The cool breeze felt great against Dagger's face as she stood on the bow. They left Gaimon's island a day ago and now the Going Merryis sailing toward the unknown, unknown to everyone but Nami of course since she's the navigator.
Dagger turned her head to see the commotion behind her. Luffy was lifting out a box marked 'Danger' on it.
"Whew. This is heavy!" He placed it on the deck causing a 'boom' sound. Nami and Usopp looked up at him.
Nami questioned from her lounging chair, "What is that?"
"I found this is the storage room," Luffy replied with a grin.
"Aren't those cannonballs?" She looked closely at it.
Luffy pointed to the cannon on the deck, "I figured we could practice using the cannon."
"Then I'll take care of it!" Usopp cried out with a smile, "I think I was three… traveling halfway around the world riding a cannon ball."
Dagger giggled as Luffy turned his attention to the cannon and away from Usopp. "How do you use this?" He scratched his head. Usopp shouted to him, but Luffy ignored him and shouted, "Hey Zoro! How do you use this?"
"Luffy," Dagger said, "I think Usopp knows since he's a marksman and everything."
"Besides, Zoro has been sleeping for a while," Nami added.
Dagger smirked, "Really. I'll go wake him then."
"Okay!" Luffy shouted in glee.
"Not for you, you have Usopp helping you. Zoro always sleeps. I'm going to wake him up and have fun." Nami laughed as an evil grin crept on Dagger's face.
"No fun…" Luffy pouted.
Nami looked down at her map, "If we go a little south, there's a perfect place to practice."
Luffy became distracted again, "Really! Let's go! Let's go!"
Dagger walked up the stairs and onto the platform Zoro was sleeping on. She sat beside him and stealthy picked up his ivory katana. However, Zoro's reflex stopped her from taking it.
"What are you doing?" He opened one eye with his right hand on the katana.
"You're supposed to be asleep." She shot back.
"You're annoyingness woke me up. What do you want?" Dagger pulled onto the katana, but Zoro pulled back.
"Aww, come on. I just want to hold it. You let me use it once."
"That," Zoro leaned closer to Dagger's face, "Was a one time deal." Dagger released her grip, and Zoro pulled it out of her hand and placed it on his other side. "It belonged to Kuina."
"Kuina?" Dagger looked down at the katana and then back at Zoro. "So you're going to give it back to her right? When you see her again?"
"Kuina…" He looked away, "Kuina died eight years ago." Dagger sat and listen as Zoro told her about his past and Kuina. About how he made a promise to her that they will become the greatest swordsman and swordswoman in the world, and now he will become the greatest for Kuina and himself. "I will become so strong, that my name with reach the heavens."
Dagger wiped her tears once Zoro was finished, "That's so honorable of you. I never would have thought that this katana was so meaningful." She bowed her head, "Please forgive me for wanting to take it."
He sighed and patted her head, "I forgive you. As long as you don't steal it, I won't kill you." She peeked at him through her bangs, "Kill me?" A smirk was on her face, "You can't kill me even if you tried your hardest."
"Eh?" Zoro raised his eye brow at her, "I'll throw you off the ship. You'll sink to the bottom of the sea."
Dagger slapped his hand away from her head and stood up, "Humph. I was going to teach you an attack, but I don't think so now." When she turned to walk away, Zoro grabbed onto her right calf causing her to fall flat on her face.
She twitched in anger as she turned to him, "Why did you do that?" With her free leg, she kicked at him sending a wave of air directly at him, her mistake. Both of them flew off the platform and onto the deck at the stern.
"Aiya…" Dagger rubbed her buttock as she look at Zoro who was only a few feet away lying on his face. She burst in the laugher, "Serves you right!"
"Why you…" Zoro got up and waved his white katana. A dark shadow loomed over him.
Dagger gave him a sheepish grin, "Now, now. No need to get violent on me." She stood up and dusted herself off. "Eh?" She looked up to see Zoro charging at her with his katana ready to strike. As she sighed, she waited for Zoro to reach her and then she spun 360 degrees creating a tornado. It sent Zoro flying back and he landed on his back.
"When will you learn?" Dagger stood akimbo over him, "You can't harm me. My defenses are impenetrable. I was going to teach you that. I will if you want to learn."
"I can't manipulate the wind like your Devil Fruit power." He replied from his sprawled position on the deck.
"Hmm? This defense or offensive move doesn't have anything to do with my powers. You see," Dagger sat down beside him, "I've learned things from many people when I was younger and traveled the world. This move I learned from one of my uncles."
Zoro crossed his eyebrows, "Uncles? You remember your uncles?"
"Duh. But, they're not really real uncles. Most of them aren't blood related, just people who take care of me. You know, friends of the family also. It's funny," She placed a finger on her chin, "That's all I can remember about them. You know, maybe if I see them, I would remember more."
"Do you know who you are?" Zoro asked as he sat up.
"I'm Dagger."
"No, I mean the real you before Luffy gave you that name. I would think so since you remember your so-called-uncles." Dagger shook her head sadly. Zoro stood up, "So, aren't you going to teach me?"
With a smile, Dagger stood up. "Okay, first you have to learn the basics of the wind current you're making. Watch," Dagger motioned her arms and created a small current. She made it into a small pale yellow colored swirl. "Don't ask me why it's this color. That's just the color of my wind. All the wind I create is this color. Now that I think about it, the fruit was this color also."
"Uhuh," Zoro yawned which caused Dagger to snapped her fingers. Zoro began coughing, "Are you trying to kill me?"
"No, but I just pulled all the air from you lungs. Just think about it, I can kill— I… uggh," Dagger clutched her arm. Her hands were shaking.
"Hey, Dagger." Zoro rubbed her shoulders with his hands, "Are you okay?"
She stopped shaking her head and nodded. "Umm, where was I?" She backed away from him. "Okay, the key here is speed and force. I know you have that." She grinned, "All you need to do is spin so you create a force of air. In the beginning, speed doesn't matter, but later on, when you need to parry the attacks quicker, it does. Now, just try it out."
Dagger watched as Zoro performed the move. She watched him practiced it over and over again. "Don't strain yourself, Zoro. You can try again later." But as Dagger walked toward him, he turned around fast with all three swords drawn creating a tornado. Dagger braced herself as she flew back and skidded to a stop. "You did it!" She praised him.
Zoro stood heaving, "Of course. I'm going to be the greatest swordsman alive. I have to be strong, fast, and skilled." He sheathed all three of his katanas before he fell back, sprawled on the deck. Dagger went to side beside him and took his green bandana off his head.
"I'm surprised." Dagger said as she played with the bandana, "It took me three days to master that move. It took you three hours. Zoro?" Dagger quietly laughed when she saw Zoro was napping again. She sighed and joined him with her back against the wall of the galley.
Dagger rubbed her face as she woke up from the nap due to some loud noise. From her position, she watched a man in a maroon shirt with a blue jacket on slice at Luffy at the balcony. The man had a character tattooed on his face.
Feeling lazy, Dagger sat there and watched Luffy handle the man. Zoro came out of the galley (kitchen) and looked down upon him, "Hey you! Aren't you Johnny?"
"Who is it?" Johnny looked up, "Calling my name out with no repect! ZORO-ANIKI!" (Aniki: means, elder brother, but it means bro here. I just like how he says 'Aniki'.)
"So it is you."
"AHH! You're on a pirate ship, Aniki? Why?"
"Where's Yosaku? You're not together?"
"Eh? What, what?" Luffy asked, "You know each other?"
"Please help!" Johnny ran to the rail. Zoro jumped down and rushed beside him, "Yosaku is…" Johnny cried.
Dagger yawned and stretched before going down to the deck. They laid Yosaku on the deck and Johnny began to explain, "He was perfectly fine until a while ago…then he grew pale and began to lose consciousness. I have no clue why!" He sat beside his friend crying.
Nami causally walked down the stairs as Johnny continued, "His old wounds began to bleed again. I don't know what to do anymore! So I took him to the rocky island, to let him rest, but then your ship attack us."
Usopp's and Luffy's jaws dropped in shock and they shouted, "I'm sorry!"
"If all problems were solved with an apology, we wouldn't need the marines… Isn't that right! Partner! Aniki… is he going to die?"
"Of course not!" Dagger rolled her eyes as Nami knelt down next to Yosaku and examine him.
"Are you stupid?" Nami asked as she began to check Yosaku over.
Johnny grabbed on to her arm and spat in her face, literally, "What are you…? What are you doing to my buddy! I'll kill you!"
Dagger pulled on his blue hood to stop him from spitting on Nami and off of her. Nami commanded Usopp and Luffy to get limes from the storage. Within a few seconds, they came back and Nami told them to squeeze the juice into Yosaku's mouth.
"He's got scurvy." Nami stated.
"Scurvy?" Johnny turned to her.
"We have got to him in time; he should recover in a few days."
Nami slanted away when he spat in her face again, "Are you sure, Aneki? (Female version of Aniki, therefore I think it means, 'Sis'.) I'm really grateful, Aneki!"
"Yes, yes," Nami pushed his face away, "Stop spitting all over me, please."
Once everything was settled down, with Yosaku sleeping, everything one was in the gallery.
"Let this be a lesson for us," Nami said writing in her log.
"Yeah," Zoro agreed, "These kinds of things can happen on a long trip."
"Especially since we don't have much room for food on this ship," Usopp added.
"Speaking of which, we should get somebody who know about this dietary business on the ship," Dagger said, "A sea cook."
Luffy smiled as he stood up, "Yeah! A sea cook! Let's go look for a sea cook!"
"If you're looking for a cook," Johnny smirked from the corner, "I know the best place where you could go."
"Yes! Where would that be?" Luffy's grin grew wider.
"However, it's pretty close to the Grand Line, and that man, Aniki has been hunting is there too, Hawk-Eye." Dagger jerked her head over to him when he said that name. "The direction is… NORTHEAST! Our destination is… the floating restaurant, Baratie!"
The Going Merryset sail for Baratie within a few seconds. In a day, the crew laid their eyes on the fish shaped ship.
"Wha'cha guys think!" Johnny shouted as he pointed to the large ship.
"WHOA!" Luffy exclaimed as he leaned over the rail, "WOW! It's a gigantic fish!"
"It's amazing!" Nami added.
"It really is!" Usopp agreed.
Slowly, Yosaku opened the door to the deck and set his eyes on the crew and the ship ahead. Drool came from his mouth and down his jaw. There was a sudden ringing sound coming from the starboard side (right) of the ship.
"WHAT! Way out here! A marine ship!" He screamed.
"It didn't come all the way out here to attack us, right?" Usopp asked no one in particular.
Zoro scoffed, "I smell trouble."
"Really?" Dagger looked at him.
He rolled his eyes, "It's an expression."
"Just out of the blue?" Nami bit her lip. Behind her, Johnny slowly tip toed away to Yosaku.
"I've need seen your pirate mark before." The man dressed in a white suit with vertical lines running up and down and wore iron knuckles on his hand.
"We're not pirates!" Johnny shouted to him.
"I'm Marine Lieutenant, Iron Fist Fullbody! Who're you're captain? Show yourself." The man called out.
"I am, Luffy!"
"I am, Usopp!" Luffy gave him a side glance before stepping up to Fullbody.
"Our pirate mark was just made yesterday!"
"I was the one that made the pirate mark!" Luffy glared at him.
"What's wrong with you people?" Fullbody laughed and then looked at Johnny and Yosaku. "I've seen those people before. You guys claim to be pirate hunters, don't you?" The two jumped out from behind the door in angry as he continued, "It looks you finally caught yourselves some. This is too good."
From behind him, a beautiful lady in a red dress grabbed his arm, "Hey, let's go now."
"Sure," he replied with a grin.
Johnny reached into his shirt and pulled out Wanted posters and threw them at Fullbody, "I'll show you what us pirate hunters do!" But, Fullbody had his back turned and kept walking.
"Now, let's head toward the restaurant. They're ship is an eye sore, sink it!" He commanded
"AYE!" The Marines saluted.
Dagger ran to the rail next to Usopp who shouted, "This is bad! They're aiming at us!"
"Leave it to me!" Luffy jumped and sat on the rail, "Gomu Gomu no Pachinko!" The cannonball hit Luffy square in the chest and sent him back. Everything was going well until his hand slipped and changed the direction of the ricochet.
"I got it!" Dagger ran next to Luffy who landed at the figure head. Dagger created a wind tunnel to attempt to spin the cannonball away from the large ship, but it was in vain. Luffy fell back onto Dagger causing her to lose her footing and her hold on the wind tunnel. The cannonball hit the ship with more force because Dagger added the rotation. Both Dagger and Luffy lay on the deck when the cooks from the Baratie came to retrieve them.
Dagger walked as Luffy was dragged. She held her head down as they ascended the steps toward the top of the ship. She glared at Luffy, "It's all your fault!" He just shrugged and smiled.
The cooks threw Luffy on the ground at the injured person's feet and showed Dagger in. "We got him, Chef Zeff. The girl's with him too."
Dagger looked up at Zeff and there was a prick in her memory. She recognized him on the spot, but his face show he was in no mood for reunions.
Zeff looked down at Luffy who crawled to his feet. "I'm really sorry!" Luffy looked up at Zeff's wooden peg and his eyes bulged, "AHHH! YOUR LEG!"
"You idiot!" Zeff stepped on his face, "This didn't happen just now."
"What?" Luffy said with Zeff's shoe to his face, "Oh, it wasn't me?" Zeff kicked Luffy back into a pile of roof shingles before setting his foot down.
"However, I'm still injured! Medical and repair bills are going to be expensive."
"I'm not going to bargain with you on that…" Luffy said as he got up and turned around, "But, I have no money!"
"That's unfortunate. If you got no money, you'll have to work it off then."
"Oh, okay then!" A grin appeared on Luffy's face.
"You'll have to work here for a year."
"Aye! I'll have to work here for one year…" Luffy's eyes widen, "O-o-one year you said…? By one year, you mean one whole year? I can't work one year! I've waited ten years to make myself a pirate. I can't afford to stay here for one year!" Luffy looked up at him and then pointed to Dagger, "What about her! She did it too!"
Zeff looked over to Dagger with his stone hard face, "What are you doing here?"
Dagger bowed her head, "I guess I'm here to help my captain, Sir."
"Captain?" He looked at Luffy who nodded.
"Yeah, yeah. She's here to help me because I promised her I'll help her remember who she is. Dagger is staying with me until she remembers."
Zeff turned to Dagger, "That's your name?" She nodded. "Alright, both of you work for me. Six months."
Luffy shook his head and held out one finger, "One week."
Zeff laughed, "What did you say?"
"Two weeks," Luffy held out two fingers.
"Hey now, you ruined the restaurant and injured the head chef!" Zeff hit Luffy with his tall cook hat, "Do you think you can make up for that in just two weeks?"
"Then it's decided, three weeks!"
"Hell no!" Zeff got up on his bed. Dagger knew what was coming and ducked. "No… WAY!" He turned himself on one hand and kicked Luffy with a windmill continuously. The room was filled with smoke as Dagger watched from her crouched position. She stood up as Zeff landed back on his feet. Luffy was on the floor with the roof shingles.
"I won't! Besides," Luffy crossed his arms, "I already made up my mind. We'll work one week for your forgiveness, that's my final decision."
"Are you in that much of a hurry? Then allow me to off you an alternative solution," Zeff stepped on Luffy's leg and held up a cleave, "Instead of one year, you give me your leg."
"No way!"
Zeff wore and evil grin on his face, "Wow, so unfortunate."
Dagger jumped back as Zeff started attacking Luffy. Once Luffy was sprawled on the floor, he asked, "Still refusing? Do you think I'd change my mind if you keep on staying that?"
"NO!"
"How unfortunate."
"Now, now," Dagger jumped between the two, "There's no need for more fighting, Sir."
Zeff pushed her aside lightly, "Stand back, Amy. I'm going to teach this boy a lesson."
Dagger was lost in a trance when she heard that name. She lost all of reality as her mind went blank and slowly rewired itself as if she had lost conscious and now regaining conscious back.
Once she did, she noticed the floor was cracking. Dagger looked over to see that Zeff had body slammed Luffy. The three of them fell.
"WHY DID YOU DO THAT UNCLE ZEFF!" She screamed. Expecting to land on her buttock, she braced herself. However, she felt strong arms catch her instead. She opened her eyes to meet face to face with a man with blond hair.
"A beautiful lady like you shouldn't get hurt." He said with a smiled and set her down. A blush appeared on her face, "Umm… Thank you."
Dagger look around and notice three things: Luffy being crushed by Zeff, Iron Fist Fullbody all beat up, and three cooks looking her direction.
One of the cook rolled his eyes, "Typical. Sanji drops everything to save a girl."
The one next to his slapped him on the head, "It's better than him beating up our customers!"
Dagger looked up to the person next to her. He extended his hand, "I'm Sanji, the assistance head cook. Are you hurt?"
"No. Thanks to you I'm not." Dagger smiled, "They call me Dagger." When she extended her hand toward Sanji, he took it and kissed it.
"What a beautiful and yet, deadly name. Whoever gave it to you must be one wise man."
"Actually, he's right there." Dagger pointed to Luffy who was having a growling match with Zeff.
"If you may excuse me, I have a matter to attend to." Sanji bowed and turned to Fullbody. The three cooks jumped on him on the spot to hold him back.
"What are you doing boss? Leave him and help us with Sanji here!" The cooks called.
"Hey Sanji," Zeff left Luffy to walked toward Sanji, "Were you fighting in my restaurant again, you ingrate! And you," He turned to Fullbody and kicked him, "Get out of my restaurant!"
"You got that! Customers are Gods!" A tall man dressed in black with a white braided head band shouted at Sanji.
"Only the ones that can stand your cooking." Sanji shot back.
"Patty! Sanji! If you want to fight, don't do it in front of the customers!"
A Marine ran inside the restaurant shouting, "LIEUTENANT FULLBODY! LIEUTENANT! WE'VE GOT A PROBLEM! That pirate we captured escaped! We lost several men to him already!"
"What!" Fullbody shouted back, "When we got him three days ago, he was about to starve to death! I said not to feed him!"
"I'm really sor—"A gun shot was heard and the Marine fell forward. All the customers screamed and ran away from the door. In the threshold, there stood a shadowy figure holding a gun.
I'm back from my vacation! Weeeee: ) So, what do you guys think about this chapter? I added some twists in it. I hope that didn't confuse you. If you are confused, please tell me so I can clear things up for you.
Thanks for the Reviews: i-dun-did-it, omegadramon, Shadw, Toadette23, Hamsterai, fireclows, storywriter10791, WilderGamer: I did : ) Malik and Sakuya, and Kinrutarose.