Ok! Once again! I apologize for the late update! We FINALLY finished exams and I also had a MAD case of writer's block, so I'm sorry. ON A GOOD NOTE: I've got the next couple of chapters pretty planned out, so they might be out much earlier than usual! YAY!
Anyway, this will probably be the last kinda slow chapter, THEN BE PREPARED FOR EPICNESS! (No spoilers intended)
HIDDEN SECRET! "What is 'Lamina' backwards?"
"Luffy-San! Want to hear a song?"
Luffy had just walked out of the Sunny to the encampment below where everyone was chatting with each other waiting for Bepo to respond back. Luffy's eyes lit up a bit, but he still didn't smile.
"Yeah. That sounds awesome."
Robin was off by herself in by the firepit when she looked up at Brook and smiled.
"I'll be over here. I'm working."
Zoro huffed at this and looked at her with the corner of his eye.
"What are you doing then?"
Robin looked up at him with a serious expression.
"Why I do not believe it's any of your concern."
He raised his eyebrows and headed toward the others with a suspicious frown on his face.
"What's that woman up to?"
Once Zoro had reached the circle of Strawhats and the boys, everyone waited for Brook to begin. However, the skeleton didn't do his new flashy rock 'n roll procedure. He just calmly took out his violin and began to tune.
"Oi. What are you playing?" Asked Luffy. Brook stopped tuning and lifted the instrument to his boney chin.
"Well, when I found out that you and Nami were together, my absent heart swelled with joy. See what I did there? Absent?! YOHOHOHO-"
"Yeah we get it Brook. Very funny." Chimed Nami unamused. Brook tipped his hat to her and resumed.
"Anyway. Luffy-San. You have done so much for me that I could never repay you for everything, so...I figured that it was my duty to write a beautiful song for you two." Luffy and Nami looked at each other embarrassed and waved their hands.
"Oi oi. You didn't have to go and do tha-"
"But I did. And I would love to share it."
Their ears turned pink, then they noticed the others looking at them with smiles, which made them turn even redder. Nami coughed.
"Ok ok... Play it for us then..."
Brook laughed with a "Yohohoho!" and began playing slowly. It started soft, yet upbeat, then turned into a hearty pirate tune. Everyone looked at each other and laughed. Then Brook began to sing in an energetic way.
"Well I'm sailing out far into the ocean blue,
But I couldn't do it without you,
I'm going to search for new adventures,
And perhaps I'll find something for you too.
.
Well I can't stop now, not that I would know how.
To stop would mean to leave my home,
And if I leave my home, where you would go now?
My lady of the sea?
.
Well we're drinking out Sake under the light of the blue-corn moon,
Laughing at the fat seagulls fly by,
When alls out sleeping, we are still a'creeping,
Along, speaking to the tides.
.
Well you're singing in the raining mornings of the rising dawn,
As I'm looking over a lion's head,
Knowing that anywhere we might end up is fine with me,
Lady of the Sea."
The song was repetitive, and by the third time, everyone was singing and clapping along. Nami was clapping, sitting on a log, until Brook reached a solo part, which was fast-paced and sent everyone spiraling into a crazed pile of laughing idiots. Nami watched, until she looked up and saw Luffy, faintly smiling for the first time, stretching out his hand. She gawked at him for a moment, before he sighed impatiently and yanked her up to his level.
"C'mon Nami! What's a fun song if you can't dance?"
She blushed a bit, then Luffy pouted, held her hand over his head, and somehow manged to spin her around.
"There! I got you started! Now dance party-pooper!"
Nami was utterly kerbaffled at this, then she realized. Luffy HAD hung out with pirates quite a bit when he was younger. He had wanted a musician since the very beginning. She wouldn't be surprised if he knew how to dance. She smirked at him and let go of him, spun around, and glared at him with a "let's see if you can beat me" face. He smiled subtlety again and nodded.
As the singing started again, Luffy began first. He moved clumsily, yet not completely horrific. He nearly fell over several times, which made Nami laugh. Luffy looked up panting and sweaty.
"Why are you laughing?! It's not funny!"
She covered her mouth to stop, then pushed him gently out of the way.
"Watch and learn idiot."
As the beat picked up, she began to move in a way that astounded everyone. She was graceful, yet seemed to be having fun at the same time. Luffy stared fuming comically in her direction.
"Oi...I'm not a girl so..."
Nami snorted and elbowed him.
"Did that pirate teach you nothing?"
Luffy said nothing and stepped in front of everyone.
"Oh really? Nami! Watch!"
He stepped along to the music first, before he tossed his hat in the air and caught it perfectly in time. Everyone cheered and he grinned. Then he spun it on his finger while he slowly inched his arm to it, then flicked back into the air, before kicking it backward onto his head, still perfectly in time with the music. Brook went back to the chorus and Luffy sang along, acting out the words in a very creative fashion, even if he was singing horribly off-key.
Nami watched amused, before walking next to him and sliding in front of him, purposely trying to annoy him. He frowned and comically shoved her to the side and continued. Then she returned and duck-slapped him away. It went on like that for a while before Luffy accidentally tripped and fell onto Nami. They were both really into the music, so they just grabbed each others hands and began to dance together in unison.
Finally the song was coming to a close and the two broke out of their daze and Nami found herself stopping at Luffy's chest with a small spin right when Brook lifted his bow. They stared at each other with confusion before they heard the Strawhats and the boys woop and cheer for them. Even Robin had torn herself from whatever she was doing to throw a rose in their direction. They pushed away from each other awkwardly and Brook tipped his hat.
"Ah! That was so beautiful my eyes are beginning to tear up!" He paused. "OH! But I don't have any ey-"
Nobody was paying attention to his joke and he faded into another depression.
"Why?"
Arsen and Arlen pet the skeleton on the head sympathetically.
Chopper plipped on Nami's head and started sobbing in happiness while Franky was weeping over by Robin, and Zoro slapped Luffy on the back.
"Good job Captain. Work on your footing."
"Aa!" Luffy announced with his grin finally back on his bright red face.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Oi!"
After everyone finally settled down, and Nami tried once again to get Luffy to eat with no avail, Chopper had gone to play with Usopp. However, Usopp was nowhere to be found.
"EVERYONE! USOPP'S MISSING!"
"Eh?" Luffy raised his eyebrows and headed toward the reindeer.
"Where is Usopp?"
"THAT'S THE PROBLEM! I DON'T KNOW YOU IDIOT!"
Everyone looked at each other alertly before Robin looked up.
"Usopp ran after Sanji last night after everything. Yet he hasn't returned..." She sat in a thinking position. "I hope Mr. Cook didn't use his flesh for some sort of rare dish..."
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU WOMAN?!" Zoro yelled for the third time in several days. Chopper ignored her and tugged at Luffy's pant leg.
"Luffy. What should we do?"
Luffy didn't answer, then he rubbed his neck.
"Knowing Usopp, he probably won't just let that ass go..." He hesitated on the insult. "Let's just wait to see if he turns up. If he doesn't come back tonight, we'll go see whats up."
"Aye." Retorted Chopper nervously.
Just then, a faint "Puru puru puru puru." came from inside the Sunny. Everyone looked at each other and ran back into the dilapidated ship. Once they reached the Den Den Mushi, Luffy picked it up.
"Yo!" He said quickly, trying to act professional, but failing horribly. Everyone facepalmed.
"Hello. Is this the Strawhat Pirates?" Asked the strangely serious voice of Bepo.
"Aa. What you think of?" He said confidently with horrific grammar. Nami shoved Luffy comically out of the way and a sweat droopy dripped on her head. Luffy crashed into a wall.
"Sorry about that Bepo. So, what did you come up with?"
"Well, it's quite simple really. But Father Bear and Brother Bears are much stronger than you may think. And plus, you said their were over a billion Animal-Warriors?"
"Animal-Men? Yeah, about that many."
"Alright. I'm going to tell you something. Something I haven't even told Captain yet. Alright?"
Luffy huffed next to Nami, and irk mark pursing over his head. Nami just ignored it.
"Alright."
Bepo sighed over the snail, then began.
"As you probably already know, us Bears were the only Animal-men left in the world. Our race had been wiped out during a large war on our home island of Lamina Ridge. Back then, Animal-Men were probably the weakest race out there. Now my father, or Teddy Bear as you know him, fled Lamina with us, but Mother Bear had been too frightened to go anywhere, and, despite our protests, stayed on Lamina while it burned to the ground."
A long pause, then he continued.
"Father Bear was in a dark, dark fury over the war. I mean, who wouldn't be? However, he went too far. After sailing aimlessly together, we drifted to an Uninhabited island. One with a large, beautiful waterfall in the exact middle of it. This is the island I assume your on, right?"
"Yeah."
"Ok." Another pause. "I was probably about twelve when we reached the island. All I wanted to do was let the past go; If we were the last ones left, why couldn't we just reproduce with humans to at least preserve a trace of the Animal-Men? But the others, my father especially, would not let it go. Still understandable. But once he began combining travelers that just so happened to pass by the island with animals, I had began to be a bit wary everything. He called the project "The Rehabilitation of the Animal-Warriors." However, I truly believed it to be wrong when I met the two boys."
"Arlen and Arsen?"
"Hai. At first I treated them like shit, like Father and Big Brothers. But one day, I somehow found myself in the stump-basement they lived. They were fed only the tiny leftovers that we didn't eat from OUR meals. I tossed them a piece of bread and they cried and thanked me until they fainted. (What's with all the fainting they do anyway?) From then on, I stole from our ever-shrinking food supply and gave them a PROPER meal everyday. I would play with them and tell them stories too while they ate. We became great friends."
"However, maybe a couple months later, Father Bear explained the entire project to me. He told me that one day, when he created enough Animal-Warriors, that he would set out to sea and just obliterate anyone who crossed his path. Then he said that he would become the Pirate King, just because."
"When he told me this, I thought of the boys. Not everyone was bad. Wouldn't that just be the same thing as what those people did to us? We fought long and hard, but he eventually won, due to the fact that I had inherited my mother's cowardly personality.. Father told me that he didn't need a third son, one that was like his stupid wife. I told him that I would set off to sea and become a GREAT pirate; one that would put his uncivil beasts to shame. And that I would see the day where I would see everything that this ocean has to offer on one map, even this island no one ever knew existed. Then I left, and here I am now."
After Bepo was finished, a long silence swept the room. Luffy was the one to break the silence. He angerly glared at Nami, who gave him the receiver. He began in a forceful tone.
"Listen, Bear-Guy, I don't know many things. I don't know why people think that it's ok to kill people, I don't know why that bastard would call his own wife stupid. I don't even know HOW they can bring themselves to do those things.."
He paused for a second.
"But I do know one thing."
The Strawhats smiled and rolled their eyes knowingly.
"I WILL become the Pirate King, so you don't need to worry about that. Alright?"
"Aa. Thank you. Just don't kill them please."
"You know us. We wouldn't."
The snail smiled happily, then he hung up and everyone stared at each other with evil-looking grins on their faces.
"Looks like we have yet another reason to kick their asses."
"Yep. Let's go."
"HOLD UP!" Squeaked Chopper. Everyone snapped out of their comical evil and watched Chopper waddle over to Luffy.
"Aw. Chopper you ruined the bloodthirsty rage moment!"
"Nevermind that! I need to check something."
Chopper told Luffy to sit on the ground as he removed his chest bandages. Everyone became bored and just chatted with Franky about the Sunny. Suddenly, an angry shout came from Luffy.
"WHADAYA MEAN I CAN'T GO FIGHT?!"
Chopper gave a mean expression and wrapped a new bandage around him.
"Your wounds are still way too bad! You're lucky that I let you move around as much as I did! It would surely kill you if your scars opened up!"
"SHUT UP! I'm fighting!"
"If you fight, they would open up for sure!"
"I don't care!"
"I won't let you fight Luffy!"
Chopper and Luffy were nose to nose before Robin separated them with two hands. Chopper stood up and packed up his pack.
"If you fight, you'll die."
"No I won't."
"Trust me."
"I do. But I'm not going to die from petty stuff."
"It's not petty. It's a serious injury."
"Let me talk to him Choppy." Nami stepped in. She crouched next to him and looked at him angerly.
"Luffy. We can handle it. Don't risk your life for something this small."
"If it was small I would let it go." He replied. "But those bastards hurt you, and the Tassel-Heads, and Bear-Guy! Like hell I'd let them go after that!"
"Zoro and everyone can beat them. Don't you trust us?"
Luffy opened his mouth to counter, then closed it and looked away indignantly.
"You should let us do some of the hard things sometimes. You need to stop thinking that you're the only person who can do anything. We can take over."
"But-"
"There's no buts. We will beat them, bring back Usopp (*koff koff* and Sanji-Kun too *koff koff*) and then we'll all have fun and party again! Alright?"
Luffy pouted stubbornly, then his eyes lowered and he muttered "Alright." Nami smirked and bonked him over the head.
"OW! What was that for?!"
"For being a stubborn idiot!"
Everyone laughed and waved at Luffy and the boys, and headed toward the waterfall triumphantly.
XXXXXXXXXX
Once Luffy was sure that they were gone, he sneakly got up, crawled into Sanji's tent, took out the leftover piece of meat, and nibbled half-heartily on it.
"I need to have some strength if I'm going to fight in this condition..."
Finally he stopped, uncharacteristically leaving quite a lot left, and straightened his hat.
"Alright. Let's go." He said to himself as he walked toward the waterfall, preparing for an awesome fight.
Meanwhile, Arlen and Arsen had noticed Luffy walking away, and silently followed after him.
Oh my god. Finally! I was WAITING to FINALLY explain all of that Bepo stuff! Now I can finally start writing interesting things! *dies*
Anyway, I hope it was semi-interesting, and like I said, the fic will pick up GREATLY next chapter!
Also, on one last note, the fic has entered the "Close to complete" zone, as there will probably be a MAXIMUM of six more chapters left. Now don't fret, I already have plans for a new LuNa! YAY!