Chapter Two- A New Voyage Begins! A Mysterious Organisation!
It had been a few days since Kenni had joined the Straw Hats as the musician. He had marked his territory, having put his piano in Nami's cabin. Nami was only too pleased to have it in the corner of her cabin, because this meant Kenni could play for her, in private.
The morning was showing to be pleasant, so it seemed to be a promising day as far as weather was concerned. Sanji had just made breakfast for everyone. Well, almost everyone. Two plates had been left empty, on other side of Nami's. One belonging to Zoro, the man to which Sanji had taken a great disliking, and the small musician. He had hoped that this would discourage the two of them from sitting next to his beloved Nami-swan.
As Luffy and Ussop immediately started to dig into their food, there was a small snap in Sanji's head, as he heard a slurping noise from the both of them. His eyes narrowed. "How dare you slurp on your food." He gripped onto his cigarette, between gritted teeth, and displayed his stunning ability of being able to kick his leg up into a swift ninety degrees. "Anti-Manners Kick Course!" As a result, both Ussop and Luffy were sent flying.
A giggle from young Kenni made the "love cook" turn straight around, ready to glare at him about laughing the dinner table, when he saw that there was food on his plate. "Where did you get that?" He looked to Nami's plate and saw there was some less food than there had been originally. "Aha! You're a thief! You stole food from my beloved Nami-swan's plate!" He gave the boy a close-up frown, his large and rather odd eyebrow, shaped in a swirl at the end, now visible.
Nami swiftly smacked the blonde on the head, giving him her own frown. "Don't jump to conclusions, just because you're jealous of him!" Sanji was a little taken aback. "I gave him food from my own plate. Just because he's getting attention from me doesn't mean you can starve him of food instead."
Meanwhile, little Kenni had just accepted the food from Nami, waiting for her to finish talking before he could thank her. He dropped his fork, in the sauce that Sanji had whipped up, spilling some of it onto the table. Sanji was just getting ready to use his "Anti-Manners Kick Course", when Nami gave him a glare that said "You do, and you shall die."
Sanji was quick to divert his attention, as he noticed Ussop and Luffy ready to fight over the last piece of sliced meat. He stabbed his fork into it, and frowned at the sharpshooter and captain. Soon, a fight had inevitably broken out, to which Nami narrowed her eyes in somewhat disgust, Zoro just sat by and gulped down some rum, and Kenni gave a small giggle, covering his mouth with a clenched up fist, or paw, in this case.
Nami gave a sigh, and a shrug of the shoulders, before resolving the three-way conflict. She took the fork and offered it to little Kenni. "Care for the last piece?" She backhanded Luffy, across the face, as he tried to stretch his neck, to get the piece of meat.
Robin, who had missed breakfast, was still reading in her little private place on deck. She had gotten through only three books, a slow morning for her. She couldn't help but think that there seemed to be trouble ahead of them. She just could not understand why she felt like this. The day seemed to be starting out very jolly, but could it turn sour, in a flash?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud chuckle from Luffy. Captain-san had apparently heard good news. She stood up, and strode over to them, her arms swishing limply from side to side, as she walked. "What's going on?" She asked, a casual smile upon her face.
Luffy was grinning from ear to ear. "Land-ho!" He let out a great cry of joy, and hopped onto his favourite perch on the ship: The ram's head figurehead on the bow. He pointed enthusiastically to the island they were nearing, then paused. Was that a cruise ship he could see? It said "Alabasta" on the side, and he grinned. This could mean fun.
A blue haired girl, wearing this light blue hair in a ponytail, took in a deep breath of the air around her, and held out her arms in relaxation. This was Vivi Nefertari, the princess of Alabasta, which explained why there was a ship from Alabasta at this island.
Waves started to come in, as a ship approached land. Her eyes widened as she realised it was the Going Merry. She ran up to where the Going Merry was going to drop anchor, and waved up to the Straw Hat crew.
Luffy was giving a wide smile, and watching the others greet Vivi again. Sanji had greeted her with his usual fashion of greeting pretty girls: An eye or two turning to hearts, and springing out. The blue-haired princess looked a little confused, as she saw there were two new members to the Straw Hats. "Who are these, Luffy?" Her voice sounded a little distasteful, as she felt like she had met Robin before.
"I'm Miss All Sunday, if you don't remember me, Miss Wednesday." Vivi stared, incredulously, then turned to Luffy, demanding to know why he took her in, when she had been the partner of Crocodile.
Luffy just shrugged. "She asked to join, so I let her." Vivi gave a sweatdrop, thinking that she would never understand this fellow. She turned to Kenni, and smiled a sugary smile. "And who's this?" She cooed.
Little Kenni bent down on one knee, in a sign of respect, and held one paw in a curtsying manner, taking one of her hands in the other paw. "Greetings, Princess Nefertari. My name is Torashi Pikaken- How may I serve thee?" With that he kissed her on the hand, in the gentlemanly manner.
Vivi could do nothing but giggle, at this show of respect. It was quite heart-warming to see someone respect her as a princess, even if they were not of Alabasta blood. "Just Vivi is fine, you know." She said to him, kneeling down to his level.
Nami looked to her little musician and gave a smile. She knew what Vivi did not, that Kenni in fact was an Alabastan. He had told them, already, that Shanks had conceived him in Alabasta, after all.
She had invited the Straw Hats to a dinner at a restaurant nearby, to talk things over. "I'm glad I found you again. My father wants you to help us again. There's an organisation by a name of the Akumi, short for "Akuma no Mi", and it's using Alabasta as a base from which to construct their plans."
Little Kenni raised an eyebrow, lifting a mug to take a drink, and to hide his expression. He looked a little scared.
Luffy, on the other hand, was all but worried, or anxious, or any of those emotions. He punched a fist into his other palm, in a sign of determination. "Then I'll just have to destroy it!"
Kenni's reaction to this was the only one possible, when having taken a drink. A spit take. It was not a nice thing to do, but given the circumstances, it could be slightly forgiven. Not by Sanji, however, since the drink had gone all over his jacket.
"Are you insane?" He stared at Luffy, a look of sheer disbelief in his large red eyes. "The Akumi is a very dangerous organisation! If you try to defeat anyone in it, you will die!"
Zoro turned to the little musician, a look of suspicion on his face. "And how do you know about this?" At this, the small one faltered. "I, umm, I heard about it when I was little?" He suggested.
Now, Luffy was curious. "Hey, yesterday, you said something about a place you were sent to." He leaned in close to the boy, and gave him the curious eye.
"I-I-" He gulped, and started to cry. "Okay, okay! I'm a part of it, okay?" He whimpered, and turned away from them, not caring that he was making a scene. "That's why I am what I am! The Akumi turned me into this!" With that, he pounced from his chair and stormed out of the restaurant, weeping.