One Piece: The Musician

Chapter 6: Pride Is a Swordsman's Downfall

"ARINA!!!! JOIN ME AND MY CREW!!!!! BE OUR MUSICIAN!!!!"

"Don't bother, Luffy. She's a liar. There are a lot of things about her we don't know." Zoro had pulled out his Sandai Kitetsu (or"ghost" sword). Arina's face changed dramatically. Her happiness was gone. Now it was just anger.

"My, my Zoro… What's this? Do I hear a hint of… dear god! Is it bitterness?" Zoro snarled at her voice, which reeked of sarcasm. The sword tip was now a centimeter away from her throat. Several men had stood up menacingly, as if ready to protect her with their lives. Laughter rose in Arina's voice. She swung her arms open dramatically.

"Ladies and gentlemen! It seems this evening's brawl has fallen upon me! I must ask that you remain in your seats. Yes, even you five. I don't want any of my precious customers getting hurt."

The anger in Zoro was rising. Arina's mocking was pissing him off. A chant had begun in the back of the room.

"Stab her, stab her, stab her, stab her…"

A sneer crossed Zoro's face.

"Wow, your precious customers have much support for you, I see…"

To his surprise, Arina was smiling too.

"Well, I always give what my customers want. What are you waiting for? Go ahead," she sniffed with amusement, "Stab me."

"Zooooorrrrrooooo, we need a musician… Don't stab her!" moaned Luffy.

"Don't do it Zoro!!!" Chopper cried.

"If you even so much as scratch her with that sword, I will make sure you go to hell!!!" interjected Sanji.

"Sorry, guys. But I'm going to do this. She's too cocky for her own good."

Nami screamed as Zoro's sword impaled Arina's neck. The crowd cheered and it took a moment for Zoro to realize that they weren't cheering for him. They were cheering for her…

His eyes whipped back up to Arina's face. Her look was so frightening that he nearly jumped. She was smiling at him, in the most sinister, evil way possible. Instead of blood, water was pouring out of her wound and down his sword. Then, pain ensued.

For such a frail looking girl, he realized that her grip was crushing his arm. He heard his bones crack as he dropped his sword. She picked up the sword and spat in Zoro's face.

"No one comes in here, calls me a liar, tries to make a fool of me, tries to kill me, and gets away with it. Watch closely Zoro."

With her devastating grip, she squeezed the blade of the sword. Instead of the knife breaking, water gushed forth from her hand like blood. Then, Zoro didn't know what happened… The blade of his sword had disappeared, and there was the handle of his sword on the ground and a puddle of water next to it. The howls were deafening and everyone was crying out Arina's name.

With a face of shock, Zoro uttered, "Y-You're some sort of freak…!"

Arina stepped within "kissing" distance of Zoro. She gently, almost seductively ran her fingers down Zoro's cheek and over his lips.

"Young, naïve Roronoa Zoro…" she whispered, "It's impossible for you to comprehend this, but…" He watched in horror as the wound in her neck healed like liquid filled a cup. "You can't win." The evil grin had returned, "I have the seas of all four directions on my side."

Luffy's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. Then they became sparkly.

"SHE HAS THE POWER OF THE DEVIL'S FRUIT!!!!! SHE'S SOOOOOOO COOOOOOOL!!!!!!!"

Each and every member of the Straw-Hat crew kicked him in the face.

"WHO THE HELL'S SIDE ARE YOU ON?!?!??!!?!!!!!!" they screamed in unison.

Moping, Luffy griped, "Buuuuuut she's strong and she can siiiing! I want her on our creeeeeeeewwwww!!!!"

"You want some one evil on our crew?!?!?!" Usopp had screamed the loudest of all.

"She's not evil… Just lonely…" Luffy stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

"I'm not so sure…" Even Sanji and Chopper were finding it hard to defend Arina. The only people who had said nothing were the girls

Nami looked at Robin. "What do you think?"

"I'm tempted to say no…" Robin was clearly deep in thought, "But then again, I was in the same position she is in. And you guys took a chance on me… One thing you guys are overlooking though. Does she even want to be on our crew?"

Zoro slammed his left (the not broken) hand down on the nearest table.

"You guys aren't honestly thinking of taking this bitch in are you?!?!?!"

"Come on, Luffy. You have to admit… He has a point," Nami whispered.

Then, Luffy slammed his hand down with the same force as Zoro had.

"No! She's our musician! I don't care what you think! She's it!!!"

"As your first mate, I think I have a say in this!!!"

"Not when I'm captain!!!"

CRASH! Zoro had kicked over the table and stormed out. Luffy stood there, furious.

During this argument, none of the Straw-Hat crew had noticed what Arina was doing. Arina was infamous for her capricious temper. Many compared it to the sea itself. One moment, calm and gentle. The next tumultuous and terrifying. The excitement had gotten to her and even she admitted she might have gone too far. So she calmed down and cleaned up. While Luffy and Zoro were having their pointless quarrel (as Arina had already told Luffy she didn't want to be on his crew), she shooed customers away and wiped up the puddle that was once Zoro's sword. She pocketed the handle and took extra care to place the soaked towel in a jar. There was something important that she would need to do with this.

Arina came back over to where the fight had gone down. Another table was broken.

Two tables in one night… yeesh…

Since her powers were already out of the bag, she felt no fear about displaying them. She placed her hand on the table and no sooner had she touched it, the table turned into water. The clock rang once. Never had Arina gone to bed after twelve-thirty. She spoke to the crew in a meek, almost ashamed voice.

"You guys better go…"

And they did. Except Monkey D. Luffy. He looked at her straight in the eye with an intense passion.

"You're gonna be my musician no matter what."

Then he, too left.

End.