Here's the second chapter rewritten. I figure I'll update all the chapters before I get back to writing more. After all, I have to get in the mood of writing Tani again. Though having to type up my chapters as I watch episodes can get tiring. Ah well, enjoy the chapter!
Tani had been on the boat for about an hour now. She had talked to Coby and Luffy, getting friendly with them. They were both nice, Luffy though seemed like he wasn't mentally all there. Nothing surprising there, so she ignored it. Since she wasn't supposed to know anything, she asked about their dreams. She got the responses she knew she was going to get. When Luffy told her his dream, she didn't act surprised, just interested. Coby freaked out about her reaction, and Luffy hit him again.
"WHAT A DAY! IT'S GORGOUS!" Luffy yelled into the sky.
"As long as we keep this heading we should reach the marine base in no time at all" Coby said, holding the rudder. Tani wasn't moving or talking. She was hungry right now. Since she hadn't had any food before going to sleep, her stomach was empty. And her wound was still fresh. When she tried to move her arm higher than her shoulder, it hurt. She was able to keep it a secret from the other two and for that, she was grateful.
"Wow, Coby, you're great out here! You mean we're going to reach the place we originally set out for?" Luffy asked.
"Of course. It's noting, I'm just using the skills every sailor should have" Coby answered. Then he looked over at Tani and asked "Are you okay?"
Luffy looked back from where he was sitting on the rail and looked at Tani also.
"'m okay, just hungry is all" Tani answered, looking up at the sky.
"Hungry? When was the last time you ate?" Coby asked, looking at her. Tani was abnormally thin. Why? Well, because her old man kept all the food for himself and she'd have to steal small things when she went out to get the food and steal from the house. She could only steal once a day, so she only got enough food to keep herself alive. Sometimes, she had to skip a day of food so as to keep the stealing down and keep her father oblivious to it.
Tani struck a thinking pose, pursing her lips as she did so, as if she was thinking really hard about it. Part of her was trying to freak Coby out (he was fun to freak out) while the other part was really trying to remember the last time she had food.
"IF YOU HAVE TO THINK ABOUT IT, THEN IT WAS PROBABLY A WHILE AGO!" Coby yelled at her.
"Yesterday" Tani answered his question, ignoring his yelling.
Luffy laughed and said "We'll get you something to eat when we dock. That okay?"
"Yeah, it's okay" Tani smiled up at Luffy, who's grin got even bigger. Luffy was nice. Offering to feed a total stranger. Tani liked him already.
"That's the first time you've smiled since you showed up!" Luffy said, acting like he had won a contest. Tani sweat dropped at him, and then focused back on the sky, absently saying "Is it?"
"HAHAHAHAHAH!" Luffy was laughing with his arms up in the air.
"You know, there's really nothing to be so giggle about. Because, at the marine base, their holding the great Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro. This is the man who's diced up his bounties like an animal bent on carnage! A blood-thirsty beast. He's been called nothing less than a living breathing demon in human form" Coby said, sounding scared out of his mind. Tani smiled to herself, since she knew the truth. Zoro wasn't that bad, just epically awesome and sometimes scary (to other people). Tani always found him epically awesome and cool.
"WHAT ARE YOU SMILING ABOUT?" Coby yelled, pointing his finger at her. Tani blinked at him as he continued "This is nothing to smile about! We should be running away from him, not toward him!"
"Hehe. I'm smiling because I can't wait to meet him" Tani answered, snickering at Coby's face as it went from disapproval to outright horror.
"WHAAT?!" Coby screeched. His mouth was hanging open. If he didn't close it, he'd start catch flies.
"HAHAH! You're very different, Tani!" Luffy said, smiling at her.
"I like being different" Tani said back, returning his smile. She looked ahead and noticed the island come into view. It had a marine base in the centre, with the village all around it. Tani wasn't expecting to eat until they saved Zoro, so she pushed back her hunger pains (and the black dots that where evading at the sides of her vision) and tripped off the boat. Coby grabbed the rope and tied it to the docks.
"WE'RE HERE! THE MARINE BASE CITY!" Luffy yelled out, with his arm in the air.
"Finally. Maybe I can get something to eat, now" Tani said as she walked up next to Luffy. They started walking through the town, with Coby trying to talk some sense into Luffy, without much success.
"Seriously, Luffy you're out of your mind if you think the right thing to do is to get this guy to join you"
"Well, I haven't made up my mind yet. I have to see if he's a good guy" Luffy answered.
"He's imprisoned because he's obviously not!" Coby answered.
Tani giggled at his assumption.
"WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING ABOUT?!" Coby yelled at her.
"Nothing" Tani answered, calming down.
Luffy stopped at a pear stand and picked up two pears. He took a bite out of one, paid for both and threw one to Tani.
"Here. This should keep you from passing out" Luffy said, with a big grin. Tani caught it with slight surprise at the fact he had noticed (she had hidden it so well!) and thanked him, taking a bite. But how Luffy knew was a surprise and a mystery.
"Hey, is that guy Zoro around here somewhere?" Luffy asked the store lady. Everyone in hearing range (besides Coby and Tani) jumped away from them with terrified looks. Tani blinked at all the town's people. Of course she knew what was going on, but she had to act like she didn't or they'd start to suspect something.
"Maybe we shouldn't mention Zoro here, okay?" Coby whispered to Luffy and they started walking again, Tani eating her pear happily. It was the first piece of fruit she'd had in a long time.
"Let's head to the base and check it out. You wanna be a marine, right?" Luffy asked Coby.
"Well, of course I do Luffy but I really don't think I'm ready just yet. From what I've heard, the man in charge of this base is called Captain Morgan" Coby said, causing the people around to jump back out of fear. Tani started blankly at them all and Coby sweat dropped at the people.
"HAHAHAH! This town is such a weird place!" Luffy laughed.
"That was odd. I mean I understand if their scared of Zoro but why did they flip when I mentioned the marine captains name?" Coby questioned. Tani knew, but kept her mouth shut. No interfering with the plot. She was just along for the ride. "I don't know. I've got a bad feeling about this."
"Maybe they were all just jumping around for the fun of it?" Luffy asked, smiling.
"And how would that make any sense?" Coby asked. Tani rolled her eyes at Luffy. After a few more minutes of walking, they were at the marine base gate.
'This looks like the place!" Luffy stated the obvious.
"No shit, Sherlock" Tani mumbled.
Coby had tears in his eyes as he said "I made it. This is where you two and I part ways. We didn't have long together but – GET DOWN FROM THERE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, THEY'LL SEE YOU!" Luffy and Tani had started to climb the wall next to the gate causing Coby to yell at them and wave his arms around.
"Now where's this demon?" Luffy asked of no one.
"They wouldn't keep him out in the open. He's probably suck in a prison cell below ground" Coby said his piece.
Tani had already spotted him and pointed it out.
"I think he's over there" Tani said to Luffy. Luffy saw him too and with a "There he is!" he jumped down and ran to get a closer look. Tani followed him and Coby followed after the two.
"Coby, look!" Luffy said, with his arms hanging over the wall. Coby climbed up alongside Luffy.
"Ugh. I'm telling you he's not –EH!" Coby said, shouting in surprise when he saw Zoro. Tani noted that Zoro wasn't looking too good. He was tied to a pole by his arms and his stomach. He had his head lowered, as if he was looking at the ground. He had a lot blood stains on his cloths and some blood on his face. He looked pretty beat up.
"If we untied the ropes, he could just walk away" Luffy said happily, pointing at Zoro.
"AH, DON'T BE SUCH AN IDIOT, LUFFY! There's no telling what a bandit like him will do if we let him go! He might just kill us both!" Coby had shark teeth for the first part of this little don't-do-it speech. Tani sweat dropped at him. Coby really needed to stop getting mad so much. Tani herself had a temper, but she made sure to not lose it. Only when someone close to her is hurt does she get I'll-kill-you angry. She also loses control of herself and goes all out. It had happened before when someone insulted her twin. Tani had completely lost it and the bully was barely alive when the police got there. He survived, but he was never walking again (Tani had broken his back). After that, Elegia Lamia Nephthys had made Tani promise never to get angry again. It was a promise she held close to her heart and made sure to always keep.
"Don't worry, I'm strong and we have Tani here. I'm sure we could take him" Luffy said with (what else?) a smile. Tani was a bit surprised to be included in that. Sure, she had to fight off her old man a few times, but that didn't count as strong. And besides all those times where she could barely get away with her life. Coby looked at her hopefully; maybe she could talk some sense into Luffy.
"I'm with Luffy" Tani said, crushing Coby's hopes. He started crying with a terrified face, most likely thinking they had lost their minds. That was when Zoro spoke up.
"Hey, you three. You're an eye sore. Get lost" Zoro looked up, making Coby scream and cry in fear.
"AIEE! Trust me Luffy, there's no chance you'll survive with someone like that on your crew" Coby said to Luffy. Tani watched as a ladder was placed on the wall beside Coby. He turned to look when the ladder touched the wall with a thunk. A little girl climbed up, shushed them, looked both ways and crawled over the wall, using some rope so she wouldn't break a leg on the way down, with something in her arms.
"AHH! Luffy we gotta stop her, she'll be killed. Either by the marines or the demon himself" Coby yelled to Luffy. Tani watched as she ran over to Zoro and the two started talking. Zoro was being his grumpy self, telling the kid to get lost. Tani knew Helmeppo was on his way there, so she had her eyes on the Iron Gate on the right. That was when the Iron Gate opened and Helmeppo walked in.
Tani grit her teeth and clenched the wall tightly. 'That bastard' He always got on her nerves.
"Hey look, now there's another weird guy" Luffy commented.
"That's great. He must be with the marines. Now we know the girl will be safe" Coby said. Poor guy didn't know what was going to happen. Helmeppo started bad mouthing Zoro and then he picked up a rice ball with the girl protesting. He ate it, then spit it back out, obviously disgusted with it. He started yelling about sugar and salt; scolding the poor kid (Tani couldn't remember the girl's name). He knocked the other one out of the girl's hands and squashed it on the ground. The kid protested again and Tani felt her anger growing. She clenched the wall harder, her knuckles going white. This is supposed to happen, don't interfere. She was chanting that to herself, so she wouldn't do anything rash. She let her mind wander to El and an image of her smiling face calmed Tani down. Her twin was always a sure fire way to get rid of her anger.
"My. That's just awful" Coby said, sounding sad. The girl started crying, saying how she had worked so hard on them. Helmeppo pulled out a piece of paper and read off of it. It said something about people assisting criminals and about those people getting punished. The little girl reacted in fear when Helmeppo was done reading off of it. Helmeppo talked about his daddy. 'No one cares' Tani thought to herself.
"His 'daddy'?" Luffy asked.
"So that guy's father is Captain Morgan?" Coby said. Helmeppo pointed his thumb at one of the marine shoulders behind him telling him to throw the girl out. The marine looked shocked about the order and Helmeppo threatened the marine with his father's name. The marine picked the girl up and threw her over the wall the kid screaming as she flew. As the kid sailed over the wall, Luffy jumped off the wall and caught the girl in the air, protecting her from being injured when they landed.
"Ha! Thanks, mister!" The girl said to Luffy.
"Luffy, are you two okay? What about you, little girl, are you okay?" Coby ran over and asked. Tani stayed hanging on the wall. She had known Luffy would save the girl, after all. Tani watched Helmeppo taunt Zoro while laughing and then walking away. She watched as Luffy jumped over the wall and walked toward Zoro.
"How can that man be so cruel?" Coby asked from behind her. "Luffy? NEGH! What the? Where did he go?" Coby said, sounding panicked.
"Coby, he went into the execution field" Tani said, pointing over the wall, looking back at Coby.
"WHAT?!" Coby yelled. Tani turned back around and ignored Coby's yelling ("WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP HIM! HE'S GONNA GET HIMSELF KILLED!") And watched Luffy talk to Zoro. Luffy picked the squashed rice ball and gave it to Zoro after a bit of talking (Luffy probably asking him to join or something) and Zoro ate it all up. Luffy left after that, climbing over the wall. Tani started at Zoro with her unnerving green eyes and he started back at her. He opened his mouth to say something, probably telling her to get lost again when Coby shouted from behind her.
"Tani! Come on, you'll get left behind!" Tani looked over her should, looked back at Zoro, then after a small smile, dropped to the ground. She quickly followed after Luffy, not wanting to be left behind. After all, she didn't know the area all that well.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Make sure to leave what you think in a review. After all, I do love hearing (reading?) what you guys are thinking!