ONE PIECE
Two Worlds, One Family
A young woman struggling to find her place in the world wakes up to find a bunch of cats in her room...cats that turn out to be the characters from her favourite TV show, One Piece! Bound to each other, whether they like it or not, and trying to figure out a way to find a certain somebody's lost Nakama and get everyone back to their home, what follows is bound to be chaos, friendship, tears, romance - and, adventure! (Kind of a re-write of Straw Cat Pirates).
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Good Chef, Bad Chef
When Emma woke up the next morning to her alarm going off, at first she wasn't sure why she had set it. Then, everything came crashing back to her, and she jumped up, realising that it was 'go and find another cat day'. She quickly got dressed in black jeans and her 'toughen up princess' singlet. She grabbed a black scarf and her long black jacket, since it seemed cold out, and hurried out to the kitchen, intent on getting out of the house without waking her parents - she would leave them a note.
She went through the games room, singing to herself. "We, are...two in a million, we've got all, the love, we could be given, if the w-" She trailed off, when she walked into the lounge-room, and both her parents were up. "Aah! What are you guys doing up?!" She cried.
Lee sipped her coffee, trying to hide a smile. "That's what I'm asking you - it's only, what," she checked the kitchen clock. "Eight o'clock?"
Emma shifted uncomfortably. "Umm...oh...right, well...okay, fine, I'm going out today!" She blushed.
"I figured as much." Lee flicked open a newspaper. "Mind telling me where you're going?"
Emma gulped. "Umm...out...with...Ace-Chan..." She said the last part quietly, but her Mother heard her.
Lee raised an eyebrow. "What did you call him?"
Emma cringed - damn lack of honorifics in Australia! "Umm, it's...it's a term we use, some of the guys and me...it's a Japanese thing."
Lee nodded. "Uh-huh. Just don't overdo it."
"What do you mean?" Emma asked, as she made herself a coffee.
"Don't talk about just anime, like you do at home." Lee said, and Emma bristled.
Turning around, she said: "Ace-Chan happens to like anime." Well, that was sort of true. When he'd been staying here, he'd been really into the One Piece anime, and he'd watched a few episodes of Dragon Ball Z (maybe they should hang out with Peter and Ashlee, since they watched DBZ?).
Lee sighed. "Don't get narky with me. What time can we expect you home?"
"Hmm, not sure yet..." Emma replied carefully, pouring her coffee into the traveling cup. "Sometime late - we're going to spend the whole day out."
"How can you? You haven't got any money." Lee pointed out.
Emma gritted her teeth. "Then, can I have my card back?"
"Absolutely not." Lee said firmly, putting down her newspaper.
"Mum!" Emma couldn't believe it. "Why not?"
"Because you don't need it."
"But you just said..."
"You haven't got any money, anyway." Lee stated. "You still owe your Father and I five hundred dollars."
"Can't we just forget about that?" Emma asked, her shoulders slumping.
"No." Lee stood up. "You've got to learn some responsibility before you can start doing these things, Emma."
"Mum, I'm twenty-three nearly." Emma said hotly, grabbing her bag off the kitchen table. "I go to TAFE, and I have a boyfriend now!" There, she'd said it. I've also been to sea and to war, but she doesn't need to know that. She crossed her arms, knowing that she probably looked like a stubborn little kid right now, but she couldn't help it - she was shaking with anger. She'd been in such a good mood when she'd woken up, after a nightmare-free night, and only the thought of seeing Ace later on stopped her from completely screaming at her Mother. Yelling wouldn't do her any good right now. As Sarah sometimes said, and as Shanks said once: You have to choose your fights.
"If you carry on like this, you're not going out today."
Yup, better to just steer clear of this one. But...
"I thought you liked Ace-Chan..." Emma said over her shoulder, as she grabbed her mobile phone.
"We do." Bruce spoke up from the kitchen. "But..."
"With a boyfriend comes responsibility." Lee finished.
Emma rolled her eyes. Oh, sure, they tell me that now...then again, I suppose they've never really had a reason to tell me this before...
She thought about this as she continued singing on her way down to the car, unawares that both of her parents could hear her.
"Make sure you call me when you get there!" Lee reminded her.
"Never had a dream come true, until the day that I found you..."
Emma parked the car on the street, and got out, locking her car. She turned around, and hitched her bag up onto her shoulder, before taking a deep breath. She was immediately glomped by Sumi.
"Emma-Chan!" Sumi complained. "They won't let me go with you guys!"
"Huh? What?" Emma gently pushed the blonde nurse off of her. "What do you mean? To Syrup Village?" Sumi nodded. "Who said that?"
Sumi pouted. "Ace-Kun and Garp."
"Well, why not?" Emma wanted to know.
Sumi waved her hand distractedly. "Oh, something about the Marines finding us, and me getting killed, but that's not the point!" She crossed her arms. "I'm a pirate, and I've been to sea and to war - I think I can handle a simple search and rescue mission!"
Emma stared at her for a moment, before she was distracted by a crash that came from inside the warehouse. She and Sumi exchanged a glance, and then hurried inside, to find Luffy running through the warehouse with a plate of bacon in his hands, and Garp and Ace were chasing after him.
"They've been chasing him for twenty minutes now." Sumi remarked, smiling. "The bacon's probably stone-cold by now." She added, and Luffy froze.
"Oro?" He looked down at the plate, just as Garp and Ace caught up to him, crash-tackling him. The plate went flying out of his hands, and was caught by Sumi.
She held the plate out to Emma. "Bacon, Emma-Chan?"
"Oh, arigatoo, Sumi-Chan." Emma accepted some of the bacon. Then: "Heeey, wait a minute..." She said suspiciously. "You're not trying to bribe me into letting you come with us, are you?"
Sumi grinned slyly. "Maybe..."
Emma already had the bacon in her mouth, and was chewing thoughtfully. She swallowed. "Well...it might have worked..." She admitted.
Sumi looked thrilled, but Ace and Garp were immediately there to say no.
"She can't go with you, it's too dangerous!" Garp protested.
Sumi glared up at him. "Hey, old man, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, I'm not some wimpy Marine, after all!"
"Wimpy?!" Garp yelled. "You think that the Marines are wimpy?!"
"Sure do!" Sumi replied, tilting her chin up. "I hate World Nobles more, though." Her hand went to her neck. A sudden thought struck her: What if I get captured again?She glanced at Ace, but he was too busy gazing endearingly at either Emma or the bacon to notice that she'd sobered.
Emma, however, noticed but, before she could ask anything, Usopp suddenly made an entrance, or at least tried to, anyway. The problem was the huge backpack he had on his shoulders, and Emma had a sudden vision of him rolling all the way down a hill, and being stopped by Luffy and Zoro.
"This isn't a camping trip, Usopp." Nami scolded, coming in through a different doorway. She wore a very light backpack, that probably had only three things in it, and a scowl, which brightened when she saw Emma. "Emma, tell him that it's not."
"It's not." She told Usopp automatically, and he slouched. "What have you got in there?" She added, in a kinder voice. Poor Usopp was probably just excited about going back to to his home, and didn't want to forget anything. Maybe he could bring a few things along?
"Well, I've got a compass, cooking fuel, flash light, one of those knives with all the things..."
"Forget it. Leave them." Emma would have sweat-dropped, had she been in an anime or a fan-fiction. Where did he get all that stuff?
"I'm ready to go!" Chopper chirped up, appearing from behind Nami, with his little backpack full of medical supplies on his back. "I can't wait to see your village, Usopp!" He added, and Usopp's expression immediately cleared.
"Yeah!" The long-nosed young man grinned, trying to hitch up his bulbous backpack. "So, are we going or what?"
"Not with that you're not!" Nami snapped, smacking him on the back of the head.
Sumi, meanwhile, seemed to have vanished, but Law had shown up. He strolled into the room, looking perfectly at ease despite Nami hitting Usopp and Garp scolding Luffy and Ace gazing endearingly at Emma.
Ace, however, had a sudden thought. "Hey, isn't it kind of redundant to have twodoctors going along?"
Law gave Ace a sharp look. "Problem?" He asked calmly.
"Not unless you remove the redundancy." Ace replied, just as calmly.
"Ooh, big words - when did you get time to look them up, narcoleptic?" Law smirked.
"When I was browsing through Emiko's bookcase yesterday." Was Ace's answer.
They both turned to Emma who, at that time, was kneeling down so that she could speak to Chopper.
"I'll make sure to help if anybody gets hurt." Chopper was saying.
"Aww..." Emma grinned. "You are...so...cute!"
Chopper blushed. "H-hey...calling me cute won't make me h-happy or anything...jerk!" He danced a happy little squiggle dance.
Emma giggled, completely taken in by the utter cuteness of it all.
Law and Ace stared at her for a moment, before turning back to each other.
They were just about to resume their argument, when Luffy piped up with: "Okay! Time to go!"
"Yeah, let's hurry." Usopp agreed. Since he had finally shed his backpack, Nami let him go. She came with him as he walked over to where Emma was.
"Wait, where's Zoro?" Emma looked around, and then spotted him coming out of the kitchen. She clicked her fingers. "Come on, sword-boy, let's go."
He glared at her.
She cringed. "Oh. My apologies." She bowed.
"Don't bow to him!" Nami rolled her eyes. She clicked her fingers. "Zoro, hurry up - you're holding us back!"
His glare was wasted on her.
As they all knelt down so that they were at Chopper's level and able to still hold hands, Emma glanced up at Garp, who nodded to her, and she closed her eyes and began to concentrate.
As she felt her powers begin to take effect, however, something seemed off...she wasn't sure what it was, until she heard Garp shout: "WAIT!"
But, it was too late, because they were already gone.
The eight of them landed in a heap on the steep slope of a shore.
"Owch!" Nami complained. "Hey, shouldn't we bring pillows with us if we're gonna keep doing this? The ribbons...they do nothing!"
"What are you complaining about?!" Zoro demanded to know, from the bottom of the pile. "You're the one who's on top!"
"Oh, right. Sorry." Nami replied, not sounding very sorry at all, as she hopped off of the pile, and left the men to get themselves up. "Okay, is everyone present and accounted for?" She began doing a head-count. "Me, Luffy, Ace, Law, Sumi, Zoro, Usopp, Chopper...okay, yep, that's everybody..." She trailed off. "Wait a minute..."
Everyone's eyes widened, and they looked over at the blonde-haired nurse. "SUMI?!"
Sumi grinned. "Mochiron." She leaned down and picked up Emma's compass and necklace. "Does this happen every time?"
Nami pounced at her, and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her furiously. "Why did you come here?! This isn't your mission! You had no right to tag along! Explain yourself right now! No, better yet, just go home right now!"
Ace calmly got between them. "No way of sending her back until we find Emiko, so we'd better start searching for her." He gave Sumi a Look. "And you...best behaviour, understand?"
Sumi rolled her teal eyes. "Coming from you, that doesn't sound right..." She noticed the way that he was looking at her, and sobered up a bit. "Sure thing, Ace-Kun."
Oh sure, pay attention to him. Nami thought wryly.
Luffy was looking around. "We need to find..." Everybody looked at him. "The meat guy! I remember he had a great selection of veal medallions here last time!"
Everybody else groaned.
The blonde cat with the luxurious tail stretched, and padded across the kitchen. He loved spending his time in here even though, at the moment, he couldn't really cook without opposable thumbs. Oh well. He still liked to watch the chef of the mansion prepare meals, though he had to refrain from offering his advice.
Being the cat that belonged to the mistress of the house certainly had its perks - like being allowed to sleep in her bedroom.
Of course, she didn't know that he was really a human. She didn't need to know that, and it wasn't like he was being perverted about it or anything.
As he walked across the kitchen, he was suddenly startled by a flash of bright light that seemed to come...from the nearby cupboard? Walking over to it, the blonde cat looked curiously at it, before pressing the button that opened up the door.
At once, something red crash-tackled him, and he landed on the tiled floor with whatever had just appeared in the cupboard on top of him.
Shaking his head, the blonde cat blinked, and stared up into the gold eyes of another cat. It was red, with white markings on its face and, due to the red ribbon that was tied around its neck, he assumed that made this cat a girl.
"Umm..." She said softly, closing her eyes and shaking her own head.
She could talk!
"Mellorine!"
The red cat gasped, and opened her eyes very quickly. "S-Sanji?!" She blinked, her face very close to his.
"You even know my name!" Sanji silently cheered. He was hoping, all of a sudden, that this cat was really a human, just like he was. Oh, please, say she was really a human! "And, may I know your name, my dear?" He asked her, suddenly really loving the position that he was in right now.
"Umm..." She said quietly. "It's..."
The door to the kitchen suddenly opened, and footsteps could be heard.
Sanji watched as the red cat leapt off of him like she was on fire, and darted back into the cupboard. He heard the clatter of a mixing bowl, and then the cupboard door shut.
Kaya, the beautiful blonde-haired, blue-eyed owner of the mansion, came into the kitchen, looking around. She spotted Sanji, who immediately stood up, and meowed a happy greeting to her. He liked the pretty, kind-natured girl.
"Oh, there you are." She smiled to him, and knelt down, putting her hand out to him.
He nuzzled against it, and then nodded towards the cupboard where the other cat had hidden, meowing again.
"Hmm? What is it?" Kaya asked, looking at the cupboard. "Something in there?" She opened up the cupboard.
Inside, an over-turned mixing bowl appeared to be shaking.
Kaya blinked, and then reached out and picked up the mixing bowl, which she set down beside her, as the red cat with the red ribbon looked up at her in panic.
"Oh, it's okay, I won't hurt you." Kya said reassuringly, putting her hands out to the new cat. "It's okay...come here..."
The red cat crept forwards, and then sat down, meowing softly.
"You're the second cat that's come here, after Chef." Kaya smiled, and the red cat glanced quickly at Sanji. "That's what I named him because he's always watching the chef cook meals." She tapped her chin with her finger, thoughtfully. "Hmm, now...what should I name you? How about Madoka?"
The cat shook her head, and then looked startled. Oops, that wasn't very cat-like now, was it?!
Kaya blinked. "Umm, okay, maybe not...hmm...how about Red-Hair?" The cat just sighed. "Okay, let's see then..."
The red cat meowed again, carefully stepping down from inside the cupboard, and looking up at Kaya curiously.
"Oh, I know!" Kaya smiled. "What about Grace? You look like a Grace."
The cat just looked up at her.
Just then, voices could be heard from within the mansion, and Kaya immediately began to look worried. "Oh dear, not again..." She stood up, and walked quickly out of the kitchen.
Sanji sat down, looking worried as well. "Not good...they've already been here twice this week..."
"Who?" The red cat asked him quickly. "Who is it?"
"The World Government has been showing up here, looking for people that aren't here." Sanji explained, not sure how much he should be telling this stranger, but he was surprised when her eyes lit up with recognition.
"Oh my God, no!" She cried. "They were serious..." She looked all around her. "What do I do?! What do I do?!"
"Hold on, calm down!" Sanji said quickly, not wanting the girl to be upset. "First off, who are you?"
She swallowed, and sat down again. "Okay...my name is Emma. Like you, I'm not really a cat, I'm a human."
"Emma-Chan..." Sanji sighed dreamily, and then he became serious. "Okay so, how do you know that I'm not really a cat?"
"Because I know your crew." She replied, and he looked straight at her. Was she serious? Were Luffy and the others really okay? Seeing his expression, she clarified: "I happen to know that Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Chopper are in this town right now, and they're looking for you. I can explain more later but, right now..."
"They're in trouble." Sanji realised.
"Mmm." Emma nodded.
"Oh yeah, that was go-od!" Luffy cheered, as he finished his fifth helping of veal medallions at the Meshi Restaurant.
"Mmm, yes, this was exquisite." Sumi agreed, smiling happily. "I'd almost forgotten what it's like to eat like this again."
"You shouldn't even be here at all." Nami muttered, angrily stabbing at her meal.
"Mmm...are you going to eat that?" Luffy asked her.
Nami turned slowly to him, and nodded. "Uh-huh."
Just then, the door to the restaurant was swung open and, although the group couldn't see who had just come in, they heard the voices.
"I saw them with my own eyes!" Somebody said.
"It's unbelievable!" Another added.
Then, one exclaimed: "What on Earth would World Nobles be doing here?!"
Sumi gasped, and stood up, her face draining of all the remaining colour that it had, to be replaced with a very pale colour and terrified look.
"See, this is why I didn't want you to come along!" Ace snapped quietly, as they all stood up.
"What are World Nobles doing here, though?" Usopp asked quietly, anger creeping into his voice. "They'd better not do anything to disrupt the peace of my village, or they'll have you guys to answer to!"
Zoro rolled his eyes.
A nearby villager overheard them. "They came here with the Marines who have been patrolling these waters recently." He explained.
"That still doesn't explain what they're doing here." Nami said, keeping her voice down.
"They say that one of the Saints is looking for his fourteenth wife or something like that." The villager replied, and then looked at Nami and Sumi. "You two would do well to keep your heads down." He added.
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Sumi whispered, looking terrified.
"I don't see why they'd be looking for his wife in a place like this." Nami said and, ignoring the glare that she got from Usopp, continued: "I mean, they can hardly stand to breathe the air that we 'commoners' breathe, so..."
"There's many strange things that have been happening around here, Miss." The villager told her. "There have been Marines and World Nobles and Government Agents coming and going as of late." he looked at Usopp. "Usopp, you and your friends should leave out the back way."
They all nodded, and Usopp led the way. Sumi was shaking so badly that she had to hang onto Ace.
Nami noticed that her hand was at her neck again, and she looked more scared than Nami could ever remember seeing her.
Ace was grim-faced, and Luffy recognized that look - what had happened between Sumi and the World Nobles?
Emma and Sanji peeked around the corner, looking down at the first-floor of the mansion.
Kaya was standing next to Merry, and talking to two Government Agents. They knew that the two strangers were Government Agents, because of the symbols on the lapels of their jackets.
"I keep telling you, we haven't seen anybody like that here." Kaya said quietly, and calmly. "Now, please, I must ask that you leave."
"Yes, please leave." Merry added, more firmly.
"Look, we've been doing our research." One agent said, in a gruff voice. "We're aware that you," he looked at Kaya. "Were once friends with a member of the Straw Hat Crew - Usopp."
Kaya looked confused. "Yes, he grew up here and we were friends, but I don't see what that has to do with me now - Usopp hasn't been here in months, he's out at sea."
The two agents exchanged a glance, and then nodded. "You're going to have to come with us then, Miss." He reached for her arm.
Merry's eyes widened, and he moved to place himself between Kaya and the two men. "Now see here! This is highlyinappropriate!"
Sanji's eyes (well, the eye that was visible, at least) were flashing. "Yes, how dare they treat a lady like this!"
Emma gasped, and moved in front of him quickly. "Don't do it, Sanji-Kun! It's like jumping into a bee's nest!" She whispered fiercely, as the two agents pulled out pistols.
"Don't make this hard for us, old man." One of the agents stated firmly.
"It's alright, Merry." Kaya said, still calm. "I'll go with them, and then they'll see that this is all just a misunderstanding. I've done nothing wrong, and I know this."
"That remains to be seen." One of the agents said, grabbing her arm roughly.
Emma had to jump on top of Sanji to stop him from doing something reckless.
Merry spoke forcefully. "Then, I must ask that you allow me to go with you, as well."
"Not going to happen." One of the agents, the one not holding onto Kaya, stated coldly. "We have orders to apprehend all those associated with the Straw Hat Pirates, and that's just what we're going to do." He held the door open, not realising that Merry was also associated with Usopp, or deeming him too unimportant to take with.
"Let's go, Miss." The other agent led Kaya away.
She glanced over her shoulder, and smiled reassuringly at Merry. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." She told him, as the door closed behind her.
Merry sank to his knees. "Kaya-Sama..."
Emma and Sanji looked at him, and then Emma got off of Sanji. "Come on, Sanji-Kun - we need to find Luffy and the others."
Sanji nodded, and got to his feet. "Right - lead the way, Emma-Chwan."
How come I've suddenly got '-Chwan'?Emma rolled her eyes. "Okay...I don't know my way around here, though, so let's just hope I don't got lost..."
"Don't worry, I'm sure that you're not anything like that mossball-swordsman." Sanji assured her, and she tried not to laugh. Oh, this was going to be interesting...
Life is not kind. Life can be mean.
Today, life was not being nice to the Straw Hat Pirates.
They were trying to make their way discreetly out the back way, past the crowd that had gathered to watch the World Nobles go by. It still seemed so strange that World Nobles could be here, in the tiny Syrup Village that seemed almost too peaceful to be disrupted with such big world matters.
Usopp, however, stopped.
The others turned around questioningly.
"Usopp?" Nami looked at him strangely, seeing that he was shaking.
"I can't allow them to be here..." Usopp muttered, looking angry. "Not here, in my village. This is not Sabaody Archipelago...they shouldn't be here."
"So...what do you want to do about it?" Luffy asked him, knowing full-well what Usopp intended on doing.
"What we did before..." His knees were shaking, though.
"Usopp, your knees are shaking." Chopper pointed out.
"I...I know!" Usopp tried to stop them from shaking. "But...I was just so happy to be back here, seeing all of these familiar faces! This has really ruined it for me, though!"
"Usopp, calm down, we'll stop them." Zoro said calmly. "We can do this without making a scene, can't we?"
Everyone just stared at him.
He sighed. "Okay, fine, whatever."
Sumi looked horrified. "Wait, wait, wait...you guys are actually going to mess with World Nobles?!" When they nodded, she looked at Ace. "Ace-Kun, tell them no!"
Nami gave her a Look. "What's the matter, Sumi? What are you so scared of?"
Sumi glanced at Ace again, and then looked down at the ground. "I...I suppose I should tell you..." She muttered, and Ace put a comforting hand on her shoulders. "B-before I joined Ace-Kun's crew, back when I was twelve...I...I was a...a slave...to a World Noble..."
Nami gasped, and Usopp and Chopper looked stunned. Luffy had no expression on his face whatsoever, Zoro looked stoic, and Law was nodding like he had expected her to say that.
"That was how she got her Devil Fruit power." Ace explained quietly. "And, her scars." He added, and she nodded.
"See, you should've just stayed back at the warehouse." Nami scolded her gently. "I wish you had told us about this sooner." She added, a bit more kindly.
"Hmm..." Sumi stared down at her feet.
Just then, a voice shouted out: "You there! Stop!"
Luffy and Zoro exchanged a glance.
"Do we know that voice?" Luffy wanted to know.
"Yeah..." Zoro said slowly. "That one guy...from Sabaody...what was his name...? Charlie-something...?"
"Charloss?" Luffy suggested.
"Yeah, that's it." Zoro nodded. "We should stop him." He added casually. "Before he picks his next wife."
"That woman shall be my next wife!" Charloss declared. "Bring her to me!"
"I'm afraid we can't do that," another voice said. "She's a suspect in a World Government affair."
"Are you defying me?!" Charloss cried.
"This is why I don't like World Nobles." Sumi muttered.
"Hey, we don't like them very much either." Nami pointed out, just as a trio of voices shouted out in unison.
"Leave Kaya-San alone!"
Usopp's eyes widened, as Luffy looked shocked, Zoro cringed, and Nami gasped.
"Well, so much for staying undercover!" Zoro muttered, as they raced towards the scene.
"Stop, wait!" Kaya cried, rushing forwards and standing in front of Carrot, Onion and Pepper, with her arms out on either side of her. "Don't do it, they're just children!" She then gasped, as a golden pistol was pointed at her.
"I thought you wanted to marry her, you baka." Charloss' sister, Shalulia, muttered, rolling her eyes. Like Charloss, she was wearing a square-shaped bubble over her head, which wasn't the same one as the ones they wore in Sabaody. I didn't want to come here, this place is full of nothing but commoners and riff-raff...
People began gasping, and pleading.
"No, please, not Kaya!"
"Kya-San!"
"Please, don't do this to her!"
Kya was scared, but not as scared as she would have been prior to her encounter with a certain terrible pirate crew. Her run-in with the Black Cat Pirates had strengthened her resolve to protect all of those who were dear to her, even against the World Nobles that clearly did not belong here. She had kept her promise to Usopp, and not told anybody what had almost happened. However, something in her had changed, and people could see that. They knew that it must have something to do with Usopp (people could be very perceptive when they wanted to be).
Kaya said, in a strong voice: "You are disrupting the peace of this village. You should leave now, please."
"How dare you speak to me like that, woman!" Charloss cried, gritting his teeth as he pointed his pistol at her. "Women should be seen and not heard!"
He fired a bullet at her, and people screamed.
Kaya gasped, and closed her eyes, but she didn't move from her position.
There was a slight clang, and Kya opened her eyes, as people gasped in shock.
Where was the bullet?
Kaya looked around, and then she spotted it, lying on the ground several feet away from her, next to...a small iron ball?
"Wha...?"
"Well spoken, Kaya!" A familiar voice to her called, and she looked over in shock, to see...
"Usopp!"
He grinned, having deflected the bullet with his sling-shot. "You expected somebody else?"
"I'm here, too." Nami said, from a different position in the crowd.
"Me too." Zoro was standing across from her.
"Remember me?" Luffy stepped out of the crowd, and grinned. "We thought we'd drop in and say hi."
"It's Straw Hat Luffy!" Somebody shouted.
"And Usopp! Welcome back, Usopp!" People cried.
"Yes, welcome back!" Carrot, Onion and Pepper cheered, hiding back in the crowd (hey, they were only kids, after all).
They must have heard about all of my brave adventures on the sea, and that's why they're so happy to see me! Usopp thought, smiling proudly.
Charloss looked like he was about to faint, as he staggered back. "It's you! The Straw Hat Pirates who hurt me in Sabaody!" He cried, and then looked at the two Government Agents. "Don't just stand there, shoot them! Shoot them!"
Usopp cringed, as the two agents drew their pistols but, in a second, Zoro had cut them down with his swords.
Luffy was looking calmly at Charloss, but there was a certain amount of anger in his eyes. "Oh, yeah, I remember you." He said, nodding. "I never expected to see you here, though." He added.
People suddenly gasped, because Shalulia was standing next to Kaya (without standing too close to her), and had a pistol aimed at the blonde-haired girl's head. "You Straw Hat Pirates didn't forget how I said that I'd make you pay for humiliating me and my family, did you?!" Her eyes hardened, as her finger squeezed around the trigger. "Now I'll make you pay with this pathetic piece of trash's life amasu." She squeezed the trigger fully, and fired a bullet.
Sumi suddenly came flying out of nowhere, grabbing Kaya and pushing her out of the way of the bullet, which grazed against Sumi's shoulder. She bit back a scream, knowing that it wouldn't do any good, as she and Kaya landed roughly on the dirt ground.
"Are you okay?" Sumi asked Kaya, who nodded, but then her brown eyes widened at the sight of Sumi's shoulder. "It's fine, don't worry about me." Sumi stood up, and so did Kaya.
Sumi turned, glaring at the two World Nobles.
"Women should be seen and not heard, is that it?" She asked, her voice shaking - whether from anger or from fear, nobody knew. "Let me tell you something then - that's exactly what he said to me, way back then." Her fists were clenched and, as they watched, she activated her Devil Fruit powers. Her wings unfurled on either side of her back, and the lightly glowing halo appeared around her head.
The crowd, which had moved back, was staring on in shock. They had never had anything like this happen to them before - first World Nobles, then the return of Usopp and his crew-mates that were suddenly big-shot pirates, and now a mystical-looking angel girl! It was proof that their world was changing, and them with it.
Usopp was also shaking slightly, from anger at the way his village's peace had been disrupted.
Shalulia was glaring angrily at Sumi. "You little bitch su!" She snapped. She made a big show of rolling up her left sleeve, to reveal a Baby Den-Den Mushi.
Sumi's eyes widened in horror. "She's calling an Admiral!" She gasped, as the blood began to drip down her shoulder.
"No, she's not." Ace said calmly, suddenly standing beside Shalulia, who gasped and jumped back, but Law was there to intercept her.
"The last thing we went is them getting involved." Law smirked, grabbing Shalulia's wrist, and allowing Ace to remove the Baby Den-Den Mushi from it, much to her complete horror.
"Let go if me, you filthy low-life commoners!" She screeched. "Charloss, don't just stand there, do something su!"
Charloss rolled his eyes, and lazily reached for the Baby Den-Den Mushi on his own wrist but, before he could do anything, two furry shapes came flying out of nowhere, latching onto his arm and biting down - hard. Charloss screamed, and flailed, as the two cats and the Baby Den-Den Mushi came flying off his wrist.
The cats landed on all-fours, and the red cat immediately began to spit out the blood. "Eww, yuck, I got some in my mouth!" She complained.
Ace's eyes widened. "Emiko?"
Sanji dropped the Baby Den-Den Mushi on the ground (free of its wrist-watch-like band, it immediately made a break for freedom). "You did fine, Emma-Chwan." He said, carefully licking his black paws.
"Sanji?" Nami blinked.
Sanji immediately bounded over to her. "Oh, Nami-Swan!" He gushed. "You're here!"
Kaya was looking between Nami and Sanji. "Umm...Chef...?"
Sanji glanced up at her. "I apologize, Kaya-Chan, for not telling you the truth."
Nami stomped on Sanji a bit, realisation suddenly dawning on her face. "What have you been doing, huh?!"
"Oww, Nami-Swaaaan..."
Kaya looked confused. "What do you...mean?" She wanted to know.
The Straw Hat Pirates cringed slightly. Usopp looked about ready to kill Sanji.
Emma, meanwhile, had gone over to Sumi. Sumi looked down at Emma, and then stooped down, and held the compass out to her. She touched it with her little white paw, and the pinkish-red light emitted from it. When it touched Sanji his body, with its head still under Nami's foot, transformed back into a human, much to everybody's shock.
Kaya stared at the man that had once been a cat, taking in the pinstripe suit, the short, cropped light blonde hair, the curly eyebrow, and the cigarette that seemed to have appeared from nowhere. "He's a...human...?" She whispered, sinking to her knees.
"Sanji..." Usopp said, looking furious, as he tried to control his temper. "What did you...?"
"There's no time for this now." Zoro said suddenly, as the two Government Agents staggered to their feet, having regained consciousness.
"What now?" Nami asked worriedly. "If we don't do something, they're going to call for reinforcements."
Usopp was struggling to come up with a plan, just as Chopper appeared from within the crowd.
"Aurgh, a tanuki amasu!" Shalulia cried, pointing dramatically at it. "Kill it, kill it, or at least take it far, far away from here!"
"That's it!" Usopp exclaimed, as Chopper huffed at being called a racoon-dog. Usopp turned to the others. "As much as I hate to say this, killing them wouldn't be the best idea, so we'll just remove them from this island!"
"How do you intend to do that, Usopp?" Zoro asked, as the Government Agents advanced on them.
Usopp grinned. "Just leave everything to Emma and Sumi."
Nami rolled her eyes. "Of course. Hey, but, you know what? That's not a bad idea. If we can just knock them out, then Sumi and Emma can take them off the island. Solves all our problems!"
"Why does it sound so simple when you say it like that?" Usopp wondered.
Back in Perth, Georgia clicked away on her I-Pad, drawing something that she wasn't sure what was...until she realised that it was the necklace she was supposed to get.
Sighing, Georgia set down her tablet, and lay back on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. Carmilla...what in the worldhappened to you? Rolling over onto her side, Georgia looked at the photo on her bedside table, of her and her sister. if I can just get that necklace off of Emma Pax, then I can get to where my sister is...right?Georgia couldn't believe that her quiet and shy classmate had something to do with Carmilla's disappearance. I have to get that necklace before the police move in. Georgia realised. Otherwise, I may lose my chance to save my sister, since the police said that they didn't want me interfering anyway...Georgia frowned. I also have to do it before any of her friends show up...
How that weird anime that Emma and Sam both watched could be real, Georgia knew not, but it seemed that the police were starting to catch onto it, as well. Georgia had even watched a few episodes of it and, if it did turn out to be real, then she didn't want her sister anywhere near that other world! Not where there were sea dragons and crazy pirates everywhere! Carmilla was a policewoman, for sure, but she was still only human.
Georgia's eyes traveled to her calendar. The day after tomorrow was Tuesday...they had Chris' class in the afternoon, where they were working on developing their designs for their booklets...Georgia had a sudden vision of a heart with wings, making a reallygood design for a jewellery booklet.
Georgia gritted her teeth, and then nodded. Little Death had said that she would find Georgia when Georgia secured that necklace. Then, and only then, would she help Georgia to go to that other world...
The people of Syrup Village looked shocked, as they stared at the two unconscious World Nobles and the two unconscious Government Agents.
As Nami and Usopp were apologizing to the villagers for all of this, and Luffy and Ace were watching Sanji and Zoro argue, and Law just stood back, smirking, Chopper was busy fixing up Sumi's shoulder.
"There." He said, smiling. "All better." He finished tying the bandage around the wound, which wasn't too deep.
"Thanks, Chopper." Sumi replied, straightening up.
Kaya smiled down at Chopper. "You're a very good doctor." She told him.
Chopper blushed. "Saying that to me...doesn't make me...happy, or anything...jerk!" He began doing his happy little squiggle dance, and Kaya and Sumi both started laughing, as did Emma, who was watching.
Zoro looked over at them. "Hey, if you've got enough time to stand around chatting, why don't you do something about them before they wake up?" He jerked his thumb over at the four who were unconscious, and Emma and Sumi nodded in unison.
"How are we going to get them up, though?" Sumi wanted to know.
Usopp looked thoughtful. "Oh, I know!" He pointed to the sky. "Sumi, if you take Emma with you and fly up there, then Emma can create some sort of net with her powers."
Nami looked impressed. "Good thinking, Usopp!" She praised him.
"She said 'good thinking'!" Usopp looked stunned.
"And 'Usopp'." Luffy added.
Sumi reached down, and picked up Emma carefully in her arms. She then flew up into the sky and, thinking about it, quickly transferred the heart-shaped necklace to the red cat's neck.
Emma closed her eyes, and focused her powers. "Ribon-Ribon No..." She said, feeling the ribbons snake down from her body, and hearing peoples' gasps she knew that she must be doing it right. "Net!"
When she opened her eyes, Emma saw that her ribbons had formed a red and gold mesh net beneath her, big enough to carry all four bodies (which made it sound really weird) that were thrown unceremoniously into the net, which carried them out to the ocean.
"There!" Emma said, noticing a teensy-tinsy island, only about five acres, which was far enough away that the ones they were leaving there wouldn't try and get back to Syrup Village.
After they did what they had to do, Sumi and Emma started back to the island, but Sumi stopped, remaining motionless as she noticed somebody flying towards her.
"Who's that?" Emma squinted, her eyesight almost as bad as it was when she was in her human-form.
"It's...I think it's Marco!" Sumi cried, and indeed it was.
He was flying towards them, with that lazy grin on his face. "Hi, girls." He greeted them.
"Don't you 'hi' me!" Sumi snapped, but she was smiling. "Where have you been? And...how did you get back here?"
Marco fixed her with a steady gaze. "I think you know." He replied. "You have to have noticed it about your own powers as well."
Sumi nodded slowly. "Yeah...sort of...but, I didn't know that you had the ability to inter-dimensional travel."
"I don't," Marco replied. "But, Oyaji and I summoned one of the goddesses - she helped us to all get back to this world."
"Oh, so everybody else is here, too?" Sumi realised.
"Yoi." Marco nodded. "We heard that the World Government has its eye on this Blue, so we're going to stay here for awhile and do whatever it is that we have to do."
"That's perfect, Marco-San," Emma spoke up, flicking her ears a few times. "Because, the guys just knocked out two Government Agents and two World Nobles, and we just dropped them off on that really big rock over there." She jabbed her tail in the direction.
Marco laughed. "I don't doubt that, but...Sumi... He turned serious all of a sudden, which was very rare for him. "How did you go with...?"
"I managed." She said tightly, and then sighed, when Emma glanced questioningly up at her. "Okay...Emma-Chan, you see..." She trailed off, and the only sound was the steady beat of her wings. "Before I joined Ace-Kun's crew, I was a slave to a World Noble."
Emma gasped, her hazel eyes finally understanding the scars around Sumi's neck.
"But," Sumi went on, in a much stronger voice. "Thanks to Ace-Kun, I was freed from all of that. Nobody will ever take my freedom away from me again!" She declared. "I made that promise to somebody else..." She added, in a much softer voice, and neither Marco nor Emma missed the sadness in her tone. "He once said, that if he ever saw Saint Jalmack, he'd..."
"Nyaaaa!" Emma yelled, flailing suddenly at the mention of the World Noble's name, and this caused Sumi to accidentally let her go.
Emma plummeted but, before either of the flying Zoan-users could react, a figure in a sweeping black cloak appeared, catching her in his cold arms.
"Ssso, we meet again..." Twister said, looking down at Emma. "You've gotten ssstronger, but not nearly ssstrong enough..."
"Yeah, so who've I gotta beat?" Emma wanted to know, digging her claws into his robes to avoid falling into the water - the ocean was right below her, after all, and was that a shark she saw?
"You know..." Twister intoned, holding out his scythe, which he used to draw circle in the air, and a picture appeared within it. It showed a pink-haired boy breaking a huge metal disc with a single punch, and then zoomed up closer to him to reveal that it was none other than Coby.
"What the Hell?!" Emma cried. "You mean I have to defeat him?!"
"Don't underessstimate him." Twister said, as they watched Coby suddenly falter, and looked around anxiously. The image panned out again, to reveal none other than Admiral Sakazuki, walking next to a tall woman with long black hair.
"Wait!" Emma cried, leaning so far forward that she was in danger of falling into the picture. "That's Carmilla! She's the police officer who arrested me back in my world, and I think she's the sister of one of my classmates!"
"Yesss..." Twister nodded. "You mussst be careful of thisss classssssmate of yoursss."
Something about Twister's voice reminded Emma of Geoff Parry from Seven News, all of a sudden. "What do you mean? Does Georgia know about all of this?"
Instead of answering, Twister simply used his powers to transform her back into a human, and then he vanished, leaving her to fall again. In desperation, Emma yelled: "Ribon-Ribon No Kite!"
It was like her net-version, except that it appeared above her, not below her, and seemed to have the same usage as a hang-glider, which caught the wind and brought her back up to where Sumi and Marco were.
"We'd better get back, Emma-Chan." Sumi said, looking a little bit shocked.
"Hang on, wait a minute, Sumi-Chan." Emma said, as she drifted along slowly beside the two winged-people. "Listen, about what you said...about that World Noble..." She had a serious look on her face, and an intense look in her eyes. "If we meet him...I have my own reasons for hating him, and so do Luffy and Ace, even though they don't know it. So, don't worry - he won't ever hurt you again."
Sumi looked surprised, but then she smiled. "Arigatoo, Emma-Chan."
~Flash-Back~
It was sunset, a beautiful orangey-sundown that made this particular part of the New World famous. Sumi climbed the ladder from the crow's nest, unable to keep her mind off of the various happenings. Ace had come here with the intent to kill Whitebeard and now, all of a sudden, they were joining his crew?!
It seemed so strange to Sumi. Ace had always seemed so sure of himself, so confident, and now he looked lost, so much that she could hardly stand to see it. She wished that he would go back to his usual, enthusiastic and happy-self, but there seemed to be nothing that she could do about it. It didn't seem fair - Ace had already helped her so much and now, when he really needed help, she couldn't be the one to do it.
So wrapped up in these thoughts was the blonde-haired girl, that she didn't sense the presence in the deck below her. Her hand slipped suddenly, and she fell - her first reaction was to activate her Devil Fruit powers, which she did but, unfortunately, the deck was a lot closer than she thought it would be.
So, she only had time to flip herself over, and that was when she saw the man standing beneath her - he was tall, with a brown pompadour hairstyle, and a black goatee. Well, there was nothing she could do, as she landed heavily on top of the man, knocking him to the deck as she landed on top of him.
She was left sitting on top of him, blinking at him in shock.
Her face paled - what would he say?
The man grinned, and said: "It looks like an angel has fallen out of the sky."
Sumi blushed, and carefully removed herself from the man, flying gently back so that she was standing on the deck, and watched as he got to his feet, and dusted off his posh uniform. She thought she recognized him - she'd seen him around a few times. Thatch, or something like that...he was a Commander, she thought...
Oh no! She'd just fallen onto a commander!
Sumi bowed hurriedly. "Ah, gomenasai, Thatch-Sama..." She was blushing furiously by this stage. Why, of all the people in the world, did it have to be a commander, and a handsome one at that?!
Thatch's laugh interrupted her thoughts. "No harm done." She glanced up - he was smiling at her. "Sumi, right? You're the nurse that came in with the Spade Pirates, aren't you?"
"Doctor." She corrected him, straightening up. "Somebody had to be there when Ace-Kun needed CPR."
Thatch laughed again. "I can imagine." He told her. "I like you, Sumi - I think we should be friends. If you need any help around here, just let me know, okay kid?"
"O...kay..." She said slowly, shrugging, as she shook his hand. She smiled.
If only she'd known how fated that one meeting had been...
Sumi smiled, as she rested her chin in the palm of her hand, with her elbow propped up on the windowsill. They were at Kaya's house (mansion), after being invited back for afternoon tea before they left. Everything had been explained to Kaya and Sanji, and now they could relax...a little bit.
Sanji was in the kitchen, preparing the afternoon tea. Everybody else was sitting in the parlour, although it seemed a bit strange to see the likes of Luffy and Zoro sitting in a fancy parlour, not to mention Ace's lack of shirt.
The former Usopp Pirates were also there, and sat on a couch that was big enough for the three of them. Usopp sat on a couch opposite to them (with a coffee table in between them) and told them the story of how 'he' had saved the Straw Hat Pirates from Enel. Luffy, Chopper and Zoro sat next to him - Zoro was asleep, and Luffy and chopper were laughing at Usopp's retelling of their adventures in Skypiea.
Ace and Law were sitting on another couch, at opposite ends, as far away from each other as they could get. Despite having worked together to stop Shalulia from calling an Admiral, the two were no closer to being friends than Usopp was to stop telling such tall tales.
The girls were all sitting by the window, with Nami and Kaya sitting in fancy sofa chairs, and Emma and Sumi sitting on the window-seat.
"Hey, Sumi-Chan," Emma tapped Sumi's shoulder (the non-injured one). "What's up? Why so pensive?"
"Oh, I was just thinking." Sumi said, smiling slightly. "Everything's changing, isn't it?"
Nami nodded. "Yes, it is." She agreed.
"I feel a lot better with Oyaji patrolling waters here," Sumi admitted. "But, I still feel like something's wrong..."
"We'll work this out, Sumi, for sure." Nami told her, smiling confidently.
"Yes," Kaya nodded in agreement. "After seeing how you all handled that crisis today, I don't doubt that you can handle anything that they throw at you."
"Even though we're pirates?" Sumi asked her.
Kaya giggled. "Who knows - maybe it's because you're pirates?"
They all began giggling at that, causing the boys to glance over at them.
Zoro woke up, and raised an eyebrow. "How is it that girls can become friends so easily?" He wanted to know.
Just then, the doors to the parlour opened, and Sanji and Merry came in, pushing the tea carts that held all of the treats that Sanji had just finished preparing.
"Oh, wow!" Emma, Sumi and Kaya all breathed in unison, and Nami began to grin, as Sanji pushed the cart their way, glaring at Zoro and Luffy and Usopp, as if warning them to wait.
"Mademoiselles," Sanji said, bowing elegantly. "I have prepared these delicious treats for you this fine afternoon." He began setting plates out in front of them. "For the beautiful Nami-San. For the sweet Kaya-Chan. For the lovely Emma-Chan. And, for the angelic Sumi-Chan."
"Oh, you're too kind." Sumi replied - something about Sanji reminded her of Thatch...a real ladies man, but very kind-hearted. The thought made her smile, as she gazed out at the sweet tea, and delicious-looking cakes and sweets.
"Thank you very much." Kaya said to Sanji, bearing no ill-will towards him for fooling her - unlike a certain other cat, Sanji had meant her no harm.
"I've always wanted to try Sanji-Kun's cooking!" Emma said softly, a smile on her own face.
"Believe me, you'll not want to eat anybody else's cooking after you try this." Nami assured her.
Well, that just made Sanji's day, as he turned into a happy squiggle-man of happiness.
"Hey, Sanji!" Luffy called. "What about ourtreats?!"
Sanji gave him a Look. "Yours is on the other cart." He gestured to the one that Merry was pushing, and the poor butler was nearly bowled over by the hungry men.
The girls giggled again, as they began to eat their afternoon tea.
Emma smiled as she sipped on her tea, although she couldn't help but feel that she had forgotten about something...
As they all made preparations to leave, Usopp seemed to be struggling with himself, like he wanted to say something to Kaya, but couldn't bring himself to do it.
He was staring across at her, as she was talking to Sumi, Law and Chopper about medicine. the conversation appeared to be quite interesting, as all four of them were talking quite animatedly about it.
Luffy, Sanji and Zoro, meanwhile, were thanking Merry for the food and for the supplies, and the butler was saying that it was nothing, and that he was happy to help them.
Emma stood back with Ace, and looked up at him. "Ne, Ace-Chan..." He glanced down at her. "How much of my manga did you actually read?"
Ace scratched the back of his head. "Well, just the first part...I really didn't want to read past my death."
Emma nodded, feeling relieved - that meant that he didn't know that Saint Jalmack was responsible for killing Sabo. If he found out, then he would probably do something reckless - she didn't want him to upset things anymore than they already were.
Sumi had been right - things really werechanging. They had meant to change at Marineford, with the deaths of Ace and Whitebeard, but Emma herself had prevented that from occurring.
I get the feeling that...things are still meant to change drastically... Emma thought, as she leaned against Ace's arm, placing the side of her face against his tattoo. This era is about to end...I don't know why, but I can just feel that things are about to change...well, as long as we're all together, then that's fine...
She smiled. "Hey, Ace-Chan, do you believe in fate?"
He nodded seriously. "Sure. The tooth fairy, too."
Emma froze for a second, before she stomped on his foot with all of her strength. "You totally ruined my moment!" She yelled, as she stomped away from him.
"Wait, what did I say?!" He called after her, surprised that she'd had enough strength to possibly bruise his toes with just her foot.
"You know!" She snapped. "I don't wanna talk to you for the rest of this thing!"
As the sun set, Kaya and Usopp faced each other, smiling.
"I was so glad that I got to see you again, Usopp." Kaya told him, her golden hair waving gently in the breeze. "Promise me that you'll come back and visit me soon, okay?"
Usopp nodded. "Of course I will - and that's no lie." He added, and Kaya grinned.
She surprised him then, with a sudden hug, and everybody who was watching saw Usopp blush.
"Oh, so that's how it is." Nami grinned.
"Seems so." Zoro smirked.
"What's going on?" Luffy was confused, and Nami and Zoro just sighed.
Sanji looked upset that Usopp got a hug goodbye but, then again, he was leaving with three other pretty girls, so he wasn't too upset.
As they prepared to depart, Sumi hugged Kaya, and said: "Kaya-Chan, Marco said that he'll be dropping by soon to check up on you, so watch out for a phoenix man with a pineapple haircut."
Ace and Emma started laughing, and so did Kaya, as she recalled seeing the phoenix-man flying over when he'd dropped off Emma and Sumi. She would look forward to that visit!
Onboard the Moby Dick, Marco suddenly frowned. "Yoi...I don't know why, but I have the sudden urge to hit Sumi..."
Vista, who overheard him, laughed, as he ran a hand along one side of his moustache. "Probably better if you don't - you know how protective Ace is of our little sister."
Marco nodded in agreement. "Yoi - if anything were to happen to her, then I don't know what Ace would do...he told Thatch he'd look after her, after all..." He added, glancing up at the setting sun. And, the word of Portgas D. Ace is a promise...
Emma, Sumi, Ace, Law, Luffy, Nami, Chopper, Zoro and Sanji walked into the warehouse back in the other world, to find Garp glaring daggers at Emma's handbag.
"Umm, Grandpa, why are you having a staring contest with my handbag?" Emma wanted to know. She couldn't wait to hear this.
Garp pointed at it. "Because something in it has been...doing something, all bloody day!" At his words, David Draiman's voice began to sing. "See, there it is again!"
Emma gasped. "Oh my God, that's my mobile phone! Mum's been trying to call me!" She pounced on her bag, and pulled out the pink mobile phone. She answered it. "Hel-hello?"
"Emma, where have you been?!" Lee shouted, so loudly that everybody could hear her, and Emma had to hold the phone away from her ear. "I have tried to ring you eighteen times today, was your fucking phone on silent again?!"
"Mum, I..." Emma was horrified.
"I would have thought that somebody who finally got a boyfriend would be responsible, but you've proved me wrong! I should have known that you were too young to handle these things, just like you've always been!"
"Mum, wait..."
"It's just like when you were fucking addicted to Ritalin, and couldn't control yourself! You're like that with everything, Emma!" Lee didn't realise the nerve she'd struck, not being able to see her daughter, but everybody else saw it - Emma had frozen, and gone ghostly pale. "You spend all of your money, drink all of our alcohol, and you don't even answer your phone when we call you - your sister's broken her arm, and you don't even care!"
Emma was too frozen with shock to do or say anything, but Law did.
He just walked forwards, and knelt down, gently taking the phone out of Emma's hand. he lifted the phone to his ear and said: "You don't know your daughter very well, do you?" He then hung up on her (luckily, the disengage button was in a blaringly obvious red).
As soon as he did, Emma seemed to 'come alive', and threw her arms around him, as she started to sob.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry that you all had to hear that!" She cried, as the others approached her.
This was interrupted by the phone ringing again.
Garp held out his hand. "Here, give me that." He said, and Law rolled his eyes, but handed the phone over anyways. Garp figured out how to answer it (without wrecking the dainty little pink phone) and said, in his gruff voice: "This is Ace's Grandfather - we'll keep Emma here tonight and return her to you tomorrow, and I don't want to hear any complaints!" He sounded like he was addressing soldiers, which is probably why Lee was too stunned to answer as Garp hung up the phone (praise that red button).
He then looked at Sanji. "Hey, kid, you're a chef, right?" And, when Sanji nodded, Garp said: "There's a kitchen down the hall - you'd better get cooking now if you want to feed this lot in time, because at seven o'clock, we go live!"
Sanji nodded, glancing at Emma, whose shoulders were still shaking.
"Come on," he said to Usopp, Chopper, Luffy and Zoro. "You guys can help me get all of this stuff into the kitchen."
They nodded, and followed him, along with Garp, leaving Law, Ace, Nami and Sumi to calm Emma down.
When she'd calmed down enough to let go of Law (not that he really minded her hanging onto him, of course), she sat with her legs crossed, Indian-style, and explained what she knew they all wanted to ask her, but didn't.
"I have ADD, which stands for Attention Deficit Disorder." She told them, staring at her compass rather than looking at any of them. "It's a chemical in-balance in ones brain that makes them have trouble focusing, or paying attention. It also makes us have trouble starting and sticking to tasks at hand. I have it, and so do my sister, our Dad, and his Mum. It's hereditary." She traced a hand carefully along the edge of the compass. "In 2008...that is to say, five years ago, Mum and Dad sent me to the doctor to get prescribed a drug that could help me to manage it. It was called Ritalin, and it's an amphetamine."
"Ah." Law and Sumi said in unison, understanding immediately.
"I...I'm ashamed to admit that I did become addicted to it..." Emma lowered her head, her face blushing. "I liked it so much, that I used to just live from one hit to the other. I isolated myself so that I could just do the things that I wanted to do when I was 'high', and I even shunned away my Dad's birthday in favour of this." She clenched her fingers around the compass. "I lost ten kilograms in two months because it's an appetite suppressant, and I even used to take extra ones when Mum and Dad didn't know about it. But, the worst thing that I did was waste two thousand dollars that my Dad spent on my first TAFE course, because I was focusing on what I wanted to do, rather than my studies, and I stopped going to my classes. Then, one night, I even went for a long drive without telling anybody, which scared the Hell out of my parents. I eventually made the bid to go cold-turkey, and I haven't looked back since, but I'm still a horrible person for doing that to them...and to myself..." She finished in a whisper, her eyes filling up with tears again.
The four surrounding her all spoke in unison.
"Emma..."
"Emma-San..."
"Emiko..."
"Emma-Chan..."
She glanced up.
Sumi cleared her throat. "First of all, Emma-Chan, that was not your fault. It was your parents' decision to send you to the doctors, not yours. You were only...how old? Seventeen? At the time."
"But I became addicted..." Emma muttered.
"You said so yourself," Law said calmly. "That it was a chemical in-balance in your brain. You yourself had no control over how your brain would take it, and it's unfair to blame yourself." He shrugged. "I think stopping the medication was a pretty smart move, wouldn't you agree?" He looked at her, and she nodded silently.
"You can't keep beating yourself up for things that you did in the past, Emma." Nami said gently. "Believe me, it never does you any good. You're not a horrible person for it, either, so don't you go thinking that for even a second."
"Nami..." Emma felt the tears threatening to escape from her.
"Hey, Emiko?" Ace wore a very serious expression. She glanced up at him, suddenly afraid that he would say that he didn't want to date a former druggie (not that that's what she'd been, but that was how she saw herself). "I just wanted to say..." Emma's face was pale again by this stage, and she was having trouble breathing. In-out-in-out-out-out...oh, shite, breathe in, breathe in! "I'll do my best to understand what you're feeling from now on. I'll be there for you when you're troubled, and I won't let you suffer alone in silence. You and I both know that isolation is the purest form of Hell so, no matter what happens, I won't let you sink that low again. And, even if you do, I'll try to stay above so that I can pull you out of it." He grinned suddenly. "After all, that's what a boyfriend's supposed to do, ne?"
Emma stared at him in shock. "Aww, Ace-Chan...I'd do the same thing for you..." She suddenly leaped at him, throwing her arms around him happily. "My main village man, you are the best!"
"Village?" Nami repeated, rolling her eyes, but smiling, as she watched the two lovers embrace. She watched as Sumi picked up Emma's phone, and figured out how to take a photo with it.
Nami also noticed that Law looked annoyed.
Just then, Luffy poked his head into the room. "Hey, dinner's almost ready!" He announced and, indeed, it seemed that Sanji was cooking a feast fit for kings - the scents coming from the kitchen made everybody's mouths water, as Emma and Ace pulled apart, looking sheepish. "Hey, where's Emmy going to sleep - in Ace's room?"
Ace looked thoughtful, and Emma blushed.
"No, toast-for-brains!" Nami scolded her Captain, as she got up. "Emma can stay with Sumi and I." She grinned. "It'll be just like a sleep-over." She added.
"Sounds fun." Sumi nodded, as Emma dialled a number to call her sister and find out how she'd managed to break her arm.
That night, after a delicious meal cooked by Sanji and an even more delicious dessert, everybody was cleaning up, except for the girls, who were in Nami and Sumi's room. The men weren't sure what they were doing, but there was a lot of giggling and talking going on, and the occasional shriek.
Garp just hid a smile - so, this was what it was like to have granddaughters.
"What are they doing in there?" Zoro rolled his eyes. "Whatever it is, they sure are being noisy about it."
"Not fair." Luffy pouted, up to his arms in soap-suds. "How come they get to have all the fun, but we're stuck here doing the dishes?"
"That's the breaks." Sanji said, as he took a long drag from his cigarette. "There's no way I'd make Nami-Swan, Emma-Chwan and Sumi-Chan do the cleaning up."
"How noble of you." Zoro muttered. "Ero-Cook..."
"What was that, pathetic swordsman?!" Sanji shot back, standing up.
"Oh, you heard me." Zoro smirked, although there was a dangerous gleam in his silvery-green eye, as Sanji stalked towards him.
"Finally, some entertainment." Usopp said, as chopper handed him a plate to put away.
As the cook and the swordsman argued, there was only a slight distraction, as Emma stormed out of Nami and Sumi's room, and into the kitchen.
"Remember, it can't be Ace!" Nami called from the room.
Emma spotted Law leaning against a nearby wall, and walked over to him, taking him by the arm. "Come with me." She ordered him, and his eyes darkened, but he allowed himself to be led along, and the others watched in silence as he was led into the girls' room, where the door was shut behind him.
A second later, both Nami and Sumi could be heard exclaiming: "She did it!"
The door was then flung open, and Law was pushed out again. As she slammed the door shut, Emma could then be heard shouting: "That's it, Nami! What'll it be - Truth, Dare, Double-Dare, Kiss-A-Man Or Torture?! Oh, wait, I know, it's torture!"
"Yeah!" Sumi agreed, and what followed next were a series of shrieks, thumps and then Nami laughing and begging for mercy from Emma and Sumi's 'tickle torture'.
"Aww, I wanna play too!" Luffy looked sulky.
"That's probably not such a good idea, you know." Zoro remarked.
"I'll say." Sanji agreed with him, for once. "Luffy, what would happen if you got 'Kiss A Man'?"
"What?" Luffy blinked. He then grinned. "I wouldn't do it, of course!"
"That's not how the game works, baka!" Sanji, Zoro and Usopp cried.
Chopper looked up at Garp. "Is it normal for girls to act the way Nami, Emma and Sumi are?"
"How should I know, squirrel?!"
"I'm a reindeer!"
Ace, meanwhile, was glaring at Law, asking him the silent question.
The Look in Law's steely grey eyes was all Ace needed to know - that, and the fact that he had Emma's pink lipgloss on his chin.
The two young men glared at each other, and then suddenly made a silent vow, at the exact same time, to get what they wanted.
Too bad they both wanted the same thing.
The tall man sighed, not sure of how to handle this situation, and deciding that it was just best to let one of his associates handle it.
They had arrived on the island, much to the shock of the locals, and they had been confronted by an unexpected person.
She stood with her arms crossed, her pink lips forming a frown, as she regarded them carefully with deep blue eyes.
"Why have you come here?" She demanded to know. She certainly had no fear of them, but she wasn't being disrespectful - she merely wanted to know why they had come here.
"We're here for somebody." Sakazuki said gruffly, holding out a Wanted poster. "This woman was spotted here recently, was she not?"
The blue-haired woman with the heart-shaped tattoos across her collar-bone regarded the poster of the orange-haired woman, and Kuzan saw a flicker of recognition go through her eyes. "What about her?" She asked calmly, switching her gaze to look - no, to glare - at Sakazuki.
"She's a pirate, wanted for direct crimes against the World Government." Sakazuki stated coldly, crushing the Wanted poster in his fist, and the blue-haired woman tensed slightly.
"Well, she's not here." The woman stated firmly, transferring her hands to her hips. "I suggest you look elsewhere - our island had already been through enough."
Sakazuki's eyes were cold. "We're not here for her - we're here for you, Nojiko, sister of Cat Thief Nami."
Nojiko's eyes widened. "Wh-what?!" She cried, as the agents standing behind the three Admirals drew their pistols. Nojiko took a step back, and then Kuzan used his powers to freeze her feet to the ground. She gasped. "So what, now you're into kidnaping, is that it?!"
"Don't make this any harder than it has to be." Sakazuki suggested. "It's your own fault for being associated with a criminal like your sister."
Nojiko gritted her teeth. If she was going to go down, then she was going to do it saying what she wanted to say! "My sister is a great person, and so are her ship-mates - they protected our whole island from Arlong when the Marines in this area were too corrupt and money-loving to care!" She shouted. "I'm proud to be the sister of a pirate like Nami!"
"Ribon-Ribon No...GRAB!"
Red and gold ribbons shot out of the palms of the girl that nobody had noticed, wrapping around Nojiko and dragging her out of harm's way.
The red-haired girl locked gazes with Sakazuki, who stared back at Emma.
She tilted her chin up, a clear expression of defiance. She didn't even see the tall, blonde-haired woman standing near to Sakazuki, whose icy blue eyes narrowed from behind her glasses.
A second later, a red and gold flash burst forth, announcing that both Nojiko and her saviour had vanished.
Sakazuki stared at the spot where the two girls had vanished, every expression relating to anger written across his face.
Author's Notes:
. Yes, I was watching that episode of Luffy's past, where Shanks shows up looking all boss, and that gave me inspiration to write how Luffy appeared to the World Nobles in this chapter.
. I just realised how suitable it is for Akainu to be obsessed with capturing Emma, since his name literally means 'red dog', and Emma transforms into a red cat. ^^
. The World Government has a new tactic.
SONG LIST:
. Two In A Million, by S Club Seven
. Never Had A Dream Come True, also by S Club 7
KaiF . Raphaella - drama is good! Thanks for reviewing!
Shiningheart of ThunderClan - I only just realised that afterwards, as well! Plus, Ace's body temperature must run at the same degree as Jacob's, lol. Luffy can be Seth (Nami gets to be Leah). XD It so works!
MsWildLuck - more Law action? You'll just have to wait and see. ^^
Cocoa Liddell - jealousy is a green-eyed monster, but it can be kind of cute! Actually, Ace is just cute, regardless. XD
Mugiwara Wolf Spirite - not Hancock...anything but Hancock! *Rides away on the back of a giant mongoose* Zoro, stop glaring at meeee! Lol, sea-stone ditch. Does such a thing even exist?