A Pirate's Life For Me! We Need A Musician!

Part 2 of a 4 Part Saga

by Aoikami Sarah

Chapter Nine – Vivace Rondo

Later up in the crow's nest, Usopp adjusted his goggles. "Ship ahoy!" he called down to the crew. "Single mast!"

Luffy leaned forward on his perch on the figurehead. "Ho! Is it a pirate?"

Zoro turned his attention from lifting weights and squinted into the horizon. "Is it Mihawk!" he shouted up to Usopp.

He flipped the goggles back down again. "Nope. I'd recognize that weirdo's ship. This one is… is…" he stood up. "It's sinking!"

"That's weird…" Zoro muttered, disappointed. Soon, the Going Merry caught up to the area in which they had spotted the little ship. There was no trace of it. Nami, wearing a bikini top and shorts, leaned over the side. "Are you sure you saw something, Usopp? It's awfully hot. You might have seen a mirage."

Usopp shrugged. "Then it was a pretty convincing mirage."

Harmony leaned over the starboard side and peered into the churning water. "Oh! There's something over here!" Nami and Luffy joined her. Bobbing along and just about to pass them was a translucent sphere about five feet in diameter with a woman curled up in the fetal position inside of it.

"Oho! Lookit that! It's a lady in a bubble!" Without hesitation, Luffy stretched out and grabbed it.

"Luffy! Don't bring that thing on board!" Nami barked.

"Why not? It's funny looking!"

"Ugh, you're too impetuous! What if it's an enemy?" She tried to advise him, but the bubble was already on deck. Harmony approached it cautiously, hiding behind Nami. Luffy poked at it but it didn't break. Usopp climbed down out of the crows nest and hid behind Harmony. She looked up at him strangely.

"Nami-swan! Robin-chwan! Ojou-chama! Lunch is ready!" Sanji sang as he emerged from the galley. His eyes gravitated to what the others were investigating. "Ah! A beauty in a bubble! The Grand Line is truly wonderful!" His eyes became hearts and he jumped down to join them. To his horror, Zoro drew his sword poked the bubble from a safe distance. "Oi! Marimo! Don't you dare harm a lady!"

Zoro caught Sanji's foot with one hand and ignored his outburst. "I'm just trying to pop it. Looks like she's sick." The tip of the Wado Ichimonji pressed into the bubble, but whatever it was made of, it didn't break. "Eh?" Zoro looked at the tip of his sword, wondering if there was something wrong with it. He sneered. "Ok, stupid bubble. I'll cut you!"

"You won't be able to," Robin's cool voice soothed as she joined the others. Chopper followed her. "That is most likely an Akuma no Mi ability."

"Coooool!" Luffy cheered and started to poke it more fervently. Nami smacked him. "What was that for!"

"If it's an Akuma no Mi, she's probably really an enemy!"

"But I want to pop it!"

"No!"

"But I wanna!"

"No!"

Chopper poked his head out from behind Usopp who was behind Harmony. "Zoro's right, she looks sick."

"Sick or no, we should be careful," Nami advised and swatted at Luffy's hands as he tried to get at the bubble. Suddenly, with a strange pinging sort of sound, the bubble popped on its own and the blond haired woman inside was exposed. She wore green shorts, a white and orange sleeveless shirt and knee-high orange go-go boots. She breathed shallow breaths and remained motionless on the deck. Chopper scooted around Usopp and examined her. "She's alright. Just exhausted."

"Ah! Thank goodness!" Sanji cried. He and Chopper carried the woman inside and tended to her. Harmony pouted and worried her hands.

"You have a bad feeling about this too, don't you?" Nami asked the girl. She nodded.

Zoro shrugged and went back to his weights.

It wasn't long before a commotion from inside drew their attention. Usopp, Nami, Harmony and Zoro looked in the doorway at the scene. Sanji seemed to be steaming with the smoke from his cigarette curled up around his rapidly reddening face. Chopper had leapt back and was attempting to hide in the wrong direction behind a barrel. Luffy stood with his eyes wide as saucers in the tight embrace of the bubble woman.

"You saved me!" she cried. "Oh, thank you so much, I owe you my life!"

"Take your hands off of her!" Sanji bellowed.

"Take your hands off of him!" Nami cried.

Luffy simply laughed. "You're really weird!" he commented. "Who the heck are you?"

"Weird?" she asked, blinked a few times, released Luffy and scanned the room. Her eyes fell on each face before she spoke again. "TamaTama no Mi user, Vivace Rondo at your service!" she said with a grin

Luffy thrust his fists over his head. "Ha! Robin was right! Cool!"

Vivace's eyes flicked over to the tall, dark haired woman who leaned casually in the doorway.

"What were you doing floating around on the Grand Line alone?" Nami asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Oh, I had a little boat, but it sort of sank."

"Sort of?" Usopp raised a brow. "It totally sunk. I saw it."

"Fuu. I liked that boat." She pouted. "I know I don't owe you anything, but could I get a ride to the Straights?"

"Sure! That's where we're going, right Nami?" Luffy said with a grin.

"Luffy, we can't trust her just because…"

"Luffy?" Vivace cried and stared at the young man. She cocked her head to the side. "Oh, my! You do look alike, even without the freckles! Oh! I'm so happy. I never thought I'd get to meet my brother!"

Everyone exclaimed a loud 'eh!' at this statement. "Luffy, you've got a sister?" Chopper asked.

"No. I don't. Who are you?" he asked plainly.

"I'm Portgas D. Ace-san's fiancée!"

"EH!"

.X.

A thick fog obscured vision to no more than one hundred feet ahead. Kerodo Clef's large, ornate ship moved slowly along, following the log pose toward the Straits of Crescendo.

"Boss?" one of his bouncers asked after growing bored of staring into the white. "What if we lose them?"

Clef rolled his eyes. "We can't lose them. They're going where we're going." He turned around, deciding to take a nap rather than listen to his simple-minded servants' inane questions. "Besides, just listen. Can't you hear them?" he said with a flip of his wrist.

"I thought that was the Siren!" one of the more nervous frog men cried.

"The Siren!" Clef laughed. "Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast? If we could hear the Siren's song we'd be as good as dead by now." He turned his ear toward the fog to make certain and grinned. "No, boys, that's too sweet a song to be the Siren. That's Harmony. If you're so worried about the Siren, stay on the boat when we get to the Straights."

A few of the frog men nodded, slightly reassured, but kept their beady eyes on the opaque fog.

More to come...