Thank you so much for reading and giving this a chance. I hope you will continue to read this story. I will try my best to write and make this interesting. Thank you and have a good day!
Beta'd by MerryAnchor16
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.
Chapter 2
Keimi
Stellar had been going to the Takoyaki restaurant for as long as she could remember. It was owned by three- a merman, a mermaid and a talking starfish. After time, they had become some of her closest friends and the restaurant more of a second home. She had everything she wanted there, friends, food and warm conversation with those she cared about. There was no pressure, no marines, no pain. Just good company with good friends. She had never really seen Hachi or Pappug outside of the restaurant or far from it that often, so when she saw the merman and little orange starfish walk up to the three Strawhats she was stunned.
Both Hachi and Pappug were fighting back tears, "Have you found her yet?" Hachi sniffled, wiping his eyes with an arm- the others packed into a coat in a makeshift disguise- as he settled into a chair next to a tiny furry dog with horns and a hat. The little dog shook his head, looking sad too,
"Not yet. They'll probably bring her out soon. Don't worry, we sent Luffy, Zoro, Usopp and Robin after them though. We'll get her back."
"Yosh," The blonde man, Sanji, replied and leaned forward in his seat to look at the merman, "I don't know why they sent the Marimo though..."
Stellar could hear their conversation being only three seats away from the redhead Nami. She watched out of the corner of her eye with more interest than before. She frowned inwardly as Hachi put his face in his hands and sighed deeply. The dog with the top hat patted his shoulder soothingly, Sanji stared at the stage thoughtfully and Nami watched the merman and the starfish with sympathy on her pretty face.
Stellar fondled the hood of her cloak with nervous fingers. She felt like she owed it to Hachi and Pappug as a friend to go and ask what was wrong, to comfort them, but the idea of speaking to pirates put her on edge. She bit her lip and turned her head to get a better look at Hachi and Pappug, both of them looked as if they were about to break down at any second. She felt awful for not being brave enough to speak and walk over but she knew she could talk to Hachi later at the restaurant about it. She turned her head back when the blonde haired Strawhat locked eyes with her.
He stared in a way that made her cheeks go hot and she knew she was blushing. She immediately looked down at the floor and hid a little deeper into her hood, squeaking in surprise when she felt her hands being snatched up into the air and she snapped her head up, hood slipping off and long white locks spilled around her neck as the material fell on her shoulders.
"Madame, would you honor me with telling me your name?" The rich baritone voice asked smoothly, and she flushed as the pirate, Sanji, planted a soft kiss on one of the hands he held.
"I-I-" She stuttered, stumbling over a jumble of words that wouldn't come out. A bright blue eye watched her intensely, "S-Stellar..." She choked out and cringed inwardly after she realized she gave her name to a total stranger. She wants to slap herself for being careless!
The blue eye suddenly popped into a bright pink love heart, "Oh, Stellar-chwan! What a beautiful name for a beautiful lady!"
Stellar felt herself go bright red as some people in the crowd of bidders turned to look curiously at the strange display. She tried to pull her hands away, but Sanji didn't seem to want to let them go, "What is such a beautiful woman like Stellar-chwaaan doing in a place like this?~" This is too much for her!
"I'm looking for-for someone..." She whispered, not able to find her voice as the embarrassing scene played out. She felt absolutely mortified. Sanji didn't seem to hear her response though.
"Do you want me to protect you, Stellar my love?"
She tugged her hands again, unable to get Sanji to let go, "That won't be necessary-"
"Think nothing of it! I will protect you with all my hear-"
"Sanji-kun! What are you doing?"
Stellar dragged her eyes off the love-sick man to see Nami, the pretty redhead, peering over Sanji's shoulder. Delicate hands sat on wonderfully defined hips and an innocent look graced her features. Sanji seemed to stop in his tracks, "Nothing Nami-swan! I'm just helping dear Stel-"
"Sanji-kun, what did I say about causing a scene and attracting attention?" She cut him off.
"To not make a fuss at all, but-"
"Do you see how many people are looking now?" She smiled. Sanji's loveheart eye vanished as he looked at the small cluster of people staring. He swallowed, letting go of Stellar's hands and Stellar held them close to herself.
"Hah, well..."
"STOP BEING SUCH A MORON AND STOP ATTRACTING ATTENTION YOU IDIOT!" She screamed and Stellar winced, watching as the young pirate brought her leg down on Sanji's head with painful force. Sanji fell on the floor at her feet, his face flat on the floor,
"Nami-swan is so beautiful when she's angry..." He groaned, lying there with a large lump swelling on the back of his head. Nami huffed at a job well done.
"Moron..." She muttered then turned her eyes on Stellar, "Who're you?" She asked, not impolitely but still fairly blunt to be considered friendly. Stellar opened her mouth to speak when a sudden cry of, "Stellar!" had her gathered up in the arms of Hachi the merman. Pappug clung to her neck tightly.
"Oh, Stellar, it's awful! I-I tried so hard to protect her and I couldn't! I'm a terrible person!" Hachi wailed and Stellar snaked an arm free to pat his back soothingly. She felt a damp patch forming on her neck from Pappug's tears.
"What happened?" she asked softly.
"It's Keimi! It's all my fault!"
"What?! Keimi?! Where is she? Is she alright?!" Stellar pressed and Hachi shook his head and loosened his grip so that he could look her in the face.
"I don't know," he said sadly, "I tried to protect her, Stellar. But they got her. They captured her and now they are going to sell her off as a- a slave!"
He began sobbing fresh tears at the last part and Pappug only cried even louder than before.
"Woah, woah, woah. Wait. You know this girl?" Nami asked, peeping over Hachi's broad shoulder. The merman dried his eyes again and made a funny hiccough noise.
"How stupid of me. Stellar, this is Nami," He stepped away and swept his other hand to point at the woman, "She's the navigator for Strawhat Luffy's crew. Nami, this is Stellar. She's a customer and a good friend of ours."
"Oh," The look of confusion vanished from Nami's face and was replaced with a smile, "Nice to meet you."
"It's a pleasure to meet you too." Stellar replied politely and Hachi pointed to the blonde man who was slowly getting to his feet, gripping his head in pain.
"This is Sanji, but you've already met," He pointed to the little dog with horns, "And this little guy is Chopper."
The dog smiled bashfully and waved. Stellar flashed him a smile, "Aw, he's cute."
"I'm not cute! Your compliment doesn't make me happy you asshole!" The dog cried, jigging from foot to foot with a deep blush. Nami rolled her eyes and looked at Stellar.
"He can't take compliments," She explained as Chopper hopped from foot to foot crowing 'Asshole' with each jump, "So, you know Keimi huh?"
Stellar blinked, "Yes... Yes, I do."
The redhead crossed her arms, "You wanna help us then?"
"Help?"
Pappug, let go of her neck and jumped up and down on her shoulder excitedly, "We're gonna get Keimi back, Stellar!" He whispered hurriedly, "The Strawhats are helping us too! Say you'll help Stellar! Say you will!"
Stellar giggled at the small starfish. "Of course, she's my friend too," She said and Pappug whooped happily and hugged her neck again.
"So, how are we going to get her back?" Stellar asked curiously. Nami smirked and plucked a thick roll of Belis from her pocket,
"We bid for her of course."
I think Hachi and Pappug are cute lol I want some takoyaki! Who wants some takoyaki? I do! I tasted the famous takoyaki in Osaka and it was heaven! I burned my tongue tho. But it was really delicious to eat especially on a rainy day!
Thank you so much for all the people who viewed and followed my story! You all rock!