THE CHILDREN Set Sail!
Disclaimer:
Kaoru: Normama is sick today! So I'm here to tell you that both Zettai Karen Children and One Piece don't belong to him!
Shiho (whispering): He's not really sick; he's just getting medical attention after Kaoru slammed him into the concrete…
Kaoru (panicking): AH! HEEEY! YOU DIDN'T NEED TO TELL THEM THAT!
It was the fifth day since the Merry Go had set sail from Chopper's home island and the ship had nothing but surprisingly smooth sailing. Not one rough weather had disturb the crew, but there wasn't anything to make the day exciting either…as the ship's captain had come to understand…
"This is boring~," Luffy pouted as he sat next to Usopp and Carue as they attempt to fish some food (Chopper had went off to make medicine), "and I'm hungry too~!"
"…You know Luffy," Usopp grumbled, "If you hadn't eaten all the food, this wouldn't have happen…"
Carue quaked in agreement.
None of them notice, meanwhile, that Kaoru had walked up behind them, listening to their conversation.
"What? I was hungry!" Luffy tried to argue back only to receive an anime hand chop on the head by Usopp, "Ouch!"
"You're always hungry!" Usopp countered, "So that's no excuse…"
"You know Usopp," Kaoru suddenly spoke up, causing the three remaining fishers to jolt in shock, "I wouldn't be talking if I were you since you ate some as well…"
"K-K-Kaoru," Usopp spluttered, "Don't do that!"
"Do what?"
"…Never mind. How long have you been there?"
"Somewhere between 'if you hadn't eaten all the food' and 'this wouldn't have happen'…"
"Oh…"
"So…did you three catch anything yet?"
"Not really," Luffy sighed, "And we've been here like forever already!"
"Uh, Luffy," Usopp sweat dropped, "It's only been five minutes since yesterday…"
"Well it feels like five years…"
Kaoru giggled slightly to herself before sitting down next to them. "Mind if I help a little?"
"Huh?" Usopp asked dumbly, before smiling, "Sure, why not? Just grab a fishing pole and bait…"
"Okay," Using her psychic powers, Kaoru got one of the nearby fishing poles, "so where's the bait?"
"Right in here," Usopp answered as he open…an empty box, "HUH?"
"If that's your world's idea of bait, we'll catch hundreds of fishes," Kaoru joked.
"Uh, no…that's not it…I wonder where all the bait went…"
"Beats me," Luffy monotone before giving a small burp, "Excuse me…"
"Luffy!" Usopp angrily lectured, "I thought I told you not to eat the bait! If we don't have any bait, we can't catch anything!"
"But you ate some…"
"I only ate the stuff on the bottom of the lid!"
Kaoru giggled, before a question popped into her mind.
"Say Usopp," she bgan, "no offence, but aren't a little…uh…weak to be on the ship?"
Usopp turn to her, a bit surprise at first but soon understood where she was getting to.
"You're worry that you don't feel strong enough to be part of the crew right?" Usopp guessed.
Kaoru hiccupped a bit, but regain her composure in an instant. "T-T-That's not it! I don't feel that weak!"
"Good!" Luffy chimed in, "Because you're really strong! I know that much!"
"But Luffy, she did fell unconscious when you punch her just once," Usopp reminded.
"That? That was just a fluke, right Kaoru?"
"Well," Kaoru sighed, "maybe not so much of a fluke…"
"Huh?"
"Usopp right, I got knock out in one hit! And if I got hit by our enemy, I would just end up being a burden…"
"Gee, did you just realize that fact?" Usopp asked with a sweat drop.
"Actually I realized it shortly after you guys told us a bit more about Baroque Works," Kaoru informed, "Since then, I did some self-training but I don't think it's going to be enough…"
"Self-training," Usopp repeated, "When did have the time for that? And what kind of training you did that you thought would help?"
"Well, to answer your first question, I did it during the night. And for the second question, I use some the junk that was lying around to hit my head, practice punching and kicking, dodging…"
"Wow," Luffy awed in surprise, "You're trying really hard, aren't you?"
"Yeah," Kaoru sighed, "But will it be enough?"
"Who knows?"
"Uh, Luffy," Usopp interjected, "you're supposed to say something supporting…"
"Why?"
"It's okay Usopp," Kaoru diverted, "Speaking of support, how am I suppose to fish now?"
"Huh," Usopp dumbly question before he remember what they were doing, "Oh yeah, that! Well…uh…give me a minute on that…"
"Hmm," Luffy hummed in thought, until a light bulb appeared over his head, "Hey, I got a great idea!"
"Really~," Usopp rolled his eyes, not really believing his captain, until Luffy whisper his idea in his ears, "Hey~! That's not a bad idea…"
"What?" Kaoru asked, lost in the conversation, "What are we going to use as bait?"
Luffy and Usopp grinned slyly as they peer over to Carue.
"Q-Quack...?" Carue sweat dropped, noticing that it they were looking at him.
Vivi sat in the galley alongside Nami as they watch Sanji teach some of his special skills to Shiho, who was surprisingly having difficulties. And that's big since she's a high level Psychometrist. In fact, she was arguing a bit with Sanji.
"Uh," Shiho began as shift the frying pan full of pebbles, "shouldn't I slow it down a bit when I cook actual food?"
"No," Sanji insisted, "while cooking, you should consider the content of the food and the heat of the pan. The frying pan is made particularly for catching and spreading heat throughout its entire surface. By jumbling the content on the pan, you can evenly cook ever single morsel of the food. Leaving the pan still, only the content closest to the pan's surface will cook and the chances of burning the food even a little will ruining the entire dish you are preparing…"
"Uh, okay…I get the idea…but do I really have to practice while I have rocks in the pan?"
"Pebbles, not rocks…And yes you do. Being a cook means you need a lot of upper body strength, particularly in the arms and wrist. You also need this kind of training so that when need to do handstand during fights, you'll have enough stamina to do so. This method is extremely effective while training to feed a whole country…"
"A WHOLE country, I don't need to learn THAT far, do I?"
"Trust me, as long as you're on the ship it WILL be like feeding a whole country…"
"Sanji-san sure is passionate about this, isn't he?" Vivi asked as she watches the mention coaching Shiho.
"Yeah," Nami smirked, "But only when it's about cooking or when it comes to women…"
"QUACK...? QUACK!" sounded Carue from outside the Galley.
"That was Carue," Nami stated the obvious, "I wonder what's up?"
"Maybe they finally caught something," Vivi guessed as she stood up, "I'll go check…"
Vivi went over to the door and took a peek outside.
There was Usopp and Luffy, sitting on the rail of the ship, still fishing apparently.
There was also Kaoru, floating nervously behind them.
But Carue was no where in sight.
"Uh, Luffy," Vivi can hear Kaoru asking with worry, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"Sure it is," Vivi heard Luffy respond as if he didn't have a care in the world, "with this, we'll catch something big for sure!"
"Desperate time calls for desperate measure," Vivi heard Usopp added, "We're all hungry so this is the best way…"
"I don't know," Vivi could hear Kaoru commented, "I just hope Vivi doesn't find out about this…"
Realizing that the subject was involving her, Vivi stepped out and decided to let herself be known.
"Hey everyone," Vivi sounded as she walks up to them, but only Kaoru noticed.
"Ah! Speak of the Devil," Kaoru panicked before quickly adding, "Vivi, I just want to let you know that I had nothing to do with this!"
"What are you talking about Kaoru?" Vivi pondered, noticing the ten-year-old reaction, until she notice that both Usopp and Luffy's fishing pole was shaking, "Luffy-san, Usopp-san, did you caught any…CARUE!"
"QUACK...!" Carue sounded…from the end of Luffy and Usopp's fishing line.
"I wonder if we'll catch a shark." Luffy asked in monotone, still not aware of Vivi's presence.
"I want to catch a sea monster," Usopp added, also not realizing who was behind them.
Kaoru, being the only one to notice, did the right and wise thing…she quickly backed off.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO CARUE?" Vivi shouted as she…
BONK!
BONK!
…Smacked the two on the head, knocking them out.
"I had a feeling this was going to happen," Kaoru commented with a sweat drop.
Calming down, Vivi went to get Carue off the hook, literally, when she notices something in the corner of her eyes.
"What is that?" Vivi sounded in surprise.
Hearing Vivi, Kaoru turn to look and saw a huge column of gas rising from the sea in front of them.
"What the..." Kaoru managed.
"Come quick, Nami-san," Vivi exclaimed as she slammed open the door to the galley, "There something up ahead!"
Nami, along with Sanji, Shiho, and Chopper (whom had just entered not a while ago) went outside to see the phenomenal ahead.
However, Nami saw this and just smile.
"Oh, don't worry!" Nami stated calmly, "It's nothing. It is just steam."
"Just steam," Kaoru asked, not believing that it was something that they could just pass off, "In the middle of the ocean?"
That's when Shiho caught on. "Oh, I get it now!" Shiho smiled as well, "It's a hotspot!"
"Huh?" Kaoru dumbly asked.
"Let me guess, you weren't paying attention in class again when the teacher talked about it, were you?"
"Uh…maybe...?"
"What's a hotspot?" Chopper asked, curious about the topic.
"It's where magma comes out," Nami explained, "Down below us there are underwater-volcanoes that allow magma to spill out."
"There are volcanoes underwater?"
"Yeah, in fact there are more volcanoes underwater than on land…"
"Well," Shiho sighed, "at least that's one thing that this world has in common with ours."
"Wow," Usopp awed, "a volcano under the sea, sweet…"
"Who cares," Luffy mumbled, not really paying attention, "We can't eat it."
Nami rolled her eyes at Luffy's response. "True, but still in a several thousand or ten-thousand years there will be a new island there among the steam…"
"You're so smart, Nami-san!" Sanji stated as even his cigarette form heart-shape smoke from its tip.
"I not even going to ask how that is even possible for someone who doesn't even have psychic powers," Shiho commented the smoke with a sweat drop.
"Ten-thousand years, huh," Luffy voiced from his position, finally taking some interest, "I wonder if I'll be alive then."
"No," Usopp replied as he and Luffy still dangled the quacking Carue at the end of their fishing line, "No one lives that long…"
Just as they were about to enter, Shiho remember something and turn to Kaoru.
"Kaoru, stop floating up there," Shiho warned, "get down here!"
"Why?" Kaoru asked, not decreasing from her original altitude.
"Once we enter the steam it going to smell like sulfur and your psychic power would be affected by it!"
"HUH? Really...?"
"Yeah, it the same as if you're not getting enough oxygen…"
"Right…Got it…I'm coming down!" And with that, she touch the floor just as the ship became engulf by the steam. "Ugh! Yuck! It does smell like sulfur!"
"Whoa!" Sanji sounded as he retreated into the relatively safe galley, "The smell!"
"Ouch!" Aoi, who was training with Zoro on deck, sounded since the steam had block her vision causing Zoro to accidentally give her a shallow cut.
"What the…where did this steam come from?" Zoro complained, apparently missing out on what was happen.
"I don't know! But I can't see anything!" Apparently, Aoi also wasn't paying attention.
"Just hang on," Nami coughed somewhere in the steam, "We'll be out soon…"
Just as Nami had said, about five minutes later the Merry Go left the steam behind it. Everyone breathe a sigh of relief that they can now breathe peacefully again…until Carue began to quake like crazy.
"What wrong with Carue?" Kaoru wonder as she got along side Luffy and Usopp.
What they saw left their jaws hanging.
Hanging onto the screaming Super-sonic Duck was, in Kaoru's option, the strangest man they have ever seen.
For a long period of time, Luffy, Usopp, and Kaoru just stared at the stranger who in turn stared back at them.
Finally, Kaoru broke the silence (aside from Carue as he continues to quack his head off).
"That's…the weirdest fish I've ever seen…" she joked.
"Uh," Usopp managed, his mouth still hanging, "…Kaoru…that's not…a fish… at least I hope it isn't…"
"WE CAUGHT AN OKAMA*!" Luffy suddenly blurted out.
('Okama' is a Japanese slang for cross-dresser)
"Oh shoot!" the strange Stranger exclaimed in surprise in a poorly feminine tone with a touch of southern accent, "OH NO~~! HOW DID I GET STUCK…ON THIS WEIRD DUCK...?"
Unfortunately for him, when he exclaimed that, he accidentally let go of Carue and began to fall into the sea.
The Stranger's face immediately changed from shock to horror as he screamed before he hit the water, "...Somebody help me! I can't swim!"
Aoi: "And there you have it...another chapter in our crazy adventure..."
Normama: "And as it turns out, it's now December 25th...It's Christmas!"
Shiho: "CHRISTMAS! I don't believe it! Normama, are you going to get us something?"
Normama: "...Why are you all asking me! Shouldn't you go ask Minamoto that?"
Kaoru: "Well, we already did, but..."
Shiho: "...Kaoru angrily slammed him into the ground before he could give a reply..."
Kaoru: "SHIHO!"
Aoi: "By the way, Normama, who IS that weird guy that Luffy and Usopp caught? And what made him weird, aside from the voice?"
Normama: "You'll see. 'Til then, my faithful readers, please review my stories!"