WOW! Despite the delays in my updating, I find I got 53 Reviews, 56 Favorites and 74 Follows! Thankyou ALL so much for these! It's nice to see that you're all enjoying this story so much even if you don't review, the Favs and Follows are a very clear indication to me. So because of that we can now carry on with said story! In THIS chapter will focus a bit more on PEW's 'Partner' that mind's his ship when he's away from it. Enjoy yourselves with this dear readers! Cheers!
I'd also like to apologize in advance if anyone in this story is out of character…we ALL make mistakes and that's nothing to be ashamed of. We're human after all…NOT machines. Also, I'm going to try and be fair and use the Japanese/English names for things like Devil Fruits etc.
(By the way…all flames and flamers will be ignored thank-you. I'll make an exception for CONSTRUCTIVE reviews on what needs an adjustment or suggestions for other chapters/stories, for they are most welcome. Remember if you don't like my work then don't read or review it! NO-ONE is forcing you to! With all the craziness in the world of late we NEED a bit of creative POSITIVE enjoyment more than ever, and LESS hostile, destructive NEGATIVITY.)
Disclaimer: I sadly DON'T own anything from One Piece, not the people OR the places (except my OWN characters, places and so on) they all belong to Funimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV, Shueisha, Shonen Jump Manga and that genius Odo Eiichiro.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
PART SEVEN:
Once back in the Rain Dinner's casino, Miss All Sunday led PEW to the VIP suite that had been prepared for him while taking to Crocodile. "I have no doubt that you're tired after your journey across the desert," she told him. "So if you want to clean and rest up before we go to dinner go right ahead."
"A splendid idea," PEW nodded in approval. "If you'd give me an hour for me to do all that I'd be most grateful."
"Not at all," Miss All Sunday smiled. "I'll make sure you're undisturbed until 6 o'clock."
"Thankyou my dear," PEW said taking his host's hand and gently kissed it causing her to give another "Fu, fu, fu," laugh before she left him.
Once he was alone, PEW locked the door and after carefully checking over every inch of the suite he shaded the windows. He then moved to the bathroom and locked that door too before moving over to the sink. He then took off the hydration pack he'd been carrying on his back, then he produced a tube from his robes. He then connected one end of the tube to the bathroom sink tap, then he unscrewed a small lid on his hydration pack and put the other end of the tube into the pack. Once done PEW turned the tap on and the sound of running water started filling the air as well as PEW's hydration pack. The information broker then took out a small personal Den-Den and dialed a number with it.
'Hello?' a male voice came from the Den-Den after someone answered the call after a couple of rings.
"It's PEW here," PEW informed his caller.
'Oh there you are at last,' the voice said in relief. 'We were starting to think you weren't going to call.'
"Please tell me you've left Whiskey Peak and are here at Alabasta," PEW said quietly while carefully watching his hydration pack fill up.
'We sure are,' came the reply. 'But…we have a little…COMPANY with us…if you know what I mean?'
"How much company do you have?" PEW asked cautiously.
'About half a dozen.'
"Well you and your partner have to get rid of them and then make your way to Rainbase as fast as you can," PEW told them as if it was the easiest thing in the world to do. "You'll find me at the Rain Dinner's casino."
'Would you mind tell us just HOW we do what you suggested WITHOUT raising their suspicions? Having Baroque Works AGAINST us is something we don't want.'
"Its very simple," PEW told his caller. "When you finish your call from me, tell your 'friends' that it was Miss All Sunday. Tell them my ship 'The Enlightenment' was seen at the mouth of the Sandora River, then tell them their orders are to strip the ship of ANY useful information as I'm not on it at the moment. Then they're to bring it to you and your partner at Rainbase, you can't go with them as you're needed there immediately. They should buy that story; they'll jump at the chance to steal from me."
'But what about your ship?'
"Not to worry," PEW said with a mysterious chuckle. "My…'partner' will handle things will handle things for your friends. So do as I told you and get to Rainbase as soon as its done."
'Okay, okay,' the caller said in resignation. 'We're on our way.'
"Good," PEW said in satisfaction hanging up his Den-Den and putting it away again. "Now I can relax for a while, once I finish filling my hydration pack."
000000000000
There were time pieces down in the depths of the sea. No clocks, watches, or sundials that marked seconds, minutes or hours. It was events of life that dictated time passages where time didn't matter so much. 'Last I hunted,' or 'since the shark attack' were common to use for most sea creatures. Everything measured their own time and thus things could be organized for one party and yet be confusing for the other. But because there was no other way to express when on one ever questioned it. For Preke "After being caught in the net," was how he constantly referred to events.
After being caught in the fishing net that had been abandoned at sea by the humans, Preke had been rescued by a 'special human.' Preke had seen special humans from time to time in his journeys swimming through the seas, they did things other humans COULDN'T. The interesting thing Preke noticed about special humans was that they were quite useless in the water. If they fell in…they sank to the bottom and drowned like an injured dolphin or whale. However, that only happened in VERY rare occasions as Preke noticed special humans tended to be cautious around the sea. Much like how he was cautious of coming onto land when he had to.
Preke had known that this human was special the moment he had freed him from the fishing net. For some strange reason the human was covered in cloth from head to feet including its hands. Making the usual 'singing' noises that humans seem to make, whales and dolphins were so much better at that, the human had returned Preke to the sea. However, Preke allowed curiosity to get the better of him, sticking to the side of the ship with his tentacles he held on until the sun had set. Once it was dark Preke had climbed on board and carefully examined the special human's ship. Normally he wouldn't bother if it were just an ORDINARY human's ship, but this special one HAD saved his life.
The ship was in semi darkness but Preke was careful, using his forward tentacles like feelers to find his way around. He found many strange puzzling things, soft colored rocks left on a fake reef, a trio of sea snails that were too big for him to eat, seaweeds on the floors that were dry and tasteless, places with water stored in them but surprisingly empty of salt and other sea life. Then had come the wonderful discovery of the area with stored foods and a large quantity of salt!
Unfortunately, Preke had let his curiosity get the better of him when he found out it was suddenly dawn and he heard the 'singing' of the special human. The tone in its song sounded of great annoyance and angry disapproval. Terrified of being discovered Preke managed to conceal himself from the special human and made it back to the safety of the sea before he was tracked down.
After that day Preke chose to stay in the sea near the ship and when tired just stuck to its hull. Thanks to his camouflage abilities it was easy to hide from the special human as well as hunt for edible sea life. Preke soon realized that the special human travelled around a lot on its ship, it was almost always starting and stopping at different islands constantly getting off and on with the same frequency too.
The next time when the special human went off the ship, Preke took the opportunity to explore it again, resulting in the same annoyed from the special human when it returned. Unfortunately, Preke got CAUGHT this time by the special human when he had been examining one of the food storages places. As he was trapped Preke was all set to defend himself should the special human attack him, he would probably paralyze or kill him with his poison tipped tentacles. However, the special human had made a firm note and then to Preke's surprise it had stepped back and indicated for Preke to LEAVE! Naturally Preke had taken the offer given to him gladly and once back in the sea he really wanted to show his appreciation.
The chance came during the following evening. The special human had gone to sleep, Preke knew this when all the lights disappeared and darkness engulfed its ship. Suddenly out of the darkness another smaller ship emerged and pulled up alongside the special human's ship. Preke knew at once that these humans were enemies. When the special human as visited by other humans, they made their presence known, or it would be waiting for them. The intended to do the special human harm, something had to be done! Using his camouflage and stealth abilities Preke managed to silently deal with the invading humans one by one, as they had obviously NOT been expecting any trouble from him.
When the special human awoke the next morning and saw what had happened it had made a note of surprise and then realization, before it made a song of praise for him. The rest of that day had the special human going over the invaders ship for anything of use before destroying it. While that was happening Preke removed the bodies to the depths of the sea for himself.
Later as the sun was getting low Preke heard a noise like a shrill note echoing in his head. Curiously Preke rose from the sea and crawled onto the special human's ship. Once on board, the note sounded louder and was coming from WITHIN the ship itself. With curiosity getting the better of him, Preke carefully followed the sound of the note, but not without being cautious as the special human MIGHT be hunting him.
Continuing to follow the note, it led Preke to the special human's domain where it was waiting for him, once it saw him enter it lifted its thumb off a small box it was holding and the note suddenly stopped. When the special human made a song of happiness Preke realized it had INTENTIONALLY summoned him and it was pleased he came when he heard the note it had made for him.
This activity continued several times for Preke as the special human was obviously testing him and the calling device. Sometimes the note came when there were other humans visiting, but it would abruptly stop. Preke came to work out that this was a PARTIAL summons to put him on alert, it was also so he could learn to be forever watchful.
Then came the day the signal was used for Preke to come save the special human. When Preke arrived he found the special human in conversation with another human, who looked rather fat, had a pointy nose, gaps in its teeth and making loud boastful singing that sounded just TERRIBLE. As the loud human was so busying singing to the special human it failed to see Preke sneak up on him until he wrapped his tentacles around its body paralyzing it. He WOULD have eaten the human but the special human made a disapproving song meaning Preke was NOT allowed to devour his catch so he didn't that time around.
Since then, Preke had loyally continued to travel around with the special human, when the ship was in motion, he'd stick to the hull eating the barnacles or passing schools of fish. When the ship stopped, Preke would swim around the ship for food while keeping a close eye on it. He did this ESPICALLY when the special human was away, that way everyone was happy.
000000000000
The afternoon sun was getting low as it slowly sank down over the horizon of the Alabastian Desert, but there was still enough light left to illuminate 'The Enlightenment.' The caravel was sitting peacefully where PEW had docked it at the mouth of the Sandora River. The silence was suddenly broken by the arrival of six armed men carrying weapons and sacks with the Baroque Works emblem on them.
"I'll be dammed," the lead man called Willard said with a grin. "They were right, it IS the 'Informed One's' ship."
"All its secrets just ripe for the taking hey boss?" a second man spoke up.
"You better believe it Floyd," Willard replied back eagerly. "Now let's get going, we can't let Mr 0 down now, can we?"
000000000000
Preke was peacefully sleeping on the side of 'The Enlightenment's' hull when he felt the vibrations wake him up. He knew at once it couldn't be the special human returning as there was more than one set of vibrations. It might be intruders trying to steal the special human's belonging again. Or it could be the special human returning with guests, so he thought about it for a moment. Then, after making a careful decision, Preke carefully started crawling up the ship's hull to the surface.
000000000000
Willard, Floyd and the other four men with them on 'The Enlightenment' were members of Baroque Works 'The Millions.' They were subordinates to the organizations Frontier Agent pairs Mr 6 to Mr 12. The six men were going with their superiors to Rainbase when they had received a call from Miss All Sunday, informing them of the Person Extremely Wanted being in Alabasta, and the location of where his ship was and all the secrets it contained. When their bosses told Willard and his men to go secure the ship on their behalf, they were only to DELIGHTED to do so. To have access to the secrets of 'the Informed One' would mean MAJOR promotion for them all. So, with his man Floyd and four other helpers, Willard had headed off to the Sandora River where said ship was.
Although the six men were happy that their objective was where it at, there WAS a problem. Despite the fact 'The Enlightenment' was empty and alone, all the hatches and doors leading into the ship were shut and locked tight. It was clear PEW was taking no chances with unexpected visitors.
"Why is NOTHING ever easy?" Willard groaned to Floyd at the new obstacle thrown before them. "Can you pick the locks?"
"I can try," Floyd said getting out a picklock. "But I have to be careful…it might be wired up to something nasty for guys like us."
"Ok then," Willard said turning to the other four men with him. "Allen, I want you Evans, Howard and Benson to keep watch until Floyd gets his job done. The last thing we want is PEW coming back and finding all of us here."
"Sure thing," Allen nodded in confirmation. "But it'll be dark soon and you know it gets REAL cold out here in the desert."
"I know, I know," Floyd said getting on with his work. "I'll try to be as quick as I can…but I make no promises. These things take time."
000000000000
Preke silently watched as the six humans began an attempt to break into the special human's ship. They were OBVIOUSLY intruders like those other humans back where they had last stopped. On that occasion Preke HADN'T killed or devoured the intruders, merely disabled them. But then he had let his boredom over come him, resulting in his exploring the ship again. Which led to yet ANOTHER annoyed song from the special human.
But he DID try and make amends by leaving a lump of strange rock it had found on the sea floor as an apology. However, it appeared that now the special human had decided to lock the ship up tight when he had to leave it, like now. THIS was Preke's chance to redeem himself, he just needed an edge over the humans. Just then he became aware of a mist which was starting to emerge from the surface of the river, as the sun continued to get lower, THIS was the edge he needed.
000000000000
"Hey," Allen spoke up. "Where's this mist coming from?"
"Probably from the river," Willard said carelessly not taking his eyes off Floyd and his work. "The water gets hot with the heat of the sun on it all day long, when the sun sets the cold air mixes with the hot water resulting in a mist."
"Terrific," Evans grumbled from his position. "First we bake our brains out and now we'll freeze."
"No kidding," Howard spoke up equally annoyed. "I hate working in the desert!"
"Oh, quit moaning you two," Benson groaned to them. "That won't get the locks open any faster with you complaining now, will it?"
"No, I guess it wouldn't," Evans said admittedly resuming his watch.
Chuckling to himself Benson continued his watch, then he frowned. On the very edge of the ship's railing there was something wriggling around like a small worm. As he watched, the wriggling object disappeared. Curiously Benson walked to the ship's railing and looked down, there was nothing to be seen but the mist and the river. Wondering if he'd been seeing things Benson shook his head, however as he was about to turn around a pair of tentacles suddenly whipped out from below. One wrapped around Benson's mouth and the other around his waist, immediately Benson went limp and fell down with a loud thump.
Hearing the thump, Evans spun around in alarm. "Benson?"
Coming forward Evans could just make out Benson's body laying propped up against the railing like he had just fainted.
"Hey Benson," Evans said in concern coming forward to examine the apparently unconscious man. As Evans knelt down to examine Benson a sudden movement caught his eye, he looked up only in time to see a tentacled mass leap towards his face before everything went black.
000000000000
Once the human he had overcome had stopped struggling, Preke released it causing it to fall on the other human it had defeated. Then, with the greatest of care, he grabbed the bodies and dragged them over the side of the railing into the river with a loud splash.
000000000000
"What the hell was that?" Allen exclaimed in alarm at the splashing noise coming from the mist.
"I've no idea," Floyd said slowly. He had stopped his work on the locked hatch the minute he had heard the noise, now he was looking around nervously.
"Benson, Evans," Willard called out equally nervous. "What was that noise?"
"They probably stumbled around in the mist and fell in the river," Howard chuckled carelessly.
"If that was the case," Allen said quietly. "We should hear them splashing around in the river, shouldn't we?"
"Allen," Willard said quietly. "Take Howard and have a look around for Benson and Evans, but be careful."
"You want us to go play hide and seek in this misty darkness?" Howard said in disbelief.
"You've got guns, haven't you?" Willard snapped back at him. "Also, you're more alert that the others are so go and LOOK!"
Reluctantly Allen and Howard started to move off in the direction of where the splashing sound had been heard.
"As for you Floyd," Willard went on. "You're taking forever on that hatch. I thought you said you could unlock it?"
"I never said I COULD," Floyd corrected him. "I said I can try and unlock it!"
As the two men argued Allen and Howard reached the railing. Of Benson and Evans there was no sign, just a slimly trail on the deck and railing.
"What the heck did that?" Howard asked with a frown.
"I don't know," Allen replied grimly. "But we seem to have a visitor."
Howard cautiously put his hand on the slime trail and it stuck to his fingers. "Whatever made this can't be too far away as this is still sticky."
"Well, where do you suggest we look?" Allen asked looking around nervously.
"Well let's try the main deck first," Howard suggested. "If we get nothing, I guess we check the river."
"Alright," Allen nodded in agreement. "But call out if you see or hear ANYTHING got it?"
"Don't worry I will!"
So, saying the two men split up with Allen going to the bow of 'The Enlightenment' and Howard to the stern.
000000000000
"I got it!" Floyd cried in delight as the lock gave a click causing the hatch to open.
"Well, its about time," Willard grumbled impatiently. He had spent the last half hour in the cold misty darkness and he was just about DONE with this job.
"Alright you guys let's go," he called out to Allen and Howard.
There was no reply.
"Allen?" Willard frowned turning around. "Howard? Where are you?"
"I haven't seen or heard them for the last thirty minutes," Floyd said nervously looking around them. "There's still no sign of Benson and Evans either…whatever got those two might have got them too!"
"If it DID," Willard said grimly drawing out his pistol. "It'll be sorry."
As Willard cautiously advanced into the mist he absently brushed past a dangling bit of rope hanging from the mast, then he stopped dead. That rope hadn't been there before, had it? And if it's a rope…, why was it all wet and slimly? Willard looked up and just had time to give a cry of alarm as the slimy wet form of an octopus fell on his face smothering him. In blind panic Willard tried to tear the creature off his hand while frantically firing his pistol with his other hand.
Floyd, who had heard Willard's cry of alarm and was rushing to his aid, only to be shot and killed from bullets from the struggling Willard's gun.
000000000000
Preke watched with grim satisfaction as the human he had ambushed had killed its fellow in its vain attempt to escape his grip. He continued to hold onto the remaining human's face until it finally collapsed and fell still due to lack of air. Once Preke was sure the human was dead he crawled off its face, then carefully wrapping his tentacles around the two dead humans he began to drag them off the ship.
As he crawled with his load Preke reflected on how well his ploy to destroy the invading humans had gone. The mist from the river had been a huge help as it hid him well enough to creep around the ship and then pretend to be roping. As Preke was a Mimic Octopus, the mimicry of other things was what he was good at. Normally Preke mimicked other fish, seaweeds and sand worms when hunting in the sea, but he was now adapted at hunting humans on the special human's ship. A FIRST for his species.
By now Preke had made it to the side of 'The Enlightenment' with his load. Letting go of one of the dead humans, Preke heaved the body he was still holding onto over the railing. Once he heard the splash of the body hitting the river Preke did the same with the other body, before he finally crawled over the raining himself and dived into the river himself.
After all that activity a heavy silence fell over the mist covered ship of 'The Informed One,' its secrets safely secured by its sea dwelling guardian, Preke the Mimic Octopus.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
There you go dear readers! PEW's 'partner' is a Mimic Octopus, which believe it or not, IS an actual sea creature that CAN mimic other sea creatures long enough to fool them and eat them. Of course, an ACTUAL Mimic Octopus can't REALLY do all the things Preke did, but I feel in the world of One Piece ANYTHING is possible.
As you guessed from reading this chapter, PEW did indeed find Preke in an old abandoned fishing net and he ended up following the Information Broker. Where they eventually came to an 'understanding' that they continue to share.
By the way there are no points for guessing WHO was the 'loud human' Preke first saved PEW from is there? *Chuckles*
Anyway, next chapter we return to PEW at Rainbase and we'll find out just WHAT he's got planned in regards to Baroque Works, and WHO he was talking to on his Den-Den. So, until then read and review like always dear readers! Good Health, Clear Body, Strong Mind!
Also please remember once again, if you don't like my work then don't read or review it! NO-ONE, is forcing you to! Peace!