I'm baaaack! You're all probably eager to see the new original arc I've been planning, so I'll try and burn through the next couple of Alabasta Arc chapters as fast as possible. I haven't given Dagger or Chiwohiku much attention lately, so I'll probably have them in this chapter as well. And of course, soon we'll be meeting up with the "messenger" that Malik was talking about a couple updates ago.
Chapter 53 start!
Return of the Swan!
Setting Sail to Find Our Friend
Previously on One Piece Full Blast:
While Usopp tried to explain to Lucy just why Vivi had to decide this on her own, Sanji threw a sturdy rope out the bedroom window. This was the only way we could get out of the palace, for the Marines were watching the city like a hawk.
The night air drifted the window cold and moist. I breathed in the damp air gladly, thankful that it was no longer quite so dry. Outside, the night sky was lit up with an ocean of stars. They were millions of faraway lamps, twinkling and shining their light down on the dark desert sand. The city was calm and serene. It was really too bad that we had to leave so soon; I would've loved to stay longer and enjoy the beautiful sights Alabasta took pride in.
"Good night, Vivi!" we all cried. She bade us good night as well, smiling indecisively. Then all of us Straw Hats scampered down the rope and into the city below.
-AND NOW-
The cool night air billowed past seven figures on seven surprisingly large ducks. Overhead, it was a starless night; although earlier there had been an ocean of the little bodies of light, clouds now blocked them from view. The desert was bone-shiveringly cold and shrouded in shadow. A chilling wind howled across the landscape, covering up the ducks' tracks in a blink of an eye.
Alright, alright. I know it sounds creepy from my description, but it was really quite beautiful.
"I like this!" Zoro decided with a smile, his arms approvingly folded across his chest. The swordsman wore a white cloak not unlike the one he'd worn back in Nanohana. The force of the wind blew the cloak back, revealing his dark green nightclothes and treasured haramaki.
Closer to me on my left, Usopp wiped tears from his eyes. "Farewell, oh country of sand!" he cried to the moonless sky. Then he blinked and looked past me. "Oi, Lucy-chan, you're still eating?"
I followed his gaze. Sure enough, Lucy had an entire rind of meat - - still hanging off the bone - - clenched tightly in her mouth. The rubbergirl munched with gusto, unhindered by the bouncing of her duck. I sweatdropped and, behind my eye patch, my left eye twitched a little.
"How the hell can you be eating while riding these ducks?" I deadpanned.
"Alabasta food is the best!" she said, like it explained everything. Her head turned to Sanji, whose duck was running on the other side of hers. "Oi, Sanji, make some of this for lunch tomorrow!"
The blond's eyes went heart-shaped. "Oh, Lucy-samaaa~! You must be even more psychic than Diamond-hime was~! Those cooks had interesting recipes, and I was planning on trying them out anyway."
"Stupid ero-cook," I muttered.
"What was that, Spaz?"
In the back of my mind, Dagger's sharp voice sneered, "Jeez, that guy must have the ears of a bat or something."
"Go back to sleep, Dagger," returned the slightly groggy voice of Chiwohiku.
I blinked. "Haven't heard from you two in a while!" I mentally said, then frowned. "Not that it was a bad thing in your case, Dagger. For all I care, you can stay silent for however much longer you occupy my brain. Shut the hell up and go do... whatever the hell it is devils do."
"You mean like taking over your mind? That can be arranged."
"NOT THAT!" Chiwohiku and I both snapped in unison. I accidentally shouted it aloud, though, causing all the other Straw Hats to look at me in confusion.
Nami tilted her head in a surprisingly Lucy-like manner. "Not what, Damon?"
"Oh, don't mind me!" I waved it off. "Just having a conversation with my imaginary enemy. Carry on."
That answer only confused the Straw Hats more. Even so, they nodded and went back to whatever crazy antics they had previously been doing.
"Well, anyway, why were you two silent for the past few chapters?"
"I don't know what you mean by these 'chapters,' and I can't speak for Dagger, but I was taking a nap," my kami no kosoru's spirit replied.
"Sword spirits can take naps?" That was news to me.
"Um... er... I... think so?"
"Oo! Oo! I can help!" Dagger interrupted in a tone that somehow told me this wasn't going to be helpful.
"...Alright, shoot," I sighed.
"The answer is... Yes and no!"
At his pointless remark, I tic-pulsed and my eye twitched erratically. As I had thought, that wasn't helpful in the slightest. I rubbed my head in annoyance. Clearly, trying to make progress with Dagger was useless. It would only drive me insane.
"Anyway, Mr. Nosy," Dagger grumbled, "I suppose you're going to want to know where I was, too?" I nodded in confirmation, although he couldn't see the action. "Greaaaat. Well, I was off on other business. You know, plotting to destroy the world and all that. Hey, I'm a devil! That's what we do! But as I was... checking up on some stuff, I found out something."
"Found out something?"
"Is there an echo here?" I tic-pulsed at his stealing of my trademark dry comment. Dagger chuckled, but his voice turned totally serious. "In any case, yes. Yes, I did. And I don't really like it myself for my own reasons. See, there's this island you guys should be landing on next, if the histories of other universes are anything to go by. It's not a hundred percent guarantee you'll go there - - the original Straw Hats didn't in the original One Piece series, after all - - but there's a pretty huge chance. And if you do go there, there's only a miniscule chance of the crew's survival."
"H-How miniscule?" I asked, a bead of cold sweat running down my face.
"You want the good part first, or the bad part first?"
"...Bad part."
"The crew's survival rate from all other worlds in which they encountered this island... is a very hopeful 19%."
"NINETEEN PERCENT!?" I yelped, and again I accidentally said it aloud. The crew definitely thought I was nuts now. Zoro raised his eyebrow in my direction, and Sanji was frowning at me like he couldn't quite decide what to do with this hopeless demigod. I laughed awkwardly and returned to mental speak. "Er... so what's the good news?"
He snorted. "You've got a 19% chance of survival."
"But that is VERY, VERY BAD NEWS!" Chiwohiku exclaimed, and I hummed my agreement.
"My point is that although it's an incredibly small possibility, the possibility is still there. And I decided to warn you about this ahead of time for multiple reasons. First, it's troublesome for me if you die. I can't exactly take over a dead body. Second, it might just make your mind unstable enough for me to control it. It's a win-win situation... for me, at least."
"Bastard," growled Chiwohiku. Her usually kind voice was laced with hate and malice.
"Hey now!" Dagger protested, though he sounded as evilly calm as ever. In fact, he seemed to enjoy the fact that he'd angered my kami no kosoru so much. "You can't really blame me for wanting to get out of the confines of Damon's stupid mind. It's dusty and there's tons of unused potential."
I tic-pulsed. "Did you just call me stupid?"
"Yes. And apparently, you're quite sensitive about that subject. You know it's true."
"WHY YOU - - If I could go into my mindscape, I'd pummel you into next week!"
"I'd like to see you try," the devil returned icily. "In any case, I just thought it would be prudent for both of us if you knew beforehand. I won't tell you the full details, because I'm not quite that nice, but it's the thought that counts, right?"
"NO IT'S NOT, YOU BASTARD!" yelled both Chiwohiku and I with face-faults.
Dagger didn't respond. Instead, he merely chuckled, his voice fading into the back of my mind.
I huffed and my eye twitched behind my eye patch. That moron was so damn annoying!
But still... what was that incident he was talking about, the thing that only gave our crew a 19% chance of survival? I definitely didn't remember anything like it from the anime or manga. The only thing concerning percentages would be the Ordeals of Enel's Priests on Skypiea, but somehow I doubted that was what Dagger had been talking about.
Well, I supposed that didn't matter. We'd just have to deal with that when the time came.
For now, I decided to shut off my mindscape connection.
"USOPP FELL OFF!" Chopper screamed in horror almost immediately.
I jolted and whirled around to sit backwards on my duck. "What!? How!? What happened?"
"Nami looked sad but she only cared about not getting money."
"And that led to Usopp falling off?"
The little reindeer nodded. I sweatdropped. "What a stupid thing to do. I mean, come on. This is Nami we're talking about. He should've expected it."
"And what's that supposed to mean!?" Nami said dangerously. She turned on me with a blank stare that was somehow scarier than any glare.
"N-Nothing," I gulped, bowing three short times at her. "Please forgive my rudeness."
"That's more like it!"
My eye twitched as I choked out nervous laughter.
"Yeesh, someone needs to take a chill pill," Dagger muttered. His voice was dry and sarcastic as always.
For once, there was something we could both agree on.
XxDAMONxX
We didn't end up reaching the ship until early in the morning. By that time, just about everyone except Lucy had fallen asleep. It had been a long day and only Lucy still had energy to be up and moving. Luckily for us, the spot-billed duck squadron ran at full steam even with sleeping riders.
The Alabasta sunrise glowed pink and orange over the Sandora River and the Going Merry. Lucy woke us all up with her ecstatic cheering. She didn't hesitate to slap the heavier sleepers awake either, earning her some rather deadly glowers from Zoro and Usopp. It took me several minutes to fight through post-sleep grogginess, but once I did I was in a mood nearly as good as my girlfriend's.
Gods, it was still unreal to think of Lucy as my girlfriend. The very fact made my day a hundred times brighter.
"What are you smiling about, Spaz?" Sanji muttered blearily, rubbing his eyes.
I was so happy my eye didn't even twitch from annoyance. "Heheheh! It's nothing. It's just a really awesome morning, that's all!"
"Awesome?" repeated Usopp, snorting. "Which part? Getting slapped awake by a raging baka?"
The 'raging baka' in question giggled. Her voice was bubbly and so joyful it could've created world peace. "Oh, come on Usopp! Don't be such a spoilsport. Damon's happy and that's all that matters!"
"You two have been strangely close since yesterday evening," said Nami. A knowing grin spread across her face. She winked. "So did ya follow up on my advice or what, Luce?"
My face reddened. "Um... yes. You could say that."
The redhead smirked, and I sweatdropped. Somehow I could just see the gears to some evil money-grubbing plot twisting into place within her head.
Sanji's head swiveled from Lucy, to me, to Nami and back. "Advice?" he said, blinking suspiciously. "Strangely close?" He narrowed his eyes at me. "Just what did you to my beloved Lucy-sama, ya damn One-Eye?"
I cleared my throat and changed the subject.
"Anyway, look up ahead! We'll be at our ship within a half hour, I'd say."
Zoro shook his head as if to clear it. "You're right - - the Merry's right over there."
"Merry!" bawled Chopper to no one in particular. "You're safe after all!"
"M-MERRY!" Usopp sputtered through tears of joy.
Sanji refused to be distracted. "Oi, Low Tide, answer my question! What did you to do Lucy-sama!?"
"Low Tide?" I echoed, and this time my eye brow did twitch. "Your insults just keep getting stupider and stupider. Dartboard."
"Like you can come up with better ones, Spaz. What was that you called me the other day... Question?"
"It's because of your swirly eyebrow," Nami reasoned.
I nodded sagely. "See? She gets it."
"I'm so glad those mean old Marines didn't hurt you, Merry!" Usopp sniffed in the sidelines.
Sanji gave an almighty ha-rumph. He may not feel any need to be respectful to me, but he couldn't argue with Nami. "Well, you're still a stupid shit-psychic, One-Eye."
"Ero-cook," I shot back.
"Spaz!"
"OI!" Usopp yelled furiously at the blond and I. "A MAN IS TRYING TO HAVE A HUMBLE REUNION WITH HIS LOYAL SHIP, HERE! IF YOU'RE GONNA IGNORE IT, AT LEAST DON'T START ONE OF YOUR STUPID FIGHTS!"
We both rolled our eyes. "You're not even on Merry yet, Long Nose."
A half hour of pointless bickering later, we had reached our ship at long last. The sun was now fully above the horizon and dancing brightly in the sky. The temperature shot up with each passing second. It was only about six o'clock, and already it had to be at least eighty degrees Fahrenheit.
As we slipped off the duck squadron, a nasally and immensely irritating voice greeted us, coming from atop the Going Merry.
"Oi, minna - - I've been waiting for you!" called Mr. 2, jumping onto the ship's railing. His cape flapped as he spun obnoxiously. "Long time no see~!"
We promptly ignored him.
"Here we are," Nami said, stretching her arms.
Lucy nodded. "Alright, let's start unloading. Arigatou, ducks!"
The squad of ducks quacked in reply, saluting with their very large and very useless wings. We continued to compliment and thank them as we took all our supplies off their backs. They preened and ruffled their feathers, evidently pleased with all the attention.
"This is where we part ways," said Usopp sadly, scratching his duck's head between the ears like it was a cat.
Chopper sniffed. "I'll miss you guys! Have a safe trip home!"
Zoro smirked. "Give our regards to the king and everybody," he said.
"Take care!" I shouted with a grin as they sped off into the distance. A dusty line of sand was kicked up in their wake because of how stupidly fast they were.
Mr. 2 seemed to have already taken to the ducks, too, because he wept and cried, "Goodbye, fair fowl! I hope... I hope we meet again someday...!" Then he face-faulted and began stomping like an angry little kid. "Hey, wait a minute!"
Sanji tic-pulsed and rolled his eyes. "What?"
"What do you mean, 'what!?'" huffed the ex-Baroque Works agent, pouting. "Is that any way to talk to a friend!?"
"FRIEND MY ASS!" I belted with furious shark teeth. "WHY, I'D KICK YOUR SORRY OKAMA BUTT IF MY HANDS WEREN'T FULL OF CRAP RIGHT NOW! I STILL HAVEN'T FORGIVEN YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME!"
The okama blinked. "Eh? Who are you? Say, actually you... you look... just like that pretty brunette..." He paused, thinking it over, then he hit his palm against his fist. "Oh, I know! You're an okama too, aren't you!?"
"OF COURSE NOT, DUMBASS SWAN! SAY THAT AGAIN AND I'LL BITCH SLAP YOU INTO AN ALTERNATE DIMENSION!"
"Ah! Don't get so angry or your blood pressure will rise too much!" gasped Chopper.
I sweatdropped. "What am I, an old man or something?"
"Anyway," said Lucy, folding her arms across her chest and pouting just like Mr. 2, "Damon's right! You're not our friend! You're our enemy because you tricked us!"
"I didn't trick you," Bon Clay protested. "I didn't know who you were either!"
"Step aside," grunted Sanji, boarding the Going Merry with his load of supplies. The okama stopped talking long enough to nod politely and scoot out of the way. I followed Sanji onto our ship with an armful of luggage.
The cross-dresser continued. "Anyway, can't we let bygones be bygones? Now that you defeated Mr. 0, Baroque Works is history. We have no reason to be enemies anymore."
Lucy blew steam out of her nose. "Hmph! If we're not enemies, then what are you doing on our ship?"
"Haha! You're so silly!"
Nami narrowed her eyes as she, too, carried her stuff aboard. "What do you mean?" she demanded. "Just give us a straight answer already!"
"Yes, yes, yes," the okama agreed. He got to his feet and pirouetted importantly. When he was done spinning, he planted his foot firmly on Merry's railing and pointed off in the opposite direction of the sunrise. "Now listen, everyone! If I hadn't taken this ship from where you left it... do you know what would have happened to it?"
"The Navy might have captured it," said the resident ginger dryly.
Lucy's jaw dropped in stupefied horror. Usopp's back stiffened and Chopper face-faulted not once, not twice, but a whopping three times.
"Not might have! Would have!" Mr. 2 corrected her. "Do you realize what's happening on this island right now? It's totally surrounded by Navy ships! Not even a swan could get off this island!"
"Oh, well then that makes getting rid of you easier," I said pointedly. Zoro snorted, amused.
Our captain's eyebrows shot up. "Then you... saved the Going Merry?"
"Why!?" cried Chopper and Usopp eagerly in tandem.
"Isn't it obvious? It's because... we're friends!"
There was a momentary pause in which Bon Clay struck an outrageous pose of 'friendship...' or, whatever. A shudder of horror went down my spine. My eye also completely spazzed out, twitching at an uncontrollable pace. It could probably be seen even from behind my eyepatch.
"FRIENDS~!" blubbered the Idiot Trio through tears of joy. They immediately leaped to their feet and got into a sloppy kick line with the homo swan. And thus began a grating song about friendship that was completely off-key. A few times, all four of the morons were even singing completely different lyrics.
"It's like Disney on crack and having a hang over at the same time," I muttered.
Nami eyed me strangely. "What's this 'Disney' you speak of?"
"Stupid shit for kids that makes me gag every time Mr. Nerd here watches it." I'll give you three guesses as to who butted in with that remark.
"It's a reference to stuff in my world. You guys wouldn't understand."
The ginger nodded and went back to loading up our ship. I followed her, thankful for the distraction.
We spent the next fifteen minutes making sure everything had been moved onto the Merry - - all our clothes, all of Sanji's and Chopper's notes, all of the books Nami had selected from the Alabasta Royal Library... yep, we had a lot of crap.
"Is that the last of it?" Nami asked finally, wiping her brow of sweat.
Zoro nodded. "I've got the last of our supplies here."
"Say, Mr. 2," Sanji spoke up, "if the Navy has the entire island blockaded... wouldn't that make it impossible for you to get off of Alabasta as well?"
I face-faulted. "That's... that's right! So then that would mean..." I glared at the swan bastard. "YOU'RE JUST USING US AS AN ESCAPE ROUTE!"
Bon Clay cried tears of... I don't even know what anymore. "Yes, that's true~! I can't get away, and your ship would've been stolen~! Alone, we cannot escape alive~! Let's join forces and fight together as one - - as friends!"
"AYE!" screamed Lucy, Usopp, and Chopper.
Nami rubbed her temple with her fingers. "Those morons..."
"YEEAAAAAAHHHH!" another joyous cry rose out, and out of nowhere, Bon Clay's ship appeared. I assumed it and its crew had been hidden behind a tall crop of rocks which it was now moored by. "THANK YOU FOR HELPING US OUT!" Mr. 2's subordinates called to us.
Zoro's jaw dropped in total surprise. "HOW LONG HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN THERE!?"
I cried anime tears. "Something tells me that this day is gonna be the most annoying one I've had in a long time..."
And there you have it! After yet another incredibly long break, I have released the next chapter at last. I hope you all liked this chapter. As promised, Dagger showed up more again. A lot of the smaller stuff (like who said what) ended up getting changed as well, simply because of Damon's interactions with the Straw Hats.
Anyway, if you enjoyed this most recent update
