Chapter 2: Strange Powers

A drunk man comes out from a bar, still holding a beer bottle in his hand and burping. Horo walks up to him and asks, "Hey! Is this restaurant good?"

"Sure is (hiccup)!" says the man between hiccups. "The food is reeeeeeeeal cheap! (hiccup) Tis very gooooood! (burp)" And then he falls onto the floor and starts snoring, so Horo pushes open the door and enters. Pirika comes walking to the entrance and looks at that man strangely, and then goes inside the bar too.

Yoh and Anna follow into the bar shortly after. "Whoa… This place is quite a mess…" comments Yoh. Inside the bar is a bit messy, people eating and playing with food, and even some people beating up each other. He sees Horo and Pirika sitting in front of the counter seat, and to the right of Horo is a kid wearing a straw hat and next to him is a guy with green hair. Horo and that kid is busy eating from their dish. Yoh and Anna went up to the counter and st next to Pirika.

"Where are the others?" Pirika asks them.

"They didn't like the look of this place, so they went off on their own," replies Anna. "To be honest, I didn't really like here too." A guy walks up to Anna and flirts her, but she punches him in the face and knocks him out.

Horo and the straw hat kid next to him slam both their fist against the counter and shout, "Waiter!"

"Yes?" the waiter turns to them.

"This cherry pie tastes so bad! I'm going to die!" shouts the two at the same time. They both glance at each other for a short moment, and they took their cup and drank from it. After drinking, they slam their cups onto the table and shout out at the same time, "This soda is so good! I feel like I'm in heaven!"

"Don't ask me, I'm not the chef," replies the waiter.

Horo and the kid glance at each other again. "You and I have the same taste for food!" they both say in unison.

-

Ren, Jun, and Lee Pai-Long are walking through the town. As you can see, this isn't a really attractive place. There are slum areas, beggars on the roadside, and some ruffians beating up each other, despite the fact there's a Marine base around here. "I don't like this place," says Ren. "The people here are totally unorganized!"

A guy, who appears to be a pirate, walks up to Jun and asks her, "Hey girl! Are you alone?"

"Oh no, I'm with my younger brother and my bodyguard," replies Jun.

"I really like you!" says the pirate. "Wanna have some fun with me?"

Pai-Long and Ren, who has his kwan-dao in his hands, step up in front of the pirate. "Get away from my sister!" says Ren angrily.

"What can you do to me, kid?" asks the pirate jokingly.

Ren uses the other end of his kwan-dao and thrusts the pirate's stomach with it, pushing him back onto the ground. "Ow! You dare hurt me!" says the pirate angrily. "I'll get you!" The pirate got back up and comes for Ren again, but Pai-Long punches him into the air. The pirate flies into the sky and falls down onto some crates, smashing it.

"Let's get out of here," says Ren. "I really don't like this place…"

-

Manta is inside a book store, looking for some books so he can learn more about this strange world. He sees a book on top of a shelf, and he's too short to reach it. A tall woman approaches him and asks, "Kid, can't reach the book?"

"Yeah… I admit I'm too short to reach it," replies Manta.

"Let me help you."

Suddenly, several hands appear from the floor and lifts Manta into the air. Manta is shocked at the sudden appearance of the hands, but he is able to reach for the book he wants now. The hands disappear back into the floor and Manta thanks her. In his mind, he is wondering what the hell those hands were just now.

-

Ryu is walking through the town while wooing at the beautiful girls he met. "Woohoo! This place is the best sacred hang! There are lots of beauties!" He spots an orange-hair girl who is window-shopping. "WOW! That's one lovely chick!" But then his eye caught notice of someone else. He turns to that person slowly. His eyes widen, mouth drops open, and heartbeat starts thumping loudly.

In front of him is probably the most beautiful woman one can imagine. She has a smooth, white, and delicate skin. Her body is so slim and beautiful. Her black, wavy hair and red lips make you crave to touch them. She wears a white cowboy hat and an open vest with only a bra under it.

"No… This isn't possible…" says Ryu. "My eyes must be playing tricks on me… A beautiful woman like this can't possibly exist!"

Ponchi and Conchi (Tamao's spirits if you forgot) pop out in front of the beautiful lady. "Woo! She's so sexy!" exclaims Conchi.

"Right! I really want to pull off her bra!" says Ponchi

"Ahem, I can hear you," says the woman.

"What!" gasps the two in unison. "You can see us!"

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

"That means you're a shaman!" says Ponchi.

"And a sexy one at that!" adds Conchi.

Ryu runs up to them, grabs them by their heads, and throws them away. "I'm sorry for the trouble they caused, my fair lady."

"I say, you're quite a gentleman compared to those two," says the woman.

"Yes I am! Now will you accept my offer?"

"What is it?"

"I have fallen in love with you." Ryu pulls out some flowers and kneels down before her. "Please be my queen and we can live happily ever after!"

"I'm sorry to tell you, but I have someone in my mind already."

Ryu went sad upon hearing this. "Ai… That's sad, but I cannot do anything about it if you have a love one."

The woman begins to walk away, and as she walks, she says, "By the way, I hate your hairstyle." Upon hearing this, Ryu's expression turn depressed and he freezes there.

Tamao comes walking up to him. "Hey, Mr. Ryu, are you all right?" She waves her hand in front of his face. "Hello?"

-

Remember that pirate who was beaten up by Pai-Long? He's still lying on the smashed crates in pain. A clown walks up to him and asks, "Hey mate, what's wrong with you?"

"Captain… Somebody hit me…" replies the man painfully. "I met a beautiful girl, but her… brother beat me… and there's this guy with purple skin…"

"Who dares to hurt my crewmates? I will teach him a lesson!"

-

Back in the bar, Horohoro and that kid apparently became good friends and are chatting together. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy!" says the kid. "And I wish to become Pirate King!"

"I'm Horohoro Usui (got that right?), and I want to become Shaman King so I can build a place where nature can bloom!"

"That sounds cool! We both want to become king!"

"Oh right! I forgot to introduce you to my friends!" Horo points to Pirika. "She's my younger sister Pirika! The boy next to her is my best friend Yoh!"

"Hi!" Yoh says to Luffy.

"And the girl next to her is his dan… er… I mean his sweetheart fiancée…"

"Cool! He's got a fiancée! Wait… What's a fiancée?" asks Luffy.

"To put it simple, I'm his future wife," Anna tells him.

"Oh! I should introduce you to my friend! He's Zoro, and he's my first mate!"

Zoro sees Yoh's katana sheath and asks him, "Are you a swordsman?"

"Well, sort of," replies Yoh. "I see you're one too, but you have three…"

"That's my style. I fight using three-sword style."

"Three-sword style…? Sounds cool!"

Ren steps into the restaurant and picks a seat besides Anna. Horo sees him and says to Luffy, "That kid with a crazy hairdo is Ren!"

"You take that back!" Ren shouts at him.

"Cool! Your hairstyle rocks!" exclaims Luffy. "I really want to have one like that!"

"Where's your sis, Ren?" Yoh asks him.

"She's in the public restroom outside."

The door opens and a clown steps inside. That same pirate appears next to him and points to Ren. "That's the kid who hit me, captain!"

The clown walks up to Ren and asks him, "Hey kid, did you hit my mate earlier?"

Ren looks at the clown and then turns to that pirate. "Yeah, I did. It's because he attacked my sister."

"Ah, so you taught my mate a few manners. How nice of you! I should award you greatly!" The clown places his hand on the back of Ren's head and then pushes him down at the counter, smashing through it! This caught the attention of everyone.

Ren gets back up, wipes off some counter particles off his face, and says angrily. "What was that for!"

"That's your award for teaching my mate some good manners," replies the clown. Without saying a word, Ren swipes his kwan-dao and cuts off the clown's head

"Eek!" shrieks Pirika, quickly covering her eyes because she doesn't want to see the gruesome sight of beheading. The head, strangely enough, plops back down onto the neck and stays there!

"You surprised me, kid," says the clown.

Ren's eyes widen in shock! He just cut off his head, but it not only returns to the body, the clown is still alive! Anna, Yoh, Pirika, and Horo are also shocked, and Yoh almost choked on his food.

Luffy looks at the clown for a few seconds, and says, "Oh hi! It's you, Buggy!"

The clown turns to Luffy. "Long time no see, Luffy." He turns back to Ren, but something came to him. He slowly turns his head back to Luffy and shouts out, "YOU! THE RUBBER BRAT!"

"Rubber brat…?" Horo says curiously to no one in particular.

"We finally meet at last!" says Buggy. "Do you know how much hardship I've spent on finding you?"

"You followed us all the way into the Grand Line?" asks Zoro. "You're pretty amazing!"

At this same moment, that beautiful woman Ryu met comes into the restaurant and sees Luffy. "Well, so I finally found the person of my dreams, Monkey D. Luffy!"

Luffy turns back to look at her. "Oh, you're here too, Alvida!"

-

Jun steps out from the public restroom and is immediately confronted by an ugly guy. "Hey girl!" says the guy. "I feel like playing with you!"

Jun pushes him aside and walks away. "Get away from me."

The guy grabs her arm and says, "Aww, c'mon! We make a perfect pair!"

"Let go of me!" shouts Jun, but the guy tightens his grab and pulls her back. Suddenly, a foot comes flying into the guy's face and kicks him dead on. The guy turns to his attacker.

"Who are you!" asks the guy angrily.

"I am Sanji the cook," replies Jun's rescuer. "And you've done something I don't like. You are hurting a woman in front of my eyes."

"You wanna fight? Bring it on!"

"I warn you, don't try it."

"Who's scare of whom?"

Sanji tells Jun to step aside while he takes on the ugly guy. He jumps forward and lands a kick in the guy's face, and then he kicks him in the back of his head. The blow sends the guy flying straight into the restaurant.

The guy crashes straight into Buggy and they both fly all the way into the kitchen with a crash.

CRASH

"What was that all about…?" asks Yoh.

Zoro grabs Luffy by his arm and begins running towards the exit. "Let's get out of here and avoid trouble, Luffy!"

But Buggy will not let Luffy go; he detaches his hand and grabs Luffy by the neck, and when Zoro pulls Luffy out, his neck stretches along the way. The shamans are shocked at Luffy's really long neck. Sanji is outside and he sees Zoro pulling Luffy's hand. "What's wrong, seaweed head?"

"Let's just get out of here, dumb cook!"

Jun and Pai-Long's eye are fixed on that body with a neck that stretches into the restaurant.

Alvida raises her club over Luffy's head and says, "You know what, Luffy? The reason I'm searching for you is… I'm in love with… GETTING REVENGE ON YOU!" She swings her club down at Luffy's head, but Horo quickly places his skateboard between the head and the club to block it.

"Don't hurt my friend!" Horo says to Alvida. He lifts up his skateboard and pushes Alvida away.

"You better not get into pirate's business, kid," says Alvida. "In the world of pirates, one does not take prisoners!" She raises her club to strike Horo, but Yoh knocks the club away from her hand. The club flies into the kitchen and smacks in Buggy, making him loss his grasp on Luffy's head. The head snaps back to the body, hits Zoro, and they fly straight into some crates.

Buggy gets back up and approach the shamans. "You kids are trying to mess with us! I see that you tried to help the rubber boy, so that means you are either his close friends or his crewmates."

"To be honest, I just knew about him," says Horo.

"And I have no idea who he is," says Ren.

"Any friend of Luffy is my enemy! I will show you why not to mess with Buggy the Clown! I have a bounty of 14 million berries (this is the right spelling)." His upper torso detaches from the bottom half and flies into the air. "Behold the power of my Bara Bara (called Chop Chop in the dub) Fruit!"

"What an ugly nose you got," says Anna coldly.

Buggy freezes in place upon hearing this. His crewmates, who are also in here, also freeze and open their mouth wide in shock. Buggy's body slowly floats down and attaches to the bottom half. "How dare… you… You… wench…"

"Now you've made Buggy mad!" says one of his crew. "He absolutely hates it when someone makes fun of his nose!"

"So? It looks really ugly to me," says Anna. "In fact, it's probably the ugliest I've ever seen."

Buggy and his crew went even more horrified. Buggy grits his teeth angrily. "That does it… That does it!" Without saying anything, he immediately throws a knife at Anna. Yoh quickly reaches forward and grabs hold of the knife, on the blades! The knife was just a few millimeters from Anna's face. She lets out a sigh of relief, for she was truly frightened earlier. "Tha… Thanks… Yoh…"

Yoh throws the knife onto the ground and looks at his bleeding hand, and then he turns to Buggy. "If you want to pick a fight, then pick me. Don't you dare touch my future wife!"

-

Luffy and Zoro are lying on the smashed crates. Sanji walks up to them and asks, "What's wrong with you two? What's with all those mess just now?"

Luffy gets back up and shouts, "My friends! They are in danger!"

"Since when are they your friends?" Zoro asks him.

"Just now!"

Jun approaches Sanji and says, "Thanks for helping me earlier."

Sanji's eyes turn into hearts and he gently takes her hand. "That was my job, my fair lady. How can I let someone as wicked as that guy touch you?"

Pai-Long pulls Sanji's hand away and says, "Please don't molest Lady Jun."

Luffy runs back into the restaurant and sees Yoh, Horo, and Ren getting ready to face off with Buggy's crew.

"You better turn back now, kid," says Buggy. "You do not want to anger a pirate!"

"I don't care whether you're a pirate or a clown, but you should not underestimate shamans!" says Ren.

"So you're shamans, eh? I heard of them before, but never actually saw one. This will be interesting!"

Ren pushes the other two shamans back. "I'll handle him! His men molested Jun earlier and he smashed me against the counter! Bason!" A Mongolian warrior appears besides him.

"Yes master?"

"Let's fight!"

"Yes!"

Buggy looks at Bason with interest. "Wow… So it's true that shamans can communicate with spirits!"

"So you can see Bason?" says Ren. "Now I'll let you see my power!" He raises his hand into the air and Bason goes into his kwan-dao.

Buggy watches on with more interest. "Amazing…"

The kwan-dao glows with a yellow aura, and Ren charges at Buggy and swings the the spear (what else do you call it?) at him. The kwan-dao cuts through Buggy's body and the upper torso floats in the air. "Ha! You can slice and slash me, but you cannot kill me!" laughs Buggy.

He got out three knives and throws them at Ren, but he quickly jumps into the air to avoid it. While in air, he brings down his weapon on Buggy's right arm, separating it from the body. To his surprise, the arm flies to Ren's neck and begins choking him in midair!

"Ha! Are you deaf? I said you cannot cut me!"

"Ren!" shouts Yoh. "Quick, Amidamaru!" The ghost samurai appears out of nowhere and enters his sword. Yoh jumps up and cuts the arm with his over soul sword, but it merely separated it from the hand. The hand continues to choke Ren. Ren grabs the hand and twists it, making Buggy scream in pain and letting him go.

A ghostly image of Bason appears over Ren and throws a powerful punch at Buggy. When the fist hit him, Buggy flies backwards and breaks through the wall. "CAPTAIN!" scream his men as they run outside to accompany him.

"THAT WAS WAY TOO COOL!" exclaims Luffy, who saw everything from the door.

"Huh? You can see Bason too?" Ren asks him.

"That was just too cool! Shamans are super cool!" says Luffy excitedly.

-

Outside, the men are all around Buggy, trying to wake him up, for he had been knocked out by the blow.

Ryu, Tamao, and Manta are standing by the side, wondering why a clown just busted out from a building. Nami and Robin come into the scene too. "Hey! Isn't this guy Buggy?" asks Nami, for she had met him before. "What's he doing here?"

Ryu notices Nami as the orange-hair girl he met earlier and his eyes become hearts. He kneels down before her and presents her some flowers. "I have fallen in love with you. Please be my…"

And the answer he got is a foot on his face from Sanji. "If you do anything to my Nami, I'll hurt you even more!"

"Sorry, I didn't know she is taken," says Ryu, who has a shoeprint on his face. He turns to Robin and does the same thing, and got the same result from Sanji.

"And Robin too!"

"What! You have two girls! How can you do that! Teach me!" says Ryu.

-

"Hey, isn't that Ryu out there?" says Yoh, pointing outside the hole on the wall.

Luffy approaches the shamans and asks, "Can I ask you something?"

"What?" responds Horo.

"Do you want to join my crew?"

TO BE CONTINUED…

There goes chapter 2! I hope you enjoy it! I'll explain why some OP people can see the spirits in the next chapter. BTW, can you try to answer me something? There's a technique where an image of the guardian spirit appears above the shaman and can hit physical things, right? I'm sure it's first used by Ren in episode 19, where he's battling Yoh. Is there a specific name for that? I'll be glad if you answer me in your reviews.