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 TWENTY-ONE
Finding Franky (The Superstar!)
Somehow, Sanji wasn't surprised when he stumbled upon Zoro and Luffy asleep in the middle of the dark tunnel - actually, he stepped on them, which woke them up.
"OW!" Luffy howled, his voice echoing in the darkness of the tunnel. "Sanji, that hurt!"
"Well it's your own fault for falling asleep back here!" Sanji snapped back. "Everyone's already reached the end of the tunnel, and you two were just snoozing away like we don't have places to be!"
"Fine, then let's get moving." Zoro suggested calmly, and they heard him walking away in the darkness.
"Not that way, you idiot!" Sanji groaned. It was going to be a loooong trek back to Nami and the others...
"Well, there's the landslide." Ace noted, as they walked along the banks of the river (read: muddy trickle).
They stopped and took a look at the massive pile of rocks.
"Right." Emma nodded. "Shouldn't be toohard to destroy this thing...however..."
"We'll wait." Law spoke up. "We need to get to the others and get to the ship. Then, if we calculate the right amount of space and force, we should be able to destroy this rockslide from the ship."
"Mmm." Emma agreed, and they continued walking in silence, with Law counting the number of steps in his head, until the silence was broken by Ace posing an innocent question.
"If you had to have chosen one of us to die back there, who would it have been?"
Emma staggered, tripping over nothing, and catching herself on Ace's arm.
Law, walking behind, just raised an eyebrow, as he continued with his silent counting, and judgement of trajectory.
"Well, that one's obvious." Emma replied calmly. "I would have thrown you both up into the trees and taken the fall myself. Everybody's happy."
Ace rolled his eyes. "Not quite." He took her hand, as they continued walking. "I'm not gonna let you die, Emiko."
"Hmm." She replied, staring straight ahead. She was focusing on a point in the horizon, where she could see the slight glimmer of stars on a lake. "Ace-Chan...these rings..." She said, referring to the promise rings. "They seem to have important memories attached to them..." She furrowed her brow slightly. "I know, because...as strange as it may sound, I can hear certain things, that seem to belong to the one who owned this ring before I did."
"My Mother..." Ace muttered softly, and Law glanced curiously at the Whitebeard pirate.
Emma nodded. "Mmhmm. That's what the other person said, he called her by her name, which was Rouge...I wasn't sure if I was just hearing things but, then again, we all know that gods and spirits exist. I think that they're trying to tell me something."
"Like what?" Ace asked her.
"That's the thing, I'm not sure, exactly..." Emma responded, shaking her head. "I'm pretty sure that the person that she was talking to was...Oyaji..." Ace's fingers tightened around Emma's hand. "She said something about not considering him an enemy...I'm guessing that they must have met at some stage...oh! And then, she said that if she and Roger ever had kids, she hoped that they could be friends with..." Emma trailed off, and then glanced at Ace, who was staring straight ahead. Emma squeezed his hand, and he glanced at her. "We should find...Oyaji's daughter. She's probably in hiding, but we won't know unless we try. We'll take it one Blue at a time. We'll find her before they do, the same as we're going to find our Allies, and the Princess."
Ace nodded, smiling slightly. "It's decided then - we'll add it to our To-Do list." He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, just as they came out of the trees, and arrived at the edge of a large lake.
"Wow..." Emma couldn't help saying, staring out at the massive lake, which was at least five times larger than the lake at high school had been (the freezing cold lake that some students had claimed played home to snapping turtles and leeches). It would have looked better with a full moon but, at the time, the moon was a waning gibbous. The stars, at least, twinkled on the lake's surface, like tiny diamonds.
And, in the center of the lake, there was the Thousand Sunny. Emma stared at it, at the ship that belonged to the Straw Hat pirates.
"There's an Ally on the ship." She whispered, just as Ace grabbed her from behind, and yanked her into the trees.
A group of Marines marched by, led by Tashigi.
Emma, Ace and Law stayed crouched in the bushes, waiting for them to pass, and listening to their conversation.
"Do you see anything?" Usopp asked Nami, who was the only one of them brave enough to venture to the mouth of the cave and peer out.
"I can see the ship." Nami replied, crouching down as she crept to the entrance. "I can also see the Marine camps set up - the main base is right behind us, remember."
Chichi snuffled, and Chopper translated: "She says it's okay, because nobody but the animals can get to this cave."
Chichi growled softly, and Nami sighed. "No need to translate that bit. As soon as we go out there, they attack." She then narrowed her warm brown eyes at something. "Hold on a minute, what's that?" She gasped. "There's something on that ship...it's a cat! A blue one!"
"What?!" Usopp exclaimed, and dared to join Nami at the entrance to the cave. "Hey, it is too! I bet it's Franky!"
"Yes, but...who's that on the ship with him?" Nami narrowed her eyes. "They look like Marines..." She dug her claws into the rocks. "It's a trap!" She realised, with a growing sense of dread. "As soon as Emma teleports onto the ship..."
"She'll be cut down and captured." A voice said, and both Nami and Usopp looked down, to see Tashigi scaling the rocky cliff-side, with a determined expression on her face. "Just like you will be!"
"Eek!" Nami and Usopp both cried.
How did she find us?! Nami wondered, as Tashigi came flying at them.
At the bottom of the cliff, the three Marines stared up at the cliff.
"Captain Tashigi's an amazing woman, isn't she?" One love-struck Marine murmured.
"She sure is." His friend agreed.
"I know I've never seen anything like her." A third voice stated.
"Why should you care, you're a girl." The first one said, and then paused. "Umm...Mary?" He turned around, expecting to see the brown-haired, slightly geeky Marine, and instead saw a young red-haired woman. "Where's Mary?"
"Off helping someone." Emma replied, as ribbons began to snake from her arms. "I'm filling in."
It was all over in a trice, and Ace and Law dragged the two unconscious Marines over to be tied up with Mary.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Emma apologized to Mary, making sure to drape an extra blanket of ribbons over her after stealing her white shirt and dark blue trousers. The ribbons wouldn't vanish for awhile.
Emma, Ace and Law were about to slip the Marine clothes on over their regular clothes, when they heard a small voice mutter from atop the cliff: "Okay, just stay calm...no need to...panic..."
"Chopper?" Emma guessed, side-stepping out and looking up, to where the little reindeer-cat was perched on the edge of the cliff.
"They'regoneshetookthemshetookNamiandUsopp!" Chopper wailed, scrambling down the cliff. "Oh, and Chichi, too...what are we gonna do?!"
Emma, Ace and Law exchanged a glance.
"Okay," Law said, once they were sitting in the cave, and joined by Luffy, Zoro and Sanji. "Here's what we're going to do," Ace glared at him, annoyed that he was the one giving all the orders, and that everyone was going along with it. He had a small map drawn out in the dirt of the cave-floor. "You three," he motioned to Luffy, Ace and Zoro. "Will go and rescue the others."
"Stealth mission, or guns blazing?" Zoro wanted to know.
Law smirked. "Guns blazing." He explained: "The idea is for you three to create a big enough distraction..."
"That way, you and I will be able to teleport with Emma-Chan onto the ship." Sanji nodded. "Good plan."
"Yeah..." Ace said slowly. "Except..."
"Except what?" Law smirked at him, and Ace didn't respond, but his look said it all.
"Look, you two, cool it." Emma said impatiently. "We have work to do - the sun will be coming up, soon."
And, indeed, it did appear to be getting lighter.
"Yeah," Zoro agreed. "It may be alright for those of us who aren't going to need stealth to get by, but you three might want to use the darkness as your cover."
"Agreed." Emma nodded. "I mean, if Tashigi's here, then that means that Smoker is, too - Zoro and Ace should be a good match for those two, which leaves Luffy free to find the others. Chopper can sniff them out, can't you, Chopper?" She asked him.
He nodded. "Uh-huh. I should be able to get their scents even though they're in animal form - it's their usual ones, mixed in with cat hair."
As he, Zoro, Ace and Luffy headed towards the entrance of the cave, Emma got curious. "Hey, Chopper, by the way...what about us? What are our scents?" She indicated to herself, Law and Ace. "Just as a matter of interest."
Chopper glanced back at her over his shoulder (he was in his Walk Point). "Well, Ace's is typically like fire and ash. Law's is medical disinfectant - I'm used to it. Yours is...material. Like a fabric store."
Emma didn't know whether or not to take that as a compliment, so she merely smiled but, on the inside, she was thinking: I HATE sewing!
"It must be the ribbons." Sanji offered, as they sat back down to wait.
"Yeah, must be."
Nami and Usopp were in cages, and so was Chichi. They had been taken to a room, where they were surprised to find another white dog in a cage.
"Shoushou?" Nami guessed, as Chichi whimpered sadly. "I know, Chichi, but we'll get out of this - we always do."
"I wonder if Sanji managed to find Luffy and Zoro yet." Usopp mused, staring up at the very slowly lightening sky through the tiny window up the top of the room. "And, if they've met up with the others yet...I hope they didn't get captured, like we did..." He heard a sudden clunk, and turned to see Nami standing outside of her cage. "How did you do that?" Usopp blinked at her.
Nami went over to Chichi's cage, and expertly picked the lock with her claw. "Hey, I'm a cat thief." The ginger tabby replied, freeing the two dogs before freeing Usopp. "Now, come on, we have to get out of here!" She led the way over to the door.
"Right behind you!" Usopp said.
"Ssh!" Nami hissed, her eyes widening as she heard footsteps approaching. "Somebody's coming - quick, hide!" They all dashed to hide behind the door as it opened, and Hina walked in with Tashigi.
"Well, I just did what I had to do." Tashigi was saying, and then she stopped, as did Hina. "But...where are they?" She asked, seeing the four empty cages.
Hina glanced out of the corner of her eyes, to see four small creatures sneaking out of the door. "Hina see them." She mumbled.
"Yikes - run!" Nami yelled, and she and Usopp and the two dogs bolted.
"Don't let them get away!" Hina and Tashigi yelled in unison, just as a massive explosion of fire rocked a part of the base.
Nami, Usopp, Chichi and Shoushou slid to a stop, staring at the huge hole in the wall. They peered down, and saw Ace fighting against Smoker, while Zoro took out a few Marines here and there.
They then turned, to see Luffy and Chopper running down the hallway towards them.
"There they are!" Luffy grinned, and then he noticed Hina and Tashigi. "Hey, it's them again..."
"Don't say it so casually!" Nami scolded him, just as Luffy was hit in the gut by Hina, and an iron bar was wrapped around his torso. Nami narrowed her eyes. "Of course." She muttered, as Luffy struggled. She dug her claws into the tiles, and then, noticing Tashigi, called: "Oi! Zoro, help us!"
Zoro glanced up at her. "Help yourself, Nami!"
Tashigi's eyes widened. "Roronoa Zoro!" She immediately ran up to the hold in the wall and then, noticing Zoro, drew her sword. "I won't let you get away from me again!" She jumped down onto the balcony.
"That was a very good plan, distracting her like that." Hina said, stepping over to Nami, Usopp, Chichi and Shoushou. "But, you forgot about Hina."
"And Hina forgot about us!" Chopper had assumed his Heavy Point, and freed Luffy from the bars.
Luffy sprung up, looking ready. "Which is always your big mistake!" He charged at Hina.
Hina smirked. "Hina knows your mistake too, Straw Hat." She took her cigarette out of her mouth.
"Sounds like the battle's pretty heated up there." Sanji muttered, returning his cigarette to his mouth. He was dressed in Marine clothing.
"Yeah..." Emma agreed, stowing her pink hat in her bra (like an extra pocket!) and adjusting her Marine cap. "I hope they're okay."
"They'll be fine." Law replied. He looked so strange in Marine clothes. "We should get moving, though - if we wait any longer, then there'll be more chances that the Marines will see us when we sneak onboard the ship."
Emma nodded, and stood up. She held out her hands, and Sanji eagerly took her right one, leaving Law to calmly take her left one.
Closing her eyes, Emma concentrated, or at least tried to. I hope that Ace is okay up there...he's strong, but so's Smoker...they're powers seem to cancel each other out...okay, wait, focus...jeez, why was it so easy to concentrate before...? Could it be...that I concentrate better with both Ace and Law around, or is it just Ace...? Okay, hang on... She felt Law's fingers tighten around hers, and took a deep breath, focusing on that. Okay... "Ribon-Ribon No...Transport!"
They appeared on the side of the Thousand Sunny facing away from the Marine base, and facing the forest and the village beyond, instead.
Luckily, that was also the side facing to the west, so it would remain the darkest, as the sun began to rise.
They were standing on the little balcony, and heard voices above them.
"Do you think Captain Hina will be okay?"
"Damn it..." Sanji muttered under his breath, as he tossed his cigarette overboard. "It's that hypnotist from Arabasta...Jango..."
"Of course she will - Hina-Sama is the most amazing woman!" The first man replied, and Sanji groaned silently.
"And Fullbody." He shook his head. "How bothersome..."
"Aww, you two can take them." Emma smiled.
"Why thank you, Emma-Chwan, your confidence is inspiring!" Sanji exclaimed softly.
Law rolled his eyes. "And, Emma-San, what do you intend on doing?"
"Finding our Ally." Emma muttered. "Also, I have to wait for Luffy's signal...I hope he remembers what it is..."
"Hey, what was that?" Jango said suddenly, and Emma, Law and Sanji cringed, as they heard footsteps approaching.
"Plan B." Emma said quickly and, without really knowing what she was doing but, remembering something she'd read months ago in a fan fic, she used a gold ribbon to grab onto the railing above her and pull herself up quickly. She jumped up, and found her mark - Fullbody, the ladies man.
She made sure to land on him.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed, clinging onto his neck. "Please forgive me!" Please let this work! She was in a very strange position. He had automatically put his arms out when she'd fallen on him, and her left leg was draped over his right arm. The right leg was hooked around his right shoulder. She was seated across his left arm, and her own left arm was around his neck. Because of the height of his arms being held out, her right arm was draped across the top of his Marine cap - unfortunately, that also meant that ehr chest was right up against the left side of his face.
She didn't even have to look at said face to know that it was red - she could feel the heat through the material of the Marine uniform that she was wearing, and was suddenly very thankful for it! She needed it more right now than what Mary did!
Jango, who was staring at them in shock, suddenly gasped. "Wait, Fullbody, don't move - that's Emma, the Demon Of War that the Government's been hunting!" He quickly took out his chakram. "Keep her there, Fullbody! Okay, girlie, on the count of one, two, Jango, you'll fall asleep!"
Emma sighed, and cuddled up to Fullbody. "I hate being victimized." She murmured.
Fullbody's nose started to bleed.
"One..." Jango said, as he started to swing his chakram.
"I mean, I get so tired from running all the time." Emma whispered. "My body just hurts so much..."
"I can fix that..." Fullbody murmured.
"Two..." Jango had his hand on his Marine cap, ready to pull the bill down to avoid hypnotizing himself.
Fullbody, however, was too distracted by the woman in his arms. She pointed at a spot past Jango, to where Law and Sanji now stood. "Look there." She suggested, before averting her gaze.
"Huh?" Fullbody looked, but he didn't get past Jango.
"Jango!" Jango pulled the bill down on his cap, and kept it down, as he heard a very soft thud. "Well, did it work?" He asked.
"Why yes, it did." A muffled, obviously fake-male's voice said, and Jango looked up, to see Emma standing over Fullbody's sleeping body, grinning her lopsided grin. "Just...not the way you were hoping." She added, and then pointed past Jango. "Look there."
"Heh, you think I'll fall for that, girlie?" Jango asked her, just as something hit the back of his neck, and he fell unconscious onto the deck.
"Told you so." Emma shrugged, as Law (who had struck Jango down with the hilt of his nodachi) and Sanji stood behind Jango.
Sanji glared at the two forms slumped over on the deck. "Jerks..." He muttered. "I saw the way that idiot Fullbody put his hands all over you, Emma-Chan..."
Emma shrugged again, aware of Law's intense gaze on her. "Well, don't ever let me do that again - it felt weird." She straightened up. "Okay, quick, Sanji-Kun, change into Fullbody's clothes. Law-San, put on Jango's jacket!" Law raised an eyebrow. "Please?"
He rolled his eyes.
"Good thinking, Emma-Chwan!" Sanji swooned. "That'll buy us some time!" He quickly took off his shirts.
"Eek" Emma cried, turning around quickly. "Not while I'm watching, please!" She glanced up at Law, who was looking at her. She blushed. "I'm gonna go and...uh...find our Ally!" She grabebd the ring of keys from Fullbody's body, and then she bolted.
She didn't have to look far - she found him tied up on the lawn deck. He was a big light blue cat, somewhat bigger than Zoro, even. His underside was a lighter blue. He was wearing a golden chain around his neck, and a pair of sunglasses. His nose appeared to be made of...metal? He had darker blue ears, and dark blue stars on either of his shoulders.
Emma crept closer to him. "Franky?" She asked, in disbelief.
He looked up. "Yeah...do I know you?"
Emma grinned, and shook her head. "No, but I know of you - we're here to rescue you!"
Franky looked thrilled. "Really? Suuuuper!"
"Yup." Emma said, as she set about unlocking him. "We'll explain everything later, once we get out of here."
"No can do, Nee-Chan - I can't leave this ship." Franky explained, just as Sanji and Law joined them, looking even more bizarre than they had before.
"Baka," Sanji smiled. "Nobody said anything about leaving the ship - we're taking it with us."
"Ah, Curly Cook!" Franky looked happy to see Sanji. "And the one beside you..."
Law just rolled his eyes, and looked at Emma, who had finished unchaining Franky, and was staring at the battle that was stillgoing on at the Marine base.
"Come on, Luffy..." She muttered, the rising sun reflected in her hazel eyes. "Come on..."
"Meanwhile," Franky looked up at Sanji. "How do you intend to get the ship out of this lake?"
"There's a river that leads out to the ocean, but it's blocked by a rock-slide." Law answered for Sanji, pointing in that direction. "It's about eight-hundred meters in that direction, and will require a fair amount of force to destroy."
Franky nodded. "Well, the Thousand Sunny has a number of super abilities!"
"Would the Gaon Cannon work?" Sanji wanted to know.
Franky looked thoughtful, as he used his paw to push his sunglasses up his face. "It would..." He said slowly. "Ah, but the amount of cola that it needs...we haven't had any onboard since, well...you know."
"Then, we must get some..." Sanji declared. "There must be a store in town that sells it..."
"Yeah, the only problem is, none of us knows this village all that well," Law pointed out, before glancing over at the fight scene. "And, those that do..."
Just then, from the base (which was going up in flames) something came flying towards them - it was a rifle, with a red and gold interwoven ribbon tied around it in a sort-of bow.
As it landed in the water by the bodies of Jango and Fullbody (hopefully, they wouldn't drown), Emma grinned. "Yes! That's the signal!" She reached under her top, pulling out her compass. "Franky, I hope that you're ready to be a human again!" She paused. "Well, a human-cyborg...thing..." She touched a hand to the compass' surface, and the pinkish-red light expanded from it.
As it reached Franky, he was surprised to find himself returning to his proper form.
"Okay, now they're going to know that something's wrong." Sanji said. "They'll probably start firing on us...now."
Bullets flew through the air towards them.
"Room." Law said, almost lazily, and the blue sphere expanded, to form a protective dome around the Thousand Sunny.
"Okay, that'll buy us some time." Sanji nodded. He then looked up, and cringed. "Incoming!" He grabbed Emma and pulled her out of the way (not that he really had to), as Luffy came flying through the air towards them, holding Nami and Usopp (as humans) under his arms, and chopper clung to his neck, terrified.
Nami was holding Chichi, and Usopp had Shoushou.
Both of the poor dogs were howling, as they all flew into the Room, and landed in a heap on the grass.
"Ow..." Nami complained, rubbing her back.
"Oh, my dear sweet Nami-Swan, are you okay?!" Sanji exclaimed.
Nami waved him away. "Yes, yes, I'm fine." She stood up, pulling Chopper to his feet, as well.
"Alright!" Luffy cheered. "We're back on the ship! Yay!" He held his arms up, and the Marines fired another round of bullets at them in response. "Yikes...what's theirproblem?"
"Maybe they're upset because we stormed their base and set fire to the building?!" Usopp snapped.
"Are Ace-Chan and Zoro still fighting?" Emma asked anxiously.
Nami nodded. "Hai."
Emma was staring at her, and then her eyes widened. "Nami, that's it - you know your way around Orange Town, right?"
Nami nodded. "Sure...why?"
"Because we need to find a place that sells cola, to use for the Gaon Cannon." Emma explained. "Franky can come with us to carry the cola, and..." She glanced at Chichi and Shoushou. "We can take the dogs back, too. They don't need to be here for this."
Nami nodded in agreement, and picked up Chichi. Emma picked up Shoushou, and the two girls stood close together.
"Franky, come here!" Nami ordered him, and he did so. "Put your hand on Emma's shoulder." She said.
Franky did as he was told, and Emma tried to concentrate.
Maybe I should have picked up Chichi instead...Shoushou is heavy! It's like the time my Nanna had a West Highland Terrier called Josie, and my cousin had one called Gus, and Nee-San picked up Josie and I picked up Gus, and Mum said that she thought that it would've been the other way around...
"Emma!" Nami snapped. "Sometime beforewe all sink!"
"Oh, right, sorry..." Emma apologized, and closed her eyes. "Ribon-Ribon No Transport!"
Sumi sat on the deck of the Moby Dick, staring at the newspaper in her hands.
"What's up, Sumi, yoi?" Marco asked, as he and Vista came to sit beside her - they were both worried about their little sister.
"This." Sumi showed them the newspaper. "It says here that the Princess of Arabasta has gone missing."
Marco took the newspaper out of Sumi's hands. "So she has...Princess Nefertari Vivi and her Spot-Billed Duck Carue..."
Vista was smoothing out his mustache. "I remember hearing Ace and Luffy mention something about her...they're acquaintances, I do believe."
Sumi nodded. "That's what I'm worried about. So far, every Ally has been a member of Luffy's crew, and I'm positive that the next three are, as well. Or, at least, that's what the gods hinted at. Vivi traveled around with Luffy for quite awhile..."
"Do you think she could be the final Ally?" Marco suggested.
Sumi shrugged. "It's a possibility..."
"She could even be the Princess." Vista suggested, and Sumi looked startled.
"What? Whatever gives you that idea?" The blonde shook her head. "No..." She stared out at the sunrise. "The gods have a plan for this, I'm sure..."
When Emma, Franky and Nami arrived in Orange Town, they bid farewell to Chichi and Shoushou, and then Nami led them straight to the bar. As Franky was in there, getting the cola, the ground began to shake.
"What was that?!" Nami exclaimed, grabbing onto the side of a building to stop herself from falling.
A few villagers, up and about at this ungodly hour, overheard her. "That must be Yang, the Sea King of the lake." One of them said. "he's in a bad mood again, no doubt!"
"Oh dear..." Emma muttered, as Franky came out, carrying two barrels of cola on each shoulder, and some villagers rolled three more barrels out.
The mayor was with them. "Now, I'm afraid I can't just let you take these for free, even if it is you." Boodle said, apologetically.
Emma looked at him. "How about this?" The ground shook again, and a distant roar could be heard. "You give us those barrels for free, and I'll fix that problem you've got with the Sea King."
Boodle looked shocked. "And, how do you intend to do that?" He asked her.
"Because." Emma replied firmly. "I made a promise to somebody else that I would, and I intend to keep it."
"Well..." Boodle hesitated.
"Great!" Emma grabbed onto the three loose barrels with her ribbons, before grabbing Nami's hand and putting a hand on Franky's stomach (he was so tall!). "Ribon-Ribon No Transport!"
When they got back to Lake Waikikamukow, they discovered that it had been turned into a mini-sea. Huge waves rocked the ship, and everybody was either rushing around preparing the ship for what was coming, or trying not to fall over.
"We got the barrels!" Nami shouted, noticing that Ace and Zoro had also joined them.
"Quick!" Usopp yelled. "Get them to the Energy Room!"
"But what about that thing?!" Chopper cried, terrified, as a huge Sea King loomed above them.
"Oh my God..." Nami whispered, staring up in horror at the Sea King.
Emma also stared up at him.
He was slightly bigger than Yin had been, and his scales were a stunning white, as white as the tiles in a cheesy bathroom-cleaner commercial. His eyes were as blue as the deep oceans, and a shining red stone decorated his forehead.
Luffy had come up beside Emma and Nami. "He sounds like he's in a lot of pain." The straw hat captain remarked, holding onto said hat as another wave rocked the boat. "I think he wants us to help him escape."
"I think he wants to eat us!" Chopper exclaimed.
Emma was staring at Yang, as he thrashed about, and she wondered what it would be like to be separated from your love for so long. Yin was right - you would act like a monster.
Emma made her decision. "Ribon-Ribon No Transport!" She cried, and appeared standing on the yard-arm, facing the Sea King. "Yang!" She shouted to him. "Yang, calm down!"
He roared, either not hearing her or not listening to her - either way, he was still thrashing about.
"Yang!" Emma called to him, and this time he looked at her, but he was still thrashing.
Down below, those that sensed it wondered at Emma's sudden use of Haki, which had gotten the monster's attention but hadn't been nearly strong enough to do anything else. It was certainly not going to be her main weapon.
Emma steadied herself against the mast, before looking at the Sea King. There was so much pain and fear in his eyes that it scared her. The Marines were still firing at them, and some of the bullets had hit Yang - she saw a few flecks of blood dotting his scales, and it sickened her.
She willed herself to stare into those angry blue eyes, and swallowed, before opening her mouth, and starting to sing, hoping that he could hear her over the noise around them.
"No one, could ever see,
The best of me,"
There was no fancy flashes of light or anything but, somehow, all sound around them seemed to stop, as all eyes were suddenly glued on the tiny figure on the yard arm, singing to the Sea King.
"Somehow, all I can ever show,
Are the things no one wants to know...
Please take, my hand,"
As she sang this part, Emma walked forwards, and held out her hand to the Sea King. He glanced suspiciously at her, before moving slightly closer to her.
"Tell me that you understand,
I need a new start,
I need you to heal my heart..."
Emma's hand made contact with the scales of the Sea King, which felt to her the same as Yin's had.
There was still a fair amount of pain in the Sea King's eyes, but the anger was gone, to be replaced with trust.
Emma nearly sighed in relief. Yin had been right - the song had healed Yang.
But...about that song...
Emma sensed a pair of eyes on her, and glanced down at Law. He was staring up at her, a strange look on his face that she couldn't quite read (well, he was very far away from her).
"It's okay, Yang-Sama..." Emma said quietly, turning back to the Sea King, as the waters around them began to still. "We'll get you out of here...back to your mate..."
'Thank you, small human.' Yang had a deep, gravelly voice, and he growled softly, the same was Yin had. 'You have truly been blessed by the gods, to want to help a monster like me.' He leaned closer to her, so that the red light from his jewel shone on her. 'I sense a greater potential in you than you have realised - there is more to you than meets the eye, young one.'
"Huh?" Emma blinked, just as a cannonball hit the water near to where they were, making the ship rock, and she had to grab onto Yang's snout to stop herself from falling.
Yang growled, and nudged her to go back. 'I will hold off the human law enforcers, small human. Can your friends destroy the wall that keeps me from my mate?'
Emma nodded. "They can. Please, hold off the Marines for as long as you can, Yang-Sama." She clung to the yardarm, not trusting herself to stand up again. She'd suddenly realised just how high up she was, and one wrong move could send her flying into the water, where she would surely drown.
Yang blinked at her. 'Of course.' He moved back, and she watched as he sent a wave towards the Marines with a flick of his tail, before heading off in that direction.
Emma clung to the yardarm, not wanting to move. She wasn't sure how okay she'd be up there, when the cannon was fired, but maybe if she held on...
"Emma, get down here!" Nami yelled to her. "You can't stay up there!"
"I-I can't, Nami!" Emma yelled back. "I'll fall!"
"You'll definitely fall if you stay up there!" Nami shouted.
Chopper suddenly scrambled up onto deck. "We're getting ready to fire the cannon!" He cried.
"Emma!" Nami screamed.
"It's okay!" Ace suddenly appeared on the yardarm, and grabbed Emma, dragging her over to mast as the ship was suddenly filled with a strange kind of energy. "Emiko, ribbons, quick!" He told her.
"Ah! H-hai!" She wrapped her arms as far as they would go around the mast, and extended some red ribbons to wrap all the way around it a few times. Ace then pressed his chest against her back, and gripped onto the wood, just as the ship was rocked again but, this time, it was due to the two cannons being fired simultaneously - one from the front and one from the back.
The one at the back was merely to stabilize the ship, but the one from the front, where the ship's lion figurehead was, unleashed a massive beam of energy, which cut through the trees and caused a huge explosion.
"Yes!" They heard Usopp yell. "Bullseye!"
"Okay, so now what?!" Sanji called.
"Hey!" Luffy called, running over to the side of the ship, where Yang was. "Mr. Sea King! We promise not to eat you if you help us get out of here!"
"LUFFY!" Nami screamed.
'Hmph. How insolent.' Yang huffed. 'Very well, lanky human, I will help you.' He began to create waves with his tail, that pushed the ship towards the small river, which became wider as the waves created more space between the trees. Yang swam right behind them, fueling the waves with sideward sweeps of his tail.
"Cool!" Luffy shouted, as they sailed past trees, on the white-water rapids.
"Suuuper!" Franky agreed. "The Thousand Sunny is heading for the seeeaaa!"
Chopper suddenly shrieked. "Oh no, there's a fallen tree!" He cried, pointing straight ahead. "We're gonna crash!" He added, covering his eyes.
'Not likely.' Yang suddenly swam under the the ship and, using the forward momentum of his serpentine body and fueled by the waves that were still pushing from behind him, he created a wave just under him as he reached the tree, and flew into the air, with the Thousand Sunny on his back.
Most people on-board either screamed or gasped, grabbing onto something - or, somebody - to stop themselves from falling over.
Ace and Emma, still on the yardarm, had a perfect view as they sailed through the air, and towards the ocean. They clung onto each other and the mast, as water droplets flew past them, and the bright blue sea glittered out before them.
"Awesome..." Luffy breathed, holding onto his hat to avoid losing it.
They heard a splash, as Yang landed in the ocean, but they continued flying, and they looked down, to see his white body entwine with a black serpentine body.
Yin looked up at Emma, her crimson eyes sparkling. 'Thank you, Emma.' She said, using the human's name which, for her, was a very rare occurrence. 'And, do not forget what I told you about love - there is no shame in loving more than one.'
Emma blushed, but raised her hand in a silent farewell, thinking: that's easy enough for her to say, isn't it...
Ace looked thoughtful, as he rested his face against the side of Emma's neck and, below them, the crew prepared for the landing - and, the escape. The Marines were coming!
Of course, they managed to escape, and blew up a few Marine ships as well, thanks to Ace and his powers.
Emma and Ace then climbed down onto the deck, for the former to be enveloped in a hug by Nami.
"Don't you ever do that to me again! Next time I tell you to come down, you'll get down here on the double!" Nami scolded her. She then drew back. "And, by the way, what are you wearing?" She glanced over at Law, and then at Sanji.
The two men immediately began shedding their layers.
"Eek!" Emma cried again, turning away. "What did I tell you before?!" To Nami, she added: "They were disguises. But, it's no wonder they're having trouble recruiting people - this material is so stiff and scratchy..." She also began shedding her layers, and put on her hat.
Luffy was grinning. "Shishishi! We got Franky back, and we got the Thousand Sunny back! This is great, you guys!" He said, as Zoro rolled out a barrel of beer from the kitchens, Usopp began handing around tankards that they began to fill up with beer.
"Yeah, we can so do this!" Chopper grinned, standing on the beer barrel (because he was so short) and raising his full tankard.
A fifteen year old reindeer is...drinking...Emma thought in amazement, as she accepted her tankard from Usopp. She smiled, and then shrugged. Oh well. She raised her tankard, as well.
"To us, you guys!" Luffy grinned, raising his tankard, and the others followed suit.
"To us!" They all cheered, even Law, because he was starting to feel more comfortable around this crew, even with their over-exaggerated ways. They weren't so bad...not like his own crew, of course (which he had told to tag along, and scout the area for any dangers that might go unseen by the Thousand Sunny) - they were, he admitted, his nakama, as much as most of these misfits were to Luffy.
Of course, there was one person here that he wouldn't mind joining his crew...he glanced over at Emma, as she watched with wide eyes at the sight of Ace skulling his entire tankard of beer.
Emma then glanced across at Law and, when she saw him looking at her, she came over and sat beside him.
They were sitting side-by-side on the same deck as the main mast. Ace, Nami and Usopp were with them - Usopp was talking about putting a garden in there, amongst all of Nami's tangerine trees, and she seemed to like the idea.
"It's a bit crazy, isn't it?" Emma asked, smiling at Law.
"I should think you'd be used to it by now." He remarked, smiling at her.
She nodded, and then yawned, covering her mouth with one hand, as she set down her only half-drank tankard.
"Sleepy?" Law guessed.
"Yeah...we didn't sleep at all last night, and...it's too early in the morning to be drinking." She replied, settling herself into a more relaxing position.
"Tell them that." Law nodded his head towards Usopp, who was daring Ace to skull another tankard, and Nami was complaining, saying that it was her tankard, not his!
"Mmhmm..." Emma murmured, resting his head against Law's shoulder. "Hey, guys...the sun's not even over the yardarm yet..."
"They didn't hear you." Law smiled.
"Oh well..." Emma let her eyelids flutter, and then close. "We're safe now..."
"Hmm..." Law said, glancing at her. She definitely looked like a black-winged angel now, as she slept peacefully against his shoulder. She was going to be the death of him one day, he was sure of it.
A figure watched through binoculars, as Law picked up Emma, and then asked Nami where the women's quarters were. Nami stood up and swayed slightly, but led Law, still carrying Emma bridal-style, down below deck.
Only then, did the person watching them lower his binoculars, and lick his lips greedily. "Well, well, well...looks like I've found a new birdie to play with...and, taking her away from Law will be an even biggertreat...fufufufu..."
Author's Notes:
. So...umm, yeah. There are no author's notes. ^^;
MsWildLuck - I was actually thinking about that (well, only about Kidd, actually, lol). And, thanks for distracting Boa with whatever strange Luffy-item you've found. *Bows*
Shinobi . Hikari . Ookami - then I shall be the best writer of Australia! Absitivily-posalutely! Don't worry, they thought they were going to die, too. ^^ Ooh, a cookie-truck? Excellent...
Shingheart of ThunderClan - yes, things are getting very strange now, aren't they? You'll have to read to find out, of course! XD
Cocoa Liddell - you'll just have to wait and see! God, I'm evil, aren't I? ^^ But, not evil enough to ignore you, my devoted readers! *Throws confetti your way*
KaiF . Raphaella - thanks for the review! :D
WindWhistle21 - I never said that! Who said that?! *Glares at Akainu* IT WAS YOU! *Gets toasted* Anyways, there was s light friendship seen in this chapter between Law and Sanji, so I hope you liked it. :)
Mugiwara Wolf Spirite - Brook's panty collection and...Crocodile? Do I even want to know? Yes, I know that people often worry about Mary-Sues but, no need to fear, I have a plan! I ALWAYS have a plan! This one involves pie! Actually, no it doesn't, but it does involve...well, that would spoil it. I'm intrugued by your methods of killing Mary-Sues, though. Care to enlighten me? *Shoves a Mary-Sue at you* Be careful, her eyes change colour. XD