He felt a sudden yank in response as the sails suddenly inflated even more, their small ship gaining speed quickly; however, even being as enormous as a whale, the Marine ship was catching up on them.
His bicolored gaze then was directed to the front, and widened upon seeing a familiar large cape to the front. They were getting near the rendezvous point! Just a bit more!
"That's the cape!" He exclaimed, trying to raise his hoarse voice loud enough for Usopp to hear.
The teen's head whipped around and got a hopeful expression on his face as he found the cape but then frowned in confusion.
"But how the hell are they going to bring that giant cart down here with a dragon on it?" He wondered almost to himself.
'That's what I'm wondering too.' Koga admitted, frowning.
Rumble rumble rumble
'Huh?'
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE
'I... I don't like how that sounds...'
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!
"YAHOOOO!"
Usopp's jaw dropped to the ground and Koga's eyes widened until they seemed dinner plates when they saw the gigantic cart they built for Ryu zooming down towards the cape at an enormous speed; the dragon was on the cart, and five other people were on top of its body, holding for dear life with the rubbery idiot laughing. The cart flew over the Marine ship behind the Merry, snapping its mast in half in the process before skidding to a halt in the middle of the ocean.
The sharpshooter sighed in relief upon seeing the cart survived that fall.
"... Better get over there." Koga commented, also recovered from the surprise.
"Yeah."
A/N: And that's it! i'm not going to say anything else, just feed the hungry monster, and see you next time!