"Ohohoho," Brook chuckled to himself, striding along the seashore. "I seem to have lost track of that little lady I met onboard the Sunny. I wonder who she was, anyway? Perhaps a new addition was made while I was putting the finishing touches on my new prize song? I'll certainly have to find out. I should probably head back to the ship now, beings that my search has been unrewarding…" He continued to step along the beach, which would then round around to the harbor, when he misplaced his step onto a hand in his path.
"Unh," said the form of a man lying facedown and bruised on the beach. "Hina-san…" Brook stopped to take a closer look (which was a funny thing to do because he had no eyes). Lavender hair was escaping the man's cap. Brook carefully turned the man over, revealing the startling message "MARINES" on the cap.
"Ah, a marine," he observed. He was quiet for a moment, watching the man mumble to himself about flowers. Then he turned on his heel and strode off. "Can't get tied up with marines, can I? Yohoho…"
Fullbody grunted. "Jango," he said weakly.
"Over here," said Jango, in a very uncomfortable looking position, crumpled against the cliff side. His glasses were visibly cracked.
"We didn't get Hina-san's flowers to her," Fullbody said. Jango looked over at the bouquet wistfully, and then back up at the sky. "Hina-chan," he said glumly.
"No!" said Fullbody suddenly, slamming an iron fist into the sand. "We're not giving up just yet, Jango! We are getting that bouquet to Hina! Today is the day that we proclaim our love for her!"
"Ahh, but that swordsman hurt me," Jango pouted. Fullbody jumped to his feet, then went over and pulled Jango up from the sand. "We will proclaim our love!" he said again. "Come on! Grab that bouquet!" Rubbing his head, Jango picked up the flowers and followed his comrade.
"Franky, do we have enough cola for Coup-De-Burst?" Nami asked hurriedly as they rushed back to the ship. Franky pouted over the top of his newly purchased crate. "Well, yeah, but I just bought this!"
"Well, sorry, Franky, but we're going to have to use it! Get it ready!" Franky ran off to be replaced by Chopper, who looked afraid. "Nami, this is bad!" he said. "Robin's out there with Hina, and me, you, Franky, Sanji, Usopp and Luffy are all here, but there's no sign of Zoro, Tashigi, or Brook!"
"Brook's gone!" Nami said, grabbing at her orange hair stressfully. "Why is Brook gone!" she yelled.
"I don't know!" Chopper yelled back, backing up. "Nami, you're scaring me!"
"And Zoro could be anywhere!" Nami went on, ignoring Chopper. "We still need Tashigi if we want that money from Smoker… SANJI! LUFFY! USOPP!"
"Nami-swan!" Sanji cooed, popping up behind her.
"Hai, Nami!" Luffy giggled, popping up on her other side.
"Y-y-y-yes, Nami," Usopp stuttered.
"WHAT ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING STANDING AROUND!" She punched the back of their heads, creating three swollen bumps, then pointed towards town. "Go find Zoro, Tashigi, and Brook!"
"I call Tashigi-san!" Sanji sang into the wood of the dock. He jumped up and pranced away, followed by Usopp, who promised to keep the chef on the mission.
"Mm, why is Brook gone?" Luffy said, tilting his head to one side. "Maybe he went to go get some Bell Island meat? I'll go check!"
"LUFFY!" Nami yelled, but Luffy had already sped off. She smacked her forehead in frustration.
"Navigator-san, watch out!" Nami ducked just as Chopper soared through the air and crashed into a heap behind her, wrapped tightly in a steel band. "Nami!" he pouted, struggling. Nami sighed and bent to try and help Chopper out of his bonds.
"Coup-De-Burst will be ready in ten!" Franky announced.
"Ten minutes!" Nami groaned. "That's not nearly enough time for Zoro to find his way back here!"
Robin's arms continued to hold Hina back as much as they could, but the battle went in a circle. Robin would attack, Hina would swipe her arm through the new limb, and it would be bound in a steel ring before it disappeared and the ring would clatter to the deck. Robin narrowed her eyes and focused on a pressure point. If Hina would be still, knocking her unconscious would be easy, but the Black Cage navy captain had a habit of moving around too much. Hina, on the other hand, had her focus on getting close enough to swipe an arm through Robin without her Hana Hana powers interfering.
"Just give up!" Hina growled, lunging at Robin. "Hina is getting very impatient!" She swiped an arm out at Robin, who sprouted a hand to grab the navy captain's fist. Hina lashed out at Robin and the arm holding her fist disappeared. She sidestepped easily.
"It would be helpful if you could share where our hostage has run off to," Robin said.
"Never," Hina hissed back, flipping a long strand of pink hair out of her face. "Hina promised Sergeant Tashigi's safe return to her home vessel."
"It looks like Hina is going to be breaking a promise today," Robin grinned. "Seis fleurs." Immediately, six of Robin's arms sprouted, this time from Hina's body. Two grabbed her ankles, and likewise her wrists and her shoulders, forcing her down to the ground. Hina looked up at her opponent fiercely and Robin smirked victoriously and was about to continue the KO plan when…"Hina-san!"
"Hina-san…" Fullbody and Jango crushed their captain in a hug from both sides. "We brought you flowers!" Fullbody said.
"We love you, Hina-san!" Jango said. Hina trembled angrily under them. "WOULD YOU IDIOTS GIVE UP AND REALIZE HINA DOES NOT LOVE YOU!" she yelled. Robin looked on with a disturbed expression and turned to Nami. "What should I-?"
"Nothing," Nami said, shaking her head slowly. "I think she'll be tortured enough. They look worse than Sanji."
"Hina-san, we only wish to please you!" Fullbody said.
"Then leave me alone!"
"Ah, Hina-san, you must realize that our affections for you are so real!" Jango insisted. "Let's go get you some tea, Hina-san!"
"Where are we?" Zoro asked, scratching the back of his head. "This is weird. We were in Bell Cove, right? Right around the corner should have been the docks…"
"Ugh," Tashigi said, checking a map that had been set up on a notice board. "You rounded the wrong corner. Let's go this way." She started to walk when she was suddenly jerked back. "What…" she looked down to see that she had been handcuffed to Zoro. "Why?" she asked simply, pointing to the chain.
"Because you have a tendency to pretend like you trust me and then try to run off somewhere," Zoro answered. "Plus, if you misbehave again I'm throwing you back over my shoulder and carrying you through town like some aggravated parent. I think being handcuffed to me would be better for you. And we're going this way," he added, choosing the opposite direction than what she had suggested. Though she put up an argument, Tashigi was forced to follow Zoro because of the handcuffs. Again, Zoro's direction senses led them off-course and straight into a familiar figure with a straw hat.
"Luffy," Zoro said, smiling smugly at Tashigi, who in turn stuck her tongue out at him. "See? Now we have Luffy. Nothing to worry about."
"Oh, yeah," Luffy said over the meat in his mouth. "Nabi's looking for you two. And Brook. Turns out he wasn't getting meat anywhere in Bell Island. Weird, huh?"
"Hey, kid," the stall owner said with a sigh. "You've cleared me out of all my meat, okay? Pay the bill so I can go home." Luffy looked down at the large number in red letters and hummed. "Nope, don't have any money. Sorry." The shopkeeper looked appalled. "What!" he said.
"Wait," Luffy said. "Zoro, have any money?"
"When do I have money!" Zoro responded, snarling. "The navigator is still holding a debt over my head. But Tashigi has just enough to cover that," he added, handing Luffy a stack of bills and an empty money purse back to Tashigi.
"You- what if I needed that money!" Tashigi demanded. Zoro shrugged.
"Didn't cross my mind," he answered nonchalantly.
"Hey, you handcuffed her to you!" Luffy realized. He giggled. "Maybe I should handcuff Sanji to me! That way he can't pretend like he can't hear me when I ask him for food!"
"Oh, Tashigi-chan!""Speak of the devil," Zoro sighed, running a hand through his hair as Sanji danced up to her. He stopped short when he saw the handcuffs. "Eh?" he said. "Hate to break it to you, Marimo, but even that won't make Tashigi-chan want to be any closer to you."
"Wh-what!" Zoro demanded, grabbing Sanji's shoulder. "Wanna say that to my face, curly brow?" Tashigi's arm jerked forward.
"You're hurting Tashigi-chan, moss head!"
"Am not, dartboard! Tashigi-chan…er, Tashigi, am I hurting you!"
"I can tell you who's going to be hurt," Tashigi growled, putting a hand on Shigure's hilt.
"Guys, please!" said Usopp, finally catching up to Sanji. "Don't fight here! There are marines everywhere." He shuddered slightly. Tashigi looked around. Like he had said, marines were posted all around them. For whatever reason, they weren't attacking.
"Something weird's going on here," Tashigi muttered. "They're not doing anything…"
"Let's just get back to the ship," Usopp went on. "Nami said Franky's warming up Coup-De-Burst. We've gotta get back before it takes off."
"Coup-De-Burst?" Tashigi repeated. "What's-"
"Let's go!" Luffy said eagerly. "We can get there in no time!"
"Have you guys seen Brook?" Usopp asked as Luffy disappeared from sight. Tashigi continued to look around for any sign of alertness on the faces of the marine guards. Her arm was awkwardly jerked up and down as Zoro and Sanji continued bickering.
"Guys!" Usopp said again. "Seriously, you shouldn't be fighting right now we might-"
"How could you be so hostile with poor Tashigi-chan!"
"Oh, please! Better than you making passes at her all the time-"
"Is this defense of Tashigi-chan I hear?"
"Go suck up to Nami and Robin, curly brow!"
"What you call sucking up is being a gentleman, which of course you would know nothing about!"
"What are you saying!"
"I'm saying-"
"You guys, really, we should-"
"GOMU GOMU NO ROCKET!" Everyone turned to see Luffy flying towards them.
"Run!" Zoro said. They all tried their best and scrambled to get away, but Luffy was faster and crashed right into them, causing them all to fly through the sky above the citizens' heads. They crash-landed into a pile of crates at the harbor.
"Yahoo!" Luffy said, bursting out of the pile. "That was fun!"
"Luffy, you idiot!" Zoro said, rubbing his head as he, too, emerged from the debris.
"Nami-swan! Robin-chan!" Sanji said, popping up with hearts in his eyes. He ran to them eagerly while Usopp got up. Zoro began to rise when he felt Tashigi's weight still on his arm.
"Oh, right," he realized, moving a box off of her stomach. "You alright?" Tashigi grunted and pushed down on her handcuffed arm to get up. "I'm fine," she said.
"No, you're not," Zoro said. "What's wrong with your other arm?"
"Nothing." She moved to walk past him and he stopped her by placing a hand on her head and pushing her backwards to face him. "It's bleeding," he said. "Go get Chopper to look at it."
"Don't tell me what to do," Tashigi said, ducking under his arm and dragging him over to the rest of the crew.
Sanji had discovered Hina and was cooing over her while Jango and Fullbody crushed her. Two of Robin's arms still held Hina's hands and feet together.
"Is Coup-De-Burst almost ready?" Usopp asked Nami, who in turn glared at him. "You came three minutes early," she answered. "Lucky for you guys, Brook was looking for Tashigi and found his way back here himself."
"Hina-san," Tashigi said quietly. Hina looked up and thrashed again and sighed in defeat. "Smoker-kun will never let Hina hear the end of this," she said. Her gaze redirected to Tashigi's handcuff, to Zoro, to Robin, and finally to Luffy. "Captan Smoker sees Sergeant Tashigi like a father sees his daughter. If you hurt her, you're going to pay for it."
"Please," Nami scoffed. "All we want is Smoker's mon-"
"Oh, we're not worried about paying for anything," Zoro said suddenly, drawing Wadou and holding it across Tashigi's shoulders. He smirked mischievously as Hina's eyebrows arched and then narrowed again. "You wouldn't," she said.
"Would I?" Zoro dared. He tilted the blade slightly to where Hina could vaguely see her own reflection.
"Coup-De-Burst in only a minute, guys!" Franky called from onboard.
"We gotta go," Usopp said, climbing onto the deck. "Guys, come on. I don't think that captain is going anywhere." Chopper and Nami followed. Chopper was still clad with a steel band. Sanji danced away, waving giddily at Hina, who scowled back at him. Luffy giggled. "Bye, cranky navy lady!" he said, hopping onboard. "C'mon, Zoro!"
Zoro looked to Hina and smirked, sheathing his sword. He picked Tashigi up around the waist and got on board himself. The Thousand Sunny burst upward in a brown spray, leaving Bell Island behind.
"Oi, Chopper," Zoro said when Sunny had landed back in the ocean and someone had calmed Luffy down before he insisted that they do it again. He set Tashigi on the deck. "Check her arm. Something's wrong with it." Chopper looked down at the band circling him. "Um, Zoro…" Zoro drew Wadou and took a breath, closing his eyes. Then he opened them and performed a neat downward slash, breaking the band circling him. Tashigi looked amazed. "You just," she started. Zoro looked to her with an amused grin. "I what?" he prodded.
"You- you cut steel," she said, blinking. "How did you-…?"
"I learned from a good teacher," Zoro said. He began to walk away when the handcuff chain held him back. "Oh, right," he realized. "Forgot about that." He dug around in his pocket for a moment. "Let's see…" He checked the other pocket, then crossed his arms. "Hm."
"What do you mean, 'hm'!" Tashigi said. Zoro looked around. "Usopp!" he called. "Get out here!" Usopp appeared from inside the ship, confused. Zoro usually never called for him. "Yes?" he answered.
"You got something that'll get these handcuffs off?" Zoro pointed. Usopp shrugged. "I've got something that'll break the chain."
"I can do that myself. Can you get the actual cuffs off?"
"I can try… hold on a minute." He disappeared back into the ship while Chopper began to clean the wound on Tashigi's arm. "Luffy needs to stop doing that!" he muttered. "Someone's going to end up breaking their neck or something…" Tashigi smiled at the little reindeer fondly. Usopp came back out with a thin-topped hammer and a spike. He put the spike into the keyhole on Zoro's cuff and hammered into it, breaking the cuff off. He then went to Tashigi's and broke hers, too. "There," he said, satisfied. This is about when Nami stormed over, dragging Luffy by the arm. "I call a ship meeting!" she demanded. "All hands on deck!" Sanji danced out of the kitchen. "Coming, Nami-swan!" he crooned. Robin came from her spot in a lounging chair on deck to join the others. Franky came in from inside the ship and finally Brook appeared from below deck. Nami made sure everyone was listening and then turned to Tashigi. "You have some explaining to do!" she declared. "How are we supposed to trust you at all if you keep trying to get away from us! We wasted almost all that money that Franky spent on cola to get away from that crazy marine captain and it's your fault! Not only that, but you got Zoro lost trying to find you, you delayed Brook's return, you got Chopper stuck in that ring thing, and you made Sanji fall in love with another girl!" Tashigi looked down into her lap while Chopper tied her bandages tightly.
"Aside from that," Robin said, smiling, "Nami-sama was kind enough to buy you some clothes to last you the time here."
"I'm hungry," Luffy said. "Sanji, make me some food!"
"Quiet!" Sanji said, kicking Luffy in the head. "Robin-chan is talking!""Thank you, Sanji-kun," Robin said. "Anyway, why don't you go try something on? It's all on your bed. We should forgive you for your actions. After all, you are a hostage," she winked.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Smoker watched out the window as his ship was being worked on. After all the backtalk he had given to the World Government, they seemed extremely happy to tell him that he wouldn't be receiving a replacement ship and had to wait out the repairs of his own. He had picked up the den den mushi expecting more crap from the World Government and instead found himself listening to Hina give him the rundown of what had happened at Bell Island. "So you let them get away!" he growled. Hina scoffed.
"Give Hina more credit than that, Smoker-kun."
"Did they get away or not!" Silence for a moment.
"Yes, they did, but-"
"Hina, I don't have time for this. What's your point?"
"The World Government has been perfecting a new weapon. Hina happened to have a prototype handy."
"Would you stop talking like that and get on with it, woman!"
"Smoker-kun, how would you like to capture all of the Mugiwara Pirates?" Smoker let out a stream of smoke from his cigars and again looked at the poster of Luffy tacked to the wall. "Go on."
"We use the den den mushi, transponder snails, and the likes, yes? Well, recently a new kind has been discovered. These are very small and use their teeth to latch onto clothes or accessories. Their signals are as easily picked up as that of the black transponder snails, meaning they can be heard from over long distances. They're also a lot clearer. Say Hina has one and you had the receiving end? You could hear everything Hina says all day long as well as the words of the people she interacts with."
"Ah," Smoker realized. "You got one planted on Tashigi."
"Right. Hina took care of it herself when she came into the office on Bell Island. I decided to hold back and instruct my men not to attack any of the pirates that were with her. Hina is going to go ahead and let them travel on. Based on the recordings we've heard, we should be chasing them right to Orange Ring Isle."
"Aren't you the least bit concerned that Tashigi could be hurt as well?" Smoker said. "Orange Ring Isle? Maybe some of the Mugiwaras can handle that, but Tashigi can't afford to be clumsy there."
"Don't jinx Hina's plan, Smoker-kun; we-" Whatever else Hina said was drowned out by shouts in the background, "HINA-SAN, WE'RE SORRY FOR OUR FAILURE!"
"Just fire them," Smoker said, rubbing his temples. "They annoy me and I'm not even there."
"You should learn to be patient, Smoker-kun." The receiver clicked. Smoker sighed and set it down.
OOOOOOOOO
"You think she'll like it?" Robin asked Nami. They were watching the door to the deck from their places in lounge chairs. Nami shrugged. "Well, she has to wear something besides that same old-fashioned print all the time. I think Zoro might like it, though," she chuckled.
"What are the odds?" Robin mused, resting her cheek into her hand as she watched Tashigi come out onto the deck. "She's not bad looking, young- and a swordsman, of all things." Tashigi was holding Shigure awkwardly to her chest. She was wearing the clothes Nami had picked out for her: a polo striped with navy blue and sea foam green and a navy skirt styled like the ones Nami normally wore. Her sandals were the same green as on the shirt. Maybe it was because of the lack of skin she normally showed, but the clothes had brought on a complete transformation. She looked more like a girl than she had before.
"Hey, Tashigi, you got new clothes!" said Luffy, who was attempting to tie himself into the shape of a pretzel. He popped back into his normal shape and giggled suddenly.
"What're you laughing at?" Usopp asked, furrowing his brow over the blueprints he was working on. "She doesn't look bad."
"I know," Luffy kept on giggling. "I'm just thinking that Sanji's gonna get reeeeeeally mad." Before anyone could ask what he meant, Brook came out on deck. "Who wants to hear my new prize song?"
There's Chapter Five. A quick question: Who do you like Sanji paired with? I may or may not include some romance for him as the story progresses. I have to do something while I wait for Yontouryuu to be updated.
