BROTHER ON BOARD
pipi96 - They are heroes. And in this version of the story I'm going to have Quartermaster Sabo working to ensure that his crew has some positive press following their various good deeds.
MADMatt6 - This site doesn't like all those dots in your new penname. I took your advice and took some extra time to plan out what I was going to do with incorporating Sabo into the story. I'm pleased with what I have. Spoiler alert, but you're right, further down the line, Sabo is going to fight Wapol in Luffy's place. That's one of Luffy's throwaway battles but to Sabo it will mean a lot more. Not just because it's an arrogant King that's just like a Celestial Dragon but because his character will go through a HUGE change over the course of a battle.
dhampire712 - With Sabo on board, things aren't going to play out that same way that they did before. That starts in this chapter with Nami and Buggy. Quartermaster and First Mate are more or less the same thing. Quartermaster is a more traditional pirate term and I decided to go with that one instead of First Mate. Zoro will have an official position... just as soon as Sabo figures out what that is.
Johnny Spectre - Don't hold your breath waiting for Koala. The only way I can think of her showing up early is by having her visit Loguetown with Dragon. Sabo will meet the revolutionaries eventually but it won't be for a long, long, long, long, LONG time.
LittlemissTrafalgar - As I said above, Koala will show up but not until much later in the story. For now, Sabo's going to get used to working with the other Straw Hats and his official partner in crime is going to be his rifle/girlfriend Bonnie Anne.
Mikila94 - Sabo's presence is going to really shake things up. In this chapter, I really messed around with the canon storyline. I'm starting out slowly but the changes are going to get bigger as the story goes on.
QPython - Thanks for the review! Your story was one of the major inspirations for mine. I hope you don't mind that I kind of stole your sound-effects bit. Zoro's going to have an official position but it will take a while for the Straw Hats to decide what that is exactly.
Nice to find another Pirate101 player! If you ever feel like revisiting the spiral to see what's changed, I'm always happy to lend a hand to make the game easier. The frog is Fan Flanders. She's a new companion that they recently added to the game. You meet her and the other companions like her the first time you meet your Class Trainer. She has the same stats as the companion you meet in the Kraken's Skull (Sarah Steel for Swashbucklers) but is faster and has different abilities.
Zaralann - Thanks!
Nami-
Luffy, Sabo and their newest recruit 'Pirate Hunter' Roronoa Zoro sailed across the peaceful waters of the East Blue. They'd left Shells Town behind and were on their way to the next island.
"Alright… so you're clearly not navigator material," Sabo noted as he sat in the back of the boat and stared across at Zoro. Luffy had actually joined down in the bottom of the boat after a close call where the rubber pirate had almost lost his treasured Straw Hat. "Besides swinging your swords, is there anything else that you can do? I'm not gonna have you sitting around doing nothing like a freeloader this whole trip."
"What do you do?" Zoro asked in return. "I could probably do it better."
"Sabo's First Mate," Luffy stated.
"Quartermaster," Sabo corrected. "My job is basically reigning in Luffy and negotiating with other crews. I've got nearly ten years' experience doing that already. You couldn't do my job."
"Oh, Zoro, can you cook?" Luffy blurted out.
"Not well," Zoro said, "I usually buy my food from local taverns. That way I can get booze too."
"Dang, I was getting hungry," Luffy grumbled.
"I'm starting to get hungry too," Sabo admitted.
Zoro's stomach growled which told everyone that he was hungry too.
Luffy looked up and saw something flying overhead, "A bird… LET'S EAT IT!"
"Huh? How?" Zoro asked.
"Leave it to me!" Luffy replied as he quickly climbed up onto the sail.
"Wait, Luffy, hold on!" Sabo cut him off. "We're on a tiny boat surrounded by a ton of water. If you go flying up there who knows if you'll actually land in it again."
"Then what should we do?" Luffy asked as he sat back down on the sail, "I'm hungry."
KER-CHOW!
Sabo fired his rifle up into the air and smirked when his bullet struck the bird.
Sabo turned and grinned tauntingly at Zoro, "Score one for the gun-nut."
The bird fell out of the sky and started to drop towards the boat. The sun shined down from overhead and caused the falling bird's shadow to grow as it got closer.
"That's a big bird," Luffy realized as he kept his gave locked in the air.
Sabo and Zoro stared down at the deck and watched as the bird's shadow grew from the size of a seagull to the size of turkey… to the size of a winged horse… to the side of the ship.
"THAT BIRD'S BIGGER THAN OUR SHIP!" Zoro realized.
"OH CRAP!" Sabo yelped, "If it falls on us, we'll be sunk!"
Zoro acted quickly and grabbed his white sword then launched himself up out of the boat towards the top of the sail and slashed his sword at the incoming bird.
SLISH!
The huge bird was cleaved in two. The two halves of the bird dropped down on to the water on opposite sides of the ship.
SPLA-SPLASH!
Zoro landed on the deck and grinned at Sabo, "Score one for the swordsman."
"Yeah well… we've still gotta pull it in here and pluck the feathers," Sabo pointed out. "Then I've gotta figure out how we're gonna cook it."
"I still think I could've caught it," Luffy said as he climbed down from the sail.
"Do you see the size of this thing?" Sabo asked as he pointed at the two halves of the huge bird. "It would've caught you then who knows what would've happened."
A few hours travel away on one of the Organ Islands, a familiar orange haired thief raced through the empty cobblestone streets of Orange Town.
"Yes! I finally got it!" Nami the Pirate Thief said as she ran for her life.
"GET BACK HERE, YOU!" one of three large sword-wielding pirates shouted as they chased after her. The pirate trio was known as the Superhuman Domaingos and they were furious. "You wench! Give that map back! We just stole that chart of the Grand Line!"
"Damn it," one of the other pirates complained, "If we don't get it back, we're dead meat too! I don't wanna be killed by one of the Captain's cannonballs!"
With renewed motivation not to be killed by their cannon-happy Captain, the Superhuman Domingos picked up speed and started to gain on Nami.
"Oh crap!" Nami gasped, "They're closing in! I need a distraction!"
She looked frantically around her but there was no one around. The sky was clear. No bird. No hero to drop in and help at the last minute. Nami looked back over her shoulder as saw that pirates were getting closer.
But the look back cost her as her foot caught on a loose cobblestone and caused her stumble. She lost speed and struggled to keep from falling over.
WHAP!
The largest of the trio of pirates who sported a nasty scar going all the way around his bald head surged forward and grabbed Nami from behind in a big bear hug. "GOTCHA!"
Nami frantically flailed her legs but the large pirate was too strong for her. The elusive pirate thief had finally been caught.
One of the other pirates, a dark skinned man with hair in a short ponytail, ripped the map free from Nami's tight grasp.
"So what do we do with her?" the third pirate, a red haired man with a checkered bandana asked.
"Let's get her back to the Captain," the pirate with the map decided. "This thief had the nerve to steal from him. And if he doesn't have someone to take his anger out on then he'll take it out on the crew again!"
"That's right wench!" the big bald pirate taunted Nami, "You had the nerve to steal from the infamous Buggy the Clown! Whatever he does to you, will be ten-times worse than anything we could think of! That'll show you what happens when you mess with the Superhuman Domingos and the Buggy Pirates!"
"No please! You can have the map back!" Nami pleaded with them. "Just let me go!"
"And keep the Captain from getting his revenge?" the red headed pirate retorted, "You're the one with the death wish. Not us."
The three pirates carried Nami off to meet their Captain while the captive thief's mind frantically worked to come up with a way out of this horrible situation.
"Can we eat it now?" Luffy asked.
"No," Sabo answered as he and Zoro paddled the boat. "We have to cook it first."
"Then let's cook it now," Luffy said.
"I'm not starting a fire on our tiny wooden boat," Sabo told him.
"We're surrounded by water," Luffy pointed out.
"We're not cooking it until we make land!" Sabo insisted.
"Oh, why didn't you just say so?" Luffy replied. "Gimme those!" Luffy took the paddles away from Sabo and Zoro then twisted his rubber arms around. He sat down in the middle of the boat before then dipped the paddles back in the water. Suddenly Luffy's arms started to unwind and the paddles rapidly churned through the water.
SHOOOOM!
The tiny boat shot off at triple speed and practically flew across the water.
Sabo looked over at Zoro, "Never underestimate Luffy when he's hungry."
"I guess it pays to have a rubber Captain," Zoro noted as they shot through the water.
Sabo squinted as he stared ahead of them, "Hey, I think I see some people in the water."
"Hey you! Stop the boat!" a trio of men called out as they struggled to stay afloat.
"We're going too fast," Sabo pointed out, "There's no way to stop now."
"JUST GRAB ON!" Zoro called out to the three men.
"What did he say?" one of the men asked.
WHAM!
The boat plowed into the three water-logged men as it raced passed. They just barely managed to grab on and jumped into the back of the boat.
"What the heck are you doing?" one of the men complained. "Are you trying to kill us?"
"Oh, you made it," Sabo noted, "Good job."
"Stop the boat!" one of the men ordered as the three of them drew swords. He had very pronounced cheek bones and wore a black cap that depicted a jolly roger with a red clown nose. "We're the Tightrope Walking Funan Brothers!"
"Who?" Zoro asked. The Funan Bros all sweat-dropped.
"Are you guys with some kind of circus?" Sabo asked.
The second man spoke up, he was chubby with dark skin and a unibrow. "We're members of Buggy the Clown's crew!"
"Who?" Luffy asked.
The Funan Bros all face-faulted then jumped back up and shouted. "HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW BUGGY THE CLOWN?"
"We just set sail two days ago," Sabo answered.
"Well your joyride ends now!" the third Funan announced. He had bushy curly orange hair that was parted in two directions. "We're taking over this boat."
Luffy, Sabo and Zoro all shared a glance.
POW! POW! POW!
Exactly seven seconds later, two of the Funan Brothers were now paddling the boat while the leader begged for forgiveness.
"Wow! We had no idea you guys were so strong!" Funan Bro 1 gushed in apology. "Please forgive our rudeness!"
"Do you guys know if there's an island nearby?" Sabo asked.
"The Organ Islands are less than an hour away," Bro 1 answered. "Our Captain is based in a town on one of them."
"Then paddle faster!" Luffy ordered, "The sooner we land the sooner we can eat!"
"Yes sir, Mr. Straw Hat!" the Funan Brothers chorused as they paddled faster.
"What were you guys doing the water anyway?" Sabo asked.
"It's tragic, but we'll tell you," Bro 1 said. He quickly recounted how they'd been tricked out of their tricked out of their treasure and their ship by a thief and then how she'd seemingly called on a storm that came out of nowhere and destroyed the ship they had been left on.
"She predicted the weather?" Zoro asked, "Sounds like she'd make a good navigator."
"Hold on… this thief, what did she look like?" Sabo questioned.
"She was cute," the chubby Funan Bro answered, "She had orange hair and looked like a cute kitten."
"But she had claws!" the curly orange haired Funan added. "She's a conniving evil wench!"
"And you guys said your Captain was Buggy the Clown, right?" Sabo questioned further.
"Yeah, does this mean you've heard of him?" Funan Bro 1 asked.
"I heard that he recently stole a map to the Grand Line," Sabo answered.
"That's right," Funan Bro 1 confirmed, "The Captain used his Devil Fruit Powers to steal it from a nearby Marine Base."
"Well, that thief's after the map," Sabo told them.
"Wait, did you say Devil Fruit Powers?" Zoro asked.
"Yes," Funan Bro 1 said, "Captain Buggy ate one of the infamous Devil Fruits and it gave him a special power. He's a terrifying person."
"Hey, stop talking and paddle faster!" Luffy ordered, "I'm hungry!"
Sabo grinned as he sat back against the side of the boat, "I think I just figured out a way that we can get a map to the Grand Line and a navigator to get us there. Let's just hope this 'Buggy' is open to negotiating."
"Captain, we're back with the map!" one of the Superhuman Domingos called out.
They were on the roof of the Drinker's Pub, a large two-story building that was near the harbor. Buggy's circus-themed pirate ship the Big Top was anchored nearby. It's main feature was a large flat roof that Buggy and his crew had set up a few tents on top of to act as their base.
The three Superhuman Domingos proudly presented Nami to their Captain and crew.
"So… you managed to catch the thief?" a voice came from inside a tent that had been set up on the roof. A figure emerged from the tent and Nami gasped when she came face-to-face with Buggy the Clown in all his blue-haired, face-painted, red-nosed glory. "Well done, men!"
"Look, it was just a map!" Nami pointed out, "It's not like I stole any of your treasure! I'm sorry! I needed that map to save my village! Please, have mercy! Just let me go and I promise that I'll never do it again!"
"You're damn right you won't!" Buggy growled at her. "No one steals from me! It doesn't matter if you stole treasure, a map or a barrel of rum! Stealing from Buggy the Clown is the worst crime you could ever commit! And you're going to pay for it… with your life!"
"ARE YOU NUTS!" Nami shouted. She immediately dropped her sympathetic act when she realized that Buggy wasn't having any of it, "You're gonna kill me over a map?"
"You picked the wrong pirate to mess with, little thief!" Buggy boasted, "That's a mistake that's gonna cost you your life!" Buggy turned and addressed his men, "Lock her up!"
CLANG!
A moment later, Nami was locked in a small but incredibly heavy iron cage. It had taken ten of Buggy's men to carry it off of the ship.
"Men, I have an announcement to make!" Buggy addressed his crew as he held up the map, "We've spent enough time clowning around here in the East Blue. Now that we have the map back… WE'RE HEADING TO THE GRAND LINE!"
"YEAH, CAPTAIN BUGGY!" the Buggy Pirates cheered.
"We'll execute the thief later," Buggy decided, "She's not going anywhere while she's trapped in that cage, for now, LET'S CELEBRATE! TO THE GRAND LINE!"
"TO THE GRAND LINE!" The Buggy Pirates echoed.
And so, Nami was treated to a show as Buggy and his crew broke out a ton of booze and proceeded to get wasted.
Nami took advantage of their distraction and the fact that they hadn't tied her up and pulled out her lock picks then got to work on getting her cage open. She didn't know if she'd still be able to get away with the map. But at this point she'd just settle for getting away alive.
"You're wasting your time, thief!" Nami froze and looked up from her work to find Buggy standing in front of her cage. "I had planned to bring you a last drink before your execution but it looks like you'd rather get it over with than sit down and wait."
Buggy fished into his coat and pulled out a key, "This is the only thing that'll get you outta that cage and its safe with me. You stole from the wrong pirate, girl!"
Buggy turned to his men, "MEN, PREPARE A SPECIAL BUGGY BALL!"
Nami swallowed hard and watched as huge cannon was wheeled out in front of her face. A big red cannonball with Buggy's insignia emblazoned on it was loaded into the cannon.
"All set, Captain!"
"What… what're you going to do with that?" Nami asked nervously.
"Observe the might of the Buggy Ball," Buggy said as the loaded cannon was aimed at the town. "Light it!" Buggy's men lit the fuse on the cannon and it quickly burned down.
KA-BOOOOM!
The cannon fired and blasted the Buggy Ball out into the town.
BOOOOM-BOOOOOM-BOOOOOM! The super-cannonball plowed through an entire row of at least seven house and reduced them to rubble.
"What was that explosion?" Zoro wondered as he, Luffy, Sabo and the three Funan Bros finally made land at the Orange Town harbor.
"That was one of Captain Buggy's beloved Buggy Balls," the lead Funan Brother explained.
"That sure packed a punch," Sabo noted. "But at least now we know where Buggy is."
"But I thought you said we could eat once we made land," Luffy complained.
"That was before I knew that Buggy was killing time by leveling a defenseless town," Sabo said, "If we let him keep going he could end up hurting someone."
"Aw, but I'm hungry!" Luffy groaned.
"You can eat once we deal with Buggy," Sabo said.
"You promise?" Luffy asked.
"I promise," Sabo agreed.
"RIGHT! LET'S GO!" Luffy shouted as he ran off towards the Drinker's Pub.
"Hey! Wait for us!" Zoro called out as he and Sabo ran after him.
"Truly flashy!" Buggy exclaimed, "With these Buggy Balls and my Devil Fruit Powers, I can conquer the Grand Line!" Buggy turned to face Nami, "Now it's your turn girl!"
Nami's eyes widened as the cannon turned so it was not pointed at her and a new Buggy Ball was loaded into it.
"WAIT! HOLD ON!" Nami protested, "ARE YOU CRAZY? WHAT'RE YOU GOING TO DO WITH THAT!?"
"I told you I was going to execute you for stealing my map!" Buggy said, "I'm going to do that flashily using one of my Special Buggy Balls!"
"YOU CAN'T SHOOT ME WITH A CANNON!" Nami yelled. "THAT'S INSANE!"
"You're the crazy one that tried to steal from me!" Buggy insisted, "Now you'll pay the ultimate price! LIGHT THE CANNON!"
Nami's life flashed before her eyes as a pirate lit a match and brought it to the cannon's fuse.
POW!
An arm stretched over the cage and a fist slammed into the pirate's face. The pirate went flying and smashed through a table. Buggy and his crew stared in surprise.
"WHO DID THAT?" Buggy demanded.
"Sorry to interrupt," Sabo called out. Luffy jumped over Nami's cage while Sabo and Zoro walked around it.
Luffy, Sabo and Zoro were now standing in between Nami's cage and the cannon.
"We're looking for Buggy the Clown," Luffy announced, "Is that you?"
Silver signing off…