"Did I mention he would be back?" Chopper's fur raised slightly.
"No fears, creature. I wouldn't hurt fellow captives or ones of my own kind." The specter of fog slid by Sanji and Nami and rested at the center of the deck. "Though I do see that you have discovered the Torrent Goddess, Sen. I was hoping we could get rid of her without any sympathies."
Everyone save for Sanji and Nami did a face-fault. They had already known about the powers of the Arashan and how they were revered. But how could that eerie woman be a goddess!
"Hey, who are you?" Luffy went up to the fog and waved his hand through it and blew at it.
"Stop that! If it truly makes you feel better, my name is Vandis. And I am…was Sen's betrothed and part of the island's High Council." Vandis gathered a large amount of the fog around the ship and port into himself and formed into tall, red-haired man with the most frightening matching eyes anyone could imagine. His dress was strangely dull, light gray robes like some kind of priest. "I'd thank you for bringing Sen back, except all you've done is subvert her punishment, doom us all, potentially disrupt the relative order of the Electric Archipelago, and possibly half the Grand Line. So, you kind of HAVE to cooperate to get out of here."
"Is that all we've done? Gee, at first, I thought we did something wrong." Usopp threw his hands up.
"You're dark-skinned like Sen. Does that mean you're an Arashan also?" Chopper was curious now that he was in human form and still had the same smell as the fog instead of a human or ozone, like Sen.
"I am the God of Shade, yes. At least for the time being. I want off this island and I'm tired of being a diversion and an ends to a means…"
Nami pushed Sanji out of the way and was immediately in Vandis' personal space and giggling. "…Is that right?"
Sanji chewed apart the piece of cigarette in his mouth and grumbled under his breath. Vandis' was slightly confused as to Nami's curiosity and stepped back. "Yes, now if you don't mind, we have an extremely pressing situation on our hands, and the longer we wait, the more she becomes affected by the Devil Fruit. And even as naturally weak as she is right now, her creature form is…. scary…"
Luffy tapped his fist in his hand and pointed as he remembered. "Oh yeah! Sen said she was soooo gonna kick your ass when she got back! And her brother's ass too."
"Luffy! Shut! Up!" Nami put her hand over her face.
"So just what are you going to do with her?" Sanji grumbled. Sen was still a lady even in her troubled state and would hate to see anything bad happen to her.
"The council… it was decided that Sen should be banished since we didn't want anyone to get hurt again. And her brother did try that. You probably saw that Sen has no boating skills at all. She would have drifted away, it would have been up to the Fates, and she would have been out of our hair. But on top of being rescued and brought back, he also forgot to reason that if she were to land on any of the surrounding islands, that she would not only be able to come back, she could destroy the electric islands and disturb the balance of our island, and the entire archipelago, since all of these islands are connected. Shunran is at the exact center and by far the largest, which is why your log pose and Navigator led you here. And I know you've seen the black clouds. They all belong to Sen and they're helping to drive her mad. We can't keep her here, and I seriously doubt that you pirates would want anything to do with someone this dangerous. The Fates are being cruel this month..." He put his hand over his eyes and rubbed the temple of his forehead.
'Something's not right here….' Usopp rubbed his chin. "You still haven't told us what you want us to do with her."
"This is the first time one of our own has ever turned on us. And even with the knowledge we gain from visitors, we did not know that Devil Fruits could fuel a person's natural powers. The Arashan can't do anything. You saw my power. It is merely a defense and a distraction. Your prophetess can tell you what would happen if any of the other deities tried to go after her." He pointed at Nami.
Nami's eyes went wide. "What! Prophetess!"
"You can tell the weather and tides, can't you? We have families here that can do that, and warn the Shunran and Arashan alike of impending dangers to the island. They can also sense each other. I feel that your powers are well tuned, otherwise, your crew would not have made it here. You are one of many who have this power."
Nami blushed. "It's mostly a hunch, and I do study a lot on the subject, but really… If two storms were to clash together, they would create a super cell, and that would spawn tornadoes, tsunamis, and in worst case, a hurricane."
"While we could take away her voice so she cannot use her Arashan powers, that would still leave her as a mutated monster. So unless you have a way to disable her Devil Fruit powers completely and permanently… we have no choice but to execute her. It shall also be her punishment for all the lives she has destroyed. As uncouth pirates, I trust you'll have no trouble with it." Vandis leaned against the railing and crossed his arms.
"Are you sure you guys are gods? Asking lowly pirates to get involved in your affairs ain't right." Sanji's eyes narrowed.
Luffy decided right then and there. "I'm not hurting her. She shared her chicken with me."
"Luffy… while that was a right decision, it was for the WRONG REASON!" Usopp shouted.
"Don't tell me you ruffians have grown fond of her!" Vandis was starting to get frustrated. Tricking these idiots and getting rid of Sen was supposed to be easy!
"She's not bad." Luffy huffed.
"Being almost struck by lightning's a bitch, though." Zoro coughed as he climbed aboard. "She hasn't got it in her to hurt anyone, though. Just severely annoying. Who's this guy?"
"….Did you just call Sen a bitch?" Sanji got up and made his way over to Zoro, who sneered and kept the cook of chivalry at reasonable length with a sword.
Luffy's tune immediately changed. "No one gets away with hurting my first mate! We're going to have a talk." He hiked up his shorts and secured his straw hat.
"Idiot! She didn't hurt me! Get back here!" But as usual, nothing got through, and Luffy was already off the ship and stomping away. Never mind that he didn't know where the hell Sen was…
Vandis sighed. "Considering she destroyed her own sanctuary a few weeks ago, she's supposed to be staying with her brother, Illian. But after what he did to her, she's either hiding, or walking into his front door to seek revenge. Or, she could be hunting me down. Up until a week ago, I had even considered rebuilding the shrine as a sort of wedding gift to her. But now… she hates me, and wants to see me at the bottom of the sea. It would be a waste now."
He followed after Luffy in order to point him in the right direction. As fog, he was able to travel quickly and inconspicuously. The rest of the crew had no choice but to follow the rolling cloud form, hopefully being enough to stop Luffy from hurting someone, or to help subdue Sen when she found out Vandis was betraying her. As they followed after Luffy, Nami put together a plan.
"How convenient that when we need to stop devil powers that I should end up with these…" She reached down into her shirt (which elicited a big grin from Sanji) and brought up the small box containing the sea stones. All we need is for her touch it, but she's not going to just take them…"
Sanji studied the stones in the box. They had a rough-cut, but were well polished and reflected the shining evening lights around them. "I had planned on giving these to you over dinner, Nami-swan, but if you need to use them right now…" He pulled the jewelry box out of his jacket pocket and showed her the luxuriant set of earrings and matching necklace.
Nami missed a beat and almost tripped when she saw the large ruddy stones, but picked the necklace out of the box and held it up to the sea stones. "The stones are too small to fit in the setting. I need something like it. Where did you get these!"
"Ahh, this quaint little shop back at the shopping district! If you truly appreciate those and don't want to ruin them, you could always use this!" He put the box back and got another box from the same pocket. This one had only a necklace in it, but was delicate and had a tiny white stone with a setting of knotted silver thread. Nami's eyes bulged.
"WILL SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHY WE'RE FOLLOWING THE FOG!" Zoro growled.
Nami couldn't take her eyes off the stone. "Sen's ex-fiancé. He says that Sen has to be stopped before she goes on another rampage and destroys the island. Evidently we are responsible for breaking her punishment and bringing her back. So now we have to help. If we get this around her neck, she won't be able to use her Devil Fruit powers." She finally snapped out of it and grabbed the necklace. The white stone slid out of the setting easily, and was replaced with the black stone. It wasn't an exact fit, but it would have to do. Nami kept the white stone with the other sea stones.
"And just what are her Devil Fruit powers? Does anyone know? Nobody downtown would tell me!" Sanji rolled his eye.
"And Sen refused to tell me, even though she was close to using them on me…"
"WAAAIIIITTT! WAIT A MINUTE!" Nami managed to halt everyone, even Luffy and Vandis. "What the hell is Sen before we walk in there and get burnt to a crisp by lightning or worse!"
Vandis looked a little nervous. "Um… We haven't completely figured it out. She turns into this otherworldly beast with horns, giant scythe-like claws, glowing yellow eyes, and… she's about the size of a young sea king."
There was an uncomfortable silence for a minute or two as everyone gathered their own interpretation of what in the 4 Great Blues he could be talking about. Usopp had the best imagination and was the first to freak out.
"Oni-Oni (1) Fruit." Tears streamed down his cheeks. "That woman's going to devour us like she did that chicken, and then she's going to pick her teeth with our bones…"
"...Well that's just weird… I thought Ace ate the Fire fruit..." Luffy was a little slow to the draw and put together that Sen was actually a male creature.
"Oh god… Luffy… She's a monster. Not your brother. (2)" Sometimes Luffy really made Nami's head hurt.
"Besides, Ace isn't anything like that. You're more of a freak than he is…" Zoro smirked.
"CAN WE GET BACK TO THE MATTER AT HAND?" Vandis cut in and pointed toward the west coast. "I feel that she's that way, which unfortunately, is also the way to Illian's house."
"She said something about killing both of you before she climbed out of some broken building." Zoro was slightly intrigued on how he could piss off someone like Sen so badly. She tried hard to be mean, but…it wasn't her…
"Which means if we don't go NOW, something else will probably explode, kill a few hundred more innocents, and leave the west part of the island defenseless. Also, Illian is a dear friend of mine. This is partially why Sen is so violent towards us. At first, we had intended to put her on probation, and if she could prove she could control her Arashan powers and overcome her demon powers, she could stay. But she almost instantly destroyed her chances there."
"Hmmm…" Sanji was still working on his picture of Sen's half creature form. "Monster, Devil's Fruit, woman… What if she's a sexy Yasha-Yasha(3)…?" Sanji was drooling heavily at this point.
"What if you got your brain out of the gutter for just a minute?" Usopp pointed at Vandis' retreating misty form. "He's leaving without us."
"Whatever she is, she's the source of our troubles. Let's get this intervention over with." Zoro put his hands in his pockets and followed.
(1) 'Oni' can be monster, ogre, or demon. Usopp meant monster, since that's what everyone keeps calling her.
(2) Brother is 'onii' with a little extra emphasis on the 'ii' sound.
(3) 'Yasha' is a female demon, like a succubus.