One Piece: Truly Precious
Thank you all for your input and support for my last chapter. I hope you find this one to be just as good, or hopefully, even better. I have been trying to draw out the different arcs, but with the crew's prior knowledge and skills, they are going to tear through the East Blue thugs. I hope you liked how I dealt with the whole Black Cat Pirate situation and I can promise you that I have something good planned for the Baratie arc.
Enjoy. ;)
Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Oda-sensei.
"Here we are!" said Luffy as he stepped onto the beach of the Gecko Islands.
"So what are we doing here again?" asked Nojiko as she stepped onto the sand.
"We're here to pick up our Sniper," said Luffy with a grin, "he should be around here somewhere."
As if summoned forth by their conversation, about a dozen pirate flags emerged from the bushes and were waved around.
"Halt you pirates!" a familiar voice echoed out, "I am Captain Ussop, ruler of this island and commander of a mighty army of bloodthirsty warriors! If you think you can just set foot on this island, then you'll have to fight us!"
"There's another pirate crew on this island?!" exclaimed Nojiko.
"I wouldn't worry too much," said Nami.
"Why not?" asked Nojiko, "I mean, I know you guys beat Arlong, but this is an army of mighty warriors!"
"Wait," said the voice, "you guys beat Arlong?"
Luffy smirked, "That we did. And we have a combined bounty of 134,000,000 berries! So do you really want to fight us, Ussop?"
Nojiko noticed that the flags had stopped waving and were now trembling from hearing about the strength of the crew they were threatening.
"So what's it gonna be?" asked Luffy in a dangerous voice, "Are you man enough to follow through with your threat, or will you run and live to fight another day."
Before the voice could answer, the flags fell to the ground and the scampering of feet could be heard fading into the distance as the members of Ussop's 'crew' ran in fear of this crew's power.
"Looks like your crew's abandoned you," said Zoro, "so why don't you come out and greet us in person, instead of playing pirate with three kids."
At those words, the voice laughed and a slim figure with a long nose stood up out of the bushes.
"It's good to see you guys again," said Ussop.
"Good to see you too, Ussop," said Nami, "this is our new crewmate, my sister Nojiko. She's going to be coming with us on this journey."
"Well, nice to meet you," said Ussop, "I'm captain Ussop, the great and mighty warrior of the seas!"
"And a notorious liar," added Nami, causing Ussop to face fault.
"A-anyways," said Ussop as he tried to recover, "let's head into town and we can catch up."
The group nodded and Ussop led the way into the village. Once there, the group gathered in a tavern where Luffy ordered a mountain of food and Zoro and Nami ordered some grog for themselves.
"It's great to see you guys again," said Ussop. He had gotten the cue from a look from Nami that Nojiko didn't know about their return from the future, "so what've you guys been up to?"
"Nothing much," said Zoro, "we beat a few pirates, and sunk the Black Cats when they shot at us."
"Right," said Ussop, "the Black Cats. That reminds me, Kuro's still here. How will we deal with him?"
"We have to wait for him to tip his hand," said Zoro, "we don't want him to strike out preemptively."
"Who's this Kuro person?" asked Nojiko.
"Remember the pirates that attacked us on the way here?" asked Zoro as he sipped his drink, "He's their captain."
"Why is he here?" asked Nojiko.
"It's a complicated story," said Zoro, "and one we can't share in public without the risk of causing a panic. To make it simple, we're going to beat his ass."
"So," said Ussop as he tried to change the subject, "what made you want to join our crew, Nojiko?"
Nojiko looked down at her glass as she answered, "I watched these three fight and save our village, and I decided that I wanted to become strong like them, so I asked to join them so I could learn to fight."
"That's a worthwhile goal," nodded Ussop.
"So how exactly did you guys get so strong?" asked Nojiko as she looked at the Navigator, Captain, and First Mate of the Strawhats.
Zoro shrugged, "I trained my ass off and fought against baboons that copied the skills of powerful warriors, including the strongest swordsman alive."
Luffy paused as he ate, "I fought giant beasts on an island with harsh weather while foraging for food and such."
"I trained my body and mind on a island that was really a man eating plant," said Ussop.
Nami answered next, "I just studied a lot."
Nojiko sweatdropped at their answers, "Is that what I'm going to need to do to become strong?"
"Not necessarily," said Nami, "you'll need to find out what you're good at first before you begin training."
"What kinds of skills do you have?" asked Ussop.
"I'm good at sneaking around," said Nojiko, "and I'm rather flexible."
"I've got it!" said Luffy around a mouthful of meat, "you can be our scout!"
There was silence for a moment before Nami spoke up, "That…isn't a bad idea actually."
"We'd have to work on your stealth," mused Zoro, "but that shouldn't be too hard."
"I'm sure I could make some items for you so you could conceal weapons on your person at all times," said Ussop.
"Then it's decided," said Luffy, "now lets think of a way to deal with the glasses bastard here."
xXsceneXx
Meanwhile, a slim man wearing a suit and glasses walked through the corridors of a large mansion. Stopping, he raised his had and adjusted his glasses with the base of his palm.
"Where is that crew of mine?" he muttered, "They should have reported in by now. I won't be able to hold off my plans for much longer. The liar brat suspects something and he has the ear of the little princess. If he influences her too much, she might learn the truth, and if I simply kill him, she will become suspicious. I must move carefully."
With this, the man continued on his way through the large mansion, unaware of the new arrivals that would throw a wrench into his schemes.
Poor Kuro, he doesn't know he's going down hard. I hope you liked this chapter. Please read and review.