Hello everyone, me again! This chapter will be the beginning of the next story arc! Be sure to enjoy it thoroughly!
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It had been almost one day since Ado's crew had departured from restaurant of Baratie, along with with their new nakama, Coco.
"Man, I'm hungry." Groaned Ado as he rubbed his stomach. "Coco! Make us something to eat!"
"Alright," Said Coco as she opened the bag of food they were given from the chefs at Batarie. "I'll make you a salad."
Ado perked his head. "What? No! Give me some meat or something! Pirates don't eat salads!"
Coco looked at him. "I can't cook meat if there is nothing to cook it on. I need a kitchen or something."
"Dammit..." Said Ado, sounding frustrated. "Vega, how did you deal with this?"
"A swordsman's life can be lonely and brutal," Said Vega. "Fasting is an important skill to have."
"Shit, there's no way I can just not eat..." Said Ado. "Alright! Next Island, we're getting a proper ship!"
"You know, not every island has shipyards." Said Vega. "I was lucky enough to get this one for myself. Then there's the whole matter of actually getting money to buy it..."
"I brought about 1,000,000 Beli with me." Said Coco. "But that is just for the basic materials. I highly doubt it would be enough to buy a whole ship."
"Don't worry! It'll all work out!" Said Ado confidently.
"Well, we're gonna find out." Said Coco. "I see an island in the distance."
"What, really?" Said Ado, who looked in Coco's direction and could indeed see a strip of land in the distance. "What island is it?"
"Hell if I know, I'm not a navigator." Replied Coco.
"Alright then!" Said Ado who suddenly stood up and put one of his legs on the edge of the boat. "Then this island shall be the first stop for the man who's going to be the Pirate King!"
"And for the next strongest swordsman," Added Vega.
"Hmmm....nope, don't have a goal." Said Coco without a care.
"Hey, you're ruining the moment!" Said Ado. "C'mon! Everyone has goals!"
"Well I don't." Said Coco. "At least none that concern you anyway..."
"Well whatever! Anyway, let's find us a good ship!"
Soon afterwards, Ado and the crew had arrived at the island. It was rather small in size, you could almost see the coast on the other end of the island. A few houses and shops were scattered around the island.
"This place doesn't look like much..." Remarked Vega.
"You sure we can find a ship here?" Asked Coco, looking around the small island.
"Of course we can!" Said Ado. He then spotted a man nearby. "We'll ask this guy over here. Hey you!" He added, running over to him.
"Huh? What do you want?" Said the man.
"Is there any place I can buy a boat? A pretty big one, enough to fit about 10 people or so, cannons, all that stuff?" Asked Ado.
"Hmmm...." Said the man, rubbing his chin. "The only ship I've seen that fits is the one that's owned by the Hawley Family, but I'd highly doubt they'd just give it to you..."
"Great! That'll do!" Said Ado, ignoring whatever else it was the man had to say. "Now, where is it?"
"Um, excuse me..." Said a small voice suddenly. They looked to see a small boy, about 10, who was dressed in a yellow T-shirt and baseball cap over his orange hair with purple shorts. "Would you mind it if I shined one of you people's shoes?"
"Huh?" Said Coco, not catching what he said.
"Great! I'll start with you then." Said the boy as he instantly pulled out a peice of cloth and began to shine Coco's. Before Coco could object, he was done. "That'll be 500 Beli." He said right after finishing.
"What? Damn this kid...Oh well, it's only 500." Muttered Coco as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the 1,000,000 Beli that had been wrapped up into one wad. "I'm sure there's a 500 in here somewhere..."
Suddenly the boy kicked Coco right in the shin, causing her to drop the money. "Hey, what the..." Said Coco as the kid suddenly grabbed all of the 1,000,000 Beli and began to run away with it.
"Hey! That's our money, little bastard!" Said Ado as he began to run after the boy.
"Wait for me! I'm gonna kill that kid!" Said Coco angrily, also running after him.
"Oi! Don't leave me behind!" Said Vega, who also began to give chase.
"Irene-neechan! Irene-neechan! I found some money!" Said the boy, who finally stopped near a rock where a girl was sitting. The girl looked to be about 19, she was wearing a green halter top with a black skirt and matching black boots. She had short hair that was black except for her front bangs, which were blond.
"Huh? You got some?" She said and looked at the money. "Hey, this money's wrapped. You didn't steal this did you?"
"No, I didn't! Honest!" Protested the boy.
"Hey! Give me back our money, dammit!" Yelled Ado as he and his crew arrived at the scene.
The girl apparently named Irene turned to the boy. "Hey now, what did I tell you about stealing?"
"But you said to find as much money as possible..." Pleaded the boy.
"I didn't mean to steal it. Now go home now." Said Irene, nudging the boy forward until he began to run home by himself.
"Hey! Can we have that money now?" Asked Ado.
"So this is yours?" Asked Irene. "Well you know, since I did the right thing and gave a lesson about stealing, I was wondering...can I keep this?" She asked, holding up the money.
"NO!" Said Ado swiping the money from her hands. "We need this to buy something, it's ours!" He added, pocketing the money as he began to walk away, as Coco and Vega followed behind him.
"Man, that was annoying!" Said Ado as they continued to walk. "But at least we still have the money!"
"But I still don't think it'll be enough to buy a whole ship..." Said Coco.
"And I keep telling you it'll work out!" Said Ado. "Now then, just where is it?"
"We never did get directions," Said Vega. "But apparently it belongs to some people called the 'Hawley Family'. That sounds pretty rich, I don't think they'd be interested in just 1,000,000 Beli."
"Man, why are you guys so negative? It's 1,000,000 Beli!" He then reached into his pocket to show them, only to find it not there. "What the? It's gone!" He yelled. He then turned around and saw the money was tied to a piece of string and was being pulled back. "That bitch! She tied a string to it, dammit!"
"And she tells other people not to steal..." Remarked Coco.
"Yeah." Said Vega. "But I didn't know string to could extend this far..."
"Ah-ha! Gotcha!" Said Ado as he leaped onto the money and was able to grab it and untied the string. "Take that, you bitch!" He mocked. However, suddenly the string jumped in the air, wrapping itself around both the money and Ado's hand that held. "What the hell?!" Said Ado, somewhat surprised. "That's no fair!"
"That string...did it just jump in the air?" Said Coco, who also looked suprised.
"There's no way normal string can do that..." Said Vega, who still looked rather calm. "Could it be...a devil fruit?"
"Oi! Ow! This hurts!" Said Ado was continuously getting hit to the ground as he was dragged along with the string, until he the string reached it's source, as Ado was back with Irene.
"You..." Said Ado angrily as he looked up at her. He then noticed the string was not connected to anything, but instead was coming out of Irene's right pointer finger. "You...you ate a devil fruit?"
"Yeah, I ate the Ito Ito no Mi." Said Irene. "I can turn my body into string."
"Well whatever! Will just give me my money back?" Said Ado impatiently.
"Fine, whatever." Said Irene, pulling the string back into her body. "I just did that for laughs anyway. I'm going home." She said, leaping of the rock and beginning to walk away.
"Running away, huh? Don't think this over yet!" Yelled Ado as Coco and Vega finall caught up to him.
"Stop wasting time, idiot." Said Vega. "Let's just go find this ship already."
"Oh yeah, right!" Said Ado. "To the ship!"
"...Do you think this is it?" Asked Ado. They where standing in front of a large, white mansion that was just in front of the ocean. Behind the house was a large, wooden ship with several cabins and such. At the front of the ship the mast had the shape of a tiger head.
"I can't see any other place that it could possibly be." Said Vega.
"God dammit these people look rich...I'm seriously doubting our chances." Said Coco
"Alright then! I'm gonna go ask them for their ship!" Said Ado who then ran up to the house and rang the doorbell.
"Hey, we have to think this over, we can't just go up and ring the doorbell!" Yelled Coco.
"No, I'm getting really impatient here! I want to get this ship and go!" Said Ado, who began ringing the doorbell again.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming!" Said a voice as they heard footsteps approaching until they stopped and the door opened.
"Yeah, I was wondering if I could...YOU!" Said Ado as he suddenly pointed his finger to the person at the door who was actually none other than Irene. "What're you doing here?"
"Huh, what are talking about?" Said Irene. "This is where I live, why wouldn't I be living here?"
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And there you have it! For the record for those who don't know, the 'neechan' suffix in Japanese can refer to and older sister, but in this case it's being used to show a form of respect towards and older girl. So the boy isn't her brother or anything. As always, please give some of your time to leave a review and give me some feedback!
