Title: New World Holidays: Not-Quite-Halloween Edition
Summary: A combination of unfortunate timing and bad luck land the Heart Pirates on an island the one day they shouldn't have been there.
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or any of its characters
Note: Mm'kay. The dealio with this one is I wanted to do a Halloween fic, except it started out as something that was definitely not this, and then somehow morphed into this the more I wrote. Also, I'm gonna try an' do more holiday fics when they come up if I got any ideas. Also, special thanks to TciddaEmina who looked this over for me. Got me to notice some things I prolly wouldn'ta. Thanks a lot, man, 'preciate it.
The Polar Tang is docked discreetly on a remote beach, above the water for the first time in what feels like forever. The side of the island they're on is as close to uninhabited as it can get, covered in tall trees and thick undergrowth. There almost isn't a beach to dock at, but it's not like they can slip in at the town's entrance, not with their Smiley painted bold and black against the bright yellow hull.
It's a small island, and after Shachi and Penguin spend far too long complaining to a far too tired Law, their captain finally smacks them both on the head, shoves his hands in the pockets of his coat, and sets off to walk along the coast.
Shachi comes back up, massaging the bump he can feel forming with a wide grin on his face, but Penguin, in his excitement (relief), fist pumps as he jogs to catch up to Law. Bepo can only sigh and wonder at their luck. Had Law been any less dead to world they'd probably have had most of their limbs rearranged and then still been forced to follow Law through the forest. Strangely dejected, Bepo meanders after the trio at his own pace.
For the most part, the island is pretty mellow, especially for the New World. Granted, it's never a good idea to assume anything is as it seems on the Grand Line, but the town they'd seen coming in was little more than cozy looking houses, a few shops, plots for crops, and a rather impressive church at the end of the central street. The only thing that stood out in any capacity (except maybe how abnormally normal it all was) was the forest Penguin and Shachi had convinced Law to bypass.
Shambling his way toward the only town that seemed to be on this island, Law mentally curses his two crewmates' endless energy. Oh well, at least Bepo was always reliable, there even now, pulling ahead of the far too cheerful duo to provide a steadying wall when he thought he might trip over the ground.
They split up once they actually got there, Shachi and Penguin to get supplies and Bepo to find a place to sleep. Law's not really sure why he's there. He's tired beyond all belief and at this point can't even remember what he usually does when he leaves the submarine. He enters the town like a drunken man, just managing not to trip over his own feet, but kind of swaying from side to side and tipping more and more forward with every step. Damn, how long has it even been since he's slept?
Law gets to the point where he will definitely end up on his face if he doesn't get some support now, so he falls in toward the wall of a house with his next step and just stays there for a moment. His eyes droop closed and he lays his cheek against cool brick. If he's not careful he'll fall asleep right here.
His eyes snap open at the soft sound of scuffling feet. Halfway across the street is a woman, dark hair covered by a darker hood. She looks young, Law thinks absently, and it's just a sleep deprived observation that somehow seems more important now than it ever could if he were even marginally more coherent. He's mind is still suck under a thick haze and he can't think very clearly, so it takes him a moment to realize that this is the first person he's seen since entering the town. Huh, he wonders how he didn't notice that sooner.
Upon further inspection, the small woman is tense, straight backed and clutching something in the hands folded in front of her so tightly her knuckles turn white. She does her best to look him in the eyes, but her mouth is pressed into a hard line and her eyes keep flicking between his and the ground every few seconds. Law is both relieved and suspicious, but he doesn't question her presence as much as he normally would. Man, he must really be out of it. All the more reason to find an inn or something. The Polar Tang was nice and all, but nothing quite beat the feel of a real bed.
Looking down at her with as much of his pitiful focus as he can manage, he realizes he must not look all that friendly. Just as he starts his attempt to look like someone people would actually want to talk to, he also realizes he's not very friendly, and way too tired to even give a damn.
Straightening up off the wall, he raises an eyebrow, silently questioning her intentions. Probably has something to do with whatever's in her hands. He should probably be careful, but honestly, even that sounds like more effort than it's worth. Law groans softly. As soon as they got a place to stay he was turning Penguin and Shachi into Penchi and kidnapping Bepo.
Suddenly, the woman thrusts her clenched hands out in front of her, revealing a rosary wound tightly around her fingers. There was now a determined glint in her eyes, hardening them and giving them the strength and resolve to finally hold his waning attention. She's chanting now, using words that maybe sound like some of the ones in his medical books but not really. Her tone is low and monotonous, if a bit intense, and whatever she's hoping to achieve, Law's pretty sure it's not to put him to sleep.
Whatever the desired effect is, all it does is cause Law's eyes to droop again, thickening the fog already encasing his mind. Without the wall to lean on, Law's whole body lurches forward and he passes out in the middle of the street.
The day before, the town had been bursting with life. There were people everywhere, some rounding up livestock, mostly sheep and pig, but one cow as well, some inside, the chimneys on many of the houses billowing black smoke, but the majority hauling wood, adding logs and kindling alike to an already massive fire pit. Unfortunately, the harvest hadn't been as plentiful as in the past. This year's offering would be smaller than usual, and the inhabitants of the town could only hope it would be enough.
As the sun set and the clock mounted into the top of the church began to approach midnight, everyone, big and small, old and young, had gathered around the fire pit, each carrying some part of the offering. An elderly man approached from the church, walking slowly and calmly down the street, only a hand holding an already burning torch was visible beneath the folds of an elaborate robe. The deep lines on his face only seemed to crease more the closer he got, pulling into his nose and betraying the intense concern he had hid so well all day.
Eventually, he reached his place in the circle, and as the clock struck twelve, the massive pile of flammable items went up, lighting the sky as bright as day and casting looming shadows out of the circle. As one, the townspeople stepped up to the bonfire, placing each offering into the flame as carefully as possible.
That night, after the serious faced villagers had turned in, only able to hope their best had been enough, a young girl, clad in similar robes to that of the old man stood in front of the church, preparing to complete her own part in the ceremony. Hands clasped together around a delicate rosary, she began her vigil, patrolling the town on this unholy day to ward away stray, or if their fears played out, unhappy beasts.
Normally, this wouldn't be necessary. She had never had to actively oversee anything other than the strengthening of the wards that surrounded the town. Effective though they might be, it was always better safe than sorry, especially on the day the forest grew restless. So despite the late hour, she wandered every nook and cranny of her beloved town, sharp eyes searching for any disturbances in the still night.
To be honest, after the sun had risen with no sign of unwanted visitors, she had begun to relax, believing that the new day would help to scare off anything that might come by. The night was their time, after all, and as the sun colored the horizon a mix of orange and pink, she had believed the worst to be over. Oh how wrong she was.
It was around noon when they appeared, four beasts of the forest arriving to seek revenge for their less than satisfactory offering. She had been unsure at first, after all, three of them had looked human, and they'd come from around the forest, rather than from within it, but for all she wanted to believe there was no danger, there were several irrefutable facts she could not shake.
Even if they hadn't come directly out of the forest, they had still come from the direction of the forest, and nothing but the damned and abandoned could exist on that half of the island. The tall one in the fuzzy spotted hat had been the second clue. Sure, he looked human, but the piercing golden coloring of his dark ringed eyes was what gave him away. No human had eyes like that, of this she was certain. The last, and perhaps most incriminating evidence to their true nature was the fourth member of their party. It was a bear, obviously, but not only was it white (because everyone knew bears were brown), it also walked on two legs and seemed to speak to the tall, spotted one.
Whatever they were, they weren't human, and she had to get them out of her village as quickly as possible.
When the two with shaded eyes had separated from the other two, and the bear, after a few words with the spotted one, had gone in its own direction, she had waited as long as she dared to see what the spotted one would do. He was weaker than the others, she realized, maybe not normally, but for some reason his movements seemed sluggish and uncoordinated, and as she watched he fell into the wall of the bakery on his last step and stayed there.
Okay. She wasn't strong. She knew that, but she was the only priestess on the island, and therefore the only one even remotely prepared to deal with situations like this. Hiding on the other side of the street, she'd waited a few more moments to make sure he wasn't just bluffing her and the others wouldn't be coming back anytime soon. As much as she hated letting any of them out of her sight, she'd have a better chance of dealing with all of them if she could thin their numbers first.
Approaching as close as she dared, she jerked to a sudden halt when the spotted one snapped back to awareness, those golden eyes catching hers and piercing right into her very soul. She was frozen, mesmerized. She had to look away or those eyes would suck her in and she knew she'd never escape.
From the brief amounts of time her eyes were on him, he swayed almost imperceptibly, off balanced and unfocused. Hardening her resolve, she convinced herself if she couldn't even handle this she would fail her people. He was the weak link, the exhausted and unprepared one and if she didn't act now, before the others came back, these four would ruin not only her but her village as well.
Bringing her rosary up, she finally met his gaze steadily and began to recite a chant long past down from the clergy of old, meant to banish the evil of the forest back to itself. As she continued, the spotted one swayed more noticeably, until finally his eyes fell shut and he tipped forward onto the ground.
She stares in disbelief now. Had she really done it? For all her resolve she hadn't actually expected it to work. Her victory is short lived though. Almost as if sensing the fate of its companion, the white bear appears before her, eyes glued to the fallen spotted man, waddling over to him on legs too short to allow a comfortable bipedal stride.
It hasn't noticed her yet, she thinks, hopes, and she prepares to perform the incantation again while it's distracted when the bear effortlessly shrugs the spotted one onto its back only to shift its bottomless black eyes onto her. She freezes again, unable to move. His eyes had seemed to stare straight into her soul, but these. These seem to suck her soul out, and there's nothing she can do.
The bear doesn't say anything, and she's sure this is her end. But then it turns away and settles down in the middle of the street, lying down in a more bear-like fashion than it had exhibited in the entire time she's seen it, placing the spotted one against its side. The relief is more than she can handle, and the last thought she has before hitting the ground is if anything that just happened is real.
Shachi and Penguin end up back in the middle of the street not long after. Shachi can only be completely and utterly stunned at how powerful Law's trouble magnet is. He and Penguin were gone for, what, ten minutes? And they come back to their captain passed out on Bepo (admittedly not that strange, but still) with some girl they'd never seen before likewise passed out a few more feet down the road.
Unfortunately, they hadn't been able to get what they'd come here for, and after they'd been through what had to be the whole town without spotting a single person, they'd decided it would faster and safer to get back to Law. How this happened, Shachi didn't even want to begin thinking about, but penguin is already poking Bepo in the shoulder, bending in a way that should have been painful in order to look him in the eyes.
"Hey Bepo," Penguin asks, "What's going on?"
The polar bear slowly opens his eyes, blinking up at Penguin with a laziness that suggests he had actually fallen asleep in the time he was lying down.
"I couldn't find anyone," he responds at length, "so I came back to make sure Captain was okay." Glancing over to the girl, he eventually tacks on, "Found her like that," before he picks up Law again, careful not to jostle him, and pulls himself back up onto two feet.
They're just about ready to head back to the Polar Tang and get Law into his hammock when the door on one of the buildings opens. Out comes an elderly man, dressed in clothing similar to that of the girl. He looks like he wants to say something, so they stop. And they wait. And nothing happens. Shachi is ready to snap and just demand to know what he wants, but he finally, finally speaks up.
"Oh beasts of the forest," he begins, and Shachi is struck speechless. Penguin is struggling to hold in his giggles. Bepo just looks confused. "Please accept our humble sacrifice of a virgin priestess. May this make up for the less than plentiful offerings at the midnight ceremony."
His expression looks tight, like he doesn't really want to be doing this but feels he has no choice. Shachi has no idea how to handle this. If he were Law, he'd probably already be correcting the old man as bluntly as possible, but he's not Law, and for some reason he finds he doesn't have the heart to ruin the moment, even if it is a rather heartbreaking one.
Shachi glances at Penguin and Bepo for help, but penguin is pulling the bill of his hat even lower, still trying to cover his giggles, and Bepo looks so confused and unsure Shachi thinks asking him might make him burst into tears. Well, looks like he's on his own. Dammit.
He honestly has no idea what to do with this, so he just kind of goes with the situation and cautiously backs up to the young woman. Picking her up gently, he motions for the other two to follow him, and together the four plus one head back to the Polar Tang.
Shachi has a feeling things are not going to be pretty when the new girl wakes up. He feels guilty for all of five seconds before Penguin excitedly mentions having a new playmate, and then they're both tugging at Bepo so he'll hurry up.
So there's that. Hope y'all liked it. Somehow, it still seems rushed to me, even though I can't think of anything else to add to it. Ah well, tell me watcha thought, 'kay.