Angel of Death Fruit

Book One: Deadline

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter One – February 28, 12:00 p

Not every island on the Grand Line was inhabited by man, as was the island the Straw Hat pirates currently found themselves on. Thick with trees and plants and no sounds suggesting a village or city (though plenty of sounds suggesting other forms of wildlife), the small crew realized they were by themselves for the time being.

The time being, it turned out, was going to be two weeks.

"What do you MEAN the Log Pose is going to take two weeks!?" asked Nami. The crew was gathered around the kitchen table to discuss their latest predicament. Robin promised an explanation for their current situation, and Luffy decided everyone should meet together to discuss it.

"This is probably a Wild Isle," said Robin. "They're small, uninhabited islands that have an unexplainable magnetic field. Sometimes it has no pull at all, and other times its pull is strong enough to attract a Log Pose already fixed on another destination. No Grand Line scientist has been able to explain them, and there's no way to know just how many of them exist because of their sporadic magnetic fields – it's entirely possible there are only two of them – one of each side of the Red Line – or it's also possible there are dozens of them."

"Su-GEI!" Luffy exclaimed, standing up so quickly his hat almost fell off his head. "If it's a Wild Isle then it must be great for exploring and camping and hunting and fishing!" He cried out in excitement and clapped his hands. "We should explore the island and see what it has to offer! Like lots and lots of meat!"

"Well, if there are any animals on the island we could probably hunt them for an extra food source – since this unexpected issue arouse, we'll need the extra food supply anyways," said Zoro. He grinned. Looks like he'd get a chance to kick some ass. "Perhaps our captain is right – a hunting expedition might be a good idea."

"Yosh! Hunting! Meat!"

"We've got enough food on the ship to last the eight of us eating NORMAL portions for only a couple of days," said Sanji, who made sure to send a special glare towards the captain. Luffy frowned and stuck his tongue out at the chef. "But if several of us head off for the hunting expedition, the current food supply will last a lot longer – plus we'll have the fruits of the camping expedition to last us to the next island."

"And we'll need someone to stay behind on the ship," said Franky. "Just in case we get some unexpected visitors – man or beast. If this island attracted our Log Pose, it might've attracted some other Log Poses as well – like bounty hunters, other pirates, or Marines. And with our bounties and no way off the island for two weeks, that would be a very bad thing."

The marksmen sighed. "And our recent adventures through Enies Lobby just makes us fun pickings for any of those groups of people," said Usopp. "We're going to have Marines and bounty hunters coming at us from every side for a while – nothing I, the great Captain Usopp couldn't handle, but it would still be annoying." He shivered. "And scary."

Robin nodded. "Bounty hunters have been after me for a long time – I wouldn't be surprised if they're looking at the rest of your posters and salivating at the thought of collecting any of your bounties. This crew is worth a lot of money right now and regardless of any competition that might exist between certain crew members, that isn't a laughing matter."

"Even Chopper's?" Sanji added dryly.

Chopper stuck his tongue out at the cook.

Nami ignored the doctor and the cook's tiff and continued on with the meeting, though her eyebrow did twitch a little bit. "So we should probably split up into two groups – at least two people – maybe three – should stay on the Thousand Sunny and the rest of us should look for food and other supplies on the island."

Chopper's eyes lit up. "Maybe there are some herbs and plants I could use for medicine!"

"I've been running low on spices," Sanji said, looking forlornly at his spice rack.

"These trees probably aren't Adam Wood, but there might be something here that'll do nicely for temporary repairs until we can get our hands on something better," the cyborg added helpfully.

"So it sounds like most of us are in agreement over the hunting expedition," said Nami. She stood up, placing her hands on the table. "So, let's decide who's going with the expedition and who's keeping watch on the ship. Any volunteers?"

Within seconds, Nami knew a consensus would not be reached easily.

February 28, 12:56 pm

"YOSH! EXPLORING TIME!" Luffy said with a whoop as he dashed into the woods, Zoro yelling after him to slow down and wait for the rest of the group. Chopper morphed into his reindeer form and assisted the first mate in the chase for the captain (and make sure they didn't get themselves lost).

The shipwright was giving the crew remaining on the ship a few parting instructions while Usopp was double-checking what he had packed. Nami had volunteered to lead the group staying behind, which consisted of the archaeologist and the cook (and of course, herself). "Now, you three know how to work the canons and get to the emergency weapons storage, right?" asked Franky. "Usopp and I have an extra barrel of gunpowder below deck – that should be plenty to keep the guns firing until your run out of bullets. And then there's-"

"Yes, yes, yes, we know how to do all that," said Nami, smiling as she waved the shipwright off. "We'll be fine – you're needed to help bring back the food, now get going! Robin and Sanji have two of the highest bounties on the crew – they can just look at most bounty hunters and probably send them running the other way crying for their mothers."

The cook scoffed and took a drag on his cigarette. "If they can recognize me from that piss-poor excuse for a picture," Sanji said under his breath. No one acknowledged the comment; it was no secret that he was still upset over his wanted poster picture.

"Shipwright-san, it's all right – go and enjoy yourself," said Robin. "We could all use a little relaxation time and I'm sure that you would do well to have some bonding time with Captain-san and the others. Navigator-san, Cook-san and I will be enjoying our break on the ship. Then we'll all be refreshed and ready to face our next challenge."

The cyborg considered this, then nodded in agreement. Franky gave the navigator one last "super!" and a pose before running after his captain, leaving Usopp between the expedition and the group staying behind. He started to walk towards Franky, but stopped in mid stride and turned around.

"Long Nose-kun?" asked Robin.

Nami sighed. "This better not be your 'I-can't-go-into-these-woods' disease."

Usopp waved. "I just remembered – it's almost March," he said.

"So?" asked Nami.

"Sanji's birthday is in two days! He's going to be twenty soon and the rest of us are going to miss it – he'll have you two, but the rest of us are going to be in the middle of the woods when he turns the big two-zero," Usopp said. Sanji's eyes widened at the mention of the day. The marksmen raised an eyebrow at the cook, scratching his head. "Sanji? You look a little ill – is something wrong?"

Sanji cleared his throat and stared at the ground. He loosened his necktie a little, and his eyes were suddenly wide. "I. . . uh. . . I almost forgot," he said. "I'm going to be twenty in a few days, won't I?" He laughed nervously. "Ha. Twenty. The end of my teenage years. The big two-zero. Twenty."

Nami turned to Sanji in curiosity. That is NOT a happy birthday boy.

Usopp laughed. "Ha-ha, looks like you almost forgot your own birthday!" He cleared his throat, seeing that Sanji wasn't giving his normal reaction. "So, ah, I know it's a little early, but happy birthday, Sanji. Maybe when we get back we'll have something extra with us in honor of your twentieth year." He grinned, elbowing the cook gently in the side. "I know it wouldn't be much but it's the least we could do."

"You don't have to do that," said the cook, looking away. Nami raised an eyebrow – granted, this was the first time she would be spending any time with the cook on his birthday, but his behavior was getting increasingly odd. "It's just another day with my wonderful Nami-san and Robin-chan."

"No it's not!" said Usopp. He walked back over towards Sanji and slapped him on the shoulder. "It's your birthday! You should be estatic, especially since you'll be spending it with your two favorite women – alone, might I add." Usopp turned towards Nami and Robin, winking. "Maybe, if you're lucky, one of the girls will give you something a little, how do we say. . . extra special."

Nami's attention turned to the marksmen in slight anger. Although he was probably just teasing Sanji, the innuendo had been in plain sight and she wasn't about to let any of the crew think they could get away with it – at least without sufficient monetary compensation first. "Good-bye, Usopp!" she said, shoving him towards the woods.

"I was just kidding!" the marksmen said in a panic, running away from the ship and towards the rest of his crew, shouting for them to wait up. He tripped on a root, but quickly got back to his feet as he began to scamper deeper in the woods. Nami and Robin continued to watch until he vanished into the thicket, then turned their attention back to the cook who was staring oddly into the sky.

"Cook-san?"

"It's nothing – just thinking, that's all," Sanji said quietly. "I'll get started on lunch." With that he began to shuffle back towards the galley, though the usual spring in his step from a conversation with either woman was noticeably missing. Nami and Robin exchanged a confused look.

"Perhaps Cook-san doesn't like aging?" asked Robin.

"Something doesn't seem right about this," said Nami. She laughed. "It's probably nothing – he's Sanji-kun! He'll be fine – I'm sure this is just some weird thing, right?" She smiled. Robin didn't seem to concur, and Nami frowned. "Robin, if he keeps it up we'll drill him later, okay? Do you really think he'd keep secrets from us, of all people?"

"I suppose not. . ." she said. "But it's still really weird."

February 28, 2:43 pm

Within a few hours, Luffy and his team had set up camp within the thicket of the island, and Luffy was taking that as an opportunity to go exploring. "Heh HEH, this is the magical island of endless MEAT!" he cried, bounding into an open field as he laughed in defiance. "I'll be the king of the island of meat!" He placed his hands firmly on his hips and grinned. "When I'm the Pirate King, I'll build a castle out of meat!"

"You moron, you'll scare all the animals away if you keep that up!" Zoro chided, smacking his captain on the back of the head. Luffy pouted at him, but quieted at his first mate's suggestion. "Now, what we'll want to do is set a few traps – that'll help us catch some animals, but we're also going to want to check for vegetation – we'll have the love cook figure out if any of it's edible when we get back to the ship."

"Aw, can't we just get meat?" asked Luffy.

Zoro shook his head. "No. Now I'm not some kind of fruity food expert like Dartboard Eyebrow, but don't you remember the reason we hired that idiot in the first place?" Luffy looked thoughtful for a minute, then shook his head (but slowly began to recall why Nami suggested they keep Sanji and Zoro away from each other for a couple of weeks).

Zoro slapped his forehead. Sometimes, his captain could be a little dense – well, perhaps the better statement would be his captain was fairly dense most of the time. "Of course not. We hired that dork because without someone with a little knowledge about food on board, we'd all die."

"I'm not afraid to die," said Luffy. He grinned.

Zoro rethought his strategy. "You wouldn't be the Pirate King if you died."

"I tried my best."

. . . all right, new plan. "You wouldn't be able to eat meat if you died."

Luffy stared at Zoro for a few seconds before screaming and running around in a circle (it seemed Luffy's focus on meat was a bit more narrow minded than usual today). Zoro was about to reprimand him when he saw something in the trees. He did a double take a could have sword he saw something dark moving amongst the branches.

What the. . .? Whatever it was moved away, and Zoro reached for his swords. There was definitely something there, and now he couldn't see or sense it. Damn – we're not alone on this island, and whoever that was is spying on us! "Luffy, something's watching us – quiet down and pay attention!"

Luffy stopped short, looked around, and nodded. "You're right," he said. He stood up and brushed off his arms. Cracking his knuckles, he grinned and started to laugh. "HEY! IF YOU'RE FOLLOWING US COME OUT AND FIGHT! I'M NOT AFRAID OF YOU! I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!"

Out the trees came a small, brown squirrel holding an acorn. It stood before Luffy, chewing on his nut and staring at the rubber boy in curiosity. Luffy, in turn, stared at the squirrel and took a fighting stance before cracking his knuckles. Zoro was dumbfounded by the entire situation. "Luffy. . . don't pick a fight with the damn squirrel."

Luffy turned to look at his first mate with an angry face. The squirrel twitched its tail, but didn't move from its spot. "I'm not picking a fight with the damn squirrel!" he said. Still holding his completely serious expression, he pointed at the squirrel in accusation. "He started it. So I'm going to kick his ass!"

Sighing, Zoro grabbed Luffy's shoulder and started to drag him towards the sound of Usopp's voice, muttering about how stupid his captain was.

February 28, 2:59 pm

"Where'd you guys go?" asked Usopp as Luffy and Zoro returned to the camp.

"Luffy tried to get into a fight with a squirrel, but more importantly I think someone is following us," said Zoro. He sat down and closed his eyes. "It was definitely human, and definitely didn't want me or Luffy to get a good look. I don't think we're the only ones on this island, and we need to be careful."

Usopp started to panic. "BWAH! MARINES AND BOUNTY HUNTERS AND PIRATES ARE GOING TO ATTACK! AHH!!!" He and Chopper began to run around the campfire pit Franky was building until Zoro intervened by grabbing both of the panicking crew members.

"Could you two please knock it off? This is serious, but nothing we can't handle," said Zoro. Now that he had the group's attention he continued. "Sanji, Robin, and Nami have the ship taken care of and the five of us can handle quite a bit on our own – we'll be fine as long as we aren't stupid. Remember, we have to stay out here for a while if we want to get enough food and supplies to get us to the next island."

"We should make sure someone keeps watch at night and no one should go out into the woods alone – there are plenty of pirates, bounty hunters, and Marines with Devil Fruit powers that can do unheard of things to any one of us – even Luffy might have some trouble against some of them."

"I don't know – he's taken on Logias before," said Usopp.

"But I haven't won against all of them," Luffy added. He frowned. "I can't figure out how to beat Smoker, and I was never able to beat Ace even before he got his Devil Fruit – and his ability would probably melt me before I ever got a chance to fight back!" He laughed. "But Ace wouldn't try to kill me – even if he does want someone else to be the Pirate King."

"Logias are pretty rare, even on the Grand Line, but we can't take any of them lightly," said Zoro. He stood up and began to walk around the fire pit. "Regardless, we need to be careful. Hopefully Nami and the others can handle themselves on the ship, but we're out here in the wild. So everyone needs to be careful. Got it?"

The rest of the group agreed and looked around uneasily.

"Right now we're trapped on this island for two weeks and we don't have any eternal poses on board – if something big comes our way, we're in a lot of trouble because we'll be sailing blind in the Grand Line. We can't take that risk," said Zoro. He grinned. "Just remember – we've taken on some tough opponents before, so don't run like a sissy at the first site of s possible enemy."

Zoro closed his eyes and concentrated. Someone else is definitely on this island. . . but who are they and what do they want? He opened his eyes again to check on the crew. We'll be fine for now, but we can't risk getting caught off guard – if that happens, even some of the most incompetent Marines could catch us.

February 28, 3:05 pm

Little did Zoro know, however, the person he had spotted in the trees was watching the group from above. Perched on a branch above the group, the Iron Butterfly was watching the small group of Straw Hats with great interest. Sanae was lying belly down against the branch, making herself as invisble to the crew as possible – she needed to know what she was dealing with before she made a move.

Finding the crew hadn't exactly been easy – it took a lot of digging around to get a few clues about their whereabouts, but she eventually guessed where they might be headed to and hopped a ship to the appropriate destination. Unfortunately, the crew decided to mutiny, and Sanae ended up in the middle. However, since none of the crew had any bounties (yet), they decided to spare her life and marooned her (and, after handing all of the money she had on her, she'd been allowed to keep some of her belongings as well) on a Wild Isle.

At this point Sanae was pretty sure she was screwed. She hated Wild Isles (this was the fourth time she'd been on one) because they only served as a two-week setback to anything she was trying to do. And right now she did NOT want to wait for a ship to get pulled the island and THEN have another two week wait while their Log Pose charged (if they didn't have an Eternal Pose, which considering how her luck had been going, that would probably be the case).

She was certain she wouldn't find them until she spotted Straw Hat's Jolly Roger on the shore and Straw Hat Luffy and Roronoa Zoro making a bee line for the woods. Perhaps her luck hadn't been so rotten after all, because now it looked like the people she was looking for had fallen right into her lap. Of course there was still the problem of charging a Log Pose for two weeks, but she would cross that bridge when she got to it.

But by the looks of it, the group of five (Cyborg Franky, Cotton Candy Loving Chopper, Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro, Monkey D. Luffy, and an unidentified man that, based on his nose, she guessed was Sogeking without the mask) were aware that someone was watching them – they just didn't seem to realize she was so close by. Either way, now was not the time to make herself known to the group.

All right, so they're going to be vigilant against bounty hunters and Marines – I'm not going to even get a chance to get close to any of them if they figure out who I am! Sanae thought from her perch above Straw Hat's camp. Can't believe Roronoa Zoro almost saw me though – that would've been bad. I gotta be more careful. But now I can see why he's got such a high bounty – the guy's sharp!

She looked around the rest of tree tops, trying to judge her situation. She supposed it was lucky they were on a Wild Isle – that meant no one could leave for a good solid two weeks. That was going to make things a little bit easier, but not by very much. This only narrowed the playing field – it was still going to be a challenge on all sides.

But from what the group said below, the rest of the crew was on their ship. Crossing her legs, she took the posters out of her bag. The ones from the group missing were Cat Burglar Nami, Demon Child Nico Robin, and Black Leg Sanji. These were the ones that, to her knowledge, didn't know she was on the island (and based on this group's plan to camp out, had no way of finding out unless they spotted her already or sometime in the future).

I never told myself this would be easy, she thought. Now I gotta get away from these guys and get back on solid ground – then I need to find the shore and find that ship! Sanae braced herself for a jump (and cursed that her other shoes had been left of the ship – stupid heels), and began to move through the tree tops of the forest. Once she was a safe distance from Straw Hat Luffy, she began to head for the shore.

Once her business with the Straw Hats was done, she decided she was going to have to find those mutineers and kick their collective asses. Stupid pirates. They had a lot of her stuff – much of which they would probably sell for short money. Assholes. She was also pretty sure they'd gotten a hold of some of her underwear and she didn't want to know what they were going to do with THOSE.

Perverts.

Feburary 28, 5:00 pm

While the Straw Hat pirates remained unaware of anyone else but animals and plants on the island and the Iron Butterfly made her move, a third vessel had made its way to the shores of the Wild Isle. With a black scarf and large sunglasses covering her face, a woman stepped onto the shore and looked around. "A Wild Isle – how quaint, isn't it Kenji?"

"Yes, madame," said the swordsman at her side. She turned her full attention to her right hand, Kenji, as she snapped her glasses off and listened to his report. "We've confirmed that Straw Hat Luffy's ship landed here several hours ago – they won't be going anywhere anytime soon based on their lack of movement. We don't know if anyone is on board at this time."

The woman turned on her second hand with a smiled sweetly at him. "Well, I would suggest you find out where that boy and his crew are – I already know you're capable of it, and I don't want to be disappointed in you," she said. She turned away from her right hand and stepped forward. "I've been to this island before. Many times, actually. This is to our advantage."

"Do you have a map?" asked Kenji.

The woman nodded. "Yes, I do – several copies, in fact. I trust that all of you know how to read a map well enough to navigate unfamiliar territory?" she said. He nodded, and called for one of the members still on board to get the maps. "In my day I've come across at least three unique Wild Isles – I've made sure to map the terrain of each one. I'm positive this is one I've been to before. The smells and sounds are too familiar."

The swordsman grinned. "That is a good advantage to have – what have we got?"

"There's an old castle on this island – we can use it in case we run into anything unexpected," she said. She waited for the rest of the crew to exit the boat. "Several of us will make our way to the castle, the rest of you are to find and keep tabs on all of the Straw Hat pirates. I want to know where they all are by this time tomorrow – do you understand?"

"Yes Ma'am!"

"Good – now we don't need to waste any time explaining things," she said. "As always, I don't want any screw ups – you know how much I HATE screw-ups." She glared at the group in general. "I'm tired on interferences from outside sources – the last several. . . missions. . . almost failed. Though I commend all of you in solving the problems, I don't want any more problems to arise. Am I clear?"

"Of course!"

The woman nodded. "Then let's begin, shall we?"

Author's Notes

Okay, so Luffy's focus on meat was a bit. . . much. But they are on a food expedition and we all know how one track minded Luffy can be, so. . . anyways. . . I really liked the bit with the squirrel. And so did Chris-kun (who was once again awesome and beta read the chapter for me).

Chapter Two is being a pain in the arse – the good news is I'm working with an outline for this story, so it's very well planned – some of the later chapters already have some work done on them already, so they might come out in much more rapid succession (which, around chapter four or five, I'm HOPING people are going to want to see more and more of).

As you may have noticed, time plays an important role in the telling of this story from here on out. Please let me know if it's working. I'm also curious to see what your opinions on the non-canon characters might be. Tell me anything you think is relevant – I'm very interested in what is and what isn't working for you guys. What do you have questions about? What do you think is going to happen next?

Side Notes: I know Franky's birthday is right around the corner from Sanji's, but it isn't relevant to the story (though it might get a mention later). If you're following the manga, this story, based on chapter 442, would likely go after Enies Lobby but before the next arc (pending the outcome of that arc). I'd also really like to know more about the new ship's layout.

Dixxy