Pirates of the Grand Line
The Curse of the Thousand Sunny
Chapter 4
By Wakback
In one cell of the Marine base at Port Royal, there were about half a dozen men holding out many foods. They were trying to tempt the holder of the cell keys. It was a dog with the keys in its mouth. In the other cell beside them Luffy sat leaning against the left corner of the cell wall. Luffy was starting to get annoyed by the efforts of his dumbass cellmates. "You can do that for the rest of your days but that dog is never going to move." Mumbled Luffy.
One of the prisoners poked his head next to the barred windows replying to Luffy. "Well excuse us if we haven't resigned ourselves to the gallows just yet." That made Luffy smirk as he laid down on his bed waiting for opportunity to come and bite him in the ass.
Meanwhile back in Orange's room, one of her maids was placing coals from the fire in some kind of pan and placed it between the mattresses and was talking to Orange about her day before she went to sleep.
"There you go milady. It was a difficult day for you I'm sure."
"Hmmm. I suspected that Commodore Kaku would propose, but I must admit I wasn't ready for it."
"Well I meant about you being threatened by that pirate! Sounds terrifying!"
"…Oh, yes it was terrifying."
"But the Commodore proposed! Fancy that. Now that's a smart match. If it's not too bold to say."
"Yes. It is a smart match;" she agreed without interest, "He's a fine man. What any woman should dream of marrying." Then an idea came in the maids mind.
"...But what about U.B. Burner? He's a fine man too."
"Now that's too bold." But it still confirmed the maid's suspicions.
"I'm sorry milady. It wasn't my place;" she said with a smirk and left the room closing the door.
Orange then grasped the medallion still around her neck with worry. She then noticed the lit flame of her oil lamp, as it seemed to be blown out by a nonexistent wind. Meanwhile U.B. was hammering a heated beam to turn it into another sword. He was trying not to think about his experience with Luffy.
On the Fort that bordered Port Royal; Kaku and Matt walking along talking about the days actions. "So, has my daughter given you an answer yet?" Asked Matt.
"…No, she hasn't" Replied Kaku.
"Ah. Well, she did have a very tiring day. Nasty weather tonight, don't you think?"
"Yes, bleak. Very bleak."
Matt then stopped when she heard a thud and a whistling growing louder. "What's that noise?" It was then Kaku had noticed the unknown ship in the bay.
He tackled Matt down while shouting "Cannon Fire!" After it hit the fort he got back up and took action. "Return fire!"
They weren't the only ones who noticed this as you could tell down in the prison Luffy's ears had perked. "…I know those cannons." He ran to his window as the others looked out theirs. He looked for a bit until he saw the ship below firing at both the fort and the town. Luffy smiled at it. "Well I'll be damned. It's the Sunny. In all its glory."
"The Sunny?" one of two guys went up the grid that divided both there's and Luffy's cells and spoke, "The Thousand Sunny? I've heard stories. He's been preying on ships and settlements for near 10 years. Never leaves any survivors."
"No survivors?" Luffy replied, "Then how do the stories get out?" He asked with a smirk.
The Sunny kept on firing shot after shot on both ends of Port Royal. Causing the occasional injury, the cannons stretched far. One got far into town and nearly crushed a 4-year-old boy before his mother scooped him up. Soon after the first round of cannon fire ended, many ships carrying hoards of pirates started to row into town.
The chaos became worse in town as the cannons continued to fire and the pirates ravaged the city, destroying everything and killing any innocents that got in their way including a bearded man who lit and threw bombs into windows. U.B. was loading himself with weapons like small axes and a couple of swords and rushed out. At once he saw the bomb pirate who ran by chasing a woman so he threw an axe at him that hit him in the back and he screamed in pain as he dropped his knees then face first in the dirt road. U.B. ran on grabbing the axe from the pirate's back and ran on.
The pirates raged on more and more. People were being killed right and left. A stray cannon fire blew up the gallows that sat in wait in the middle of the fort. Kaku was giving orders to the soldiers who were manning their own cannons. Nearby was a bewildered, but still relatively calm Governor Matt. He was turned around to face Kaku. "Governor, protect yourself in my office." He didn't respond at first as another enemy cannon hit nearby. "That's an order." Kaku spoke in a commanding voice. This time he did respond and ran off.
Meanwhile at the Kaino residents, Orange came upon the balcony and saw the battle raging in town. That's when she saw the group of pirates that just busted through the front gate. She ran to warn anyone else who didn't notice the events. She was at the top of the stairway as she heard the banging on the door and one of her butlers going to answer it.
"No! Don't-"
Too late.
"Hello chump." Then the butler fell over from the fatal bullet imbedded in his skull that was shot by Leader of the pirate squad, Soge. The pirates stormed the house as another Pirate known as Mage and Soge saw Orange still at the top of the stairs and covering her open mouth in shock. She then ran off with the two going after her.
She ran to the nearest door and locked it, then turned around to see one of her Maids. "Milady!" she said in fright, "They've come to kidnap you!"
"What?"
"You're the governor's daughter." Orange's face then turned to that of surprise, both of this fact and the fact that the pirates were knocking on the door. Since when do pirates knock? She then turned back to the maid.
"Listen, they haven't seen you. Hide, then the first chance you get, run to the fort." Orange then ran into her room just as the two went and burst in. They followed her, Mage going first. Making him the one whom got slammed in the face by the heating pan and he fell backwards. Orange then swung at Soge who caught it with one hand on the pole. The Maid then ran off. Now, Soge smirked in victory. But then the smirked fell as she pulled the handle lever that released the hot coals all over Soge's head.
While he was screaming in pain, Orange ran out to the stairs, quickly followed by the seemingly unharmed Mage and Soge. She began descending the stairs but suddenly Soge had jumped over the rail and beat her to the bottom. She turned to see the angry face of Mage just in time for all three to notice a pirate who had his arms full of family treasure. Then, by some freak coincidence, one enemy cannon fire blasted so far, it crashed through the walls of the house right into the gut of the pirate slamming him into the room crashing through the door. She took this time to run off, the overhead chandelier crashing to the floor just behind her.
She hurried into her room, barricaded the doorknobs with a candlestick that kept it shut. She hurried to the mantle of her fireplace as the doors were already beginning to heave. On the mantle was a wall decoration with two swords sheathed inside. She grabbed a sword handle ready to wield it, but she didn't know the decoration was just that. She tried shaking the sword loose but it was cremated into the holster. She then thought fast.
Ten seconds later, the two burst through the door. They saw the open window and Soge was about to give chase, but Mage put his hand on his shoulder as his head looked around as if hearing something. Soge then caught on, but Mage did the talking.
"We know you're here Kitty. So come out, and we promise not to hurt you… Much."
"There's no use in hiding Kitty. You have something of ours, and it's calling us." Orange had then opened her palm with the coin facing head up and shined in the light. "The gold calls to us." Then the light illuminating the coin darkened and she raised her eyes to see the evil grinning face of Mage through the opening crack. "Hello Kitty." In one swift moment the doors were thrown open and Mage pointed his gun to her face. He had stopped at this point as Orange had said a word at the same time.
"Parley!"
"What?"
"Parley. I invoke the right of parley. According to the code of the brethren set down by the pirates Roger, Morgan, and Bartholomew, you must now take to your captain;" she explained while struggling to remember what she learned in her studies as a child.
"I know the code."
"If someone demands parley then the captors are not to do any harm to the demander until the parley is complete."
"To hell with the code!" Soge said as he cocked his gun.
"She wants to be taken to the captain!" Mage shouted stopping Soge, "And she'll go without a fuss;" he finished while smirking. "We must honor the code." Jeez, for pirates, they sure are orderly and proper.
A while later, chaos was still taking a lovely jaunt through Port Royal. U.B. just barely fought back another pirate. Unfortunately the pirate had trapped him in some chains that the pirate had shackled to his wrists. Said pirate then raised an axe of his own. "Say goodbye!" Then another freak cannon shot broke the upper chain of a sign above them. U.B. ducked as the sign, serving as an axe, swung down and slammed the pirate through the window behind him.
"…Goodbye." U.B. Stated as he then was ready to fight again but then he noticed something. Two odd men followed by pirates were holding a familiar face and bringing her to the docks. "ORANGE!"
He was about to give chase when another pirate stepped before him. It was the same pirate who used the bombs and was killed by U.B. before. He waved at a now confused U.B. and looked down. U.B. did as well to notice a bomb that ran out of fuse, but didn't go off. They looked back at each other and U.B. was about to go in for the hopefully permanent kill just as he was slammed in the back of the head by another pirate and fell to the ground unconscious.
Luffy was looking out the window the entire time until he noticed another freak shot was coming straight for there cell windows. "Hit the Deck!" Luffy shouted as he ducked as the cannon blasted the wall of the cell next to him. Just his luck. As for the prisoners themselves, opportunity was before them and they were taking it. They were definitely not going to pass this up. However, one prisoner was kind enough for one last helpful remark. "My sympathies to you, my friend. You've no manner of luck at all;" he spoke as he handed Luffy the bone he was using to lure the guard dog. He then left with the others as the smoke in the air cleared enough for the moonlight to rain down.
Luffy decided that anything was worth trying at this point. He couldn't stretch is arms to grab the keys as the cage bars were made of seastone. He slipped his arm through the cell door and swung the bone around. This caught the attention of the unmoving guard-dog that was sitting on his furry ass with the keys still in its mouth.
Luffy whistled and spoke "Hey little buddy! Hey! Don't- don't worry buddy. It's just you and me now. You and good ol' Capt. Luffy." The dog started to slowly walk to luffy's cage door. "Come on now, good boy. Come get the delicious bone now. Yeah, that's a good boy. Come on now. Bit closer, bit closer. Just a little bit farther. Come on you little stupid, sorry excuse for a fleabag." Then the dog turned its head in fright at the sound of the nearby opening door and ran away. "No, no, no! Come back! I didn't mean it!" Luffy turned his head to the sound of a gunshot and a random soldier falling down the stairs, dead. Shortly after that, two pirates came down whom Luffy recognized at once, Gin and Mr. 9.
Mr. 9 took one look around before notifying the other. "This ain't the armory. Let's go." But he was stopped by Gin who had noticed Luffy, shortly after, Mr. 9 noticed too.
"Well, well, well. Look what we found here Mr. 9. Captain Monkey D. Luffy." After which, he spat in Luffy's cell.
"Last time we saw you," Mr. 9 spoke, "you were all alone on a little spit of land, shrinking into the distance. Fortunes haven't improved much."
"Hmm, worry about your own luck you Bastards," Luffy replied with a smirk, "For you see, the deepest circles of Hell is reserved for mutineers, backstabber, and unloyal Nakama."
In anger, Gin thrusted his hand into his cell and grabbed Luffy's throat, but that wasn't what concerned Luffy. There, like the moonlight that stopped short of Luffy cage door was a barrier of moonlight, Gin's Jacket sleeve was tattered and torn, and his hand was purely skeleton. Luffy spoke in astonishment, "…So there is a curse, that's interesting." Luffy stated in astonishment.
However, in there eyes shone a pain that barely anyone could experience, much less live through. With more anger, hatred, and a hint of pain, Gin only said one last sentence: "You know nothing of Hell." He then pulled his hand out of Luffy's cell with each tiny centimeter changing immediately back to normal the second it left the moonlight.
As they left, Luffy eyed the bone he still held in his hand. "That's very interesting."
Orange then opened her eyes. She had become so afraid that she had closed her eyes to help gain courage for when she will have to face the captain. Coincidentally, the time she had her eyes closed, was the time that the moonlight became visible and shrouded once more. So she didn't know what Luffy knew. But she knew she had been taken on a rowboat back to the Thousand Sunny. She looked at the ship and was amazed. Besides the totally evil vibe that radiated like light from the sun, it would actually be an amazing ship. But then she realized something big. She saw this before. It was on the day that she met U.B., and now she knew she got herself into something bigger than before.
On the ship she noticed there was not one man who wasn't moving. Except for one. He stood nearby peering at the prisoner that two of his biggest idiot crewmembers brought on board. Now, Mew was creped out before, but now she knew she had to be going crazy. Now standing before her was a giant wolf-man that stood on its hind legs like a human, he was unnaturally buff, wore an unbuttoned dress jacket, and a red tattoo on his upper left chest that said in Japanese, Wolf. The wolf-man's name: Jyabura.
"I didn't know we were taking on captives."
"She's demanded parley with Captain Wakback;" Mage spoke letting go of Orange she then walked up to Jyabura.
"I'm here to nego-AHH!" she screamed as the wolf-man backslapped her.
"You shall speak when spoken to wench!" This had by now caught the attention of all pirates on the deck as Jyabura's arm was suddenly caught by another strange looking man. Skin scaly brown and covered in scars, I pointy tail with a solo spike jetting upward, a Skull that looked like a dinosaur's skull was in place of his head, and I little monkey sitting on his right shoulder. A.k.a., Captain Rocko Wakback.
'This Pirate crew is full of freaks.' Thought Orange.
"And all are not to harm any under the protection of parley Jyabura;" said Capt. Wakback.
"...Aye sir," Jyabura growled as he pulled his arm away from Wakback's grip.
"My apologies miss."
"Captain Wakback, I'm here to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against Port Royal."
"There are a lot of big, long words in that sentence miss, we're not but humble pirates."
"I want you to leave and never come back." This elicited a chorus of laughter of the pirates.
"I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request. …Means: No."
"Very well then," Orange then ripped off the necklace off, went to the edge of the boat and hanged the necklace over the edge "I'll Drop it!" this caused all to show signs of worry. Wakback seemed to be less than, but still showing concern.
"My hull is filled with many upon hundreds of treasure. One little coin matters nothing to us... Why!" he said saying the last word rather sharply.
"It's what you've been searching for. I've even seen this ship 10 years ago on my crossing from Alabasta."
At this Wakback's eyes shone slightly with interest. "Did ye now?"
"...Very well then. If it's so useless then I guess there's no point in keeping it." She then released some of the chain causing all to shout no in worry, expecting it to drop all the way to the depths. Orange just smiled in victory.
Wakback smiled a sad smile of defeat and walked forward as Mew gathered the rest of the necklace into her hands. "You've got a name miss?"
"Orange," she then stopped and said the only last name she could think of: "…Burner. I'm a maid at the Govornor's home."
Now, if Wakback's green eyes weren't shining with something before, they were now with hope. He turned to the crew who didn't believe their ears and repeated it. "Burner!"
A chorus of murmurs started, but one word was heard above all others: "Metal Marlo."
Wakback then turned back to Orange with curiosity in his eyes. "And how does a lass like yourself commoner such a trinket? Family heirloom I guess?"
"...I didn't steal it if that's what you mean."
"Very well then. You hand it over and we'll put your town to our rudder and never return. Do we have a deal?"
Orange slowly nodded then dropped the necklace into his open palm and the Monkey snatched it in its mouth and ran off. "Our deal?" Orange reminded. Wakback then nodded to Jyabura who then barked out the orders to turn course and leave at once. Orange then realized that no one was doing anything about taking her back and went after Wakback.
"Wait! You have to take me to shore! According to the code of the order of the-"
"First," Wakback turned to her and interrupted, "your return to shore wasn't part of the agreement so I shan't be having to do a thing about it. Second you have to be a pirate for the code to apply which you aren't. And third, the code is actually what most would actually call guidelines;" Wakback finished with a smirk and Orange with a look of horror. "Welcome aboard the Thousand Sunny Miss Burner!"