So of the two of you that responded, neither of you wanted me to forget this story. I never planned on doing that but thanks for the support regardless!
Navi: You already posted the first chapter of the other story and haven't gotten any feedback on it.
That might be because I changed the rating from M to T which means it wasn't given any attention because it was never on the front page of the archive.
BUT ANYWAY, you don't care about any of that, you are here for the story of a girl with no legs (which I will explain) and a penchant for GUNS. So let's get into that, shall we?
Chapter 6: Getting to know you
Going Merry, Open Sea
Jenny sat on the deck tinkering with her pistol. It was still a design in progress. It had six barrels that rotated with each shot of the pistol. This made it able to fire much faster than normal, single barrel pistols but sacrificed a bit of power for it, as the barrels couldn't be too thick or else the gun would be too cumbersome. Therefore the bullets couldn't be too big or the gunpowder too powerful or else the barrels would shatter. Sadly the rotating mechanism also jammed a lot and so required a lot of maintenance. Jenny's hands were moving on autopilot as she observed the crew that she had joined, at least until she found her brother.
They were not what you would expect from a typical pirate crew. They did have some of the elements you would expect, like Nami's greed, Ussop's cowardice, and Zoro's tendency towards violence, but other than that they were a surprisingly easy going bunch. They hadn't even questioned her about her legs. It had been interesting discussing sleeping arrangements. Nami hadn't wanted to sleep in the same room as a marine's daughter, but at the same time thought it would be indecent for a girl to sleep in the same room as three guys. It wasn't until Jenny said she would just sleep in the armory in the bow that the matter was resolved.
Nami was currently checking the crew's heading in the galley, Zoro was sleeping on the roof of the galley, Ussop was on the aft deck and Luffy was rummaging around in the armory looking for something. Jenny briefly wondered if she should be concerned about that when the strange captain burst out of the door with a crate of cannon balls in his arms. Luffy was a true mystery. When she had first heard him talk about his dream, the determination in his eyes had made her second guess her opinion that he was just an idiot in a straw hat. However after spending the past half day with the crew she had discovered that he was exactly that. Determination or no, the boy was a moron.
Jenny watched as he walked excitedly to the back of the ship before deciding to see what he had come up with to amuse himself. She found him messing with the aft cannon with Ussop.
"I found a bunch of cannon balls, so I wanna test out the cannon!" Luffy exclaimed. Jenny cast a glance at the cannon itself. It was small, basic, and probably made out of low quality iron, but it was functional. She looked out over the water at a pillar of rock situated a good way away from them.
"If you're going for target practice, that looks safe," Jenny suggested. Luffy quickly load the cannon and pointed it at the pillar, not really taking aim or anything. Naturally he missed.
"What the hell was that?!" Zoro asked, waking up, as Nami ran out of the galley, wondering the same thing.
"Luffy's playing with the cannon," Jenny said simply. Zoro looked confused while Nami just rolled her eyes.
"Here, let the master have a go," Ussop said, stepping up. He bent over the cannon, muttering to himself about angle and wind. That surprised her, a fellow sniper? He naturally made an impressive shot, shattering the boulder on the first try. This prompted Luffy to make him their sharpshooter.
Jenny snorted. "I coulda done that," she mumbled, a little put out that one shot with a cannon earned Ussop that title. No no, Jenny, she thought to herself, be nice, he obviously has skill, and he's been here longer than you.
Nami announced that she had made sandwiches for the crew, so they all piled in the galley to eat. As they all sat at the small table eating, Jenny could feel their eyes on her. Well, except Luffy, he had his face in his food.
"You need something?" she asked, startling the more suspicious members of the crew.
"Well we just wanted to know," Ussop started, obviously nervous, "what happened to your l-" Nami cut him off before he could ask the obvious question.
"Why didn't you say goodbye to anyone in your village?" she said quickly, trying to cover up what Ussop was saying. The question she did ask caught Jenny off guard.
"Oh, well I did say goodbye to my teacher, but other than him I really had no to say goodbye to."
"Why, didn't you have friends?" Luffy said, now interested. Nami whacked him over the head for the insensitive comment.
"Well I did," Jenny answered, holding in a laugh, "they just managed to leave home before I did." She sat in silence for a moment, thinking about her friends. "I had three. Friends, I mean. A fashionista, an idiot and a psychopath. They were the best friends I ever had." She sat, lost in memories for a moment.
"So what's up with your legs?" Zoro finally asked. Nami looked ready to straight up assault him for the stupid question.
"Finally!" Jenny exclaimed, "I thought you guys were going to pussyfoot around it forever!"
"W-well we just thought-" Nami began.
"You thought it was a sensitive topic," Jenny said, smiling and shaking her head. She looked down at her legs, exposed because she was wearing shorts. "Mine collapse," she said pointing to her right leg, "That was…" Three days of starvation, with the only water being dripped from a stalactite nearby, it was simply put, Hell, "an experience. This one I lost to infection," pointing to her left. "Honestly it's been four years since I lost the first one," tapping her left leg lightly, "I designed it, Daedalus provided… input, and once he thought it looked good we put it together, although I've been thinking about improving it." She then looked at her other leg, "This puppy was all me though, designed, casted, forged and assembled by me."
Jenny began to go 'full engineer mode' as her friends used to call it. "The real tough part was getting the nerves to connect and give me the ability to move the damn things, otherwise I'd just have a very fancy peg leg. As is, when the nerves did connect it hurt like a bitch. I did however make them detachable, the legs I mean, usually I'd leave them on for maintenance, but for serious repairs I remove them to..." Jenny looked up at the uncomprehending faces of the crew. "Ahem, sorry," she said, blushing and looking away.
"I've only got one more question," Nami said, causing everyone to turn to her. "Why did you, the daughter of a famous marine and pirate hunter, agree to come with a group of pirates?"
"Why, do you think I can't handle myself?" Jenny said as she stabbed a knife into the table just in front of Luffy's hand as he tried to steal her food. While the rest of the crew was shocked he had been caught, Luffy was not deterred, and just stole the rest of her sandwich with his other hand. Jenny glared at him when she realized she'd been tricked. "What were you? Raised by mountain bandits?"
Before Luffy could answer, they heard a smash outside and a voice saying, "Come out pirates!"
"What the-" Zoro said as the crew stood up.
Luffy was the first to the door, opening it to reveal a man in a blue jacket and sunglasses with a tattoo on the side of his face that said 'sea' in kanji smashing parts of the ship. After a short confrontation where Luffy thoroughly trounced the guy, Zoro recognized the man as an old bounty hunting buddy of his named Johnny. Johnny revealed that he had been on the boulder that they had fired on with his sick partner, Yosaku. He had no idea what was wrong with his partner so he brought the injured man on board.
"I-is he gonna die, Zoro-bro?" Johnny asked, tears water falling out from underneath his shades.
"He'll be fine, he's just got scurvy," Jenny said, leaning over his head.
"Right, Luffy, Ussop, get some limes," Nami said kneeling next to his wounded chest.
"What? Why?" Luffy said confused.
"JUST DO IT!" Nami screamed, spurring the two into action. While they got the fruit and subsequently squeezed them into Yosaku's mouth, Nami explained how scurvy was a huge problem for sailors before refrigeration on ships. Just as she finished her explanation, Yosaku burst awake, apparently healed.
"That's… just not possible," Jenny said, dumbfounded at the sight of the two dancing bounty hunters.
"THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS! YOU CAN'T JUST BE FINE!" Nami was yelling.
"I think he's been brought back by the power of sheer stupidity," Jenny said still a little shocked. The two dancing dunces then kneeled before the pirates (and Nami, technically), and introduced themselves as Zoro's old bounty hunting buddies.
And then Yosaku passed out again.
After putting him in the hold to rest, the crew plus Johnny gathered in the galley once again.
"I think this should be a lesson to us," Nami said, "There's another crew member we need before we head to the Grand Line."
"Someone who can make nutritious food with limited ingredients," said Ussop.
"And make it tasty!" Luffy said, drooling slightly.
"Could you do it?" Zoro said, turning to Jenny, who shook her head.
"I can't make food that good," she said, "Generally what I make are things like pies and stews, comfort foods with a lot of stuff in them that are high in calories."
"We need a sea cook, then." Luffy declared, in a rare show of leadership.
"A sea cook?" Johnny spoke up. The crew turned to him as he continued, "I know the perfect place for one."
"Really? Where?" Nami asked.
"The floating restaurant," Jenny paled when he said that. Please don't let it be where I think it is.
"Baratie."
Shit.
Finite
That took WAAAAY longer than it should have. Sorry if I got some of the dialogue wrong it's been awhile since I've seen early One Piece. Anyway what'd ya think?
CL4PTP: Why did she react that way to the idea of going to the Baratie?
Navi: You'll have to be patient and wait for the next chapter. Right?
Yep. Well that's all I have to say for now.
Favorite if you can!
Navi: Review if you want!
Ciao-Smith