Well, here's the first real chapter of Four White Lilies! I don't really have too much to say about this at the moment, so enjoy!
Disclaimer:I do not own One Piece.
Seven Years Later:
Watanabe Jiro whistled cheerfully to himself as he made his way through the harbor. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun warmed his skin nicely, only serving to enhance his good mood. On his left, his blue haired cook, Yoko, paced beside him, seeming equally happy, if not a little eager and excited. To his right was his first mate, and also his crew's doctor, Benjirou, looking perfectly solemn, as he normally did.
The trio came to a halt in front of a massive ship with a whale for a figurehead. A familiar Jolly Roger tied to the main mast waved in the breeze. Jiro ran a hand through his neat red hair, his smile widening nostalgically.
"It really has been a while, hasn't it?" He asked to no one in particular.
Yoko nodded and gave a small hum of agreement before placing two fingers in her mouth and whistling loudly. A moment later a man with a curly black moustache peered over the side of the ship casually. He looked at the three on the dock apprehensively until realization struck him. When it did, a grin split his face and he turned to face them fully.
"We didn't expect to see you guys anytime soon. What brings you here?"
The red haired captain mimicked the man's grin, placing his hands on his hips and saying, "Thought we'd drop in for a visit. I need to talk to the Old Man. How 'bout lettin' us up, Vista?"
Vista nodded and disappeared. A moment later, the gangplank slid down to the dock and the trio walked aboard, immediately being greeted by a number of familiar faces. As Yoko and Benjirou wandered off to greet their old friends, Jiro walked up to Vista, clasping his hand warmly.
"It's good to see ya, Vista," He said.
"Likewise. But where're Hota and Katsu? I didn't see them come up with you. Not to mention it's way too quiet right now for them to be here," Vista replied inquisitively.
Jiro chuckled at the accuracy of Vista's comment. "They're in town, wandering around with a new crewmate. I told them to be back here in an hour, but you know those two. Now where's Pops?"
The dark haired man paused to think for a moment before jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "In his room below deck," He told him, "Remember where it is?"
Jiro turned and began to walk away as he replied, "Couldn't forget if I wanted to."
Meanwhile:
Maybe this game had gotten out of hand.
That was the thought that crossed the twin pirates' minds as they tore through the crowded streets of the port town they were currently docked in. Just ahead of them raced their ebony haired crewmate Emi, who was laughing and grinning like a madwoman as she ran. Behind the trio was a small horde of marine soldiers in hot pursuit, all of whom were cursing at the teenage pirates while trying to accurately shoot their rifles and sprint at the same time.
Never breaking their stride, Hota and Katsu looked at each other, mischief glinting in their sharp green eyes. Matching devilish grins spread across their faces.
Oh yes, this game had definitely gotten out of hand.
But it was still fun as hell.
A peel of laughter escaped from Emi's lips as another colorful string of curses reached her ears. She may hate marines, but it was always hilarious when they were frustrated. And to think that this had all started from a simple game of tag. Hota and Katsu sure had some entertaining ideas.
Despite their amusement at the marines' anger, it didn't take long for the platinum blonde twins to tire of running aimlessly. With a quick nod to each other, Hota shouted ahead, "Oi! Emi! I think it's time to end the game."
Emi threw a quick wink over her shoulder in acknowledgment before picking up her pace. Hota and Katsu followed closely behind as their scrawny crewmate took a sharp left and dashed down a long, winding alley. The angered shouts of marines quieted temporarily as the trio raced through the alley. They kept running until they came to a dead end. Skidding to a halt, the three stared up at the tall walls on three sides of them.
The twins crossed their arms and snickered as they said in unison, "Great job, Emi. You've gotten us trapped."
The raven haired girl blew a bubble with her gum and continued staring at the top of the alley.
Pop!
"Hota, Katsu?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up and give me a boost."
The boys opened their mouths to protest, but were cut off by the distant shouts of marines further back the alley. Katsu kneeled and clasped his hands together, waiting for Emi to place her foot on them before flinging her into the air. Emi repeatedly pushed herself off of two of the alley walls, propelling herself upward until she could swing herself onto the roof. She vanished for a second before her head popped over the edge again.
"Coast is clear. Get up here."
"And how are we supposed to do that?" Was the skeptical unison reply.
"You've got a Devil Fruit power, don't you? Use it." Emi replied, quickly tiring of the pair playing dumb.
The twins nodded to each other before closing their eyes in concentration. A second later, their images blurred and a clone of each twin split off from their originals. One of the clones braced itself against the wall while the other climbed up to stand on the first's shoulders. The two replicated again, continuing the process until they had created a human ladder reaching all the way up to where Emi stood. The original pair of twins climbed the human ladder quickly, accepting Emi's hand as she hauled them over the ledge. The twins made the clones disappear and crouched behind the ledge beside Emi just as the crowd of marines appeared in the alley.
The marines swarmed into the dead end, skidding to a halt and running into each other's backs in the process. They looked around expectantly, muttering in confusion when they found that the pirate rascals they had been chasing were nowhere in sight. Just as they were about to turn away to look elsewhere, a young marine caught a slight movement above them and pointed it out quickly.
"Up there! They're on the rooftop!"
Hota, Katsu, and Emi pressed themselves against the brick wall as bullets came whizzing past them.
"I guess this means we can't just wait for them to leave," Katsu commented casually above the noise.
"I guess not. What do you guys wanna do?" Emi asked, glancing at her lanky crewmates.
The two boys grinned mischievously at each other before turning to Emi, who quickly caught on and returned the expression. The three waited for a lull in the bullet fire before nodding to each other. Emi counted down from three with her fingers.
Three
Two
One
The trio launched themselves over the ledge, descending upon the unsuspecting marines.
Within seconds, the three pirates were surrounded by blue and white clad men. Hota pulled out his jutte and created two clones of himself, the three of them attacking simultaneously. As he continued to strike down marines, he noticed that they weren't firing their guns. Following a quick glance around him, he realized (much to his pleasure) that the alley was too narrow for them to shoot their large guns without running the risk of hitting their fellow men. However, Hota knew that his was a disadvantage as well. Looking over the heads of the men around him, he found that he was right. His brother was using his throwing knives as daggers, as the men were too close for him to fully throw them. Emi was caught in a similar dilemma; without enough room to fully swing her scythe, she had retracted it and resorted to fighting with her hands instead. Despite this, Hota wasn't too worried. As long as they could keep the fight short, they would be just fine.
Unfortunately, the elder twin's hopes were dashed as the fight began to drag on. The twins found themselves fighting with their backs against the rough brick of the alley. Emi, stuck somewhere in the middle of the throng, bent backwards to avoid a sword. Just after the blade sliced through the air above her nose, the butt of a gun slammed into her stomach, knocking the air out of the girl and causing her to fall on her back.
From her spot on the ground, Emi kicked the gun out of the man's hands before he could shoot down at her. Before she could push herself back to her feet, a loud shout of "GET DOWN!" rang out through the alley. Emi didn't stop to question who said it and pressed herself into the ground as much as she could.
Emi was very glad she did so, for, a second later, the marines above her were caught in a large blast of flames. Agonized cries rang out and echoed in the enclosed area. Emi turned her head away from the bright light the flames produced. The heat radiating off of them hit her skin in searing waves.
Just as soon as the flames came, they were gone.
Above her, a heavily burned marine swayed stiffly before falling to the ground. Emi rolled out of the way swiftly as the man in the formerly white and blue uniform landed in her previous spot. Sitting up, she quickly surveyed the scene. Marines were strewn about the ground, burnt to a crisp. Some of them were moaning in pain. She was relieved to see Hota and Katsu standing up and brushing dirt off their clothes. But upon seeing them talking to two strangers, the relief was quickly replaced by confusion.
The two men were clearly fully grown with more than decent muscle mass. They stood at least a head above her lanky, wiry muscled nakama. The taller of the two was dressed in light blue and his hair was up in a peculiar pompadour hairstyle that Emi was certain couldn't happen naturally. The other man was tan skinned, with a mop of sandy hair on top of his head. His eyes had a lazy droop to them and, like the other man, had a friendly smile on his face. Judging by the way the four interacted; the two strange men were friends of Hota and Katsu's.
And although she was certain that she hadn't met these men before, Emi couldn't shake the feeling that she knew them from somewhere.
Emi was so engrossed in analyzing the two men that she didn't notice a third person walking towards her until he was towering above her.
"Need a hand? You didn't get burned at all, did you?"
Startled, Emi jumped slightly and turned to see who had approached her.
This man was much younger than the other two, almost too young to even deserve the name. He couldn't have been more than a few years older than Emi herself, and she was only fifteen. Despite this, she couldn't deny that he was muscular. Hell, she was pretty sure that he didn't wear a shirt just to show off that fact. Although that seemed to be the only piece of clothing he was missing, as he wore a dark pair of shorts and clunky black boots. There was a smattering of freckles on his grinning face and a flashy orange cowboy hat on top of his unruly mass of black hair.
Upon hearing a soft chuckle, Emi quickly came to the realization that she was staring. Blinking a few times to readjust her eyes, she took the boy's outstretched hand and allowed him to hoist her to her feet. The sudden movement made her aware of a sharp pain in her stomach. Lifting up the hem of the loose t-shirt that hung over her shoulder, she saw a deep purple bruise was flourishing in the center of her stomach.
"You okay?" The boy asked her, looking from the bruise to her face in search of an answer.
"I'm fine, thanks. One of these guys nailed me in the stomach before he got fried. Thanks for that by the away. I'm assuming that fire was one of you?" Emi replied, shoving her hands in her pockets and giving the boy in front of her a laid back smile.
Said boy grinned and scratched the back of his head, "That was me. I'm Portgas D. Ace by the way."
An image of a wanted poster she had seen recently popped into her head. This was Fire Fist Ace, an up and coming rookie that had recently joined the Whitebeard Pirates. Emi couldn't help but wonder why he had shown up out of the blue to help her and her crewmates, but she shrugged it off, deciding to ask questions later.
"I'm Hanatomi Emi," She replied, getting a nod in response.
"Oi, Emi!" Katsu called as he walked towards her, Hota and the two other men trailing behind him. "There's someone we want'cha to meet."
When they reached Emi and Ace, Hota jerked a thumb towards the two men. "This is Marco and Thatch. Seems like you've already met Ace. The three of 'em are part of Captain's old crew. Well, Marco and Thatch are. Ace joined after Jiro left."
Emi smiled and greeted them before it finally hit her. Marco and Thatch! They were division commanders on Whitebeard's crew! But wait a second…
"Wait… Captain was part of their crew? Our captain was a freaking Whitebeard Pirate?"
The twins grinned at her obliviously and replied, "Yeah, he was the second division commander."
Well that was unexpected.
"What? Why didn't you tell me?"
The twins looked at each other, shrugged, and turned back to Emi.
"You didn't ask."
"That's a horrible reason!" the black haired girl deadpanned, hitting both of them over the head.
"You used it last week," They retorted, nursing the growing bumps on their heads.
"…Shut up."
As Emi huffed and turned away from her nakama, Ace and Marco could only shrug at the trio's behavior. Thatch just laughed.
Well, I'd say that's a fair start. Please let me know what you think. I'd love to hear your opinions. If you read the old version, do you like this one better? I'm hoping to get another chapter up soon, but ya never really know. Thanks to everyone who has stuck with me. You're awesome. And not in the silly, watered down normal context, I mean awe inspiring.
Reviews, constructive criticism, opinions, and ideas are always welcome. Requests are always negotiable. =)
~Decadent Decay (formerly Seeking Fireflies, in case you were wondering)
