Declaimer: I don´t own One Piece nor Detective Conan
Words: 3 000
A/N: I was busy, and had no time... Sorry and Enjoy.
Reina had always wondered why her parents had named her that, Reina, since it sounded somewhat weird and people often made fun of her. Not that she minded since after a while, her ears started to block it all out somehow; but she still wondered exactly why, since there were many pretty English names they could have used. Now, however, looking at the majestic tree/flower, who knows what that is; which grew before her and shared her name, she felt special.
The flower was fall, at least four or five meters, with huge beautiful petals that leaned towards the ground, covered in tick raindrops. For a moment, Reina just kept staring at it, wondering why exactly it shone slightly, as if enveloped in an aura, a calm blue one. It was strange, amazing, breathe taking… and then she saw the petals closer, saw that they were like mirrors, slightly transparent, reflecting the light which they received. Out of this world. So beautiful. So majestic.
For the first time in years, Reina wished she had her camera, so that she could take a picture of such an amazing flower and show it to Dandan and Gramps later. She didn´t have it, however, since the only thing she brought from her world were her clothes. Even her bellowed wand disappeared whom knows were…
"What a pity…" Reina mumbled slightly sad. She wanted so much to show it… and she knew she wouldn´t be able to describe it using just words. Thinking about it was hard enough. "Wait a minute…" Narrowing her eyes, she reflected on the matter for a moment. She needed a camera, right? It could be any kind, as long as it took photos…
"That reminds me…" Starting to walk once again, her eyes searching the place for a red dot or blinking light that indicated a possible bomb, she remembered something. "There are cameras in this world. They belong to Marine, but they surely exist." Now that were good news. Smirking, she made a mental note to visit the nearest marine quarters searching for one. That or rob something who has it with them. Considering there is a war going on, and people will want pictures and news of it, someone with one is bound to appear.
"Great!" Now all she needed was to make sure she would find that flower again, and considering her direction sense was ten times better than Zoro´s, she was confident she would find it. In addition, there was always Livi, in case she really did forget. "One problem taken care of."
Well, yes, that was taken care of… but the main reason she sneaked in there was still far from being found. Reina had though it would be easy to find a bomb in a park, or more like garden, but now that she arrived there, she felt stupid. But of course it had to be giant one with lots and lots of plants! Cro-chan was a genius. Try finding a stupid bomb in there. Her last hope resigned in her luck, and the hope the bomb was big enough for her to spot it right away.
Even so, that didn´t stop her from feeling down. Reina had no idea how much time had passed, or how much she had left, but she truly hopped she could stop it in time. Talking about stopping… how would she do it? She had no idea about what she would do even if she found it. Ace and she had, of course, discussed it with Usopp, whom offered himself to do it, but considering his presence was required somewhere else…
"The bombs are usually rudimentary." He had said after a while of considering the options. "Try cutting a red string. Usually helps."
Reina still wasn't sure if he was joking or not, since a bomb could have many different wires and strings, but maybe it was time to trust Luffy´s crewmates… "Oh, I am so stupid." Yes, she was stupid, she should have thought twice about going there alone. Who knows what would happen. Cro-chan could put someone there guarding and thou she wasn´t weak, she had to admit Ace´s destructive power was ten times greater than hers, and thou she had the feeling she could destroy something if she really wanted, that day she felt down. Like something bad was going to happen and she would be powerless to help.
"Damn it, stop it this instant Reina Potter!" Hitting herself, she shook her head and looked up with resolution. That was not the time to doubt herself. Reina had promised Livi she would not allow her home to blow up, and she meant to keep that promise to the end.
The steps she made echoed through the deserted garden, one by one, as the wooden sandals Luffy had bought her long ago hit the stone path. It was quiet, too quiet almost, and Reina tensed slightly. Deep in the garden, the sounds of war were no more, just calm and peace.
Narrowing her eyes, she started to worry. She had believed Sun´s letter, but there still was a slight possibility that woman laid. Of course Reina believed, for some strange reason, but Ace´s worried face from a few hours ago just did… "Reina…" The girl mumbled irritated, sighing. She could be such a pessimist some times. That and over thinker, thou usually she just went with the flow. "I´ll find it."
Having said that, a certain light caught her attention and the dark haired girl ran forwards with all her might, staring amazed at the bomb that laid there. Comparing it to the ones she had seen in her world, pictures of course; that one was ordinary. There were only two wires connecting the two parts of the bomb, blue and red.
For the first time that day, the girl truly smiled. Usopp had said to cut the red one, so the red one she shall cut. Approaching the bomb carefully, a pair of scissors in her hand, she smirked. Great, now she only had to find a camera and her mission there was done. "Let´s end this…" She thought, carefully, cutting the wire.
The moment the iron scissors touched the red wire Reina felt something was wrong. A sparkle, an electrical shock… something happened, and she braced herself for the worst.
Ace and the guard looked at each other for a moment not saying anything, not that there was something to say. Ace clearly stated his purpose there and the guards just ignored him. There was no proof his words were true, and he had no time to try and explain everything.
Narrowing his eyes, Ace ran forward towards the guard, forcing him to let go of the dangerous bow in favor of a sword. Well, not like Ace cared, he could fight either way. As his hand started to burn, he watched half smiling as the other blinked and tensed. We, once again, it didn´t matter.
Punching the guard, whom tried to cut him with his sword, Ace just melted it and kicked the guard, sending him towards the wall. He hadn´t time to play with him. The bomb was there and Ace had no idea how everything was running on Luffy´s or Reina´s side. Both of them could be rather reckless when friends were involved.
To Ace´s surprise, the guard stood up once again. "I promised to destroy whoever threatened the peace of our kingdom, and I won´t give up until my last breathe." The man said, approaching Ace once again. "Die, scum."
Taking two swords, which he found on the ground, the guard threw one at Ace in order to distract him, approaching rapidly with the intent of slaying him. The pirate, however, was prepared and skilfully dodged it, punching the man in the face with a nice hook. "Wrong target, man." Ace stated, almost tired. He liked to fight, but it looked more like bullying.
Therefore, after noticing the guard was trying to stand once again, Ace caught a rope he found on the ground and tied him up, hopping he would just give up. All ace needed was disarm the bomb and he would leave right away. "Release me and fight like a man." The guard still demanded, but the pirate had already blocked him out, since he had more pressing matters to take care off.
What had Usopp said…? Hm… If there were two wires, cut the blue one. Yes, it was something like that. Walking carefully around the big throne, Ace tried to spot the wires. Thankfully, there were only two of them, one red and one blue. "Uff, I was starting to worry." If there were more, he wouldn't know what to do.
"So the blue one…" Unlike Reina, whom took scissors with her, Ace didn´t need them. His fire could melt anything, all depended on its intensity. People though his fire always burned the same what, but he, who controlled it, knew better. After all, some deserved a greater punishment than others.
In a second, the blue wire had been cut and the red light stopped blinking, making Ace proud. Now he could tell Gramps he wasn´t just some pirate, he was the pirate who stopped a bomb from exploding. Not that he expected Garp to be happy or anything…
"You, let me go and fight!" Apparently, the guard still hadn't given up, and honestly he was making Ace irritated. "Fight me!" Closing his eyes for a moment, he finally trued around and faced him. "What are you looking at?"
"Look." Ace started calmly. "I have no intention of harming your kingdom. To be honest, if not for a certain crazy girl whom missed me I wouldn´t even be here. So, could you please be as kind as to shut up and let me think?"
It was more than obvious the guard had not expected that, but Ace couldn´t care less. Now that the bomb was taken care off, he needed to find Reina once again and then go help Luffy. Thou he believed in them, more in Luffy than Reina, and everything could happen when you are dealing with a Shichibukai.
"I guess I should go and find her…" Rubbing his head, he sighed. That girl had an incredible tendency to find trouble… living with her for so long taught him to expect the worst when it came to her. Who knows, she could have heard wrong and instead of cutting the blue wire she cut the red…
An explosion, somewhere near, woke him up from his rambles, calling him back to the reality. That couldn´t have been… two hours hadn´t passed yet! "Reina!" Ace yelled, running towards the place where he had heard that sound. She… it… she couldn´t have cut the wrong one, could she? Or maybe she was attacked…
Damn it! Damn it all!
Her ears hurt. No, they didn't hurt… she just couldn´t feel them anymore, not to mention hear anything. It was as if all sound disappeared from the face of earth, thou she was certain it was almost impossible to happen. After all, they were not in space. The earth was full of particles that could easily transport the sound waves…
Oh god, about what was she thinking at such time? Physics? Either the shock did something to her head or she was crazy. To be honest, she hopped it was the first option. Being crazy in an already crazy world did sound appealing…
Trying to stand up, aware she was lying on top of grass covered with dirt, she couldn´t feel her arms. "Please let them be there…" Wait, she said that, right? She couldn´t hear it, but… What… what had happened? She cut the wire and then…
"R…a" Someone was saying, or yelling, something, but Reina was too tired to move. Yes, she had cut the wire and realized it was the wrong one. How could she be so stupid? So she was dead? No, that couldn´t be, the pain all over her body proved her wrong. Hey, her ears were starting to work again! Damn, no, she preferred them when they didn´t work… The pain wasn´t worth it.
"Think about something else." Distraction, she needed a distraction. Therefore, she hadn't died. The bomb wasn´t powerful enough? Wrong, it was really powerful… Hmm, if she remembered well, she had said something before…
"Oh yea, that spell!" Sighing, almost proud, she finally managed to lift herself up thou her eyes reminded closed. "Good think I remembered it." The second she realized she screwed up Reina had shouted Protego Totalum.
"You… re… what?" A voice, a voice she couldn´t quite place, sounded near the little witch whom jumped from shock and opened her eyes, staring at the person confused. The voice… no, she still couldn´t place it, thou she did recognize the person.
"Wait a second." Reina begged, hopping her hearing would return to usual soon. Her ears still rung, rather loudly, and she bet there was blood running somewhere from her body. What was that spell she had read about that healed small injuries… Her stupid memory…
"I have all day." The person said again, with a smile that was rather uncharacteristic, too evil, too calculative. Usopp stood before Reina, his eyes watching her, and she felt something was wrong. Usopp didn´t like her. Well, it´s not like he disliked her that much, but he preferred not to be near her, not that she could blame him. When magic was involved, Reina became like another person, someone she didn´t really like… And she did snap once when he was involved…
Some seconds passed and Reina, starting to feel more and more suspicious, stood up. That wasn´t Usopp. Nope, it wasn´t him. First of all, Usopp was supposed to be somewhere else, and she truly doubted he would be able to win against his opponent and STILL have the strength to visit the castle. Second, he gave out a completely different feeling…
For a second, Reina forgot completely about his as she eyed the place round her. Thankfully, the bomb only harmed a certain small space, the plans uncharted. So that spell could be used even for something like that… then again, magic was a complete mystery.
"Are you feeling better now?" Usopp, or more like the person pretending to be him, asked Reina, following the quick pace she acquired. "I see you don´t like my company that much…" Rolling her eyes, Reina already knew whom that was, deciding not to think why that person would disguise them self as Usopp.
"I am, thank you very much." She stated, making a turn left. Ace had heard the explosion, and she was certain he would come looking for her. To make things simpler, she decided to wait at the entrance, not wanting him too see the mess she created. "Why are you disguised as Usopp?"
"Excuse me?" The stranger asked apparently surprised, before the grin took over his face. "What gave me out? My smiles or speech? Well, it doesn´t really matter…" Shrugging, the stranger just follower her, showing no intension on changing back. "Did you what I sent you? I wasn´t sure she would meet you, but…"
"Yes, I did." Sighing, Reina rubbed her ears, cursing her luck. They still hurt… maybe she damaged something… Hopefully nothing big. Better ask Chopper to look at it later. "You have nothing more? With that info it will be hard to find him."
Now it was the strangers turn to roll his eyes. "You know how difficult it was to even get that information? Your brother is a high rank there… If I start asking too many questions, who knows what will happen to me. I do like my life, you know?" The girl just ignored the fake Usopp, sitting down when she felt unable to continue. Her head was hurting, leg with a possible fracture, and the ears with rung like bells. "Anyway, I believe he is headed south, towards the XX islands."
"Thanks… Sorry…" Damn, her head… "Do you have some of the medicine I gave you? My head is killing me…" As on cue, a small bottle fell into her lap. "Thanks again." Opening the bottle, Reina drunk it without thinking twice. She believed in this person, they had helped each other many times before without her brothers knowledge that is, and she was ready to put her life in his arms.
"So, what happened there?" Fake Usopp asked, staring at the wound all over her body that started to heal slowly. "I don´t think you meant for it to explode. Was that think which stopped it one of your spells?"
"I cut the wrong wire." Reina admitted smiling. "Yes, it was. A protection spell. I didn´t know it could be used that way also, I just said the first thing which came to my mind. Thank god, otherwise I would have died… One month of using devil fruit is not enough to learn how to use it…"
"I warned you." Her companion stated, shaking his head. That girl was too stubborn, "You should have waited a few more months. Anyway, you better start training every day, or else you´ll be dead in no time. The sea is not as nice as you think. On other hand, I believe you better lay low and don´t use magic in front of many people."
The confused look Reina gave was almost funny; if not for the fact there was nothing about the situation. "This isn´t something many people know, but the World Government is set on finding people with unusual powers, which exceed the Devil Fruits. It appears you are not the only wizard who came here, Reina, and they are set on finding each and every. The hunt for wizard has begun, Reina."
A/N: Hello once again everyone :) One more chapter and the Cro-chan´s ark is done. XD Sorry for taking so long... School, homework, tests, exams... One day I´ll be able to do it all faster...
Thank you for your reviews, and I think soon all, or hopefully all, questions will be answered. Thou I must admit I may have complicated everything a little too much... Hahahah... haha... ha... I feel like the one making my life hard is myself...
Well then, see you next time.
Kaggami-chan