Thanks for reading, everybody! To answer ViolaTheGlaceon and Mia's question, yes there are a *few* other Pokemon in this story for an event that happened four months ago that won't be disclosed as of yet. But no other pokemon will be joining the Strawhats officially, if any there might be one minor recurring character later on.
WhiteyWolf26 and Ferna: Hi! Thanks for your review, yes Sunny did get Sunny Day as an egg move from his mother, though in my Poké stories, I tend to play with type/abilities a little bit. He does know a couple other attacks, but has little to no battle experience. There will be a tone shift in the story as he gets stronger. And he will get stronger and start being a force to be reckoned with. But for right now, he's near defenseless in the op OP world.
"Look over there! It's a boat restaurant!" Luffy shouted, hopping up and down with excitement against the railing.
Nami crossed her arms, a small smile on her face. "I hardly believed that old man when he mentioned there was one floating around the East Blue, but here it is. Do you think they'll sell us some barrels of provisions?" She said thoughtfully. Sunny jumped up carefully to the ledge to see what they were looking at—large boat with a duck shape on it and a dock with "Baratie" printed on the side.
Everyone piled out of the ship, Sunny tensing, squirming cautiously on the ship side as the pirates either jumped down the six feet or took the two ledges down to the ground.
Zoro noticed, and called back. "Come on, mouse. Unless you want to wait in the ship."
Sunny wriggled nervously for a few more moments before taking the leap, plunking onto the deck without even a stumble. He sighed in relief, grateful for even a ghost of a feeling of being on solid ground.
"Do you think they'll let Sunny in?" Nami wondered.
"Why wouldn't they? Let's eat!" Luffy cheered.
Nami sweat slightly and looked down at Sunny. "Well, I guess if we're traveling with pirates, that's far from a big worry." She shrugged and the five of them walked in and found a seat at a large round table. Usopp picked up Sunny and set him in his lap as their server came over. Sunny didn't resist, a lap sounded much better than staying under the table to avoid being trodden underfoot.
Their server, a tall teenager in a black suit with yellow hair, came over to them. "Welcome to the Baratie, can I get you started with any drinks?"
"I want meat!" Luffy cheered, banging his fists cheerfully against the table.
"And I'll take nectarine juice if you have it." Nami smiled at him. For a moment, he had no reaction at all, before his mouth opened, almost dropping his cigarette. His eyes turned into hearts and he began to wobble back and forth.
"Of course! For such a beautiful woman, I would grow them from seeds to ensure you only had the best! My name is Sanji but you can call me your greatest admirer—"
Sanji went from melting over Nami to standing at attention in a moment, leading to even more confusion.
"Is that a rat?" He asked, head tilted in confusion, a slight frown drawing his lips down. Sunny looked back at him, unsure what to do.
"That won't be won't be a problem, will it, Sanji-san?" Nami jumped in, speaking sweetly. "Sunny is very well-behaved."
Immediately Sanji's demeanor flipped again. "Ah, that shouldn't be a problem unless the other chefs don't see it. As for food, if you'd like, I'll bring out plates of all our specials if you all are very hungry."
The crew nodded and he disappeared back into the kitchen to prepare the drinks.
After a while, Sanji brought the food out and Zorro asked for a refill on his second order of sake.
Sunny popped his head over the table to sniff the incoming food as Sanji set down the first of three giant trays, almost losing balance when Luffy whipped an arm out to take a leg of roast.
"Hey—wait what?" Sanji blinked in disbelief. "Did your arm just—?"
Sunny stretched up as far as he could to roll a drumstick toward himself and picking it up between his paws. Even if he was mostly herbivorous, the scent was tantalizing. Around him, Usopp's arms worked to collect his own plate full of food.
"This ish so good! Sanji you should join my crew!"
"Chew with your mouth shut, you're in the presence of a lady!" Sanji snapped, then added, "And no way!"
Sanji was attempting to set that last platter down further away from Luffy, who was chomping through his second plate already, with Usopp and Zorro not far behind, realizing they had to snap up food quickly in order to get their fill. Sunny was just getting ready to take a big bite out of his chicken when their lunch was interrupted. The front door of the Baratie slammed open, knocking against the door a few more times as a weak echo. A gray-skinned, disheveled man stumbled in, supporting a larger, but equally exhausted, man in gold armor. The restaurant went silent as they took a few unsteady steps into the room before collapsing to their knees.
The gray man locked eyes with the blond chef—Sanji. "Please, you have to help him—my captain and the crew haven't eaten in weeks."
Sanji doesn't say anything. A gentle thump of a refilled glass of juice is set in front of Nami is suddenly incredibly audible. No one moves.
Sunny, sitting with Usopp, stiffens as he catches a whiff of the decay on the man's labored breaths, even this distance away. The smell of someone whose body was halfway through giving up.
Sanji exhales quietly, folds his hands into his pockets, and without meeting their eyes, heads into the kitchen, passing by a buff yet goofy looking chef who had been watching contemptuously.
He looked hostile and angry, and Sunny could sense his intentions miles away. Harnessing his own feelings from a few days ago, and how he'd been treated so kindly recently, he crept over to the tall man, dropping the chicken leg in front of the tall man.
The man took the chicken leg and in an instant, rended the meat from the bone, then took a bite out of the bone before dropping it. I stared in shock, unsure what to do. The man needed more, that would never tide him over, and it didn't look like anyone was going to give him more—Sanji had just left…The man's large but emaciated hand left his mouth and appeared above him, reaching out to grab me, saliva dripping down the corners of his lips like a hunting dog, his eyes bloodshot and rabid.
"Hungry!" His voice was cracked and guttural, his body controlled simply by the need to eat to survive. I shrunk back in horror, seeing what he wanted to do vividly in my mind, freezing in place. It was just too much. I can't—I can't. No. Not this. Not this. All I could hear in my head was my heartbeat and memories—bad memories flooded my system.
A rough hand wrapped around my scruff and I suddenly found myself lifted in the air.
"What is this in our restaurant?" Patty boomed shaking me in emphasis. I tried to make himself as small as possible, biting back my fire danger response. Because the last thing this situation needed was more heat.
The Strawhats were standing now too, watching the action go down with looks of anger, concern, or annoyance. Luffy was frowning where he stood.
Zoro placed a hand on his swords as a light warning, back his captain up. "We're gonna ask you to put the animal down."
"Huh? This is yours?" Patty asked skeptically. He'd heard of pirates keeping pets around to bolster their toughness. Animals like Newfoundlands, Mastiffs, Strong Island Gila Monsters. Cargo ships occasionally had a cat aboard to help, but clearly, this was pretty different.
Sanji walked out of the kitchen at this moment, having finished a plate of fried rice he had been working on. He sized the room up before stooping and setting the plate as well as utensils down of the ground in front of the pirate captain. He picked up the chicken bone from the ground, looking around before glancing at me in his grips.
"That mouse belongs to those pirates, Patty. Let's not make any more enemies," he said.
"Tch." Patty dropped me, and as I landed, I was already starting into a full-out run away from him and away from the man who'd tried to eat me alive, bounding out of the restaurant and around the corner in panic.
"Cynnnn," I hissed quietly, trying to recollect myself. Almost eaten. Alive. After a few moments, I heard Nami's voice from the restaurant.
"I'll be back in a minute, just checking on Sunny!" she called. I felt the tap-tap of her sandals approaching and stiffened but allowed her to approach. A second later, I was being picked up. When I looked up at her, I saw she was looking toward the ship with a determined look in her brown eyes.
"Shh, be quiet." She tucked him under her arm and made her way back to the Going Merry, ignoring the large ship docked next to them, filled with starving pirates. She boarded the Going Merry, set me on the deck and got to work readying the ship. I felt very relieved we were leaving the restaurant after the last few moments but jumped up in surprise a few minutes later when the ship started to slowly pull away from the dock.
"Quil!" I cried in alarm. The rest of her crew wasn't here!
"Sunny, hush! We're getting out of here! That cook is going to feed all those pirates and I can't afford to have it end here! I need to go back to my island!" Her eyes softened slightly as the ship pulled away twenty, thirty feet from the dock and she spun the wheel. "And I know Luffy promised to take you to the next island, so I'll fulfill that promise he made you as thanks for what he's done for me."
I stopped my worried pacing near the side of the ship as she pulled away further, recognizing it as a lost cause. It's not like I could swim any distance to the docks and I was getting what had been promised, still, I had expected a chance to say goodbye to Luffy and Zoro and Usopp.
It was quiet for a while until Nami was confident she had set the ship on the right course and quickly and efficiently prepped the ship in what should have been a four-person job.
She sighed, sitting on the steps and pulled out two apples, offering one to me. "Here, I know you probably didn't get the chance to eat much either, so eat up now."
I sniffed, I hadn't gotten the chance to eat anything, in fact, I'd almost been on the menu. I padded over, laid down, secured the apple between my paws, and started gnawing on it.
"I wish I hadn't had to leave them." She said eventually, throwing the apple core over the side of the ship once she'd finished. "But I always knew it was temporary, just until I could work up the funds to save my village."
I turned my snout towards her at that. Save your village?
"My village…let's say there has been a group abusing their power there for a long time. And after all this time," She clenched her fists, "I have what I need to send them away." She pondered this for a moment before speaking again. "But my island is a great place for animals, so you don't have to worry about that. There's plenty of coconut trees and small animals to play with, and you could even visit my sister and I if you want, and try our grove's tangerines. They're the best in all the Blues."
I didn't like the idea of going off on my own again but I gave her a small nod. There was still so much I didn't know and I was still so unsure of himself. I couldn't even protect himself from almost getting eaten! And Nami, she looked so sad. Whatever was happening on her island was weighing on her so much that she made a choice to leave the people she was having fun with. Looking at her now, she looked so lonely. Like all she knew how to do is say one goodbye after another.
She didn't sleep that night, so neither did I. She brought a thick blanket on deck and sat against the railing for breaks and I would nose my way in, curling up between her lap and the blanket until she giggled and protested that my snout was ticklish.
It was a good night, everything considered. She would give him a couple pats and talk about her sister, funny stories from when they were young and got in trouble with an older woman that was only referred to as 'she' as if Nami was remembering these stories rather than telling me. I didn't mind as I felt more and more sleepy throughout the night until I abruptly woke up in the morning to a slowing ship. The look in Nami's eyes wasn't wistful anymore, it was determined, angry, scared. That wasn't the face of someone who was thinking about how nice it would be to see her sister again, it was the look of something else; a martyr, a criminal, a lost girl.
Something was very wrong.
1. You might have guessed, but the Strawhat's detour to Sunny's island caused everything to be off by a day or two, so a few time-sensitive situations have become quite a bit more dire.
2. Sorry, I'm playing with the right POV for this story, so it will bouncing around a bit until I find the right one.
3. Your reviews mean everything to me!