Chapter Four- Zoro Has Thoughts: Can the Musician be Trusted?

It was the morning after the brief re-encounter with Buggy, and nearly all was well. The sun was shining, the waters were calm, and everything looked to be turning out great. The swordsman Zoro, however, was not feeling good on this day. Things were on his mind, such as suspicion, mistrust, and every feeling he had felt when Robin had first joined their crew.

He could not think of how the others could take their newest crewmember in so warmly. After all, there had already been two times in which the young one had given off a dark aura, with his association with the organisation called Akumi, whatever it was.

He had already talked to Luffy about this, knowing it would never have had any good outcome. The only reply from Luffy was that their ship needs a musician, and that Kenni had wanted to join their crew, anyway, so he let him.

Nami had helped the situation slightly, but only to get Zoro to stop being so ill-tempered about Kenni. She had suggested that, in the morning, Chopper could give him a small check-up. If, indeed, he had an Akuma no Mi, then Chopper would definitely be able to tell.

The small reindeer man gave a thoughtful murmur, looking up at his new patient, sitting on the table before him, his shirt off. He trotted over to a drawer and took out a small hammer- one with which a doctor would test a patient's reflexes- and tapped Kenni's knee with it. The reaction was within a nanosecond of the hammer hitting, Kenni's leg shooting up and sending Chopper flying.

The little Zoan style Akuma no Mi eater looked up at Kenni, still a bit dizzy from the kick to the face. "That was incredible! Your reflexes are faster than those of a normal person. There cannot be any doubt about it- You have eaten at least one Akuma no Mi. This would explain your cat features."

Kenni nodded, a small sad smile across his face. He looked away from Chopper, out a conveniently placed window. He never liked check-ups with a doctor, because this was always the reaction he would get.

Chopper continued, whispering a little. "You can talk to me about it. What sort of fruits did you eat? I ate the Hito-Hito no Mi, myself. I'm guessing you ate something like a Zoan fruit, as well, like the Neko-Neko no Mi?"

Kenni gave a little sigh, tears coming to his eyes again. "I guess I can't just keep hiding it. Promise you won't tell the others?" He asked, hopefully. He wanted to tell them himself, when he was ready.

Chopper made a zipping motion across his mouth. "As a doctor, I must always comply with doctor-patient confidentiality." He smiled, reassuringly. For a small creature, he was very wise at times.

"Very well," Kenni nodded, gratefully. "As long as you don't tell the others, I shall tell you. When I was born, Papa left port, and Mama was heartbroken. She raised me, like a normal mother, before one day, they came."

"They?" Chopper interrupted, not too sure if he should have or not, considering where the story seemed to be going. His reply from Kenni was a small nod, and the word "Akumi".

"The Akumi is centralised, deep in the Grand Line, where they believe the most Akuma no Mi grow. And with these fruits growing nearby, they take them, to experiment with them, to make new fruits. I don't know what their true objectives are, but I just know that they use all sorts of people and animals to experiment with these fruits."

"So, the Akumi took you away from your mother, to experiment on you?" Chopper ventured, hoping he was not assuming too much in one go. He was very wise for a doctor, and thus, he was wise to people's feelings as well.

Kenni nodded once more. "Yes. I was taken from my mother, and forced to eat the Neko-Neko no Mi: Koneko Model, and the Pika-Pika no Mi. That's why I look like a kitten, and why I am very fast."

Chopper seemed rather interested now. These fruits were new, and they were being made by an organisation. However, he was also interested in what these fruits could also make Kenni do. "Could you give me some examples, of what you can do with these fruits of yours?"

Kenni looked away, embarrassedly. "I shouldn't. It would be like showing off." However, after a coaxing from Chopper, Kenni agreed.

Chopper tossed the pebble he had found in the air a couple of times, before clutching it tightly. "Do you think you could hit this rock, when I throw it, like so?" On the words "like so", he chucked the pebble as far as he could.

With a small "Maybe", Kenni pounced from the deck, in a flash of light, before appearing a split second afterwards. "Was that okay?" He asked, nervously.

Chopper was in awe. "That was amazing! What do you call that? Do you have names for your attack, like most of us here do?" It was true that everyone in the crew named what techniques they could, whether an Akuma no Mi eater or not. For instance, there was Ussop and his "Boshi" techniques, with a slingshot, or Zoro and his beast names, like "Onigiri", or "Toragari".

"Well, I don't like to name my attacks that much, but I think I call that one the Pika-Pika Bullet." He took out a roll of paper, that was so long that it reached not only the floor, but went a good few centimetres across it as well. "Yes, that's the Pika-Pika Bullet." The sight of such a long list made Chopper give a sweatdrop.

Zoro was just watching all of this, keeping a very close eye on their little musician. Something was odd about him. It wasn't the fact that he was a cat person. Zoro had definitely seen much weirder by now. It was something more ominous.

"Do you see anything, knave?" The owner of the voice seemed to have a majestic tone to it, the stereotypical voice of the posh British aristocrat. To go with this voice was a man donning a suit of armour, a white moustache and beard, and an old man's countenance, the sort you would associate with WWII pilots, the sort of man who would burst out with "Tally-Ho, you Nazi riff-raff!"

A young lad with a telescope in hand, and a rather tubby body, nodded, flabby cheeks starting to wobble about. "Yessir! Pirates nearing us at the port bow!"

The "knight" man fondled his moustache, before standing up. "Very well! Set course for the port bow!" He turned around, to the direction he had been given, pointing a finger. "Cast sail!"