Chapter Six: Deception
The Sixth chapter of Alvida's Adventure. I'm so happy to have made it this far. Thanks to all those who read my work, and an extra special thank you to NopeJustMe who gave me my first ever review. Please enjoy! ^^
Cheers erupted from the crowd as the Bihoshi tribe ran meet Alvida in the middle of the arena. The men proclaimed their love to her; the women told her how beautiful she was. Alvida rubbed the back of her head, and smiled the happiest smile she could muster. This was indeed the best day of her life thus far.
"All hail Alvida, victor of the contest of strength, and winner of the title 'Most Beautiful Woman in All the Land." said Haryuu as the crowd parted from in front of Alvida to let him through. "I believe this now belongs to you." He said indicating the iron club he had slung across his shoulder. Alvida's smile broadened even more as she reached out for her club. She held it tightly, and gave it a couple of practice swings before holding it up in the air and shouting another yell of triumph.
"Yes, all hail the most beautiful woman in all the land." said Fubito. Alvida looked over to where the voice was coming from as did the rest of the Bihoshi. Fubito, the newly bandaged Onaku, and several members of the Gokibaka tribe were all kneeling in front of the cracked giantess statue where Onaku had been slammed. The entire crowd went silent.
"You are truly the victor in this contest, and, as promised, you are the winner of the iron club, and a special prize from our village." said Fubito still kneeling.
"Special prize?" said Alvida blankly.
"Don't you remember? When you agreed to the contest, it was stated that the winner would receive the iron club, and a special prize from the other village. You won, so that means you receive a prize from us." he said.
"Um, okay. What's the prize?" asked Alvida as Haryuu stared at them suspiciously.
All the Gokibaka tribe members got up from their kneeling position. "Behold." said Fubito pointing towards the jungle a pair of Gokibaka males walked up carrying a platform made of wood and leaves with a wooden covered plate on it. "Feast your eyes on this." said Fubito as he pulled the lid off and a golden light temporarily bathed the assembly. "The famous Gokibaka golden cake!" As the golden light faded, it revealed a shining cake with shimmering icing, laden with fresh fruit. A murmuring went through the crowd on both sides.
"The famous Gokibaka golden cake." said one voice.
"The best cake on all the island." said another.
"It has won the island bake-off for the last seven years in a row."
Everyone was marveling at the beautiful and delicious looking cake. "We had the Gokibaka chef who makes the golden cake," he said indicating a kind looking old lady in the background who waved and smiled when she heard herself mentioned, "bake one extra special. The plan was for it to be the centerpiece of Onaku's victory feast, but since you won, I suppose that we'll give it to you."
At this comment, Alvida smiled broadly. "Well, I guess it's the least I can do to make you losers feel better." she said as she started to approach the cake.
"Wait!" said Haryuu as he threw his arm out in front of Alvida to bar her way. "How do we know that you're not just trying to poison Bijin-sama as retaliation for your defeat?"
"Haryuu, you don't trust us. I'm hurt." said Fubito with a pouting expression on his face. "Fine, I'll prove it's not poison." he said as he picked up a wooden fork and used it to scoop up a small piece of cake. He then raised it to his lips, put it in his mouth, and gave Haryuu a "Now are you satisfied?" look.
"Well, that's good enough for me." said Alvida as she walked towards the cake once more, this time without interference from Haryuu who still had a suspicious look on his face. Alvida, without pausing to even look at the utensils, picked up the cake with both hands, and munched it in the way that had gained her great fame among the Bihoshi. When she was done, she raised her sleeve to her mouth, and wiped off the remaining traces of icing with a puzzled look on her face.
"Alvida-sama, are you feeling alright?" said Haryuu as he came up beside her.
"Yah, I'm alright." she said with the puzzled look on her face. "It's just I don't see what's so special. It was a fair cake, but it was nothing special." There was a murmur going through the crowd at this statement.
"How could you say that Alvida-sama?" said one Bihoshi male. "The Gokibaka golden cake is the greatest cake ever created. Some of the strongest men have been brought to tears by its sheer deliciousness!"
"Well, the outside was pretty good, but I think the fruit at the center was rotten." she said sticking out her tongue in a disgusted expression.
"Fruit at the center?" said the old Gokibaka lady who baked the golden cakes. "But, my cakes don't have fruit at the center."
"What?!" exclaimed Haryuu, who then quickly whipped around to a smiling Fubito. Suddenly Alivda let out a short scream as she fell to the ground clutching her stomach. "Fubito, what have you done?" he said as a strange noise began to echo from Alvida. It sounded like someone shaking rubber.
"Us? Why we simply added a special ingredient to our grand chef's cake." he said as Onaku and several other Gokibaka tribe members smiled an evil smile.
Alvida stared down at herself as the noise continued to grow. Her stomach began to jiggle of its own accord. "Whoa, whoa!" she exclaimed as the rest of her body began to shudder. She fell to her knees clutching her stomach as she tried to keep her body under control.
'What's happening to me?' thought Alvida as she continued to clutch her stomach. She felt a change in the sensations running throughout her body. She was no longer shaking as much, but a new feeling quickly came upon her. She held herself tighter as a sucking tightening sensation hit her in the pit of her stomach. The feeling quickly spread. It felt as if her body were sucking in on itself. Her coat was becoming loose around her shoulders, and her cheeks were starting to come closer to her face instead of the hanging jowls they normally were.
Haryuu ran up to Fubito, and grasped his shoulders shaking him. "What was the ingredient?!" he screamed, still shacking Fubito. Fubito smiled, and spoke in a dark, low voice "A Devil's Fruit."
Alvida gasped as her skin continued to tighten around her. She could feel herself shrinking. A final shudder ran through her body as her skin solidified into its new position. The assembled crowd gasped at the image now before them. Where there had once been their glorious Bijin-sama now kneeled an entirely new person. Her limbs were perfectly thin, her stomach perfectly toned. Her head was bowed with one hand supporting her on the ground and the other clutching the now super loose island style clothes she had been given before the fight tight against the front of her body to shield her from being seen by the onlookers, but a perfectly toned stomach and the figure of an ample chest could still be seen through openings in the pink fabric shield. The coat that had once fit only her top now cascaded all the way down her back to the heels of her feet. She looked up causing bright red lips and shimmering eyes to show from beneath her raven hair, and also causing the shoulder of her coat to slip slightly on the glisteningly smooth skin of her shoulder. "What happened?" she asked, her voice now as smooth as her newly acquired skin.
Screams went out throughout the entire conjugation. "Alvida-bijin-sama!"
"What have they done to you?"
"She's…horrible!"
"Hahaha!" laughed Onaku. "You look even worse than the rest of them." she said smiling.
"Fubito, what have you done?!" shouted Haryuu once more as he went over to help up the kneeling Alvida, who was still desperately clutching the island clothes in her front as Haryuu secured the coat covering her back. As Alvida began to stand up, her feet slipped on the ground causing her to fall and clutch to Haryuu with her free hand.
"It was all part of the plan." said Fubito, as a Gokibaka male unrolled a tan piece of parchment with a picture of a hollowed out Gokibaka golden cake and what looked like a bright pink peach at first glance but was covered in a mysterious swirling pattern. "Some time ago, a mysterious traveler docked on our side of the island. He fell madly in love with one of our women, and said that if we would allow him to marry her; he would give us a Devil's Fruit that would make anyone who ate it even more beautiful than the women naturally on our island. He then showed us a picture of what a person could look like if they ate the fruit. Naturally the rest of the villagers scoffed when they saw the picture, saying 'Who would want to look like that?', but I saw the potential such a thing could have. I made the deal, and the two love birds sailed off the island, while we got the fruit. We later found out that it was called the Sube Sube no mi, and would give anyone who ate it super slippery skin as well as the new look." He said still smiling. Alivda stared at him, then down at her own new body, and rubbed her newly smooth fingers together.
"When your 'champion' landed on the island, and came to challenge our fair lady Onaku, I immediately hatched a plan. The person who gave us the fruit told us it would be the nastiest, foulest thing we had ever tasted. We knew no one would ever want to touch such a thing by itself, so we got our master chef to bake a golden cake, then, without her knowing, hid the fruit inside. The golden cake is the most delicious food ever created, but apparently even its taste could not completely override the taste of the fruit. It was decided that if Onaku won, we would take the fruit out of the cake, and save it for a later time, but if she lost, we would use it to make sure that Onaku's competition was taken care of." he said then let out an arrogant laugh which was quickly taken up by the group surrounding him.
Alvida narrowed her eyes as a look of frustration crossed her face. "You moron's never stood a chance against our superior intellect." He said as he continued to laugh. Alvida's eyes narrowed even more. She lowered her head so her eyes were covered in shadow, and she bit her lower lip in frustration as a stitch appeared on her forehead. She let go Haryuu's shoulder, and reached down to pick up her iron club which she had dropped nearby in the hand that was not clutching her clothes. She began strolling over to where Fubito and his group were standing. Fubito was so busy laughing that he didn't even notice Alivda until it was too late. Alvida's massive iron club slammed into Fubito's chortling face, and he immediately plummeted backwards into the ground. The laughter ceased immediately as everyone turned to look at Fubito's unconscious form.
"There are four flaws in your plan." said Alvida looking up. "First, just because I'm smaller doesn't mean I'm any less strong. Second," said Alvida counting off. "I'm still the most beautiful woman in all the land."
"Why you…"yelled Onaku as she threw a golden knuckled fist at Alvida's face only to have her blow slide off harmlessly.
"Third, you may have changed me slightly, but you also gave me a Devil's fruit ability, which was almost your biggest mistake, but your biggest mistake…" she said as her eyes and voice taking on a menacing appearance. Onaku and the remaining Gokibaka members surrounding her leaned back with scared expressions on their faces as sweat broke out on their bodies. "You called me ugly." Each member of the group let out a scream that could be heard throughout the jungle. Almost before anyone could blink, the entire group was lying on the ground with steaming knots on their heads and various other injures all over their bodies. Alvida turned away, her club slung over her shoulder, and started walking back towards Haryuu.