Ch.11: You Can Learn to Do It
Disclaimer- I don't own One Piece…yeah
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1st sun, 22nd day of fiery cosmos
(Sunday, October 22)
Today, we saw a small boat coming towards us. Sitting on the deck was a girl holding a map in her hands. I don't think she was aware of how strong the waves were today because before she knew it, a large wave crashed against her boat and completely broke it. She was quick to grab onto a nearby board, but the waves kept roughly slapping her. She screamed for help and fell into the sea.
Without being asked to, Sanji dived into the ocean and grabbed the drowning girl. Then Luffy stretched out his hand, grabbed Sanji's free hand, and pulled both Sanji and the girl onto the Going Merry. Nami wrapped a towel around Sanji. I gave a towel to the girl. Kneeling by her, we looked the same height, but she stood up and revealed herself to be an inch or so shorter than Nami.
As soon as she finished coughing, she introduced herself and her best friend. I didn't understand what she meant by "best friend" because I only saw her. Then she opened her bag tied at her side and a small cat-like creature came out. Everyone on the ship introduced themselves, but the girl was the most fascinated with me. She told me that when we get to her hometown(a few weeks away), she'll tell me more about the Almani. I can't wait.
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Luffy and Usopp decided not to play anymore pranks on Emily. Every time they tried, Emily always got them back, so the played theirs on Zoro and Chopper.
By the afternoon, Emily had noticed a small boat floating in the sea with a girl with a confused look on her face and a map in her hands, sitting in the boat.
The waves had been very rough today, as Nami predicted, but the girl didn't seem to notice. The only time she truly noticed was when a large wave came up and slammed against her small boat, completely wrecking it. The girl was quick to grab on a nearby board, but her map fell into the sea and was lost forever. The girl noticed the ship nearby, so she screamed for help. She fell off the board and let out a final scream for help before going into the sea.
Sanji quickly dove into the water and grabbed the drowning girl. Luffy pulled both Sanji and the girl onto the ship. In an instant, Nami and Emily placed towels on Sanji and the drowning girl.
The girl was coughing uncontrollably and her wet brown hair covered her face, but she pushed it back with the towel when she finished coughing.
Emily looked down at the girl and knelt down next to her.
The girl had hazel eyes and looked about Emily's height…until she stood up. The girl looked about fifteen and was only an inch or so shorter than Nami. The girl smiled at the crew, "Thank you for saving me. My name is Uzumaki Nicole. And this is my best friend, Molly."
Emily was confused. All she saw was Nicole. But then Nicole opened the bag at her side and a small, cat-like creature hopped out.
"What were you doing on the sea with such a small boat and in this harsh weather?" Nami asked Nicole.
"Oh, I fell asleep in this boat in the backyard of my house and a flood came and carried my boat from my hometown. When I woke up, I was in the sea…and that was a 3 weeks ago. I don't even know where I am." Nicole answered. The rest of the crew introduced themselves.
"How did you survive three weeks on a boat?" Luffy asked.
"My grandpa filled my boat with snacks when I started sleeping in the boat. There was a lot left over." Nicole answered.
"Where are you from?" Nami asked, bringing out a map.
"My home is in Wenatchee." Nicole told her.
Nami pointed at the map at where the Going Merry was. They were only a few weeks from Wenatchee and the crew even volunteered to drop off Nicole and Molly.
Nicole talked a bit about herself and half surprised the crew when she revealed herself not to be fifteen, but thirteen. Her family in Wenatchee was full of lovers of legends and solving unsolved mysteries. Nicole was working solo on finding out what really happened to the Almani and even believed that at least one was still alive.
She didn't believe at first, that Emily was an Almani. The smaller girl was so…innocent and never used the powers that all normal Almani had, plus Emily told her that she didn't come from the forest like all the other Almani. Nicole knew, however, that there was one easy way to tell apart an Almani from a person. "Do you have a winged tattoo?" Nicole asked Emily.
"Winged tattoo?" Emily repeated.
"Yeah, a tattoo of a pair of angel wings." Nicole explained.
"The only tattoo I got is this one." Emily told her, partially lifting up her shirt to show her ribs.
Nicole's mouth gaped as she stared at the tattoo on Emily's ribs…a pair of angel wings: one wing blue, the other green. It was the tattoo of a normal Almani. "Oh my God! I knew that at least one was still alive. But how did you survive the attack?" Nicole gasped.
"My parents ran away from the forest five years before the attack and were murdered eight years later. The people that murdered my family failed to notice a sleeping baby in a cradle." Emily answered with a partial laugh at the idiocy of the murderers.
"Sooo…how long have you been flying?" Nicole asked.
Emily paused, "F-flying?"
Nicole stared at her, "Yes, flying. Every Almani can do it." Emily was silent. "You…don't know how to fly? How to get your angel wings?" Nicole asked again. Emily shook her head. "Well, what the hell have you been doing these past twelve years?" Nicole practically yelled.
Emily frowned, "You don't wanna know."
"Well, what about your other powers?" Nicole asked. Emily shrugged.
"Wow, she has powers?" Luffy cried out.
Nicole nodded, "All Almani do. the very first thing they're supposed to learn is how to fly." Luffy let out a smirk and looked at Emily.
Emily looked nervous and slowly backed away from Nicole and Luffy, "W-why are you looking at me like that?"
"Emily, it's time to teach you how to fly." Luffy told her.
"Wha? How are you going to do that?" Emily nervously asked.
"Like this…Gomu Gomu no hold." Luffy shouted, grabbing Emily and holding her over the wide and open sea.
"Wait! What are you doing? Put me down!" Emily screamed.
Luffy laughed and dropped the twelve year old.
"Imagine wings coming out of your back! Imagine flying!" Nicole called out. But it was too late. Before she finished, Emily fell into the sea.
Fortunately, Umiryuu was around and lifted her back onto the ship and she just jumped back on.
Emily shot an evil glare at Luffy, "I am going to kick your ass!" Luffy kept laughing and was joined by Nicole, Usopp, and Zoro. She looked so funny with her damp green hair all over the place and the glare made it even more hilarious. Eventually, the four stopped laughing and apologized.
"Why didn't you picture yourself flying?" Nicole asked Emily.
Emily frowned, "I've never had any experience in the sky, so how can I picture myself doing this?"
Nicole paused, "You're right."
"That's no problem!" Luffy shouted. Before anyone could say anything else, the captain wrapped one arm around Emily's waist and stretched his other hand to the top of the crow's nest. Within four seconds, both Luffy and Emily were in the nest…and Emily wasn't happy about that.
Her annoyance turned to fear when Luffy lifted her eight feet above his head and over the edge of the crow's nest. Her face paled as she looked at the crew members on the deck…so small.
Emily let out a scream, "Oh my God! What are you doing?"
"Prepare to fly." Luffy laughed.
"No! Don't drop me, please!" Emily screamed.
Chopper looked up to see what all the screaming was about, then started screaming himself, "Luffy! For the love of god, don't drop her! If you drop her, she's going to die when she hits the deck!"
Luffy shook his head and shouted, "No she won't. Zoro will catch her if her wings to come."
Emily looked down at his face and pleaded, "Please, don't." But it was too late. Luffy released her and watched her fall towards the deck.
Emily closed her eyes and screamed as she fell towards the deck. She was so scared that she barely felt the tingling feeling coming from her back. Then she stopped screaming. Forty-five seconds had passed and she just realized that she was no longer falling, but still she refused to open her eyes.
"Emily, are you okay?" Zoro called.
Emily didn't say anything, but slowly opened her eyes and let out a gasp. She was floating in the air. She turned her head and widened her eyes at what she saw.
Standing out of Emily's back was a pair of delicate angel wings. She flew herself around the ship and eventually found out how to get rid of them. Her wings disappeared and the look of shock was stuck on her face.
"Hey, you did it." Zoro told her.
Emily nodded and shot an evil glare at her captain, "If you EVER do that to me again, I will personally beat the crap out of you!" Luffy just laughed.
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"Hmmm…Jamie seems to have more power than Kayleigh." Pam said as she saw the pendant on the chest of a dark haired girl fill with power.
Jamie wasn't given a choice to give her power up or to die. Pam just stuck the pendant on her chest and sucked up her powers. Jamie was pale and weak after Pam removed the pendant.
Pam smirked at the weak girl, "Thanks for the magic."
Jamie glared at her, "Burn in Hell." Pam left the cell and locked it behind her.
Pam walked into her office and called onto Mark. "Where is the Almani brat?" Pam demanded.
"A few weeks southwest of the city of Wenatchee." Mark answered. The door opened up behind her, but she didn't notice. "Now, which of those idiot pirates will I possess?" Pam wondered out loud.
"Lady Pam!" A deep voice from behind her called.
Pam growled and turned around to see four figures: two male, two female.
"What do you four want?" Pam asked in annoyance.
A male the age of sixteen asked, "Can we capture the Almani brat?"
Pam thought for a moment, "Well…okay. It would make sense for one of us to capture her and you are some of the best fighters I got. Just let me get you something." Pam opened a drawer to her desk and pulled out four rings with a red jewel on top. With the use of some of her magical items, she divided Jamie's power equally in the four rings.
"Here, take these rings," Pam told her four servants, "If you need extra power, push the jewel and it will release the power into your body. Do whatever you want to the crew, but do NOT hurt the Almani brat. I need her unharmed to use her. Do you understand?"
"Yes, ma'am." The servants told her.
"Do you have transportation?" Pam asked. Her servants nodded, put on their rings, and left on their own rocket packs(i.e. those little backpacks that you put on to let you fly in the air).
Pam laughed evilly, "Soon, very soon, Little Almani. You will be mine."
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Emily and Nicole sat behind one of Nami's trees with one of Lilie's diaries. Each girl took turns reading an entry out loud and now it was Emily's turn. It was an entry from when Lilie lived in the Almani forest, before she used the secret garden to get passed the guards to escape. This entry, however, was about something else:
2nd sun, 23rd day of red larkspurs
(Monday, July 23)
I met up with the two Almani princesses today in the market. They are now ten and four. The little one, which I call Genki(I hate using her real name and this nickname really fits her), was dragging her older sister(I call her "Shizuka" because she's so quiet) from stand to stand, picking up toy after toy figuring out which one she wanted. I talked to Shizuka for a while. She was upset…upset that when her father found out about her musical talent, he decided that the only use for it was to find the "Melody of the Seas".
I looked at her, confused, "What's the 'Melody of the Seas'?" "It's the annoying music the elders are always playing." Genki answered, holding up a wooden puppy. Shizuka sighed, "The Melody of the Seas is an ancient melody that allows the person playing it to bring anything in the sea to his or her own aide or can make a dozen sea creatures dance on the waves and makes the sea play the same melody. It's only a legend, but Almani have been trying for 500 years to find the melody and none have been successful."
I was surprised at how much Shizuka knew about the melody, but remembered that since she was a princess, Almani rules, legends, and history have been being crammed into her head since she was four. A guard came by and took both Shizuka and Genki back to the castle for music and penmanship lessons before Genki could even buy her toy. Poor girls. After hearing Shizuka talk about the "Melody of the Seas", I've decided to try and find it myself. I wish the two of us luck.
-Lilie
"Wow, I didn't know there was such a thing called the 'Melody of the Seas'." Nicole gasped.
Emily nodded. She didn't know either. "I'm going to find it. I'm going to find the 'Melody of the Seas' and use it to become the greatest flutist in the entire world." Emily announced.
Nicole laughed, "And when you do find it, I will be the greatest mystery solver of all time." Both girls giggled.
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Not too far away, Pam's servants: Shannon, John, Micheal, and Samantha, were flying towards the Going Merry. It didn't take long for them to spot the ship…or to land on it for that matter. Within seconds, the attacking started.
Nicole and Emily ran inside the ship to warn the crew inside of the attack.
Emily grabbed her boomerang and quickly put it together then ran up to the deck.
Pam's servants were putting up quite a good fight. Samantha and John were the weakest of the four and quickly succumbed to Sanji's kicks, Luffy's Devil Fruit powers, and Usopp's slingshot bullets. Emily, Robin, and Zoro took care of Shannon and Micheal. Zoro and Robin were busy fighting Shannon while little Emily fought Micheal. Emily was doing fine for a while, but then Micheal quickly grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up off the ground, ignoring her screams.
Zoro left Shannon for Micheal and held out his swords, "Let her go!" Micheal smirked.
"Zoro, help me! Please!" Emily cried out. Zoro started running towards Micheal.
"I wouldn't try that if I were you…unless, of course, you want to kill the girl." Micheal laughed.
Zoro paused at the sight of Micheal holding Emily in front of his own body like a shield. There was no way to attack Micheal without hurting or killing Emily in the process.
"Somebody, help me! Please!" Emily screamed.
Micheal laughed out loud and began floating in the air with the screaming Emily. He stopped for a moment and pulled out a little bomb from his pocket. He lit it, pushed the jewel down on his ring, and threw the bomb down at Zoro. Smoke came from the bomb before it hit Zoro and a loud noise came from inside the smoke.
Emily's eyes widened, "No! Zoro!" Her blue-green eyes glowed brightly while the rest of her body faintly glowed. She curled her both into a tight ball then quickly opened it, causing both her and Micheal to fall onto the deck.
Zoro stepped out of the smoke surrounded by a broken bomb without any scratches on his body. He dashed at Micheal with his three swords(Emily ran from Micheal, so she wouldn't get hurt) and began slicing.
Robin had finished with Shannon and ran to Zoro along with the rest of the crew. Now Micheal was the only one left alive, but he was severely bleeding.
Zoro held Micheal down, "Who sent you to capture Emily?"
"I'm not saying who." Micheal answered.
"Who sent you to capture Emily?" Zoro demanded.
"I'm not telling." Micheal answered.
"Who sent you to capture Emily?" Zoro asked a third time.
Micheal took a deep breath, "Pam did."
Emily stared into his eyes, "Wow. That was easy. Why did you tell us that?"
"I can't stand being asked the same questions three times in a row. It just irritates me." Micheal answered.
Zoro practically smirked, "Where is Pam hiding?"
"Kiss my white ass, Pirate!" Micheal muttered.
"Where is Pam hiding?"
"I'll never tell."
"Where is Pam hiding?"
"Damn. She's on her ship."
"Where is Pam's ship?"
"You'll never know."
"Do I really have to ask you two more times?"
"Kiss my ass!"
"Where is Pam's ship?"
"Up your ass and around the corner."
"Where is Pam's ship?"
"Yo Mama."
Emily pointed at him, "You have to answer. He asked you three times."
Micheal stood up, "No, that didn't count. He didn't ask me it three times in a row. His second question was 'Do I really have ask you two more times?', so it didn't count."
"Damn, he's right." Zoro mumbled.
Micheal laughed for a bit then fell to the ground. He wasn't moving and the crew knew that he, like his comrades, was dead.
"I wonder why Pam wants me so badly." Emily said out loud as she watched Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy dump Shannon, Samantha, John, and Micheal's bodies into the sea.
"You're an Almani, that's why." Nicole told her, "The Almani secrets can only be uncovered by a live Almani, which is you. All your other masters did that, too. They all wanted your power and now Pam will do anything to get it and will most likely do something to you after she gets the secrets."
Emily paled at what Nicole told her. She knew it was the truth and Pam would kill her easily. Then she looked at Molly. The cat looked so familiar to her and could be helpful if Emily right about what Molly was. "Hey, Nicole? What IS Molly exactly?" Emily asked.
"Molly is a Mailing Cat. She can deliver letters faster than other letter carriers." Nicole answered.
"Can she deliver something for me?" Emily asked.
"You have to ask her." Nicole told her, placing Molly in front of herself.
"Molly? Will you deliver something for me?" Emily asked.
Molly nodded. "Do you know where the city of Yokuna is?" Emily asked.
Molly nodded.
"Will you deliver a letter to Morimura Misao in the Morimura mansion?" Emily asked. Molly nodded. "Thank you." Emily told her. She ran to her room and took out her diary and a pen.
Emily quickly and carefully tore a blank page from the diary and wrote a quick note on it with her pen. She folded the paper once the ink dried and sealed it with a piece of tape from Nami's desk. On the back of the paper, she wrote the address of Misao and handed it to Molly. "Misao will give you something back, so please wait for a few minutes so she can give it to you." Emily told the cat.
Molly nodded and grew into a much much larger form of herself and moved the letter into her mouth.
Emily whispered to Molly, "This is a very important letter, so please deliver it as fast as you possibly can." Molly nodded a final time and floated up in the air and ran towards Yokuna…fast.
Zoro turned to Emily, "So…what did you write to Misao?"
Emily looked into the sea, "I asked her for something that will really help us. Hopefully she'll give it to us." Emily brought her bag from her home outside and sat behind the orange trees.
Zoro sat with her. He didn't know why, but he had a strong urge to protect her like an older sibling would do to a younger one even though he had no relation to her at all.
Emily reached into her bag and pulled out the picture from Ryou and Lilie's bedroom. She looked from Aron to Zoro and realized that if Zoro was shrunk down to the size of a seven-year-old, he'd look almost exactly like Aron. "You know what? You look like Aron." Emily told the man sitting next to her.
Zoro looked at the picture and saw what she'd meant, "You're right. I do…Sis."
Emily smiled at him. He'd been calling her "Sis" for already a week and already both of them felt calm about that, especially Emily, who was glad to finally have a brother again.
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"Where the Hell are my servants?" Pam screeched.
Bryce ran in breathless, "Lady Pam, we've just received word that Shannon, Samantha, John, and Micheal are dead."
"WHAT?" Pam screeched.
Bryce winced, "It's true. Their bodies were discovered floating by Seaside. We think the pirates killed them and protected the Almani girl."
Pam had a few thing fly around the room, but thanked Bryce anyway for his information.
Pam ran to Mark's orb and screamed for him to wake up. "Why didn't you tell me that my servants were going to die?" She screamed.
Mark frowned, "I told you that I do not see the future."
Pam grunted, "Fine. Where is the Almani girl headed to?"
Mark let out a sigh, "She and the Straw Hat Pirates are headed for the port town of Wenatchee, about three weeks away from their current location."
Pam smirked, "Excellent." She left the room and walked into her daughter's room. Both girls were trying on clothes they had stolen from a clothing store in the town of Kelso. The clothes they wore were the very tight ones and were way too small for them, which made them look disgusting. "Lyssa, Sabrina. We are headed for the town of Wenatchee and we are going to take the Almani away ourselves."
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A/N: Okay, that chapter is done. Seaside and Kelso are real towns. Seaside is in Oregon and I think Kelso is in Southern Washington. I got the argument between Micheal and Zoro from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me(if any of you had ever seen it). And Nicole is a real person(one of my best friends) and she picked her own last name, which is the last name of Naruto from the anime "Naruto". I will try to add more action in the next chapter. R/R. Oh, and here are some translations for some Japanese words I used:
Genki- energy, happy
Shizuka- quiet