Celebrating 300,000 words on fanfic! Onto the adventure!
"Captain Shimi's retreating!" one marine shouted.
"What do we do?" yelled another.
"RUN!" Over a dozen of the marines on the Merry climbed over each other in their rush to get back onto their ship after their captain, their vessel beginning to pull away before the gangplank was even removed.
Law and Zoro watched in amusement before Law hopped on Merry's deck. Sunny took the opportunity to sprawl on the ground, watching the new man carefully. He was still feeling sick and weak from the water exposure so he'd stay out of this new confrontation if it was an option.
The Merry was looking worse for wear, guardrail cracked and splintered in place, gouges in the deck, even a few snapped planks sticking up from the floor.
"What happened here?"
"We got attacked by a massive sea monster!" Usopp said, unable to even exaggerate the events. "Though I think we should be asking the question here, fur-hat weirdo! I'll have you know I am-"
Law looked at Nami, raising an eyebrow. "I assumed you were exaggerating about the sea king. I guess you weren't."
Usopp started to protest but Sanji jumped in first to defend Nami's honor. "The only thing exaggerated about Nami-swan is her great beauty!"
"That's a bad thing, shit-cook."
"No it's not-I'm simply saying that she's more beautiful than anyone else out there-"
Nami waved Sanji off, "It was a gyarados. It's...a lot to explain but there's some very strong creatures out there smarter and stronger than what we're used to. Sunny's actually one of them, like I was saying before."
Sunny didn't remember Nami saying so before, so it must have been while he was unconscious, he noted uncomfortably, eyeing the Marine ship disappearing into the fog.
Then Sunny realized Law was looking at him and gave confused head tilt as he approached, crouching down in front of him. He couldn't be a bad guy if he'd helped them and most the crew seemed to be on good terms with him.
"Qui?"
Law reached out and put the back of his hand against Sunny's forehead before he could move back. He relaxed against the hand in exhaustion when he realized how warm it was. He saw still far below his normal body temperature.
"Its temperature is up, a little warmer than a persons', seems like its recovering," Law said. "Also," Law added, moving his hand up to look at Sunny's face, "it's very cute."
Luffy crossed his arms and nodded. "The cutest thing I've ever seen." Zoro and Usopp behind her nodded in agreement.
Sunny sweat in confusion, repeating his earlier question (uselessly). "Have I met you?"
Zoro figured he understood the question and jumped in. "We ended up on this guy's ship. He saved your life."
Sunny's mouth went into a little 'o' and he nodded "Thank you."
Law's brows rose again. "What an interesting little creature," his lips quirked into a smile though Sunny got the impression he was a hard man to get a reaction out of. Speaking of under-reacting, Sunny had to wonder why everyone was acting like it was normal for a bear in an orange jumpsuit to be watching from the man's ship. He didn't look like any pokemon Sunny had seen, and judging by Law's interest in Sunny, could it be a normal bear? "Care to explain a little more about your little friend and that sea beast while I'm here?" Law asked.
"Oh, mystery animals? They can be really big or really small like Sunny and-" the smile faltered on Luffy's face as he stumbled slightly before catching himself. Sunny hurried over to him, putting a paw on his foot and looking him over. His wound was still bleeding considerably, likely reacting poorly to his Devil Fruit and he looked pale, which was so foreign for Luffy's normally tan skin.
"I can help with that," Law said, holding up his hand. "Room." A translucent blue aura spread out around them. A needle and thread pulled its way out of his pocket and flew over to stitch Luffy's wound. They looked on in surprise as Luffy looked shocked and but not in pain as the needle expertly sewed the skin and a gauze patch covered the injury.
"Ah-that feels a lot better, Tra-guy!" Luffy nodded, gingerly moving his arm back and forth.
"Don't rip your stitches if you really don't have a doctor on your crew. You need to be vigilant about avoiding infections or opening wounds," Law scolded. Luffy just laughed.
That doesn't sound like something Luffy would worry about, Sunny noted in amusement. Sanji herded everyone to the kitchen for tea before the discussion could start, Law intrigued enough allow it.
The verbal Strawhats gave Law a rundown of the pokemon they'd seen.
"They mostly seem good-well, two out of three-gyarados, Sunny was trying to talk with it but it wouldn't listen." Usopp recounted. Sunny gave a grim nod.
"And they're either really little and firey or really big and watery," Luffy nodded knowledgeably.
Sunny shook his head vigorously. "Luffy, that isn't right at all." Still, Luffy had a knack for finding patterns, probably connected to his uncanny ability to figure out a strategy to fight his enemies.
"Uh, another thing-" Usopp looked like he doubted Luffy's statement as well, before shooting Vivi a nervous glance, "-something the Marines said...the Marines know about them too now-there's a five million berri bounty on Sunny or any other elemental creature's head."
Sunny gulped nervously. How much did the government know about pokemon then? They had to at least have encountered them, if not captured one, to know. How many of them were out there? That in one month they'd encountered two of them?
"Sunny, is it really like elements? Like earth, water, fire, air?" Usopp asked, he had a large sheet of paper and he was starting to scribble furiously on it.
Sunny frowned. There were so many questions he couldn't answer-pokemon came in all varieties, he wasn't sure why he'd limited it to four types. He explained exactly that.
"What did he say?" Law asked after a beat.
"We don't know," Usopp said as Law brought a hand up to massage his forehead, "Sorry, Sunny."
"So in the meantime, we assume they can look like anything but are brightly colored and have strange abilities which seem to be weather-related." Sanji set steaming cups of tea for the group before taking a seat himself.
Luffy suddenly sat up straighter and faced Sunny. "Can some mystery animals use lightning?"
Yes, a lot of them, Sunny confirmed with a nod.
"What? Lightning too?" Usopp said, pencil moving furiously as he worked on another section of notes. "Maybe it isn't water, but storm? That's probably more-"
Sunny had had enough, he was feeling sick and they were just getting farther from the answer! He snatched the pencil from Usopp's hand. Sometimes it was one step forward and two steps back with these people! Four weeks and they barely knew a thing about his world! He could count on one human hand how many times they'd correctly understood even simple words he'd spoken without charades! He literally fumed a little at the thought.
He took the side of the pencil in his mouth and held both sides in his paws so he could adjust the direction. Then he circled the water, ground, flying, electric, and fire symbols Usopp had drawn, and added his own.
A circle with two lines near it for bug; a zigzag that ran off the edge of the page for grass; a heavy scribble that made him drop the pencil for dark; two lines symbolizing an espeon's tail for psychic; a rough oval for rock; a three-pointed star for fairy, among others. He'd drawn them big so some of them overlapped.
Finally, the fire-type pulled back, dropping the nibbled pencil and flexing his stiff forepaws, pride gleaming on his face. He'd really outdone himself this time.
"Quil?" Why did everyone look so confused?
"Ok, so I think Sunny's trying to say that there's other types that we're not thinking of," Sanji summed up finally as everyone looked away from where they'd leaned in to try and decode his drawings and Sunny huffed.
"Wait, Luffy, any reason you mentioned lighting in the first place?" Zoro asked.
"Yeah, I saw two funny guys on the execution stand in Loguetown standing on a roof. One of them made that lightning hit."
"Whaaaat?" Nami and Usopp chorused while Zoro and Sanji looked stunned, and Law intrigued though he couldn't know what Luffy was really talking about.
"What did it look like?"
"What do you mean by funny?" Nami pressed.
"Well they both had robes on but one looked like a normal guy and the other guy was really short." He gestured to waist level. "And blue and his mouth stuck out so I could see sharp teeth and maybe some white on him, it was hard to tell."
The room exploded again. "That's clearly not a human at all!" Sanji yelled, exasperated.
"I thought he was a midget fishman, or the other guy was just really tall," Luffy reasoned. Nami hit him on the head.
"AN ELECTRIC FISHMAN?" she yelled.
Holding his head in pain, Luffy looked at Sunny. "Does that sound familiar?"
"I...I don't recognize that description, but maybe?" Sunny gave a hopeful shrug for them to understand.
"That was really important information to keep from us," Nami scolded.
Law stood up from the table. "Alright then, keep an eye out for anything weird and powerful...if it's not trying to kill me, maybe I can help it." He said, looking at Sunny, who gave him a grateful nod. "Right," He slung his katana over his shoulder and opened the door to the deck. "Thanks for the coffee."
Luffy followed a moment later, trailed by Sunny. "Hey Tra-guy!" Luffy said to Law, who had just jumped to his hsip. He turned around. "I'll see you again before I get to the end of the Grand Line."
Law smiled slightly. "Maybe you will, but only if you find a doctor for your crew." He started walking away as his crew readied their boat. "I hear Drum Island has an impressive old doctor. See ya, Mugiwara-ya."
Luffy crashed not long after that, while Nami, Sanji, and Usopp manned the ship, keeping a look out for gyarados. Luffy stumbled into his hammock to sleep off the injuries and exhaustion from the water and Sunny climbed in right after him, still ailing from the sea and just getting warm enough to begin to shiver again in earnest. He nudged himself under Luffy's arm and the two were out like a light.
Sunny woke up midday, fur ruffled, and let out a big yawn. By the way his body protested when he jumped down from the now-empty hammock and a headache nagged the back of his skull, he wasn't feeling 100%, but still better than he'd expected following yesterday's events. He nosed his way up through the trap door.
"Good morning!" Sunny chirped his greeting as he jumped onto the deck. He blinked, the ship was notably quiet though everyone was up from yesterday's events- Nami looked stressed AND Usopp's brow furrowed as he worked on a temporary patch on Merry's rail. Even Luffy was slumped lazily along the other rail, fishing with his good arm.
Sunny couldn't help but sweat slightly. The atmosphere is really heavy...
Sunny went to the kitchen and Sanji pulled out a covered plate of food; double portion of fresh vegetables, pan-seared with a tangy sauce and a small side of bacon drizzled with chili sauce. Sunny thanked him with a squeak before digging with vigor as Vivi sat at the other end of the table, head in hand, swirling a cup of cooled tea.
"Yeah, sure," Sanji said in way of Sunny's thanks, lighting a cigarette.
What a funk, Sunny thought. He could feel the negative energy in the air around his crew. Though he couldn't blame them. They'd hit a particularly brutal losing streak-the ambush at Whisky Peak, the gyarados ambush, the Marine ambush...that was actually a huge amount of ambushes. Sunny was used to losing, due to his size, inexperience, whatever it was, so his small victories recently had almost seemed like they were given to him-mistakes made by his enemies rather than his own strength.
It was clear the rest of the crew was taking it hard, though. Sunny finished his breakfast and went outside, laying on the bench and trying not to be unsettled by the gloomy mood.
Finally, Luffy abandoned his fishing and got up, walking over to where Usopp was working. The long-nosed boy looked up at his captain in mild surprise as his captain stood in front of him. The bruises on Usopp's face were visible on his tanned skin.
Luffy's face was slightly grim compared to his usual countenance as he crouched in front of his friend, bandages peeking out from his shirt.
"You really protected all of us yesterday, even when they captured you, and you're fixing up the Merry too. You're a really brave guy, Usopp," Luffy's intense look shifted into a smile as he laughed. Usopp's eyes widened and a blush bloomed across his face.
"It wasn't-It wasn't anything-I knew I had to protect our secrets and the princess, so it's nothing I haven't done before several-no, dozens, of times! The Great Usopp would take any amount of punches to protest those under his protection, it was-" Usopp's words cut off as a familiar straw hat was placed on his curly black hair.
His mouth worked up and down a few times in shock as he saw the bottom of Luffy's smile from below the brim of the straw hat.
Finally, he managed a "...Luffy..."
From his place against the railing, Zoro smirked. Nami leaned against the rigging, a pleased smile cresting her face. Sanji leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen, taking a long, relaxed exhale of smoke before going back inside to prepare a fitting pirate lunch for his stupid, charismatic captain and crew.
Just like that, the atmosphere returned to its usual cheer.
The two days later, the crew was fully recovered, ready for adventure (minus Usopp's debilitating I-can't-go-on-that-island-itis) and eager to arrive on the next island at dawn the next day.
Breakfast was back to its usual lively affair-everyone tucking into a delicious breakfast soufflé. Nami, however, was fuming, causing Sunny to avoid eye contact guiltily.
"Is something wrong with your food, Nami-swan?"
"No, the food's fine, Sanji. I just didn't sleep well last night."
"Huh? Were you lonely, Nami-swan? Next time just call my name and-"
"No thank you, Sanji," Nami interrupted, turning to Sunny coldly. "Do you want to tell them?" She asked quite hypothetically.
"Quiiiil..."
*The previous night*
Sunny had been napping on Nami's bed after dinner but he must have been more exhausted than he thought because when he woke up, it was the middle of the night. He'd been scooted over slightly so Nami could curl under the covers. Sunny stretched and yawned, wondering what he'd do now that he was awake and ready to play.
Well, it's not like he could wake Luffy up so he could play chase or bite-nose, so he settled down to see if he could sleep again, curling up against Nami's stomach, listening to her soft breathing. It wasn't often he got to see Nami being still, she was such an animated person, it was strangely calming.
Sunny's eyes widened into circles. Not six inches from his snout was a long, many-legged hairy bug with wrinkled brown wings and twitching mandibles. It stared at him, making its way across the covers.
Sunny snatched it up and swiftly dispatching the intruder to protect his dear friend. He tapped Nami's shoulder to wake her up so she could accept his gift and maybe thank him.
Nami woke up to see her small crewmate standing over her, red irises reflecting from perpetually squinted eyes, a massive, still-twitching bug in his mouth, inches from Nami's face.
Nami's eyes widened.
Munch-munch-munch-munch-munch-munch-munch-munch-
The hairy bug disappeared into Sunny's mouth like paper into a shredder. Nami's eyes bugged out.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Nami fumed, arms crossed, giving a glare at Sunny, who sweat, still not completely sure what he'd done to inspire Nami's ire or get kicked out of the girl's cabin in the middle of the night. He didn't know how the others could stand being the target of Nami's anger-he'd more or less pledged a life of perfect behavior until Nami relented with a sigh, sensing the sincerity in his attempt at communication. That was enough to calm Sanji down again too. They understood Sunny's heart, even if they barely ever understood a word he said.
From there, the conversation drifted to something less related to him-pranks they played as kids, a conversation no one was surprised Usopp dominated, but Nami's hands weren't clean either. She was a conniving a kid as she was a teenager.
Finally, breakfast was being cleaned up and Sanji stopped before taking Sunny's plate. "You left some vegetables. You need to make sure to eat those so you can grow up strong."
Sunny jumped slightly-he'd been so immersed in the drama and conversation he hadn't finished his meal, he gave Sanji an apologetic tilt of the head and a whine before gathering up a pawful of carrots so Sanji could clear his plate.
Usopp had pulled out a small wrench and was inspecting it for dents and looked up from his tool with a thoughtful look on his face.
"Will he?"
Sanji paused. "Will he what?"
Usopp gestured to Sunny, who was holding a stack of baby carrots, a couple spilling from his paws as he gnawed on the tops of them.
"Is he going to get bigger? We've had him with us for five weeks and he hasn't gained weight or grown that I've noticed. I know we're pretty sure he's young, but maybe he's full size?"
Sanji looked down at the plate, wondering if he wasn't providing the right diet for their smallest crewmate. He plunked the dish into the sink.
"Are you gonna grow?" Zoro asked Sunny directly. Apparently, the topic had been deemed interesting enough for the swordsman to pursue.
How do I answer that? If they don't know about evolution, there's no way I can explain, Sunny thought. He did a kind of non-committal gesture before scratching his head with his paws in frustration. It was completely impossible to explain anything about himself or pokemon to them!
"Sunny doesn't seem to know," Nami said finally.
"Or he just can't explain it," Zoro said, "he could know what the once piece is and we couldn't understand him."
"Sunny! Even if you know, you better not say-even in Cyndaquil language!" Luffy warned. "And he's definitely a kid!"
Sunny sighed in relief. Luffy knew-somehow, Luffy always knew.
Poor Sunny is not a very good artist...(but he is a morning person.)
Also, as some may have suspected, Sunny is blaming the crew for not understanding him, but he's particularly bad with communication from his side. Luffy is picking up a sixth sense for him though, and we'll just have to see if they can get better as they get closer as a crew.