Just want to sincerely thank you all for all you've done for me, espically since today's my 9th annversary on this site! For perspective, after chapter 3, this story was on about the 340th page of One Piece stories. Three chapters later, it's on page 146. Gonna respond to everyone real quick:
Kaitou Luminous: I'm really excited to get to Drum Island, and the Grand Line in general.
WhiteyWolf26: Thank you, I wanted to make sure people were invested when he joined the crew! Glad to hear it worked. Thanks for pointing out that whack sentence. Rushed back and fixed it! With the photographer, well, can't get anything past you. And yes, Sunny is a ferocious brat :)
Gamelover41592: Thanks, it was a fun scene to write!
BA Victoria: Good catch! Thanks, Sunny loves you too.
Symonator: Nothing better than a reading binge! Trust me I have plans.
TheAwesomeRoxxyG & Mia : Thank you! Interesting you should say that when I was just doing some later story planning…
NightWing52: Thank you! I try to make Sunny as dynamic as I can. Typical cyndaquil yet surprising sometimes…
Cyn: I died laughing realizing I did say they jumped into the West Blue. The dangers of not having a beta, I suppose. Idk what happened to Yosaku lol but since their course was different they didn't see them. Zeff told them where Arlong was. I definitely like to play with move-sets and attacks so you'll see a variety. The pokemon trainer is interesting…when more lore on the Big Displacement comes up, you'll see why :)
Sorry for the long A/N, might start replying via PM or something bc I definetly want to talk to all of you.
The rest of the day elapsed lazily. Once the other boys were up and breakfast was had (seven o'clock sharp), Luffy suggested fishing. Once Usopp caught one, it flew into the air, line snapping. Sunny persued the flopping fish around the deck while Luffy alughed uproariously.
The fun only ended when its tail slapped Sunny in the face and he toasted it. Luffy enjoyed a delicious post-breakfast snack though, despite Usopp's loud complaints.
That night, Nami announced they'd reach Loguetown around midday tomorrow. Loguetown, the last stop before the Grand Line and apparently an important place for pirate-kind. Ahead of them, strange creatures and adventures abound.
Sanji made sure everyone had a hearty breakfast the next day as they gated in the port. "We need to make sure to stay in groups," he said, "someone with directional sense sould keep an eye out for Zoro and someone needs to make sure Luffy doesn't do anything stupid—why do I feel like all your fathers right now?" He asked to himself, slapping his head.
Zoro hopped the side of the Merry and walked toward the town. "No thanks, I'm off to find a drink and a sword."
"Sanji want to help me with supplies?" Nami asked and Sanji went from aggravated to lovesick in a second.
"Oh, of course, Nami-swan!" he cooed.
"Scrap!" Usopp shouted, also jumping ship and hightailing it to the nearest flea market.
"Shishishi! I'm off sight-seeing!" Luffy secured his hat to his head and took off, grabbing a lamp pole dozens of feet away and propelling away.
Very quickly, Sunny realized that everyone had dispersed in different directions and he was alone on the boat. His eyes opened wide as he ran in a quick little circle in surprise before hopping off the side of the boat, landing on the dock with a thump, and taking off toward a random direction to find any of his crewmates. There wasn't a chance for Sunny to scent them, and there were a dizzying amount of vibrations underfoot. In fact, even on the outskirts of the port town, there was so much movement, Sunny knew this was the biggest town he'd ever seen.
What's this place called? Loguetown? It must be the biggest town on the seas! Mom would have mentioned something like this if she'd seen something like this in Johto too! Sunny thought to himself in awe.
He briefly pondered staying out of the town entirely, but he was pirate a pirate now, and pirates were explorers. And explorers didn't choose not to explore because it was scary or intimidating.
Sunny made his way down the street, staying close to the walls of buildings and cautious to any children or shopkeepers with brooms, as those were the only people who often bothered with him. There were still too many people, however, and Sunny had no choice but to duck into the first alley he saw and follow through it. He could smell the ripe garbage in the dumpsters clearly.
A little over a week ago, I would be looking for scraps, and now I'm eating a chef's food three times a day!
Sunny followed the alleyway, a few white rats a third his size scurrying away as they saw him. He reached the other side of the alleyway and paused, surveying from the safety of the dark alley. Humans seemed to hate them, making it perfect shelter for rodent kind, no matter the size. He was having no look identifying any of his crewmates, and all the people seemed to blend together a little bit. Humans tended to look pretty similar.
Oh. Except for that one, Sunny amended. She was walking closest to the alley, looking almost like Nami but taller, much taller and with black hair and a bikini top and a huge spiked club and a horrible aura clouding around her. Sunny sweated slightly. That was not a normal person, he'd have to avoid her. She looked like someone who'd kick anything underfoot.
This is weird, I should probably head back for the ship, Sunny thought to himself, I can't get back onto the ship but I can hide near the docks until Nami gets back.
But as Sunny was trying to find his way back down the slanting alley, he realized he must have taken a turn somewhere as he ended up somewhere he didn't recognize again. He lamented that they weren't in a nice field where he wouldn't get lost. If he couldn't find his way back, they might leave him behind!
And now he was closer to the center of town, where there were more people and even dogs. It made him shake just to imagine one of them catching his scent and getting away from their humans.
"Oho! Look at this little guy!" A voice said. Sunny jumped slightly as a green haired man with a nose ring walked closer to the entrance of the alleyway. The strange man pulled a piece of linty cheese from his pocket and held it out toward him. "Want a little treat?"
Sunny absolutely did not want a treat, especially not from the weirdest looking person he'd seen yet, with hair the same color as Zoro's but much longer and exaggerated facial features. I take it back, people are diverse, especially compared to pokemon, where we look pretty similar to each other, except for Spinda.
The man took a step closer, still offering the cheese. I bounded past him into the crowded street, avoiding feet as a couple exclamations of shock passed overhead.
"Huh? Where are you going? What a weird little dog," the strange man said.
Nami handed the last bag of clothes to Sanji, who accepted most gratefully.
"And that should be everything," she smiled, unable to see Sanji over the stack of clothes she'd bought. Not just for her either, she was nice enough to get a new outfit or two for everyone. "Oh, we had to get supplies too, right Sanji?" She suddenly remembered.
Sanji wiggled behind the tower of boxes and bags. "Not a problem, Nami-swan! I picked things out as we went as to not waste your precious time!" He cooed. "Ah, there's only one more thing I need to pick up!"
Sanji turned to the man at the general goods stand, voice back to his neutral tone. "I'll need a bottle of cayenne hot sauce as well, please."
Just as Sunny was losing hope, he bumped into a familiar face—Usopp! The harried little shrew pokemon ran over to his friend and tapped his leg to let him know he was here.
"Sunny?" Usopp looked around, expecting to see the others. "What are you doing alone?"
"Quu," Sunny whistled, unsure himself.
The liar adjusted a large box heaped with scraps of metal to one hand so he could jab a thumb at himself with the other. "Alright, stay with me, Usopp: Friend and Protector of Animals will make sure you don't get grabbed or stepped on by anyone!"
Sunny decided to take the reassurance and dogged his feet while he finished his purchases when the air seemed to change. People were moving, tension plumed in the air like spores, the sounds of the town seemed to go from loud ambiance to low whispers and shuffles.
Sunny looked around the confusion. Humans were puppeted by their emotions, Sunny's mother had always told him. So much that if there is a disaster, you wouldn't need to feel the earth to sense it, you could feel it from the humans hanging in the air.
And a group of people this large, there was a weighty blanket of must laying stagnant over the town in mere seconds, putting Sunny on edge. People tended to rationalize themselves out of their fear and into something else. And Sunny felt the phenomena stronger than he should have—all the anticipation, anxiety.
Sunny called up to Usopp, treading on his feet as he started back to the square he'd come from. Usopp protested his surprise but followed the fire shrew with his supplies. Sunny was running now as the people had run out of space to walk further, making it significantly easier to pass through their legs. Sunny's heart pounded with the nervousness of a person passing through a herd of rhino liable to scatter any moment. He scarcely ducked out of the way of a fast approaching foot and bolted forward.
Sunny heard a voice high above the crowd say, "I met a few business partners at the tavern the other day, they made my plan much easier to enact. And here we are! My revenge!"
He couldn't hear Usopp anymore, but he could still double back if it were nothing.
A high-pitched voice said from somewhere else, "Enough gloating, boss! Kill him!"
Once he was closer to the front, he climbed onto an abandoned food cart at the edge of the plaza and looked out to see what the commotion had been.
High above them, at the top of a scaffolding, stood a clown-faced pirate wielding a scimitar, foot pressed against the back of Sunny's captain. His head was on a chopping block as he grinned down at the crowd as if it was all a big joke.
Sunny picked up Zoro's yell, and Sanji's too. They were closest to the front, calling for their captain.
Sunny's blood didn't freeze, it boiled. Flames shot from his back in the moments before the scimitar swung down. Powerless as Zoro and Sanji to cover the incredible distance between them and their captain. At the point of that scimitar was the end of their bright, wild captain and the end of their exciting adventure to the mythic Grand Line. The scimitar took a downward arc as it began to rain.
"Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sunny, Sanji, I'm sorry—I'm dead!" It was the end.
But the story had only just started.
That moment, the air thickened like syrup and a bright light like frayed rope appeared before the crowd, striking the scaffolding above them. There was a loud groan of heated metal lost in the thunderclap a moment later and the platform lay destroyed on the ground.
People screamed and took off as far as they could get from the chaos. Sunny could see the burning wreckage as he clung to the umbrella stand as people clearing out of the way. A man with a thin build, tan skin and multi-patterned robes with a floppy hat pulled himself off the ground, holding his head. He'd been very close to the wreckage.
Sunny jumped off the cart and began to make his way toward the scaffolding where Luffy had been. It wasn't too late, was it? He thought desperately. He could hear the shouts of his crewmates again too. The gaudy, thin man dusted himself off. All of a sudden, the smoking rubble shifted and a yellow hat and the sly smile of their captain appeared.
"Hey, Luffy!" Zoro shouted.
The ostentatious tenor-voiced man looked up in surprise. "Eh? Buggy couldn't finish them off? I'll fix that!" The man lifted a hand, muttering something and a small blaze of fire began forming in his hand. Luffy noticed and tried to pry his arm out that was stuck under a warped steel beam.
I ran as fast as I could. That was fire! I knew how destructive that could be—I could still imagine trees aflame and cinders rising from parched grass like fireflies on the day mom died.
Luffy may not have been hurt by that lightning but he could definitely be hurt by fire! Just as the ball of fire was released, I jumped up between them, head lowered toward the ground so my back would take the brunt of the attack. I flew back a few feet from the impact, back smoldering slightly, but pulled myself back up to my feet and shook off the blow. My back was nearly fireproof—it would take more than that to beat me at my own game.
"Waha?" The strange man exclaimed, his thick braid of orange hair looking frazzled from his own attack. "You withstood an attack from the mighty possessor of the mage-mage fruit? The renown Wizard of the East Blue, Sundries!"
I heard a pop from the rubble behind me and saw Luffy had finally freed himself from the steel beam. He gave me a sooty grin. "Thanks, Sunny! You sure saved me!"
I smiled back and felt a swell of confidence flare in him. I had protected my captain, even if he knew it wouldn't affect him much. I had helped.
"Luffy, you idiot!" Zoro said as the green-head and blond slowed to a stop next to their captain.
"Oh hey, guys! Have you seen Buggy? I need to settle something with him," Luffy said, cracking his knuckles.
"I don't think that will be an issue," Sanji said, jabbing a thumb toward the still-smoking unconscious clown that had been trying to kill Luffy just a minute earlier. Luffy frowned.
"Guys! We need to get back to the Merry!" Usopp yelled a little ways away, running in place. He seemed to have abandoned his box of metal scrap and instead filled his pockets with a few handfuls. Nami had evidently found me and was standing next to him, looking like she might bolt at any moment. Usopp was pointing to a group of approaching white-clad people charging at them. "Catch those guys! The kid said they were pirates!"
"And terrorists and liars!" A black-haired woman added, drawing her sword.
The lightning had brought a drizzle of rain and an overcast sky. I briefly considered fixing the miserable weather but thought better of it—there wasn't enough time for that amount of concentration.
"Run!" Sanji shouted, pulling Zoro in the correct direction when he attempted to run further into the town.
We started sprinting toward the docks through a wide alley devoid of people when a man holding a jitte weapon and two cigars in his mouth slid in front of the opening of the alley. On the other side, the tall, shiny woman with the iron mace appeared. Both offenders looked at each other in shock for a moment before turning back toward us and charged.
They were late to Loguetown, Buggy made another ally: Sundries the mage-mage fruit user. But he also really embodies the meaning of the word. Thank you again!