Gemini: Hey, minna-san, I'm sorry about the time it took to update. I just moved and our internet wasn't hooked up until Thursday. I made this extra long just to appease you after your long wait. I don't own One Piece, but I do own Rat, Mouse, Kat/Kitty, and Tigger (who's actual name hasn't been revealed yet). Hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 3
Dancing Pirates
Everyone was finishing up with the meal, and the strange company the Straw Hat pirates held wasn't speaking much anymore. Zoro had thoroughly enjoyed the food, and if Sanji were somewhere else he would have told Rat that he was one of the best cooks sailing the ocean.
But Sanji was an excellent cook himself, so it wasn't like Zoro was about to abandon the blonde man just because he had found another good cook.
The crew of this peculiar ship intrigued him. He had never heard of them, even though strong pirates were spoken of often amongst the people. These guys appeared strong, but maybe they were actually quite weak when it came time to fight.
Zoro slouched in his seat, allowing his overstuffed belly to hang over his belt. He sighed with contentment and looked at some of the other people seated at the small table.
Luffy was just cleaning up the serving platter and accepting food from the light gray-haired girl next to him. That crazy girl seemed infatuated by the captain, and wouldn't stop smiling like an idiot at him and chirping happily. Next to them was Sanji, quietly sipping his water like it was wine and he was in a classy restaurant.
The lack of wine made Zoro wonder, though. Why had they only served water with the meal? It really didn't make any sense. Oh well, it wasn't that big a deal, really.
After Sanji sat Usopp, who was looking just about ready to go to sleep. He yawned and leaned forward on the table, pushing his empty plate towards the center so he could lay his head down.
The circle of people continued with Nami, who seemed awfully tense, but that could have been Zoro's imagination. But Nami had apparently intruded on this ship earlier, so she may have reasons for being afraid. Zoro really didn't trust these people either.
Rat was crouched next to Nami, speaking quietly with their captain about something. He desperately wanted to know what they were talking about, since it would probably involve him and the rest of his friends.
Last person to look at was the woman sitting on his other side. The woman referred to as Tigger. She sat upright and dined classily like Sanji, carefully scooping the remains of her chicken and rice and bringing it to her mouth. This woman looked like she belonged in the brothel really, to put it bluntly. She wore a dress that hugged to her like another skin and had two slits running up each leg all the way past mid thigh.
Tigger looked back at him and cocked an eyebrow. "Enjoy the view while you can, because I'm feeling the need to gouge your eyes out." She spoke so smoothly and with a demanding tone. Zoro didn't doubt for a second that she would carry through with her threat.
He looked away from her and up at the ceiling. A noise distracted his attention and he tried to place what it was.
"Not that you guys aren't welcome to stay longer, but I would recommend that you return to your own ship now." Kitty had been the one who had spoken. She was always talking with a regal air, like she was some sort of noble or something. Maybe it was the fact that he wasn't used to a captain that didn't act crazy 24-7.
Sanji looked up from his glass of water, curiously setting it down on the table and staring at the short girl with cat-like ears. "Why? What's going on?"
The ship's cook shifted his weight from one foot to the other nervously. "A storm is coming. We need to set sail before it hits." His eyes were also darting around like there was something that he needed to escape from.
Luffy stood up slowly, his stuffed belly stretching out his vest. "We'll be going then."
Mouse looked at him from where she still sat in her chair. "Come visit with us again! It was so great to meet you! You're my hero!"
The look on Luffy's face showed that he didn't understand what she was saying.
"Look, I'm serious. If you don't want to be stuck with us, leave now." The firm voice that came out of the captain threw Zoro off a bit. Kitty's green eyes shimmered dangerously: the fire in them was sending chills down his spine.
Nami left the kitchen and went outside. Her scream pierced everyone's ears, and Zoro found himself rushing to Nami's side along with everyone else.
The blood pumped through his veins as he quickly found himself in the pouring rain and wind. So the storm was what he had been hearing. It was strange that the sound had been blocked out so well.
Everyone quickly realized what had made Nami scream. Despite the pouring rain, the Going Merry was burning and sinking into Davie Jones' Locker. His eyes widened in horror as he saw a bolt of lightning strike nearby in the water. The Going Merry must have been struck.
He heard a scowl from behind them and turned to see the crew of this silent ship standing in the doorway of the kitchen. They weren't standing out in the rain like the Straw Hat pirates were.
Their apparent fear of getting wet struck Zoro as odd and briefly distracted him from the disaster at hand.
Luffy was whining and he attempted to reach the ship. The rubber man had braced himself with this ship's mast so he wouldn't go flying. His arm stretched and caught a hold of the mast, but there was no reaction.
With a hard pull, Luffy tried to free the precious ship from the sea swallowing it up. The deck underneath them all slanted, and everyone fell over and tumbled against the railing. One ship sinking and the other one tipped at a dangerous angle, Luffy just kept pulling.
The pouring rain drowned out all of their cries, and suddenly time seemed to slow until it seemed like it had stopped all together.
Roronoa Zoro slowly turned his head towards the doorway to the lower decks where those other pirates had been. Rat was holding the gray-haired girl with one arm and holding onto what must have been some netting just inside the kitchen. The girl looked like she was in a panic and must have been screaming at someone outside, but all he could hear was the rain drumming a malicious rhythm.
Tigger was no longer there; nor was the captain. They must have fell inside the kitchen and would obviously not be visible.
He turned his head and looked at the still tipping deck, the slope of which was getting close to vertical. At this rate they were going to tip over.
Nami was trying to brace herself against the deck while sitting on the railing. From her expression he could tell she was praying that the railing wouldn't break or something along those lines. Sanji was next to her, and Zoro could see that his lips were moving, but once again he couldn't hear the sound. He was probably trying to console Nami.
Usopp was holding onto the railing as well, facing up at the tilted deck. The horror in his eyes was there whenever things got a little tight, so his eyes didn't worry Zoro too much.
A loud crashing reached his ears over the rain and Zoro took it for thunder at first. But then one of the ice-pirates crashed past him and broke through the railing beside him, falling into the water just feet below.
He jerked his head up, watching in awed horror as the frozen men broke off of the deck they were previously attached to and rolled off the ship. When one came straight at him he drew one of his swords and sliced it in half, and then into ice shavings. As he sheathed the precious weapon he realized that he had just diced not only ice, but a man as well.
The next pirate icicle to come his way was dodged, but Zoro found his eyes following it's landing in the water and saw the reflection of the flames on the Going Merry. Eyes trailing upward, Zoro stared in horror at the pirate ship that had become his home. Luffy must have pulled the ships closer together, because now, if he really wanted to, he could jump onto the dying ship.
The stern was completely submerged and the bow was lifted up out of the water. Flames engulfed the exposed parts of the ship and Luffy's arm still stretched out onto the dying ship in his futile attempt to save it.
Zoro tore his gaze away from the terror and looked back up at Luffy. His face was dark, and messy black hair covered his eyes. Luffy looked rugged and uncivilized in the pouring rain and the blazing light provided by the fire.
A faint scratching noise reached his ears just before he felt claws dig into his leg and scramble up his body. He didn't even get a chance to retaliate before the captain of the strange pirates that owned this ship leapt from his shoulder and onto the burning ship not thirty feet away.
A blast of cold hit him and he stared with wide eyes at the Going Merry. The flames went out and the whole ship began to glaze over with ice. Ice spread till about a five-foot radius of the cold substance danced on the sea's surface around the Going Merry.
Fire now put out, he found the tiny captain prying Luffy's fingers from the remains of what used to be the main mast of the vessel. He watched as the final finger was pulled off the dead ship and Luffy's stretched out arm whipped back towards his body.
Zoro turned just in time to watch Luffy collapse to the ground unconscious. The ship righted itself with an unexpected dip and Zoro tumbled across the deck for a second time. It took him a moment before he realized that it was no longer raining, but that snow was coming down in a blizzard-like fashion.
"Man, I hate the weather at the Grand Line." Nami crossed her arms tightly over her chest and shivered. Zoro hadn't realized Nami had gotten that close, so nearly jumped out of his skin, but he tried not to show it.
There was a thud on the side of the ship and then the sound of claws. A small head covered in thick black hair and adorned with small triangular ears popped over the railing. The captain had returned to her ship.
Nami turned to face the small girl, anger flaring in her eyes. "This is all your fault!" She stomped over to the girl who didn't even come to her shoulders. "If it weren't for you this never would have happened!"
Zoro tried to gauge the small girl's reaction, but all she did was cock her head to the side lightly. His eyes turned to Nami once again to see how she would take that.
A scream escaped the thief of pirate's throat before she pulled out her pole and swung it at the pirate before her. "Get back here, cockroach!"
The snicker that escaped the captain's mouth was very clear, even though Zoro could no longer see her or Nami; the falling snow was blanketing their quarrel. "If you couldn't tell, I'm a cat, not a cockroach!"
He heard Nami's weapon thud against something wooden, and her strangled cry that followed. Nami must be on the verge of tears.
Minutes passed, and the snow started to let up as the clouds above began to run out of condensed moisture to drop on the pirates.
Nami was kneeling by the stairs the led up to the helm. Her pole sat useless by her side and Zoro could faintly see the teardrops falling from her eyes and onto the freshly fallen snow.
She must have been extremely cold just sitting there. Her skirt didn't provide that much warmth after all.
The cat captain was sitting on the wall, her claws digging into the waterlogged wood. Sitting vertically like that made her look extremely funky, and Zoro was a bit curious about how she could defy gravity like that so easily. She was looking down at Nami with soft eyes, which was totally unexpected.
Zoro meandered closer to the pair, and when he looked around, he noticed that most of the other people on board were doing the same.
The light-gray-haired girl knelt down beside Nami, bringing up a hand and rubbing her back for comfort. "I'm sorry about your ship, Nami-chan."
Nami looked up slightly, and the tears pouring from her eyes pulled at his heartstrings. She looked helpless sitting there in the snow.
"This is great and all, but let's get below deck before we all freeze to death. Rat, grab their captain and bring him in. And be gentle."
Everyone looked up at the black-haired cat girl. She wasn't smiling and happy but instead looked rather mellow.
"You have a black heart." Nami was looking the small girl directly in the eyes. The anger in the orange-haired thief's eyes poured out and covered her entire body. Her hands were clenched into fists and the knuckles were turning white.
"No matter what color my heart is, being outside right now is just asking for hypothermia." The girl dropped from the wall and turned away from them, her skirt swaying with the movements. No more words passed between them as they all stood up and followed her inside.
Mouse helped Nami inside since the girl's legs were numb and shaky.
Rat got a fire going under the stove and began to boil some water after he brought Luffy into the kitchen.
Tigger intertwined her fingers and pushed them above her head for a stretch. Zoro realized that she hadn't been outside at all. He watched her, wondering silently where she had been for the last few minutes.
"Kat, I'm tiyerd. I'm gonna go catch some Zs." Tigger opened another door that Roronoa hadn't seen before and sauntered away at a leisurely pace.
Rat poured the boiling water into cups and mixed something in with the water as the steam rose gently from each drink.
The place had suddenly become calm and relaxed, and no one was saying anything to stir up the still air.
A cup was placed in front of him and he took a good whiff. He had thought that Rat was making them coffee or tea, but this wasn't either of those. This had a smell that made him think of chocolate. But chocolate was expensive; did they steal it?
"Drink up, it's really good." Mouse was looking at him with a bored expression, something he hadn't yet seen on her face. "You can't burn your tongue if you don't try it."
"Excuse me?" Zoro's eyes widened and he looked from her to his drink and back again.
"It's hot, and I want some excitement. The cold is always slowing us down." Mouse stirred her drink with a spoon and then lifted it to her mouth. She blew on it, pushing steam out in front of her, and then took a drink.
Usopp took a swig of his drink, before starting to gag. "Ite! Ite! Ite!" Tears pooled in his eyes and he stuck out his tongue with his mouth wide open.
"Too hot? Trying blowing on it." The cat captain took a sip of her own drink after blowing lightly on it. She looked like a miniature lady sitting there like that. Her ankles were crossed, her back was straight, her face didn't contort with every sip like her comrade's, and she brought her drink to her mouth and not the other way around.
Next to her, Mouse was taking obviously large gulps and then biting her tongue and scrunching up her face from the pain of her tongue burning. This happened over and over again. It was actually quite amusing to watch.
Nami was beside her, just holding the cup in her hands and staring through the liquid into oblivion. For her the loss had already sunk in. That wasn't the case for Zoro; he still thought he was dreaming and that any moment he would wake up from this nightmare.
'I wish.' Zoro too looked down at his drink, remembering the fun they had had on that ship. When the tip of the bow broke on that huge whale and Luffy had been so angry. When they had pulled that dragon behind them on a huge raft. When it had been stolen by other pirates.
A smile formed, memories of their crazy adventures flooding into his head like the dam had just broke.
But now the Going Merry was no more. The happiness fled from him in an instant. No more of their foolish ventures. Their ship was destroyed.
"You okay, Zoro?" He looked up at Sanji, who had already finished his drink and was sitting contentedly in his chair and eyeing Nami every few seconds.
"Hai. Just a little put down about our ship, you know?"
Sanji nodded and tore his gaze from Nami to look at him directly in the eyes. "Yeah, I know. But at least we still have each other, ne?" The blonde cook smiled at him before returning to looking at the mourning female member of their crew.
YouCannot
Escape
Death
Gemini: Well, that's it for now. I hope it wasn't too inexplicably boring for you guys. Please review and tell me what you think!
Mouse: I WANT LUFFY!
Gemini: I want the reader's input, not yours. Besides, he's sleeping right now. Leave him be.
Mouse: But I want him :pouting:
Tigger: Get over yourself. You think he'd actually be interested in you?
Mouse: He let me feed him!
Tigger: Duh. That's because you wouldn't let him feed himself.
Mouse: …
Gemini: Anyway, hope to hear your input, and I hope to have the next chapter up…someday…ja ne!
