Reedited and updated: 6/3/22
Chapter 4: You May Call it Reckless
After teaming up with a young lady from a small town, named Silk, she and James Hook chase after Gally, to recover the Golden Ax Dorado. Landing at Orange Town, Hook learned of Gally's fate – an explosive end against Buggy the Clown, who now holds Dorado. While infiltrating his party, Hook met with a spunky red-haired woman, but introductions were cut short when Buggy prepared to blow the caged thief to Hell... forcing a disguised Silk to light the fuse!
When Buggy ended his boisterous tirade, he finally took note of Hook just standing there…
Hook looked back at him with an unreadable expression…
Buggy raised an eyebrow in question…
Hook smiled back like he told a great joke…
Buggy grinned back as if he got it…
And the moment Hook's face snapped to a determined expression, pandemonium broke out! As he sprinted toward the cannon, Buggy screamed at his men! "Dumbasses! He ain't a part of the crew! Get him!" His men roared, but the battle cry stuttered a bit when Silk broke out her sword and cut Buggy clean in half, hell!
'Wasn't she just petrified earlier? So much for a wilting flower!' Hook thought. While the men were shocked still by the sudden assassination, Hook reached the cannon, gold and black covering his hands, and grabbed it by the barrel. Instantly, it too was covered in the contrasting light and shadows and absorbed into the pirate.
That caused a few of the men to finally react, most of the reactions being to panic. "Jesus! He's got a Devil Fruit, too!"
Hook frowned at the man's statement as Silk ran up with Dorado, scooped up from Buggy's halves, in her grip. "I've got it! Let's run!" she cheered.
Instead of immediately de-assing the vicinity, much to Silk's initial confusion, Hook rushed over to the cage. 'Geez, I tell Blondie not to get involved, and look what I'm doing now!' Hook laughed at his own double standard. 'I'll just open her cage-it'll be up to her to escape while they haven't attacked. Actually,' the Combo-Man grabbed the bars and began Consuming them as his mind wandered. 'Why haven't we been attacked? Are they that shocked by their boss' death?' It was at that moment the universe decided to reward Hook's curiosity; he only took out two bars before he heard Silk's sharp intake of air, and saw the redhead's eyes widening slightly at something... behind him-!
Hook turned swiftly to find a floating hand with three knives flying right at his head! Catching the attack in the nick of time, the young man swatted it away with little effort, before noticing that Silk has dropped her sword to press her free hand to her side. With one hand pressed into her wound, she ineffectually swung at the floating knife-wielding hand and other body parts with Dorado, until they pulled back to reconnect... into Buggy, alive and in color!
"Hahahaha! Face the power of the Chop-Chop Fruit! You can slice and dice me, but you can't kill me!" He juggled a knife between his fingers as he yelled at his cronies. "Don't just stand there! Show them what happens when you steal from me!" Sure enough, emboldened by the captain's orders, the men began to surround the trio.
Undeterred by the worsening odds, an idea crossed Hook's mind. 'Can't be cut, eh?… Wonder how he feels about explosions?' He smirked viciously, as his arm became black and gold, causing some of the pirates to jump back, unaware of what was happening. "Hey, yokels! Prepare to be-whoa!" While Hook had called the cannon out to form from his arm… he was completely unprepared for its full form, as he nearly fell on his face with how frickin' heavy it was! "Jesus! This makes the mace seem hollow!"
Now, the cannon was fully brought out-no, wait! Summoned!-the wick part replaced with Hook's arm, the stand keeping it steady. In its crosshairs were Buggy's men, who were rightly panicking. "Cap'n Buggy! He's using the cannon on us!" Everyone glanced toward Buggy, Hook in particular, waiting for his over-inflated sense of self to sound out again… but instead found a quiet man who was scared shitless and looked ready to swim to the next island, Devil Fruit weakness or no! Buggy's entire ego flew south for some reason, as he looked down the barrel of his own cannon, right at where Hook's arm and the weapon meshed. Finally, the enemy captain said, "W-wha? The powers... of the Clank-Clank!?"
At the mention of 'Clank-Clank,' Hook squinted at him; how the hell did he know that? Well, he's about to be blown everywhere, so never mind it. "Silk, run!" With that one command, Hook turned his attention away from Silk and toward focusing the cannon to fire. 'This isn't like Summoning the mace. It's like trying to spit iron through my arm, or vomit from my wrist!'
"Run!? I've been stabbed, you crazy idiot!" Despite saying that, the blonde very much did throw herself to the roof access door. With his free arm, Hook picked up what's-her-name, ignoring her protests, and with another mental push, fired the payload…
Which not only seemed to practically obliterate any object in front of it but blew the pair right off the roof! "ARGH! SON OF A BLEEDING, PUS-FILLED, SCAB-COVERED-!" Hook cursed as blinding pain traveled up his shoulder, as he and his plus one flew through the sky backward before crashing headfirst into glass! Instinctively, though still in immense pain, Hook subconsciously called back the cannon to wrap both arms around Red, as he plunge into a world of throbbing darkness head first.
"…Hey! Get up already!" Groggy but slowly becoming conscious, Hook blinked awake, sore in so many places, he almost considered listening to his body's requests to close his eyes and sleep for a month. "I know you're awake, so open your eyes!" Ow! Even flicking your nose hurt like a mother!
'God, what happened? Oh, right…landing-Gally-boom-party-cage-chop-fight-fly-crash…why was your head so fuzzy?' Fighting the instinct to go back to sleep, Hook sat up at last, and looked around; it looked like an unassuming cottage, with some broken glass to break up the charm. Well, that, and the broken window. Gingerly, Hook reached up to touch his head, trying to fend off a pounding headache…and noticed bandages had been wrapped around his head.
'Guess that explains the poor memory.' Hook glanced over to see the redheaded girl kneeling next to him, trying to give him tea while sporting a look of annoyance…and a little bit of worry. "That was a stupid thing to do! You almost got me killed! Here." She shoved the tea into his hands, eliciting a twinge of pain from the wounded young man's shoulder.
As she stood up and walked over to the stove sitting just outside of the living room area, Hook performed a self-inspection while he sipped his drink; basically, everything hurt. Thankfully, most of where it hurt there were bandages wrapped, which made movement a little easier. Hook huffed. "Great. Trying to beat that ass-clown, all I did was kick my own ass." Hook laughed at his own joke before his body throbbed in protest to the laughter. "Ow... hurts to laugh. And to breathe. And to think, a little."
With his assessment over, he finished the tea, ignoring the temperature as best he could, and rose off the floor, slowly but surely. Grabbing his torn-up shirt, realizing this wasn't going to cover much, and grabbing the purple shirt from his disguise with too-long sleeves instead, Hook made his way quietly to the door. Did it hurt to move his shoulder while getting dressed? Like Hell. Was there two of the front door, and was one of them wavy and see-through? True, but he was standing, so he was still doing pretty well so far. "Wait a minute!" Rats! So close to egress. "Just where do you think you're going?" Letting out an annoyed breath, Hook turned to address the clearly distressed woman glaring daggers at him.
"Look, uh…" He paused in his address, realizing he still didn't know this woman's name.
She sighed in deep aggravation but sported a look that said she was on the same wavelength. "The name's Nami."
"James Hook. And I can't leave my friend behind. She got hurt, I should find her."
Nami balked at that. "She was stabbed, but look at you! You can barely stand up straight! Is that how you plan to take that ax?"
Take... take? That reminded Hook of something… "You…you tried to steal a map from that ass-clown…why?"
Nami shrugged. "I'm a pirate thief. He's a pirate. You do the math."
"Ok, well, you can go get your map; just go dig through the pieces of the inn." With that, Hook left the conversation by opening the door and stumbling out. As he exited the building, squinting at the brightness of the high noon sunlight, Nami followed him right out, intent on being heard.
"Maybe you couldn't see while you sent us flying, but your attack didn't get all of them! Plus, my staff was taken when they got me!" She continued to trail Hook, as her shrill complaining starting to get a little grating to the injured brawler. "Besides, I had everything under control; once they got good and drunk, I would have picked the lock and robbed them blind."
Hook stopped his trek just to turn around and give her a skeptical look. "All that with your hands tied?"
Her response was to reach inside her shirt, and pull out a knife. It was a butter knife, but it was good enough to loosen restraints. "I'm a pirate thief," she reiterated. "I know pirates. Like when they have new recruits, they show off with feats of strength and intimidation! So," she walked up to Hook, jabbing her finger in his unhurt side (thankfully). "Since you jumped into my plan, you owe me. I need my staff and that map! We help each other out, you get what you want…and I get what I want. Sounds like a deal?"
Hook blinked at this switch-up. 'First, she was crowing that I'm too injured to be up and fighting, and now she wants an alliance? Women really are a wierd species!' Still, she clearly had a better head on her shoulders for plans, Hook conceded, since his last plan did send him halfway across town... Sighing and shaking his head at her logic and rationale, Hook could only snort at how smug she looked. "I scratch your back…" he extended his hand to Nami.
She nodded, a teeth-gleaming grin on her face, before slapping the offered hand instead of shaking it. "…and I'll get yours."
ROARRR!
The reprieve was short-lived, as the loudest growl either of them had ever heard ripped through the air.
"S-stay back, monster!" Whatever was going on, it sounded bad. Except it was also going the opposite direction of Buggy's HQ.
'So, bruised and wounded, my goal is in the opposite direction of the monster I just heard, and I don't even know where Silk is,' Hook weighed his choices before a twinge in his gut tugged him in the direction he was more interested in heading. 'I wonder when my wanderlust is going to put me in a no-win situation...'
"Hey! Why are you running toward the monster growl!? Buggy's the other way!" And indeed, Hook was running as fast as he could toward the growls and roars, Miss Pirate Thief right behind him, nagging the entire time. The moment they turned the corner, she shut up immediately; it might be because of the furry little man, riding a big-as-hell lion that was snarling at two other bystanders, or maybe she was just tired of wasting her voice. As Nami slinked to peek out from behind the building, Hook studied the situation; opposite the lion, there was a dog and an old man in what looked like pots and pans repurposed as armor standing in front of something lying on the ground. 'Some... blonde heap on the ground...' Hook squinted to get a better look before finally recognizing that heap as Silk! 'Hey! I know that blonde heap!'
"I said back off!" The geezer, spear in hand, stood firm against the literal beast eyeing him for dinner. "This young lady is under my protection!" The dog at the man's feet barked as if to emphasize the point.
The weird creep on the lion, who Nami remarked that he had bear ears (?) on his head, looked down on the pair, like some inbred emperor who thinks God gives him the right to be a bastard. "That woman was one of the people who attacked Cap'n Buggy. Her life is forfeit…but Richie can go through you if you so choose." Richie the lion roared, a sound like thunder that shook the windows, at the prospect of extra meat. Despite holding strong, the man and dog were sweating a little at the threat.
"Hey! Asshole!" Hook called out, catching the entire group's attention. "It's a little insulting, you coming to kill me in your pajamas!"
The only person (or animal) whose jaw did not drop was Silk's, and that was because she was more than likely unconscious. The fuzzy-looking man, red in the face, recovered first, murder in his eyes. "Pajamas!? This is my hair!"
Hook traded glares with the incensed thug silently, before a toothy smile graced the Combo-Man's face. "I'm sorry about that."
Well, if everybody was frozen from the first comment, that one thawed them up really quick! The man grabbed the dog and dived into the storefront that was behind them, just as the man snarled like he was the wild animal! "Get him, Richie!" The lion roared as he charged, pouncing as he got within distance of maiming Hook. The next few moments happened so quickly, Nami only had time to turn to run, never mind actually making it out of the blast zone!
One beat.
Richie was still in the air as Hook put one hand behind his back, as his other glowed with his power's activation.
Two beats.
Nami looked over her shoulder as she saw the great maned threat about to tear into her new (and soon-to-be late) partner, only to see the monster's mouth filled with cannon arm instead.
Three beats.
Richie, unable to make much noise with a turret in his mouth, sweated bullets at the familiar weapon; the weapon Buggy used to blow away whole towns! He looked toward Hook in a plead for mercy…only to see the most vindictive smile cross the young man's face. Any chance he had at mercy was forgotten as Richie's bowels relieved themselves in fright.
Four beats.
As for Richie's tamer? He was scared too, but he was also smarter than his pet; when no cannon blast came, he knew something was up. 'If he had ammunition, he would have used it... this is nothing but a bluff!' If he had only thought faster, he might have seen what was coming sooner. As it was, though, he hadn't even opened his mouth or moved before a shadow fell over him.
Five beats.
"IRON HAMMER!" With one downward swing, the animal act of Buggy's Crap Circus closed down early…tamer and all. All it took was five seconds.
Hook nudged the downed pair with his feet, making sure but one thing is clear: Richie and his boss, who the old man-Boodle-informed Hook after the short battle was named Mohji, were dead to the world. Metaphorically. Possibly. "Huh. It really is his hair."
"THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY!?" Nami slapped the back of Hook's head, both irritated and probably still terrified.
Hook blinked at her as he scratched his wrappings. "So... not happy I'm alive, then?"
"You…are you crazy or something?" Nami fixed her business partner with an expression that had way too many emotions for Hook to read.
"He more than likely is…all his plans feel that way." Now conscious, Silk was being treated by Boodle, mayor of the port town now identified as Orange Town, who was just wrapping her wounds up as good as he could. Hook winced at the comment; after all his plan did put Silk close enough to get stabbed by the insane clown pansy. He began to apologize, but Silk raised a hand to stop him. "No, actually, that's unfair to you…earlier, you were just trying to keep me focused, right?" She fixed him with a glare, not a spiteful one, more searching than anything. After a bit, she relaxed her gaze, her eyes a tad watery, and turned back to the mayor as he was finishing up her wrappings. "This village…I can tell a lot of love went into its building."
The mayor nodded, his serious face becoming less pinched at the topic of discussion. "You have a good eye, miss. This whole village took forty years of hard work." He helped her up, everyone noticing the blonde was favoring one leg. "When we landed here, the place was nothing but a wilderness. We were so happy to find a place to call our own! To rebuild what pirates had taken from us!" Hook, Silk, and Nami traded glances at that tidbit. "At first, it was a few homes…but slowly our numbers grew. We worked hard, cleared the land. Over time, people came and opened up shops…" He lovingly patted a support beam of the building he and the dog, Chouchou, had dived into…a pet food store, one that the pup had not moved from the porch of, after Richie's fall.
Boodle's hand clenched into a fist, as passion filled his expression. "And look at us now! We're a thriving port! We old-timers built this town from nothing! It's our life's work!"
"Then let us help!" Silk, apparently feeling that same pride, grabbed the man's shoulder, catching his attention. "I know what it's like to have pirates attack your town…try to reduce it to nothing!" She gripped her makeshift knapsack's strap tightly, Dorado's gleaming handle sticking out of it. "I…I can't let someone else's pride be wiped away by this sea scum!"
The mayor of Orange Town looked at Silk, teary-eyed. "Young lady…"
Silk, still fired up, looked toward Hook. "I know it's not why we came…but I can't turn away from this! We have to make Buggy pay! Not because he deserves it...but because these people do not!"
Hook stood there, an unreadable expression crossing his face; finally, in a show of camaraderie, he raised a fist with Silk, a confident smile on his face. "Let's wreck 'em!"
Silk cheered, a fiery fury flashing in her eyes. "Yes! Let's go kick Buggy's ass!" she screamed.
"Damn straight!"
"I'll even eat this to do it!"
"Give 'em Hell-wait, eat what?" Hook cut off his cheer just in time to watch wide-eyed as Silk, in one swift motion, ripped out the Devil Fruit from its hiding place and ate the whole thing in one bite!
There was a small pause…before the blonde pitched forward, retching dryly. "God, that is awful! It's like someone soaked used sweat socks in brine for five years!" Hook opened his mouth to say something-maybe how reckless it was, or how cool it looked, he hadn't decided yet-but he was cut off, as the pet food store next to the group exploded! Everyone got knocked off their feet from the shockwave, but it looked like no one was hurt.
As the party recovered, Boodle was struck speechless at the sudden destruction, while Chouchou was barking like he lost an old friend. "The shop…Gordon…!" The mayor clenched his spear hard enough for one to wonder why it had not snapped in two. "That tears it! I can't take anymore! I won't lose a second town to those sea rats!" He raised his weapon, yelling to the heavens, "I'm the mayor! I won't take this sitting down! It's time to fight!"
He charged in the direction of Buggy's location or would have if Nami had not grabbed the shirt not covered by his armor. "Mayor! Wait, please! Getting yourself killed won't accomplish anything! You're being reckless!"
Boodle turned as fervor pooled in his eyes. "I KNOW I'M BEING RECKLESS!" The emotion in his words was enough to shock Nami into letting go, freeing him to run off, yelling for Buggy's head.
"Crap! Mayor, wait for me!" Silk, over her bout of nausea, sprinted after the spirited septuagenarian. That just left Hook, Nami, and Chouchou, still barking at the remains of the store. Instead of running after the pair, Hook focused on Chouchou, who had not once calmed down about the new pile of driftwood.
Before Nami could ask what he was doing, Hook jumped into the wreckage, digging through it all. Nami asked what Hook was doing, but he ignored her; even Chouchou stopped barking, clearly baffled as to the Combo-Man's actions. After a minute, the dog pawed at a splintered bookshelf; nodding at the gesture with a smile, Hook grabbed the bookshelf and raised it up. Biting his cheek as his shoulder screamed for mercy, he held steady until the dogged guard raced under the furniture and quickly out from under it with a bag in his mouth. Dropping the shelf quickly, Hook stepped back to massage his arm and to see that Chouchou had rescued... a bag of dog food. As walked away from the destroyed store, he gingerly put down the bag and fixed his gaze on Hook, before finally calling out with an"Arf!"
"No problem," Hook saluted back with two fingers, as the determined animal ran down the street with his prize.
"I…" Nami, who was still there to Hook's surprise ('Hadn't she said our main priority was Buggy? She should get on that.'), looked like she was trying to understand everything that had happened, and not really succeeding. "You're…who are you?"
"Just a guy who likes to see great places." Hook flashed what he believed was a winning smile; going by Nami's face, it was not.
BOOM!
The peaceful moment was soundly interrupted by an explosion going off in the distance... in the same direction Silk and Boodle had run...
A/N: Wow, these rewrites are rough when you have so many other things to do... but worth it!
