Author's Note: If you're wondering about my other fics - I've got writers' block on both Sweet Disposition and The DysFUNctional Pirates, I'm working on the next chapter of In Argo, and I'm starting to work on the next chapter for this fic.
Other than that, let's begin!
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.
"Oh, my God! I'm so fucking hungover!"
Reno did not awake from his drunken sleep until the next afternoon. Upon waking, Reno promptly drank the rest of the wine left in his bottle.
"You're going to have a drinking problem if you keep this up," Weldon pointed out as Reno drank the last few sips of wine.
"Drinking problem, shrinking problem. If adults can get drunk, why can't I?" Reno pointed out. "Also, I'm hungry as fuck. Can you make breakfast?"
"It's five o'clock at night," Weldon pointed out.
"Then we'll just go out and have breakfast for dinner," Reno said.
A few minutes later, Reno and Weldon made their way through the streets of Comstock Island, looking for a place to eat among all of the multi-storied resort casinos in the downtown sector of town.
"How do these casinos not have all-night diners? That's a damn shame," Reno asked.
"How about we just get a pizza? We can get diner food tomorrow morning," Weldon said, motioning to a pizza restaurant behind him. Reno rubbed his temples; his head still ached, and he wanted to throw up.
"If it means this hangover goes away, then by all means, let's buy a pizza," Reno answered. As soon as they entered the loud, packed restaurant, Reno winced in pain, ran outside, and threw up into the nearest trash can. After a few seconds, Reno came back into the restaurant.
"You okay?" Weldon asked.
"Fuck no, I'm not. This place is making my hangover worse," Reno said. Weldon sighed, trying to think of a way to distract his friend from his hangover.
"Should we get any new crewmembers here?" Weldon asked as they sat down at the only available seats at the packed restaurant.
"Hmmm..." Reno said to himself, scanning the room for anybody strong. His eyes then came upon a tall, teenage girl with brown hair in a ponytail and brown eyes. She wore a black T-shirt with white sleeves that went to her elbows, dark-blue skinny jeans, and black combat boots. She held a naginata spear behind her back, trying to conceal it from the rest of the bar. But, the spear only caught Reno's attention, and he pointed to her. "I want her. Spear girl looks hot."
"She also looks like she could kill you with that spear for saying that," Weldon argued.
"Then I'll just run like a little bitch if that happens," Reno explained. However, neither of them noticed that a drunken pirate was groping spear girl's chest, which led her to stab him with the spear.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" The girl shouted, getting the attention of everyone in the bar. "You don't go and touch girls' boobs! Why do sick perverts get away with this shit?!"
"Because my friend thinks you're hot!" The pirate who got stabbed yelled as the rest of his crew approached the girl.
"I'm guessing you're his crew, right? Can you tell this man that he has no social skills and should be locked up for groping girls?" The girl asked.
"Oi! Shut up! Did your mother raise you right?!" One of the pirates yelled. In the back of the restaurant, Reno and Weldon slowly got up.
"I'm going to go help her," Weldon said, walking over to the scene of the commotion, with Reno following suit.
"Of course, she did! My family's fucking rich, so they had to teach me and my sister manners and all of that useless shit!" The girl yelled. Before she said anything else, Weldon stepped in-between the two patrons who were arguing.
"Who are you?! Her chaperone?!" The pirate asked. Weldon responded by punching the pirate in the face.
"Run!" Weldon yelled,. Following Weldon's cue, Reno and the girl with the spear followed suit, running out of the bar while the mob was distracted. After a few minutes of running, the three arrived at the docks, where the Hyderabad was waiting.
"Man, that was close," Reno said, panting for breath. The girl responded by slapping Reno and Weldon.
"What's your deal? I could've handled those guys alone," The girl asked.
"You were outnumbered, so we came to save you," Weldon explained. "My name is Weldon A. Bartlett, and this is my friend, Reno Tomlinson-Keough."
"At your service," Reno introduced himself.
"What does the 'A' stand for?" The girl asked.
"The 'A' is short for 'Actis'," Weldon answered. The girl remained silent. "It was my grandpa's name."
"So, what's your name?" Reno asked. The girl crossed her arms.
"Sounds like you've got some ulterior motives," The girl explained.
"No, no. I just want to know what your name is," Reno said. The girl sighed.
"If you must," The girl said. "My name is Charlotte. Charlotte Emerson-Amboy."
"Charlotte. What a great name," Reno said to himself.
"What's with him? Is he with those perverts?" Charlotte asked Weldon.
"No. He saw you in the bar and he wants you to join our crew," Weldon explained. Charlotte turned back to Reno and kicked him in the crotch.
"No, I'm not joining your crew! You're gross!" Charlotte yelled. "Plus, I have my own crew I need to get back to."
"I'll take you back to your crew and leave Reno here with his injured masculinity," Weldon said.
"Shut up, Welly-kins!" Reno yelled, grabbing his balls in pain.
"I can handle myself, thank you very much," Charlotte answered. "I come from a large crew, so they'd all try to kill you two if you did anything funny."
"Can I meet them?" Reno asked. Charlotte smirked.
"Nope! Maybe next time!" Charlotte said. "I'll see you guys around. Maybe our crews will form an alliance."
"That would be nice," Weldon said. "I'll see you around, Charlotte."
Charlotte then walked away.
"She sounds nice," Weldon said.
"Are you kidding?! She was a huge bitch!" Reno yelled.
"I would be a huge bitch too if a bunch of pirates groped me in public," Weldon said in a deadpan tone of voice.
A few minutes later, Reno and Weldon arrived at a small, quiet diner in a quieter area of town.
"Today sucks," Reno said. "I'm hungry, sick, starting to regret the choices I made last night, and angry that Charlotte didn't join our crew."
"I'm glad you're regretting drinking an entire bottle of wine," Weldon said in a deadpan tone of voice.
"Go to Hell," Reno said. "You didn't drink any of the wine, so quit complaining."
"At least I didn't puke as soon as we stepped into a pizza place," Weldon argued.
"Anyway, what are we going to do about getting more crew members?" Reno asked. "Do we ask Charlotte again? Because she might give in if we try hard enough."
"We're not going to ask Charlotte," Weldon said sternly. "First off, who do we need on the crew?"
"Well, I'm captain, you're the first mate, and Clinton said he was going to be our shipwright. So we'll need a navigator, a chef, a doctor, cartographer, some guy or girl who's willing to sit at the steering wheel all day and drive the ship, a historian or archaeologist, a tailor, a swordsman or woman, an artist, a musician, a dancer, somebody to be in charge of the sails, somebody to be in charge of the money, somebody to be in charge of the cannons, a sniper, someone who's good with archery, a scientist or inventor, a magician, a cabin boy, and a cutesy mascot," Reno answered.
"That's twenty people, Reno. I'm not sure if the Hyderabad can fit that many people," Weldon pointed out.
"Then I'll make the Hyderabad fit twenty people. Nothing is impossible," Reno pointed out. "Clinton can help me. He knows how to fit twenty people onto a ship."
"Well, I can't argue with you on that point," Weldon pointed out. "If you want, we can start the search for a crew member back up again tomorrow morning. If we don't find anybody by noon, we'll leave Comstock Island for the next island."
"Good," Reno said, his mouth filled with dry toast. "At least I won't have a shitty hangover."
An hour later, Reno and Weldon returned to the Hyderabad, but something seemed off.
"I have the feeling something happened while we were gone," Weldon said as the two climbed the gangplank to the ship.
"You're just hungover," Weldon said in a deadpan tone of voice as they climbed onto the deck. On the deck, the two noticed that the door leading to the inside of the ship was wide open. "Okay, you were right. Somebody broke in."
"Why would they break in to OUR crappy ship?" Reno asked. "We have nothing on board. Nothing. Did somebody want to kill us?"
From the inside of the ship, a glass object shattered.
"No, but it sounds like they're still here," Weldon said.
Ending Note: Of course, Charlotte is going to come back. She's too much of a badass to be a one-off character. Plus, you'll meet her crew in a few chapters, since I'm planning on giving them their own arc because... Well, no spoilers, but they're my favorite crew I've made.
Also, feel free to review. If not, well, it's okay too.