AN: Yes it's another SI One Piece story, I blame my ADHD. This story won't include any overt DND/Pathfinder elements like my other story. The SI in this story will eventually share the fact that he is from another world but it won't be until much later. So if you don't like that sort of thing then stop reading now. Also I now have a P -atreon link of which is in my profile if you wish to support me. More rambling at the end of the chapter.
You ever have one of those days where you wake up and just know that today is going to suck? Well that's exactly how I felt upon waking up to find myself not in my comfy bed but laying in something cold and wet. Opening my eyes I found myself staring up into a bright blue sky with a few fluffy white clouds drifting along.
Turning my head to either side brought into view a sandy beach and that I was laying in the surf. Ocean water soaking into my clothes which explained the discomfort. Pushing myself to my feet and moving up the beach a little ways to get out of the water I took a better look around at where I currently was. I appeared to be in the middle of a sandy cove maybe half a mile across, on one side was the ocean, on the other side was an extremely high rocky cliff face that effectively trapped me down in this cove.
I had half noticed before that I was wearing clothing that I certainly had not been what I was wearing when I went to bed in. Since like most people i generally don't go to bed wearing a full outfit, at least I'm pretty sure people don't. Anyways onto the actual outfit that I was wearing.
Dark grey pants with a pattern of gold interlocking circles running up the sides, belt with two pouches, one on either side, black boots with gold colored laces which were incredibly comfy, short sleeved dark red button down shirt, and finally a black leather jacket currently unzipped.
As I was looking over my clothing it dawned on me that compared to how cold the water had felt that it was very very warm. Shrugging off my jacket helped alleviate a good portion of the heat, and since the jacket was also wet I placed it against the cliff face as a marker. The beach didn't seem to be that large but I felt it better to be safe then sorry in this situation.
So picking a direction at random, it happened to be right, I set off exploring the beach in the vain hope that I wasn't completely trapped in a narrow cove with no escape. Judging by the waterline it didn't seem like I would have to worry about getting dragged out to sea if I tried to sleep. Hurray for small favors and all that.
While walking, and walking in wet clothing is highly uncomfortable but I wasn't going to sacrifice more of the scant protection against the elements then I already had, I set about searching my pockets and the belt pouches. A thorough investigation of said places, where I briefly lamented over the fact that I had forgotten to check the jacket, turned up the usual suspects. Which in it's own way was a surprise, a nice one but still a surprise.
Car keys, useless for their intended function and soaking wet, pocket knife attached to the car keys, much more useful, wallet, surprisingly full of a strange kind of paper money that kind of looked familiar even if I couldn't place it, a hair band, put to immediate use in pulling my hair back into a ponytail, and finally the prize of all prizes, my cellphone. Before I examined the cellphone however I peered into the water to study my reflection. Brown hair, brown eyes, and a youthful looking face, all in all what I was expecting but one couldn't be certain.
Pulling my phone back out I pressed the button on the side to turn it on. That turned on immediately was surprising since it had been soaking in sea water for who knows how long. It didn't have a signal or internet connection but what it did have was a battery with the infinity symbol in place of the power percentage. Made me wish that I had ever downloaded some songs to listen to.
While I was examining my phone a message being delivered beeped at me. Which considering I didn't have any signal was both ominous and exciting, at least till I saw the the name of the sender. V just one letter that sent my stomach to hover around my knees. So with trembling fingers I opened up the message.
V: So sorry about this and all but your in another world. Again. Personally I blame the Author and their muse but what do I know I'm just a being here to provide information.
So short sweet and to the point; your stuck in the world of One Piece again, on an island, duh, that the Straw Hats will be visiting, also duh. The downside being twofold, one that they'll only be visiting the other side of the island and there's a 120 foot high cliff in your way to that side of the island. Number two there is only a single thing to eat in your present location, whether or not you can even stomach it is a separate issue, so if you don't make it up that cliff in 2ish days your dead.
Have fun!
Me: I hate you so much right now and if I ever find you I'm finding a way to rip your arms off and shove them down your throat.
V: Promises, promises, Bye bye!
The messaging app on my phone closed with a blip before I could reply, leaving my sputtering in rage as I stared down at my home screen. Even if I knew I wouldn't find anything else to help me I resolved to continue my search on the off chance that V had been lying to me. True enough to my chaotic avatars words, bit of a bad idea having what amounted to a trickster god as ones online name, I found only a single thing to eat on the otherwise barren beach. How edible it was was certainly up for debate though.
It had the shape of a pear just about the size of two human fists pushed together, it even mostly had the coloration of a ripe pear at least mostly. Pale green that was just hinting at yellow the oddness being the interlocking series of bright yellow circles that covered the fruit.
Back by my jacket and where I had woken up I was left with a decision to make, one that was looking more and more unpleasant no matter how I picked. On one hand eat the Devil Fruit and hope that it's power would help me ascend the cliff. On the other try and probably fail to climb up this 120 foot vertical cliff where failure would likely end in horrible injury or death.
I suppose there was a third option where I did nothing and dehydrated to death but it was so unappealing that it was instantly vetoed. As I stood there pondering the merits of either option there was a loud splash from behind me. Turning I beheld a sight that quickly squashed the 4th option, that being trying to swim to the other side of the island, a massive sea serpent had breached the surface of the water some distance away with a smaller sea serpent wiggling in it's mouth and even now was diving back into the sea.
Option one it was! Quickly turning back to the Fruit, I grabbed it in one hand and my jacket in the other. Sure there was a chance that eating this wouldn't help me but I didn't think it likely. After all there wasn't any fun in me just dying because of the fruit. I opened my mouth and was just about to take a bite when I remembered something.
Setting the Devil Fruit back down I went to search the pockets of my jacket, of which to my surprise it had 6! Six wonderful pockets to explore, two on the outside and four on the inside, split between the left and right hand sides of the jacket. Three turned up empty but the other three had items of interest.
A log pose concealed inside of a metal pocket watch with images of waves embossed on the front, judging by the way the needle was just spinning in circles I could only assume that I wasn't in the Grand Line. The second item was a Swiss army knife which was more useful then my pocket knife. The third was a sealed container of breath mints which would be helpful for the horrible taste of the Devil Fruit!
Thus armed I scooped the Devil Fruit up so with it in one hand and the breath mint in the other I took a bite. On a scale of 1 to 10 on the disgusting scale that bite registered as a NOPE, my taste buds resigning in protest. Spitting the small mouthful out I immediately popped the breath mint into my mouth. Sweet sweet minty relief that ever so slowly replaced the awful taste in my mouth.
Okay that was without a doubt the worst thing that I had ever tasted in my life but I could feel the power of the fruit buzzing away at the back of my mind. Now I just had to figure out how the hell I used it. I stood there hoping for some kind of divine inspiration to strike but after several minutes of nothing coming to me I came to the conclusion that I would have to figure it out on my own.
A fair amount of time passed while I was experimenting the sun reaching its zenith and starting its descent before I made any decent progress. I had managed to create lengths of chain but getting them to stick to the rock had been difficult. So I had shifted my attempts to making chains with spikes on the end. Throwing out my right arm I watched as a length of chain with a spike at the front shot out covering nearly 15 feet before I couldn't produce anymore. Lengths of chain most shorter then this last one littering the beach around me, results of my previous experiments.
The first chain had been the hardest but once I had managed to produce it the subsequent ones came easier. Feeling fairly confident I turned to face the cliff, taking a deep breath to steady myself.
"Okay you can do this. You can do this, just like you practiced. Chain Spear!" Shouting I launched the spiked chain into the air watching as the tip stabbed into the rock and anchored itself. Tugging on the chain to make sure it wouldn't come loose while I was climbing I started my ascent. Using a combination of footholds in the cliff and pulling myself up by the length of chain I had soon managed to reach where the spike had impacted with the stone.
Shooting another length of chain further up I once more made sure it was secure before doing anything else. Taking the length of the first chain I wrapped part of it around my waist and tied it tight before climbing up. It was in this way that I made my way slowly up the cliff using half remembered climbing lessons from younger to make it as safe as I could. Not that it was actually safe, I could say that for certain.
Even still I was panting, sweating, and my arms and legs trembled by the time I pulled myself over the edge of the cliff. Rolling onto my back I lay there staring up at the greenery of the trees, wishing that the sun was setting in the other direction so that I had a tiny bit of shade. The sounds of birds chattering away out of sight in the trees left me feeling confident that nothing dangerous was nearby.
Once I had recovered enough that I no longer felt like I was dying I pushed myself onto my feet. Now I needed to find something super important, water cause oh boy was my mouth dry right now. Keeping one eye and ear out for danger I headed into the forest looking for that precious source of life.
Darkness was just being to fall, long shadows making seeing anything difficult and I was beginning to despair at finding a source of water for the night when I stumbled upon a small stream. Falling to my knees I cupped my hands and dipped them into the water bringing the precious liquid to my mouth and guzzling it down. Oh how that hit the spot, several more mouthfuls getting drunk before I felt satisfied. Tomorrow I could set about finding shelter and food but for right now I just didn't have the energy.
That did leave me with one last thing to do though before I fell asleep. Using a couple of chains I pulled myself up into the lower branches of a nearby tree. Getting comfortable on a branch I wrapped several chains around myself and the trunk of the tree so I wouldn't fall out of it in my sleep. Still sleep didn't come easily to me despite my exhaustion. The strange sounds and noises keeping me awake until long after it had gotten too dark to see. Eventually sleep did win out and I passed into the land of dreams.
The first rays of the sun found me still in the branches of the tree nothing having tried to eat me in my sleep. Huzzah for small favors. Climbing back down I drank from the stream until my stomach stopped growling. Judging by the direction of the sun's light that was hitting me I was able to figure out that I had been on the most western side of the island. The eastern side being largely unexplored at the moment, though I did note that the ground sloped downwards gently towards the east.
Lacking any means to transport water I knew that I would need to stick close to the stream if I wanted to survive. Plan in mind I set off down the hill following the stream as I did so. That proved to be a wise choice as the canopy grew thicker blocking out much of the light. As I walked I studied the trees and found a few that I could name, mostly pine and fir though I did spot the occasional maple. As the undergrowth grew thicker I was forced to slow my pace and stopped paying attention to the trees, needing my focus on pushing through particularly stubborn growths of plants. When I couldn't force my way through I was forced to find a way around before finding my way back to the stream.
After about an hour of traveling I think I managed about 2 miles of forward progress. The undergrowth was still proving to be my most constant companion broken up by the occasional bird and curious deer that hurried away at my approach. The stream that I had been following had been joined by another stream so that they had combined into a narrow but much faster flowing river. The ground had also leveled out so that I wasn't traveling downhill any longer. Which was a shame as it meant seeing what was ahead more difficult.
A quick drink to keep me going, even if my stomach was starting to complain about the lack of food, before I started off again. It can't have been more then a couple of minutes before I heard something crashing through the brush and judging by the sound it was heading towards me. I shot a chain at the closest tree and hauled myself up it as fast as I could, barely getting my feet steady on the branch before the creature came into sight.
Big was my first impression of the creature followed shortly by hairy before finally settling on oh shit. The creature beneath me was a massive bear with dark brown fur and a mouth full of yellow teeth that could probably take my head off in a single bite. Sniffing around the space that I had just occupied the fucking Grizzly! Bear! turned its head up to look in my direction. The bears right eye was empty, a long length of scar tissue traveling from its jaw, across where the eye should be, and ending just before the bear's ear.
Someone or some thing had done their best to kill this bear and lost. Which didn't exactly fill me with confidence that I could handle it. Rearing up onto its hind legs the bear slammed its paws against the trunk of the tree. The shaking nearly causing me to lose my footing and when the bear slammed the tree a second time I did lose my footing. I barely caught myself on the branch that I had previously been standing on, my legs dangling below me well within the range of the bear.
I yanked my legs up to my chest just before the bear swiped a paw through the place they had occupied. "Not good, not good." I mumbled even as I hauled myself back onto the branch, with one arm and both legs wrapped around it I shot a spike tipped chain down at the bear.
"Chain Spike!" I was hoping that by wounding the bear that it would decide that I was too dangerous to eat and leave me alone. Just before the spike was going to hit the bear, its fur seemed to shimmer and become grayish in color the spike bouncing off without effect. Jaw agape I stared down at the bear and its sudden literal hide of iron.
"Are you fucking kidding me! I'm fighting a Devil Fruit using bear!" Shouting angrily down at the bear, nearly losing my grip on the branch as I went to shake my fist at it. I caught myself just in time however to prevent myself from falling. Below me the bear huffed before digging its claws into the trunk of the tree, starting to pull itself up.
"Hell no, I'm out! Chain Spear!" Twisting around I launched a chain at another nearby tree. As soon as it buried itself into the wood I released my hold on the branch and kicking off the trunk of the tree launched myself into the air. Gravity took hold and for a second I fell until the chain pulled taut, turning my fall into a swing.
I didn't look back as the bear roared, feeling the wind from a swipe of the claws as they just missed me. I knew that one chain wouldn't be enough to stop the bear from chasing me so at the apex of my swing I launched another chain and let go of the first one. Smaller branches whipped at my face as I swung forward but it was a small price to pay to get away from the bear.
Frantically swinging from tree to tree I didn't stop until I could no longer hear it crashing through the underbrush after me for several minutes. Letting go of the chain that I had been swinging from I dropped the last several feet to the ground, it was a good thing that the bear had likely given up cause my arms felt like wet noodles. Looking around I did notice a plus side to the swinging, I had traveled a lot further then I had on foot. I snapped my finger as I suddenly realized something. "Gotta do the Tarzan scream next time."
As I spun in place to get a more detailed picture of where I was I noticed that the trees in this area were less dense then they had been before. Hopefully that was a sign that I was close to the eastern end of the island, especially as I realized that I had lost track of the river also that the majority of trees had flip flopped.
Instead of pine and fir being predominate now it was maple. There were of course also the occasional tree that I couldn't put a name too, the most that I could tell was that they weren't fruit bearing. Since my arms were still feeling a bit sore I went and pulled out my phone to check the time.
Facepalming I muttered sourly into my hand. "I could have been using my phone to tell time this whole time!" Turning it on I saw that the phone proudly displayed that it was just a bit after 10am. Which would have been far more useful if i had remembered to check the time earlier rather then just guessing. Slipping the phone back into my pocket I set off with a sigh, making sure to periodically check the time from then on.
It was approaching 2pm when I finally pushed my way out of the forest and stepped onto the eastern beach. It was a bit jarring to be pushing aside a dense patch of blackberries, which were ripe and oh so juicy, and then the next to find myself staring at a sandy beach with waves lapping at it.
Resting on the beach to my left was also something I hadn't expected to see, the half of a Marine ship listing at a slight angle that exposed the bottom its hull upon the shore, the flag of the world government hanging limply from the rear mast along with the sails. It can't have been here for more then a few days judging by it's current condition. What I couldn't figure was where the front half of the ship had ended up since it wasn't resting in the shallow waters of the beach. Maybe it was the silence or the lack of guns being pointed at my face by paranoid Marines, whatever it was I felt like I should be cautious. A shipwreck was a shipwreck however with the added bonuses of salvage and a very low chance that there was something currently making its home in there.
A length of chain wrapped around a visible railing, boy was I leaving a lot of these laying around, and a bit of scrambling to pull myself up, ignoring the protests from my sore arms, brought me onto the main deck. There wasn't much there to see, splintered boards, torn railings, and half of the circular structure that occupied a typical Marine ship. The structure was missing it's mast and about half of itself, leaving the visible stairs down and other bits exposed to the elements.
I needed to start my search somewhere though and that structure presented the best opportunity. The search only took a few minutes, turning up chairs both broken and not, scraps of paper, and what may have been communication equipment for the snails. That last bit being a guess since there wasn't a snail in sight. Deciding that I wasn't going to find anything else of interest up here I took the stairs down into the ship. While the stairs did groan at parts they were still intact if a little slick at times where water had gotten in.
Upon exiting the stairs I found myself in a narrow hallway that went off in three directions. The hallway to my immediate left and right curving around towards the broken section of the ship. The hallway in front of me stretching out towards the stern of the ship and I could just make out a pair of doors on either side of the hall before it got too dark to see. Pulling out my phone I flicked the flashlight function on, letting out a sigh of relief when the beam of light pierced the darkness. Sure it had worked for everything else so far but one couldn't be too certain
Before heading deeper into the ship I checked the passages that led out to the missing other half of the ship. The right one was just as bare as the main deck had been but the left one wasn't. Laying in the middle of the passageway was a brown leather bag that seemed almost as if someone had tossed it there just before the ship had split.
"Weird." I muttered to myself as I walked over to the bag. A quick nudge with my foot didn't get response though I could hear some items shifting. Considering it to be safe I grabbed the bag by one of the straps and lifted it up, throwing back the flap to peer into it.
I let out a whoop of surprise as my eyes focused on the water skin resting at the top of the bag. Pulling it out of the bag revealed a cloth bundle that clinked when I withdrew it. Carefully unrolling the cloth I stared at the flint and steel that was now resting in my hands. Two of the items that I needed most to survive and they both happened to be in a bag that had been in the middle of a hallway of a shipwreck that I had come across. This just screamed suspicious, but it wouldn't stop me from taking them either way.
Rolling the cloth back up I set it down on the floor beside the water skin and pulled out the last item in the bag, a glass jar full of colorful looking candies with a piece of paper wrapped around it. Pulling off the piece of paper I flattened it out to find that it was a note addressed to me in my handwriting.
Dear Veb
After Chopper was recruited I had him whip up a batch of vitamins to help you get up to the level of a normal person in One Piece. Take one twice a day, once in the morning and once just before bed. You'll run out just before we would reach Drum so the bottle is infinitely reusable.
With thanks Future Veb
P.S The safes combination is 4259.
I stared at the note in my hand for what felt like forever, my brain trying to wrap itself around the very idea that this note presented. It seemed like I had gotten off the island and then been traveling with the Straw Hats for some time only to eventually end up on this ship before it broke and this half ended up back in time? How could that have...oh right the Rainbow Mist.
Well good to know that everything turned out okay in the future. Putting everything back into the bag I pulled the straps up over my shoulders and set off to explore the part of the hallway that I had previously skipped. Holding my phone in one hand and using the flash light to illuminate the surroundings. Besides the doors on the left and right that I had spotted earlier I spotted a third door at the end of the hallway that I hadn't been able to see do to the darkness. Eenie meenie minee moe!
Pointing my finger at the door on the left I grasped the handle and pushed it open. The room was to no surprise pitch black until I pointed my light into it, revealing a stove in one corner beside a long counter. A knocked over table lying in the center of the room. At the other end of the counter was what looked like an ice chest which I cautiously approached. It took several tugs to pull the lid open and upon seeing what was inside I let out a sigh of relief. It looks like my future self had stocked the box with extra food and ice before the ship split.
Shutting the lid tight to preserve the contents I continued my search of the room, which didn't take long due to it's small size. Beside the table I turned up a couple of utensils and plates but other then that the room was bare. Exiting the room and closing the door behind me I pushed open the door directly across from me revealing what looked like a storage room. Shining the light around I saw that the room was a complete mess, barrels and crates knocked all over the place.
It was easy to judge that getting anything in this room sorted was going to take some time. Time that I really didn't want to devote to the task at the moment. Instead I shut the door and turned towards the last one at the end of the hall. Approaching it I tried the handle glad that nothing I had found so far had been locked. The door swung open without protest revealing a room that I guessed belonged to the former captain.
In the middle of the back wall was a knocked over desk with scattered papers and ink that had spilled across them, a bed with ruffled sheets in one corner, a chest at the foot of the bed, and a wardrobe in the opposite corner with the doors hanging open revealing a metal safe inside of them. Well there was the safe that the note had mentioned, something to look into later.
Exiting the room I realized that I hadn't found any stairs or ladders that lead further down. Deciding to wait on that exploration until I had food in my belly I headed back up top to gather some scrap wood. It took a bit of trial and error along with a couple of false starts before I figured out how to work the stove. While I wasn't all that great of a cook I could manage an edible meal.
Once I had polished off the first proper meal in ages did I go back to exploring. A long length of chain wrapped around a railing providing access to the decks I had yet to explore. The next deck down turned out to be the gun deck, 2 cannons each on either side of the ship along with a messy pile of cannonballs that had rolled in the direction of the ships tilt. A quick search of the floor failed to turn up anything else, the cannons and the cannonballs being useless to me at the moment.
Looking at the cannonballs did give me an idea. The Devil Fruit that I had eaten involved chains but as I had discovered I could also create chains with spikes on the end. Did that mean I could make other things at the ends of the chains? Looking down at my hand I clenched and unclenched my fingers feeling the power stirring inside of me. It was something to think about along with just how far I could push the concept of chains. Did I have to produce only a single chain or could I produce something like a chain net? If I could make a chain net then could I also create something like chainmail?
I stood there staring down at my hand for sometime as the possibilities swirled around and around inside of my head. Each idea was wilder and more fantastic then the previous one with no end in sight. Devil Fruits really were bullshit weren't they.
Eventually I managed to pull myself from my thoughts and headed back to the chain. Grabbing hold of it tight I descended down to the hold of the ship. Upon seeing the state that it was in i let out a low whistle. I had though that the storage room had been messy but it was nothing on this. Boxes, barrels, crates, had tumbled or rolled all over in many cases exposing their contents to the sea water that flowed in through the gap in the hull, tangled ropes draped themselves over just about every thing. Towards the back and behind all of the mess was what looked like the ship's prison cells.
Making my way back to the main deck I plopped myself down to consider the problem. Both the storage room and the hold would take a significant amount of time to clean up and figure out what was useful in them. In addition I needed time to gather food, hunt, and collect clean water, I'd also need time to experiment with my powers and learn my limits. Eventually I settled on a plan that I thought would work, it was rough and would need some revisions but for now I could work with it.
When I went to bed that night my head had barely touched the pillow before I was asleep. My dreams filled with ideas for the days ahead.
As the days passed I settled into a routine waking up early and then spending a couple of hours cleaning up first the storage room, which I found contained miscellaneous supplies along with dried or preserved food, then onto the hold which had lots of supplies for maintaining a ship among other things. After the organizing I'd have a quick meal then spent what remained of the morning gathering food and water to maintain my supplies. Afternoons were spent practicing with the abilities of my Devil Fruit along with improvements to the shipwreck to make it more livable. Improvements like hanging up lanterns in my living spaces to provide light when it was dark, using the sails to keep weather and insects out of the ship by placing the sail over the exposed section, and a chain ladder to get from the beach to the main deck.
I discovered that in addition to creating spikes on the ends of my chain that I could also produce hooks, anchors, and spheres. I couldn't create a spiked sphere but I could create a length of chain with blades along it. I figured it must have been some kind of weird limit on my powers. I also discovered that i could control the thickness of the chains i created, making them super fine or as thick as the chains attached to an anchor. The thicker the chain I made the less I could make of it, roughly the normal length of chain I could produce was 15 feet all at once, 30 if i went with fine chain, and 7 if I made it as thick as possible. At times it felt like I could control the composition of the chain as well but the exact process always seemed to elude me. My final discovery was that I could control nearby chains that I had created with my mind out to a range of about 10 feet. It didn't seem to matter how long ago I made them either, though without any other chains in the area to test my control on I couldn't be sure the power didn't just extend to all chains. I could only control a total of 4 chains at once for the moment but I could still always sense any chains nearby while controlling them. Additionally I learned that each chain could lift roughly the same amount that I could, with the advantage that they wouldn't get tired. After all of my discoveries I started to wear a length of fine chain with a spike at each end wrapped around my wrists.
I also explored and mentally mapped out the island as best as I could during my trips into the woods. The island from east to west measure about 12 miles long and north to south it generally had a width of 3 miles except near the ends which were a mile and half a mile wide respectively. I found that the middle 6 miles of the island were the territory of One Eye the bear and that it rarely left that area unless seriously provoked. Which was fine with me since it left me with 3 miles of island to explore without fear since to my surprise outside of myself and One Eye the island had an absence of any large predators. Still in my explorations I did end up clashing several times with One Eye though never to the death. In my fights he proved to be practically cunning, using a combination of his own skills and the Devil Fruit abilities. Lacking anything knowledge of its actual name I called it the iron iron fruit, since it seemed to turn the bear's body into some kind of metal material. That was how I spent my days, each day similar to the one before it.
I was returning from a successful hunting trip one day, a young stag being carried by several chains in the air behind me. When I heard voices out on the beach. Stepping out onto the beach and looking in the direction of what I had come to call my home I spotted three people standing besides the ship, a fourth waving down at them from atop the main deck.
The one up on the main deck had a wide goofy smile, black hair, a scar beneath one eye, and was wearing a red vest with a straw hat perched on his head. The three still on the beach had their backs too me but I could make out that one had short green hair, wearing a white shirt, and wore three swords at his side. The one in the middle had a feminine figure, short orange hair, and was wearing a white and blue stripped shirt. The final one on the beach had black hair and was wearing brown coveralls. It was obvious who they were Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Usopp. No Sanji though, did that mean I had come back before he was recruited? Oh god that meant Nami was still working with Arlong right now, that was going to be awkward.
"Hey! You carrying that deer, is this place yours? Also do you want to join my crew?" Luffy shouted as he spotted me, waving at me in a clear attempt to get my attention. "Don't just go inviting random people to join the crew Luffy!" Nami shouted up at him, looking like she would very much like to punch him. Usopp whirled around with a squawk, hand shooting down towards his slingshot. Zoro just glanced in my direction with a raised eyebrow.
"But Nami look at him! He's got chains coming out of his back, it's so cool!"
It took me a moment to stifle my chuckle before I could respond."To answer your first question yes this place is mine. At least as mine as one can get with a shipwreck. There should be a pile of chains up where your standing pick them up and toss them over the side so that we can all have a proper meal." Luffy looked around before spotting the chain ladder and tossing it over the side. While he was looking for the ladder I broke into a jog reaching where most of the group was standing just as it hit the ground.
Grabbing hold of the ladder I pulled myself up with the easy of long familiarity. Reaching the top I was greeted by Luffy offering me a hand up. "Are you a cook then?" Taking the offered hand I shook it before responding. "Nah I just know enough to survive." So we were in fact before Sanji joined the crew, good to have that confirmed.
Luffy nodding in response to my words, not the least bit put out on hearing that I wasn't a cook. The clinking of chains behind me paused any further talks as I moved aside to let Nami, Usopp, and then Zoro up onto the deck. "Welcome to my home, feel free to explore while I prepare the deer for dinner. Just don't go into a room with chains across it, I'll know if you have." The chains hanging in the air rattling to punctuate my words. The only room that I had placed chains across was the captain's cabin.
It didn't take long to get the deer ready, I'd gotten a fair amount of practice since I had arrived here. Soon enough I had the dear meat cooking on the stove, Luffy sitting at the table chanting. "Meat, meat, meat." In time to the banging of his fists against the table.
"So how long have you been living on this island mister?" Nami asked gracing me with a suspicious stare. "Haven't really been keeping track of the time but at least a couple of weeks. Originally I woke up on the other side of the island and made my way here and discovered this perfect shelter. As for my name its Vebulus Andernal."
"Those chains are they a Devil Fruit ability?" Usopp pointing at the chains that hung across my body as he asked his question. "Yep, during my first day on the island I ate the Chain-Chain fruit turning me into a chain man."
"That's so cool! I ate the Rubber-Rubber fruit and became a rubber human. See?" As Luffy spoke he grabbed the corner of one cheek and stretched it out for before letting go. The cheek snapping back into place with a rubbery sound.
"While that's cool and all could we finish introductions before we get too far off track?" Sure I knew who they all were but calling out names when I shouldn't know them would be suspicious.
"My names Monkey D Luffy and I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!" I felt my heart skip a beat as Luffy shouted out his dream. Reading those words had been one thing but they failed to capture the sheer determination and charisma behind it. "These are my friends and crewmates, Zoro who's going to be the world's greatest swordsman, Nami our navigator, and Usopp the ship's sniper!"
The reactions to being introduced were as diverse as the crew was, Zoro grunted and inclined his head slightly, Nami nodding while hiding her discomfort behind a false smile, and Usopp who straightened up in his chair, running a finger under his nose. I nodded politely back at each of them as they were introduced. My hands working on autopilot as I handed out the cooked venison to each of them.
Conversation ceased as we all dug into our meals. Seeing how Luffy basically inhaled his food was impressive. Even with how fast I usually ate it was nothing compared to him. Once the meal was finished, Luffy putting away at least a weeks worth of, did we continue talking. Luffy unsurprisingly being the first one to speak. "So how about it Vebulus, do you wanna join my crew?"
I feigned thinking about it letting the silence stretch out. I originally had my doubts about joining up with the Straw Hats despite the message from my future self. After all I had a good idea of the kind of adventures they would be going through. But after hearing those words, that proclamation, I knew that there was only ever going to be one answer to that question.
"I'll follow you into the very depths of hell itself Captain! My dream is to see and experience everything that this world has to offer!"
Usopp and Nami let out matching groans as they face palmed, Zoro shooting me a wicked almost eager grin. That probably didn't bode well for my future. Luffy let out a cheer and grabbed my hand shaking it vigorously until it felt like it was going to fall off. "Guess I better start packing up then and getting everything moved onto your ship."
Most of the main items that I was going to take with me fitted into the single chest that had been sitting at the foot of the bed. Things like the log pose, keys, and wallet which once I knew I was in One Piece figured out that the mystery money was Berri notes worth about 100,000. In addition to all of that I also kept the bottle with the gummys in it along with the jacket since it was generally to warm to wear it. Lifting the chest up I followed after an excited Luffy as he lead me around the side of my home. I had to pause as I drank in the first sight of her, The Going Merry the ship that had carried the crew all the way to Water 7.
Right now she was still brand new, fresh from Syrup Village, not yet carrying the scars of her long voyage. In that moment as I stared at the Merry for the first time I realized that I would do whatever it took to see her finish the voyage with us. Luffy upon realizing that I had stopped looking over his shoulder at me, expression morphing into one of befuddled concern.
"You alright Vebulus? Your crying." Reaching up with one hand I touched my cheek to find out that he was right, my cheeks were wet with tears. "I guess I was just overwhelmed by her beauty."
"Yeah she's amazing isn't she. That spot right there ontop of her head is my special seat." And just like that Luffy's grin was back in place as he pointed out all of the awesome features that the Merry had. He kept up the dialogue all the way through my placing of the chest in the men's room and back along the beach to the shipwreck. Where we found Zoro lowering a bundle of boards down to Usopp by rope under Nami's watchful eye.
"Hey Vebulus, are you wanting to take the safe in your room as well?" Trust Nami to be the one to sniff out anything of value that I could try to hide. "Yeah! I'll bring it down myself, it was the next thing I was going to get." While Luffy went over to grab the boards with Usopp, I made my way swiftly up the ladder and headed down towards my room.
Sitting in the closet just like I had left it was the safe, two chains wrapping around it to lift it up. "Sooo what kind of treasure do you have in there?" Turning around I found Nami leaning coyly against the doorframe, her shirt pulled down slightly to expose just a bit more skin. Even knowing that right now she was just using the crew to pay of her debt to Arlong I felt uncomfortable with seeing her acting this way.
Setting the safe down I spun the tumblers to enter the code and pulled the door open before she could get a glimpse of the combination. "See for yourself." I said stepping back to allow Nami to look inside the safe, her eyes lighting up with greed as she took in the stacks of berri notes laying inside. "How much is there?"
"Around 6 million berri if my count was right. Not sure if it was the captain's personal money or to pay his crew with." While I had been talking I kept an eye on Nami's hands and when they twitched towards the money I closed the safe. "Figured we could keep it for emergencies or something."
"Ah, yeah good idea. Heh." And while she laughed and smiled it didn't come close to reaching her eyes. Hefting the safe up once again I delivered it to the Merry before returning. Passing by Zoro and Nami on my way back, Zoro carrying a barrel under each arm and Nami carrying one of the crates.
As I was descending the stairs I heard a crash from the storage room and upon poking my head in saw Usopp looking confusedly at Luffy who was looking slightly green. In each of their hands they held a bit of metal from the crate that had fallen over.
"Why, why do I feel so weak? What is this stuff?"
"It's called Seastone and its drains the power of Devil Fruit users like us Luffy. If you drop that piece of it you'll feel better." Luffy dropped the piece he had been holding back into the crate while Usopp studied the piece in his hand more closely. "Where did you find all of this stuff? It looks like it was torn off of something."
"It was lining the bottom of the ship for some reason. It only affects you if you touch it directly so I used my chains to pull it free." Looking up from the piece he was still holding Usopp raised an eyebrow at me. Which I answered with a shrug, I genuinely didn't have any idea of why the Marines were using it to line the bottom of the ship.
"Might as well take it along then. I'll see if I can't come up with something to do with it." He said dropping the piece back into the crate and tugging the lid back into place.
"Be careful when you do the only thing that I've found even leaves a mark is other pieces of Seastone."
The sun was low in the sky when we had finished moving everything onto the Merry. Everyone seemed eager to depart and set off on the next adventure. "Wait before we go I want to do something. Everybody gather in a line on the beach."
As the crew arranged themselves into a line I pulled out my phone and wrapped a chain around it to get some distance. "What's that?" Usopp asked as I slipped between him and Luffy, throwing an arm over there shoulders. "Something from my home. It's like a camera to take pictures with. Now everybody smile!" Using part of the chain that I had wrapped around the phone I tapped the button to take a picture.
Once the phone was back in my hands I brought the picture up and showed it to the crew as they clustered around me. There we were all in a line Nami, Usopp, Me, Luffy, and Zoro smiling at the camera. Well more a slight smirk from Zoro then a smile. While the crew badgered me with questions about it I kept my silence only saying that it was my only link to my home.
After that we clambered onto Merry and readied to set sail. Zoro raising the anchors, Nami at the helm, Usopp up in the crow's nest, and Luffy in his special seat we set off. I was leaning against the railing staring at the island that had been my home for many days. As we rounded the island I spotted One Eye at the edge of the island looking out towards us. Seized by a sudden impulse I raised my hand and waved goodbye, to my shock One Eye reared back onto his hind legs and waved back.
"Wow that bear is waving! Are they a friend of yours?" Luffy shouted making me jump slightly since I hadn't heard him move and thought he was still in his special seat.
"Something like that I guess. By the way Luffy where are we headed next?"
"We're gonna find us a cook! The best cook in all of the seas!"
"By the way what's going to be my position on the crew?" I asked glancing over my shoulder to find Luffy looking back at me with a serious expression. "That's easy your the ship's quartermaster! You gave us all these supplies after all and kept good track of them."
Slightly embarrassed I shuffled my feet and then smiled before I responding. "I'll do my best to live up to the role Luffy." I missed Luffy's smile as I turned back to the island, watching until it vanished beyond the horizon. Taking a deep breath I filled my lungs with the faintly salty scent of the sea. My adventure with the Straw Hats had started and for the moment I couldn't be happier.
AN: One Eye is a Grizzly bear that has consumed the Mineral-Mineral, turning it into a mineral bear able to change its body into an kind of mineral though it generally only becomes steel or titanium. The forest that Vebulus travels through is filled with the kinds of trees you'd typically find a Grizzly bear living in.