Author's Notes:
Took some time... but I deleted the first design I would never call a story... after having finished it!!
So I sat back down and started from the beginning and this time I liked it!
Hope you like it too and give me a review!!!
Thanx go to my sis, you really helped me pull some teeth... uhm, I mean write this story!
/()/()/()/()/()/
"Hey!! Stay!!!"
"Please! Come on bird!!"
Extending his arms, Luffy tried to get hold of the eagle's wings. The poor bird had been trying
to escape three very mad pirates, namely Chopper, Usopp and especially Luffy, who had been trying desperately to get onto its back and get a gratis flight, for the better part of the last two days... most of the time without any luck.
So now, the friends chased after the giant eagle, which had no chance of just flying away with one rubber-boy holding tightly onto its wings. Luffy wasn't particularly caring that he got dragged
across the ship...
"Hey, guys! Would you please stop this and finally scrub the deck?!" Nami called after them,
hoping that at least once they listened and did what she ordered them to! Sometimes she feared she had taken over a kindergarten with a group of immature idiots!
"Nami-honey!"
Sighing, she turned towards the chef.
As soon as Sanji had been conscious again, he had walked or better, crawled into the kitchen to fix something to eat for one half-starved captain. Afterwards he had immediately begun with his usual little presents for her and special fruit cocktails.
So this time, he held a large glass with fruit ice in hands, presenting it to her on a silver plate,
decorated with flowers as if she was a Goddess.
But she so didn't mind!
"Thank you, Sanji!" Sanji's lips curved into a large goofy grin and his heart made some extra beats at hearing her sweet voice thank him for such a simple gesture of showing his affection and deep love for her!
For a while, they all watched the totally exhausted eagle and its untiring pursuers, but when it ran
past Nami and Sanji, the navigator suddenly took the plate out of Sanji's hands and whacked it
across her teammates' heads, who stopped mid-stride to rub their hurting skulls.
Smiling, Robin's eyes followed the bird, which flew up towards the crow's nest, where it started
immedaitely to purge its grand plumage from the dirty chase.
Zorro, who had been leaning against the outside of the conference room, sharpening his precious
swords, shook his head at the sight of the three jackasses laughing at each other's dented heads.
He just wanted to get back to polishing his Wado-Ichi-Monji, when he noticed that the door leading to the inside of the ship was slightly agape.
And he surely knew when he was being watched...
"Not gonna work, huh?" He mumbled.
Like in response, the door closed slowly. But just before he heard the lock click shut, Zorro put his booted foot in between the frame and the door.
"Getting off this ship, whithout us noticing, isn't even half as easy as escaping from solitary
confinement in a marine dungeon."
He swore he had heard a sigh from the other side of the door and grinned slightly at that.
"Hey, Zorro! You got a sunstroke or why are ya talking with yourself?" Nami asked the bewildered swords fighter.
"Why don't ya leave me alone... nosy woman..." He hissed the last part through gritted teeth, but Sanji heard him nonetheless.
Furious, he walked up on the other man, his body casting a large shadow across Zorro, who was still sitting cross legged in front of the conference room.
"How did you lil baby-Mihawk-look-alike call my Nami?!"
"What's your problem, peeling-machine?!"
They literally threw death-glares at each other, getting ready to fight with all means...
Not intending to watch the two idiots get involved into a senseless battle, Nami hit them both square across their heads.
"That's enough. You wanne fight, get off of my ship!"
"Hey, Nami! Isn't this 'my' ship??" Luffy asked her more than a bit confused, scratching his head as he thought about her statement.
"Right, Luffy... 'course this is your ship... you're the captain and you've everything under control!!" She told him with one of her sweetest smiles.
Grumbling a bit more, just for good measures, Zorro got back to his old place and returned to his previous task of cleaning his weapons.
"And what am I supposed to do?" A quiet voice asked him through the door-crack. Defeat was clearly audible in it and Zorro sighed.
"Come out and face it." With that he finally got up and walked down the stairs towards the main deck, where Luffy and Chopper had started to play pirates with wodden swords, snickering and laughing like little kids. He decided to sit down some meters away from where Robin was reading her newest obsession in form of a book.
For some moments, the young woman listened to the retreating steps of the green haired man, until she could only hear two of the other pirates laugh about something.
She knew that she couldn't stay here forever and didn't really want to get caught cowering in some dirty corner like a little girl... it was just, that she didn't want to 'face it' just now.
She had been tracking Miss All Sunday and her accomplice for years and had nearly given up hope when she had accidently stumbled over her and the pirates.
But why hadn't she killed her then? She just hadn't been able to deliver the death blow... but why?
Something in her had changed when the pirates had fended her off, protecting somebody who had done too much wrong in her life to expect absolution!
She had to find out what had caused this change... somehow the pirates remembered her of something she had lost a long time ago...
Inhaling deeply, she got up, pain shooting through her body as she strained the muscles in her shoulder and belly too much. The bandages covering her upper body and belly were still crimson, a constant warning that she shouldn't exaggerate it... the wounds of the fight with that captain Spear were still too fresh to consider a tiring escape.
Eyes closed, she pushed the door open and stepped out into the light.
The first thing that greeted her was a shocked gasp from the red-haired woman standing just a few feet away from her. Opening her eyes, she watched her stumble down the stairs and hide behind the mast... together with a long-nosed man, she hadn't met yet.
"Hey!! She's awake!!" The one with the strawhat called, a broad genuine smile covering the better part of his face... much to her surprise. Why would some stranger be happy that she'd survived?
"You want something to eat or drink?" Having caught her off guard, a smoking man leaned against the railing beside her. He didn't seem to mind her presence a bit!
"Uhm, no... "
She didn't get the chance to finish her sentence, when Luffy started to speak.
"So, what did ya want from Robin... Oh, and where did you get that cool cape from? And what is your name??"
Frowning she searched the sky for something, finding 'it' sitting in the crow's nest, head ducked as if it was trying to hide from her. Good idea!
"So this traitor of a brid didn't tell ya anything?"
"No. The parrot said that your identity is a secret and it couldn't tell us about it."
"Parrot?? More like a back-stabbing crow... gonna have some chicken soup tonight, huh..."
"Hahahaha!! Hey, Sanji! Told ya, we can have it for dinner!"
Crying, the eagle fainted.
"I didn't allow you to leave bed! Your wounds are too severe to walk around with them just now!"
The little deer mutated into a huge monster, being tall enough to examine his patient right here and then.
The young woman didn't have much of a share in decision-making and could merely hold back to moans of pain when the Doc pulled up the shirt she had snatched from one of the man in their room and uncovered her shoulder. As soon as he started grumbling, she knew that her sudden need to run around had strained the stitches and had lead to some re-opened wounds.
She was just glad that she was still wearing her spaghetti-top when Chopper ordered her to take off the shirt, so that he could take a look at her belly.
"Woahh!! Cool!! Where did ya get that scar from?? Hey, Zorro! Looks somewhat like the one you got from Mihawk!!" Luffy had climbed up the railing to where Chopper was standing with their 'guest' on the bridge, staring at a large scar starting at the girl's neck and running down her shoulder and back until it ended somewhere under her baggy pants.
Cheeks colored in a light red, she hastily pulled the shirt back over her torso.
She really hoped nobody but the deer and the rubber-boy had seen it!
"Where did you get it from?!" Robin had left her chair and walked up the stairs towards the girl.
A somewhat shocked expression covered her features, making Luffy and Sanji frown.
"None of our business!!"
Robin wasn't impressed by the young woman's outburst. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the girl's shoulder, seemingly lost in thoughts.
"What's your name?" Robin's voice was even, but Zoro immediately detected the supressed emotions in it and wondered what had made Miss-All-Tough lose her normal composure.
"..."
"Hey, Robin! You really know her?"
"So, she may have a real reason to kill you?"
Luffy amd Sanji asked the archaeologist.
"Yes, I 'had'... my name is still not important. I will leave you at the latest tomorrow and then you
won't need it anymore..."
Turning towards the door leading to the conference room, she was just about to take the door knob, when Robin took the opportunity to speak.
"Maya... right?"
Frozen in place, the girl stopped dead, eyes wide in shock.
"I take it that's your name..."
Suddenly the young woman spun around, eyes dark with anger and sorrow... the same look Robin had noticed when they had met the first time in the backyard. But now she knew why somebody could lose all the light in his eyes. At the mere thought, that 'she' was the reason for this, Robin's heart started to ache.
"I know, this'll not help... but I'm sorry, for what I've done to..."
"Don't! Don't you dare and do this to me... I still have no scruple killing you in a heartbeat."
Silence descended upon the friends and the girl.
Finally she moved, taking the knob and pulling the door open. But before she stepped into the room, she turned around, facing the seven pirates with clear, tired eyes.
"My foes call me 'Shadow'... only people I trust with my life and consider as friends are allowed to call me by my real name... Maya."
With that she finally disappeared inside the ship, the door clicking shut behind her.
On deck, nobody said anything for a while. Even Nami and Usopp had left their hiding places, just standing on the main deck, their eyes casted downwards... what where they supposed to say?
"Hey, guys!"
Everybody stared at Luffy, who was still hanging at the railing, eyes shining brightly with excitement.
"We still need a musician and a mascot!! Every pirate king should have a parrot and Kyra won't stay without her friend... 'Maya' is our new teammate!!"
The smile that spread out over his face, was infectious and soon everybody was grinning with him, knowing too well, that Luffy wouldn't give a damn about the foreseeable refusal of the
soon-to-be-eighth-strawhat-pirate!
/()/()/()/()/()/
FINIS!!
Woohooo! We know her name!! Finally! wipes off sweat
You wanne know what'll happen now? Drop a review! THNX!!
Took some time... but I deleted the first design I would never call a story... after having finished it!!
So I sat back down and started from the beginning and this time I liked it!
Hope you like it too and give me a review!!!
Thanx go to my sis, you really helped me pull some teeth... uhm, I mean write this story!
/()/()/()/()/()/
"Hey!! Stay!!!"
"Please! Come on bird!!"
Extending his arms, Luffy tried to get hold of the eagle's wings. The poor bird had been trying
to escape three very mad pirates, namely Chopper, Usopp and especially Luffy, who had been trying desperately to get onto its back and get a gratis flight, for the better part of the last two days... most of the time without any luck.
So now, the friends chased after the giant eagle, which had no chance of just flying away with one rubber-boy holding tightly onto its wings. Luffy wasn't particularly caring that he got dragged
across the ship...
"Hey, guys! Would you please stop this and finally scrub the deck?!" Nami called after them,
hoping that at least once they listened and did what she ordered them to! Sometimes she feared she had taken over a kindergarten with a group of immature idiots!
"Nami-honey!"
Sighing, she turned towards the chef.
As soon as Sanji had been conscious again, he had walked or better, crawled into the kitchen to fix something to eat for one half-starved captain. Afterwards he had immediately begun with his usual little presents for her and special fruit cocktails.
So this time, he held a large glass with fruit ice in hands, presenting it to her on a silver plate,
decorated with flowers as if she was a Goddess.
But she so didn't mind!
"Thank you, Sanji!" Sanji's lips curved into a large goofy grin and his heart made some extra beats at hearing her sweet voice thank him for such a simple gesture of showing his affection and deep love for her!
For a while, they all watched the totally exhausted eagle and its untiring pursuers, but when it ran
past Nami and Sanji, the navigator suddenly took the plate out of Sanji's hands and whacked it
across her teammates' heads, who stopped mid-stride to rub their hurting skulls.
Smiling, Robin's eyes followed the bird, which flew up towards the crow's nest, where it started
immedaitely to purge its grand plumage from the dirty chase.
Zorro, who had been leaning against the outside of the conference room, sharpening his precious
swords, shook his head at the sight of the three jackasses laughing at each other's dented heads.
He just wanted to get back to polishing his Wado-Ichi-Monji, when he noticed that the door leading to the inside of the ship was slightly agape.
And he surely knew when he was being watched...
"Not gonna work, huh?" He mumbled.
Like in response, the door closed slowly. But just before he heard the lock click shut, Zorro put his booted foot in between the frame and the door.
"Getting off this ship, whithout us noticing, isn't even half as easy as escaping from solitary
confinement in a marine dungeon."
He swore he had heard a sigh from the other side of the door and grinned slightly at that.
"Hey, Zorro! You got a sunstroke or why are ya talking with yourself?" Nami asked the bewildered swords fighter.
"Why don't ya leave me alone... nosy woman..." He hissed the last part through gritted teeth, but Sanji heard him nonetheless.
Furious, he walked up on the other man, his body casting a large shadow across Zorro, who was still sitting cross legged in front of the conference room.
"How did you lil baby-Mihawk-look-alike call my Nami?!"
"What's your problem, peeling-machine?!"
They literally threw death-glares at each other, getting ready to fight with all means...
Not intending to watch the two idiots get involved into a senseless battle, Nami hit them both square across their heads.
"That's enough. You wanne fight, get off of my ship!"
"Hey, Nami! Isn't this 'my' ship??" Luffy asked her more than a bit confused, scratching his head as he thought about her statement.
"Right, Luffy... 'course this is your ship... you're the captain and you've everything under control!!" She told him with one of her sweetest smiles.
Grumbling a bit more, just for good measures, Zorro got back to his old place and returned to his previous task of cleaning his weapons.
"And what am I supposed to do?" A quiet voice asked him through the door-crack. Defeat was clearly audible in it and Zorro sighed.
"Come out and face it." With that he finally got up and walked down the stairs towards the main deck, where Luffy and Chopper had started to play pirates with wodden swords, snickering and laughing like little kids. He decided to sit down some meters away from where Robin was reading her newest obsession in form of a book.
For some moments, the young woman listened to the retreating steps of the green haired man, until she could only hear two of the other pirates laugh about something.
She knew that she couldn't stay here forever and didn't really want to get caught cowering in some dirty corner like a little girl... it was just, that she didn't want to 'face it' just now.
She had been tracking Miss All Sunday and her accomplice for years and had nearly given up hope when she had accidently stumbled over her and the pirates.
But why hadn't she killed her then? She just hadn't been able to deliver the death blow... but why?
Something in her had changed when the pirates had fended her off, protecting somebody who had done too much wrong in her life to expect absolution!
She had to find out what had caused this change... somehow the pirates remembered her of something she had lost a long time ago...
Inhaling deeply, she got up, pain shooting through her body as she strained the muscles in her shoulder and belly too much. The bandages covering her upper body and belly were still crimson, a constant warning that she shouldn't exaggerate it... the wounds of the fight with that captain Spear were still too fresh to consider a tiring escape.
Eyes closed, she pushed the door open and stepped out into the light.
The first thing that greeted her was a shocked gasp from the red-haired woman standing just a few feet away from her. Opening her eyes, she watched her stumble down the stairs and hide behind the mast... together with a long-nosed man, she hadn't met yet.
"Hey!! She's awake!!" The one with the strawhat called, a broad genuine smile covering the better part of his face... much to her surprise. Why would some stranger be happy that she'd survived?
"You want something to eat or drink?" Having caught her off guard, a smoking man leaned against the railing beside her. He didn't seem to mind her presence a bit!
"Uhm, no... "
She didn't get the chance to finish her sentence, when Luffy started to speak.
"So, what did ya want from Robin... Oh, and where did you get that cool cape from? And what is your name??"
Frowning she searched the sky for something, finding 'it' sitting in the crow's nest, head ducked as if it was trying to hide from her. Good idea!
"So this traitor of a brid didn't tell ya anything?"
"No. The parrot said that your identity is a secret and it couldn't tell us about it."
"Parrot?? More like a back-stabbing crow... gonna have some chicken soup tonight, huh..."
"Hahahaha!! Hey, Sanji! Told ya, we can have it for dinner!"
Crying, the eagle fainted.
"I didn't allow you to leave bed! Your wounds are too severe to walk around with them just now!"
The little deer mutated into a huge monster, being tall enough to examine his patient right here and then.
The young woman didn't have much of a share in decision-making and could merely hold back to moans of pain when the Doc pulled up the shirt she had snatched from one of the man in their room and uncovered her shoulder. As soon as he started grumbling, she knew that her sudden need to run around had strained the stitches and had lead to some re-opened wounds.
She was just glad that she was still wearing her spaghetti-top when Chopper ordered her to take off the shirt, so that he could take a look at her belly.
"Woahh!! Cool!! Where did ya get that scar from?? Hey, Zorro! Looks somewhat like the one you got from Mihawk!!" Luffy had climbed up the railing to where Chopper was standing with their 'guest' on the bridge, staring at a large scar starting at the girl's neck and running down her shoulder and back until it ended somewhere under her baggy pants.
Cheeks colored in a light red, she hastily pulled the shirt back over her torso.
She really hoped nobody but the deer and the rubber-boy had seen it!
"Where did you get it from?!" Robin had left her chair and walked up the stairs towards the girl.
A somewhat shocked expression covered her features, making Luffy and Sanji frown.
"None of our business!!"
Robin wasn't impressed by the young woman's outburst. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the girl's shoulder, seemingly lost in thoughts.
"What's your name?" Robin's voice was even, but Zoro immediately detected the supressed emotions in it and wondered what had made Miss-All-Tough lose her normal composure.
"..."
"Hey, Robin! You really know her?"
"So, she may have a real reason to kill you?"
Luffy amd Sanji asked the archaeologist.
"Yes, I 'had'... my name is still not important. I will leave you at the latest tomorrow and then you
won't need it anymore..."
Turning towards the door leading to the conference room, she was just about to take the door knob, when Robin took the opportunity to speak.
"Maya... right?"
Frozen in place, the girl stopped dead, eyes wide in shock.
"I take it that's your name..."
Suddenly the young woman spun around, eyes dark with anger and sorrow... the same look Robin had noticed when they had met the first time in the backyard. But now she knew why somebody could lose all the light in his eyes. At the mere thought, that 'she' was the reason for this, Robin's heart started to ache.
"I know, this'll not help... but I'm sorry, for what I've done to..."
"Don't! Don't you dare and do this to me... I still have no scruple killing you in a heartbeat."
Silence descended upon the friends and the girl.
Finally she moved, taking the knob and pulling the door open. But before she stepped into the room, she turned around, facing the seven pirates with clear, tired eyes.
"My foes call me 'Shadow'... only people I trust with my life and consider as friends are allowed to call me by my real name... Maya."
With that she finally disappeared inside the ship, the door clicking shut behind her.
On deck, nobody said anything for a while. Even Nami and Usopp had left their hiding places, just standing on the main deck, their eyes casted downwards... what where they supposed to say?
"Hey, guys!"
Everybody stared at Luffy, who was still hanging at the railing, eyes shining brightly with excitement.
"We still need a musician and a mascot!! Every pirate king should have a parrot and Kyra won't stay without her friend... 'Maya' is our new teammate!!"
The smile that spread out over his face, was infectious and soon everybody was grinning with him, knowing too well, that Luffy wouldn't give a damn about the foreseeable refusal of the
soon-to-be-eighth-strawhat-pirate!
/()/()/()/()/()/
FINIS!!
Woohooo! We know her name!! Finally! wipes off sweat
You wanne know what'll happen now? Drop a review! THNX!!