One Piece: Truly Precious
Ok, thanks for all the helpful reviews and suggestions for this arc. I'm going to take all of them into consideration, especially when thinking of how Nojiko will learn to fight. But for now, the beginning of the Baratie arc will happen.
Also, I know this story will be a LuffyXHancock story, but would anyone be oppose to a ZoroXRobin and/or SanjiXNami pairing? Please let me know.
Now, let's begin the Baratie arc!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
It was a calm sunny day in the East Blue and the Straw Hat Pirates were spending it in different ways. Luffy and Zoro were exercising on the deck, Luffy by practicing punches and kicks with weights strapped to his body, and Zoro by swinging around a pole with an insane amount of weights on it while holding barbell between his teeth. The two members of the monster trio wanted to get their bodies back into shape as soon as possible. Zoro's inability to react in time to avoid Kuro's attack in their last fight showed them that while they may have their old memories and skills, but their bodies weren't up to par to use them to their fullest potential.
While they were doing this, Nami was watering a small garden section that she had put on the ship's upper deck where she had planted several tangerine seeds from Bell-mère's orchard back at her home. She was determined to grow the same grove she had had last time, but knew that because they had gone to her home early, she couldn't take the mature bushes like last time, and was forced to grow them from scratch, but she didn't mind. Gardening helped her relax.
On the side, Usopp was working on several knew shots for his slingshot and also on Nami's Clima-Tact staff. Knowing this time that she didn't want a bunch of party tricks, he was removing most of those functions and making more features that would allow her to fight harder with it. He would upgrade it further when they got dials from Skypiea, but this would do for now. Putting aside his tools, he added some powder to a formula he was working on for a new shot for his weapon, making sure the solution was heated correctly as well.
Nojiko watched all of this while working on her own fighting style. Usopp had given her two knives and holsters for her to hide under her clothes and she had begun working on learning to use them. She had taken to wearing longer sleeved outfits to hide the holsters on her arms and Usopp had begun work on holsters for other parts of her body as well as ones that would allow her to make blades extend from the toe of her boots. She was amazed how this crew worked so well together, as if they had known each other for years, but that had to be impossible, as Nami would stop in once in a while to drop off the cash, and if she knew them, why didn't she stop Arlong earlier?
Shaking the thoughts away, she sheathed her knives and turned toward Nami as the ship's navigator finished watering the tangerines with a special fertilizer Usopp had given her.
"So sis," said Nojiko, "where exactly are we going next? Going to pick up another crew member that got separated?"
She had said that last bit in a joking manor, but sweatdropped as Nami looked somewhat sheepish.
"Well actually…" said Nami.
"You're kidding?" said Nojiko, "How many more are there?"
"Well," grunted Luffy from where he was doing his forms, "after we get our cook, we'll head to the Grand Line where we'll pick up our Doctor, Archeologist, Shipwright, and Musician, along with whoever else wants to come with us."
"How did all of you get separated?" asked Nojiko, "And how and when did you all meet?"
"That's…complicated," said Nami before Luffy could blurt it out, "we'll tell you when more of the crew is together."
"You guys have so many secrets," said Nojiko with a frown, "you can't even tell your older sister, Nami?"
"It's complicated," said Nami again, "but I promise we'll tell everyone when the time comes."
Nojiko sighed, but let the matter drop, "So where are we headed next?"
"The only place to get a good cook on the sea," said Usopp, "the floating restaurant Baratie. The place where the cooks can fight, So we'd better be ready for a fight if necessary."
"Are we expecting a fight?" asked Nojiko.
"You never know," said Nami, "we are wanted after all."
As Nojiko mused this, Zoro put down his weights and looked out across the sea at a large rock in the distance before smirking.
"Oi, Nami," he said, "let's head toward that rock there. I think someone is there."
Nami looked at him before nodding and heading to change the heading with the steering stick, leaving Nojiko somewhat confused.
"How could you know that?" asked Nojiko, "Is there another old crewmate there?"
"Not this time," said Zoro.
"Then how do you know?" asked Nojiko.
"Haki," said Zoro. Seeing that Nojiko was still confused, he decided to elaborate, "Haki can be seen as the power of will and develops in three forms. The first, which I used is Observation Haki, which allows a person to sense the intent and aura of a being. I sensed the presence of some old friends of mine on the rock, so we're heading over."
"What about the other two types?" asked Nojiko.
"The second type is Armament Haki," said Zoro, "it allows you to coat yourself in an invisible armor to protect yourself and increase your strength. You can even infuse it into objects or your body to make them stronger. Armament Haki can also bypass Devil Fruit defenses. The third one can't be learned, only inherited at birth. That is Conqueror's Haki, and it gives you the power to dominate the wills of others."
"Why haven't I heard of it before?" asked Nojiko.
"Haki isn't that common a power outside of the Grand Line," said Zoro, "but it would be a good thing for the crew to learn."
"Yeah," said Luffy as he thought of Akainu, "it could save your life one day."
"How would I learn it?" asked Nojiko.
"That'll have to wait," said Nami as the ship pulled up to the small island, "those two guys look to be in bad shape."
And indeed they weren't. On the rock were two men with swords at their sides, both of them looking very ill, with one lying on the rocky surface and the other slumped next to him.
"Johnny, Yosaku!" yelled Zoro.
"Brother Zoro?" groaned one of the men, who had black hair and wore sunglasses.
"You look like you're in bad shape," said Zoro.
"It's the end for us," the man moaned, "Yosaku is already on his last ropes. We're finished. Please bury us at sea with our swords."
"Don't be so dramatic," sighed Nami.
"How dare you make light of the dying!" snapped Johnny weakly, "We've had a good run, but now it's over."
"It's just scurvy," sighed Nami, "Luffy, Usopp, get me some juice from the limes in storage."
As the captain and sniper of the crew rushed off to juice the limes, the sunglasses wearing swordsman weakly turned toward the orange haired navigator.
"Scurvy?" he asked, somewhat confused.
"It's a disease caused by malnutrition and lack of proper vitamins in a regular diet," explained Nami, "if we get some proper vitamins into him he should begin to recover, but you'll need to make sure he gets proper meals after this, or it will only come back."
Usopp and Luffy then returned with two mugs of juice that they had squeezed and began to feed it to the two sickly swordsmen. Once the mugs were drained, the two swordsmen leapt to their feet like they had been miraculously healed and began dancing around.
"A hair's breadth from death!" cried the two swordsmen as they danced around.
"YOU'RE NOT WELL ENOUGH TO DANCE AROUND!" yelled Nami in irritation.
Ignoring her, the two swordsmen composed themselves and faced the crew.
"Introduction time," said Johnny.
"We're Yosaku and Johnny," said Yosaku, a swordsman with a buzz cut and a sort of headgear on his head, "freelance bounty hunters and former companions of brother Zoro here."
"We owe you guys our lives," said Johnny, "and we never got your names."
"It was no trouble," said Luffy, "and as for names, I'm Monkey D. Luffy and this is Nami, our navigator, Usopp, our sniper, Nojiko, our scout and tactician, and Zoro's our first mate."
Luffy pointed to each member in turn with them giving a small wave as they were named. Nojiko noted that she had been given another position to think about as well, but decided to ask later.
"So what kind of crew are you guys?" asked Yosaku.
"We're a pirate crew," said Luffy, "though we haven't got around to raising our flag yet."
"Don't worry," said Usopp, "I'm just about done painting it. Just let it dry and we can put it up."
The two bounty hunters were silent for a moment before they glanced at the crew and shook their heads.
"Wait," said Johnny, "you guys are pirates?"
"Yup!" said Luffy with a smile.
"Seriously?" asked Yosaku nervously.
"That's right," said Luffy, "we even have bounties to prove it."
The rubber captain pulled out the crew's wanted posters and handed them to the two swordsmen for them to look at. A second passed as the two men read the bounties and processed the amount of cash involved in the reward. The men slowly looked up at the crew, specifically the members featured in the posters and began to sweat slightly.
"You guys will let us live, right?" said Yosaku nervously.
"Y-yeah," said Johnny, "I mean it's not like we're going to try and claim your bounties, right?"
"Shishishi," laughed Luffy, "you guys are Zoro's friends, right? So you're our friends too."
The two bounty hunters let out sighs of relief at this and visibly relaxed before turning to Zoro.
"So Zoro," said Johnny, "how did you become a pirate anyway?"
"Yeah," said Yosaku, "weren't you a renowned Pirate Hunter?"
"It's complicated," said Zoro, "but to put it simply, I owed this idiot a favor and we travel together to find our dreams."
"So where are you guys headed next?" asked Johnny.
"Well," said Nami, "we're headed to the Baratie to recruit our chef so we can avoid problems like you just faced with your diet."
"The Baratie?" said Yosaku, "Brother Zoro, we've been listening around, and we've heard that he has been heard to be in that area."
"I know," said Zoro seriously, surprising the two bounty hunters, "that's another reason I'm heading over that way."
"If you guys want to hitch a ride, then feel free," said Nami, "we can drop you guys off there if you want, or we can take you all the way to Lougetown."
"I guess we can stick around a bit longer," said Yosaku, "I'd like to know more about Brother Zoro's adventures and how he became a pirate."
"Shishishi," laughed Luffy, "then we'd better get our flag flying. We have places to get to."
That's it for this chapter. This chapter marks the beginning of the arcs with the more intense battle scenes. I can promise that there will be at least one extremely epic battle and possibly three new crewmembers for the straw hat pirates.
See you next time.
Ciao.