BROTHER ON BOARD
The Keeper of Worlds - Sabo didn't have amnesia in my version. When his ship exploded in the prologue the explosion caught his back and side. He didn't take any damage to the head which is why his memory remained intact and he doesn't have the scar over his eye. Sabo feeling sympathy for Miss Valentine's condition is a combination of his own guilt and remorse for doing it to her as well as me playing tribute to canon. Nami needs to get bit by the keschia. The other Straw Hats are freaks that never get sick. She has to get bit so they can search for the doctor and eventually find Chopper. So that remained the same.
starelight - Luffy was bare chested in canon and didn't get bitten. Even if he was I don't think it would've effected him. Being poisoned is one thing but Luffy states himself that he's never been sick.
The Patient One - Thanks for pointing that out. I fixed it. You'll see in one of the first scenes of this chapter that Galdino isn't exactly Straw Hat material. I brought him along so he can provide some extra character development for Ayako and do something special when they finally get to Alabasta. For now they just need to keep him under control because they all know that they can't trust him.
Huntsman8888 - I can't kill him off right away. Otherwise there will be no conflict during the upcoming arc. But that doesn't necessarily mean that Sabo doesn't try to shoot him early on. Place your bet, how long before Sabo ends up trying to shoot him? Bonus points if you can guess if he succeeds and how many rounds connect.
Psychochiken - Logic of madness... I like that. I suppose that's the proper mindset to be in while reading this story. I've made my point of stressing that all the Straw Hats are crazy at least to some degree. And now Ayako is too! I think there's so much potential to be explored with her character that I couldn't resist bringing her along. This has been the plan since all the way back during the 'What can you do' scene from the Luffy vs Arlong Fight. After Luffy listed all the things he can't do, I added this bit: "He also knew nothing about medicine, could barely read, broke everything he touched and he couldn't do anything artistic like draw or play an instrument."
Lightsbane1905 - 'Lemon' meaning Miss Valentine, right? Because I can assure you there was no sex anywhere on Little Garden.
lostdog200 - There were actually two movie references in chapter 29. Vivi quoted Claire Standish from the Breakfast Club with her "I'm not that pristine" line. Sabo's last line was quoted/paraphrased from the Outlaw Josey Wales. The original line is "Never paid him no mind: you were there." Because if you want to come across as a badass in a Western, you've gotta quote Clint Eastwood. Yes... you can probably imagine that Sabo and Wapol are not going to get along. Wanna guess how long it'll take for Sabo to try and shoot him? You'll get extra bonus points of you can guess how many bullets he uses and if they connect.
luvBonnieAnne - I've got a lot of cool plans for little Miss Ayako. Galdino will help reveal some more of her backstory. And I'm already introducing a brand new Colors Trap in this chapter. As for Miss Valentine and Mr. 3, Miss Valentine is going to be the more active of the two during the Drum Kingdom Arc. She does have a certain medical condition that will motivate her towards wanting to visit Dr. Kureha. I'm putting Galdino "on ice" until Alabasta.
Miqila - Ayako is the only one that officially joined. You'll see that there is a big difference between a bonafide Straw Hat and a passengers on the Going Merry in this chapter. Miss Valentine and Mr. 3 will serve their purpose while they're with the Straw Hats. But they aren't going to actually join the crew.
Ranger Station Charlie - I've read Nine Minutes. It's actually on my Favorites list. Like you, I enjoyed the alternate action scenes early on. But I became disillusioned with how serious the story was after Luffy ate his new Devil Fruit and ended up killing you-know-who at Water 7. One very important aspect of One Piece is the humor. That's why I strive to make this story fun to read. I'm piggy backing off of the existing quirks and comedy that comes with canon and adding my own brand of nonsense into the mix. If your response is anything to go by, I'd say it worked out.
rasEnshur1KEn - Her sanity already took a big hit from dealing with Bonnie Anne on Little Garden. She'll be one of the less notably sane characters. But by the end of the Drum Kingdom Arc, I'm sure she'll fit in with the others just fine. Ayako is there to keep her Uncle from doing anything "stupid". I even had her create a new Colors Trap for the occasion. Mr. 3 won't do much during the Drum Kingdom Arc. I'm saving his additions for Alabasta.
OrangeFrito - I'm usually reading through the manga while I'm writing my chapters. And if I really need a refresher for a certain arc I'll rewatch the anime episodes. But my default manga translation is the one on Spectrum Nexus. Although, the actual translated manga books are great for finding proper sound effects since Viz Manga translates those too.
Dr. Zenkai - I'm glad you like the story. Don't worry about Sabo and Bonnie's relationship seeming 'normal'. The big Bonnie reveal is coming soon. Once it does, 'rational' will be kicked out the window and the two of them will firmly cement themselves as "the World's Weirdest Couple". I try to keep Sabo out of Mary Sue territory by giving him a set personality. Sabo's got an adventurous spirit and believes that everything's possible in the Grand Line. He's not stoic and has clear emotions. But Sabo also thinks he's smarter than he is, as shown by his bone-headed schemes and how easily he gets hypnotized. He also has a very clear character flaw that Vivi is slowly helping him work through. And of course, there's his comedic quirk with Bonnie Anne. Sabo has a very specific set of skills that keep him from being versatile and good at everything like Sue's often are. He excels at negotiating above all else, he's experienced at reining in Luffy and he's a shooter (although Bonnie and Usopp are both better at that than him). I hope all that makes Sabo come across as a more interesting complex character and not a generic insert.
EnixFairy - Ace is coming up... so is Luffy's fight with Crocodile. The Alabasta Arc is going to be a lot different than in canon but everything will ultimately come down to the fight between Luffy and Crocodile. We'll also be seeing Mr. 13 and Miss Friday again. They'll have new Baroque Works Bounties for the Straw Hats. But before any of that can happen, we've gotta deal with Wapol and get through Drum Kingdom.
TheREALMightyKamina - I've always thought that Miss Goldenweek had a lot of hidden potential. Did you read the cover story arc Miss Goldenweek's Operation Meet Baroque Works? After seeing her use her powers to orchestrate a huge jailbreak I decided to try my hand at using her. I think it'll be interesting to see what I can do with a character who has even less physical strength than Nami and Usopp. I'll have to get really creative with the Colors Traps. I'm going to be staying away from the movies and filler for the most part. There's so much material for me to cover that if I took detours to do filler arcs and movies it'd take me forever just to get to the Time Skip. My weekly(ish) schedule keeps me moving fairly quickly so I don't want to have any delays.
A/N: Alright readers! Place your bets! Wapol's introduced in this chapter. How long will it take for Sabo to try and shoot him? And how many bullets will he use?
Wapol-
The Going Merry sailed through the peaceful waters of the Grand Line fresh off of the Straw Hats' escape from Little Garden and the dreaded Island Eater.
"GUYS LISTEN UP!" Usopp shouted, "I SAID IT BEFORE AND I'LL SAY IT AGAIN! ONE DAY I SWEAR I'LL GO TO ELBAF AND VISIT THE GIANT WARRIORS!"
"YEAH USOPP!" Luffy cheered, "LET'S DO IT! ONE DAY WE'LL DEFINITELY GO THERE!"
Luffy threw his arm over Usopp's shoulders and the two began singing together. "EELLLBAF! EEELLLBAF! WHERE EVERYONE IS GIANT CUZ THEY'RE GIANTS!"
"…" Ayako picked at her ear as she listened to the shrill singing. "Maybe he does need a musician…"
"I don't understand how they can have so much energy," Nami remarked. "After everything that's happened… I'm exhausted." Nami sighed as she wiped her sweaty forehead then turned and handed off the Eternal Pose to Vivi. "Here Vivi, can you keep an eye on the Log Pose? With that we'll finally be able to get you home. Well… that's as long as we don't run into any more trouble."
Vivi nodded and took the Pose to her homeland and stared gravely at the needle in the glass ball. "Yes… I have to return to Alabasta no matter what. I have to stop the rebellion."
"Here you go, my dear Miss Valentine," Sanji called out as he emerged from the men's quarters and presented the amnesic Officer Agent with a neatly folded golden-yellow dress shirt.
"What's this for?" Miss Valentine asked.
"I noticed that your dress was ruined," Sanji answered as he motioned to the blonde's burned dress. The hem had been charred black and the back was burned away revealing the straps of her singed white bra. "I wanted to offer this as a substitute until you managed to get some clothes of your own."
"Oh, that's so sweet," Miss Valentine cooed, "Thank you! I'll go put it on now…" The blonde dashed off into the anchor room.
Out on the rear deck behind the galley, Zoro was swinging a pole with five 100kg weights on it.
"Two thousand six hundred and three…" the shirtless and sweating swordsman grunted.
"You've been doing that since we left Little Garden," Sabo noted as he surveyed the swordsman. He had changed into a new white dress shirt and a blue vest to replace the ones that Zoro had cut through on Little Garden. "Any particular reason why?"
Zoro spared the Quartermaster a quick glance as he did another rep. "If I had been strong enough to cut through that wax… we wouldn't have had any trouble... and you wouldn't have had to give the blonde brain damage…"
"No one regrets that more than I do," Sabo said, "But that wax was as hard as steel and Usopp was all alone with just the duck against three of them. I doubt that I could've smashed the wax even if I had Bonnie and shot at my feet. That's why I had to take such drastic actions."
"Then I need to get strong enough to cut through steel," Zoro resolved.
"Is that even possible?" Sabo wondered. "I know of a couple people who could probably smash through it. But no one that could cut it…"
"I bet Mihawk could do it…" Zoro replied, "He cut through that entire galleon like it was nothing. I've gotta get strong enough to do the same if I want to have any hope of ever beating him."
"Well… I'll leave you to it then…" Sabo decided as he turned to leave.
Zoro pumped his weighs again then blinked in confusion, "Shit… I lost count…"
"Six thousand three hundred twenty!" Sabo called back to him with a cheeky smirk.
"What?" Zoro sputtered, "I was only going up to three thousand! Damn him. Now I've gotta start over…"
"What do you think?" Miss Valentine asked as she came out of the anchor room wearing Sanji's shirt. The muscular cook's golden-yellow shirt went down to the lithe blonde's thigh and made it look like the shirt, her hat and her white heels were all that she was wearing.
"You'd look lovely in anything," Sanji assured her, "That shirt is no exception."
"Dial it back, Sanji…" Nami warned the cook.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Nami-swan," the Love Cook apologized, "I didn't mean to make you jealous."
"I'm not…" Nami said as she massaged the pulsing vein in her throbbing forehead.
"Look! I see a dolphin!" Luffy called out. Usopp and Ayako ran over to stare off the side of the ship.
Miss Valentine grinned when she spotted Sabo coming back around the galley. She overlooked the fact that the Quartermaster was holding his rifle in front of him and seemingly whispering to it.
"You sure it looks good?" Miss Valentine questioned as she turned her attention back to the cook. "Maybe you'd like to see it from every angle." The blonde did a slow twirl and stretched her arms up over her head while she was facing the anchor room.
KER-CHOW! WHAK!
SPLUURT!
Miss Valentine came back around and saw both blondes were flat on their back.
"Kyahahahaha!" Miss Valentine giggled. "I guess they liked it."
"Sabro! You scared the dolphin away!" Usopp complained as he, Luffy and Ayako turned back around.
"Oh no! Sanji's bleeding!" Ayako pointed out. The three crowded around the fallen cook.
"Sanji! Wake up!" Luffy urged his cook, "I was gonna ask you to make snacks!"
"What was that for?" Sabo asked his girlfriend as he sat up and rubbed the rifle-induced welt on his face.
Miss Valentine looked to the side and saw a red-faced Vivi pointedly looking off the side of the ship while Nami was giving her a deadpan stare that clearly said 'this is the absolute last thing I want to deal with right now'.
"Blondie… what size are you?" Nami inquired with a tired sigh.
"Um… I don't remember," Miss Valentine admitted.
Nami pointed a shaky hand behind her at the storage room. "Go down the ladder into my room. There's a closet in the corner. I have a pair of white pants that should fit you. Don't worry about giving them back just put them on and never take them off."
"Alright, if you say so," Miss Valentine agreed with a good natured shrug. She headed for the storage room but paused next to the three younger pirates that were attempting to revive Sanji. "Oh, before I forget, the guy with the glasses was twitching. I think he might be waking up."
"I'll go check on him," Ayako volunteered. The two female Officer Agents disappeared through doors on opposite ends of the ship.
"Sabo, what do you think 'shaped like a heart' means?" Luffy called up to his brother.
"I don't know," Sabo answered as he stood up peered over the railing, "Why?"
"Sanji just mumbled it," Usopp told him.
For some reason Nami started groaning and Vivi's blush went five shades darker.
Ayako entered the anchor room and stepped around Miss Valentine's discarded dress. She paid no mind to the singed white bra and panties that had been left on top of it and probably explained Sanji's mysterious nosebleed.
The Artist sat down next to the twitching Sculptor and watched him until he woke up.
"Hi Uncle Galdino," Ayako greeted him.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to use my real name in public?" Mr. 3 scolded his partner. "Always use my codename and never call me 'Uncle'. We can't allow Baroque Works to learn of our preexisting relationship."
"I don't think that's going to be an issue anymore," Ayako told him, "The situation has changed."
"Huh?" the Candle Man peered around the anchor room. "Where are we?"
"We're on board the Straw Hats' ship," Ayako explained, "We lost. Miss Valentine's here too."
"Are we prisoners?" Mr. 3 asked.
"Not exactly…" Ayako answered, "They don't take prisoners. Luffy wanted an Artist on his crew and I agreed to join them. You're my… I think Sabo said 'baggage'. Miss Valentine's here because she has amnesia. She doesn't even remember who she is. They're bringing her to a doctor."
Mr. 3 smiled, "Well done. You pretended to join them so you could act as a spy. I'm impressed. I knew all that time I spent trying to hammer cunning into your head would pay off eventually."
"Actually… I really did join them," Ayako informed him, "And I'm not going to let you ruin this for me. Colors Trap… Betrayal Black."
Mr. 3 looked down at the symbol on his chest and went stiff. He was assaulted by the enchanting scent of the paint, the subliminal command from the color and the verbal command from Ayako's incantation. Any mental resistance her Uncle had built up from his extended exposure to her paint over the years was immediately shattered when she attacked three of his senses all at once. "You… hypnotized… me…"
"You know that I hate being an assassin," Ayako reminded her entranced Uncle, "This is my chance to explore the world and paint magic like I've always wanted. I don't want you to hurt anybody else so I convinced the Straw Hats to bring you along. You're going to stay quiet and not cause any trouble while you're on this ship. We'll probably turn you in to the Marines or something when we get to Alabasta."
"Turn me in?" Mr. 3 repeated, "But Ayako… if you do that you'll never learn what I did to your parents."
Ayako froze. "Wh-what?"
"Did you really think they'd allow their precious daughter to leave home with just her crazy Uncle?" Galdino sneered. "I'm under the influence of your paint. You only have to ask and I'll be compelled to answer. You see… it's against my own best interest because once I tell you what I did to them… you'll never trust me again."
"Gulp…" the fourteen year old Artist swallowed hard as she stared at her murderer Uncle who liked to laugh at the looks of anguish on his victims' face as he slowly transformed them into his wax figures. "I've always had a dark feeling in my stomach that you did something to them. But I'm not going to ask."
Ayako stood up and turned to leave.
"You coward!" the Candle Man growled after her.
"Shut up!" Ayako snapped as she whirled around to face him.
"…" Mr. 3 was forced to comply.
Ayako took a deep breath and then spoke, "Maybe you're right… maybe I'm too much of a coward to ask you that question because I know I won't like the answer. But you know what? While you were off taking your nap I saw something that inspired me. I saw true courage. It wasn't from Luffy or Sabo. It was from their Master Gunner Usopp. Initially, I thought he was a big coward. He started off just running away from Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine. But he's actually the bravest person that I've ever seen. A few words from his friends and it was like a switch had been flipped. He went from being a bumbling coward to a – what'd they call it? – a Brave Warrior of the Sea."
"Courage isn't the absence of fear…" Ayako stated, "it's knowing that there's something more important than fear and then acting in spite of it. Usopp was armed with just a slingshot and a duck but from that moment on he kept fighting no matter what happened. Even when I hypnotized his friend… he kept going and ended up saving all of his friends from your sculpture. I hope that if I spend enough time with him some of his courage will rub off on me. When it does I'll finally be brave enough to ask you that question."
Ayako headed for the door but stopped short. "And by the way," she called back to her deranged Uncle. "Earl Grey is piss. I tried one other kind of tea at my Welcome Tea Party and I liked it way better."
Ayako left the anchor room and let out a relieved sigh then looked up in time to see Nami faint.
"EVERYONE! COME QUICKLY!" VIvi screamed as she cradled the fallen Navigator, "IT'S AN EMERGENCY! NAMI JUST FAINTED! SHE HAS A HORRIBLE FEVER!"
"WHAAAAT?" Sanji screamed in horror down in Nami's bedroom. Nami had been laid in her bed and Vivi was kneeling at her bedside. The Ship's Cook, Captain, Quartermaster, Master Gunner and pet duck had all crowded in behind the Princess. "NAMI'S SICK? VIVI PLEASE! TELL ME SHE'S GOING TO BE OKAY! WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?"
"It's probably from the rapid climate changes," Vivi reasoned as she slipped a thermometer into Nami's mouth. "That's the one obstacle that all sailors who enter the Grand Line end up facing sooner or later. A person's body can't handle facing all the vastly different climates at once. Even the strongest pirates sometimes end up dying from sudden illnesses."
"DYING!?" Luffy, Usopp and even Carue all shrieked. "QUACK!"
"NO! Not Nami-swan!" Sanji gasped in anguish.
"I'll defer to your judgment on this," Sabo decided as he folded his arms across his chest.
Vivi blinked and looked back at him, "Really?"
"I've never been sick," Sabo admitted, "Neither has Luffy. Or Ace. Miss Valentine's amnesia is one thing but sickness is another entirely. I've got no experience with this."
"Does it hurt to be sick?" Luffy asked.
"I don't know," Usopp replied, "I've never been sick."
"Me neither," Sanji added.
"ARE YOU PEOPLE EVEN HUMAN!?" Vivi snapped at them.
Click…
"Don't rub it in," Sabo complained to the rifle on his back. "Is being sick like being grievously injured?"
"Yes, yes it is!" Vivi quickly answered, "Your body gets extremely uncomfortable and it hurts a lot."
"OOOOOH!" all four chorused in sudden understanding.
"Unbelievable…" Vivi muttered. "Isn't there anyone on this ship with some kind of medical knowledge?"
Everyone pointed to Nami.
"Sanji, can't you just feed her a bunch of meat?" Luffy suggested, "That'd make her feel better, right?"
"Well it's true that certain foods contain key nutrients," Sanji told him, "I always strive to make sure Nami-swan's meals as nutritional and healthy as possible. I put a hundred times more effort into preparing her meals than I do for the rest of you guys."
"Wait! What?" Usopp blurted out.
"No worries, it always tasted good to me," Luffy said.
"I bet all those nutrients make the food taste funny," Sabo chimed in.
"In any case," Sanji continued, "As long as I'm the Ship's Cook none of you ever have to worry about matters of nutrition or vitamins. But it's completely different when someone's sick. I have no way of knowing what's wrong with Nami-swan so I don't know which foods to feed her."
"So just feed her all of them!" Luffy advised.
"That's a good way to make a healthy person sick," Sanji growled at him.
"Forty degree Celsius!" Vivi exclaimed. "Nami's temperature went up again!"
"Well… we're already going to find a doctor when we get to Alabasta, right?" Usopp pointed out, "Couldn't we just bring Nami to the doctor as well?"
"We'd have to sail without her until then…" Sabo mused, "How long until we reach Alabasta?"
"At least a week," Vivi confessed, "A forty degree fever is almost unheard of… It's extremely dangerous." Vivi frowned gravely at the thermometer, "If her condition continues to decline like this… she could die."
That was the wrong thing to say.
Sabo went pale and whispered, "Die!?" Bonnie Anne didn't appear to be thrilled with this news either.
CLICK!
"WHAAAAAAT!?" Luffy screamed. "NAMI'S GONNA DIE!?"
"NAAAAAMIIII! NOOOO!" Usopp cried.
"NAAABBIII! PWEEEZZEE DON'T DIIIIEEEE!" Sanji outright bawled.
"QQUUUAAACK!" Even Carue was panicking.
"WE'VE GOTTA FIND A DOCTOR TO SAVE NAMI RIGHT AWAY!" Luffy shouted. "WE CAN'T LET HER DIE!"
"EVERYONE CALM DOWN!" Vivi yelled, "ALL OF YOU CARRYING ON LIKE THIS WILL ONLY MAKE HER CONDITION WORSE! CARUE! STOP! YOU'RE NOT HELPING!"
But Vivi's yelling just added to the yelling. Bonnie eventually had enough of the madness.
KER-CHOW!
"Sabo… tell your stupid girlfriend not to fire in my room…"
"Actually that was a blank," Sabo replied. But then he and everyone else froze when they realized who he was replying to.
Nami sat up and held the cool rag to her forehead.
"YAY! SHE'S BETTER!" Luffy cheered.
Whap!
Usopp slapped the back of his head, "No she isn't!"
Nami took a deep gasping breath. Her face was flushed and she was covered in sweat. She pointed a trembling finger at her deck. "There's a newspaper… on top of my desk… you need to see it Vivi…"
Sabo stepped back and snagged the indicated newspaper off of the desk then tossed it to Vivi. The Princess unfolded the newspaper and immediately gasped in horror when she read the headline.
"NOO! THIS IS HORRIBLE!"
"What's the matter Vivi?" Luffy asked. "Is it about Alabasta?"
"Three hundred thousand members of the Royal Army defected and joined the rebellion…" Vivi stated. "This changes everything! Originally there were four hundred thousand rebels and six hundred thousand members of the Royal Army. The Royal Army's superior numbers were enough to keep the rebellion at bay… but now the situation has completely turned around. The Rebel Army has seven hundred thousand people while the Royal Army is down to three hundred thousand people." Sabo opened his mouth to say something but Vivi instinctively turned and cut him off, "Please don't say this is my father's fault!"
"…" Sabo closed his mouth.
"This drastic change in numbers means the Rebel Army can finally make their move…" Vivi lamented. "One million soldiers are going to be trying to kill each other… and the only person benefiting from all that bloodshed will be Crocodile!"
"That paper is from three days ago," Nami informed her. "I didn't want to worry you. We're already sailing as fast as we can." Nami turned to her Captain, "Do you understand the situation, Luffy?"
"It sounds like an emergency," Luffy replied.
Nami nodded. "So it did manage to sink in."
"But Nami…" Usopp protested, "You still need to see a doctor…"
"I'm fine," Nami insisted, "That thermometer must be broken. There's no way someone could have a temperature of forty degrees. I probably just caught heatstroke or something. I'll get better on my own. I don't need a doctor."
Nami swung her legs out of the bed and slowly stood up. "See? I'm fine. We need to get to Alabasta as soon as possible." Nami padded across the room to the stairs. "Thanks for worrying about me."
Once the Navigator was gone, Sabo glanced over his shoulder at his girlfriend, "Did you buy that?"
Click!
"Wait… so she's not better?" Luffy questioned.
"Of course not," Usopp told him, "She's faking and putting up a tough act."
"He's the resident liar," Sanji chimed in, "I suppose this is his area of expertise."
"Simply surviving isn't good enough anymore…" Vivi resolved drawing the attention of the Straw Hats back towards her. "I have to get back to Alabasta as fast as possible. Otherwise a million of my people will be killing each other for no good reason."
"A million people…" Luffy repeated.
"That's quite the burden you carry…" Sanji commiserated with the Princess.
Vivi felt eyes on her and finally tore her gaze away from the newspaper to find herself on the receiving end of an intense stare from Sabo that seemed to pierce through her like a bullet. The Quartermaster had taken Bonnie Anne off his back and was gripping the rifle's barrel over the red ribbon tied around it. "Nami's not dying on my watch."
KER-CHOW!
Vivi flinched from the loud gunshot then watched as Sabo turned and stormed out of the room.
"Wanna explain what you're doing?" Miss Valentine inquired as she plopped down beside Zoro on the railing outside the galley. She was wearing Sanji's golden dress shirt and Nami's snug white pants. Ayako was sitting on the Boatswain's other side idly kicking her legs.
"We're going straight ahead," Zoro stated.
"Okay… according to what?" Miss Valentine asked.
"That cloud," Zoro answered as he pointed ahead of them.
"Right… that's not how you navigate," the blonde informed him.
"Oh, does this mean your memories of navigating the Grand Line came back?" Zoro questioned.
"No…" the amnesic Officer Agent admitted, "I don't remember sailing at all. This is just logic and reason. Clouds move and change shape. You can't use them to tell direction!"
"Ooo! That cloud over there looks like a dolphin!" Ayako pointed out, "Can we sail to that one instead?"
"NO!" Zoro growled, "I didn't realize bringing all you extra women along meant you'd be acting like backseat sailors. I'm the Bosun so I'm gonna decide which way we're going."
"You may be the Boatswain but you're clearly no Navigator, you dunderhead," Mr. 3 called out from where he was standing in the doorway to the anchor room with his arms folded under the black symbol painted on his chest. "Do you see that glass ball they left you? You need to point the ship in the same direction as the needle and then sail that way."
"Like I'm gonna listen to you," Zoro retorted, "You're the enemy."
"Yes, I am the enemy," Mr. 3 confirmed, "But I'm under the effects of my Niece's hypnotism. I want you to get hopelessly lost… but because of her Betrayal Black I'm actually trying to help you because it goes against my own self-interest."
"You're not going to trick me with your reverse psychology!" Zoro insisted.
"Ooh boy…" Miss Valentine sighed to herself, "He's built like a rock but as dumb as one too… I guess I should probably warn somebody…" Miss Valentine slipped off the railing and landed lightly on her feet in front of the storage room just as the door opened and Nami emerged.
"Oh good, you're back!" Miss Valentine greeted her, "The green guy is trying to get us lost."
"Ugghh…" Nami groaned and staggered up the steps. "Zoro… what're you doing?"
"Like I just finished telling the peanut gallery," Zoro grumbled, "I'm sailing straight towards that cloud."
"CLOUDS AREN'T STATIONARY!" the Navigator berated him. "THEY'RE CONSTANTLY MOVING AND CHANGING SHAPE! You can't follow them! Especially in the Grand Line! You have to follow the Log Pose and nothing else."
"That's what I was telling him!" Mr. 3 groused, "But no one listens to me…"
But the Candle Man was further irritated when he realized that Nami wasn't listening to him either. "Hmm… the wind's changed. We need to… change course…"
"What's going on Nami?" Sabo asked as he came out of the storage room. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Your Bosun has you sailing the wrong way," Miss Valentine reported.
"Damn it," Sabo cursed, "I knew we should've left the fourteen year old in charge of navigating instead."
"Hey! She wanted to sail towards the dolphin!" Zoro attempted to defend himself.
"That just means you have a sense of direction that's on par with a fourteen year old girl that's never navigated before," Mr. 3 commented snidely, "Does that make you feel better about yourself?"
"HURRY UP AND CALL EVERYONE!" Nami yelled. "WE NEED TO CHANGE COURSE! RIGHT! NOW!"
"OI! GET YOUR ASSES OUT HERE!" Sabo barked into the storage room.
Luffy, Usopp, Sanji and Carue immediately came scrambling out. "What's going on?"
"Nami says we need to change course," Sabo told them.
"Take the helm and turn us so we're facing south!" Nami ordered.
"Okay, okay," Zoro agreed and then he was suddenly Boatswain Zoro. "You heard her! Adjust the sails so we can catch the port-side wind! MOVE IT! I'll adjust the whipstaff!"
"Aye-aye!" Sabo and Usopp chorused as they ran to adjust the sails while Zoro darted into the galley.
"What's the matter, Nami-swan?" Sanji inquired. "The sea is calm and the weather looks clear to me."
"There's… wind…" Nami answered as she stared off the side of the ship. "Or there's going to be… I can feel it…"
Luffy made a beeline straight for his Navigator and placed his hand on her forehead to check her fever.
Fsssss…
"YAAAAH!" Luffy howled and yanked his hand back like he'd been burned. "NAMI, YOU'RE HOT!"
"Was that supposed to be a compliment?" Nami teased him, "This is my normal temperature!"
"Nami… I know this is for Vivi's sake," Sanji spoke up again, "But you really don't need to push yourself in your condition."
"I SAID I'M FINE!" Nami snapped at him.
"Nami… you really oughta lie down…" Usopp advised as he perched up on the rigging with Sabo and dropped the sails.
"SHUT UP AND DO YOUR JOB!" Nami hollered.
"It's sweet how much they all care about her…" Miss Valentine commented to Ayako as she came down from upper deck.
The Navigator turned and held her aching head. "Is it… a storm? It doesn't feel like a normal one…"
A moment later, the Going Merry had been turned as per the Navigator's instructions. Zoro had come back out of the galley and was leaning against the railing opposite Nami while everyone else was gathered down on the main deck.
Vivi came out of the storage room and went up the steps so she was standing in front of the galley. "Everyone I have a request to ask of you all," the Princess addressed the assembled Straw Hats. "I know that as a guest on your ship that it's not my place to make such demands but with the crisis escalating in my country it is imperative that we get there as soon as possible. Not a single moment can be spared. That's why my request is for this ship to head for Alabasta at its fastest speed."
"…" the Straw Hats were all silent as they stared up at Vivi.
"Of course we will!" Nami assured her with a strained smile. "We promised we would."
"..." the goofy smile was gone from Luffy's face as he stared up at Vivi.
"…" Sanji was scowling as he took a drag from his cigarette.
"…" Sabo was practically boring a hole through her with his sharp gaze as he leaned back against the main mast with his rifle in his arms.
"…" Even Mr. 3 and Miss Valentine could sense the tension in the air and quietly hung back with Ayako by the anchor room door.
Vivi took a deep breath and continued, "And so… we need to find an island with a doctor immediately. We have to get Nami better as fast as possible so we can head for Alabasta. After all, this ship can only sail at its fastest speed when Nami's navigating, right?"
The serious expressions were gone and Vivi was greeted by smiles.
"YOU BET!" Luffy exclaimed, "THIS SHIP CAN'T GO ANY FASTER THAN THAT!"
"Are you sure about this?" Usopp asked, "Aren't you worried about those million people?"
"I am," Vivi confirmed, answering both questions at once. "That's why we need to get Nami to a doctor as quickly as possible."
"Well said Vivi!" Sanji cheered, "I think I've fallen for you all over again!"
"You've got guts," Zoro remarked.
Vivi sought out one pirate's approval in particular and was pleased to see that his harsh expression had softened and that for the first time ever he was giving her a genuine smile. "Thank you… Vivi."
Vivi grinned and knew she'd made the right decision. She turned to the sick Navigator. "I'm sorry for making you worry Nami," the Princess apologized. "But please don't overexert yourself."
Nami nodded as she clung to the railing in order to say on her feet. "I think… I might really be sick…"
"Why are you smiling so much?" Galdino asked his young Niece who was grinning like a loon.
"Didn't you just meet them too?" Miss Valentine inquired curiously.
"I'm smiling because all of them are…" Ayako replied, "It's infectious. It feels like the entire ship's spirits just lifted. The Princess put the health and safety of their… our… my crewmate ahead of her country. She's truly one of us now."
"WHAT IS THAAAAT?!" Luffy suddenly shouted.
Everyone turned to look back behind the Going Merry a saw a huge cyclone spinning on the water.
"IT'S A CYCLONE!" Sanji yelled.
"AND IT'S HUUUUGE!" Usopp screamed.
"Nami! Hang on!" Vivi dashed over and caught Nami as she fainted again.
"Wasn't that the direction we were just sailing in?" Sabo asked.
KER-CHOW!
"GAH! That was close one!" Luffy exclaimed.
"If we kept going Zoro's way we would've sailed right into it!" Usopp realized.
"Oh, sure, rub it in…" the directionally challenged Boatswain grumbled.
"Incredible…" Vivi thought to herself as she stared down at the unconscious Navigator. "Cyclones are said to be impossible to predict in the Grand Line. But she did it anyway. She doesn't predict the weather through a forecast or other weather theories… it's like she feels it in her bones and knows instinctively."
"I've never seen a Navigator like her before…" the Princess admitted.
"ALRIGHT GUYS! LET'S HURRY!" Luffy called out to the crew. "WE'LL KEEP HEADING SOUTH UNTIL WE FIND A DOCTOR!"
"RIGHT!" everyone shouted in agreement.
Nami woke up hours later in a room full of snoring and correctly deduced that it was now night. Vivi had fallen asleep kneeling by her bed, Luffy was sprawled out on the floor in the middle of the room snoring loudly, Zoro was once again using Carue as a feather pillow, Usopp was slumped against her bookcase, Sanji was sleeping sitting up against her bar and Ayako had curled up in the corner under the stairs.
Nami slipped out of her bed and located her slippers then quietly padded across her crowded room while making sure she didn't step on any of her sleeping crewmates. She reached the stairs and crept up them to the storage room. The Navigator was immediately assaulted by the cold as she made her way out onto the main deck.
The sick Navigator wrapped her arms around herself as she looked up and noticed the first flurries of snow beginning to fall. She couldn't make out any stars through the thick snow clouds. The Going Merry appeared to just be drifting aimlessly with the current. Nami spotted a top hat up in the crow's nest which probably meant that Sabo was on night watch.
"Zzzzzz…" the Quartermaster let out a snore which caused the rifle propped against his chest to slide to the side until it slipped off and rested against the side of the crow's nest.
Click!
Nami blinked up at the rifle that she was pretty sure had just told her to go back to bed. This apparently meant that Bonnie Anne was the one actually on night watch.
"What're you gonna do?" the Navigator challenged the rifle. "Shoot and wake everybody up?"
CLICK!
Nami rolled her eyes and made her way up the stairs to the galley. Once inside, she immediately honed in on the abandoned Eternal Pose to Alabasta sitting on the galley table. They clearly weren't using it to navigate since there was now a thin layer of frost that had accumulated around the glass ball. Nami scraped some of the frost off and quickly determined that they were drifting south. They were getting farther and farther away from Alabasta by the minute.
Nami went over to the whipstaff and pushed against it… but it wouldn't budge. Damn… in her weakened condition she didn't have the strength to adjust the rudder.
"You probably shouldn't be doing that."
Nami jumped in surprise. She whirled around and saw Miss Valentine standing in the doorway bundled up in a blanket. The former Pirate Thief's illness had taken its toll on her senses. She hadn't even heard the blonde coming.
"Someone should put a bell on you," Nami remarked.
"I'm finally getting used to these Kilo Kilo Fruit Powers again," Miss Valentine replied. "Floor boards and stairs don't creak under your weight when you only weigh five kilograms." The blonde woman came over and held out her blanket to Nami. "You should put this on."
"You don't need to—" Nami tried to protest but the blonde cut her off.
"Sure I do. I've seen how much everyone on this ship cares about you. It's endearing. I know Sanji would never forgive me if he learned that your condition got worse when there was something I could have done to prevent it. So for both our sake… put it on."
"Fine…" Nami relented. She took the offered blanket and wrapped it around herself, "Sanji, huh?"
"Well… Sabo's sweet and all but even I've noticed that he's really only helping me out of guilt, honor and obligation. Plus everyone keeps mentioning that he has a girlfriend. But I still haven't seen her."
"She's the one that's actually keeping watch while Sabo's busy sleeping," Nami revealed. But the blonde Officer Agent didn't take the bait to go and check.
"Sanji, on the other hand, has been kind to me since the moment I met him," Miss Valentine continued, "He doesn't owe me anything but he's going above and beyond to make my time here more comfortable. Or at least… he was until you got sick then you were his main concern."
Nami raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not jealous!" Miss Valentine quickly assured her. "But the fact that everyone here cares so much about you really makes me realize how lonely I am. I… I can't remember my family… I don't know if I ever had any friends… I'm all alone in your empty men's quarters with just that creepy Mr. 3-guy for company. He keeps telling me not to rub his chest. I didn't, of course. He's not a blonde and it doesn't look like he's got much there to rub. But now even he's not talking to me."
Nami felt a strong twinge of sympathy for the amnesic blonde and decided to try and cheer her up a bit. "Well, the good news is… your condition hasn't changed your taste in men."
Miss Valentine blinked, "It hasn't?"
"You got your head injury because you were distracted fondling Sabo," Nami informed her.
"Kyahaha…" Miss Valentine let out a light laugh, "Too bad I can't remember that part either…"
Nami smirked, "And if you're feeling that lonely, you're welcome to join the others down in my room."
"Oh… I wouldn't want to impose," Miss Valentine refused. She still wasn't taking the bait.
"You're not," Nami told her, "it's my room. I say you're welcome. And as long as you tell Ayako what her evil Uncle asked you when she wakes up, we can say you're there as a favor to me." Nami smirked and added one final touch. "I saw a nice empty space next to Sanji when I was making my way through…"
"Kyahahahaha!" Miss Valentine giggled, "Alright! You've convinced me!"
Yes!
WHUP!
NOO!
"What're you doing!?" Nami yelped as she found herself thrown over the blonde's shoulder.
"I thought I was the one with the bad memory," Miss Valentine remarked, "I already told you that I wasn't going to let you do anything to worsen your condition. I don't want to disappoint my eye candy."
"I take back my invitation!" Nami squealed as she struggled weakly against the much stronger blonde. She definitely weighed a lot more than five kilograms now if her heavy foot falls were anything to go by. "I take it back!"
"Kyahahaha!" Miss Valentine laughed as she carried Nami out of the galley. "I don't need your permission anymore. Now I've actually got a good reason to be down there: keeping the sneaky sick girl from escaping."
"Alright there, Miss Valentine?" Sabo called down from the crow's nest.
"Yup," the blonde chirped, "I'm gonna get this naughty girl back to bed and then stick around to make sure she stays there."
Sabo nodded his thanks. Nami was probably hallucinating at this point because she could've sworn she saw a woman standing in the crow's nest next to Sabo giving her a really smug look. Although the woman wasn't quite human which actually supported Nami's theory that Bonnie Anne was some kind of demon.
CLICK!
Nami blinked. The hallucination was gone. She glared up at the rifle as she was carried into the storage room. The damn riflegeist had blown the whistle on her and alerted both blondes about her intended nocturnal activities. And the demon-bitch-in-the-rifle was now tormenting her strange visions. "You damn rat…"
Early the next morning Usopp, bundled up in a brown winter coat to combat the falling snow, climbed up to the crow's nest to see Sabo with Bonnie Anne cuddled inside his blue coat. The coat in question was notably thicker than normal. He was also wearing a dark blue waistcoat with gray pants instead of his usual beige.
"Are you guys ready to come down?" the Master Gunner inquired. "You've gotta be freezing. When did the snow start?"
"Somewhere around midnight I think," Sabo answered. "I'm not entirely sure. That was Bonnie's shift. Lucky I wore a thicker coat. What time is it?"
"About six," Usopp stated. "You two were up here all night so I thought I'd take over."
"Bonnie and I split the time so it wasn't too bad," Sabo replied. "I figure if we can keep this going and split six four-hour shifts between you, me, Bonnie, Zoro, Sanji and Ayako we can have a round the clock lockout. Vivi has Carue to help her look after Nami which will leave Luffy free to run back and forth between lookout on his seat and Nami-care as much as his short attention span dictates."
"Works for me," Usopp agreed as he climbed into the crow's nest.
"I'll send Zoro to take over for you at around ten," Sabo informed him, "Then Sanji can do his shift in between lunch and dinner. Ayako can go up after dinner which will leave the two night shifts for Bonnie and me again."
"Did you spend all night coming up with that schedule?" Usopp questioned.
"There wasn't anything else to do," Sabo said, "All the good stuff happened during Bonnie's shift." Sabo patted the rifle tucked in his coat. "Poor thing's all tuckered out. Now I'm gonna see if I can find my rifle sleeve to protect her from all this snow."
Sabo left the crow's nest and Usopp took his spot then raised his binoculars and stared off in a distance. "Come on Doctor… come on out…"
"Good morning, Uncle…" Ayako called out to Galdino as she stood over the sleeping sculptor in the men's quarters. The room was empty with the exception of Sabo and Bonnie who were cuddled up together in an overhead hammock sleeping off their late night. "How'd you sleep?"
"Sleep was good…" Mr. 3 replied. He blinked then looked down at the green symbol on his chest. It was entwined with the black Colors Trap which was already there to make a vague 'eight' shape.
"A little birdy told me that you were trying to get the Betrayal Black rubbed off," Ayako commented. "You were trying to fight it using reverse psychology so now I need to get creative. I think that by adding some Calming Green into the mix I can quell any notions you might be harboring about fighting back. The side effects of combining Betrayal Black with Calming Green are going to leave you a little drowsy. So I think I'll call it: Colors Trap… Soporific Midnight Green."
Mr. 3 calmly accepted his fate, closed his eyes and went back to sleep. Ayako took a blanket off of a nearby hammock and wrapped it around the Candle Man, "Sleep tight, Uncle."
Up above deck, Miss Valentine climbed up to the crow's nest and presented a plate to Zoro. The Boatswain had two inches of snow piled on top of him. He was wearing a long pale blue winter coat so he probably didn't even notice the snow and the cold. Miss Valentine was wearing a pale yellow winter coat with orange stripes that she had borrowed from Nami's closet.
"I brought you lunch!" the blonde announced cheerily. "Sanji wanted to personally deliver Nami and Vivi's so I offered to play waitress and give you yours. You've been up here for a few hours now and could probably use something warm."
"Hey…" Zoro suddenly grunted, "Do you think it's possible to stand on water?"
"You're asking the wrong girl… I can't remember anything I've ever heard of," Miss Valentine admitted. "But it might be possible if the water's partially frozen… and if the person doesn't weigh much."
"What about moving water?" Zoro questioned, "Like the sea?"
"I don't think so," Miss Valentine replied, "why?"
"Then what do you make of that…" the Boatswain asked as swapped his binoculars with the plate and pointed ahead of them.
Miss Valentine peered in the direction Zoro had indicated and her green eyes widened in surprise. "THERE'S SOMEONE STANDING ON THE WATER!"
"On the water?" Luffy repeated. He and Usopp dashed up onto the front deck.
A man in a green jester costume with a thick fur coat over it was standing in the middle of the ocean.
Luffy and Usopp rubbed their eyes but the man was still there. He appeared to be some kind of archer judging by the quiver of arrows and the bow that was as long as he was tall that were strapped to his back.
"Hello… Sure is cold out today…"
"Yeah… it is cold," Luffy admitted.
"Cold?" Usopp repeated, "It's freezing. And you're not even wearing a coat."
"Oh… is that so?" the jester-archer said.
"…" everyone stared at the strange man in surprise.
"…" the strange man stared back and seemed just as surprised as them.
SPLOOOOSH!
Suddenly the man rose up out of the sea and revealed that he'd been standing on a platform, a platform that was on top of a mast.
"WAAAHH!" the Straw Hats yelped as the Going Merry rocked back as a massive metal dome emerged from the water.
"WHAT'S THAT THING?!" Luffy exclaimed as he stared at the round metal vessel, "A WATERMELON?"
"EEEP!" Ayako squeaked as she was knocked off her feet from the ship's shaking.
"Huh… what's going on?" Sabo grunted as he sat up in his bunk.
"Zzzz…" the Colors Trap on Mr. 3 kept him sound asleep despite his hammock's rocking.
"WHY IS THE SHIP SHAKING!?" Vivi shrieked. She had upgraded her attire to combat the cold with a white winter coat. Sanji was wearing a black one as well as scarf.
"QUUUAACK!" Carue squawked in surprise.
Sanji acted quickly and lifted Nami's entire bed up off of the ground and balanced it on his leg so the sick Navigator wouldn't be disturbed by the shaking.
"WHAT'RE YOU IDIOTS DOING UP THERE!?" Sanji demanded, "IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO NAMI, I'LL KICK YOUR SKULLS IN!"
CHUNK! CHUNK!
Metal panels came loose from the dome and folded down to reveal a fancy round pirate ship inside. There was a large hippo with a crown serving as the figurehead and a large crew of uniformed men.
"Is that thing… a ship?" Zoro wondered.
"Not just any ship…" Usopp corrected him as he stared up at the skull and cross bones on the black flag. The skull was wearing a crown and its tongue was its lipless mouth which had bolts around it. "Pirates…"
Luffy frowned as he eyed the crown on the figurehead and pirate flag, "Sabo's not going to like this…"
"MAHAHAHAHAHA!" a man on the ship laughed, "WERE YOU SURPRISED BY BLIKING, MY SUBMERSIBLE ATTACK SHIP?"
"Why now of all times?" Zoro grumbled.
A moment later, Sabo climbed up from the men's quarters. Bonnie Anne was strapped on his back in a black zip up rifle sleeve with her nozzle pointing outward. "Hey guys, what's with all the commotion?
Click! Click! Click!
The Quartermaster's response was six men in black fur-lined uniforms aiming their rifles at him. He remained perched on the third to last step of the latter and discretely stuck his hand back down into the trap door to signal for the young Artist below him on the ladder to remain quiet.
"Oh… I see we've been boarded," Sabo noted. He slowly raised his hands up in momentary surrender when he saw that a grand total of thirty uniformed men were holding Luffy, Usopp, Zoro and Miss Valentine at gunpoint.
THUNK!
The storage room door swung open and Sanji dashed out. "What's going…" the Ship's Cook trailed off and calmly lit up a cigarette as he took in the situation. "So what happened?"
"We got ambushed," Luffy informed him as he sat casually on the rear railing of the front deck and ignored the seven rifles that were pointed at him. He was a stark contrast to Usopp who was also on the front deck. He had three armed gunmen standing around him and was stiff as a board with his arms stretched high up over his head in surrender. Zoro looked annoyed at the two men that were holding him and Miss Valentine at gunpoint up in the crow's nest. The amnesic assassin looked terrified and had slipped behind the Boatswain.
Click! Click! Click!
"I figured as much," Sanji said as four soldiers aimed at him.
"So that makes six of you…" a fat man on the railing recounted. His jaw was round with had a metallic sheen that made it look like a tin can. He had the same bolts around his lips as his ship's Jolly Roger. He wore a metallic coat that looked like was made of metal and nailed together as well as a furry white cloak with a hippo's head for the hood. "I highly doubt there are only six people on this ship…"
Munch… Munch…
The fat man was snacking on a slab of meat that was pierced on a fancy jewel encrusted dagger. But then he took another big bite and ate not just the meat but the blade of the dagger as well.
CHOMP!
"Let me ask you something," the fat man said as he finished off his snack by tossing the jewel encrusted handle into his mouth and swallowing it down.
GULP!
"Did that guy just eat a dagger?" Luffy exclaimed.
"M-my teeth hurt just from watching!" Usopp whimpered.
"Did you see the jewels on that dagger?" Sabo asked, "That seems wasteful."
"We're trying to find Drum Kingdom," the fat man explained, "Do any of you happen to have an Eternal Pose or a Log Pose on you that'll lead us there?"
"I'll handle this Luffy," Sabo volunteered. He eyes briefly drifted over the round pirate ship and the crown-wearing skull on its flag before lowering so he could address the man on the railing ahead of him. "We're the Straw Hat Pirates. My name's Sabo and I am the Quartermaster of the crew. That, my corpulent friend, is called an introduction." The fat man blinked and seemed unaware that Sabo had just insulted him. "It's proper etiquette to introduce yourself before asking something of someone else. That's strike one."
"I'm Wapol, Captain of the Tin Can King Pirates," the fat man sneered. "And I wasn't asking! I'm demanding!"
Sabo looked over at Sanji, "You hear this guy? He sounds like Don Krieg." Sabo turned back to Wapol. "Second rule of negotiation, you need to be willing to offer something in exchange. I'll tell you everything I know about Drum Kingdom… if you agree to loan us a doctor for a bit."
The Straw Hats' eyes widened. The thought that their enemy attackers could have a doctor on board their ship hadn't crossed their minds. They collectively decided to let the Quartermaster do his thing.
Miss Valentine leaned closer to Zoro, "Does he actually know anything about Drum Kingdom?" she inquired quietly.
"I doubt it," Zoro whispered.
"This isn't a negotiation!" Wapol growled, "This is an interrogation! Yes, I have doctors on my ship. They're twenty of the finest medical minds in the world! But they're for my exclusive use only! I wouldn't share them with the likes of you!"
"So you're hoarding your doctors to yourself," Sabo recounted. "That's rather selfish of you. Strike two."
"You seem to be forgetting something important about negotiation too!" Wapol snapped. "You need to have something called leverage. My men outnumber you five to one and I've got twenty-two more back on my ship. If you don't have the information I'm after then I'll settle for taking all your treasure. Anyone that gets in my way will be shot on the spot!"
"No, no, that doesn't work for me," Sabo casually replied, "How about a counteroffer? You can stand down now and we'll allow you to take your men and withdraw peacefully. We'll give you as long as it takes for one of your doctors to examine our sick crewmate. However, if you refuse my very considerate offer then any injuries and casualties that your forces incur will be on your hands."
"I'm the Ki-Captain!" Wapol exclaimed, "My soldiers know to do everything I ask them without question! I'm no common pirate! I'm Captain Wapol! I'm a big deal! I'll teach you some respect, smart mouth!" Wapol hopped off the railing and pointed his finger at Sabo. "Munch Munch Shock… Finger Dagger…"
Shoom!
Wapol's extended finger transformed and now resembled the dagger he'd eaten earlier. He waved the sharp blade in Sabo's face.
"Oh… I see you've got Devil Fruit Powers," Sabo noted.
"That's right," Wapol boasted, "I ate the Munch Munch Fruit. I can eat anything and make it part of myself. Now show me some respect or I'll devour your ship! You'd better apologize now!"
"Alright… I'm sorry…" Sabo apologized.
Wapol smirked, "Not good enough. Where'd your manners go all of a sudden? A proper apology is done with a bow. Grovel for forgiveness… and maybe I'll only eat half of your ship."
"…" Sabo's face went blank. His eyes were shaded by the brim of his top hat.
Luffy shook his head, "He shouldn't have said that…"
Usopp lowered his hands, "That guy's toast…"
Zoro rolled his eyes, "Great… now he has an excuse…"
Sanji took a slow drag of his cigarette, "And that's strike three…"
"Got a problem with that?" Wapol challenged Sabo. "Or perhaps you'd prefer it if I cut your tongue out?"
"No… I'll bow…" Sabo agreed with a dark smirk, "I'll give you all the respect that you deserve…"
Ayako climbed back down the ladder. "I don't know what's going on… but I know malice when I hear it."
Still only halfway out of the flap in the floor, Sabo swept off his top hat and bent forward into a low bow. "BURST FIRE… BARRAGE!" Bonnie Anne opened fire without Sabo having to pull her trigger.
KER-CHOW-CHOW-CHOW!
Three rounds plugged Wapol's chest in the span of two seconds and blasted him back into the railing.
FWIP!
Sabo flipped out of the trap door swung Bonnie off his back and smashed his sleeved rifle upside Wapol's tin can jaw. "KNOCK BACK!"
WHAAAAM!
Wapol's metallic jaw was dented as he went flying off the Going Merry, clear over his own ship and disappeared into the snowy sky.
"YOU BASTARD!" a bearded man with an afro and boxing gloves shouted from back on Bliking, "YOU SHOT CAPTAIN WAPOL! HE CAN'T SWIM! FALL BACK, MEN! RETREAT!"
Wapol's soldiers fled the Going Merry like it was on fire.
"GET THE 20 MDS ON STAND BY!" the jester archer yelled, "HURRY!"
Click!
Sabo pointed Bonnie Anne at the two gunmen that had just climbed down from the crow's nest. "You two… Leave your coats…" The two soldiers shared a look then quickly shucked off their black fur coats and rushed off after their crew.
"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS, PIRATES!" the afro-boxer hollered as Bliking sailed off after its lost Captain.
"REMEMBER US!" the jester-archer shouted as the ship departed.
Sabo looked up and saw Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, Sanji and Miss Valentine all staring at him. Ayako popped out of the hole in the floor and stared at him along with the others.
"What?" Sabo asked. "You can't tell me you didn't see that coming."
"The guy did have a crown on his flag," Sanji admitted.
"I'm actually surprised you held off as long as you did," Zoro confessed.
"Sabo could've let us fight too, though," Luffy grumbled.
"Hey, you might be immune to bullets but the Going Merry isn't!" Usopp scolded him. "And neither am I for that matter!"
"Good point," Miss Valentine chimed in, "What do you think would've happened to this ship if those thirty gunmen suddenly opened fire?"
"I never even got to see him…" Ayako complained. "But he sure sounded like bad news."
"It would've been nice if we could've had one of his doctors to take a look at Nami-swan," Sanji said.
"Not likely," Zoro replied, "That Wapol was really shady. I wouldn't trust any of his men on this ship."
"Did you say 'Wapol'?" Everyone turned to see that Vivi had come out of the storage room. "Sorry… I heard gunshots."
"Yeah, Sabro and Bonnie just blew that guy off our ship," Usopp informed her.
"Have you ever heard of him, Vivi?" Sanji inquired.
Vivi sighed. "Yes… I met him six years ago at a Reverie that I attended with my father."
"What's a Reverie?" Luffy asked.
"An annual meeting held between the rulers of the kingdoms that make up the World Government," Sanji answered. He and Vivi stared pointedly at Sabo. "Any second now…"
"WHAAAAT? YOU MEAN I JUST CLOBBERED A KING!?"
"THAT FAT GUY WAS KING!?" Luffy exclaimed, "Then why is he the Captain of a pirate crew?"
"I don't know," Vivi admitted, "Six years ago he was the ruler of Drum Kingdom. Alabasta and Drum Kingdom are like night and day. My country is a desert on a Summer Island while Drum Kingdom is a snowy Winter Island. The same goes for their Kings. My father and Wapol are polar opposites." Vivi looked sheepishly at Sabo, "If there was ever a King that fit your view of a tyrannical ruler… it's Wapol."
"DIBS!" Sabo shouted, "I CALL DIBS! If we ever run into King Wapol again… he's mine!" He stared around him at the others, "What? You guys can't tell me that you weren't expecting this."
"What if I wanna fight him?" Luffy asked.
"You're fighting a Warlord when we get to Alabasta, remember?" Sabo reminded him.
"Oh, you're right," Luffy agreed. "Keep your crummy King. I'm gonna kick Crocodile's ass!"
"Kings and Warlords don't matter right now," Sanji insisted, "What matters most is finding a Doctor."
"Drum Kingdom is a Winter Island…" Vivi stated, "Maybe this snow means we're approaching it. We'd have to be extremely lucky to find it from traveling on a straight course like this."
"There's no one luckier than Luffy," Sabo assured her. "Unfortunately… it's a combination of good and bad luck. The good luck means he always ends up in the right place at the right time. But the bad luck usually leads to us walking into a heap of trouble."
"RIGHT! KEEP GOING STRAIGHT!" Luffy exclaimed. "WE'LL FIND CRUMB KINGDOM!"
"That's Drum Kingdom," Usopp corrected him.
"Oh… I guess I'm hungry," Luffy realized… then his eyes bulged. "GAH! WE FORGOT ABOUT LUNCH!" The rubber man crossed the ship in the blink of an eye and was instantly slipping into the galley.
"Everything's probably cold by now…" Sanji admitted, "At least he won't let it go to waste."
"I'll go tell Nami that everything's okay," Vivi decided. "Keep an eye on the weather. Stable weather means we're approaching an island. If it stops snowing that means we've passed it." On that note the Princess slipped back into the storage room.
"Can I have this?" Ayako requested as she abandoned the blanket she'd been wearing and picked up one of the uniforms that Sabo had forced two of Wapol's soldiers to leave behind.
Sabo nodded, "That's why I told them to leave them. Nami didn't plan for all these extra people when she went shopping at Loguetown. Although… you might want to swap for a smaller one…"
"This is fine," Ayako said. The long man's coat was huge on the small Artist. The bottom of the coat dragged on the deck and the sleeves hung off of her arms. "I can paint it, right?"
"It's your coat, do whatever you want with it," Sabo told her.
"You're gonna paint that… with your hypno-paints?" Usopp questioned as he went over to Ayako and eyed her new coat.
"Yup, wanna help?" the Artist offered.
"Would I get hypnotized?" Usopp inquired. "Would you get hypnotized wearing it?"
"I'm immune to the scent of my paints," Ayako informed him, "And you won't be hypnotized unless the paint is in the shape of one of my Colors Traps."
"Cool!" Usopp exclaimed, "I'll help you out." The two vanished down into the men's quarters.
"Should I give Nami her coat back?" Miss Valentine asked as she finally climbed back down from the crow's nest. She glanced down at the yellow coat she was wearing and eyed the thick black uniform.
"Nah, that coat looks like it's made for you," Sabo said as he picked up the uniform. "These coats seem thicker so we'll save it for Nami when we take her off the ship to the Doctor." Sabo lobbed the uniform over to Sanji who nodded and headed back into the Nami's room.
"So… about lunch?" Miss Valentine said to Sabo.
"Something tells me it's all gone at this point," Sabo told her.
"ALRIGHT! I'M DONE EATING!" Luffy shouted as he ran out of the galley and dashed back to the figurehead.
"ALL OF IT!?" Miss Valentine exclaimed as she rushed up to the galley, "There were ten meals in there!"
"Keep the ship sailing straight!" Luffy instructed from his perch on the figurehead stared off in a distance. "We'll find the Doctor that way!"
"Aye, Captain," Zoro called down from the crow's nest. "I'll keep my eyes peeled."
Sabo stood alone on the main deck and glanced down at Bonnie Anne, "This has been a good day for us. It's not even two and we already got to beat up a King." The Quartermaster looked off the side of the Going Merry in the direction that Wapol's ship had long since vanished in. "Do you think we'll see him again?"
KER-CHOW!
Sabo grinned, "I'll be ready for him."
Alright, so who had five minutes after meeting him? Bonus points for anyone who said Sabo would connect with three shots to the chest.
Can any of you honestly say that you didn't see Sabo versus Wapol coming?
I'm getting this out of the way now: Sabo is taking the Wapol fights. ALL of the Wapol fights. Luffy's victory over Wapol in canon is minor at best. It isn't recognized and it doesn't do anything for him beyond recruiting Chopper. His best moment from the whole battle is the unbreakable pirate flag bit. My battle at Drum Castle is going to be a HUGE turning point for Sabo so he needed to snag this one. Luffy will still have Crocodile when they get to Alabasta. That's the battle that will be globally recognized.
Silver signing off
A/N: 11-28-16 - Sorry crew, I had a family emergency that kept me from updating last week. And it looks like I'm going to be spending December taking care of my mother. This means I'm putting Brother on Board on hold until after the holidays. Sorry to disappoint but family comes first. I PROMISE I'll be back next year.