Long time no see!
How's life everyone?
Well I must say, doing math while you have a headache is really freaking hard! Not only that but I had to get a ride to school today because it was thirty degrees below freezing! There should be signs posted everywhere after Halloween where I live. They all should say 'BEWARE! Winter is coming!' cause that is how bad it can get.
Other than that life is long, and hard, and painful, but we just got to live it. Sometimes that sucks!
Sorry for my little 'Philosophy Moment'.
That's all, I promise!
Now let's get on with the story...
"LET ME OUT!" I screamed. I had been stuck in this room for practically FOREVER! Nami kept giving me these looks of 'Really?' every single time I banged on the door. In the end I resorted to screaming my lungs out.
"Open the-" I placed my weight on the door knob and pushed my face to the glass of the window. The door made a click noise as the knob fell downward. The door flew open and I crashed through it, stumbling over and falling to the floor. I pushed myself up from the ground and glared at Nami.
"Do you mean to tell me it wasn't even LOCKED!?" I yelled at Nami.
"I guess you just didn't notice." She shrugged. I jumped up and down to the lower deck near her. I pointed a finger at her chest and glared into her eyes. Her face went from nonchalant to a grimace.
"I am this close t-"
"I know you won't do anything. You love me too much." She stated, smiling and hitting my finger away.
"I- uh... Shut up!" I yelled, crossing my arms and turning away from her. My eyes caught on two new people. The one from earlier with the sunglasses and a tattoo on his cheek. Now there was a man with a green jacket, a red helmet like thing, and he was pale with blood showing through some bandages around his stomach as well as coming out of his nose and some cut under his helmet. He was also missing a tooth. He seemed to be unconscious and breathing heavy.
"Who are these two?" I asked, looking up at the conscious one.
"Oh, my names Johnny and this is Yosaku." The tattoo cheek one introduced.
"My names Takara." I held out my hand for him to shake it. He grabbed my hand with both of his, cupping it.
"I'm sorry for ruining your fine ship Takara, I promise to make it up to you." He then pulled my hand up and kissed the back of it gently. I felt a light blush creep onto my cheeks. I retracted my arm, hiding it behind my back while scratching my head with my other arm. The blush was clearly visible on my cheeks.
"No, no. It's perfectly fine." I laughed nervously. I lowered both my arms back to my side as I looked down at Yosaku. Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around my waist and I was pulled back. Luffy's head appeared over my shoulder and a bunch of limes covered the ground below me. I felt a heavier blush appear when I realized where Luffy's hands were.
"Don't do that to Taka!" He yelled over my shoulder.
"Luffy." I said calmly, he turned his head and looked at me. I looked down, to hide my blush. My arms where trapped at my sides.
"What is it?" He asked, clearly clueless.
"If you want to keep your hands I suggest you let go of me right now." I continued my calm demeanor.
"What do you mean? Aren't these your hips?" He squeezed his hands. Somehow I managed to escape his grasp and kick the side of his head as I spun around. I glared down at his body on the floor next to me, he was still conscious.
"Little too low to be my hips!" I yelled. He looked at his hands for a moment, reenacting what just happened in his head. He then looked up at me, blushing. He flew up and put both his hands on my shoulders.
"I'm SO sorry Taka!" He apologized.
"When did you start using that nickname again?" I asked. He thought for a moment before shrugging.
"Luffy! The limes!" Nami ordered.
"Right!" Luffy quickly picked up all the limes before running over to Usopp. They both began dripping lime juice onto Yosaku's face. I walked over and stood on the right of Johnny, who was next to Nami, and Zoro stood on the other side of her
"He's got scurvy." Nami said downheartedly as we watched Usopp and Luffy.
"Scurvy?" Johnny questioned.
"If we weren't too late he'll be just fine in a few days." Nami replied.
"Ha! Really Big Sis! Really! Thank you, Big Sis!" Johnny stated, getting up close to Nami and thanking her. She easily pushed away Johnny's face.
"Please, don't call me that. It sounds so dumb. Besides, I'm not a magician. This used to be a hopeless disease that plagued sailors, and we just know how to deal with it now." Nami told him, totally uninterested.
"Come on, he's just thankful." I encouraged Nami to be nicer.
"Thank you as well Little Sis Taka!" He turned and hugged me. "You have such a great crew!" He told me as he set me back down.
"HEY! I'm the captain!" Luffy shouted, he squeezed the lime's tighter and I watched as lime juice got in his eyes. He let out a small cry of pain before blinking it out and getting back to work.
"Is he serious? I mean, you had such authority when you got out here. He's just..." He motioned to Luffy.
"Yup, but he wanted this. I'm just the first mate." I told him.
"Scurvy is caused by a simple deficiency of plant derived nutrients, like vitamin C. Back in the old days they couldn't carry fresh fruits and vegetables because they couldn't store them. We know better now." I watched as Luffy and Usopp began stuffing limes into the poor guys mouth.
"You're smart!" Luffy turned to us. "Like a doctor!" He mused.
"Well, now how bout that. I was right. She isn't dumb." Usopp shrugged. Meanwhile, Yosaku began quietly coughing, but nonetheless I still managed to hear it. He then reached up in a panic towards his mouth. I ran over and shoved Usopp out of the way. I reached a hand behind Yosaku's back and lifted his top half up. From there I began patting and rubbing his back.
"YOU GUYS ARE MORONS! EVERY SAILOR SHOULD KNOW ABOUT SCURVY!" Nami screamed at the unsuspecting boys. Yosaku began coughing out all the lime's stuffed in his mouth. Everyone turned toward us. Yosaku sat up straight, lime juice covering his face from earlier. He was no longer pale, or bleeding. He jumped up and instantly he and Johnny were jumping around in some kind of happy dance.
"Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!" They both cheered.
"Watch, he's gonna crash." I whispered to Nami.
"Probably." She nodded in agreement. "YOU CAN'T HEAL THAT QUICKLY!" She suddenly yelled at the other two boys. They then stopped and turned to all of us.
"Let us introduce ourselves." They both began.
"My name is Johnny." Johnny stated, he had an arm crossed in front of him and his other arm turned up toward his face.
"And I'm Yosaku." Yosaku told us. He stood in a mirrored position to the left of Johnny. Except he had his hand on his chin, and a cigarette in his mouth.
"Together we're the baddest pirate bounty hunting duo in the world." They said at the same time, once more.
"Big Bro Zoro there used to be one of us." Johnny began.
"Glad to make your acquaintance." Yosaku finished. Zoro pushed past us and over to the duo.
"Small world. Never thought I'd see you guys again." He told them, he stopped a couple feet in front of them
"Well if you think your surprised." Johnny stated.
"We never imagined the pirate hunter Zoro became a pirate himself." Yosaku told him. This was all way too confusing for me.
"Tell me about it." Zoro stuck out his hand and Johnny grabbed it in some kind of shake.
"Big Bro." Johnny stated. Yosaku went to do the same when he went pale again and passed out. His body landed with a heavy thud.
"Timber." I whispered to Nami who laughed silently.
"Du.. uh... Hey, partner?" Johnny pleaded.
"Luffy, help me." I stated. I walked over to Yosaku and pulled his left arm over my shoulders. Luffy ran over and took the other arm. Together we carried Yosaku to a small side room beside the kitchen. We laid him on some kind of table and left him to sleep, joining everyone else in the kitchen to talk. Well, it wasn't really talking. Zoro was asleep against the wall, Usopp was eating which Luffy happily joined in, Johnny stood in the corner, and Nami wrote in a journal. We were all quiet and I sat next to Nami. I reached out and grabbed a loaf of bread munching on it. We all waited in silence, the only sound coming from Nami writing. The sun slowly went down and disappeared.
"Let this be a lesson to you." Nami began, breaking the silence.
"Yup, this is the kinda trouble you run into when you chose a life on the sea." Zoro chimed in.
"Which means when we're at sea, we really gotta think about how we can get the right amount of nutrients with very little food." Usopp joined.
"I veto Nami's earlier suggestion. I don't know how to do that." I commented. Leaning back against the wall.
"It's absolutely necessary that someone on this ship knows how to do that." Nami told us. Luffy took a bite of food.
"It'sh nesheshary?" He chewed. He swallowed fast. "Right! This ship needs a cook!" Everyone looked up at Luffy. He stood up and placed his hands on the table. "Let's go find us a cook!" He exclaimed.
"I'm in! Good idea. We'll have yummy food even while we're out at sea." Usopp stated, standing beside Luffy who was smiling wildly.
"Agreed!" I proclaimed, raising an arm up.
"That's right! You got it!" Luffy told us.
"A cook? I know just the place, and the food is gonna blow your mind." Johnny chimed in. This peaked my interest. We were practically in the middle of nowhere, where was he talking about?
"Alright! Let's go! Where to?" Luffy pushed, his smile never faltering.
"Consider yourselves warned." Johnny began. "This place is close to the Grand Line." He walked over towards Zoro. "And I've heard a lot of rumors lately. That a certain hawk-eyed man your looking for is there." Zoro grabbed his swords and gave a creepy smile. A hawk-eyed man? Good he be talking about Uncle Drac? "Set a course." He pointed towards the wall away from the door. "North North East! Our destination is, the sea restaurant, BARATIE!" He declared. I jumped up and grabbed Johnny's other arm. He turned towards me, a smile still on his face.
"What 'hawk-eyed man' are you talking about?" I asked, he had to look down a few inches to meet my gaze. He turned and patted my head.
"Nothing that concerns you Little Sis Takara." He declares, brushing me off. Luffy, Usopp, and Zoro lead him out of the room and down to a room to stay in. Once they had left I walked over to the wall and punched it. No mark was left on the wall, but somehow I managed to hurt my hand.
"OW!" I shouted, holding my right hand. Nami rushed over and grabbed my arm, examining my hand.
"What was that about?" She asked me, looking at the redness around my knuckles.
"I hate it when people treat me like a kid. I deserve every right as they do to know things." I declared, looking at the floor. She pushed my head up so we were looking each other in the eye.
"I promise to never keep things from you." She then brought me into a hug. I felt her heartbeat skip. It broke my heart, that skip, it told me she was lying.
"So... What do you think?" Johnny announced. Our ship was on a direct course with another ship. The other ship was shaped kinda like a fish and had 'BARATIE' printed in blue on the side. It was actually kinda cool looking. We stood at the front of our ship gazing out at the ship before us.
"Wow! It's a big fish!" Luffy cheered.
"How lovely!" Nami commented.
"It's the coolest place ever!" Usopp announced.
"It's amazing" I awed. It was very quaint looking.
"Just like I told you right?" Johnny asked. Suddenly a chorus of bells, and horns, and whistles went off to the ship's right. We all turned to see, of all things, a Marine's ship! It was ginormous compared to our ship. It had cannons all over the side of it. I ran over to the bow of the ship. I climbed up onto the bow and held on, peering over as closely as I could at the ship. It went at the same pace as us towards the huge Baratie. Maybe they were just coming to eat, like us? A man came out into view. He wore a white tuxedo with a blue shirt under it. He also had pink hair and a scar across his right cheek. He smashed a hand onto the rail of his ship, his knuckles were made of metal.
"I am Iron Fist Fullbody!" He announced. "But you can just call me Sir. You there! Who's the captain? Identify yourself." Luffy paraded forward.
"My name is Luffy!" He told 'Sir'. Usopp stepped in front of Luffy.
"My name is Usopp, got it!" He declared.
"We only made out flag the day before yesterday." Luffy tried to continue.
"That's right Marine, and I drew it!" Usopp continued to interrupt. Luffy gave him annoyed looks of disapproval.
"Heh, you did? Is that so? Hey, you two! Right there." I couldn't see his eyes, but they seemed to be looking at Johnny and Yosaku hiding behind a door. "I've seen you before. Your that bounty hunter duo that goes after the small fish, right?" Johnny jumped out.
"No, well we..." Johnny stammered.
"So, you've finally been caught by pirates." Sir continued.
"Well... actually we..." Johnny couldn't quite make full sentences.
"Heheheheh, oh that's a laugh." Sir declared. I didn't like him! A girl with blonde curly hair walked out from behind him and hooked her arms around Sir's arm. They began talking to each other, just inaudible. They looked like they were about to leave.
"Hey wait!" Johnny announced himself. He was going to get us killed, this was not a man to play with. "You think small type bounty hunters would go after these guys?" He yelled, throwing tons of papers from inside his jacket. As the papers slowly fell I noticed that they were all 'Wanted' papers. Sir ignored us and walked away toward the other end of his ship. He stopped in front of his men and gave them a thumbs up. He slowly moved his thumb to point down.
"Luffy! They're planning something." I called out quiet enough that they wouldn't hear. He gave me a knowing look before I noticed Nami crouching in front of Johnny and Yosaku. She had one of the papers in her hand and she looked depressed.
"Hey, you guys, look!" We turned to see Usopp staring at the other ship. "They are pointing a cannon right at us!" He yelled.
"Everybody down!" I shouted. A blast was fired, smoke dispersing in every direction.
"Leave it to me!" Luffy climbed onto the railing. He wrapped his legs around a rail post and got ready to stretch his arms. "Gum Gum!" He stretched out, one arm hooking to the mass and the other hooking onto the ram horn next to me. He began stretching back as the cannon ball hit him.
"Get down!" I shouted again, shoving Usopp's head down.
"Slingshot!" Luffy screamed. There was a creak and the part of the ram's horn he had been holding broke off. His arm went flying back at him and the course of his 'Slingshot' was now aimed at me! The cannon ball went flying forward, catching me as it flew towards the Baratie. I didn't get any time to think as I was thrown into a wall of the Baratie and the cannon crashed into the roof a floor above me. There was a giant explosion above my head and I quickly covered it to bloke from any debris.
"God!" I groaned, holding my back, which now hurt because of the wall.
"You all right?" I turned and looked up at a man with blonde hair covering his left eye. He wore a nice fancy tuxedo, this one black. He also had a cut little curl at the end of his eyebrow. "I mean, normal ladies wouldn't be able to handle a crash like that." He stepped over and offered me a hand up. I took it and he pulled me to my feet. "You on the other hand are another story." He let go of my hand and reached for my hair. He pulled it forward and twisted it in his fingers. "It's a beautiful color, just right on a gorgeous lady like yourself." He complimented. I felt a blush grow on my cheeks. Two guys in twenty-four hours, three if you counted Luffy which I didn't. He seemed a bit surprised by the blush on my cheeks.
"I'm sorry If I caused any trouble." I bowed in apology.
"No need, just give me the name of such a pretty face." He stated pulling up on my chin so I looked directly into his eye. I felt the blush grow more.
"Takara." I stated briefly.
"Nice to meet you Takara, my names Sanji. Why don't you come with me." It was more of an order than a request as he hooked my arm in his and walked me down to the main floor. "I can have the best table, and the best wine gotten for you. I will also prepare your meal myself. Not like anyone else will do a better job." I heard him mutter the last part. He walked me to a two seated table with a nice table cloth. He walked off for a bit then came back with a wine glass and a bottle of wine.
He set the bottle down in front of me. He pulled the cork out and tucked it away in his pocket. He slowly poured the red liquid into the clear glass. It felt like a long time, but it must not have been since that Sir guy wasn't here yet. He silently took a seat beside me. He poured himself a glass and took a sip.
"It's a nice wine, don't ya think?" He asked, gazing at me. I also got his eye looking down instead of at my eyes. I picked up the glass and sat back taking a little sip of the wine. It was sweet, but kinda sour as well.
"This is a very good wine. It must be... Würzburger Stein." I guessed one of the wines my dad had let me taste so long ago.
"I like a lady who knows her wines." Sanji laughed. I smiled at him, the wine was actually really good.
"Get back to work Sanji!" A chef yelled. Sanji snarled and turned back to me with a smile.
"I'll come back with food in a minute." He told me as he stood up and pushed in his chair. As he walked away I saw him pull out a cigarette and lit it. I sat back in my chair sipping at the wine. The doors creaked open and I turned to see Sir standing in the doorway. I turned away from him, in an attempt to hide my identity. He escorted his date past my table and over to one by a window. I breathed a sigh of relief as he sat facing away from me. I continued to sip at the wine, waiting for something to happen. It was boring being all alone in a restaurant with great wine.
After a while I noticed Sanji show up again. He walked past me with a smile, the cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He held a bottle of wine as he walked over to the table Sir was at. I turned and watched as he poured the wine into the two glasses on their table. Sanji then waited beside their table, like he knew something would happen. Everyone around me was giving out silent compliments about him. In truth, he just seemed like a dirt-bag to me.
"This wine must be the famous Würzburger Stein." I heard Sir announce, everyone looking at him. I peered over at my wine. There was a clatter as Sanji set the bottle down on the table, pulling the napkin around it off. "Tell me waiter! Am I right?" Sir sounded so... happy about this.
"Not even close, sir." I heard Sanji reply. I held in a laugh. Sanji turned and began heading back my way. He stopped for a moment near my table. "And sir, my name is Sanji I'm the sous-chef. All the waiters ran off as of yesterday." He called back to Sir. Sanji stopped beside my table.
"Nice trick." I smirked, sipping the wine.
"Thank you, now why don't you come with me. Again, I know, but I think a girl of your standards should check out the kitchen." I turned and smiled at him. He reached out a hand and I took it as he guided me away up a staircase. I still held the glass of wine. We entered a kitchen. Chefs in little white hats went in every direction filling orders. Away in the corner sat a small, clean, pristine area. Set out were several ingredients and a list of how to cook them.
"This is where you cook?" I asked, peering at him.
"Yup, better then nothing. Right now I'm a bit busy so if you could make this for me that would be great. I can tell your a great cook. And I won't be gone long so just get started and I'll be back before you know it." With that he ran off, passing all the chefs and heading back towards the place where everyone was eating. What had I just gotten roped into?
Ta da!
Kinda long.
It's late here... I hope you enjoyed it. I had fun writing it.
Oh, by the way. Look for another fanfic I'm making. It hasn't been made yet, but it'll be up before Turkey Day(Thanksgiving).
Review for me, it'll be a good deed of the day!
Thanks for reading.