Rirry-Chan: So this didn't come out as soon as I anticipated. But I'm actually kind of happy with it. It was just hard to write because marching band was beginning to kill a part of my very soul. Thank god that's finally over. Which means I have more time for this! Yay! In the meantime, I have to share something with you guys. I watched my first anime, Naruto, when I was five years old. The first fanfiction I ever read was fro Naruto. The first fanfiction I ever wrote was for Naruto. Both fanfiction related things were done on a website known as . Guys, not only is Naruto now finished, as of October 1st, Quizilla has been disbanded. I feel old, like a small part of my childhood was just destroyed. I understand many people dislike Naruto due to it's length (although come on, look at how long One Piece is), or just because they think it's crappy, but I owe a lot to the series, and it's end is important to me (I haven't read the last of it yet, but I will pretty soon). I'm feeling pretty nostalgic right now, because I would be an entirely different person if it weren't for Naruto. And Quizilla was really a horrible site, it genuinely sucked, especially in comparison to this site, but I'm gonna miss it.
Anyways, enough of that. Marching season is officially over, and I now recall what it feels like to actually get sleep. It's wonderful. I'm also actually eating now, because there was a point in the marching season where I just started skipping meals because I didn't have the energy or care enough to actually get food. Eating is important. In fact, I recommend it. Also, it's snowing right now. I live in Texas people, I don't usually get to see this rare phenomena (although it's not sticking to the ground, so it probably won't be there in the morning). I love snow. Anyways, I'm really feeling this story right now, and my Thanksgiving break is only a week away, so hopefully I'll really be able to crank out some awesome chapters these next few weeks. I actually sat down and watched One Piece Film Z to get into a One Piece mood so that I'd write this, and now I'm in a huge One Piece mood (that movie was amazing by the way). Anyways, sorry for the long author's note, I just find it highly therapeutic. Remember, constructive criticism is always welcome, and I love hearing y'all's advice. I hope you guys like the chapter, please read&review!
"Are we really sure that the Captain ate a devil fruit?" Royce asked as he examined Tobi's fighting stance. Royce and Satomi had taken over the deck of the boat for training Tobi. There wasn't a lot of space, so they couldn't really spar him or anything, but they could do demonstrations and critique him under their watchful eyes. Well, Royce's watchful eyes anyway. Satomi seemed content to read and make snarky remarks on this particular day, having apparently woken up on the wrong side of the bed.
"Positive." Satomi stated, not looking up from her book.
"Are you sure though? Maybe we need to toss you into the ocean to check," Royce suggested with a teasing grin, glancing to his captain to see if he could get a rise out of her again. He had been agitating her all morning, and at some point Royce figured she'd snap and shove him over board. He figured it would be worth it though. Before Satomi could look up and attempt to wound her navigator's pride, Tobi spoke up.
"If we needed some sort of physical proof, she could just go touch her staff. Isn't it supposed to be made out of some fancy material that mimics the effects of sea water after all?" Tobi interjected with a raised brow. Royce scowled a little.
"You're ruining my fun. You must be spending too much time with Captain," the navigator stated. He could feel Satomi rolling her eyes at him.
"Good use of your logic skills, Tobi. I knew that you were starting to grow on me," Satomi said, turning the page in her book. Tobi shrugged.
"Well, I mean, there's no sense in wasting your time with it. I'd rather spend more time training. Although I do wanna know what power you have," Tobi reasoned. Satomi sighed at that.
"I know. The anticipation is killing me, but I just don't know how to activate it. I'll figure it out eventually though, I'm sure. Sooner rather than later though, I hope. I wanna be able to develop some moves with it before we get ourselves into too much trouble. I'm assuming I'll have to manage without it when we reach Citrus and do whatever there, but before we move on I wanna get it figured out," Satomi said, placing her bookmark (which appeared to be an old, folded up piece of paper that Royce was pretty sure had a note in it, and he was planning on stealing it to check when he got the chance), and setting the book next to her.
"Well, we should actually be there very soon," Royce said, turning to look ahead in the direction they were sailing, "Because I can see the island."
"What? Really?!" Satomi asked, popping up excitedly from her seat on the floor. "And don't drop your stance, Tobi."
Tobi groaned as he returned to his stance, having dropped it when he realized the island was visible, if just barely, on the horizon.
"Look at that!" Satomi said, turning to Royce as she pointed to the island, "You really can navigate!"
"Hey! You weren't doubting my abilities, were you? Because like I've told you, I happen to be an amazing navigator," Royce defended, an upset expression on his face. Satomi raised an eyebrow in response, her expression thoroughly unamused. Royce decided that it was a very fitting expression for his high maintenance captain.
"Well, you've never been the most modest of people. There was always the possibility it was just your ego talking," Satomi stated a she placed her hand on her hips and held a defiant stance, daring him to argue with her.
"Well I wasn't lying about this," Royce grumbled, crossing his arms in his own defiant manner. Satomi rolled her eyes and turned back to Tobi.
"Bending ready stance," she ordered. Tobi groaned before taking the stance, standing on one bent leg, while the other leg was bent at the knee and positioned so that his thigh was parallel with the ground. The leg was turned slightly, with his foot bent slightly, and Satomi found a sadistic joy in watching him fight to keep his balance while maintaining a perfect technique.
"Man, you really are in a bad mood today, what's up with that?" Royce asked. Satomi was normally pretty nice in terms of teaching (well, depending on what was being taught, any ways), so he would have thought she would have been nicer about something like the bending ready stances. However she was letting Tobi hold the stance, which wasn't really the most comfortable stance. "You're acting like your grouchy old self, instead of the weirdly new and reinvented you that have been the past few weeks."
"Didn't sleep well," was all that she grumbled out in response as she moved back over to her book. "I kept waking up."
"What? But I thought you were a heavy sleeper. I would remember, with how many times you stayed at my house. There could have been an actual tornado and you could still stay asleep," Royce said. Satomi shrugged.
"Well, I changed. I'm a light sleeper nowadays. It's probably a good thing, keeps me more alert in case of emergency," Satomi shrugged, remember how she had kept tossing and turning the night before, unable to get comfortable, and then how even when she managed to get to sleep, she would have another bad dream.
"Is it that you're sleeping with Aki? I bet she's uncomfortable to sleep with," Tobi suggested. Satomi shook her head.
"No, Aki's pretty easy to sleep with, actually," as childish as it was, Satomi found Aki to be a comfort. Satomi couldn't sleep alone. It was something she had never grown out of, and she didn't expect that she ever would. She didn't need a person to sleep with her, as her dogs were just fine as sleeping companions (one of their many purposes), and so Aki was actually almost more convenient in that aspect. Not that Satomi was about to tell either Royce or Tobi something like that. It was just the dreams that were bothering her. "It was just a weird night I guess. I'll sleep well tonight, I'm sure."
Satomi wouldn't call her dreams nightmares, but they certainly upset her. She had been having dreams like them from time to time within the past year. She didn't particularly care to talk about them with her crewmates though, so she didn't bring them up. Instead, she turned and picked up her book before moving over to the door to enter the cabin.
Just before she opened it to head inside, she turned back around once more. "I'm just gonna tell Doc and Aki that we're almost there and to be ready to hit the island. Since there are a few different towns, we'll wanna figure out which one it is with the pirates and see about finding Etoile from there."
"I'm assuming the pirates are hanging around Clementine, the island's largest city. I did a little reading up on the island, and I'm guessing that Clementine would be the ideal location for them to have taken over. Based on that, I have it set so that we should be able to sneak into the port of a smaller town on the island, Pomelo, which is nearby Clementine for easy access but far enough so that we can hopefully get a grasp on the situation and plan from there. Is that alright with you?" Royce clarified, impressing Satomi with his thought out decision. She smiled at him.
"Perfect. I guess you really do know what you're doing," Satomi said, turning and opening the door. Before the door shut behind her, she managed to say on last thing, "And keep that leg up, Tobi!"
"Ugh!" Tobi groaned out, lifting his leg back up. "She didn't even look at me and she knew my leg was low."
"Well, that's the captain for you. You can put your leg down, by the way," Royce said, giving Tobi a pitying look. He knew it wasn't the most comfortable position. "You're doing pretty good, by the way. Captain and I were talking about the progress you've made these past few days, and she's actually impressed."
"Really? Because when she threw her shoe at me last night, I'm pretty sure she was ready to give up," Tobi didn't sound so sure. Satomi was quick to criticize everything he'd been doing, from the way he breathed while performing the combos she had shown him, to the way he shifted his weight from one leg to the other. It was beginning to really get to him, to be honest.
"Well, she's just making sure you don't let it all go to your head. You're picking up on everything she's been teaching you pretty fast, and you've even been learning some stuff from some of her books. You're doing good trust me. Now I just gotta teach you how to be a good wingman, so you and I can pick up some hot chicks at Citrus," Royce grinned, giving Tobi two thumbs up. Tobi looked skeptical.
"For some reason, I have a feeling you aren't really as great with women as you think you are," Tobi stated, taking in how dorky Royce looked with his thumbs up. Royce mocked offense.
"Hey now, don't be like that. I'm great with the ladies," Royce argued. Tobi shrugged and Royce spoke again, "But that's hardly the concern right now. We should be getting ready to dock and see if we're going to have to actually fight while we're here at this island."
"Something tells me that no matter what the situation is right now, we're gonna end up in some kind of trouble," Tobi stated, eyeing the fast approaching Citrus Island warily.
"Oh, you're such a good boy Baby Jake," Satomi cooed as she kneeled before her largest dog, scratching at his ears and showering the top of his head in kisses.
"And she's planning on becoming an infamous pirate," Tobi sighed. At the moment, Satomi looked like anything but a terrifying and infamous pirate. Jack shrugged at the words of his best friend.
"Come on, Captain," the doctor said, "We just finished docking and we should probably hit the island now."
"Alright," Satomi said as she stood up, giving Jake one last pat on the head before she turned to walk towards the door where Jack and Tobi stood. Harvey was sleeping on Satomi's bed at the moment, with Shannon on the Jack's bed (the dog's obsession with Jack was beginning to reach some sketchy levels). "Let's go then."
Stepping outside, Jack, Tobi, and Satomi joined Aki and Royce on the deck of the small boat. Satomi looked around, taking in the docks around them and looking at the town that the port was a part of. She grinned in anticipation, a little excited to be hitting dry land.
"Alright, so today's partners are gonna be a little different," Satomi said, catching the attention of her crewmates. She pulled out some money so that both of the groups would be able to have a little fun (and hopefully get actual, healthy food instead of the unhealthy crap she'd been cooking them) and handed it to Jack (the most responsible of the males). "Today, you three guys will be in one group, and Aki and I will partner up. The dogs should be able to take care of the boat for a few hours. Both groups will be tasked with checking out Pomelo and seeing if anyone knows anything about these supposed pirates that are here according to that Market guy. We wanna find out where they are, why they're here, how we might be able to take them out, and see if we can find Etoile. Royce is in the guy's group, so he can identify Etoile if you guys cross her, and I'm sure I'll recognize her if I see her or hear about her. Jack has the money, you guys can get some food or buy stuff if you want, and we can meet back here in, say, three hours."
"Sounds like a plan," Jack said, taking the money and slipping it into his pockets.
"Especially since I'm not with Aki," Tobi grumbled to himself, eliciting a smirk and a roll of her eyes from Satomi.
"I think it sounds good," Royce nodded. "We'll all need to remember to be careful though. There's no guarantee that the pirates won't be in town, and we don't want to cause any trouble before we even really know what's going on."
"Alright then, awesome. Let's split up then. See y'all later," Satomi and Aki split up and ditched the boys, leaving the port and going into town in a different direction.
"This town seems kind of cool," Aki said with a smile, looking around at the shops on either side of the roads. Satomi nodded thoughtfully, examining the products displayed inside of the windows at each shop.
Initially, everything about the town seemed normal. Satomi was saving any questions she might need to ask the islanders for later, after she had been given the proper amount of time to analyze the town. But as she and Aki walked around and checked thing out, Satomi found she was growing increasingly uncomfortable in the town.
About an hour into walking around and going into small stores to look at clothes or little knickknacks, Satomi noticed that there was a distinct lack of women around town. There were plenty of smaller children, although they all seemed to walk around very carefully, displaying more alertness of their surroundings then should be expected of children. It was just a certain lack of grown women. It was weird.
Not only that, but occasionally Satomi got some odd looks from some of the people, and she had a feeling it wasn't just because of her hair. At least, not just because of her hair. At one point Satomi and Aki had entered a simple looking grocery store to check out what sort of supplies they could grab before they left, and Satomi was able to overhear to men grumbling about her from an isle over.
"She matches the description from the newspapers. Y'know, for those pirates that took out that Marine Captain a few weeks back?" One man spoke in a semi-quiet voice to the other.
"Great, just what we need. More pirates. And here in Pomelo no less. They shoulda gone to Clementine so maybe Bolt could handle them and we wouldn't have any more trouble than we already got," the other man muttered in an annoyed response. Satomi raised an eyebrow at that as she examined an odd fruit in the produce section, keeping Aki in the corner of her eye so she didn't lose track of the rambunctious green-haired girl.
"Well, that silver chick looks kinda pretty, I bet Bolt's men will deal with her real fast," the first man spoke again. Satomi had a feeling they didn't think there was a chance in hell that she and her crew was gonna do much damage against this Bolt fellow if they were to clash with each other. That didn't mean she wouldn't try if she were given the opportunity though.
"Come along Aki," Satomi said, dragging the much shorter girl out of the store behind her, "let's get moving."
"But there was some tasty looking watermelon back there," the green-haired girl whined. Satomi laughed a little at the girl's response.
"Kihihi, don't worry kid. We'll pick some up before we leave this island," Satomi countered, "We wanna focus right now on seeing as much of this town before we meet back up with the guys."
Satomi released the girl and they continued to walk side by side. Satomi found herself struggling not to lose track of Aki, who constantly got distracted by the displays in the shops and kept trying to sneak off. At one point Satomi realized that she had actually lost track of the green-haired girl and found herself face-palming.
"Just my luck," she muttered in annoyance as she turned to try and retrace her footsteps and see if she could find her young companion. She walked down the street, on the edges close to the walls of the shops as she looked for the familiar head of green hair when suddenly and unexpectedly, someone grabbed a tight hold of her arm and pulled her into a side alley.
Satomi instinctively twisted her arm so that she switched the hold on the man, using her grip of his wrist to pull him into her free right fist. Immediately she saw red as blood began to poor from his nose and she smirked, lifting her leg up into a high section kick aimed right for his face. The kick would have been flawless, had someone not come from behind her and placed a moist cloth over her face, pulling and then holding her hands close to her side.
"Does this smell like chloroform?" a voice asked in her ear as she attempted to hold her breath. She would have rolled her eyes at how lame that question was if she hadn't been focused on not inhaling and trying to get out of his grip. She moved her foot to stomp her heel onto his toes, only to find he was wearing some pretty sturdy, possibly steel-toed shoes. She tried to elbow him in the gut, but she couldn't get enough force or motion to really hurt him. Finally, she tried ramming the back of her head into his face, but he just moved his head to the side, laughing sadistically at her attempts to escape his grasp.
Satomi tried not to panic because that would just make her want to breathe even more, and finally she could hold her breath no longer. As her body forced her to breathe, the sickly sweet scent of the drug filled her nostrils. Her limbs began to grow numb, and she noticed her vision blurring and darkening around the edges. She could hear the man with the bleeding nose moaning in pain, but he was growing more and more quiet by the second. Finally, Satomi's body gave in and she lost her hold on consciousness.
Meanwhile, the guys were having a pretty nice day. Well, Tobi and Jack were enjoying themselves. Royce was struggling to find any hot chicks in the general vicinity, and was getting pretty bothered by it.
"Shouldn't you be more concerned about the safety of your sister?" Jack asked, giving Royce an odd look. Really, what kind of brother was Royce?
"Well, I mean, Sid said she escaped. She's either already left the island or she's waiting for me here. She's a big girl, I'm sure she's fine," Royce said, looking very confident for a moment before suddenly falling to his knees and pounding his fist onto the ground. There were tears streaming down his face, and people began to give the group weird looks. "But what if she's not okay?! What will I do? It'll be all my fault; my mother will be so disappointed! Satomi was right; I'm a bad big brother!"
Jack and Tobi exchanged looks, both sweatdropping at their nakama's antics. They glanced back at him. Jack spoke up, aware of the stares they were receiving. "Royce, get up and quit making a scene. I'm sure she's fine."
Tobi and Jack forced Royce into a standing positioned. Royce looked hopefully at Jack. "You really think she's okay?"
"Uh, su-sure," Jack answered with wide eyes as he looked to Tobi for help. Tobi just shook his head, taking a step back. "How about we just go grab some food?"
"Okay," Royce said, suddenly chipper again. Royce took the lead, leaving Tobi and Jack to follow, looking confused.
"What just happened?" Jack asked, confused.
"I have no idea. I've never seen a grown man switch moods that fast. I'm almost scared for my life," Tobi responded. The two followed after Royce with wide eyes, half-expecting another bout of tears. Royce led the group to a small, pleasant looking diner, which they entered. They were seated quickly at a small table with four chairs. The place was fairly empty, so service was quick and they got to order quickly.
"Thank you, I'll have your food right out for you," the waitress said as she finished writing down Tobi's order and left. Their food was out within minutes, and they were finally able to eat actual food (not that there was anything wrong with Satomi's cooking, but she could really only make breakfast foods and desserts, which wasn't really the best meal plan ever). The boys dug into their burgers quickly.
"Oh my god this is amazing," Tobi said through a mouthful of his hamburger. Royce nodded, actually taking the time to chew and swallow his food before speaking up.
"Yeah, this tastes just like m-" Royce froze for a minute, his wide eyes suddenly snapping down to the burger in his hands. Tobi and Jack eyed him warily as he removed the top bun from his burger to check what was on it.
"Is your order wrong or something?" Jack asked as Royce saw that his pickles and mayonnaise had been arranged into a smiley face. Certainly the image was a little smudged, but he could definitely see a smiley face. He flagged down the waitress.
"Yes, what can I do for you?" she asked politely, "Is your food not to your liking? Our cook can whip up something else quick if you'd like."
"No. It's absolutely perfect. In fact, I would love it if you would send your chef out so that I can tell her myself just how amazing it is," Royce said, a grin on his face. Jack and Tobi shared a look, suddenly having some idea as to what was going on.
"Oh, well I can just tell her you liked it," the waitress said, but Royce shook his head.
"No, I absolutely have to speak with her," he declared. The waitress nodded and left, saying she'd send their cook out right away.
"Guys, this burger is made exactly the same way that my sister would make it," Royce said as he leaned forward excitedly. Jack grinned.
"Sweet, maybe we can get off this island without a hitch then," he said, watching the door the waitress had gone into to wait and see if Royce's sister would come out. After a few minutes of waiting, a young woman that looked to be about Satomi's age walked out. She was cute, with short brown hair that stopped just before her chin, and deep blue eyes. Her skin was fair and blemish free and she looked to be an average height. She was wearing a simple looking maroon tunic with a white floral design and skinny jeans. She was wearing black flats and to finish it all off, she had a maroon headband in her hair to match her tunic.
"Hm. She's cute. Is she your sister? Because if so, you guys both have the same nose," Tobi said. Royce hit him upside the head from across the table.
"You stay away from my sister!" he ordered with a dark expression. Tobi flinched away slightly.
"R-Royce?" the girl, Etoile asked in confusion, rushing forward and throwing her arms around Royce's neck, obviously pleased to see him. Royce returned the hug for a moment before finally pulling away and then motioned for her to join them. She took her spot next to Royce, glancing to Jack and Tobi suspiciously. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I came to get you. Why do you sound so surprised?" Royce responded back. Etoile shrugged.
"Well, I just kind of assumed you wouldn't be able to pay Sid back and that they got fed up with you and killed you. I have to say, it's a huge relief to see that you aren't dead," there was a huge grin on her face as she looked at her brother, taking in how very much alive he looked. Royce looked offended.
"I can't believe you didn't have any faith in me," Royce accused. Etoile's head sort of tilted forward and both eyebrows rose into a skeptical expression that reminded both Jack and Tobi of their own captain.
"So you did manage to earn that much money and buy my freedom?" she asked in clear disbelief. Royce glanced away awkwardly.
"Well… no." he said.
"Then how did you get away? You didn't just decide to give up and leave me for dead, did you?" she sounded accusing, glancing across the table to Tobi and Jack, clearly curious about them but more concerned with that idea that her brother may have abandoned her at the moment.
"Of course not! I'm right here, aren't I? In fact, you'll never guess what happened to get me," Royce said excitedly. Etoile stared at him, waiting for him to tell her. "Go on, guess."
"I have absolutely no idea, but I'm guessing it has to do with them," she pointed across the table to Tobi and Jack. "I'm Etoile-Aurore, by the way. You guys and call me Etoile. And y'all are…?"
"I'm Rackham Jack, and this is Tobi. It's nice to meet you," Jack said, introducing Tobi, who nodded at the mention of his name and offered a polite smile.
"Well, I bumped into someone you know," Royce hinted with a huge grin. He really wanted her to guess.
"Bumped into? Dude, you tried to get in her pants," Tobi gave him a reproachful look.
"Sounds like my brother," Etoile said as a look of disgust crossed her face.
"Not really my best moment, considering how she is…" Royce said, remembering her threats. He shivered a little.
"Alright, just tell me already," Etoile said, already knowing she was gonna like the answer. Royce grinned.
"I ran into Satomi and then joined her pirate crew. She beat up Sid and now we're here to make sure you're safe and take you somewhere else," Royce spoke incredibly fast, but Etoile heard every word he said. At least, she was pretty sure she heard him, but she didn't know she believed him.
"Satomi? A pirate? Really? You shouldn't lie Roy, it's not polite," Etoile lightly scolded with a small smile and shake of her head.
"Oh no," Tobi spoke up in his friend's defense, "He's being completely honest. The three of us are pirates, and our captain is a silver-haired woman named Satomi."
Etoile glanced between her brother and Tobi for a minute, and then to Jack. Jack nodded in agreement, and suddenly Etoile let out a huge gasp of excitement.
"Oh my god, where is she?! I need to speak with her right now! She is in so much trouble for leaving, but holy cat's pajama's I missed her so much! Where is she?" Etoile rushed her words looking incredibly excited. Royce grinned.
"Well, she's walking around town with another crewmate of ours and we'll be meeting up with her pretty soon actually," Royce stated. Jack and Tobi nodded in agreement.
"Wait, pirates though? I don't think I'm being given enough time to process this information. I mean, piracy is illegal and mom would so ground you if she was here, but Satomi is here and that's fantastic and a cause for celebration. But I never expected her to be a pirate, y'know? I was always expecting she'd show up her dad and take over from him so now I'm feeling very conflicted. Do I celebrate or get angry first?" the turmoil was evident in the way Etoile's eyebrows were scrunched up in thought and her lips were formed into a pout.
"Celebrate. Definitely celebrate," Jack said with a knowing nod. "We can answer all of your questions later. Or Cap'n can. I bet you two have a lot of catching up to do."
"Oh, we definitely do," Etoile nodded. "I have so much to tell Tomi about. And I bet she has a lot of stuff to share with me. I'm so excited to see her. "
"Um, Etoile don't you need to be getting back to work?" their waitress came back to ask. Etoile looked around the room and shrugged.
"Well there's absolutely no one else here and Jim can honestly handle the kitchen himself. So… I'm gonna stay with my brother and his friends for now," Etoile shrugged. The waitress didn't really seem to care.
"Alright, awesome," Tobi said as they watched the waitress walk off. "She seems pretty laid back."
"Well, since Bolt started causing trouble over in Clementine, business is pretty slow. People don't really go out to eat, so it's not really like we have to care about pretending we're busy when we're not," Etoile said with a shrug.
"Bolt? Who's th-" before Jack could finish his question, another voice interrupted him, catching everyone's attention.
"So I have some bad news," everyone turned to see Aki, whose smile actually looked a little forced. Immediately the guys knew something was wrong, because Aki was alone. "I think I lost the captain."
Dead silence.
"Remember that comment I made earlier about us actually being able to leave the island without any problems?" Jack asked. "I was wrong."