Hello, all you Voice readers!
Sorry for the wait. This chapter took me a while to write.
Koe: I noticed we have sixty reviews now.
FM13: Oh, right! Thanks to Molly Grace 16, Chocolatluver4ever, Grey-Skye-eyes, animagirl, ShadowFang152, Shiningheart of ThunderClan, MsWildLuck, Kirera, 4701rose, FEARFLUFFY, VIVI, and fire fist not ace for reviewing! These reviews really make my day!
Luffy: Yay! You guys rock!
Koe: Luffy, you're yelling in my ear.
Zoro: What else is new?
Sanji: Don't talk to Koe-chan like that!
Koe: He didn't say anything wrong.
Nami: You people are crazy.
Usopp: No kidding. Reminds me of how those cannibals I fought at age five acted. I was sure surprised when they-
Koe: Okay, Usopp, we get it. You're an amazing warrior of the sea.
Usopp: Thank you, Koe.
Koe: No problem.
Luffy: I'll say the disclaimer then. Frosty doesn't own One Piece, or any of the characters! Only her OCs.
FM13: Enjoy!
Chapter 29
I didn't come to under very pleasant circumstances. Go figure. The first thing I noticed was my splitting headache. "Oh, boy..." I muttered. "I overdid it, big time..." That's the problem with my devil fruit. If I use too much energy, it really hurts.
I hauled myself off the concrete floor, and rubbed my head. Then, something hit me. Wait, not something... someone. I was nearly knocked off my feet. I did, however, fall down with Sanji of all people on top of me. "Sanji!" I snapped, smacking him. "Control yourself, you per-" I stopped.
Sanji was covered in blood. He coughed and gasped. "Damn it..." he muttered. "That guy's power is in a class of it's own! So that's the power of a shark!"
A shark?
I rubbed my eyes and took my first good look around since before I passed out. The place was in ruins. Hachi and the ray fishman were out cold on the ground. Next to me was Somnus, still unconscious as well. Arlong was standing over Zoro, laughing. Zoro wasn't moving.
Fear flooded through me and turned my blood to ice. I dashed forward and stood in front of Zoro, arms outstretched. "Hey, Arlong!" I snarled. "Back off!"
Arlong grinned, showing all his dagger like teeth. "Are you trying to order me around, puny human?" he growled.
Behind me, Zoro groaned. "Koe... Don't..."
I turned around and looked at Zoro and Sanji, who were hurt and almost unconscious. I glared at Arlong. "I'm not going to let you hurt my friends any more, Arlong." I growled.
Sanji looked up. For a second, I thought he was going to say something deep like, 'Kick his ass', or maybe 'be careful'. Instead, he did his wet noodle act, which looks a whole lot creepier when he's not standing up, and swooned. "Koe-chwaaan!"
I focussed on not strangling one of the people I was sticking my neck out for. "Shut up, Sanji!" I snapped.
Then Arlong really did laugh. "You? What do you think you can do against me?" He scooped up a handful of water. "You might have a devil fruit power, human brat," he said. "But that won't do you any good against me." He flicked his wrist.
The water shot towards me like a bullet.
All my senses went on high alert. I deflected the water with my palms just in time. "OUCH!" I pulled my hands back. They were cut and bleeding. "How the hell?" I muttered.
Arlong snorted. "You think that a human like you could ever master water like a fishman?! HA! I could defeat you in one blow!"
I smirked. "You've already been proven wrong in that respect, then."
Arlong went from blue to purple. I guess a blue fishman wouldn't be able to turn red.
I guess I made a bit of a mistake, pissing him off like that.
Arlong grabbed me by the neck before I could react. His grip was stronger than Don Krieg's. He lifted me off the ground with no trouble.
Zoro tried to dart forward, but he winced.
I put my hand on Arlong's huge wrist, trying to find a pressure point. Unfortunately, fishmen don't have the same pressure points in their wrists as humans do. Either that or Arlong's muscles were so tough that simple pressure points wouldn't affect him. Arlong tightened his grip on my neck. He bent down and picked up another handful of water. He placed his hand on my side, and grinned.
Pain exploded in my side. The world narrowed. My ears rang. There was a sickening crunch, my mouth filled with liquid, and I coughed up blood.
Arlong's laughter echoed through my mind. "See?!" he laughed. "Even a devil fruit user is helpless in comparison to the mighty fishmen!"
I frowned. I wondered if I could talk with Arlong's webbed hand around my throat. I managed a wry smile. "Don't be so delusional." I managed. "You can't prove your strength by attacking someone who's injured from a fight, even if said person has a devil fruit power."
Arlong's expression changed from condescension to fury. He looked like he wanted to crush my skull. Instead, he tossed me towards the water. "Then let the water be your demise!" he growled.
There was nothing I could do. I was in too much pain to move. I felt someone jump forward and catch me.
"Are you alright, Koe-chan?"
I frowned. "Saved by you, Sanji..." I grumbled. "You can go ahead and let me drown now..."
Sanji put me down next to the wall.
"I'll handle Arlong..." Sanji muttered in my ear.
I opened an eye, staring at Arlong. Suddenly, everything seemed to go black except Arlong, Zoro, Sanji and I. Multi Coloured flames surrounded us, becoming auras.
"Oh no..." I groaned. "Not now... Not now..." I hated this, what could you call it, ability? It was terrifying seeing how much stronger your opponent was.
Arlong's teal aura was burning so bright it almost burned my eyes. Maybe it was because I was so badly injured. Even so, it wasn't as bad as the first time it happened. Arlong's aura was tarnished and dim compared to Hawk-Eye Mihawk's, and I was at pretty much full health at the time. Don't think about that. I chided myself. You're only scaring yourself. Everyone survived that scrape. Think about the situation at hand.
"Arlong!" someone shouted.
I turned, wincing in pain. "Nami!" I gasped.
Nami was standing at the gateway, next to Johnny and Yosaku. She had a bandage on her shoulder, her staff in her hand, and Luffy's hat on her head. "I'm here to kill you." she said.
Arlong paused, then he burst out laughing. "You're here to kill me?!" he guffawed. "How many times have you tried to kill me? Poisons, sneak attacks, assassins! What's the result? I'm still here, ain't I? And now you've hired these pathetic pirates to protect you! That's pretty sad Nami!"
I tried to get up, swallowing my fear. Damn this stupid sight of aura's... "Shut up..." I growled. "How dare you talk to her like that...?"
Arlong frowned, stepped forward, and kicked me. I flew through the air, oblivious to everything except the pain in my chest. I opened an eye. Arlong had disappeared. Then, someone grabbed me by the neck and tossed me back the other way. I hadn't even noticed Arlong move.
"Stop, Arlong!" Nami screamed.
I coughed as I hit the concrete floor. My ears rang. Why did I have to be so weak?! Why couldn't I even protect my friends?
"I'll give you a choice, Nami." Arlong said.
I coughed as Arlong stomped on my back.
"Either you can return to my crew and draw sea charts for me..." He flipped me over with his foot and stepped on my chest like I was some kind of human soccer ball.
"Or stay with them." Arlong's weight shifted. I figured he had spread his arms, but I couldn't tell.
"If you stay with them, I kill everyone here, except you. If you return to us, I will spare the people of Coco village." He took his foot off me.
I coughed and took a deep breath. He moved onto Sanji, and stepped on him. "I will kill these three, of course. They sealed their fates." He paused, his eyes full of malice. "Are you my navigator... Or theirs?"
I grabbed Arlong's ankle. "Don't you dare threaten all these people..." I managed. "We didn't come here because she hired us. We're here because Nami's our nakama..."
I heard Nami chuckle. "I'm sorry, everyone..." she said to the many villagers watching. "Fight and die
with me!"
The villagers cheered.
I smiled. That was the last thing I remembered before I passed out again.
I woke up when a huge wave washed over me. "Aack!" I yelped. For a moment, all I could register was the nip of the cold water, and the throb in my chest.
The cold wasn't as big a surprise as what came next. Someone landed right on top of me, nearly knocking the wind out of me.
"Oh! Koe! You're awake!"
I grinned. I'd never been so happy to hear one of my idiot brother's stupid comments. "Nice to see you out of water again." I said. "What's the story?"
Luffy opened his mouth to explain, but he gasped.
"Look out!" Luffy whipped around, placed his hand on my forehead, and shoved my head to the ground. A large sawlike sword slashed over our heads. Arlong was standing over us, a murderous look in his eyes. His pupils were slits. In his hand was that blade, a steel bar with six wickedly sharp steel triangles tied to it with leather ties.
Arlong grinned. "Die."
Luffy grabbed me by the waist, and jumped out of the way.
"Luffy!" I shouted over the whistling of the wind. "I'm weighing you down!" I was too late.
Arlong grabbed Luffy by the hair, yanked him backward, and smashed us through the wall. I hit the wall on the other side and smacked my head, hard. "Oww..." I groaned.
I took a look around. We were in a room on the top floor. There was a desk in the corner, no bed, and piles upon piles of papers. One fluttered off a pile and drifted softly on my head. I grabbed it and took a look. "A sea chart..." I muttered.
Arlong laughed. "Fishmen are excellent at gathering oceanic data. But without a good cartographer, it's worthless. Nami's a genius."
I glared at Arlong. "You half-fish scumbag..." I growled.
Arlong spread his arms. "Nothing's more tragic and stupid than wasting such amazing talent!" He leveled his saw at Luffy's neck. "Do you think you can use that girl as well as I can?!"
Luffy didn't say anything. He put his hand on the blade of the saw. There was a cracking noise. I noticed Luffy's shoulders were shaking. When he spoke, his voice was trembling with rage. "USE...?"
Arlong looked horrified. "My saw! How did you?!"
Luffy's glare was murderous. "What do you think Nami is, anyway?!"
Arlong grinned. " Nami lacks for nothing here." he said. "I will feed her, give her all the pretty clothes she wants. After all, we're shipmates."
Suddenly, moved by a sudden impulse, Luffy kicked the desk through the hole in the wall. He started destroying bookshelves and charts.
"Stop!" Arlong roared. "You're destroying eight years of Nami's work!"
Luffy glared at him. "The problem is this room! Nami suffered terribly here! I'm going to blast it to smithereens!" He straightened. "Koe!"
I nearly whacked my head in surprise. "Yeah?"
"Can you summon a wave?"
"How-"
"Can you or can't you?"
I sighed. "I'm almost out of steam, but I think I might be able to manage one more."
Luffy nodded.
Arlong lunged. He started to spin.
Luffy raised his leg, kicking a hole in the roof. "Gum-Gum..."
Arlong's attack caught him in the leg.
Luffy cried out. He brought his leg down. "NOW!" he shouted.
I raised my arms. The sea seemed to struggle, and I thought my heart might explode, but I wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer.
"BATTLE AX!"
Luffy's kick brought the huge building down to the ground, and a wave crashed into the building. Arlong park sank into the sea.
"Hey! She's waking up!"
I groaned and sat up. "Where..."
My questions was cut short. A black blur catapulted towards me, catching me in a hug. "Koe-chwaaan! You're alright!"
Every muscle in my body tensed. "Okay, Sanji..." I growled. Count to ten, count to ten... "I'm alive, now get off!"
As I tried to pry Sanji off me, someone handed me something. I stopped. "Nami!"
She smiled. "Hey! Here's your bandana."
I reached for my bandana, but I stopped. "Uhhh..." I pointed down at Sanji. "Do you have a crowbar or something?"
Nami laughed. She did a kind of sexy pose and said, "Sanji-kun..."
Sanji immediately let go and swivelled around with hearts in his eyes. "Nami-swaa-" He didn't get time to finish. I caught him by the ear. "Next time I say paws off, I mean paws off." I growled.
I took a look around. The whole place was a big party. The music and shouting was enough to give me vertigo. "Wow." I said. "I guess we won."
Nami smiled. "Yep!"
Then, Luffy landed right beside me. "Prosciutto and ham!" he shouted. I jumped about a foot in the air.
"Luffy! What are you doing?!" I yelped.
"Sanji told me there was prosciutto and ham around here!" Luffy shouted, then he ran off.
"Luffy!" I called after him. "Prosciutto is ham!"
I rolled my eyes. Then, I stopped. "Hey, where are Zoro and Usopp?"
Nami chuckled. "C'mon." she said. "I'll show you."
"You're kidding..." I chuckled.
Usopp was standing on a huge pedestal, telling everyone about how he took out a mighty fishman.
"He's so full of baloney..." I chuckled.
Nami smiled. "He's not lying. You should have seen how happy he was when he told me."
I stopped. "You mean he actually beat one of Arlong's men?! Good for him!"
We passed by the hospital. There was no one there, though.
Nami frowned. "He used to be here..." she muttered.
I shrugged. "Don't worry." I said. "It's not like Zoro to stick around in a hospital." We started walking down the road. I happened to glance into an alleyway, which was pretty well lit because of the party. I stopped. "Go figure..." I laughed.
Zoro was sleeping against a tree.
I stepped up to him. He looked okay, considering the fact that he had suffered a huge injury. He had gotten stitches across his chest. I sighed in relief. At least I didn't have to heal him myself.
I bent down, and poked him in the chest.
Zoro's eyes shot open, and he jumped nearly a foot in the air, which was a pretty impressive feat considering the fact that he was on his back at the time.
"What the hell?!" he snapped.
"How can you sleep when there's a party going on?" I smirked.
"Can't you let me sleep?" he growled.
"Oh, nothing." I sighed. "It's just, Sanji was looking for you. He was asking where the stupid marimo was. I suppose I could tell him you're over here." Total lie, of course. It worked the way I wanted to, though. Zoro stomped off, growling about how he was going to kill that stupid love-cook for calling him a stupid marimo.
"He's not going to be happy with you, you know." Nami said to me, although she was working hard to burst out laughing.
The next day, Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, and I were on the deck of the Going Merry, waiting for Nami to come join us. A huge crowd had gathered, including Yosaku, Johnny, Nojiko, and a man who was covered in scars. Mr. Genzo, I think his name was. Nami had introduced us at the party the night before.
Sanji was ranting at Luffy. "Nami's not coming?!" he shouted. "Why not?!"
"Maybe it's because you're with us." Zoro muttered.
"What was that?!"
I squinted. "Hey!"
Nami was standing at the edge of the crowd. Without a word, she dashed through the crowd.
"Hey, Nami!" someone shouted.
"Let us thank you properly!"
Nami made it to the pier, and made a huge jump, landing on deck beside me.
The Merry started sailing off.
Nami smiled, then lifted her shirt. About thirty wallets clattered to the deck at her feet.
I shook my head in disbelief. "I should've known..." I chuckled.
"Why you..." Genzo muttered.
"SHE TRICKED US!"
"She hasn't changed a bit..." Usopp muttered.
"Way to go, Nami-san!" Sanji said.
Zoro rolled his eyes. "She could double-cross us again."
"Oh, probably. That's Nami for you." I said, clapping Zoro on the shoulder.
Luffy burst out laughing.
Everyone at the dock waved, shouting, "Come back soon!"
Nami waved back. "Goodbye everyone!" she shouted. "I'll be back!"
The merry sailed off. Nami stared in the direction of the island, long after we had sailed out of sight.
So, there's chapter 29! Keep an eye out for the next chapter! LOGUETOWN! We're almost at the grand line!
Koe: Now you're shouting in my ear.
FM13: Sorry. I'm just so happy!
Koe: (shrugs) Please review!
