Ureshiitamago: Quick hello! MERRY CHRISTMAS! Okay. Done. Thankies, then bed..thankies, then bed. I will answer reviews that weren't guests tomorrow. Today…whatever…soooo tiiiired….
We would like to thank: Elaniza, DarkSonicDX, KingExcaliber, Sylanc, JayXGrmR, girlkitsune, whosy0urdady, JediGemini, 14fox, justme2134, AdriWinters117, Rei Slayer, and Futago no Akuma Shimai for following/favoriting.
A special thanks to blackfox, Suparpie3, Momochan77, CallmeEevee, Cupcake, Varus the Shadow Sage, ADDBaby, QuirkyKit, and 14fox for reviewing!
Onto replies to guests!
Blackfox: Thank you! And have a happy Christmas!
Sugarpie3: They will soon, and it'll be as awesome as I can get it!
Cupcake: I'm going to reply to both here. Thank you for loving this fanfic! And, yes, I'll use your character, but I'm not planning on putting more people on the crew than were in the original. While that might change over time, I might wait a while before introducing your OC. Even then, she'll be more like Gwaine, popping up every now and again.
I grinned slightly in relief and plopped the hat on his head before setting myself down on his shoulders, still invisible to everyone except for him and the crew.
"Hahaha!" Luffy laughed, oblivious to the rain falling. "I'm alive! Lucky me!"
Chapter 25: Have a Holly, Ghostly Christmas!
Laughing in relief, and some amount of disbelief, I clung to Luffy's neck and glanced up at the rooftop where I had left the mystery man. The shadow was there, and looked like it nodded before disappearing in a flash of lightning.
"Do you believe in a higher power?" I heard Sanji ask. Returning my gaze to my nakama, Zoro answered him.
"Don't talk nonsense, let's get outta here." He growled, glancing around suspiciously. "We're not in the clear yet."
"Do you, Aave-chan?" Sanji asked me, looking like he was actually curious this time instead of messing around with Zoro. I shrugged indifferently.
"I know that there are Shinigami, but I've never asked Gaston or Yuriko-san about any so called 'higher power'." I answered, leaning on Luffy's head. "And anyways, we've got company." I was proven right when the marines who had thus far remained at the sidelines started running forwards with a scream.
"SURROUND THE SQUARE AND CAPTURE THE PIRATES!" They shouted, their guns pointing forwards with the bayonets attached at the end. I squeaked and clung to Luffy's head as he, Zoro, and Sanji suddenly leapt into action, running full tilt at the only opening left leading out of the square. I laughed happily as Luffy spun around to run backwards for a bit, and we both made faces at the marines who were pursuing us.
"They are sooooo slow!" I crowed, making a literal pig face at them, causing a few marines to stop in their tracks suddenly and contemplate all the mistakes they had made in their lives.
"The wind's come up," Zoro noted, staring at the sky.
"That's because of Storm-ossan!" I said cheerily. Luffy flipped back around to face the others.
"Storm-ossan?" Sanji questioned, but Luffy interrupted him.
"Those guys sure are persistant!" He exclaimed, twisting a little to point behind us. "Wanna stop and fight them?"
"We don't have time!" Sanji replied, putting on a little extra burst of speed. "Nami told us to hurry back to the ship!" I noticed that he didn't add the ~swan! –heart- like he usually did, but chose not to mention it in the event that he might get all mushy and stuff. Yuck yuck, and triple yuck! I made a face as we ran on in silence for a few minutes before I made out a shadowy figure standing before us. So did Sanji, apparently, for he seemed to perk up a little.
"RORONOA ZORO!" It was a womanly yell. It was a woman. She was yelling at Zoro. All these observations took less than a second before I started to tease Zoro.
"Ooooooo, Zoro's in troooouuuuuble!" I crooned, giggling madly as he glared at me. The marines behind us seemed to be very happy about seeing this woman.
"SERGEANT TASHIGI!" They shouted happily. I suspected that a fair few of them had crushes on her, she did look like a beautiful woman. I plopped my chin on Luffy's head, glancing over at Zoro as Tashigi accused him of lying to her. Sanji was instantly yelling at Zoro with shark-teeth.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO THAT GIRL?" He screamed. I giggled, and tightened my grip on Luffy's neck without choking him in an attempt to stay on without too much struggle.
"Well, you never told me you were in the Navy!" Zoro retorted.
"I'm going to take Wado Ichimonji away from you!" Tashigi announced, drawing her sword.
"Let's see you!" Zoro grinned, leaping at the chance for a duel with another swordsman…er…woman. "Go on ahead!" He said to us as their swords clashed with a klang.
"Ok." Luffy said, grabbing Sanji's collar when it looked like the man was about to attack his green-haired Nakama for attacking a woman.
"HE'S ATTACKING A GIRL!" Our cook shouted, outraged.
"She seems like she's well able to defend herself," I commented, twisting around precariously in order to watch the fight. The two of them were a blur, though I could tell that Zoro was holding back some. I turned back around as Luffy turned the corner, my head high up enough that it went through a random sign that was in the way. I grumbled a little about that, but held on with renewed force.
"Hey!" Luffy exclaimed, peering through the rain that was now coming down in sheets. "Who's that guy?"
"He's got mus-k-ls." I noted, letting go of Luffy and flying through the air with them.
"Not again, and what are mus-k-ls?" Sanji asked me. I grinned at him, and pulled my hat further down my head. My long hair was threatening to defy-gravity-it-off.
"Muscles!" I announced as we drew closer to the mystery man.
"So it's you…Strawhat Luffy." The man said gruffly. He had grey hair and was smoking not one, but two cigars. Wow was he in for a short life. I tsked and shook my head in sadness. I studiously ignored the questioning look that Sanji sent me, not wanting to explain to someone who was equally fond of smoking as this person in front of us was.
"Who are you?" Luffy and I asked in synch. I savored that wonderful moment, but also paid attention to the conversation.
"The name's Smoker." The man bit out. "Captain Smoker of the Navy." He quickly shifted his stance, and literally shot his arms out at us. "AND I'M NOT LETTING YOU GET AWAY!" The smoke passed through me harmlessly, but I decided that was because I was still invisible to him. I suddenly got an evil thought, seeing the handle that was sticking up over his shoulder. What a good time to disarm him! Belatedly, I looked over at Luffy, who was captured by the smoke. I sweatdropped. Smoker was a Devil's Fruit user. All the more reason to disarm him.
Which is what I did, and replaced his stick thingy with a large pink stick thingy that looked and weighed the same as his stick thingy, which I was still holding. Meanwhile, Smoker had thrown Sanji against a wall, causing Luffy to attack Smoker, only to have his fist fly through Smoker's torso like it was made of smoke. Which…I guess it was…huh.
"You're the one worth 30 million Beris?" Smoker asked in a condescending tone after disappearing for a little bit. His hand clamped down on Luffy's head, and suddenly Luffy was face planting onto the ground with Smoker landing on his back. I grimaced. For a normal person, that would have most likely broken their spinal cord and a couple of ribs.
Deciding that Luffy would be fine when Smoker started to reach for the fake stick thingy, I flew over to Sanji to try and conscious-ify him. I thought for a moment before changing my voice to Nami's.
"Oooh Sanji, dear!" I purred, laughing when Sanji jumped up, nose bleeding a little.
"WIND BLAST!" I heard Storm-ossan shout, and that was when all slippers broke loose. Despite the fact that I didn't know which way was up in that spinning vortex of confusion, I cackled madly, enjoying every minute of it. Finally, the gust that was spinning us head over heels died down enough for us to touch surface. I spun in place for a moment or two before righting myself and shooting after Zoro, who was running at Luffy and Sanji a little ways ahead of us.
"LUFFY! RUN! WE'RE GONNA BE TRAPPED ON THE ISLAND! IT'S A HUMONGOUS STORM!"
"THIS CALLS FOR A SONG!" I shouted giddily as we caught up to Luffy and Sanji, who were unsteady in regaining their feet for a moment before catching the momentum.
"NO YOU WILL NOT!" Zoro screamed at me, causing me to wilt whilst speeding at an amazing pace.
"B-b-b-but-"
"NO!" was the final answer. I sniffed a little, but decided to sing once we got to the ship. The dock was only a minute or so away from where we had landed, and we could see the Merry straining her rope, Usopp holding onto the rope from the ship, one leg draped over the railing in order to hold it better.
"SHE'S STALLING!" I shouted over the rain. "LET'S HURRY!" Usopp echoed my sentiment from the ship.
"LUFFY!" He shouted. "HURRY! HURRY! THE ROPE WON'T HOLD MUCH LONGER!" Having no real reason to watch as everyone else climbed aboard, I just zoomed over to the ship myself as everyone else clambered on. I again cackled madly as the rope finally gave out, snapping against the strain. Since everyone was already on board, there was no real problem with this but the fact that we lost a good amount of rope.
It was invigorating, being out on the open sea during a storm. This was exactly what I had imagined pirating to be like when I was alive while running around the island with my friends. There was a lot of rushing about, tying and untying ropes so that we wouldn't capsize, and the sails wouldn't rip. There were a few close calls before Luffy pointed out a light.
"There's a light!" Luffy shouted, clinging to his special seat.
"The island's lighthouse?" Zoro suggested, the crew starting to congregate to the front.
"That's the guiding light!" Nami said with a grin, placing a hand on her hip. "Beyond that light is the entrance to the Grand Line." She turned to look at Luffy along with the rest of us. "So, what's it going to be?" She asked. Luffy grinned.
"The traditional barrel-breaking ceremony, of course!" He announced. The rest of us (bar Usopp, who was shaking in his boots…again…) grinned, and Sanji rolled an empty barrel over for us to use while the rest of us gathered around it.
"DO WE HAVE TO DO THIS IN THE MIDDLE OF A STORM!?" Usopp demanded. I fancied that I could see his nose actually shivering as well as the rest of him. It was an interesting sight.
"Okay, let's launch the ship into the great ocean!" Sanji said, ignoring Usopp's demand.
"ALL RIGHT!" Luffy shouted excitedly, pumping his fists in the air. I joined him in the fist pumping, whooping along until Nami gave me a joking death glare. I grinned sheepishly and bleated a little to show how sheepish I felt, earning an odd look from everyone but Luffy, who laughed instead.
"I'm going to find All Blue." Sanji started us off, placing his foot on the barrel. Luffy immediately followed suit, gritting his teeth determinedly.
"I'm gonna be king of the pirates!" He announced, a look of intense concentration on his face. Since I had two, but only wanted to say one, I hovered an inch above the middle of the barrel.
"I'm going to see the world I couldn't see!" In my head I added, and see this crew to the top, no matter what!
"I'm going to be the world's greatest swordsman!" Zoro said, placing his foot on the barrel a little heavier than Sanji, but lighter than Luffy's crash.
"I'm going to draw a map of the world!" Nami grinned, her foot making only the slightest noise when it touched the top of the barrel.
"I'M GOING TO BECOME A BRAVE WARRIOR OF THE SEAS!" Usopp yelled, shoving his foot down on the barrel, narrowly missing an ice bath by going through my foot. Almost in slow motion, I rose up a little along with their feet, before we crushed the barrel in a loud KRASH!
"GRAND LINE, HERE WE COME!" we shouted, laughing and feeling the best, like nothing could stop us now. We felt invincible in that little storm, our dreams seeming too big for the universe to kill us off (though I was already dead, so there was no problem there for me).
The storm was staying relatively steady, so I decided to sit in Luffy's lap while he clung to his special seat. He didn't seem to mind, so I decided to sing the song I had thought of on the way over.
Shiver Me Timbers
I'm leavin' my fam'ly
Leavin' all my friends
My body's at home
But my heart's in the wind
Where the clouds are like headlines
On a new front page sky
My tears are salt water
And the moon's full and high.
And I know Martin Eden's
Gonna be proud of me
And many before me
Who've been called by the sea
To be up in the crow's nest
Singin' my say
Shiver me timbers
'Cause I'm a-sailin' away.
And the fog's liftin'
And the sand's shiftin'
I'm driftin' on out
Ol' Captain Ahab
He aint got nothin' on me, now.
So swallow me, don't follow me
I'm trav'lin' alone
Blue water's my daughter
'n I'm gonna skip like a stone.
So please tell my missus
Gotta tell her not to cry
'Cause my goodbye is written
By the moon in the sky
Hey and nobody knows me
I can't fathom my stayin'
Shiver me timbers
'Cause I'm a-sailin' away.
And the fog's liftin'
And the sand's shiftin'
I'm driftin' on out
Ol' Captain Ahab
He aint got nothin' on me, now.
So swallow me, don't follow me
I'm trav'lin' alone
Blue water's my daughter
'n I'm gonna skip like a stone.
And I'm leavin' my fam'ly
Leavin' all my friends
My body's at home
But my heart's in the wind
Where the clouds are like headlines
Upon a new front page sky
And shiver me timbers
'Cause I'm a-sailin' away.
"OH NO, NAMI!" Luffy suddenly shouted, swinging so that the both of us were hanging upside down. "THE LIGHT'S GONE OUT!"
Here is where the actual fanfiction stops (for now, don't freak out at me) and the omake's begin. I think someone asked for Sanji's reaction to Aave being able to turn into beautiful women? And then there's a Christmas special.
Here's Sanji's reaction!
One day in the East Blue, as we were sailing away from Cocoyashi, Sanji brought something up.
"So, you said you were around 400 years old?" He asked me, leaning against the railing where I was brushing Queen Margareta's hair. Not stopping the strokes of my brush against her hair, I turned to look at him thoughtfully.
"I'm 422 years old exactly." I said ponderously, thinking back over the years. I was pretty sure about my age, but I could have been mistaken and missed a year or two. I shrugged that possibility off. Age doesn't really matter all that much when you're a non-sentient being. Judging by Sanji's gape, however, age mattered very much to sentient beings.
"You're gaping," I informed the blond, "and how would that look to your precious Nami-swan?" I did a pretty good impression of his heart eyes and body wiggle, even incorporating his voice for the full effect. The shocked look that most of the crew who were near enough to overhear gaped at me in horror.
"You just stole his voice!" Usopp squeaked. I blinked at him for a second.
"Of course," I grinned menacingly, cackling evilly and rubbing my hands together, Margareta's hair completely forgotten. "For I am URSULA! I STEAL PEOPLE'S VOICES IN RETURN FOR INFORMATION!" I jumped up from my sitting position and thrust my forefinger into the air, imagining waves crashing behind me.
"But I can still-" Sanji was cut off by Nami frantically making a slicing motion across her neck. The man instantly backpedaled and grasped his throat and mimed trying to talk. I continued to laugh in my evil voice before Zoro stopped me.
"You can change your voice," he said, "but I seem to recall you changing your body into a sword so that I could fight better on Usopp's island." I stopped my cackling and nodded, returning my voice to normal.
"Yep. I can usually change my ghost body pretty well if it's into another humanoid form, but inanimate object are harder." I said in my best teachery voice. I even imagined glasses onto my face so that I could push them up my nose, causing them to flash and hide my eyes dramatically. Only problem with that was I couldn't see them, so I tossed the glasses away, and they disappeared after falling for a millisecond.
"Can you change into what you'd look like in your teen years?" Nami asked curiously, raising an eyebrow. I grinned at her.
"You just want me to change so that you'll feel like there's more than one girl on the crew~!" I sang, laughing as she face-palmed. I nodded though, and concentrated. My hair reverse grew, shrinking into my scalp until it was about just below my ears. It was still wavy, just easier to control. I could feel myself growing, and my body develop curves, but not too much curves, about half the size of Nami, if I had to guess. I kept my original clothes, white t-shirt, white bicycle shorts, knee pads, and knee high striped socks, but the t-shirt was a little snug, as were the bicycle shorts. I spread my hands out in a here-we-are gesture, and grinned at Nami cheekily.
"Satisfied?" I asked. My voice was a little deeper and slightly velvety when I talked, and it threw me off for a second before I got over it. Nami smiled and nodded, turning back to her paper. I looked over at the boys. Luffy just shrugged.
"I don't really care," he said, picking his nose with his pinky. I grinned. As expected. Usopp was an interesting shade of pink.
"osebs EJFBWOE ubgww eforgosbafgg…." …I couldn't even understand what he was saying. Zoro was laughing at Usopp, but gave me a thumbs up as he thumped Usopp on the head with his sheathed sword. Hmm…that was the only sword he had left…that would be a problem in the future, I knew. Sanji…
When I turned to Sanji, his cigarette fell out of his mouth, and he seemed to choke for a moment. I grimaced slightly, backing up a little for the reaction that I knew was coming. …yup. Sanji's eyes became hearts, and his body became all wiggly.
"OH, AAVE-CHAN! –heart- IF ONLY YOU HAD HELD ON FOR JUST A FEW MORE YEARS~! –heart- YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL! A SUNFLOWER WHO BLOOMS IN THE WINTER! A-" He was cut off by me throwing him off the ship, back in my child's body.
Aaaand here's the Christmas special!
"You're a mean one, mister Grinch," I sang as I hovered over Zoro, who was doing pushups. He was somewhere around 1094, but I lost count after that.
"Stop it," Zoro growled in between counting.
"You really are a heeeeeeeel!" I continued, flipping onto my stomach and floating up and down to be face to face with him. I grinned evilly when he glared at me, and plowed on. "You're as cuddly as a cactus, you're as charming as an eel, mister Griiiiiinch! You're a bad banana with a…greasy black peeeeeeeeeeel!" Zoro groaned in defeat when he lost count and had to start back at one. I cackled merrily and flew off to my next victim.
"You're a monster, Mr. Grinch," I serenaded Nami, who was trying to read a book. We had stopped for the day in order to have a small rest, so everyone was relaxing. Being the pranker I was, I remembered that I hadn't pranked anyone in quite a long while, and that just wouldn't do.
"Your heart's an empty hoooooole," Nami growled slightly and dropped the book onto her lap, stuffing her fingers into her ears and glaring at me, her eye twitching. That only made my already joker-esque smile wider, and I continued on, enjoying the reaction I was getting out of her. "Your brain is full of spiders, you have garlic in your soul, Mr. Griiiiiiiiiiinch!"
"LALALALALALALALALALALALAAAAAA!" Nami shouted over my singing. I patiently waited, my smile becoming not very human as I waited. Once she finished, and seemed to think I was done, I started again.
"I wouldn't touch you with a…thirty nine and a half foot pooooooooole!" Nami screamed and threw her book at me. Though it would have just flown straight through me, I dodged it with a mad cackle and zoomed off to see Usopp.
"You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch," I started watching in delight as he froze in creating a tabasco-star. When he turned to me, the movements were almost wooden, and he had the most delightfully frightened look on his face. Unperturbed, and trying not to giggle like a crazy person (which I most definitely was), I went on.
"You have termites iiiin your smiiiiiiiiiiile!" Usopp looked horrified, clapping his hand over his mouth and letting out a muffled scream. This only served to make my fun more funner than it had been, and I jumped up and down in the air as I more-crowed-than-sang the next part. "You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile, Mr. Griiiiiiiiinch!" Usopp was crying now, and it wasn't because of the tabasco sauce that he had spilled on his pants. I let out a mad sounding giggle, making him cower more, making me giggle again, and him cower more, and me…you get the idea. I decided to be nice for once and finish it up before he died.
"Given the choice between the two of you, I'd take the…..sea sick crocodiiiiiiiiiiiile!" Usopp collapsed. My work there was done. I sweatdropped as I flew to the kitchen where I was sure Sanji would be at this time of day. Usopp was the only one to actually faint. Was my singing really that bad? I thought about that for a moment. Well, seeing as I was tone-deaf…probably! My grin flew back onto my face and I once again cackled evilly, adjusting the santa hat on top of my head.
"You're a rotter, Mr. Grinch," I belted out as soon as I entered the kitchen. There was a yelp as Sanji whipped around, eyes wide as he took in my appearance. He had gone white, and I was afraid for a moment that he was going to pass out just as Usopp had. He didn't.
"You're the kiiiiiing of siiiiinful sots!" The empty pan that was in his hand clattered to the floor as he gaped at me. No small wonder. I was completely decked out in red and green, as well as wearing jingle bells anywhere I could fit them, resulting in a tumultuous clamor whenever I moved even the slightest bit. "Your heart's a dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots, Mr. Griiiiiiiiinch!" Sanji looked like he had forgotton to breath. Did I mention the fabulous beard that was adorning my face? It was an almost neon white, and it brushed the ground when I was floating about face height with Zoro. To put it simple, it was looooooong.
"You're a three decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich…with arseniiiic saaaaaauuuuuuce!" Having some pity for Sanji, I flew over to his non-breathing, wide eyed form and gave a couple whacks at his back, leaving him to gasp his breath back. Finally, I left to go find Luffy.
"You nauseate me, Mr. Grinch," I started as I flew up behind him. Luffy turned around on his special seat and looked at me for a moment before smiling and patiently waving for me to go ahead. I blinked, but grinned.
"With a nauseous suuuper 'naus'!" Seeing that my audience was still there, and, in fact, not at all perturbed by my dress or horrible singing, I shrugged and went on, finishing that verse in one go. "You're a crooked dirty jockey and you drive a crooked hoss, Mr. Griiiiiiiiiinch! Your soul is an appaling dump heap with the most disgraceful assortment of rubbish imaginable. Mangled up in…tangled up knoooooooots!" I was going to fly off when Luffy stopped me.
"Isn't there one more verse?" He asked. I blinked.
"Well, yeah." I answered. "But I think that I've traumatized everyone enough with just that." I admitted. "I don't think Usopp's going to be functional anytime soon."
"Sing it to me then." Luffy ordered, a content look on his face. I grinned, sitting criss cross on the air in front of him. This was what my brother would have done all those years ago, and it made my heart warm thinking about that.
"You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch. You're a naaaaasty waaaasty skunk! Your heart is full of unwashed socks, your soul is full of gunk, Mr. Griiiiiinch! The three words that best describe you are as follows, and I quote…'stink, stank, stunk'!"