Hello all!
Sorry for the later-than-expected update… Seven straight weeks of archaeology can leave a person worn out. But I'm now back in business and will try to update as much as I can before the semester starts up. Thank you to everyone for waiting patiently – you're all awesome!
The people have spoken: the Straw Hat crew will be meeting up with Camie and Hatchi. But, due to the time differences that I pointed out last chapter, the meeting will happen differently than in the canon version. Onto the chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.
It was the morning after the newspaper had reached the Straw Hats. While the atmosphere on the ship was subdued, it held a new sense of direction that had been absent before the newspaper was released. Knowing where their captain was taken renewed the crew's determination. They knew what they needed to do. Now, their main worry was how they were going to accomplish it. If Luffy was with them, his luck would no doubt lead them into the hands of a much-needed ally, or he would make an ally. The only problem was that Luffy wasn't with them. Yes, that was the entire problem. If he was with them, they wouldn't have a reason to need a miracle. So it would be pointless anyway. Sanji sighed, his thoughts having taken this circular path dozens of times since the day before. But he was right, they could use a miraculous pair of helping hands right about now. If only they had even half the luck of their captain. He turned back to the meal he was preparing. He had to remind himself to make less than he normally would, as they were missing their most voracious eater.
Sanji heard when his friends starting filing into the kitchen. Usopp entered first, yawning widely and loudly: clearly he hadn't slept well. Brook was next, humming a tune out of habit. After he has settled down at the table, the door opened to reveal the two female crew members on their ship.
"Nami-swaaaan! Robin-chwaan!" Sanji exclaimed as the two women entered the kitchen. As they sat down at the table, he immediately placed their meals in front of them.
"Thanks, Sanji-kun," replied Nami automatically. She looked at Usopp and saw his tiredness. She understood, as she hadn't slept much either. She couldn't stop worrying about how they were going to get Luffy back. She had no doubts that they would, but as things stood right now, it was going to be incredibly difficult. By the time they finally reached Sabaody, Luffy probably would have been moved to Impel Down. They needed to confirm his location before they made a move. She heard the door open once more and watched as Zoro sauntered in, looking grimmer than usual. She noticed that he was in a foul mood and let out another sigh. Zoro, if possible, was taking Luffy's capture harder than the rest of the crew. He had hardly spoken a word, unless it was to pick a fight with Sanji. Nami imagined that he blamed himself for not being able to push away the debris that had kept him trapped and unable to prevent Kuma taking Luffy. Zoro sat at the table, glaring at Sanji, as if daring him to mention the circles under his eyes. Sanji, to his credit, acted as if Zoro hadn't entered and went back to serving out meals to the rest of the crew as they came through the door.
They ate silently, noticing now more than ever just how much Luffy's absence changed things. None of them wanted to talk about the inevitable. Usopp finally broke the awkward silence by saying, "How are we supposed to break in to Marineford? Since it's headquarters, isn't that where all the admirals would be?"
"Eh?! Admirals? You mean like Aokiji?!" yelled Chopper, sounding scared.
"Aokiji?" asked Brook.
"Yeah, he's a Marine admiral. His Devil Fruit abilities allow him to control ice," Nami informed him before continuing, "I've been wondering that as well. I mean, all we know at this point is that Luffy will eventually be sent to Impel Down. Chopper, when you saw Luffy's injuries before Kuma appeared, what did you think? How long do you think it would take him to recover enough to get up and moving again?"
"Since it's Luffy we're talking about… I would probably guess maybe three or four days. He was worse off than in Water 7 due to all those shadows forced into him. And he used both of his gears at the same time… But, with that bomb that Kuma set off, I'd say he would need at least five days to recover," Chopper said, sounding very worried.
As soon as the words left his mouth, the temperature in the room seemed to drop as it sunk in. They all knew that Luffy had been injured. Even before Kuma had shown up, they had sat around Luffy's injured body in Thriller Bark, discussing the seriousness of his wounds. They all looked at Chopper with a newfound respect; he had kept his cool at how injured his captain was, even when he had known the severity of it. They all had faith in his skills as a doctor, but five days? After Luffy had fought Crocodile, getting poisoned in the process, he was out for three days. After Water 7 and Enies Lobby, Luffy was out for two days. Luffy was known for his recklessness, but they had to admit that Thriller Bark was really the first time they had seen his recklessness in full force. They weren't really sure what had caused a lot of his wounds in previous battles, but they saw the strain he put on his own body first-hand in his fight with Oz and Moria.
"Five days? But… that's worse than ever before," Usopp broke the silence once more.
"Yeah, but keep in mind Luffy would have been out of it longer in Water 7 if Garp hadn't woken him up," Sanji said, lighting a cigarette. "Don't start worrying about that rubber idiot's health: the Marines will fix him up nice and neat before throwing him into a prison, just to show him how helpless he really is." This statement sent Chopper and Usopp into panic mode as they imagined the horrors Luffy would be subject to in prison.
"Would you two calm down?!" Nami yelled at Chopper and Usopp, hitting them both over their heads. "We already decided we're rescuing him so stop. As for Marineford… I feel like it might be harder to rescue him from there as opposed to Impel Down. I mean, the Fleet Admiral is there, along with all the other higher-ups. Impel Down… well, I guess I'm not too sure who guards it…" Nami trailed off, looking towards Robin.
"From what I've heard, the warden ate a Devil Fruit that gave him impressive powers. I don't know much else, but it is called the underwater prison and I believe there are five levels of prisoners. Only one man in its history has ever managed to break out, as far as I know. If we were to break in to rescue someone, it would certainly be a first," Robin supplied, darkening the mood once again.
"So we're back to square one," Franky said. "The problem is that we have no idea where Luffy is right now and how long he'll be there. Both Marineford and Impel Down sound really tough." The other Straw Hats nodded at this.
"Enies Lobby was hard enough, and that was with a train and half an army on our side," Sanji said. "But, regardless of where Luffy was taken, we have to go to Sabaody first. We are in serious danger of a food shortage and it's a good spot to leave for either location from," Sanji finished, effectively making a final decision on the matter for now. The crew looked again at Luffy's normal spot and, with a collective sigh, dispersed around the ship, preparing to land at a new island.
Half an hour had passed when Zoro spotted a small boat a ways ahead of them. He quickly called to Nami and Franky, who were standing at the helm. As soon as Nami saw the small vessel, she called to Usopp to use his goggles and see who it was.
Looking through his goggles, Usopp called out, "It-it's a pink ship… The sail says 'Takoyaki'…"
"Eh? Takoyaki?" asked Nami.
Usopp nodded in response, still staring through his goggles, trying to get a glimpse of whoever was on board the ship. The ship started turning towards the Sunny and Usopp saw a girl situated behind the counter on the ship. She wore a pink bandana over green hair and had on a white apron with some kind of logo on it. The girl had caught sight of the pirate ship and was waving at Usopp, smiling away and yelling something towards him. In response, Usopp pointed to himself, as if making sure she was actually talking to him. She nodded emphatically and turned around and disappeared into an inner cabin on her ship.
"Usopp! What is it? So you see someone on board?" Nami called, sounding annoyed.
"Y-Yeah. There's a girl… I think she makes takoyaki or something. She was waving at us before she…. oh! She's back! But who is…." Usopp's voice drifted off as his eyes got wide. The girl had indeed come back, but she was no longer alone. And Usopp recognized who she was with. Once again, he saw her gesturing to Sunny and could see she speaking to the man she was with. Usopp watched as his eyes took in the ship, and knew the moment the fishman recognized the Jolly Roger. He started sweating and looked very uncomfortable as the girl prattled on beside him, and the pink ship drew nearer to the pirates with every passing moment.
Usopp lifted his goggles and stared at Nami, wondering what to do. She was visibly annoyed now, having had her many questions ignored. But as soon as she saw Usopp stare at her with concern and fear, her anger was forgotten. Realizing the goggles were no longer needed to see the oncoming company, he shakily spoke to Nami, asking her to look at the ship for herself. She climbed up beside Usopp and grumbled about useless crewmates before turning her eyes to the sea. The minute she recognized the fishman, she froze.
"Hatchi," she whispered, barely audible even to Usopp, two feet away.
Sorry this chapter is little bit on the shorter side. I figured I'd rather give you all something instead of making you wait longer. I had originally planned to keep going, but I got to that last line and realized it was a good place to stop.
And now, I've been really bad about responding to reviews, so here I will make up for that.
laFia: I'm happy to hear that you were excited for the chapter. Here's a little more of the crew's reaction for you. And, yeah, knowing Luffy, his crew will arrive to rescue him and chaos will be what they jump into due to something Luffy did. I also agree about Rayleigh. I didn't really want to leave him out. And I'll always be a fan of the Camie/Hatchi duo.
phonenix: Well, here's the start of the run-in anyway.
PirateDragons121: Thanks for the input! Here's part 1 of the meeting.
Son of Whitebeard: I always did like Benn. None of Shanks' crew gets enough air/chapter time. Also, happy belated birthday!
horacioquinter0: Sorry for the confusion. Here is the takoyaki duo (poor Pappug, always being forgotten). And Garp… I've always imagined his life has been difficult. Roger, Dragon, whoever the heck Dragon's mom was, Ace, Luffy, and whatever else we don't know about yet. But he has a good heart, I know. Just look at Dadan and the bandits. Ah, but I digress…
Leska: I'm sorry! I know how it feels to want to read a story and the author disappears. But I've updated and I'm back! So yay!
miranda: Thank you! I'm glad you liked the past couple chapters. As for if it'll be a huge rescue party… the Straw Hat crew is super unpredictable so this story could easily take a direction even I didn't foresee. I guess we'll both have to wait and see.
smfan: So happy to hear you love the story! It warms my heart a little. The majority wanted Camie and Hatchi, so I guess I'll do it now. It will also significantly aid in the flow of the story, so I'll introduce them now. Don't worry; Rayleigh will for sure be in this story.
Black Night Wolf: Thanks for the review! I love Garp, personally. Always figured there was more to him than meets the eye. And I decided to go with Camie and Hatchi, as you can see.
LittleChomper: Sabo… hmm… It honestly hadn't even crossed my mind. I'll have to think on this one.
crazzyredhead: I'm glad you like it. As for who will show up…. I guess we'll have to see. It might be awhile because this story is already taking longer than I thought it would.
BBLimits: Thank you! I'm glad you like it. Chapter 3 was super fun to write. As I said before, I love watching past characters' reactions to the shenanigans of the Straw Hat crew. Garp is really neat and I want Oda to tell us more about him!
Thank you to everyone for the favorites/follows and the reviews! It means so much to me.