People of the internet! I'M ALIVE!
But seriously, this took way longer than it should have but at least it's pretty long, so… forgive me?
Well anyway, hope you guys enjoy the chapter!
Disclaim: Must I do this? Everyone here should know by now that I own nothing but Sam and any other OCs the may or may not pop up.
A soft melody floated over the sea as Sam watched with amusement as none other than Monkey D. Luffy, future infamous pirate and king of pirates, fought a losing battle to stay awake. His first-mate had already lost the battle and was snoring peacefully in his little corner of the boat. Or at least she thought he was. Meh.
She raised an eyebrow in amusement as the raven-haired boy finally nodded off into the comforting embrace of sleep. She played for another minute before lowering her instrument from her lips and placed it safely back into her bag.
It had taken three hour of pushing and shoving, death threats that no one but she understood, and one attempt of murder but she had finally—finally—figured out what Luffy had been asking, with no small bit of help from Zoro. After he had stopped her from throwing his captain overboard in a fit of rage, he had mimed in between his laughter playing an ocarina.
So, after throwing one last glare at the still smiling idiot—did he get dropped on his head as a baby!?... Don't answer that—she had reached into her bag and pulled out the requested instrument. She raised an expectant eyebrow at the pirates and pointed at the instrument. When she got an enthusiastic nod from one and a lesser so one from the other, she sat back and started playing.
It honestly shouldn't have taken her so long to figure out what Luffy had wanted. He didn't know what was in the bag, he had already stolen the fruit and she had returned the favor by almost throwing him overboard, so there was no reason for him to want the bag. And hadn't Luffy always wanted a musician?
Sam froze and looked at the sleeping pirate captain in horror. Don't tell me he wants me to be his musician?!
She closed her eyes while she pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a wary sigh. After shooting the sleeping pirates a withering glare, she leaned back and stared up at the sky, flinching slight as her shoulder protested at the movement.
She reach over and gingerly touched the bandages. She didn't know if her devil fruit had some kind of healing boost or something, which would be damn useful as well as such a troll to everyone else, but she had never really had the need to test it out.
She tilted her head from side to side, considering the idea. With a shrug, she said firmly, "Healing Boost."
She waited for a moment, looking for the tale tell glowing rings that come with her other boosts. When she saw nothing, she shrugged again. "Oh well, not that big of a deal," she said. Yes, a healing boost would be nice, but it wasn't needed. Not yet at least.
She cast a lazy gaze over the surrounding water, watching the waves lazily roll past. After a minute, she remembered something Aquarius had told her, something that would work more in her favor than even a possible healing ability.
She could still swim.
Now Sam has never tested it, she never had a reason to back on the island. She had been planning on testing it before she would have left the island but clearly that won't happen now. She shot a glare at the sleeping pirates again before scoffing and rolling her eyes as they snored the day away.
She looked back out to the sea and considered her options. She could either wait until one of her two companions woke up or they reached land to test it. Or, she thought, she could test it right now and be damned the consequences.
She thought for another moment before shrugging. "Why the hell not?" With that said, Sam set her bag aside and took off her scarf and sash because they would be a pain when wet as well as her sandals so she wouldn't lose them. She shivered when they wind brushed up against her neck, chilling it. After wearing the scarf for so long, she hadn't realized how much it kept her neck warm.
She cast one last look at the sleeping pirate, trying to see if they were truly asleep and not just faking it. Deciding they were well and truly sleeping, she turned to the side of the boat and took a deep breath to steel her nerves. Releasing her breath, she looked out at the sea before taking another deep breath as she jumped over the side of the boat and into the water.
The reaction was almost instant.
As soon as the water closed over top of her head, Sam felts something reach out from the depths and wrap around her, chilling her to her core. She gasped, forgetting that she was underwater for a moment, as she jerked back in a panic.
It felt like the very sea had reached out and grabbed hold of her. She thrashed around, trying to dislodge the feeling of something chaining her down but found that no matter how much she moved, the feeling stayed. It just held on stubbornly, refusing to let go. It didn't really stop her from moving though, which meant she could still swim (Yay!) but didn't stop the fact that it was stopping something. Her devil fruit most likely, her mind chimed dimly.
She took a breath to calm herself and almost did as she felt the cool water pass through her and relieved the tension that had set in in her panic. Then she remember where she was and almost choked.
Because she was underwater.
And she was breathing.
She coughed as she tried to get the water out of her lungs only to breathe in more. It wasn't really hurting her, more like it didn't know what to do with her than anything else. She finally stopped coughing when she realized she wasn't even using her mouth or nose to breath, but her gills. Truth be told, she had almost forgotten about them.
She stopped her coughing as she focused instead on the feeling of breathing through her gills. It was weird, but felt so natural that the only thing she could do was give a small grin at the water around her as she waded in place.
That is until there was a splash next to her and she turned to see the panicked face of the first-mate of the Straw Hats. Ah, she thought idly, maybe I should have woken them up.
This crew would be the death of him.
One was a graduated idiot and the other apparently had a death wish, because what kind of devil fruit user jumps into the sea willingly?! The swordsman sent a seething glare at the blonde who was laying sprawled out next to her stuff on the deck. She blinked up at the sky with a dazed look in her eyes for a moment before turning to look over at him.
"Hey, you guys ok?" Luffy asked, looking between his two soaked crewmates. Zoro grumble a reply, shooting the blonde one more glare. Sam turned her dazed stare from the swordsman to Luffy. She blinked once before a grin that threaten to split her face in two suddenly spread across her face.
"I can still swim! Hell yeah, baby!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, going from sprawled on the deck to air born in a second. She laughed, almost on the verge of an evil cackle, as she threw her head back to the sky. The two pirates looked at her strangely and Zoro inched anyway from her.
After a good minute of straight laughing her ass off, her laughter dwindled down to soft snickering. Her grin stretched across her face, showing off her elongated, sharp canines as she wrung out her shirt. Her eyes shone with mirth and glee as she tried to get as much water out of the article of clothing without taking it off.
Zoro snorted at her behavior. How could she be so happy after almost drowning? If fact, it hadn't looked like she was drowning he had pulled her out, more like she was calmly floating in place, but that was impossible. No one with a devil fruit would be calm in water, weak and mostly limp yea, but not calm.
The pirate hunter narrowed his eyes and glanced over at the blonde, who was retying her sash around her waist. Something wasn't right here.
"Hey!"
Both the pirate hunter and the blonde jumped at the sudden exclaim from the last occupant of the boat. Luffy had moved from his side of the boat to directly in front of Sam while he looked at something on her neck. The blonde didn't seem to like her space being invaded, if her expression was anything to go by.
"Look, Zoro!" He said excitedly with a large grin as he pointed at her neck. "She has gills!" He breathed, his eyes sparkling with his excitement. That got Zoro's attention, and he moved closer to get a better look. Sure enough, on both sides of Sam's neck were thin lines that lifted up when she breathed to reveal pink flesh underneath, or in other words—gills.
"So that's why she was so calm…" Zoro mumbled. Well, if she could breathe underwater, it didn't really matter that she couldn't swim. At least she wouldn't die immediately if she fell into the water, but someone would still have to fish her out.
The two of them moved closer to get a better look and Sam finally snapped. Wanting her personal space back, she kicked out, nailing them each in the chest, and knocked them back to the other side of the boat.
Zoro landed with a grunt while Luffy bounced right back up. Luffy laughed at Sam's stormy expression while Zoro leveled her with a glare. She glared right back as she grabbed her scarf and wrapped it around her neck again. She looked away from them to grab her bag to return it to its rightful place on her back only to turn around and get a face full of rubber pirate.
"Gah!"
"That's so cool! You have gills!"
"$ #&*!"
The pirate hunter's lips twitched up into an amused smirk as he watched Sam try in vain to push their captain away. After a minute of struggling, she seemed to give up and let Luffy pull down her scarf to get a closer look even as she reached into her bag and took out her sunglasses.
The blonde crossed her arms and leaned back against the railing, ignoring the rubber captain and met Zoro's eyes. Her expression was clear as she dawned her sunglasses, 'I don't care anymore'. Zoro's smirk widened and she glared before swatting away Luffy's hand from touching her neck.
This crew may be the death of him, but at least it's not without its forms of entertainment.
"So huuuuungry…"
"Fooooood…"
"Water…"
The crew of three were in various states of awareness, each sprawled out in their section of the boat. Two stomachs growled loudly and the two males of the boat groaned. Sam, the only one not currently dying of hunger, slowly pulled herself up so she could look over the railing of the boat and glared at the sea.
"We should have stocked up while we had the chance back at Shells Town…" Zoro said with a groan. Luffy groaned in agreement and Sam made a face while hissing at the sea. The two males gave her a look while she glared at the sea, seemingly determined to set it on fire with her eyes alone.
"Ok… I'll take that as she agrees with me." Zoro said. Luffy nodded in agreement before looking back up at the sky. A grin spread across his face and he pointed up.
"Hey, look! A bird!"
"Hmm? Ah, so it is."
Silence passed between them with only the sound of Sam grumbling inaudible at the ocean and the waves splashing against the boat. Luffy broke the silence a few moments later as his grin grew wider and he sprang to his feet.
"Let's eat it!" he declared as looked up at the bird with a hand on his hat. Sam stopped her grumbling to look at them curiously while Zoro raised an eyebrow at his captain.
"And how do you plan on doing that?" He asked as Sam tilted her head to the side in curiosity.
Luffy gave them his famous D. grin before stretching out his arm and grapping onto the top of the mast. Both Sam's and Zoro's eyes widen, though Sam's was in panic while Zoro's was in surprise. They both watched as their captain launched himself into the air towards the bird. They sat in stunned silence as he went higher and higher until he finally reached the bird.
There was a pause as the rubber boy seemed to hang in air for a moment. Zoro raised a silent eyebrow and Sam paled in horror. Zoro learned not a second later why.
"AAAARRGG! HELP!"
"IDIOT!"
The two remaining crewmates roared up at their captain, their teeth momentarily resembling shark teeth. The two of them scrambled around the boat, grabbing the oars before they were off in hot pursuit of their captain.
A minute into the cash, Sam shouted a quick "Strength Boost!" and a set of light yellow rings passed over her and left behind a soft yellow glow around her arms and shoulders. Zoro spared her a glance before turning back to keep an eye on the bird. Sam grinned as she was able to keep pace with her monster crewmate.
"Hey, you there!"
"Stop!"
"Stop the boat!"
"Huh?" The pirate hunter and rookie champion looked at the water in front of them and blinked at the drowning clowns/pirates. "What are they doing there?!" Zoro cursed softly before raising his voice so the clown/pirates could hear him. "Sorry! But we can't stop! You'll have to climb on by yourselves!"
"WHAT!?"
The trio screeched as the boat almost ran them over, but still managed to grab on and pull themselves onboard. Sam grinned at them, sharp and almost daring as she repressed snickers while Zoro smirked as he kept an eye on the form of their airborne captain.
"Huh, you guys actually have some climbing skills."
"Were you trying to run us over?!" one of them snarled as he glared at the two. Sam's grin seemed to sharpen even farther and the sun glinted off her sunglasses.
"Yes!" she chirped.
"DON'T SOUND SO HAPPY, DAMNIT!"
The supposed leader of the clown trio sneered and reached into his sash, bring out a long knife. Sam's grin froze on her face as she saw the knife but didn't halt in her rowing. "Doesn't matter… now, stop the boat! This is captain Buggy's territory!"
That got Zoro's undivided attention almost faster than saying, 'Hawkeye's that-a-way'.
One quick beating later and some threats from Zoro saw the clown trio rowing the temporary boat of the Strawhats towards were their captain had disappeared over the horizon. Sam had taken their weapons and 'dropped' her boost after retreating behind Zoro, scaring the already terrified clowns farther.
"Sorry."
"We are so sorry."
"We didn't know you were that 'Pirate Hunter Zoro'."
Zoro snorted. How many green-haired three-sword style swordsmen were there on the sea for them to mix him up with someone else? Sam seemed to understand enough to share his opinion and snickered as she messaged her shoulders.
"You made us lose sight of our friend," Zoro said, leveling the trio with a glare. "So if you three don't put some back into it and help us find him, you'll get it." His voice dropped at the end, sending shivers down the clowns' spins. They nodded vigorously and the two rowing redoubled their efforts.
"So…" Zoro started after a few minutes of silence. He gave the clown trio of questioning look. "Why were you guys in the middle of the sea anyway?"
"Oh! Good question!" Clown number one said.
"So glad you asked!" Clown two added.
"It's all because of that girl!" Clown numero tres growled.
The three of them then launched into their story, starting with how they had just stolen from a passing cargo ship and where on their way back to their base when they came across of lone girl in a small boat. Them being the 'kind and caring' people they were, they offered their help to the girl only to have their ship and their treasure stolen from them. The next thing they known, the girl predicted a storm that sunk the boat they were on while she made a clear get away.
"Someone that can predict the weather…" the pirate hunter said, before smirking. "Sounds interesting. Wonder if she would join us."
One of clowns growled. "Not if we get to her first." The other two shared a nervous look with each other and one of them chuckled shakily. "Yeah, we have to get our treasure back or Captain Buggy will have our heads…"
"Buggy?" Sam said, surprisingly without that much of an accent, as she poked her head up over Zoro's shoulder. Zoro casted her a look out of the corner of his eye, not thinking she would recognize the name of a pirate, and raised an eyebrow at her. She ignored him in favor of staring down the trio of clowns.
For their part, the clowns didn't seem that off put by the intense stare she was giving them and nodded. "Mmm-hmm. He's our captain, Buggy the Clown. He's a deadly and dangerous man who's eaten one of those Devil Fruit."
Zoro raised another eyebrow at that. Another Devil Fruit user? He's already met two such people—his crewmates no less—and now there was another one? Aren't those things supposed to by rare or something? "A Devil Fruit user, huh…" he looked over at the resident blonde, who had rested her chin on his shoulder as she gave the three clowns a devious smile.
The pirate hunter had no doubt that she had understood some of what had been said, if not all of it, even with the language barrier. He would have smirked in amusement as the uncomfortable looks the clowns had but choose instead to glare at the blonde currently using his shoulder as a head rest.
She glanced over, and upon seeing his glare, smiled wider, flashing teeth and leaned back with a chuckle.
"Brat," Zoro growled, though it had no heat behind it. Sam snickered, her eyes shining with mirth. The three clowns had slowed their rowing to gawk at the two—or just the balls that the blonde chick had to use Zoro as a head rest. Zoro quickly noticed the lack of effort, and with a quick glare and threat, had them rowing with renewed vigor.
This time he did smirk in amusement as Sam snickered behind him.
"This place is a ghost town."
"(1) Nani?" one of the clowns said. Sam ignored them in favor of looking around the deserted harbor with a disapproving frown.
Zoro snapped at him as he got out of the boat. Sam looked over her shoulder at the four pirates and cocked her head to the side. Even if she didn't understand anything, she could at least listen for the words that she did know and try and inference what was being said.
One of the clown looking sheepish as he explained something in rapid fire Japanese while the others murmured behind him nervously. Zoro hummed in acknowledgement as he surveyed the town, before turning to the trio with a hard look. Sam smirked into her scarf in amusement at the nervous looks the clowns where suddenly sporting.
Zoro said something to the three clowns and Sam snickered softly into her scarf at the looks of horror that flashed across their faces. Zoro glanced her way—was that amusement she saw—before heading off into town… in apparently the wrong direction.
"(2) Sore wa, kono hōhōdesu!"
"(3) Son'na koto shitteru!"
The green haired glared at her as her snickering grew louder. She gave him a lopsided grin which he glowered at before turning back to follow the nervous trio of clowns. Her grin slowly fell off her face as she followed behind the group and looked around the town. Her expression remained blank as she looked into the dark windows of abandon houses.
So… this is what happens when pirates attack, Sam thought before grimacing. Wait, that sounds like a bad movie title. Never mind.
It was disturbing, seeing a town so empty when she could look into any one of the houses lining the street, the food—though spoiled—was still on the tables. Not a thing looked out of place, like the families had just decided one afternoon to go and leave without a trace.
The blonde champion frowned as she looked at one house that was in particularly good condition. If the town had been taken over by pirates, why were so many houses left untouched? If Buggy had sent out some of his crew to steal from ships—even if it's only three—than he had to have set up a long term base here. And if he had a long term base, then why didn't the town reflect that? Shouldn't houses be wrecked from the pirates raiding? Sam seriously doubted that the Buggy pirates were courteous enough to leave everything nice and neat after they robbed the town's people of all their valuables.
The group walked down the street in relative silence, only being broken when one of the terribly dressed trio called Zoro back on track and his responding curses. Sam grinned as she recognize some of the words being thrown around. Her Japanese wasn't anywhere good enough to use normally, but at least she was making progress.
They cut through an alley and came out right across from a pet food story. A very familiar pet food story.
Sam stopped and stared at the motionless dog the stood guard in front of the story. The other four didn't pay the dog any mind, either not seeing him or not caring. The dog turned it head suddenly at look right at her. The two of them shared a stare down for a few tense moments, before Shushu seemingly nodded and looked away.
Sam grinned brightly, feeling as if she had passed some hidden test, and jogged to catch up with the group. Just as she got level with them and Zoro looked other his shoulder at her, the sky went dark as an almost impossibly bright flash and deafening boom sounded. The company jump a foot in the air and turned to look wide-eyed as smoke rose from a few streets over.
One of the clowns shouted in surprise, a little louder than needed, as the other two tried to get their hearing back.
Sam and Zoro looked at each other and nodded. "Luffy." They said as one and tore off down the street towards where the blast had come from. Different languages or not, one thing is for curtain, Luffy is always where it is loudest.
They reached the bar fairly quickly, with Sam getting lost only once—no, his sense of direction was just fine. From the sounds of it, the pirates were all gathered on the roof, meaning it was a good chance Luffy was their too. If not, he could always ask the other pirates 'nicely'.
Zoro quickly glanced over the bar. It would take too long to use the stairs, if the sound of angry pirates where anything to go off of, so they would have to take another route.
Without another thought, Zoro grabbed Sam and held her under his arm, earning a surprised squawk from the blonde, as he scaled the side of the building. As soon as they reached the roof, he let go of Sam as he looked over the scene. Seeing the pirates rushing the red-haired girl—was she putting out the fuse with her hands?—he grabbed Wado and one of his other swords and clothes lined the incoming clowns. Sam was right there next to him, but had opted to using her fist to knock out the clown.
Zoro looked at the pirates with an unimpressed expression. "Does it really take all of you to take on one little girl?" he asked the clowns as they fell to the floor. Sam shook out her hand and made a face at her downed clown before walking over to the other girl.
"Zoro! Sam!" Luffy cried, grinning like he hadn't been about to be blow to kingdom come. Zoro ignored him and gave the other girl a once other, looking for injuries.
"You hurt?"
"No, I'm fine…" she said warily, surprised by the question and still trying to process what had just happened. Sam took her hands and turned them over. She tched at the burns, but just shook her head before letting them go and standing.
"Man, am I glad you guys found me! Think you can get me out of here?" Luffy said, still way too happy for what the situation called for. Zoro turned his unimpressed look to his bound captain and shouldered one of his swords.
"First you get carried off by a bird and now you're trapped in some cage," he said. "Idiot." The still standing clowns moved around and mumbled to each other nervously. They, unlike their sad trio from before, knew who Zoro was and his reputation.
"So, Roronoa, you've finally came for my head, eh?" Buggy—it couldn't be anyone else—said as he tried to intimidating.
Zoro completely brushed him off. "I'm no longer in the pirate hunting business." He said as he walking right past him. "I have no interest in hunting you."
"Well, I'm interested in you," Buggy said as he pulled out knives from within his cloak and began twirling one between his fingers. "Killing you would surely increase my infamy!"
Zoro looked over his shoulder and leveled Buggy with an annoyed glare. "Back off, bastard. Before I kill you."
Sensing a fight about to go down, the rest of the Buggy pirates started shouting and cheering. "Get him Captain! Cut him to pieces!" Sam tensed and braced herself, placing a hand on her new knife as she eyed the excited pirates.
Buggy grinned widely and laughed loudly in an annoyingly high voice. "Give it your all, Pirate Hunter, or your blood will be on my blade!" with that said, Buggy righted his grip on his knives and charged.
Within a second Zoro had his swords out and ready. When the pirate captain got within range, Zoro brought his swords down, cutting the clown clean through in three different places. His leg, torso, and arm.
"Hey," Luffy cried in surprise. "That was way too easy!"
"No way!" the ginger gasped as her hands flew to her mouth.
Zoro looked at the corpse of the captain in disappointment and sheathed his swords.
Sam's expression stayed blank and she didn't even flinch as the different body parts hit the floor.
Around them, the clowns started laughing softly amongst themselves. Zoro gave them a questioning look but ignored them as he walked over to Luffy's cage.
"Hey, Zoro! Get me out of here already!" Luffy said, straining against the ropes.
"Yeah, yeah, I hear." Zoro said as he looked at the cage. "It won't open without a key, and I can't cut the bars…"
"Ah, that's a problem."
"Ya think?"
The clowns, who up to this point had been pretty quiet, started laughing loudly. Some of them even had to hold onto each other to stop themselves from falling over. Zoro and Luffy looked over at them warily, confused on what was so funny. The ginger haired girl edged away from them as she clutched her staff tighter.
"Yeah, yeah. What's so funny-"Zoro started to say, only to be cut off by a scream of pain…
… From Buggy's corpus.
"Big Nose's alive!?" Luffy yelled as his jaw hit the floor, quite literally.
"What the hell?!"
"Captain Buggy?!"
"What happened, captain Buggy!?"
Buggy's 'corpus', now mostly whole, writhed on the floor in pain. He held his right arm, which was the only part missing, close to his body. In his pain, he glared at something behind the pirate hunter with a murderous look. "You!" he snarled.
Everyone on the roof turned to look and where dumbstruck at what they saw. Sam just grinned widely, flashing teeth, as she grounded her heel into the back of Buggy's hand, earning another pained yelp from the Clown.
"She's standing on captain's hand!"
"How dare you!?"
"Captain, are you ok?"
Luffy smiled widely and called. "Awesome, Sam! I didn't even see that coming!" Zoro smirked and inclined his head in her direction.
"Thanks."
The blonde snickered and pressed down harder on the offending hand, her grin still wide enough to see over her scarf. Having enough with the pain, Buggy finally yanked his hand free.
Sam wobbled at the sudden change in balance as Buggy's hand finally reattached to the stub of his arm. If looks could kill, Sam would have been turned to ash by the sheer force of the pirate captain's glare.
"You little bitch," Buggy spat, his glare like white hot iron. "How did you know about my attack?!"
The blonde's grin grew wider and her eyes seemed to say 'I-know-something-you-don't' as she said carefully, "Bara Bara no Mi…" she cocked her head to the side, mirth flashing in her eyes. "Ne?"
Zoro's eyes widened slightly at her statement before cutting his gaze to the glowering pirate. The idiot trio had said their captain had a devil fruit, and from the look on said captain's face, she had guessed right.
Buggy growled before adopting a cocky—if not strained—grin and spreading his arms out wide as he tried to play off the blow to his ego. "That's right! I ate the Bara Bara no Mi and now you can cut me all you want, but you'll never kill me!"
"That's why his body parts can reattach! He ate a devil fruit!" the ginger gasped as she stared at the pirate captain with wide eyes.
"Yeah, but that means nothing if we can still punch you." Zoro said as he crossed his arms and leveled Buggy with an unimpressed glare.
"Freak," Luffy said from inside his cage and Zoro sent him a sharp look.
"Like you're one to talk."
"Hmm?"
"… Never mind."
"It doesn't matter!" Buggy shouted. He bared his knives as he got ready for another attack. "You may know my devil fruit, but doesn't mean I still can't kill you!" That worked his crew into a frenzy as they shouting jeers and taunts at the fledgling pirate crew.
Zoro's lips turned down as he glare at the rowdy pirates, his hands resting on his swords. Sam's grin turned wary as she got into a loose attack stance, one hand on her new knife.
Luffy sat quietly in his cage, his trademark straw hat shadowing his eyes. Just as it looked like the clowns where about to work themselves into a headlong change, he said something that surprised everyone.
"Zoro! Sam!"
"Hmm?" the two named pirates turned to look at their captain, one with a raised eyebrow and the other with a curious backwards glance.
A face splitting grin spread across their captain's face. "Run away!"
"HUH?!" everyone on the roof stopped short and gave the rubber pirate an incredible look as if he had grown another head.
Sam was the only one to not seem very surprised, mostly because she didn't really know what he said. Not that that seemed to matter anyway. She snickered before nodded and saying cheerfully, "Aye, aye!" as she ran for the mostly forgotten cannon.
Zoro took a moment longer to follow his captain's orders, but as he looked back at his captain's face, Luffy grinned right back. A moment longer paused…
… Before the once bounty hunter smirked. "Oh, got it."
CLANG!
"Yeah!"
Zoro spared his other crewmate a glance as he reached Luffy's cage and one of his eyebrow twitched upward. Why would she flip the cannon—oh.
He smirked devilishly. "Hey! Ginger! Light the cannon!"
The ginger girl looked at him in confusion for a second before understanding crossed her face. "What—? Oh!"
As she scrambled to light the fuse, the clowns seemed to snap out of whatever trance they had fallen into. They took one look at the flipped cannon, and promptly flipping their shit.
"They pointed the cannon at us!"
"AND IT'S STILL LOADED WITH A BUGGY BALL!"
The resulting blast was deafening, but oh so satisfying.
"Let's stop here," Zoro said as he stopped and dropped Luffy's cage before sitting down beside it. Sam sat down beside a dog and let it sniff her hand before scratching it behind the ear, a big grin appearing across her face.
"So we got away, now what?" Zoro asked. "How are we supposed to get you out of this cage?" he wrapped his knuckles against one of the cages bar to make his point.
"Can you cut it?" Luffy asked, even as he tried to chew his way out.
"No." Zoro grunted, glaring at the cage as if it had personally offended him.
"Damn."
"What are you doing?" A voice said. The three Strawhats looked up and grinned—well, two grinned, Zoro at least didn't scowl.
"Hey, it's our navigator!" Luffy said, hand on his hat.
"I never agreed to anything!" the ginger snapped, a tick mark appearing at her temple.
Sam grinned up at her happily. "Future navigator of ours! Nice of you to show up. Please tell me you have the key for this cage." She said as she patted the top of Luffy's cage.
The ginger looked at Sam strangely which Sam returned with an even bigger grin. Seeing her look, Zoro stepped in. "She doesn't speak common, or good common at least."
The ginger looked at him in surprise. "Doesn't speak common? How is that possible?"
Zoro shrugged. "Don't know, and it's not like we can ask her."
"Yeah, but she's funny!" Luffy added.
Sam looked between the three of them, trying not to seem too lost.
"Well, anyway," the ginger said as she reached into her pocket and withdrew a key. "I just came over here to give you guys my thanks." She said as she tossed the key down between the pirates.
Before the key could even reached the ground, the blonde of the group made a mad drive for the key. Once the key was safely in her hands she sat back and grinned triumphantly. She turned her grin to the white dog sitting next to her and stuck her tongue out at it. The dog barked back.
"She's… quite the character." The ginger said as she watch the exchange.
"Shishishi! Yep!" Luffy snickered as Sam unlocked his cage. As soon as she opened the cage door wide enough, Luffy come bouncing out of his cage. Literally.
He threw his hand up over his head, his grin almost impossible wide. "Ah, it's good to be free!"
Zoro grunted, though the corner of his mouth curled upward. "At least the rescue was a success."
"Ah, guys?"
"So what do you plan on doing now?" the ginger asked, looking over them with a raised eyebrow.
"Guys."
Luffy grinned at his navigator. "Big Noise still has the map to the Grand Line, so we're gonna go get it! So join my crew!"
"Didn't I already tell you no?!"
"Oi!"
Zoro, Luffy, and the ginger finally looked over at Sam, who at this point looked thoroughly annoyed. She jabbed her thump to the side at an old man in even older armor. The old man looked slightly ruffled about being ignored up to this point.
"What are you kids doing here?"
"Huh? Who are you? And why does your hair kinda look like a poodle?" Luffy asked, cocking his head to the side in curiosity.
"Me? I'm the mayor of this town, Boodle!" The now named mayor said proudly, as he struck some kind of pose. He leveled each of the teens a stern look. "There are pirates in this town! It isn't safe for kids like you to be running around! And my hair's natural, thank you."
Zoro groaned and grumbled. "Isn't shouting in the middle of the street in a pirate infested town also unsafe?"
Sam snickered from her seat by the dog as she petted it, a lazy grin in place.
Sam carefully looked around the empty street. The others talked over her in rapid fire Japanese that she had no hope in understanding. Several times the mayor gestured over as her, most likely talking about the dog she was currently petting, so she presumed that he was telling the rest of the Strawhats his backstory.
The pitiful look Nami was sending Shushu affirmed it.
The blonde stopped her scan of the area to cost the group another glance. If it went by the book, the lion tamer and Richie the lion would show up soon, Luffy would get blasted through a house, Shushu would get beaten up, Luffy would get revenge, and then proceed to kick the local Ringleader's ass five ways to Sunday.
But it hadn't gone by the book so far. Zoro wasn't stabbed, Luffy was free, so what had been written no longer was solid fact. Anything could happen.
No, not anything, she mused. So far the story had stayed on track, even with her there, so it wouldn't be too far of a stretch to think it would stay that way for a while. So Richie and his tamer would show up—couldn't remember that man's name to save her life—and Buggy would still get his ass handed to him curtesy of one straw hat wearing rubber pirate.
Just a little differently.
She smirked into her scarf and chuckled darkly. Nami shot her a look, which she in turn flashed her a bright smile. She still looked a little wary—Sam had no idea why though—but still turned her attention back to the conversation she was having.
Now where was that lion?
ROAR!
"Ah. There it is," Sam said as she looked in the direction of the roar. Nami and the mayor flipped at the sound of the incoming danger and fled to a safe distance. Luffy and Zoro on the other hand only looked mildly curious. Shushu didn't even react.
Luffy looked up as the sound of heavy foot falls got closer and perked up when Richie and his tamer came into view.
"(4) Watashi wa Mohji, bagī kaizoku no kemono teimādesu," the beast tamer said while he sat proudly on the back of his lion. He turned his gaze to Zoro and said something with a sneer. Zoro leveled him with an unimpressed look and seemingly brushed whatever he had said off.
Huh, Sam thought, eyeing the swordsman. Why do I get the feeling that he is completely unimpressed with Buggy's crew as a whole? She thought about it for a moment even as Mohji snarled something overhead. Maybe because he is.
Sam raised an eyebrow when she noticed that Mohji had gotten off of Richie and was holding his hand out towards Shushu. Both she and the dog regarded the offered hand of a moment before they shared a look.
"Bite."
CHOMP!
"(5) Itai!"
Sam fell over laughing as Mohji had a hasty retreat back to the safety of Richie's back. Luffy was holding his stomach laughing and Zoro snickered at the failed taming even as Mohji tried to brush it off.
Sam reached over and patted Shushu on the head. "Brilliant! Good boy, Shushu!" she managed to say between her laughing.
The lion and his tamer growled, and with a snarl, Mohji shouted an order while pointing at Shushu and the blonde. Sam stopped her laughter in time to stare wide eyed as a massive paw came bearing down on her.
A streak of red flashed in her vision before her captain materialized in front of her and block the powerfully swipe. She squeaked at the impact and blinked up at her captain as he leveled the attacking duo with a glare.
Zoro scowled at Mohji, one hand on Wado's hilt. Shushu growled and barked at the larger feline, looking about ready to attack. Sam looked from Luffy to Richie and Mohji (who both looked like they had made a grave mistake) dumbfounded.
Luffy growled something at the two Buggy pirates and lashed out. Sam blinked again when their bodies hit the other side of the street and went straight through the house.
"Now that was pitiful," Sam said as the dust cleared, revealing a gaping hole.
It didn't take long for Nami and the mayor to wonder back over. The two of them stood gaping at the massive hole in the other building for a good few minutes before turning to look at Luffy like they were seeing him for the first time.
Sam snickered. Yeah, he did kinda have that effect on people.
Sam watched with mild amusement as the mayor proclaimed his will to fight—or she thought so, language barriers are so hard to deal with. It also helped that she had recently watched the first part of the series. Having foreknowledge to the plot really helped when she couldn't understand a thing.
A loud blast sound as an entire row of houses disappeared in a brilliant show of firepower. Nami and the mayor both grew deathly pale and shouted in surprise at the destruction of property. Luffy clamped a hand down on his hat to keep it from flying away as he stared in shock. Zoro and Sam, having seen something similar earlier that day, spared the destruction a glance.
Again, Shushu didn't even react.
Sam patted the dog on the head one last time before standing and eyed the mayor as he stormed off to avenge his town. She watched him storm around the bend, ready to face a pirate way out of his league and raised an eyebrow.
She knew Luffy and the crew went and saved him, but come on. At least the mayor could have gone back for backup, or called the marines. She shook her head. Sometimes the things people did in this universe never made sense.
She glanced over at the rest of the crew and hid a grin as Nami shook hands with Luffy. The blonde caught Zoro's eye and grinned devilishly as she sent the navigator a sidelong look. Zoro picked up on her meaning and smirked back.
Sam snickered into her scarf. Nami as she was now still thought she could get away with being a temporary crewmate of Luffy. Luffy. The man with a stubborn strike as long as the Grand Line and a lack of understanding 'no'. She thinks she can get away scot free from that kind of force of nature—because that's what he was, at least in the future.
Ha. How cute.
As the four of them started in the direction of the mayor, Sam sent a glance over her shoulder at the line of destroyed houses.
Wonder how Mohji and Richie faired in that blast?
She faced forward again and shrugged, "Meh, it's not my problem."
The battle at the bar went mostly as Sam had expected. The Strawhats showed up just in time to save the mayor from being choked to death before proceeding to slam his face into a nearby wall. Nami had shouted up a storm at the two male Strawhats as Sam hid a grimace and moved the mayor out of the way.
Wouldn't want him to get trampled on in the ensuing fight, now would they?
She half expected Buggy to then fire his famous Buggy-Ball, but was surprised when he seemingly just ordered his underlings to attack. She looked at the charging pirates in alarm as she reached for her knife, but she didn't have to worry.
Her two crewmates took most of them down in under a minute.
Monsters.
The rest of the pirates seemed to share the feeling, as they backed off and eyed the two of them warily. Nami just sighed, having come to some form of an understanding with herself that this kind of thing was the norm and quietly faded into the back ground, off to rob the pirates blind.
Sam pouted though. Sure, she wasn't that skilled in a fight, but at least she had her devil fruit to back her up. It wouldn't be too hard to fight grunts that Luffy and Zoro could one-shot and she doubted that the average East Blue grunts budget could afford Sea-stone anything, so she was safe on that front too.
When Buggy and—Cabaji she thinks?—finally came out to face their destined opponents for this arc, Sam sighed and crossed her arms as she rocked back on her heels.
Now what was she supposed to do? All the major players were taken care of, so all that was left was for someone to be on grunt patrol for the rest of the fight. Sam turned her attention to the remaining clowns that hadn't been taken care of yet and grinned.
Well everyone has to start somewhere, right?
She was about ready to start her first grunt killing spree when a familiar roar stopped her. She glanced over her shoulder and widened her eyes in surprise.
"So those two lived, huh?" she muttered. Sure enough, Mohji and Richie where standing in the middle of the street, sporting big bruises on their cheeks and covered in dust and a small bit of blood, but standing all the same.
Looks like mob patrol would have to wait.
She turned and went to stand in front of them while still being a fair distance away. The two turned their glare from the fighting captains to the blonde as she grinned up at them.
"So, it looks like you're my opponent for this island," Sam said as she gave them a mock bow. The two scrunched their faces up in confusion and cocked their heads to the side.
"Nani?"
The blonde let out a long suffering sigh and looked to the heavens. "Is it always going to be like this until I get a translator?"
As expected, there was no answer.
Sam sighed again before flashing the duo in front of her a grin that was almost borderline psychotic. Now, she knew these guys where pirates and wouldn't think twice about gutting her if they got the chance. But she wasn't going to give them any.
All she had to do was stay away from those claws.
Easy.
"Now then, shall we get started?" she said more for her sake than anything. She looked the enemy pirates in the eye and smirked.
"Strength Boost! Speed Boost!" Sam said clearly. Moments later two sets of rings flashed—first yellow, then shortly follow by blue. The auras left behind blended into a soft green glow that settled over her skin.
She flashed the shocked pirate duo in front of her a cocky grin. That seemed to piss them off, because the next thing she knew, Richie was bearing done on her with a side swipe.
Acting instinct, the blonde drew her blade in a reverse grip and brought her arms up for a block as she braced herself for the incoming impact.
The impact hit her hard, almost breaking her defense. Yellow aura flared to life as she was knocked to the side. The force of the blow knocked her off balance—and almost off her feet.
She regained her footing and glared at the other pirate and his mount. That one blow had sent her to the other side of the street, and would have sent her farther if not for her boosts. She tsked as Richie turned and leveled her with a glare.
She returned it with one of her own as she flashed forward, blue aura flaring around her. She barely dodged another hasty swipe by docking under the incoming paw. She lashed out with her knife as she passed the lion's shoulder before bolting away to a safe distance, leaving behind a long gash.
Richie roared in pain and tried to rank her with his claws, but she was already out of reach. She grinned at the lions glare when it turned and growled. With another roar, Richie charged forward.
Sam tensed, formulating a plan as the lion thundered closer. Her eyes widened and she swore when he was almost on top of her as her plan was only halfway formed. In a flashed of blue she dived to the side, dodging the lions teeth by mere inches.
She quickly put some distance between them as Richie come to a stop and turned to face her. The final pieces to her plan clicked into place as the lion geared up for another charge.
When Mohji gave the order and Richie sprang forward, Sam smirked and braced her legs. She had to time it just right and use just the right amount of force if this was going to work. When she deemed Richie to be in range, she jumped straight up as she reached out and pushed the lion's head down and away from herself. Using the lion's head as a hand hold, she spun around like a top and lashed out and a shocked Mohji, kicking him off Richie and clear across the street with a flare of yellow.
Letting her momentum carry her, Sam settled onto the now dumbstruck lion's back. She brought her fist back ready to deliver the finishing blow when Richie snapped back to reality and tried to knock her off. Her fist came down in a flare of yellow before he could and he was slammed into the ground forming a small crater.
Sam regarded the crated for a second before shrugging and getting off of the unconscious lion. She hadn't meant to hit him hard enough to form a crater of all things, she hadn't wanted to kill the poor lion, but he had a thicker skull than she had thought. She's just has to work on her power output.
Sam glanced up and grinned at the gathering of rapidly paling clowns.
Riiiight, grunt patrol.
The blonde champion let out a maniacal laugh as she charged towards the now panicking clowns.
They would do nicely for practice.
As the last clown went down in a flash of blue and yellow, Sam finally took a look around the battle field. She cocked an eyebrow at Zoro's sleeping form and cast Luffy a glance as he bazookaed Buggy to the next island.
She nodded to herself. Looks like she finished just in time.
She meandered over to Zoro and knelt down beside him. "Zoro, Zoro," she said as she shook his shoulder to wake him. He blinked open one eye and focused on her before opening both eyes and raising an eyebrow. She grinned at him before getting to her feet and edging towards an alley that went in the general direction of the docks.
Sam eyed the townspeople that had showed up out of nowhere—ninjas, the lot of them!—and tensed for the inevitable chase. When Luffy apparently said the magic words and the townspeople screamed for blood and charged, Sam turned on her heel and fled down the street.
She was careful to not full out run, seeing as her boosts were still active. They didn't have a time limit, or at least one she had hit yet, so she only had to worry about accidentally running into buildings. Which wouldn't be fun. At all.
When she saw Shushu ahead, she grinned and quickly turned down the alley that he was conveniently guarding.
"Hahaha! Thanks Shushu!" she yelled over her shoulder when she heard him stopping the angry citizens.
It didn't take them long to reach the docks after that, and she only had to double back to get Zoro once, so she thought personally that they made good time. When they reached the boats, she blinked when the clown trio from before jumped out of one of the boats, cocky grins in place.
They took one look at Zoro though and reached an octave she thought impossible for the male population to reach and jumped into the sea. She watched them disappeared over the horizon and shrugged.
"Weird clowns."
She climbed into their original boat and settled down at her spot at the bow. She took a deep breath and braced herself for what was next.
"Drop."
Her trademark rings flashed, taking with them their glowing auras and leaving nothing behind save for pain.
"Son of a—"Sam cringed as the pain hit her. It was worse this time! So much worse! The others shot her concerned looks as they readied the boats for departure. She ignored them as she groaned in pain.
Never, ever again! The pain was not worth it!
Getting a farewell from the mayor, even if she couldn't understand a word, was defiantly worth it.
Translations (taken from Google translate, so some may be wrong):
(1) Nani? = What? (Shows up twice)
(2) Sore wa, kono hōhōdesu! = It's this way!
(3) Son'na koto shitteru! = I know that!
(4) Watashi wa Mohji, bagī kaizoku no kemono teimādesu. = I am Mohji, Beast Tamer of the Buggy Pirates.
(5) Itai! = Ouch!
Oh, and if anyone didn't catch on to why Sam was hissing at the sea, that was because she was thirsty. The sea being salt water meant that even though she was surrounded by water, she couldn't drink any, and that annoyed her. But seeing as she's a Champion of Water and therefore a Sea Dragon, she could most likely drink sea water and be perfectly fine. But she doesn't know that yet. :)
So, yeah. Good? Bad? Somewhere in-between? Drop me a review and tell me how I did and what you think of the story so far!