I desperately hoped Luffy wasn't about to punt one of the heroes in my city into the stratosphere, even if she could fly. However, it looked as though Glory Girl was trying to figure out just how he had no sold her hit so effortlessly.
I was still feeling the insane terror, but as I glanced around the ship, I noticed that all of the rest of the crew were taking the feeling completely in stride and not reacting with how I thought they should be.
"Why were you going to crash into my ship? Even if Franky did start that fire over there?" Luffy asked calmly as Glory Girl struggled to get her fist out of his grip.
I tuned out Franky's outraged cry of being thrown under the bus as Nami ground out, "Luffy we don't admit to anything when asked, I thought we've been over this?"
"Oh, right. I mean I have no idea who could have burned that ship. Definitely not Franky," Luffy said.
I ignored Nami's palm hitting her face in exasperation as I got the strangest view of Glory Girl blushing as she glanced to the side.
"I was only going to ask some questions, this usually works. Why aren't any of you reacting like the other people I use it on?" I heard her mumble.
"I think you might need to cool off a bit. Let me help you with that!" Luffy exclaimed before I saw his muscles tighten and then he flung Glory Girl off the ship.
I felt my mouth drop open as I saw the hero get thrown off, her expression one of utter bafflement, before she was careening through the air toward the bay. A second later and a splash was all that I heard on the now quiet deck. Well it was quiet for all of three seconds before Luffy was kicked in the face by an enraged Sanji.
"Oi, rubber for brains! That's not any way to treat a lady!" he shouted at his captain, while his foot was still stuck in Luffy's face.
He extracted the foot a second later, but the imprint was still there as a hole leaving Luffy to scramble for a moment flailing his arms before he reached in and everything popped back into place.
"Phew, that was a close one, I hate it when I can't breathe," he said.
I decided to ignore the two crazy people in favor of paying attention to the fear that was cascading across the ship once again. A burst of water and a very wet and now much angrier Glory Girl exploded onto the deck of the ship, glaring daggers at the man who had tossed her in.
"I was going to just try and see what was going on on this ship, but now I think I'm gonna punch you," she said as she brought her fist to her palm, the force of the strike echoing through the Bay.
Luffy tilted his head in her direction for a moment, before a devious grin began spreading across his face. Even though I had only met him yesterday, I knew that that grin spelled trouble for whoever was involved.
"Shishishi, it looks like you didn't cool off at all! Maybe another dip?" he asked innocently before disappearing.
I tried to figure out where he had gotten to, but the answer was fairly obvious when Glory Girl seemed startled as a leg had intercepted a hand grasping her way. Sanji had apparently taken exception to his captain's behavior, because he had intercepted Luffy with one leg extended and hands in his pockets before the rubber man was able to toss Glory Girl back into the sea.
"Ahhh, come on Sanji, she's leaking that weird haki all over the place!" Luffy whined at his crew mate.
Glory Girl looked utterly confused at being defended by one of the people she had come to interrogate, and I couldn't say I blamed her. I thought the crew usually followed Luffy in things like this, but apparently I was wrong.
"I said already that's not how you treat a lady!" Sanji replied before he spun and punted his captain toward the trees that were on the Sunny and addressed Glory Girl, "Now if the mademoiselle would like to ask some questions over refreshments then I'd be happy to oblige."
Glory Girl's face at being offered anything after being thrown off the Sunny was something I felt like I could get behind. It was as though she couldn't actually believe that the people in front of her actually existed in real life. In that moment I felt a camaraderie I hadn't been expecting with the older girl.
The suave gentleman act was immediately undercut by Sanji getting brained with Nami's staff.
"Don't mess with my tangerines! I thought we established this!" she shouted.
The woman then proceeded to ignore Sanji's pathetic apologies as she leveled her staff at Glory Girl, who tensed at being threatened by someone once more.
"And you! Knock off whatever you're doing or I'll let our captain dunk you in the sea as many times as he'd like! I don't enjoy feeling as though there's some discount Conqueror near me!" she demanded.
Glory Girl frowned at the demanding tone of Nami and for a moment, the terror that she induced seeming to magnify. Nami's posture tightened in anticipation for a fight, but a second later, I felt the hair on my arm stand. It was as though someone had turned a giant eye to the ship, but I for some reason found it soothing.
Glory Girl seemed to not find whatever this was soothing at all if the fact that she suddenly fell to her knees was anything to go by. I had never seen the white clad hero look as afraid as she did then. I tried to find the source of that feeling, but none of the Straw Hats seemed concerned at all. In fact, they only seemed to have a grim sort of determination about them as Luffy walked steadily to the hero that had invaded his ship.
As suddenly as it appeared it stopped and I realized that I had been leaning into the feeling as though it was a comforting touch the entire time I had been feeling that. Luffy just continued to stare at Glory Girl for a second and I saw her epiphany that being on a ship with the rubber man might not be conducive to her health at the moment. She sprang to her feet and adopted a loose fighting stance, but Luffy just tilted his head as a punch that I'm pretty sure broke the sound barrier blasted past.
"I think you might have to leave now, person whose name I don't know," he calmly stated as Glory Girl leapt back to put some distance between them.
Glory Girl flushed in embarrassment at the dismissal, obviously she had gotten used to being recognized in Brockton.
"How can you not know who I am! I'm Glory Girl of New Wave! We're some of the most famous capes in the Bay!" she shouted at Luffy.
The straw hat captain proceeded to listen to this as he picked his nose with his pinky. A second later he was examining it, seemingly uncaring of Glory Girl turning more and more red at the blase attitude he was expressing.
Before Glory Girl lost her patience, Nami intervened in the conversation once more.
"Oi, Luffy, stop messing with the girl, she doesn't know how to counter haki," she said as she turned an apologetic look on the hero.
"Sorry about him, but whatever you were doing was getting a bit annoying, so I can't be too mad at my captain," she continued.
Glory Girl remained on guard, but she seemed much less tense as Nami continued to talk. I also noticed that whatever Glory Girl had been doing was now much more muted compared to when she had first crashed into Luffy.
"It's…fine…" she said, "but it sounds like you did cause that ship to light on fire. Last time that happened things didn't go so well."
I winced at that. True, the last time things had happened in the Boat Graveyard, Brockton Bay had lit up more so than usual, so I guess it made sense for her to investigate the obviously strange ship in the bay. Although I was pretty sure that she had caused some collateral damage from her fights, I wasn't sure if she should really be throwing stones in glass houses when a cape fight got out of hand. In fact, why hadn't she gone after the Merchant boats that had been accosting us earlier?
As soon as I had that thought, there were more explosions on the horizon. I blinked at that, but I didn't miss Glory Girl wincing as they lit up the night.
"Oh, hopefully the people who were on those boats weren't caught in that explosion and are now drowning and burning at the same time," Robin commented from where she had sauntered over.
I glanced at the older woman to find her examining Glory Girl with a rather predatory gleam, and I was beginning to realize that however strong Glory Girl was, she was actually surrounded on all sides by pretty strong capes. At least what she thought were capes. Judging by how she was tensing even more, she was beginning to realize that it might have been a tad impulsive to attack this ship after all. I also thought she was looking a bit worriedly in the direction of those boats.
"If your family is out and about dealing with the Merchants, I suggest you go back to them for now, we'll let bygones be bygones. It would be a shame if it was a fight getting out of hand that caused that boat to be on fire. Not a bad deal to take from us, I'd say," Robin continued.
Well I suppose that was why Glory Girl was looking uncomfortable at Robin's comments. Other New Wave people had decided to come out for the first time in awhile. I wondered who was here, hopefully we wouldn't have to fight the entire team. Not only would it be hard, but it would really send the wrong message.
Whatever Glory Girl was thinking, it was obvious that she wasn't happy about being backed into the corner the rest of the crew had gotten her in. I was subtly preparing whatever bugs I had if it came to a fight, not that I'd be able to do much against a flying brick. However, if it came to that I definitely wasn't going to be left out.
Just as the tension was ratcheting up and I thought we were going to fight, that feeling from earlier washed over the ship and everyone stopped the stare down that had been happening.
I glanced at Luffy who was frowning in the direction of Glory Girl. This time she had managed to stay on her feet, even if there was quite a bit of sweat on her brow. She was looking at Luffy the most warily after those displays of whatever he was doing, but Luffy just seemed uninterested in the white clad heroine. However, it was Sanji who interjected before Luffy could say anything.
"Oi, stop blasting that everywhere, Luffy! She hasn't done anything really! It's not actually haki that she's leaking!" he scolded his captain.
Luffy just looked confused at that, as if what Sanji said made absolutely no sense to him.
"But I do this all the time for people who have the same type as me?" he said.
"No, I agree with Sanji, whatever she's doing isn't the same. Let's just let her go and help her own people for now," Nami said.
Luffy pouted at his two crew mates and looked at Robin imploringly, but she merely grinned and turned to the white clad heroine.
"If it makes you feel any better, I'm all for knocking her into the sea again captain!" Franky said from his place at the wheel.
"Bah, now I'll just feel like a bully, go help Blue Wave or whatever, Gory Chick," Luffy said as he relaxed.
As soon as he did, I let my swarm relax while I glanced at Glory Girl, who looked immensely offended at what Luffy had said, but finally seemed to be acting with some more thought as she took stock of her surroundings. She obviously didn't want to fight us all at once, especially with a person who could block her hits and had promised to throw her in the sea again.
"Hmph, this isn't the last of this! Once I help out I'll be back with back up!" she said as she floated into the air.
With one more contemptuous look she took off toward the burning boats that had gotten quite a bit further away. I let out a sigh of relief as she disappeared into the night. That had been a lot more nerve wracking than I had thought I would have to deal with tonight. For some reason dealing with Glory Girl had been more stressful than dealing with the giant garbage Merchant earlier.
"Well now that that's over, let's go stash the Sunny somewhere safe and then we can figure out who to go after next!" Franky exclaimed as we began to move at a faster pace.
I breathed out a sigh of relief as the rest of the crew relaxed now that there wasn't an interloper on their ship. At least if they didn't count me. The others began to disperse to do whatever it was that they usually did on the ship, but I was left standing awkwardly in the middle of the deck. It felt like I was intruding somewhere I didn't belong, but I couldn't really escape being here. The absence of an escape route made me think of that day and I was sure my breath began to come faster.
I was knocked out of my thoughts as Nami bumped my arm gently and I looked to her with a much more blank expression than I had thought I could make. Not that she could see it.
"Hey, do you want to come and check over the trees with me? I think your bugs could really help out if anything went wrong," she asked.
I merely nodded my head stiltedly, anything was better than standing in the middle of an unfamiliar place and beginning to have a panic attack. I followed the older girl as she led me to the grove, and I once again marveled at something so strange being on what was essentially a pirate ship.
Nami obviously noticed my inquisitive body language because she began to talk almost as soon as I sent out some of my swarm to see if anything was strange.
"I know the Sunny is a bit much for people the first time they come aboard. I know it was amazing when I first saw how Franky had built it. I guess it's just become sort of second nature to take everything in stride. This is our home after all," she said as she inspected one of the trees before nodding in satisfaction.
I shifted awkwardly as Nami looked around the small grove fondly. I knew what that feeling used to be. I hadn't really felt it for the past two years. Ever since Mom.
"How are you feeling after being in that hero's weird technique?" Nami asked.
I shrugged, hoping to convey a sort of aloofness at what had happened, but I'm pretty sure Nami was able to see my limbs shaking. I hated that I had to deal with Glory Girl barging onto the Sunny, but I was also paradoxically glad that Luffy and his crew had been able to shut her down so effectively. Combine that with their manhandling of that giant Merchant cape and it really felt like they weren't too worried about anything the Bay might throw at them. That was without even considering the fact that Luffy had beaten Lung as soon as he had met me.
It was definitely a strange feeling.
"I guess I wasn't expecting a hero to be so…" I drifted off as I tried to find the words to describe what meeting Glory Girl had been like.
"Disappointing is probably the word you're looking for," Nami said through a breathless laugh, "people are complicated no matter where you go and don't forget that however heavy handed she seemed, we did technically do the thing she was accusing us of."
I frowned behind my mask, hating that I agreed with Nami's assessment. I had always thought that the heroes of my city had to be better, but I supposed that was a pipe dream after all. In fact the most relatable "capes" that I had met so far were all the Straw Hats. I'm not entirely sure what that said about my morals if pirates were people that I enjoyed spending time with.
"It looks like there wasn't any damage to the trees here, none of my bugs found anything that looked as though it needed attention," I said in lieu of responding to what Nami said.
She shot me a sly look, and I grimaced as the older girl obviously had caught on to my rapid change of subject.
"Well, that's good to know. It's always a good idea to keep the boys in line on this ship," she said with a wink in my direction.
Despite myself I found myself letting out a small laugh at that. I guess if I was going to find comfort in hanging out with pirates, I could have chosen worse ones to be with.
I was beginning to get a little antsy as Franky continued to steer the ship away from where Glory Girl had been. We had long ago left the burning boats away, and I was pretty sure we had been traveling the open ocean for a bit. I definitely needed to get Sanji to take me home as soon as we were able to find a suitable place to stash the ship.
I had actually been a bit scared that we were going to get lost at sea once we exited the Bay, these people were all from a different world after all, but Nami had just laughed that off and had assured me that nothing in my ocean would really phase her (although I refrained from mention a certain Endbringer that I hoped wouldn't randomly break his scheduled destruction and hurtle us wherever he felt like).
I was pretty sure that the night sky was beginning to deepen to a more purplish color, which meant that my time on the Sunny was rapidly coming to an end. Despite myself I was feeling a bit sad at going back and going to school. I would just have to console myself with the fact that I had finally become a cape stepping into the scene of Brockton Bay. Both good and bad I supposed.
Lung last night, and then going to the Palanquin, fighting the Merchants, and being shaken down by Glory Girl. It had been a busy couple of nights. I was definitely going to be feeling a little sluggish later on, but I think that was just the reward for a good cape outing. Getting into fights, feeling fear, and then being utterly tired the next day. So far that seemed to be the theme. Hopefully it would slow down a little with Lung captured and the Merchants taking a bloody nose (even if I still wasn't entirely sure how much area those Merchants had carved out for themselves).
Now all we had to worry about were the local Nazis, who had also suffered a couple of losses by the sounds of it. Much as I hated to think it, I was pretty sure I needed to get a phone of some sort so that I could stay up to date on what was going on in my city. I was pretty sure the arrival of Luffy and his crew had thrown everyone into chaos, but I couldn't be sure how much chaos was flowing out.
Just from the things Nami mentioned I was sure that Brockten Bay was becoming a powder keg that was getting ready to explode. I just had to hope that the city was still standing once everything was said and done.
I found myself wandering over to the wheel of the ship that Franky was manning. He was the one I had the least contact with so far, except for maybe Sanji. However, Sanji and Luffy were in some sort of scrap about Luffy's food consumption. Also it seemed as though Sanji was appalled at some of things Luffy had been eating while he was away.
"Hey, Franky, right?" I asked the blue haired cyborg.
I thought I'd die from embarrassment at trying to start a conversation, but I was pretty bored after enjoying the sight of the stars on the open sea. Thankfully the giant of a man just smiled indulgently at me.
"That's my name, sis. Don't wear it out!" he said before grinning down at me.
I grinned back, his upbeat attitude was more infectious than I had thought.
"I know you said that you wanted to meet my dad, but there might be a bit of a problem with that," I confessed.
Franky merely raised an eyebrow in question at that and I fought down a blush as I tried to explain my reasoning.
"You see, he doesn't actually know that I'm a cape," I said.
However, before I could continue I was interrupted.
"He doesn't notice you coming and going from all hours of the night or that the bugs around his house act all weird?" Franky asked.
I flinched at that casual question. It was said with no judgment, but the answer lay in the fact that dad hadn't put himself together since my mom's death. If he hadn't noticed the bullying the entire time it had been going on, then he wouldn't notice me going out to cape.
"It's…complicated," I finished lamely.
Franky's knowing look was something I could do without. It felt like he was looking right past any excuses.
"Hey, it's no problem. I'll just have to hit him up when you're at school or something. Unlike a lot of people on this crew I can do discreet," he tried to reassure me.
I wasn't entirely sure how much I could trust that given that he was the largest Straw Hat so far and obviously inhuman in appearance. He merely gave another devil may care grin at my doubt. I guess my body language was easier to read than I thought in this suit.
"Nah, it's just that we're pretty used to dealing with people whose emotions come across in weird ways. Otherwise you'd be a very scary person," he laughed as he patted my head.
His hands were surprisingly warm, for being a metal body. Although I made an obligatory squawk of protest. I didn't want anyone messing up my hair. Even if there was a warm feeling spreading throughout me as yet another member of the crew seemed to accept me unconditionally. It was nice.
"Don't sweat the small stuff. We'll figure something out, and I'm sure I'd have eventually run into your dad in any case. I was a bit of a dock worker myself for a long time before I joined the crew," Franky said with a hint of nostalgia.
I sensed a story there, but I decided I didn't want to pry. I was a big enough mess on my own. Although everyone so far seemed to take things in stride, I didn't want to step on any landmines.
I was forcefully removed from the conversation as hurricane Luffy descended on us via an outstretched arm and me being yanked over to the rubber man. Must…not…swarm…with bees.
After I applied what I thought to be a judicious amount of self restrain I turned to see what the captain of the Straw Hats wanted.
"Hey, Taylor! Tell Sanji that Fugly Bob's place is a perfectly fine meal! I ate the Challenger and they said that my meal was free, it's not my fault that they didn't say how big the meal could be!" Luffy whined at me.
I blinked as I heard that, recalling something about a dine and dash from earlier today, before I jolted and realized what he had said.
"Wait, you actually beat the CHallenger? I'm not sure how many people can, but I'm pretty sure the last person to do so was a competitive eater!" I exclaimed.
"Whatever it was he beat, the amount of grease is not conducive to a good meal! How the heck do your people not keel over from heart attacks daily!?" Sanji ranted.
Apparently his offense at what he saw as an abomination to cooking outweighed his need to be polite. I decidedly did not tell him that there were plenty of people who did drop dead for that very reason. Probably even occasionally because of Fugly Bob's.
Instead I just offered a sort of half shrug in response.
"It's been a staple in the Bay my entire life, it's probably not going anywhere anytime soon," I tried to defend one of Brockton's establishments.
Admittedly I probably didn't do a very good job as Sanji merely threw his hands up in disgust and began to walk toward what I was pretty sure was the kitchen on the ship.
"I'm going to make us some real food before we stop. I should still have some ingredients here," he said before trailing off into incoherent mumbling.
I decided to do the brave thing and leave him to it. I was sure my diet needed to be improved, but the daily running that I had been doing had really helped already. I wondered if Sanji was good at dietary needs as well, it seemed like the sort of thing he might be good at. I also remembered that the drink he had made earlier that night had been one of the best things I ever tasted. Despite myself I felt my stomach grumble a little at having an actual meal from the man.
"Shishishi, you'll love Sanji's cooking, he's the best chef in our world!" Luffy said.
I blushed at being read so easily by him, but I couldn't deny that it was something to look forward to. I was going to respond when my bugs began to feel something out in the ocean that I wasn't sure they were sensing.
I looked over the side of the ship with my actual eyes and saw one of the oddest things I think I've ever seen in person. It was one thing to know that Case 53's existed, it was entirely another thing to have a skeleton with an afro running on top of the water toward the Sunny. However, before I could say a word of warning to anyone, I heard Luffy give a happy shout of, "Brook!" as he happily waved at the skeleton making its way towards the ship.
I was flabbergasted that he seemed so relaxed at such an odd sight, but upon further reflection I supposed it was only natural that Luffy would be like that. I was a bit more concerned when everyone else seemed to perk up at having a potential undead boarding the ship. A second later and the skeleton had jumped and landed lightly in the middle of the deck.
I tensed wondering if I would have to fight a living skeleton, but it merely gave a flourish as it stuck the landing. It was wearing a black and white outfit with a red cravat while sporting a pair of brown gloves. In its hand was a cane and it was holding onto a black top hat that was perched across its afro. It looked around and I had the distinct feeling that it was smiling at all of us on the ship.
"It's so nice to see you all! I had felt as though my heart had fallen into my stomach when I realized we had all been separated. Even though I don't have a stomach! Yohohohoho! Skull Joke!" it exclaimed.
I felt as though I had accidentally imbibed something while we had been fighting those Merchants. It was the only real explanation for the utterly surreal sensation of everyone being so welcoming to a walking talking skeleton. Who apparently did bad puns about not having body parts. A bit morbid.
"Where have you been Brook! I thought more people would come with that big fire! How'd you even find us?" Luffy excitedly asked.
Brook merely laughed at… his? his captain's exuberance. I suppose I could sort of get used to his odd way of moving and talking…eventually.
"I had the pleasure of being with Usopp when I got to this world. He seemed fairly excited when he found out about the hero culture here. I helped him with a few fights, but we were separated in a skirmish with the one they call Skidmark. As to how I found you, I followed the souls I could feel of my crew of course!" he jovially explained.
Well there was quite a bit to unpack there. Not least of which were that souls were apparently real. I suppose a walking talking skeleton would know. I hoped that other aspects of the afterlife weren't real. I wasn't particularly religious, but if souls were real who knew what else was. Or maybe it was some weird thing from their world? I could only hope.
"Oh and who's this young lady?" I heard him say.
Suddenly he was leaning over me and examining everything about me. I shivered as I felt as though he was looking into my very soul. Which apparently he might be able to do. Those empty eye sockets were really weird to see and yet I could easily tell where he was looking.
"Oh that's Taylor! She controls bugs and is going to join the crew!" Luffy happily explained.
I tried to ignore the reflex of sending a swarm of bees after the rubber man for once more outing me to his crew, but I resigned myself to the fact that everyone on the crew would probably know my real name.
After Luffy's explanation Brook looked at me with the most serious expression I had ever seen on a skeleton's face (not that I had seen many expressions, it was limited to one so far).
"Wh-what?" I asked as I crossed my arms trying to hunch into myself. No matter that everyone was treating him as though he was completely natural, he was still pretty strange as far as I was concerned.
"I just have one question.." he began before pausing to see if I did anything. All I could really do was nod trepidatiously.
"May I see your panties?"
For a second I didn't do anything as the question knocked around in my head. I saw out of the corner of my eye Nami beginning to move towards the skeleton, Luffy laughing, and Sanji looking murderous.
However, none of that really registered as once what he said really got through to me, I was pretty sure I broke my fist on his stupid skeleton face.
Howdy everyone, this one took a bit longer than I thought it would to get out, mostly due to me spraining one of my fingers while I was moving a fridge. It's all better now, but sometimes life just likes to not let me write.
So, we have our scandalous skeleton join the other straw hats. And a wild Usopp mention, and a wild Usopp disappearance. I'm sure he's fine lying his way to the top of a gang.
In other news I'm glad that everyone seems to be enjoying the story so far. It's been a blast to write this and I've been loving the reviews. On Spacebattles we have some pretty fun discussions and I also answer things that I don't really answer on FFN and AO3, such as the fact that Yamato did indeed get transported with the rest of the Straw Hats.
Anywho, if you've been like the story so far leave a fav or follow, or a review! I read them all and it's been a blast so far.
Until next time!
Omake: Zoro thinks everyone else is lost
Zoro blinked as he approached the first town that he had seen ever since appearing on this world. He had been much more annoyed than usual because he hadn't been able to access any of the usual booze that he enjoyed after a good fight. It had made him slightly more intimidating if the random passerby he occasionally passed was anything to go by. It wasn't his fault that no one wanted to look him in the eye.
As he approached the town, he noticed that there seemed to be a weird wall that surrounded it, but it didn't really matter to him what the inhabitants were trying to keep out. He had been following the strange road that he was on for quite a while and he was beginning to get pretty worried that everyone other than him was hopelessly lost. Oh well, if there was one thing he was confident in his crew, it was that they were strong. Even stupid swirly brow, who come to think of it, he was pretty sure he needed to put down at some point. He vaguely remembered promising something to that nature.
As he approached the town he noticed that there were signs all over the place, unfortunately it was written in a script that he was unfamiliar with. Although the strange yellow tints to them were odd. He hadn't seen that before he was pretty sure. He made a small adjustment to the three blades on his hip, feeling the reassuring weight always made him comfortable. Eventually he got to where it looked as though the road had actually been walled as well. He shrugged as he hopped to the top of the thing and made his way into the strangely quiet city.
If he had been able to read any of those signs that he had been passing he would have read thus:
WARNING KEEP OUT
ELLISBURG AHEAD!