Disclaimer: No ownership of Pokémon or One Piece.
One Piece: Beastman's Folly
It had been two days since Ash was given the status of Vice-Captain, outranking everyone else but Captain Monkey D. Luffy on the Thousand Sunny. From a boy who used his Pokémon to stop the Marines in a case of mistaken identity to becoming a wanted criminal to bestow the title of "Beastman," Vice-Captain seemed like a lot to bear. The vessel had anchored itself as Ash came to the prow. Pikachu hung with Nami and Robin as they sunbathed on lounge chairs, one small enough for the Mouse Pokémon to lay on his back and his tail literally dangling between his feet. Nearby, Usopp attended his garden. "The seeds Bulbasaur gave to me look like they're sprouting something unique," he awed. "I know Ash called Bulbasaur's attack Leech Seed, but proper care could make unique Pop Greens out of them." Sanji reached Pikachu and the girls, Nami wearing a teal two-piece bikini and Robin donning a strapless maroon swimsuit with the abdomen removed for exposure. Sanji carried ice cold drinks for the ladies.
"Bodacious babes to admire," he smiled. "At least I have something to keep you cool." Raising their sunglasses, the ladies saw Sanji and the drinks.
"You're much too kind," Robin teased. A blush on his face, Sanji continued to smile.
"Thanks, Robin Dear!" he praised. Nami was given her drink as was Robin, but felt Pikachu left out.
"You got something for us, but not Pikachu?" concerned Nami.
"Like hell, I'm getting that rodent anything!" snapped Sanji.
"Oh, really…" scorned Nami. Robin crossed her arms. This made arms around Sanji who grew worried.
"Maybe a snack for the little guy, huh?" he stuttered. "I-I'll… get right on it." He retreated to the kitchen as Robin made more arms appear on Pikachu, but they began massaging his cheeks.
("That's it…") he cooed. Robin and Nami giggled to the sight. Chopper worked on new medicine with recently acquired herbs from their time with Lily Enstomach in Sick Bay. Elsewhere on the Sunny, Brook was playing on his violin while Franky chugged a bottle of Cola. For a moment, Brook halted his play, getting Franky's attention.
"Hey, what's up?" he asked. Despite a lack of eyes among everything else, Brook turned to the cyborg.
"Well, I know we all agreed to make Ash Vice-Captain the other day," Brook recalled. "I guess it's a feeling in my bones about Zoro being upset at his time as Vice-Captain ending." In the Crow's Nest, Zoro build muscles with dumbbells that stood up to his waist. At the prow, Luffy came to Ash with some meat.
"Ash!" he called. Ash turned to Luffy as he tossed the pork his way. Ash caught it before scarfing it in his mouth. "I bet you're really stoked at becoming Vice Captain, huh?" Ash huffed a sigh.
"It still feels surreal that I get the title over Zoro or Nami," he shrugged. "Or… anyone of that matter."
"Hey, it's gonna take time before it sinks in," Luffy assured. "Besides, I promise our decision will help all of us." Ash sensed Luffy's trust.
"That will be something," he urged. Luffy chose to change topics.
"Anyway, I've been reading more in that booklet you showed me and noticed that there were three different types of abilities," he brought up. Sanji, exiting the kitchen with an egg-filled crescent roll, heard Luffy bring up the booklet Ash loaned him.
"It still shocks the hell out of me that Ash is the one who got Luffy to read," he grumbled. He reached Pikachu and the girls before laying the roll down.
"Thanks, Sanji," Robin praised. Sanji smiled to Robin before turning back to Ash and Luffy. Nami tilted her sunglasses down.
"You're not the only one," she sided. "The fact that Luffy became interested in Pokémon since Ash first saved us with them. Now, he's studying like he's a scholar. No offense, Robin."
"Oh, none taken at all," Robin dismissed. "If this was Luffy when we first met him, we might have found One Piece and this series would abruptly end." Sanji, Nami and Pikachu blinked before looking to the Fourth Wall.
"What series?" wondered Sanji.
("Why go breaking the Fourth Wall, Robin?") squeaked Pikachu. Ash and Luffy continued their talk about abilities.
"Oh, Status attacks!" realized Ash. "Yeah, that third one isn't necessarily talked too often from Physical and Special attacks."
"Yeah, Physical and Special are unique, but so is this Status crap," Luffy referred. "Do you have any way of describing them?" Ash nodded while crossing his arms.
"There are Status attacks like String Shot and Sand Attack that lower abilities like Speed and Accuracy, respectfully," he started to explain. "Then, there are attacks that would cause status effects like Poison and Paralysis." Luffy blinked to the title given.
"Paralysis?"
"When a Pokémon is paralyzed, it may not attack. There are a few ways to paralyze a Pokémon like Pikachu's Thunderbolt." That made Luffy look back at Sanji, Pikachu and the girls.
"But I can't get paralyzed by Pikachu."
"Right, that Gum-Gum power you have. However, Pikachu's not alone. Before we came and saved you, I was paralyzed by a Vileplume and its Stun Spore attack." The name made Luffy interested.
"Stun Spore? Is that like Usopp's Pop Greens?"
"I'm not sure, but you're on the right track. Stun Spore is a Grass-Type attack that Tracey and I suffered from when we fell into a Vileplume's flower top. Believe me, we took full effect." The detail made Luffy ponder.
"Bulbasaur's also a Grass-Type. He could learn that move as well, right?"
"He can. He could also learn other Status Attacks like Poison Powder or Sleep Powder."
"Oh, so he could do those, too. It's just…" That's when he brought out the Afro and placed it on his head, replacing the straw hat he wore. Zoro peeked out as Franky, Brook, Usopp and Sanji saw it.
"Not that headpiece again…" groaned Zoro.
"Learnin' about Pokémon brings a new jive to this heartfelt journeyman," Luffy jived up. "But the Pokémon that only spreads, leaves little soul for bravery as one who cannot attack is a sitting duck. It's the soul of a strategy man that helps the jive flow to his friends and the jive flows to those as he brings talent to a game that has been his dance." Hearing Luffy's flow, Franky, Usopp, Brook and Sanji awed the comment.
"SO FUNKY!" they cheered. Zoro and Nami groaned to the sight.
"Only you would be doing that at free will," he mumbled.
"Don't blame the fro that brings the flow, Zoro," Luffy swagged. "Join the jive that offers the influence of the grapevine that moves the Sunny on the journey!"
"I'd rather not," Zoro grumbled. That's when Usopp had a shriek. Everyone on the Sunny heard it.
"Something 's down there!" he warned. The boys, including Chopper who exited Sick Bay, came to starboard where they viewed a small raft drifting with a figure of a ball around. Luffy changed back to his straw hat before the pirates viewed the raft.
"What is it?" the reindeer asked. Luffy had a guess.
"Probably food from a sunken ship," he believed. "Allow me!" Luffy flung his arms to the raft before grabbing it and pulling it up. "Hey, it's pretty light!" Zoro believed that Luffy's guess was incorrect.
"So, it's not food," he checked off. The girls had arisen, and Robin held Pikachu.
"Need help?" the navigator asked. Luffy retracted the raft back onto the Sunny. Everyone looked to see something round… and pink. Ash and Pikachu gawked, trembles between the two as pointy ears popped up.
"Are you kidding me!?" he yelped. The rest weren't sure about Ash's or Pikachu's unsettling reactions.
"Dear, what's wrong?" wondered Robin. The round object pushed itself up with stubby arms and revealed large circular blue eyes and a tuff of fur from the top of the body and short legs.
"Jigglypuff!" shrieked Ash. Others seemed confused to Ash and Pikachu's freak-out.
"You're scared of this thing?" questioned Usopp. Nami came over and lifted Jigglypuff to hug.
"This is so cute!" she cooed. "How can this creature be scary?"
"Yeah, there's no way something like this can be dangerous," Sanji scoffed. That's when Jigglypuff whipped out a microphone, making Ash and Pikachu jump in fear.
"Too late!" gasped Ash. Jigglypuff began to sing with the microphone, and the music spread through the Sunny and the surrounding ocean. Effects came as everyone went to sleep, including the undead Brook. After a minute, Jigglypuff stopped singing and observed the entire crew had gone to dreamland. Mad, she puffed up. Removing the top of the microphone revealed a marker. She had scribbled on everyone's faces before kicking the raft back out to sea and drifting away, dissatisfied with a puff. An hour later, everyone on the Sunny woke up… except for Zoro. Luffy's face had marker drawn lines from the ends of his lips to his nose, and an "X" over the face. He laughed at Usopp, looking like a puppet, the nose looking a little like it was made of wood. Zoro's face had an eye over his scarred one and huge lips.
"Look at your face, Usopp!" laughed Luffy. "You look hilarious!" Usopp snickered when seeing Luffy's face worked on.
"My face!?" he scoffed. "Get a load at your face, Luffy! You look like you came from the circus!" Chopper's snout was marked like it was glowing, same thing with his eyes and antlers. He saw that Brook had markings of his crack in the skull be mirrored before a line had drawn his face.
"You look so silly, Brook!" the reindeer chuckled. Brook chortled to Chopper's Rudolph face.
"You oughta see yourself in a mirror, Chopper!" he countered. Franky's face looked like a robot. He observed Sanji's face having marker doodles of swirls like the one above his eyes all over his face.
"We all look SUPER funny!" he cackled at seeing everyone. Ash and Pikachu mulled. Ash's face looked like a pirate with one eye having an eye-patch and given a goatee. Pikachu's was given the swirly glasses look. Nami shrieked as she was given wrinkles around her lips and crow's feet around the eyes when looking at a small mirror of herself.
"My face!" she yelped. "What happened to my face!" Robin giggled, the bridge of her nose completely marked and flowers on her cheeks with petals over her eyes.
"My my…" she huffed. "Certainly, one heck of a wake-up call, huh?" Despite the markings on their faces, Sanji awed the women regardless.
'Both Nami and Robin are still smokin' hot,' he swooned with hearts in his eyes. 'Even with scribbles all over their angelic faces.' Nami turned to Ash, curious about Jigglypuff.
"So, what was up with that?" she asked Ash as she got a towel to clean her face of the marker. "It just sang a song and left us with marks?" Ash had an idea about Jigglypuff.
"I've known Jigglypuff and it's how I got Snorlax," he started. "Jigglypuff would sing to a group of people, though I don't think that Jigglypuff realizes that Sing is a move that puts anyone to sleep. When that happens, she gets upset and uses Misty's marker to draw on everyone." Usopp awed the briefing while
"It gets upset for people falling asleep from a performance?" he figured. "Wow, that's selfish." Thinking to the conversation, Luffy had a question.
"So, is getting marked like this a Status effect?" he asked. Ash had a deadpan look.
"No, that's just her punishment," he corrected. "My friends and I have had plenty of encounters with Jigglypuff and it never ends well… for the most part."
"Wow, I thought I leave the crowd in silence after performing for them," Brook joked. Franky teared up to Jigglypuff's struggle.
"That poor little cream puff!" he began to cry. "She just wants to sing for an audience and for them to listen to the end! I feel so sorry for her!" Feeling his tears on his mechanical arms, Franky turned away as he tried to wipe his face. "But, I'm not crying, you bastards! You hear me? I'm not!" Everyone awake knew that Franky was bawling hysterically.
"Well, in any case…" voiced Nami. "That Jigglypuff can be dangerous." That's when she realized a connection. "Wait… Jigglypuff's a Pokémon, right?"
"Yeah…" he confirmed. "But, I'm not sure if it followed me or found another way here." It was left with a dead end. Robin came to Ash and started cleaning his face with a towel.
"Here, honey…" she offered. Ash gawked before Robin wiped the marker from his face. With marker removed from Ash's forehead, Robin gave it a kiss. Sanji and Brook, their faces cleaned, saw the kiss and jumped in surprise. They became upset at Robin's kiss to Ash. They jumped toward Robin on their perverted minds. They painted their faces with paintbrushes found and splashed them.
"Robin Dear!" he called soothingly. "We could use your towel to wipe us down!"
"And give us the same love and see your pant-" started Brook before he and Sanji's heads were smashed by Nami's fists.
"Stop drawing your own grave!" she scolded. Pikachu helped clean Chopper's helmet as the others cleaned their own faces. After the cleaning, Robin hugged Ash's head to her shoulder. Ash didn't struggle.
'Oh, Ash…' she thought. 'Every time I held you in my arms like this, it always fills my heart with joy. It's still quite a surprise that I've fallen in motherly love with you, and I'm so glad that I did. I know that one day, you'll be back with your real mother, back in your world… but…' She pressed her lips again to his forehead as Ash relaxed to a sleepy state. Several seconds later, she parted to see his smiling face, eyes closed. 'I will treasure every moment with you… but for now, sleep tight… my son. I love you.' She gave Ash one last kiss while holding Ash a little more firm. She liked Ash asleep for him to hold as a mother would want to a child. Soon, the Thousand Sunny would float on. For Zoro, no one touched him since Jigglypuff sang. He still had the marks on him. If he woke up, someone would pay.
HAPPY APRIL FOOLS!
