Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball or One Piece
"Say it isn't so, Carmen-sama!"
"Don't leave us!"
Carmen's two frenetically goofy-looking loyalists cried out in signature melodramatic fashion Goku and Nojiko felt they had become all too familiar with despite knowing the trio all of three seconds; the old saying being, 'Hey, if you've seen it once you've seen it a dozen' could be applied in this context; Goku giving a wholesome laugh and Nojiko pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head in mild displeasure.
"Afraid so, dearies, but fear not!" She thundered, posing as if she were about to give an epic speech to the world, "For this is not the end. We shalt meet again when my associates and I have climbed the very pinnacle of this piracy ladder," They were, of course, eating up her every word like Goku and Luffy at an all-you-eat-buffet, hands clasped in front of their tearfully relieved faces, "Keep a close eye on the news as I foresee us - how do you say in layman's terms? Ah, yes. 'Making waves'."
Gasps of sheer awe echoed their mouths.
"Of course, Carmen-sama."
"We'll be keeping up-to-date with all the newspapers!"
"We know you have what it takes to become the best chef across the seas!"
Goku and Nojiko viewed the overly played out sad farewell with utter bizarre looks of absolute incomprehensible on each of their faces.
"There's no going half-way with her, is there? Once she sets her mind on something it's full-throttle or nothing."
"Look on the bright side. Least this means she'll give cooking her all to make us the best grub she can make."
"Why do I get the feeling that only benefits you?"
"Hehe."
Carmen approached them, her bowing fans acting as her backdrop behind her, "I presume we are all finished preparations for our next course, captain?" By which she meant shopping and surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, Goku had no complaints cruising through the market province looking for ingredients. If it involved food, he was down for anything. Of course, that begged the question of where the bags of groceries were, Carmen raising a delicate eyebrow.
"Yep." Goku beamed brightly, fisting his hips, "Now we just gotta wait for Renji and we're all set."
"Can I presume this individual is the missing member of our motley band of ne-do wells?" She surmised, getting a nod from her captain. "That clarified, I would like to know which role he falls into in this little band of ours?"
Goku fingered his chin in thought, "Welllll, I guess he's sorta like my right-hand," He eventually settled with, wrapping his hands behind his head, imbuing himself in his second aura of carefree insouciance, "Been giving me tons of advice since me and Nojiko don't know much about the Grand Line." Which was putting mildly, to say the very least. Neither he nor Nojiko possessed even the furthest semblance of an idea pertaining to the Grand Line. "He's pretty strong, too. Second strongest after me."
"Interesting," She noted, earning another earnest smile from the spiky-headed teenager, wiping it off immediately with her follow-up question, "By the way, captain," Goku blinked and she extravagantly gestured toward their vastly unfitting and more evidently, unopened marine ship, "I could not help ut notice the gangway of our ship is not available at present. Assuming you and Nojiko-san finished gathering what we needed to survive at sea, I would have surmised it would have been."
Nojiko's mouth parted in a small exhale of realization, "You must be talking about Goku-chan's little capsule things."
Clouds of confusion accumulated behind Carmen's gaze, "I do not follow."
Nojiko leaned an elbow on Goku's shoulder, leisurely crossing a leg behind the other, "You see, our captain here has these little devices no bigger than a pill that can capsulize and store literally anything within them." Carmen gaped in astonished disbelief, "That's how we were able to buy a whole year's supply worth of food without needing bags."
"I… see," She murmured, feeling utterly numbed at the revelation. She certainly needed to see that demonstration when they got in the kitchen to unload their groceries. An impressed smirk decorated her red-painted lips, "Quite the convenient little contraption you have there, Goku-san."
"Yeah, you bet. I don't have to use luggage!" Goku laughed, drawing an affectionate smile from Nojiko at his simple-minded response. There was just something to be said about Goku's bubbleheaded nature that the tattooed young woman absolutely adored, finding it to be both charming and endearing all on its own.
"That I am certain of," Carman said softly, briefly closing her eyes. She then opened them, surveying what was to be her home for the foreseeable future. Distaste crinkled up her delicate features, "We really ought to do something about this ship."
Goku stared blankly back at his ship and Carmen in turn, "Whaddya mean?"
Carmen recoiled, looking quite taken back, "You can't be serious." Goku's empty look of total ignorance seemed to point toward the contrary, "It looks like a marine ship!" She composed herself, clearing her throat and situating a hand on the curve of her hip, "Which is to say, it is."
"Oh, right. That." Goku realized, fiddling absentmindedly with his sash, "I got this thing as a gift from Nojiko's village for saving 'em from a bad guy. I didn't even know it was even a marine ship." He cocked his head, monitoring the vessel's name painted on the ship's front, "Wellll, I guess the uncool name probably gave it away."
"I see." Carmen processed all this with a measure of patience calm, "Regardless, it would be wise to ensure our ship looks more pirate-like. We would not want to be mistaken for marines."
"What do you have in mind?" Goku queried.
The redhead wrapped an arm around her torso, resting an elbow on said fastened arm to lean her chin on the back of her palm in a contemplative pose. She closely monitored the ship for a few moments, "Oh." Her eyes landed on the vacant sail, "I noticed you do not have a jolly flag. Might I propose we add one now? Every pirate possesses their own unique flag proudly bared on their sail. It is essentially their signature emblem representing their crew."
"Oh! You mean a pirate flag!" Goku exclaimed, excitement glistering in his gaze like fireflies, "Yeah, let's get one of those! It'll be awesome!"
She drank in the teenager's surprisingly endearing childlike exuberance with a laugh, shielding its melodic sounds with the back of her hand, "As you wish, captain." She mimicked a microphone with a hand curling around her mouth, turning back toward her loyalists supreme, "Oh, boys!"
They instantaneously rose like a pair of puppies rushing to greet their returning mother.
"Yes. Carmen-sama!" They intoned simultaneously.
"It is such a shame," She said, tossing her head back and propping the back of her hand on her forehead in false dismay, "But I am afraid we do not yet have a jolly roger. Please see to it that we have one up and ready by the time we depart these lands, my dearies."
"As you command, Carmen-sama!" They obeyed, goofily galloping over to her captain's feet in respective kneels, Goku frowning in perplexity, "Tell us what you'd like to represent your crew, Goku-sama." The green one requested first, followed by the blue one, "We will see to its completion!"
"What I want to represent me," Goku repeated in a low, contemplative murmur, folding his muscled arms.
"It can be anything. An animal, a kanji, an article of clothing," The green one explained, looking the captain over before the blue one took over, "Anything you want! Anything that symbolizes what you're all about and sings your crew's soul."
A flash of Inspiration sparked to life inside Goku's mind, reminding him of the all too familiar distinctive red-eyed scaly analyst to initially kick start his whole journey when he was twelve, "I got it."
"You do?"
"Yeah! Can you guys make…"
XxX
(Nearing the port – With Renji)
XxX
The de-facto right hand man and second in commander of the ragtag group of recently formed pirates sauntered back toward his new home with a nice, icy cold can of beer in one hand and a delicious banana in the other, devouring them in turn, "Ah, that hits the spot!" He declared with a leisured sigh. Dangling from his hip was another unknown item he had picked up in his mini adventures across Loguetown in search of a Log Pose, a distinguished pouch to match his dark-brown coloured fur.
He had to stop for a moment and take in the sight hanging above their ship, "Huh. Kid actually got us a jolly roger. I'm impressed," He whistled in appreciation of the emerald scaled, red-eyed dragon painted across the sail, two horns above its head and an open mouth displaying its imposing fangs holding an distinctive tangerine-coloured orb with four crimson coloured stars. instead of the regular crossbones acting as its backdrop, Renji could see two bulky, fair-skinned arms of his captain's muscle mess and skin tone behind the dragon head crossed in an X-shape, "Flashy. Guy sure likes to stand out."
Goku's head appeared over the railing, "There you are!" He shouted, getting his second-in-command's attention, "Hurry up, Renji! We're leavin' now." He didn't waste any time opening up the gangway given Renji's abilities.
"Just a sec, cap'n." He said, casually jumping onto the railing of the massive ship in a single leap, "We good to go?" He asked, hopping onto the deck.
"Yep," Goku confirmed, fisting his hips, "We even gotta a cook, too. Oh, and a name for the crew. We're the Dragon Fist crew. Neat, huh?"
"Very," He said, admiring the ship's unique dragon jolly roger with a whistle before turning back to his captain, "We're half way to a full crew already," Renji lauded, sipping on his beer.
Nojiko came up to him also with hands on hips, but with an aura of impatience vastly contrasting Goku's cheerful vibe, "And just what were you up to, mister?" Renji's eyebrow raised at her irritated accusation, "Goku-chan and I… well, Goku-chan had to deal with a bunch of marines because they came after us." She shot him a pointed look, "I thought you were gonna deal with them."
"Oh. They sent guys after you two, too?"
"Yes."
"They sent guys after me, too."
"Oh?"
"Yep. Sent a buncha of 'em way, too. They were scrubs, though. Didn't even need to try to beat 'em. Found a Log Pose in their office, too." He explained, purposely leaving out his bizarre heart-to-heart moment with their sergeant major Tashigi. He really didn't want to think about it. To that end, he was grateful for the distraction that echoed from the ship's interior in the form of a bizarre laugh more fitting on an evil mistress, "Who the fuck is that?"
"Oh, that's Carmen. She's our new cook I was telling ya about."
"Is she all always like that?"
Goku shrugged.
"Shit's about to get wild on this thing, huh?"
Nojiko couldn't agree with him more there.
"Took the words right out of my mouth."
The anchor was slowly drawn up to release the S.S Fist of Justice into the horizon of its new adventure.
XxX
(Elsewhere in Loguetown – Infirmary)
XxX
Tashigi sat in a deep pool of depression on her borrowed medical bed beside her scar-faced captain. To her shame, bandages were wrapped around her stomach despite the fact she had only taken one blow from her opponent. It was demoralizing, to be so comprehensively defeated and injured with a single strike. She tried biting her lip to stifle her sobs, but few still managed to peek through her eyes.
"We're going after them." The scarred marine captain declared briskly. Scar was being generous in this case. Five sets of what were clearly defined knuckles were engraved deeply into Smoker's right cheek as though he were cattle being branded with a fist-shaped iron. Tashigi started as if she had been stung, gaze drawn straight to Smoker's damaged cheek as guilt fostered in her heart.
How could she sit here drowning in her own self-centred sorrowful thoughts of self-doubt when her captain had received an unarguably greater humiliation of being marked by his opponent? Truly, it had shocked her to her very essence to learn White Chase Smoker of all marines had not only been struck but bested and in such an effortless manner no less. She initially couldn't believe her eyes seeing Smoker of all soldiers hoisted up on a stretcher to be brought to the infirmary. To her, Smoker was the very picturesque definition of larger than life. Partly in short thanks to his Devil Fruit.
It was just incredible and before now Tashigi could never see him being felled to anyone.
Until now.
Bare-Fist Son Goku must be quite the extraordinary fighter to wound her captain in such a way, she silently concluded to herself in resentful reluctance.
"Bare-Fist and Bodybuilder," Smoker said in clarification, voice and expression leaving no room for argument. "We're going after them or are you fine with the fact they humiliated us?" Here, he turned his head, casting her a pointed look.
She stared longer than she should've, Smoker's darkening look of annoyance eventually snapping her out of it, "N-No, sir!" She hurried, expression hardening with a narrow of her eyes, "I don't intend to let Bodybuilder escape unpunished." She made a tight fist. "I vowed I would apprehend him and bring him to justice, and I intend to keep that promise."
Smoker considered her fierce determination for a moment before looking elsewhere, "Good. Then we leave for the Grand Line as soon as we're able in pursuit of damned pirates."
"Yes, captain!"
A Warrior on the Unknown Seas
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A Dragon Spreads Its Wings Across the Seas
"Ohohohohoho."
Even when performing a task as simple as cooking Carmen had to put on a show, prancing from stove to kitchen counter cutting and seasoning every single ingredient of her extravagant menu with her signature outlandish flair over a sizzling fire. Renji could only stare bug-eyed at her bizarre performance, wandering if the insane girl was perhaps hallucinating that she was in a cooking contest pouring her blood, sweat and tears into coming out in first place.
"Who the fuck?" He intoned lowly, disbelief in vast abundance in his gaze, "Where'd you find her, cap'n?"
"Yeah, she's good, right?" Goku enquired back, fisting his hips with a wide contented smile decorating his features as his nose wiggled at the aromas filling the kitchen, "The food smells great! I can't wait to dig in." His stomach voiced its agreement with a resounding growl like that of an angry bear, drawing another wholesome titter from him.
"That's not what I asked, but whatever."
"Well," Nojiko offered an uneasy smile on the other side of Goku, a bead of sweat trailing down her smooth cheek, "At least it looks like she can cook. That's something." Renji still couldn't pry his dilated gaze away from Carmen's overexaggerated display, replying to the girl with a dumb nod.
"I guess so."
The moment of truth arrived much sooner than they thought. Their first meal made by their new cook and they couldn't be more excited. Their anticipation had already been shot sky high by the thrilling cooking aromas alone but actually seeing their feast laid out in front of them was a whole other level of mouth-watering divine. Plates of roasted chicken, duck, turkey, bowls of rice, boiled lobster and ramen sparkled with an almost otherworldly, heavenly glow, mesmerizing the trio and lulling them into a hunger trance with its powerful fragrance. The sun began to fall, blanketing the sky in an orange glow and casting its dimmed dazzle upon the feast, lending it a homey feel.
"Oh wow, this looks tasty!" Goku drooled, swiping a hand across his lips in an attempt to remove said running waterfall from his bottom lip, only for another to follow.
"Jesus…" The beer-drinking monkey murmured, simply awestruck at this divine beauty they had been bestowed.
"It's like a five-star restaurant," Nojiko remarked.
Carmen stood tall, eyes closed as she allowed each compliment to fuel the aura of pure pride she had shrouded herself with, "Bon appetite." She announced, dipping into a lavish bow, one arm behind her back and the other draped across her midriff, "Gorge yourselves to your hearts content, dearies."
That was an invitation Goku was never going to pass up, instantly tucking into a pair of chicken and turkey legs with a feverish vigour even before seating himself, "Don't mind If I do!" His cheeks were stuffed with both kind of meat at once, resembling tennis balls, "Oh, man! This is so good!" He stated, bits of food flying from his mouth.
"Hey, wait up!" Renji said, quickly seating himself beside Goku and grabbing himself a bowl of ramen. Being the only one who knew of Goku's limitless appetite Nojiko was quick to follow suit, propping herself down on the captain's other side and grabbing what she could before Goku's black hole could swallow it whole.
"Holy crap! This is amazing!"
"Pass the lobster!"
"Yum! Yum! Yum!"
Carmen watched them from the side-lines, her brightly-lit aura of satisfaction enlarging ever so more with each positive reaction she received from those she was feeding, setting aside her own small portion. It didn't take long for the bubble to burst, however; three minutes in fact as every single dish she had so elegantly prepared was emptied and stacked up courtesy of one Son Goku after their two other crewmates had finished their own considerably smaller and normal-sized shares.
"The fuck?" Renji stared longer than he would've liked at his enormously grinning captain patting his stomach with a content sigh, eyes unbelieving to what they had witnessed. He thought it was strange that Carmen had prepared a whole feast of ten for four people but he couldn't have imagined his captain would devour nearly the whole damn thing on his lonesome, "Seriously, the fuck?"
Carmen's thoughts ran along similar wavelengths of their crew's resident muscle headed monkey, just maybe not quite with the same colourful words.
Goku grabbed an empty bowl and extended it toward the chef, his gesture clear as the sea all around them, "Seconds!~"
"Seriously!" Renji bellowed, causing Goku to guffaw.
"I told you our Goku-chan eats a whale," Nojiko told Carmen, leaning a cheek on her palm and fondly caressing Goku's spiky locks.
"Wish you had told me." Renji grumbled, causing Nojiko cheekily stick her tongue out at him.
"I… see." Carmen replied, slowly regaining her composure with a humbled smirk, "Yes, you did but I'm afraid no amount of forewarning to the impending doom that is Goku-san's ferocious appetite could've prepared my expectations." She delicately scrubbed her sweated cheek.
"Don't think anyone would've been," Renji voiced his agreement.
Carmen bowed to her still grinning captain, look of satisfied defeated softening to one of ready acceptance, "If you'll excuse me, captain. I will have another serving ready in a little while."
"Sounds good!~"
Nightfall curtained the previously tangerine dawn sky by the time Carmen finished serving Goku a second helping of an entire feast worth of food, the artificial light of the kitchen's light bulb now illuminating the setting.
"Boy, I'm stuffed," Goku announced at last, clapping his appeased, muscled stomach (although once again Nojiko heavily doubted it was truly assuaged) with a leisured exhale, "Thanks for the grub."
Renji shook his head in obvious denial, head sinking into the depths of his furred hands, "Where does he pack it all away?" He pierced Goku with a haunted look of annoyance, "It's like you have a damned black hole for the stomach."
"Told ya," Nojiko teased with a struck-out tongue. "He eats a lot."
"Yeah, you weren't kidding about that," He sighed, caressing the back of his neck as Carmen busied herself with the dirty dishes, rinsing them clean with her typical overzealous zest, "Anyway," He started, leaning back in his seat to get comfortable. "I just thought of something, since we're on a marine ship and all. We could probably go through the Calm Belt and skip the whole entrance to the Grand Line."
"Wait! The Calm Belt?" Nojiko asked in incredulity, "Isn't that the place where all the sea kings live?"
"It is," Renji answered with an unnerving straight-faced neutrality, folding a leg over a knee and shrugging his shoulders, "But it's also happens to be a shortcut for the marines."
"Oh?"
"What's a calm belt?" Goku asked, eyes blinking owlishly.
Nojiko exhaled with a frown, "Well, from what I know from my sister, it's apparently a sea between the Grand Line and the red line. It supposedly has no wind and the weather never changes from a warm day, hence the name calm belt," She explained, seeing Goku vacantly nodding along with no real interest out of the corner of her eye, "It's also home to a load of big sea kings. If they sense a ship, they'll spring from below and swallow it whole."
That sparked interest in Goku's gaze, a smirk crossing his lips, "Sounds exciting."
Nojiko sighed, a smile of her own lightly coating her expression, "Of course you'd say that."
Renji chuckled, amusement snuggly settling in his stomach like a cup of hot cocoa, "Don't get too ahead of yourself, cap'n." He advised, turning Goku's blinking eyes his way, "Our ship would probably end up slipping under the radar, since most marine ships are all aligned with sea stones."
"Sea stones?" Goku enquired, voicing Nojiko's confusion aloud.
"Shit that can make ships invisible to a sea king. That's how marines avoid the Grand Line entrance altogether," He explained, stroking his fur under his chin like a beard, "They're also effective as fuck on Devil Fruit users, which sucks for me." He punctured the air with a heavy, miserable sigh, "Just getting touched by one is like falling into the sea. Zaps away all my strength."
"You seem to know a lot about this stuff," Nojiko ascertained perceptively.
"Been fightin' those motherfuckers for years now," The black-clad monkey replied in explanation, "Had to have picked up some things."
"Fair enough."
Goku hummed, considering everything he had been informed about regarding the calm belt and the Grand Line, asking about the latter, "What about the Grand Line entrance?"
"That's a waterway."
"Waterway?"
"Yeah. The current of the entrance carries ships up, then sends them down. Kinda like a water slide in an amusement park," He clarified, filling Goku's eyes with stars and Nojiko's with astonishment.
"What the hell?" She murmured, "How does something like that even work?"
"Just how I said it does," He deadpanned, drawing a scowl from the girl, "S'not that dangerous, from what I've seen on my climbs up the thing. Seen only a few ships crash and burn but that's only because they didn't line the damned thing up right from the get-go so it's just careless on their parts."
"Gee. That's so reassuring," Nojiko retorted sarcastically.
"A water slide entrance sounds exciting," Goku beamed, weighing up the option of taking on a plethora of sea kings underwater or barrelling down an enormous water slide in his mind. Considering he would've likely just ended up vaporizing any massive monster with a Ki blast the answer was entirely obvious. A quick scan of the area with his Ki-sensing confirmed such as well. To Nojiko's dismay and Renji's amusement, he decided, "Let's go there next."
"I knew you'd say that."
"If you say so, cap'n."
XxX
(Elsewhere on the S.S Fist of Justice – Captain's barracks)
XxX
All was quiet among the marine-turned-pirate ship, darkness consuming every inch of the ship's exterior. The crew had decided to turn in for the night feeling safely secure they wouldn't get ambushed in the weakest of the four seas. They could worry about stationing one of them on patrol during nights when they got to the Grand Line. At least that was Renji's line of thought. For now, it was all about relaxation. Considering the dangers they were sure to face, a little downtime before the impending storm probably would've been beneficial.
Although, Nojiko could hardly contain herself after everything that transpired in a single day, swinging her hips in an excited rhythm clad in a light purple sleeveless gown cut low above her knees in front of Goku laying their bed, the boy watching her with warm mirth dancing in his gaze.
"Wow, Nojiko! You're really happy, huh?" He commented, sporting a sleeveless white tank top.
"Can you blame me?" Nojiko returned, spinning on the spot in a complete three hundred and sixty pirouettes before holding out her arms sideways as if she were getting ready to leap off a cliff, "So much has happened since we left my home just this morning!" She threw her creamy, light-skinned arms up and flicked up a heel, her exhilaration reaching a crescendo, "If this is what it's going to be like out in the Grand Line, then I can't wait!"
Goku giggled at the vivacious purple-haired lady, "Yeah, this has been the most fun I've had in a long while!" He gazed upward at the ceiling, visions of his past adventures appearing in a circle and lulling him into a peaceful tranquillity, "We made two new friends already." He felt his bed shift ever so slightly before a weight crawled on top of him, skin caressing skin. He peered into Nojiko's playful gaze with soothing eyes and smiled softly at her, which she returned with a gentle tap on his nose.
She stroked his hair, pleased he wasn't resisting her intimate touch but equally as disappointed that he wasn't replicating it. Still, she would content herself with this, locking lips with Goku and delicately fondling his wholesome features, even if he wouldn't return her affectionate actions. For now, It was enough that Goku would let her cuddle and kiss him whenever she wanted.
She reluctantly broke the kiss, a string of saliva connecting their lips, before the little devilish voice in her head she could convince her to go further. While she was fairly certain she could sleep with Goku if she so chose, she didn't want to take advantage of him like that. She wanted Goku to reciprocate her feelings before she went that far.
"Hey, Goku-chan?"
"Hm."
"Could you train me?"
"Oh. Wanna get stronger?"
A timid nod by one followed a cocked head by the other.
"How come?"
"I just don't want to be a burden to you," She said, pillowing her head on his well-toned chest and doodling circles on his muscles, "I know you'll be there to protect me, but what if we get separated?" She proposed, a terrified look in her eyes, "I need to be able to protect myself a little bit, at least until we can meet up again."
"I hear ya."
So," She shuffled nervously on his chest, a rosy-red flush lighting up her cheeks, "Do you think you can train me?"
Goku tilted his head up, peering up at the light bulb shining above them both as though it would symbolize an idea materializing in his head. He hummed, "Well, I can't teach ya any martial arts," At least he wouldn't be able to teach her much. She just didn't have the body type for it. "But I can probably unlock your Ki."
Now it was Nojiko's turn to grace him with her delicate blinking eyes, "Ki?"
"That's the energy I use to do all my attacks." Goku simplified.
"And you're saying I can use this same energy?" She asked, cocking her head.
"Yeah! Everyone has Ki," He beamed, "It's just about drawing it out and learning to control it."
Nojiko's curiosity was beyond piqued now. She wasn't naïve enough to ever believe she could be as strong as Goku but if she could gain her own powers similar to his, it was something she wanted to sign up for, "And how do I tap into it?" She wondered, a small smile crossing her lips, "My Ki, that is."
Goku settled into thought-mode once again, droning a calming rhyme as he tried to conjure the best method of unlocking one's Ki, "Hm. Try picturing pulling something out of your belly in your mind," He said.
"Pulling something out of my belly, huh?" She repeated, tasting the rather silly method out on her tongue, features consorting in confusion.
"Yeah! Ki's all about… Hm." He scratched his scalp, voice lowering in a contemplative mutter, "What's that word I'm looking for again?"
"Visualization?" Nojiko supplied helpfully.
"Yeah, that!" He exclaimed, drawing a soft laugh of endearment from the girl on his chest. "Ki's all about visualization and stuff. The trick to tapping into your Ki and controlling it is picturing something in your head and focusing on that feeling." He explained, elation covering his every word like a sweet honey gushing about something he loved with a red-hot passion. Nojiko could only stare at him in wonder. She was getting a better appreciation of just how much Goku adored the art of ass-kicking.
"Try it, Nojiko." Goku's eager insistence brought her out of her own thoughts.
"Huh?" She replied, quickly remembering what they were talking about at Goku's nod, "You mean right now?"
"Sure, right now. Why not?" He said and pushed them up to a comfortable sitting position – really comfortable for Nojiko given that she ended up straddling him, light creamy thighs either side of his stretched-out legs, "No time like the present." He guided her hands in what she could only assume was the pose to initiate the emergence of one's Ki: both sets of curled fingers nearly embracing as if she were holding a soccer ball.
"Um. Okay," She agreed, gazing down at her hands held in front of her stomach before looking up at Goku, "What should I think about?"
Those pair of muscular arms she adored so much folded in front of her followed her question as he hummed, "How about…?" He droned, visage brightening a moment later, "Ah, I got it! How about pulling out a tasty turkey outta an oven?!"
"A tasty turkey, really?" She asked, a bead of sweat dripping off her cheek and a dry smile decorating her lips. Goku laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head at her reaction. She sighed, a hint of affectionate in her tone as she gently pinched his cheek, "Why am I not surprised that's the first thing you thought of?"
There was that infectious laugh that had already carved itself a permanent spot in her heart arousing from his throat like a melodious lullaby, "Well, yeah, it doesn't have to be a tasty turkey," He rested his palms behind his head, the perfect sketch of carefree nonchalance, "It can be anything you want. Just remember to focus on it."
Nojiko sighed, readjusting the apparent Ki-initiation shape Goku had initially guided her hands into, "Well, I'll try." Since Goku loosely implied what she visualized to awaken her dormant latent power was probably something she wanted, she conjured exactly that; her straining on an operating bed giving birth to her and Goku's future child engulfed in a void of brilliant day dawn light; Goku holding her hand. She pushed with heavy, assertive pants, imagining a good doctor pulling the representation of her Ki on the other end. A lone vein appeared in her upper right arm, cheeks tinging with red from the exertion.
"Stay calm." Goku advised in a ever so gentle murmur, as if he had just rocked his baby asleep and was laying him down in his cot, "It won't come if you try and force it. It has to come naturally. Relax your body and focus on that feeling of pulling something outta your belly."
Goku's two pieces of advice seemed entirely counterintuitive to Nojiko. Every pore of her body was tightening in exertion as a delicate sensation raced across her lower back the longer she concentrated on removing the representation of her aura out of her. She could only compare it to a tingly feeling, like Goku had started tickling her just then. But she reminded herself that Goku was the energy master here, not her, and thus, installed her faith in his teachings. She exhaled, body relaxing from the previous strain, though the tingly feeling never abated. She did her utmost to best ignore it and concentrated on her delivery of Goku's baby, the symbol of her power, drowning out all other sounds and sensations, including Goku's, trying to distance herself from her body.
Further and further still, she could feel the doctor's hands digging something out of her womb until…
She farted, vibrations of her suddenly released gas streaking through the quiet air amidst her dumbfounded expression; an expression Goku shared for all of two seconds before he fell back, chortling away while holding his stomach..
"Hahahaha!"
A darkened red tinge spread across Nojiko's face, "Don't laugh!" Goku's response was to laugh harder.
"Oh, boy! That was just too funny!" He declared, a flicking a loose tear from his eye.
Nojiko pouted miserably, "You jerk! I bet you made all this stuff up to tease me, huh?" She accused, leaning on all on fours like a cat before beating Goku's chest like a child throwing a temper tantrum.
Goku's laughter softened sheepishly as he rose two hands to ward off Nojiko's surprisingly childlike annoyance, "Uh, no! It's all true. That is the way you tap into your Ki. It was too just funny when you farted." Nojiko still looked like she wanted to set him ablaze with her eyes, one cheek inflated like a balloon, "You musta felt it, right? That tingly feeling in your back?"
Curiosity worked wonders soothing her expression, "I did." She confirmed, sitting back on her knees, "What's that got to do with anything?"
"Those are your Ki-points reacting."
"Oh."
"You're on the right track, Nojiko! Just keep at it for maybe about a week and you should have access to your Ki!"
"A week! You mean I have to do that for a whole week?!"
"Sorry, but it'll be down to you if you tap into your Ki sooner or later."
"Aww. Nothing ever comes easy with you, does it, Goku-chan?"
"Hehe. Guess not."
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I apologize for any grammar mistakes in this chapter as I've only managed a couple of proof reads. I'm very. very tired right now. I will be going through this again with a fine comb once I've awaken from my deep slumber. Anyway, a chapter of downtime this time. Our crew finally has their own jolly roger and name and Nojiko begins her training to become a useful member of the group. Stay tune to find out what happens next.
See ya next time.
I'm gonna crash out on my couch right now