Author's note:
People are so damn nice, I had people that agreed to help and they are awesome.
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The chapter was beta'd by Mercyless and Gerbilfrind who helped me a lot with grammar (AGHH) and gave me a great feedback while writing and made this chapter more presentable. XD all my love and respect (deep bow).
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Warnings:
English is my fourth language. Warning may change in the future.
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Thank you all for showing me how much you appreciate my writing and this Fic. It really warmed my heart and gave me inspiration to continue on writing. THANK YOU, seriously.
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I have a lot of plot bunnies for this Fic, I am not sure which I will chose.
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To all of you who reviewed, then I would like to say: Thank you. Your response motivated me to write! Here is the next chapter ;)
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Hope you enjoy,
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See notes at the END.
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"Any news?"
"No, McGuy and Whitey Bay said there were no traces of them in any of the islands they visited. I think we are on the best trail to find the two brats but it's just a hunch, they should still be at the beginning of Paradise."
"Hmmmm."
"So what do you think about all of this?"
A.O, captain of the A.O Pirates and a Whitebeard ally, shrugged. "Pops requested our help in finding them."
"Yeah, you know that they apparently are Fire Fist's siblings," Dustin, his first mate, continued not bothered with his captain indifferent attitude because he was used to it.
"Thatch mentioned that one time, or maybe hundred times," A.O replied.
Dustin laughed. "He seemed quite excited that Fire First finally joined pops, took him 100 days, according to Thatch."
"Izo seemed to like him too," he added, after a long pause.
A.O sighed. Being in Paradise always grated on his nerves for some reason, and they been here for five days, with no idea of when they would be able to go back home, to the New World.
"I don't really care. Pops asked to find them, so we are gonna find them," A.O finally said.
"You're right. Pops doesn't usually ask things from us," Dustin agreed.
"Exactly!" A.O intoned.
Chao, a new recruit, came running and stopped abruptly in front of them. He froze, opening his mouth. Nothing came out.
A.O tried to gather his own fraying patience, plastering a smile on his face. "Chao-chan, what is it?"
No reaction whatsoever. Chao seemed dazed, looking into space.
His first mate coughed, trying to hide a snort.
Apparently, that was the nudge needed to wake up the scared pirate. "Ammm, captain Doma called. They found them," he said in low voice.
"They did! We can go home!" Dustin cheered immediately.
"No, no," Chao shrieked, shaking his head. "No, sorry," his voice trembled as he held his hands in front of him looking quite frightened.
"I meant they know where to find them."
"Where?" A.O asked sharply.
"The island south-west from here, according to what Gari said. We are the closest to it supposedly," he babbled.
A.O took a long breath. "Thank you, Chao-chan. Tell Gari-chan to bring his ass here with the Den Den Mushi."
Chao stayed frozen in his place.
"You can go," A.O repeated evenly.
It seemed that it was all the encouragement Chao needed. He stumbled, running out the same way he came from.
"Poor guy," Dustin snorted. "You know, A.O, smiling doesn't make you look less like a shark. It is the opposite."
A.O moaned. "I'm trying." Having new recruits was always tiresome. Maybe he shouldn't let Dustin recruit at all, he seemed to always pick the ones scared shitless of him.
Dustin laughed. "The chan doesn't help either."
"Should I stop using chan?" A.O asked, in a serious tone. He only used it with people he liked and tried to show acceptances to, just like pops used 'cheeky brat.'
Dustin burst laughing at the misery of his captain. "No, no, heavens no," he said between breaths of laughter. "Do you want the poor guy to think he did something wrong?"
His captain seemed to become even more miserable. Finally taking pity on his captain, Dustin said, "Don't worry, it will take time for him to realize that our feared captain is truly a gooey little fluffy puppy."
A.O growled at him, so Dustin amended his description, "A gooey puppy shark."
A.O shook his head. "Go look at which island is closer. And if we have an Eternal Pose to the islands in this area."
"Roger that captain," he saluted jokingly, and went to the navigation room.
Gari came a minute later. "What did you do to scare poor Chao out of his wits this time?" he asked accusingly.
"According to Dustin-chan, I smiled and called him Chao-chan," the dejected captain answered.
Gari chuckled. "You were your charming self." Then he added, "Don't worry, he will get used to you."
"…." A.O looked at him unbelievingly, choosing his silence as an answer to this notion.
"Eventually," Gari added.
"That what Dustin-chan said too," A.O intoned.
Gari snorted. "Anyway, I assume you want to speak with captain Doma, and see about what they found."
"Yeah, I sent Dustin-chan to the navigation room. Go there, change course according to what Doma-chan told you."
"Aye, aye, captain." Gari put the Den Den Mushi in his hand, and off he was to the navigation room.
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Clank.
"A.O?"
"Hey Doma. Yeah, it's me."
"Thought you would call."
"So you missed them?"
"Something like that," the Den Den Mushi showed Doma grimacing.
"You don't sound so sure. I told them to change course to the island..."
Doma cut him off, "No, no, definitely them. The island residents identified them from their wanted posters, but…"
A.O waited.
"Well, you know this island is strange," Doma finally said.
A.O snorted. "Which island in these seas isn't," especially in the New World, compared to some of the New World the islands of Paradise were playtoys, like Paradise was training wheels for a ship before the New World.
"Yeah, but this island has those fanatics."
"You are on Goddess Island! Wait, are you still there?" came the exclamation from A.O.
That one island he never wanted to go back there to ever. The residents there were unpleasant at best.
"Yeah, they are throwing a party in our honor."
"A party! Doma, are you alright? They didn't give you any weird food, did they? Maybe mushrooms? We will come to get you, shit…"
Doma cut his panic, laughing. "No, no, I am alright. Don't worry. It's just that the residents of this island changed. I am not sure if it's for the better or the worse, but it's definitely weird."
He continued, "I wanted to tell you some of the things we heard here." Doma stopped, seemingly looking for the right words.
He finally said, "Well… Apparently goddess Marcy and god Luffy fell out of the sky, literally, to bless this island," Doma deadpanned.
It took several seconds for A.O exclamation to come this time, "What the...? Doma, you are not okay, don't worry! Dustin, dammit, where are you? We will come to get you Doma, don't worry..." A.O trailed off.
Half-way through A.O speech induced panic, Doma began laughing uncontrollably. The Den Den Mushi wasn't able to handle his face changing so fast. The Den Den Mushi looked like it was choking in its own spit.
"Shit, A.O, sorry. I wanted to see how that sounded..." he said, torn between laughter and a half-assed apology.
"What the hell?" A.O was not amused. He usually liked Doma's humor. They bantered a lot when they partied together in the Moby Dick, but he really wasn't in the mood.
Apparently his mood was reflected in the Den Den Mushi.
"Sorry, sorry… but seriously that's what the residents said when we showed them the wanted posters. They actually asked for some, no. They begged us for some posters, so that they can frame them. No, A.O, I am not kidding. The Den Den Mushi doesn't look attractive with its mouth open."
"Explain please, because I am still not buying that you're not high on some mushrooms," A.O demanded.
"It's just as I told you. The two of them fell out of the sky on the statue of the goddess in the middle of ceremony, destroying it. God Luffy then ate all the food they prepared for the ceremonial feast. According to them, the food was supposed to feed all the residents twice over, almost two hundred people. And he was complaining that there wasn't enough meat," Doma answered, humor still filling his voice.
"You believe this?" A.O couldn't help but ask.
"I am just telling you what I heard. Now stop interrupting me," Doma answered, still amused.
"I am not sure that you are sane," A.O said, shaking his head.
"Well, that makes two of us, now shut up and listen."
"The residents weren't impressed with this and captured them," Doma continued. After a pause he added, "That of course before they knew that those were their beloved gods."
A.O snorted.
"They just decided to sacrifice them and ask forgiveness from the goddess, not knowing that they were their cherished gods in human flesh…"
A.O cut him off, "I get your point Doma, seriously stop!"
Doma whined, "But that is how the residents told the story, stop ruining my fun."
"I am not sure that I believe you," A.O grunted.
"What? About what the brats did according to the residents, or the fact that I am not high on some mushroom."
"Both," was the instant reply.
Doma laughed. "I am not sure if I would believe anything I said if I were in your shoes, but really! That's what they said, and I am actually shortening everything and making it clearer."
"Clearer? Huh. Do continue please," A.O sighed in defeat.
Doma snickered. "So they were about to sacrifice them. But then a ship of pirates attacked the island, and the two destroyed the ship and saved them."
"Weren't they just shackled and about to be sacrificed?"
"Yes," came Doma's deadpan answer.
"…Never mind," A.O really didn't care, he just wanted him to finish already.
"I am telling you what they told me, A.O," came the amused answer.
"Yes. Continue please, telling me about the miracles that the goddess and god performed."
"That's the spirit, A.O," Doma answered cheerily. He reminded him of Thatch with this tone of voice.
"They beat up the whole crew. According to them, god Luffy inflated and protected them from the cannon balls."
"…"
"…"
"Yes?" A.O said when the silence continued.
"I thought for sure you would have a joke about this."
"I am waiting for the punch line," A.O deadpanned.
Doma laughed then his voice get serious, "No, truly. I swear to you on pops' life. I am telling you what they told us. Nothing more, nothing less."
Doma paused, then he corrected himself, mirth obvious in his voice, "Actually, scratch that, I am telling you way less. Every time they say one of the god's name, they go on and on about how generous, courageous and beautiful they are. If we're lucky it only takes ten minutes."
"Fine, continue with the tale that the residents told you."
"So the brat inflated, which explains why he needed to eat so much. The god needed his strength to perform such feast," Doma was choking in his own laughter, but he continued.
"The gods then ran from them. They were angry at them, of course. So the residents followed them to ask for forgiveness. Then an earthquake happened due to the anger of the gods. The whole mountain shook until gold came pouring out of the sides of it."
"Seriously?"
"Actually, we saw some of the gold. They were melting it to build statues to show their appreciation of the newfound gods."
"And you ask why I can't take you seriously."
"I can call Jack or Ishilly if you want then you can ask them… well maybe not Jack, he's wasted," Doma amended.
"Wasted?"
"Didn't I tell you? They are having a feast in our honor, basically, to try to convert us to their religion."
"I thought you were kidding."
"Nope. Anyway, the gods needed to leave to spread the word of their fabulous religion."
"Which is?" A.O couldn't help but ask he had gotten a little bit curious.
Doma began listing in solemn voice, "You have to eat a lot of meat. Only sometimes you can share it. Never make others do something they don't want to. Don't eat tomatoes, it's better if you don't say the word at all. Pirates with red hair are nice. Do a nice thing every day. Slavers are evil and you should beat them up, also stuck-up nobles should be beaten up. Be nice to different species. Meat is the best, when someone is speaking to you you should listen carefully, or at least nod your head regularly."
Doma paused for second and continued with the same voice, "Don't be mean to fish people and mermaids, you can only be mean if they are mean to you first. Bandits are bad, but not all of them. Eat together. Don't eat dolphins. Dresses are evil, you should burn them. There was something about king of the pirates, freedom… Hmmmm, they have a book, I think Ishilly took a copy if you are interested."
"You were actually able to listen to all of this in straight face?" A.O asked, baffled. What the hell kind of religion is this, (he still wasn't sure if Doma wasn't playing some kind elaborated prank on him), there are so many contradictions and randomness. Dresses are evil, meat is the best, who even comes up with stuff like that!.
"I think I was in daze when they actually gave us food and smiled at us."
Silence filled the air. A.O was trying to make sense of what he heard. Was there any sense in trying to make sense of things that made no sense? His head was aching.
"The ship that the residents gave them, had engraving of moon and sun in the sides. The ship is painted red and the sails blue, at their request. They left two days ago heading to the island south-west from your position, the residents gave them a Log pose to use," Doma said after a while.
"Do you believe all shit that you just said?" A.O snapped, his head was spinning.
"Nope," came the immediate answer. Doma laughed, in high spirit. "But according to Thatch, they are troublemakers, and they both have high bounties, well for the East blue anyway. The boy is 20 million Beli, and the girl is 15 million Beli."
He paused and added, "Don't know what happened here, but it doesn't matter. You can ask them when you find them."
"I guess." A.O sighed, admitting defeat to his aching head and reaching up with a hand to rub it.
"I will call the others to let them know so they can focus on finding the kidnapped mermaids, and we will head to the next island close to you just in case... after the party ends and the crew sober up," Doma added.
"You will call pops to tell him?" Maybe he already had.
"Of course, you think I would miss the opportunity of telling Haruta and Thatch this story?"
"Yeah, that would be fun, wish I could be a fly on the wall when you tell them." Thinking about Thatch and Haruta's reactions made his spirits rise a little bit.
"What about other measures?" he demanded.
"The sea here is getting to you," Doma noted.
"Don't want to stay more than I need to."
"Agreed. Whitey Bay left some of her men to in Sabaody, just in case."
"Smart," A.O approved.
"Karma and Namur are on their way to Fishman Island. So if by any chance we missed them, they are there. And of course to be additional safety measure to stop anymore kidnapping from happening, or until they figure out how the kidnapping happened in the first place."
"Isn't their king a friend of pops? Shouldn't he tell the king about the brats?" asked A.O, still rubbing his aching head.
"Yeah, but pops doesn't want to draw too much attention to the brats, and telling the king mean telling his advisors and the guards."
"I see, what about Jinbe?"
"Don't know. Pops may have already told him, or maybe not. Jinbe does have a lot on his mind with the kidnapped mermaids," Doma answered.
"He still in the New world?"
"He was last time I checked."
"I still can't understand what he is doing there looking for them?"
"Apparently those kidnappers were smart and tricked the residents into thinking that they fled to the New World." A.O could hear the shrug in Doma's voice.
A.O sighed. The whole situation was a big huge mess.
"I already told Dustin-chan to change course, so hopefully we will find them soon, and if we found those kidnapped mermaids soon as well. Maybe we will be in our way back to the New World by the end of this week."
"Amen to that." Doma laughed. "Staying here is affecting me too apparently."
"Take care of yourself, I don't want to hear that you became some kind of fanatic preacher."
Doma laughed at the image. "Keep us updated."
Clank.
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A.O slumped on the side of the ship, he put the Den Den Mushi in his pocket and pulled out the wrinkled wanted posters, trying (and failing) not to think too much about the bizarre conversation that he just had about the 'stars' of those wanted posters.
A boy with a big smile and scar with two stitches underneath his left eye, looked right back at him. He had black hair with straw hat in his head, under the picture was written Monkey D. Luffy, wanted dead or alive, 20 million Beli. He looked young, according to Thatch he was fifteen.
The other wanted poster had a girl with dark red hair tied in ponytail with a purple bandana, green eyes, and a look of utter disdain in her face. Marcy, wanted dead or alive 15 million Beli. She was sixteen.
He groaned and shook his aching head.
It was just two little brats, how hard could it be.
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…
Achoooo, Marcy sneezed at the man standing beside her, he scowled at her, she apologized and then scowled right back at his turned back.
She hoped she wasn't getting sick.
"Because that exactly what I need right now," she muttered under her breath. Getting sick on top of everything. It was more than enough that her back was still hurting her, she needed to find a doctor in this island to look at the new burns. Marcy grimaced at the thought of trying to track down a good doctor.
But now to more important matters, "do you have any newspapers sir?" It never hurt to be a little polite.
"No, little miss. You can ask the bar on the other side, they usually have them."
She tried not to scowl at him, little, being 165 cm in height didn't mean she was short, and anyway being short doesn't mean they have the right to call her little. She thanked him with a forced smile.
She was being snappy and rude, letting everything get to her, she should get hold of herself. God, she groaned. She was so tired, she couldn't remember the last time she had time to relax, to breathe.
She was a pirate now.
A pirate.
A wanted pirate, and not to forget that shitty Gramps, Garp, was still looking for them. This whole mess was his fault! She wanted to rage at him and curse him to the hell and back.
Marcy took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down, trying to use the meditation technique that Makino taught her. It wasn't Garp fault, not completely, but he definitely played a big role.
Another deep breath, inhale, wait and exhale, repeat.
She exhaled and bitterly repeated her first thought, she was a pirate now.
Not that she hated pirates.
Her older brother was one. Her adorable younger brother wanted to be their king. She intend to become one in the far future, at least another year away. Now her plans were gone with the wind.
Inhale, wait and exhale, repeat.
She didn't have time to rage and curse.
She needed to find the damn newspaper, and see if Ace get their message, it was the only good thing that could come of getting those blasted wanted posters.
Now wasn't the time for self-pity and doubts. She couldn't change what happened, only learn from it, she repeated this mantra to herself, for the thousandth time since the beginning of this journey. She had to be strong for herself and Luffy, she would have plenty of time to think and ponder about all of this when they were safe, when they found Ace.
If Ace saw these wanted posters, as they hoped he would, he would probably go crazy with anger and worry, and do something stupid, she hoped his crew, the Spades, was able to handle him (if they agreed to join his crew, the morons, than they should be responsible for handling their captain crazy behaviour. Really!). Hopefully, if the stupid something he did was big enough (newsworthy), then they would finally find out where the heck he was.
What they were able to find so far from the newspapers and from asking around in bars (basically she was the one to ask because having Luffy saying "isn't our big brother awesome", wasn't the smartest move) about Fire Fist Ace (Cool name, Luffy had actual stars in his eyes when he heard it and was trying to find a cool one for himself ever since then with arguable success, e.g. Rubber Fist Luffy!, Rubber loopey like snake, Fire Monkey, Meaty God!) that he was most probably in the New World, where exactly? Nobody knew.
His news disappeared for a while now. Some rumors said that he challenged Whitebeard, the strongest man in the world, and was killed by him.
She wanted to say that no, Ace, wasn't that kind of stupid, let's say like Luffy, who would go and pick a fight with the strongest man in the world, but who was she kidding, Ace could be stupid and stubborn to a higher degree than Luffy, way moreeeeee.
God help Whitebeard, if he really did hurt (killed, she didn't like this word. AT ALL) Ace.
Strongest man in the world her ass, if he really did hurt her brother, her family. She was gonna give him a *ucking big piece of her mind, and unleash Luffy at him. The hell with any consequences. (She kept that news to herself for now, no need to have Luffy riled up on revenge mission just yet).
Speaking of Luffy, she ought to hurry back to him. Who knew what kind of trouble he gotten into while she was here looking for a damn newspaper. Not even counting the fact, that she couldn't get newspaper the normal way because of him. Marcy was pretty sure that they were the only people in the world to ever be banned by the News Coo seagulls.
Before leaving him alone to eat in the restaurant and making him promise several times to stay out of any trouble, she took the owner aside, a nice old lady, and she gave her a hefty sum of gold before questioning her about the island they were on.
No marines, pirates, slavers, merpeople, bandits, gangs, big animals, any volcanos or any risk of disaster in the history of this island. In the end the old woman was looking at her like she had three heads and long pointy tail ( that she was using to try to strangle her!).
Not that any of it mattered, what mattered was that this place was as ordinary, peaceful and boring island as it got. Of course that doesn't stop Luffy from finding trouble (trouble followed him like he followed the smell of roasted meat miles away when he was hung.., no, always). He, of course, would called it an adventure.He called everything an adventure these days, she had begun to hate that word and whenever Luffy uttered the word her body instinctively begin to tremble with dread.
She opened the door of the bar and get in, and went straight to the counter.
"Excuse me sir, do you happen to have any newspaper?"
"I think Tom just took the last one, sorry miss."
"Ohhh," Dammit, this the fourth place she asked, it was only a stupid newspaper.
"Well, thank you," she turned to leave when the door suddenly opened, three old men coming in.
"Wait, miss!" The man behind the counter called.
"Tom, do you still have the newspaper?"
Marcy's ears perked hearing this, she plastered a sweet, shy smile on her face.
"No, I gave it to Madlan, there was some new recipe there she wanted to try," answered Tom while stroking his moustache.
She somehow maintained the smile, while cursing inwardly, Ohh, damn. Lady luck wasn't smiling on them either today, not that she was smiling to begin with. They wouldn't be here in this adventure if she was. She actually missed Dadan and the bandits, she thought, mentally sulking.
Was asking for small, tiny, favors (mercies!) too much?
"I have one in my bag," said the one to his left, an older man with a scraggly brown beard and glasses.
"Dennis, the little miss here is asking for one, if you don't mind."
Marcy made herself ignore the anger caused by hearing little miss, instead she embraced it and made herself look small and pathetic, clutching her hands in front of her, still smiling shyly.
"Of course," he said, and took it out of his bag, "Here you go, miss."
"Thank you sir." Finally, hallelujah.
"Would you like me to pay for it?" be polite she reminded herself.
"No, no. You're quite the polite one."
Yes, I am trying thought Marcy cynically, maintaining the smile.
"Maybe the Sharmen children should learn from her," said the third man, who was now sitting by the counter nursing a drink.
"What did the troublemakers do now?" asked the barman in resigned voice.
"Actually, Just now we saw them fighting another guy," said Tom, shaking his head in disapproval.
"A child was fighting. Spunky kid was standing up to them," Dennis added, approval coloring his voice.
Shit.
"Excuse me," Marcy tried to keep her smile and the tone of her voice pleasant.
"The spunky kid, he didn't happen to be wearing red shirt and a straw hat on his head?"
Please, please say no.
"Yeah, he was wearing a red shirt, but no straw hat," answered the third man.
Tom added, "Now, that I think about it, the youngest of the Sharmens had a straw hat in his hand, ….. hmmm, it had a red ribbon."
Ahhhh, deep breath, inhale wait and exhale, rep... Forget it…
Dammit..
"Thank you for the newspaper, have a good day," she uttered hurriedly.
She clutched the newspaper and sprinted out of the bar running back to where she left Luffy, not hearing any of their wishes or goodbyes, hoping that this would not develop into large scale chaos again.
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So we finally meet Marcy. First impression anyone? What do you think of Marcy? Your thoughts about what's going on?
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I am still working on the Fic that I promised, not sure when it will be ready, but I am quite excited about it.
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I posted the fifth chapter of AaC, and working on the sixth.
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Please, pretty please with Pizza and chicken wings (Yummy, can't eat them cause I am sick :( ..) on top, review.
I need some cheering up ^^