Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I do not own anything aside from my OC. One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda.
AN: Merry-Go will now be referred to as Going Merry so passages would flow better. Enjoy reading and leave a review!
- o – o – o – o -
The trip to Arlong Park was oddly quiet and peaceful, saved for the few times that Usopp bragged about his fearless self in face of anger. However, it became apparently clear that the boy was anything but fearless as he grown more subdue as the island slowly drawn into sight.
Already, just from the way the architecture is built, with two stone walls leading into a smaller enclosure of the sea, Niijima could tell that the structure was designed for mobility—and not to mention, a perfect place to set a trap. If these "fishman" was what Usopp and others told him, being an expert underwater would naturally give them an edge over the vessel sailing above that particular space. Naturally, to turn a ship around require time and space. It would be difficult to escape that area should those fishman turn hostile.
What further caught his eyes was the tower that stood ominously behind a set of steel gate. There would be no guaranteed their entrance should they so choose, to foolishly enter that water. Nay, to do so would be a disgrace to an Onmyouji of his stature, who pursues the art of tactics and strategy.
It was, with this mindset, that he frowned at Usopp, who eagerly announced "their"-as the boy like to believe—decision would be to sail straight toward the Going Merry, who just so happened to dock not so far away from that dangerous zone. It certainly doesn't help that Zoro, who Niijima had trusted to at least have some sense in him, was equally nonchalant about the matter; as if the teen was confident he would be able to cut down those who barred his path.
Certainly, Niijima was inclined to agree with the swordsman, after seeing his prowess with said blades against Mihawk; but that was before he broke two of his blades and not to mention, was currently injured. Even he knew that the human body wouldn't heal so fast with a knife wound so close to the heart! Surely, the youngsters in this generation were all pretty hot blooded.
Fueled by the energy of baseless confident—more so with Usopp, than Zoro—Johnny and Yosaku were equally eager to test their might against the fishman. After all, Zoro-aniki would surely be able to handle them. At the moment, it seemed like Niijima would have to be the voice of reason in his battle-hungry group.
With great difficulty, he managed to persuade the knuckleheads to dock somewhere more obscure, and, preferably, they should swerve slightly off course. Granted, he wasn't sure if the fishmen had set up some form of patrol around the island. Even so, he like to think that not sailing directly in plain sight would at least increase their chance of infiltration. It simply would be far too brash to rush into a situation without understanding the head from the tail. Especially not with him injured like that, he would prefer not to exacerbate his internal wound until he could at least stabilize it somewhat.
Following Niijima's advice, the group docked their boats into the more secluded part of the island, where overgrown foliage and flora would serve as a suitable cover for their vessels.
Slowly, the group wandered off into the closest trail they could find, waddling through bushes, taking care not to make to much noise—or at least, only Niijima seemed to be doing.
One moment he was watching Zoro heading straight, the next moment, the green-haired teen swerved left. That was one thing. The second thing was Usopp incessant chatting that just screamed for the enemy to find them.
"Where are you going, Zoro-kun?" He sighed and once again dragged the younger male back on track, who had the decency to look embarrassed, claiming that it was the tree that moved.
It had become apparently cleared that Zoro's sense of direction was a little bit...off—for lack of better words and that was already the nice way of putting it. How could he wander off when there was Usopp in front of him to lead the way!? Sighing, Niijima turned his attention to Usopp, who he was about to berate, if not for the abrupt halt in his mid sentence.
Seeing Usopp and the other two so quiet suddenly was not a good sign.
"What's the matter?" Zoro voiced the question that was plaguing Niijima's mind.
They too, was momentarily stunned by the spectacle in front of them. Niijima knew that he should be somewhat wary of the fishmen, but he hadn't known they were such a threat. Before him, all the houses and buildings he could see were flipped upside down, with their roofs buried a good few meter beneath the ground.
"Oh dear," Niijima pressed his lips into a thin line. Things had just gotten a lot more serious than he thought.
Shaken from his thought, Johnny murmured, soft enough for the groups to still hear him. "They said that a fishman has the strength ten times that of men from the moment they were born."
Yosaku said in a tense manner, "This is the strength of those from the Grand Line and the outcome for going against them..." He trailed off, for the scene already spoke for itself.
Recovering his composure, Zoro gave a blood thirsty grin at the prospect of the challenge ahead. Niijima rolled his eyes and lightly shook his head at Zoro's expression. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going through the swordsman's head at the moment and Niijima couldn't help but sigh for the trouble that would inevitably occur in the future. He just simply wanted to find the Crown, kill the damn Fukitsu-mono and be done with it. At his age, he just wanted to live in peace as a professor, thank you very much.
Drawing the group attention, a soft sound of feet striking against the ground greeted their ears. In this deserted town, even the slightest noise would seem awfully loud, much less the sound of a kid running. In his hand, a gleaming blade of standard quality.
Niijima frowned at the sight. The kid's actions appeared to be one born from grief and vengeance, if his expression was anything to go by. At his age, Niijima had seen quiet a few share of kids like him, rushing into territory they shouldn't have gone without sufficient research. And all of them, most often than not, ended in failure. If the kid was marching down this way, then this could only mean one thing.
He instinctively turned toward the direction the kid was looking at and frowned when he saw a group approaching. From their builds and silhouette, they did not appear to be human.
"We should hide." Niijima warned the rest.
While Usopp and the other two was quick to obliged, Zoro threw a meaningful look at Niijima and frowned. Zoro couldn't understand Niijima's logic, truth to be told. For someone who was so strong, hiding would be a cowardice move. The swordsman was sure that with just the two of them, it would be simple to defeat this approaching group of fishmen, who looked to be party three.
"Why?" He voiced his question, hand gripping his sword in a preparation manner.
"It is almost never a good idea to plunge headfirst into situation we don't understand." Niijima offered a quick explanation when it looked like the teen wouldn't budge. "We should pick battle only when they are necessary."
While Zoro agreed that the older man had a point, he still felt it would be the most efficient to take out the fishman now and interrogate them for Nami's whereabouts. After all, if they were going to be fighting against the fishmen either way, why not start the fight now than later? Taking out more enemy at the moment would be advantageous in the long run. He told Niijima as much, who nodded at the teen's argument.
Even though Niijima did not completely agree with it, he understood the point Zoro was trying to make. With a sigh, he nodded. "Alright. I supposed we could deal with the problem now than later." He shook his head, conceding to the younger male.
"Wait, no! You guys, uh, can go take care of them. We'll just observe the situation from h-here!" Usopp said, using Niijima's earlier point as an excuse. He turned to Yosaku and Johnny for support, who hesitantly nodded.
Giving him a knowing smirk, Niijima replied. "Sure, Usopp-kun. Make sure you gather as much information as possible."
"Let's go." Zoro grunted just as the three fishmen came within view.
"Hey! Who are you guys?" One of them asked, clearly surprised by the additional human in this deserted town. They were sure that all the human in this area had already been dealt with for their rebellious nature.
"Just a group of pirates looking for their friend." Zoro answered neutrally. "You don't happen to have seen a young lady with orange hair, who goes by the name of Nami, did you?"
The fishmen glanced between one another before they burst into a huge laughter, seemingly amused by what Zoro had said.
"What's so funny, gentleman?" Niijima interrupted.
Still snickering, one of them said, "Hey brothers, these must be Nami's latest victims."
Niijima momentarily sharpened his gaze before relaxing back into an innocent smile. "Victims? We're just looking for our friends."
This prompt even more laughter from the group, "Oh man, she got them good this time."
Next to Niijima, Zoro lips began to curve downward, settling into an unpleasant frown as the pieces of puzzles began to fit together. His hand instinctively reached for his sword, ready to threatens these fishmen for more information if needed.
However, he didn't get a chance to question the fishmen any further when the boy they saw earlier roared past them. Sword in hand, the young boy looked murderous at the three fishmen.
"Damn you fishmen! I'll kill you!" He screamed and swung his sword.
Of course, the fishmen was not about to let said sharp object come into contact with them. Reacting to the assault, one of them moved to strike. That was all the cue Zoro needed to unsheathe his sword and for Niijima to pull the boy back.
With a loud clank, Zoro parried the fist away from the boy, just in time for Niijima to pull the boy back by his shirt's collar.
"Kid, get back. These guys are way out of your league." Zoro said as he readied another stance.
The kid was too stunned to muster up a response. He was obviously shaken up by the event that had transpired. If green-haired man had not blocked the blade and the other pulled him back, he would have been pummeled to death.
Just as the tension was rising, a feminine voice cut in, "Don't attack the fishmen!"
Even so, Zoro did not turn around, keeping his eyes locked with the fishmen in a challenging gaze. On the other hand, the older member of the crew turned around and saw a blue-haired female, who wore a headband to keep her medium length in place, ran up to them.
"Chabo! I told you not to go after them!" She scolded and pulled the boy back from the two strangers and the fishmen.
The boy, now dubbed Chabo, did not reply, still in shock from the near-death experience.
"I don't know who you are, but step back, girl." Zoro said and lifted his blade up, just as the three opponents readied their stance.
Said girl look to be about to say something but was unable to when Zoro and his opponent quickly engage into a dance of blade and fist. Granted, it was more of a one-sided match than a dance. His opponents must have severely underestimated him, for they only stood by as they watched their brother fight against him. It was their arrogance that brought about their defeat as Zoro make quick work of the single opponent he was facing. With a graceful slash, the fishmen was down as blood seeped onto the ground.
Seeing their brother beaten so easily by this swordsman, the remaining two both went toward him at once. However, before either could do anything, something splash messily over their face, obscuring their visions.
Niijima noticed them to be eggs, and judging from the smell, rotten eggs to be exact. He stole a glance over at Usopp and shot the young boy a thumbs up for a well-aimed shot; just in time for Zoro to make quick work of the remaining two fishmen.
With a fling, the swordsman removed the blood away from his blade and sheathed it gracefully back into its white scabbard. On the ground, two more fishmen joined their fallen brother, unconscious as blood began to pool beneath them.
"Weak." Zoro commented dryly and Niijima must agreed with him. He hadn't expected them to be taken down so quickly; especially not after witnessing what they did to the houses nearby.
Seeing the danger passed, Usopp and co leaped out from the bush and made their way toward them. All the way, Usopp boasted, "Ha! They were no match for Captain Usopp. Fishmen aren't so tough after all!"
"Now, now, Usopp-kun, these three may have just been an outlier," Niijima was quick to pop that bubble before it could grow even larger. "Although, it could have been possible that they are all brawn and no brain." While he admit, that these fishmen could flip down houses like they were nothing, if strength was all they have then fighting them would be easy. After all, it wasn't hard to lure an idiot into a trap in a fight involving strategy. There was exception to this rule, of course, but today was not the day.
"I could have gotten those two, by the way," Zoro commented just as Usopp was bragging about his skill, completely killed the good mood the long-nosed boy was enjoying.
As the two crew member bickered, Niijima turned his attention to the girl and the kid instead.
"W-what have you done!?" The girl seemed shaken by the event and growled at them, drawing all pairs of eyes toward her.
"I don't see the problem here, young miss," Yosaku said.
"As we see it, Zoro-aniki dealt with them so easily, there shouldn't be any problem." Johnny added.
"You fool! You have just brought the fishmen's ire toward us! We need to leave this place now!" She snapped and took Chabo with her urgently.
Seeing that she was not being followed, she turned around and snapped, "What are you guys waiting for? Follow me!"
The men glanced at one another before Zoro shrugged. Taking that as a sign, the group followed after her.
- o – o – o – o -
Arriving at the destination, Niijima resisted the urge to facepalm. In their short journey from point A to point B, they had lost Zoro, literally. The Onmyouji swore, the first thing he did would be attached a tracking spell on him so that younger male would not wander off on his own and in the process, become lost. Getting lost in an unknown territory just screamed bad-ends to him. Johnny and Yosaku, upon noticing that their Zoro-aniki was gone, volunteered to look for him. Currently, only Usopp, the girl, Chabo and him remained in a cozy house surrounded by groves of tangerine.
As the girl berated the kid for his rash behavior, he briefly overheard Nojiko's lectures on wasteful and mindless sacrifice speech for the young boy and decided it wasn't worth his attention. It wasn't in his place to lecture someone who had to just met and the young girl was doing a fine job at giving the kid an earful of his rash behavior.
Niijima tuned them out in favor of observing the surrounding, which seemed to pack a good amount of tangerine trees. He recalled his previous fortune section and realized more and more of the pieces had began to fall into places. When he had asked the world for a brief view of the future, he had asked with the intention of looking into the missing Crown. The fact that those three symbols showed up must be related to his quest somehow. From the Hawk, he had gotten a very interesting bit of information about this world's Onmyoudo. Perhaps, the Shark and the Orange—or should he said, Tangerine now—must held a piece of the puzzle as well.
"This is N-Nami's house?" Usopp's outburst drew Niijima away from his musing.
"I'm sorry?" He quirked an eyebrow, and only now did he realize, the kid had left already. Too engrossed in his musing, he was taken off by the unexpected announcement.
"This is Nami's House," The girl, who introduced herself as Nojiko, said, shrugging nonchalantly.
For a moment, Usopp seemed shock at the revelation and Niijima must admit, it was scary how much of a coincidence this was. After all, what was the odd the girl they met was Nami's sister? Of course, an ancient text once said, there is no such thing as coincidence in this world, only the inevitable. Perhaps, this was one of those situation.
One thing led to another and soon the whole story how Nami was forced to work for the Arlong's pirate in order to save the village came into light. After listening to the whole story, Niijima could only nodded in acceptance as the girl's maturity and hardship. For that, Nami had earned his respect for being so strong even for one so young.
Usopp, on the other hand, was very verbal about this news. At first, he was bitter about the whole lying act—even though he, himself was a liar—the more he heard about it, the more mellowed he become.
Suddenly, something caught Niijima's attention from the corner of his eyes. It appeared to be a female with an interesting hairstyle similar to that of a Mohawk—except there's also a ponytail. Her fuchsia hair was the only distinctive feature over her hazy appearance. She looked into the house through the window and gazed at Nojiko. Niijima was not sure how to discern that gaze and felt somewhat uneasy. Could she be haunting these two girl?
Even though he hadn't known Nami for that long, he would hate it to see Nami—and by extension, her sister—suffer the same fate as Kaya did.
It could be said that Nami was an acquaintance and potential friend of his. As an acquaintance, he had an obligation to help her out when it came to dealing with the supernatural. After all, it would have been terrible if he were in her situation. Imagine this, if he were to be haunted by a ghost, and Nami had the ability to prevent said ghost from harming him—but she chose not to do so—surely, it would sour whatever relationship he and she had.
On closer inspection, the spirit wore a pale blue plaid shirt with navy blue pants, giving off a very tomboy image. Abruptly, one moment she was there and the next she was gone, as if fading away. It was brief, and had Niijima was not sure of his vision he would have doubted the woman existed at all.
Curiosity pique, he turned to the other and excused himself. "Excuse me, Usopp-kun. I'm going to do some surveillance around the area."
"Forget it, old man. You better leave this place and take Usopp-san with you, too." Nojiko hollered when he swung the door open.
"Thanks for the concern, young miss, but I'll be fine." He gave them a brief nodded and shut the door, leaving behind a displeased Nojiko and a confused Usopp.
It didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for. Traveling through rows after rows of tangerine tree, he went deeper into the greenery.
A breeze swept by, carrying with it a scent of the ocean. Inhaling the air into his lung, he briefly enjoyed the calmness and the refreshing feeling the ocean gust brought to him. Air of this quality was a rarity back in his world, where industry had longed since destroy the delicate air in his city.
As he stepped closer and closer toward the source of interest, the bushes began to thin and before he knew it, he arrived at a cliff, where the vast horizon greeted his eyes. Or it would have, if not for a wooden cross staring back at him.
A Grave. His mind concluded.
There was no name, but the condition of the grass surrounding the grave spoke volume of how well loved this person while he or she was alive. Only said people would have others took care of his or grave this meticulously. Well, even so, he had other goal to do after tracking down this interesting grave. No doubt, this must be belonging to that spirit he saw earlier.
Briefly, he bought his hand together to pay respect to the dead and gave a bow. When he lifted his head up, however, the fuchsia-haired spirit was sitting atop of the grave in a bored manner. Although, there was a curious looked on her face, as if asking him, what he was doing here.
"Do I know you?" She wondered to herself, but never expected to here a reply from the man.
"No, I think not. Spirit-san." Niijima greeted, surprising the spirit.
"You can see me!?" She said, drawing back her hands in shock. The sudden movement was enough to throw her off balance as she wobbled back and forth on the wooden beam. Alas, she wrapped her arms around the vertical beam and regained her balance.
"Phew… that was close." She breathed and wiped off an imaginary sweat from her forehead.
Niijima stared at her for a while, an unreadable expression settled over his face. The two stared at one another awkwardly before Niijima slowly asked. "...You do know that gravity doesn't effect you, right?"
"S-shut up! You got a problem with that, punk?" She crossed her arms over chest in a defensive manner and huffed.
"No, no, no." He raised his hands up in a placating manner.
"What is it that you want anyway? Otherwise you wouldn't have followed me." She sighed, mentally arriving at the conclusion that this stranger must have followed her to be able to find this grave.
"Like I said, I was just curious. Today is not Obon, so how is it that you were able to cross over?" Niijima frowned, getting to the point.
"What the hell is an Obon?" She said, testing the unfamiliar words with her tongue.
"The day when ghosts and spirits are allowed to cross over to this world to visit their living family members." Niijima felt the need to explain. There was a possibility that this island had a different name for the festival or believe.
Now it was her turn to frown. "I have no idea what strange things you are talking about."
Sighing Niijima rubbed his temple as he felt a headache coming up. This world's Laws were just too confusing for him. "Well, then, my next question is, why are you haunting Nojiko and Nami?"
He fixed her with a cold glance. If this was anything like Kaya's case, then he should nip the bud before it could bloom.
The spirit met the his glare with a guarded look of her own. "Who the hell do you think you are, punk. To march up to my grave and question me about my life?"
A strange breeze began to pick up speed around the cliff, sending blades of grasses off into the air and rustling the nearby trees. The once peaceful clearing was now overcharged with tension and a strange sort of energy.
"Nami is a fellow crew member of mine. I think that should be enough reason to exorcise you before you could feast on her sister or her life force." He said and settled into a stance, preparing for an inevitable battle.
"A crew member? So you are with Arlong!" She growled as the wind howled around them. Out of nowhere, a musket formed in her hand and she leveled it at Niijima. Without waiting for him to respond, she fired.
If Niijima had been a regular human, spirit attack of this caliber would simply phased through him. But because he had become aware of the spirit—and as a practitioner in the art—the Law of the Spirit World now governs his action as well. That's why there is a saying in the Living World, that should one spot a spirit, one should do one's best to pretend they don't exist. For if one acknowledges the other, one will have a foot step into the other world.
If the bullet hit him, it would hurt just like a real bullet would. Ducking, Niijima let the bullet sailed past him and retaliated by sending several talisman at her, which she dodged by side stepping. Utilizing her spirit-given body, she snaked into his range and performed a drop kick toward the man.
He brought his arms up to block the kick, but winced when the internal injury he received from Mihawk hindered him. He frowned; the injury was worse than he thought. Even so, he managed to cushion the blow somewhat.
"Die, you pirate scum. Don't you dare try anything funny with my daughters!" She snarled and applied more pressure to the kick.
"You are mistaken," He grunted as he pushed against her leg. "I am not with Arlong."
Both of them recoiled back from the mutual force, each pausing and glanced at one another warily as their brains worked to process the information.
"Daughter?"
"You're not with Arlong?"
There was a brief moment of silent before each of them warily lowered their guard.
- o – o – o – o -
After the two had calmed down, Niijima had explained the situation to the best of his ability. At first Belle-mere was skeptical of Niijima's claim, often interjecting to question him for any flaws in his story. She was especially put off that Nami joined the Strawhat Pirate, and that took some convincing from Niijima's to placate her growing anger. Even so, by the end of the tale, Belle-mere now had a better understanding of the current situation.
"I see. So let me get this straight" The ghost, Belle-mere, said. "You are telling me that my daughter, the same one who hated pirate so much, joined one."
"Yes."
"And one reason or another, she betrayed you guys, and now you guys are after her."
"Yes, but not with the way you put it. My captain only wanted us to persuade her to join us again because he genuinely believe her to be a good person." Niijima defended, drawing on what little knowledge he knew of the younger boy.
"Well, the only way I see that happening was if Arlong is gone. If your captain couldn't defeat him, then you are better off forgetting the whole thing altogether." She said and leaned against her grave. At the same time, she took another at the tobacco—that she pulled from somewhere—and exhaled.
"I supposed, you're right." Niijima nodded and frowned again, "And please stop leaning against the grave, even if it is your grave." He was starting to becoming uncomfortable with the way she blatantly stepped on top of the mount like that; even if it was technically her property...
"Shut it, you. It's my grave. I can do whatever the hell I want with it."
"That aside, back to my earlier question. Are you haunting your kids? Because if you are, I would have to ask you to stop, even if you are their mother."
She murmured something beneath her breath, far too low for him to here. Before he could ask her to repeat her murmuring, she fixed him with an unreadable look. "Say, you want to here a story of a dead woman?" She dropped her cigarette, fully expecting him to agree. Giving it a good squeeze with her shoes—even though she had no need to, given her dead status—she waited for Niijima's response.
Shrugging, Niijima complied with the sudden change in topic. Based on past experience, he found that it would be easier to ask the spirit to move on if he listened to their rants.
Taking that as a yes, Belle-mere told him a story that began with a stormy night and two orphans. It didn't take a genius for him to figure out that she was telling him her story. From the moment she adopted them till the moment she died at the hand of Arlong, she told him everything.
"So, you see. If you asked if I am haunting them because I still have regret in this world, then no I'm not. I knew that Gen would take care of them in my stead, even if I am no longer there..." She sighed and gazed at the sea. During her tale, she had switched her position so that she was resting her forearms against the wood as she faced the sea.
"Then why are you here? Only ghosts that had regret could linger in this world and we call that haunting."
"Well, I don't know. I knew I already moved on when I died. It was just several weeks ago that I suddenly found myself awake." She said and quirked an eyebrow at him. "Before I knew it, I was hovering over my grave."
Niijima raised an elegant eyebrow in a disbelief manner. "What? You don't just pop up out of nowhere and be a ghost again once you have already moved on. Well, unless it's Obon but that's a whole different story, and you said you don't even observe that holiday!"
"How am I supposed to know!? And aren't you the ghost-expert here?" She scowled.
"The correct terminology is Onmyouji, and no, I don't know," He deadpanned, "which is why I'm asking in the first place. Your situation is a strange one."
"Well, excuse you."
Sighing, he took out a talisman. "Regardless, now that I've heard your story, I'll kindly ask that you move on."
"Nope." She popped her mouth at the last syllable.
"What do you mean nope!?" Niijima cried, completely caught off guard by her attitude.
"Well, now that I got a chance to see my kids again, and knowing how terrible Arlong is, I don't want to leave yet."
"That's not how it works!"
"Oh shush. Same thing. How about I made you a deal? Get rid of Arlong and you'll get rid of me."
Niijima crossed his arms over his chest and growled, "No. No deal. You do know you would eventually need to draw life force from your surrounding to sustain your body, right?" For some reason, the woman had been perfectly fine at sustaining herself, which puzzled Niijima greatly, who couldn't begin to fathom how that could have happened in the first place.
"One or two more days won't hurt. I'm sure your captain should arrive soon." She shrugged. "Point is, I'm not draining anyone right now, so it's alright."
"How the hell are you doing that anyway?" Niijima grumbled and ran a hand over his hair in an attempt to hide his frustration. Conversing with the ghost had been more trouble than it worth. Her tomboy personality, plus her stubbornness was extremely annoying to deal with.
She shrugged again. "No idea."
"I'm sorry, but I will need you to move on. The Living World is not where the dead should be." Niijima said, all trace of leniency gone from his voice. Even if he was sympathetic of Belle-mere, staying in the world of Living as a ghost was harmful to both the living and the ghost herself.
Sensing the hostility in his voice, Belle-mere prepared to confront the man once more before something interrupted them.
A loud crash had both of their head snapped toward the source of the sound. Niijima immediately grew uneasy by the way the bird had stopped chirping.
"Don't think I have forgotten this, Belle-mere-san," He gave her a warning and rushed back to Nami's house.
Growing equally concern for her daughter, Belle-mere, too, followed swiftly after his footstep. Spotting Nojiko, Niijima hollered. "Nojiko-san, what happened!?" His eyes trailed over to the flipped house, which had it roof buried deep into the ground, and arrived at an unpleasant conclusion.
"Where's Usopp-kun?" He said, eyes never left the broken house.
"Great, Niijima-san, you're here! Hurry, you need to get your friend out of here!" She said and explained everything to him. "Arlong's searching for him!"
From what he heard, Usopp had foolishly fired at Arlong in order to save Gen, who appeared to the be the man with a pinwheel on his hat. While Niijima disapproved of the way Usopp so blatantly drew attention to himself, he could not help but give the boy some credit for his bravery.
His plan was a sound one—to draw attention away from the priority target. However, the sharpshooter's execution of said plan left much to be desired. He clearly knew that these fishmen was dangerous to confront directly. What he should have done was to discretely create a distraction.
Sighing, Niijima asked, "Which way did he go?"
Nojiko hesitated since she didn't want to give him a wrong answer. When Arlong flipped over the house, she had lost sight of the long-nosed boy. Giving Niijima the wrong direction now would just hinder the man even more. "I'm not sure." She frowned. "Sorry."
"Don't be. It was not your fault." Niijima acknowledged the information and nodded. Hand reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a stack of talisman, an act that drew curiosity from both Belle-mere and Nojiko.
"What are you doing?" The blue-haired teen couldn't help but ask when Niijima placed the stack in his palm. On closer look, they appeared to be humanoid-shape, looking like paper doll instead.
Ignoring her, Niijima muttered a soft incantation and Nojiko watched in amazement as the talisman began to hover away from the stack. One by one, they peeled away from the center of his hand, morphing into swallow as it did so.
"Find Usopp." Niijima commanded when the last piece of talisman had left his hand. The swallows gave a few chirps of affirmation and flew away, no doubt, searching for the target.
In all her life as a former Marine, Belle-mere had never seen something like this before. At first, she thought it was the power of a devil fruit, but the more she observed the man, the more confused she become. As a whole, Devil Fruit only granted the user one core power. Niijima's ability was too diverse for it to be the work of Devil Fruit.
She couldn't help it but voiced her question, "What are you?" Placing heavy emphasis on the words.
If Nojiko wasn't here, Niijima would have responded to that question. He did not appreciate being questioned like he was not human.
"How are you doing that?" Nojiko asked.
"Trade secret." Niijima responded, hinting that she shouldn't ask anymore question. Tuning her out, he focus on the various feedback he was receiving from his Shikigami. He would need to act quickly. Knowing Usopp's strength, the boy would not survive against the fishmen!
It didn't take long to find him running into the curtains of foliage, seeking shelter from his pursuer. Unfortunately, his pursuer was hot on his heels. Through the Shikigami's vision, Niijima was above to discern the person going after him was a fishman with an elongated mouth and plump lips. Just as he was wondering about the unusual face composition, his unasked question was answered when said fishman inhaled and spat a mouthful of spit at Usopp.
He watched, fascinated by the projectile that sailed across the air like bullet. Fortunately, it missed but Niijima knew that that was not the end of it. Immediately cutting off the connection to the other Shikigami, he recalled them as he actively headed toward the direction of his crew mate.
"W-wait! Where are you going?" Nojiko asked.
He didn't bother gracing her with an answer. At the moment, Usopp's safety took priority over everything else. Multitasking, he told the swallow to guide the boy toward safer place while at the same time, gravitating closer and closer to him.
- o – o – o – o -
Usopp was running for his dear life, breaking branches and leaves along the way. He didn't care that he was scratched all over because he knew, this was the more prefer outcome than the alternative. A sudden explosion caught his attention and he stole a glance at his pursuer.
His eyes widen comically and his mouth fell open when he noticed the fishman was shooting water bullet at him—from his mouth…
"What the hell!? That's not fair!" He screamed and ran faster for his dear life.
From the corner of his eyes, he saw something white creeping up to him. At first, he thought it was a new attack, but he shrieked when it was not what he was expecting. A white swallow was flying next to him!
"Go away you stupid bird! I'm trying to run away here!" He shooed the bird away, only to received an indignant peck from it.
Suddenly, it swerved and nipped at at Usopp's shirt. Flapping it wings, it pulled Usopp to the right, surprising him greatly. He didn't understand how a small bird could have so much strength as to pull him! However, he wasn't given a chance to ponder that question when a water bullet sailed past him where he was formerly.
"T-Thanks bird," He murmured weakly and continued to run.
However, the bird seemed to have another idea as it pulled him further and further to the right, as if it wanted him to head right. Catching on, Usopp allowed the bird to guide him. He figured, since it helped him earlier, this bird was something he could at least trust.
"It's no use running away, human."
From behind him, he could hear the way the fishman mocked as a series of water bullet sailed through his way. A quick jump to the side allowed him to dodge them. They continued like that for a little while longer.
If one were to ask Usopp, what were three things he was good at? He would respond: lying, running, and shooting; in no particular order. Even if he was confident with his running away skill, it had been a while since he sprinted. Unfortunately, Usopp-kun was only a human and there was no way an ordinary human like him could hope to out run a fishman. With their superior strength and stamina, it was a given that eventually, they would catch up to Usopp.
Panting, he gasped for air as his pace slowed. He had hoped, that he would have lost the fishman by now. Mustering up his courage, he stole a glance behind him and felt his hope shattered as a water bullet headed straight for him. In his mind, he thought that was the end of him when suddenly, the bird that had been accompanying him flew into the way and took the brunt of the attack.
"No! Little bird!" He cried in anguish. The little companion was dead because of his carelessness.
Instead of exploding into a cloud of gore and blood, what greeted him was a shower of paper shredding. Yet strangely, there appeared to be some sort of elasticity to them, as if they were made out of plastic.
Regardless, the spectacle was enough to put both his pursuer and himself into a brief halt, wondering what it was that they have just seen. Then, suddenly, Usopp remembered.
He mentally slapped himself for his shortsightedness. How could he have forgotten Niijima's power!? The man had shown him he was capable of morphing a paper doll into a swallow back when they were traveling. He should have made the connection earlier.
Recovering faster than his opponent, he pulled out his signature slingshot. "Hissatsu: Lead Star!"
His opponent was not one to dawdle when an attack was coming. Strangely enough, the fishman stood his ground, as if he wanted to mock Usopp by letting the lead ball hit him. If anything, from his action, it could be said that the lead ball was more of a nuisance rather than something he should be concerned with.
"Is that all, boy?" The fishman taunted. "Let me show you what a bullet should—hey! Get back here!"
"Fool! As if I would stick around," Usopp murmured to himself.
Typical of Usopp, the master of hit-and-run, the boy was already making his getaway dash the moment he saw that the lead ball had dealt no damage. He didn't want a repeat of the previous scenario, if he could help it. With the bird gone, he wasn't sure if he would be so lucky this time.
"Now you are just asking for it!" Even without turning around, Usopp knew something dangerous was about to come his way.
He pushed himself even more just as he heard his opponent announced his attack.
"Water-Gun!"
Usopp was given just a few second to dive away when a torrent of water bullet completely destroyed the tree barks and the surrounding ground.
Shrieking, Usopp quickly jumped back up and ran away with renewed energy. Diving behind a tree, he took shelter from the relentless attack. Just as he thought the worse was over, he heard the dreadful announcement of the next attack.
"Water Canon!"
A ball of water, around the size of a medium-sized hot air balloon was launched his way. It crashed against the tree and for a moment all Usopp could hear was the sound of water grinding against the wooden bark. He could hear his heart beat beating faster as each seconds roll by.
In this situation, he asked himself. For what reason did he set out? It was for the adventurer, to be the brave warrior of the sea. He decided. Was hiding behind a tree like this all he was willing to do?
He remembered the resolve he had seen back at the Baratie. Zoro had been willing to face Death just to pursue his dream of being the World Greatest Swordsman. He questioned himself, if he had the willpower to fight through and decided, yes he did.
Even if he was not as physically strong as Luffy or Zoro, his dream of being the Brave Warrior of the Sea is worth pursuing for! Stilling his resolve, he decided, he would fight his opponent, Usopp's style. He may not be strong, but what he lacked, he made it up with cunning. His hand went into his bag and it touched something. Suddenly, a plan began to form in his head.
At the same time, everything had suddenly became too quiet. Something told him that he needed to get away now! Wasting no time, he followed his instinct and moved away from the tree. Just in time to witness the frightening sight of the fishmen literally ripping the tree trunk in half!
"Found you." He smirked and hoisted the trunk above his head.
Acting quickly, Usopp threw the item he was holding at the enemy, watching it in satisfaction as it exploded, soaking the enemy with its content. However, at the same time, his opponent threw the trunk at Usopp, who could only watch in horror as it come closer and closer to him. He shut his eyes and braced for impact and in his moment of fear, he thought he heard Niijima's voice.
"Usopp-kun! Are you alright?"
Wait, he hadn't imagined it. That was indeed Niijima's voice. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was surrounded by several swallows, forming a support against the tree that would have crushed him. Quickly, he scrambled to his feet and rushed to stand next to Niijima, who moved to stand protectively in front of him.
"Who are you?" The fishman asked, cautious of the sudden newcomer.
"No one important." Niijima said and swiped his hand horizontally. Acting like puppet being controlled by strings, the swallows dispersed and sped toward the fishman like dart to a target, pointing at him with their beaks. Folding their wings to their sides, their shaped just made it that much more aerodynamics.
Displaying a skill he hadn't shown before, the fishman adopted a stance similar to Karate. With a few swipes of his hand, he completely destroyed the incoming birds, turning them back into paper.
Just as Niijima was about to follow up with another attack, Usopp acted.
"Hissatsu: Fire Star!"
Announcing his attack, Usopp launched an exploding pellet at the distracted fishman. Coming into contact with him, the explosion quickly ignited the liquor on the soaked shirt and body, setting his whole body on fire. Panicked, the fishmen hurried back toward the source of water nearby to douse the fire. However, Usopp was not about to let that happened. Brandishing his trusty hammer, he literally flew toward the retreating fishman and smacked the hammer against the opponent's head.
Off to the side, Niijima could only watch in amusement at Usopp's ingenuity. He couldn't help but shake his head when Usopp relentlessly hammered strike after strike at the poor fishman's head. Although, he supposed, with strength and resistant like those of fishmen, this level of attack was justified.
Originally, he hadn't expected Usopp would be able to defeat his opponent like that. Granted, Niijima did serve as a distraction, but the fishman was already somewhat exhausted from having to chase Usopp around non-stop. Niijima must give credit where it was due, of course.
When the opponent was down for good, Niijima approached Usopp and gave him a pat on the back. "Good job."
Giving a nervous laugh, Usopp looked as if he couldn't believe he just did it! He had defeated a fishman! Hearing Niijima's praise just ascertain that he too, could do it, if he wanted to! Acting out of habit, he immediately switched back to his usual self and said, "A-h-hahaha, as expected of Captain Usopp, of course."
Before they could even take a break, however, the nearby foliage rustled with the footsteps of incoming danger. From the way they stomped on the ground, it did not sounded like the footstep of human. Frowning, Niijima immediately pulled Usopp back and find a place to hide. Injured as he was, he didn't think he would be able to fight to the best of his ability in this situation. Being surrounded now would be a very bad scenario for them. With no choice, he could only wait and see and prepared for the worse.
At the same time, a certain swordsman and two pirate hunters were approaching a particular landmark on the island. More specifically, they were making their ways toward Arlong Park…
- o – o – o – o -
To be continued...