Disclaimer: Again, I don't own One Piece, Nami is not the president of Starbucks, and Sanji and Zoro aren't Superman and Batman. Duh.
A/N
Hey again! I didn't really like the last chapter... and I was kinda too distracted with the family bloodbath (known as an Easter egg hunt to normal families) to write an Easter chapter. Forgive me please! And as of now I will try to address questions or plans from your reviews.
Yes, breathing fire is a very useful skill. One that I wish I had, in fact. :) And yes, her back problem will get fixed soon (not immediately). The plot won't be that different from canon, it'll just be like if Anni was a character in the manga/anime. As for the Ace pairing, well, this isn't a romance fanfic, but I think I might do a little something with it.
-Emphasis on the word 'little' cuz most of you didn't come for romance. If you did, I can't help you.
Enjoy!
Anni's POV
"Hm? Steam?" Usopp said, walking to the front of the boat.
I nodded, pointing to the cloud in front of the boat. "Yeah, see? There's a big cloud of it out there."
Luffy bounded up behind me, all thoughts of fishing gone. "I wanna see too! Wow, that's cool! Are you sure that we won't die from it though, Nami?"
"No, it's an underwater volcano. It won't cause us any harm, but in a few thousand years there will be a new island here," she said from the balcony.
"Cool," Luffy replied, jumping up to sit on the goat head.
Chopper ran up behind us and jumped up onto the railing, grabbing onto Usopp for balance. He gasped in awe as he saw the big cloud of steam rising out of the sea. "It's so big! Will we see many things like this on the Grand Line?"
"Well, judging from what we've seen already, I bet we will. I mean, we've already seen a giant whale, islands full of enemies, fighting giants on an island of dinos, ice islands, and other strange things," Zoro said from the side where he had lay down on the deck.
"What?!" Chopper and I yelled in unison, "You've seen a giant whale?"
Luffy laughed. "Yeah, his name was Laboon and he kept hitting his head against the Red Line. Apparently he was waiting for a pirate crew, but they never came back," he explained.
"Aw..."
"Poor whale..."
"Well Luffy attacked him and for some reason that helped stop his suicidal actions," Zoro snorted, "And now the whale is waiting for us to come back so that he can beat Luffy up."
I blinked. "Well then..."
"Okay..." Chopper continued.
The ship began to slide into the steam cloud as we looked around in wonder. It was like being inside a cloud, except that I had always imagined it warmer. The steam, despite the fact that it was from a volcano, was cold and clung to me. As did a certain cook when I mentioned this fact. Needless to say, though, he let go the moment I sneakily replaced myself with Zoro. I hid in Nami's mikan grove as I listened to the furious shouts.
"What the fuck, shit-cook?"
"Ah! Zoro?! What are you doing?"
"That's what I should be asking you! You hugged me!"
"No I didn't! I was merely warming up Anni-chan!"
"Well maybe you should check who you cling onto before you do it!"
"It's not my fault! It's this shitty fog!"
"I don't care! And didn't Anni say that she doesn't want you to treat her like a lady?"
"...Maybe."
"Argh! You're such an idiot!"
"At least I'm not a social recluse with no sense of direction!"
"At least I'm not a flirty cook with no love life!"
"You don't have a love life either, unless you're counting those swords!"
"Well that's good, because I don't care about that stuff!"
"Yeah, good for you. You couldn't get a girlfriend if you tried, good-for-nothing marimo," muttered Sanji.
"Eh? What was that, you idiotic perverted cook?!" Zoro yelled furiously.
I could hear growling and the sound of shoes clashing against metal. Wondering if I should break up the fight before they broke something due to the lack of vision, I stood up and made my way to the lower deck where they were fighting, but before I could, a thumping sound interrupted.
"Huh?"
"Who's that? Is that your head, marimo?"
"Ouch..." came Luffy's voice from the middle of the fight.
I heard the tap of a foot on the deck and the swish of katana being sheathed. Judging from the thud and the 'ow' from Luffy, he had evidently walked straight through the fight and been attacked from both sides. I rushed into the fog and wandered around for a few seconds looking for the three idiots.
Finally, after waving my arms around like a zombie, my arm connected with the back of a head. I moved my hands around, trying to find and identify the face. Hmm, long-ish hair, so not Zoro. The face didn't have hair falling over it, so it wasn't Sanji. By process of elimination, it was Luffy, but I had to check. Yup, tiny scar under the eye. Definitely Luffy.
"Huh? Who's that? Ow! My eye!" he yelped as I accidentally poked him.
"Ah! Sorry, Luffy! I didn't mean to!" I apologized, patting his hair.
A hand connected with the side of my head, whacking my ear.
"Is that you, Anni?" Luffy's voice asked from of the fog in front of me.
"Yeah, but don't hit me!" I replied, rubbing my head with my free hand.
Another hand hit me, but this time it hit my nose.
"Ow! Who did that?!" I yelled in the direction of the hand's owner.
"Me," came Zoro's voice from the end of the arm.
"Gah! Stop hitting me!" I yelled as a third arm whacked my forehead.
"Oh, Anni-chan, I apologize!" Sanji's voice said through the fog.
Brushing off all the hands from my face, I yelled, "Look, why don't you three go fishing or something? You should be able to catch something, seeing as you don't pay attention while you do it normally."
Three sets of shoes trudged off obediently... in my imagination. In reality, they went off in different directions, the boots to the railing, the shoes to the kitchen, and the sandals to the side where the fishing rods were left on the deck. Another set of shoes tapped across the deck to join the sandals, who were fishing.
I walked to the front of the ship, using the baluster to guide my way. Closing my eyes, I listened to the sounds drifting through the fog. Swishing and crashing of the waves, soft shouts from another boat that was in the same predicament as us. Listening closer, it sounded more like the people were shouting for someone. It got closer and closer, but just as I was about to shout a warning, the sounds started to drift away.
Dismissing it, I groped around blindly for my chair. Finding it, I collapsed in it, sighing. My back tightened at the sudden contact, but it didn't seize up like last time. Maybe it was getting better? I shifted around, but a spike of pain shot through my lower back and I hissed. Nope, not better. I really need to find a way to not arch my back when I sleep.
As I pondered my problem, the steam started to clear up. At first, I could see my hand at the end of my arm, then I could see the goat head, and eventually I could see the entire ship. A scream resounded through the air, piercing through my head. I looked around frantically for the origin of the scream. A second one joined it, just as high and piercing.
I found the screamer. It was Usopp. The second screamer was Nami, and they were both looking at the end of Luffy's fishing rod, while he was staring at it in horror. Hanging onto the end of the fishing rod was a... what, exactly? It was a man with a long coat and a swan head with wings on the back. He had a headband with pom poms on it and round pants, or were they shorts? He had way too much makeup on. Way, way, way too much makeup.
"Oh dear. I seem to have been fished," he said, before sliding off and falling into the ocean.
As he hit the water, Luffy cast out the fishing rod again and caught him, pulling him back up onto the deck. The entire crew made their way to where Luffy had dropped him.
He knelt on the deck and said, "Thank you. You have saved my life and I am forever in your debt."
"So you can't swim?" Zoro asked, yawning.
"No, I cannot. I will show you my abilities, but be warned, this isn't something I would do for everyone."
I held up both hands. "Wait. First, I need to clarify something. Are you a guy, or a girl?"
He laughed. "I began as a man, but then I became an Okama and followed the Okama Way!"
"Ah."
He reached out towards Luffy and slammed his hand into his face. Luffy went crashing down to the deck and we all readied our weapons (or in my case, I lit my hands on fire) to fight him. Before we attacked, however, he suddenly became an exact copy of Luffy, height, structure, face, everything.
"Wait, wait! This is my performance!" he cried in Luffy's voice.
"What the fuck did you just do?!" Zoro and I yelled in unison.
"This is the power of the Mane Mane Fruit! I can copy any face I touch, see?" He went down the line, lightly touching the faces of Usopp, Chopper, Nami, and Zoro. When he got to me however, I ducked behind Zoro and hid from him.
"Come on, it's just for the show," he said, reaching over a very uncomfortable looking Zoro.
"Nooooo!" I yelled, jumping up onto the balcony and running into Vivi, who was also looking slightly creeped out. The Okama continued to chase me around the ship until I ran into the kitchen and leaned against the door to block it. After a few seconds, he gave up and went to continue the show.
"Um, Anni-chwan? Can I help you?"
I looked around from the door. Sanji was standing in front of the stove with a bowl in one hand and a wooden spoon in the other, staring at me with a confused look. I slid down to the floor grinning like a maniac and panting.
"I'm not entirely sure about that myself. Personally, I'm pretty sure I need help, but in this situation I don't think that you can help," I said, laughing inwardly.
He put down the cooking utensils and walked over to me, sitting down next to me on the floor. "So... what happened?" he asked.
I launched into the story of Luffy catching the Okama on the fishing line and how he could replicate any face he touched. As I finished up, Sanji looked just as confused and freaked out as I felt.
"O-kay..." he said in response after I finished the story.
I nodded. "Yeah, it was freaky. And you know what's even worse?" I asked, "That he's still on this ship and that no one kicked him off yet!" I said, frustrated at my idiot crew for not seeing that the guy was creepy.
Sanji stood up and opened the door, but I quickly grabbed his leg and dragged him back in.
"No, Sanji! Don't go out there!" I cried melodramatically, hanging onto his leg, "He'll get you!"
"Anni-chan, please let go," he said politely but frustrated.
"No! You haven't seen what he's like!" I yelled, clinging tighter.
He shook his leg and tried to pry me off. "Anni-chan... please," he continued to try.
I grinned and shook my head (I was having fun annoying him even though I didn't actually want Sanji to meet this guy).
He broke. Sanji finally broke and yelled at me. "Dammit, Anni-chwan! Please let go of me! I'll make you a chocolate cake or anything! Just let me go!"
I let go of his leg and grinned, but scooted to block the door. "Really? Even those really good ones with the sticky icing and the chocolate ice cream and the strawberries?"
"Yes," he sighed, calming down.
"Alright. As long as he doesn't copy your face, 'kay?" I said.
"Alright," he sighed again.
I peeked around the side of the door to make sure the coast was clear. I wasn't surprised by what I saw. Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp were dancing around and chatting with the strange Okama while Nami looked really pissed off for some reason. It didn't seem too dangerous, so I didn't think that it would be too bad if Sanji met him.
I snuck out and hid behind Vivi, who was watching from the balcony.
"Anni, what are you doing?" she asked, turning around to face me.
I grabbed her shoulders and quickly spun her around. "Act natural. I'm a ninja," I whispered.
"I really don't know what to expect from you anymore, Anni. You're too random," she whispered back.
"Hey, is that your ship?" Nami called to the Okama.
He jumped up on the baluster and stood there dramatically. "Don't forget, my friends, that friendship is never determined by the amount of time spent together," he said with tears in his eyes.
"We won't forget you!" Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper yelled together.
The Okama jumped onto his approaching ship and yelled to his crew, "Let's go, men!"
"Yes sir, Mr. Two, Bon Clay-sama!" his crew shouted and started to direct the ship away.
A silence fell over the Merry.
"Mr. Two..."
"Bon Clay..."
The realization finally sunk in and the crew went into panic mode.
"That was him?!" Vivi screamed with her hand over her mouth.
"Wait, Vivi, you didn't know what he looked like?!" I asked.
"No, I only heard a rumor that he wore lots of makeup like a girl and wore a coat with 'Okama Way' on the back," she cried.
"Are you blind?" we said together.
"Never mind that, we have a bigger problem. When he was doing those face copies, one of them was my father's. If he could pass himself off as the king, he could do terrible things," Vivi said, slumping down to her knees.
I put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll think of something," I said comfortingly.
"This was a lucky encounter," Zoro said, stepping forward.
"What do you mean?" Luffy asked.
"I mean that now we can plan a strategy. I have an idea for it," Zoro replied, walking into the storage room. He came out with a white sheet that he started to rip. "And don't worry, this is one of the shitty spare pillowcases that we got at one of those cheap stores."
The whole crew gathered on the deck in a circle. Zoro handed us each a strip of fabric, but before we could tie them onto our arms, he said, "Wait, we should have a double mark. That way they won't know about the hidden one because there would be no reason to try and copy us twice."
"That's pretty smart," Sanji admitted reluctantly.
Nami ran into the storage room and came out with a pot of black paint and a paintbrush. "Will this work? It says that it lasts for... hmm..." she squinted at the label, "Up to five weeks."
"Yeah, that should work," Zoro said as Nami handed it to him. He went around the circle painting an 'x' on our left arms, or wings in Carue's case. After they were dry, we each tied the fabric around the mark so that it was invisible to everyone else.
"Yosha! Sanji, food!" Luffy said, spinning around.
Sanji scowled. "Maybe I could make you food if we had any. There's none left thanks to your skinny rubber stomach demanding food every five minutes and Anni-chan's and Zoro's insane appetites."
"Hmm... Then Sanji, what was that you were making earlier?" I asked, referring to when I was hiding in the kitchen.
"Oh, that was dinner," he replied bluntly.
"But it was so small..." I whined, waving my arms dramatically.
"Maybe you shouldn't have eaten so much," he said dismissively, walking towards the kitchen.
"Noooooo..." Luffy and I cried, collapsing on each other.
BONK!
"Oww..."
"Don't complain if it was your fault in the first place!"
"We're sorry, Nami!"
XxX
Dinner was a sad meal of vegetables and bread. We barely even had any sake left, and it was completely gone by the time Zoro and I had found it. After dinner, no one spoke a word, but Luffy's growling stomach spoke for us all.
XxX
Warning, slightly dark, so if you have an overactive imagination and/or are scared easily, just skim this part.
At night, I had another nightmare, but this time was even worse than the last one.
The dark, unfeeling monsters that took the form of the Lapahn surrounded me, slashing at my back with their blunt claws. I was knocked around until I couldn't move anymore. I fell to my knees, and through the crowd of stomping feet I saw a twitching hand. It grasped at the snow and a head was raised behind it. Sanji's face stared at me, but his normally blue eyes were black and soulless.
"Help... me... Anni-chan..." he whispered as he was trampled by the feet. I reached out, but the paws kept clawing into my back, sending waves of pain through me. I cried out to him as the Lapahn monsters crushed him into the snow, turning him into a pile of bloody meat. I screamed for them to stop, but it was hopeless.
"Anni... help..." I spun around on my knees to see Zoro in the same situation. His black eyes stared into mine as he was stamped on by the vicious feet. Redness leaked through the snow to me, joining Sanji's blood. I looked down at my hands, but it didn't stop. It stained my hands as I shook from terror and pain.
"Anni... please..." Who was it now? I looked around, terrified of what I might find. My eyes connected with Luffy's. He reached out an arm to me, unable to stretch any farther. "Help... us..."
"Anni..." Nami and Vivi whispered my name in unison. "Please... help... us..."
"Help... me..." Usopp was trampled by the feet as they kept stomping.
A squawk sounded from behind me and I spun frantically to try and prevent my nakama from dying. Too panicked to count, I couldn't keep track of who was calling out. All the voices mixed together, whispering, calling out, pleading for help.
"Anni... please... please..." Chopper's voice was the last straw. I screamed my throat out to the heavens, pleading for someone to help my nakama and put me out of my misery. The blood seeped through the snow, staining the vicious feet red. I looked down at my shaking hands, scarlet with the spilled life and dreams of my nakama.
I awoke with a start, sitting bolt upright. I frantically grabbed my blanket and bunched it up before hugging it tightly. I was panting, and tears streamed down my face. I fell back onto my mattress, hugging my blanket, my pillow, anything within my grasp. My back hurt like hell and I wasn't bending it at all.
"Why?" I whispered into my blanket, shaking.
After I had collected myself, I grabbed a jacket. It was fluffy on the inside and warm and made me feel safe. I checked Nami's and Vivi's beds, making sure that they were alive and safe. I snuck up the stairs and lifted the trapdoor, closing it quietly behind me. What I didn't see was the two heads lift up, look at each other with pitying looks and go back down.
I shivered at the cold as the wind hit my legs, still in pyjama shorts. I made my way down the stairs and down to the trapdoor to the guys' room. I didn't see the long-nosed head poke curiously over the side of the crow's nest.
I lifted the trapdoor and climbed silently down the ladder. Carue was asleep on the couch, snoring lightly. I checked the first hammock with a pounding heart, and sighed with relief. Luffy was alive. I checked the second. Chopper, too. Usopp's was empty, so I figured that he was on watch. Zoro was sprawled across his, snoring loudly, so I figured that he was in no danger. Last one. Sanji was alive and well.
I sat down on the floor with my heart still pounding. I was so relieved that I didn't hear the rustling sound coming from the first hammock that I checked.
"Anni...?" Luffy's voice came from the other side of the room as he stumbled out of his hammock. His feet hit the floor with an unsteady thump and he rubbed his eyes blearily. "Is it my turn on watch now?"
I rushed up to him and hugged him tightly. He rocked backwards unsteadily, but caught his balance.
"Anni! Is something wrong?" he asked in a concerned tone.
I hugged him tighter, whispering, "No, just a nightmare."
He put his arms around me comfortingly, whispering, "Do you want to talk about it?"
I shook my head. "It was about you – all of you – and you died and I couldn't save you and you were all asking for help and I was too injured and I watched you all die and it was my fault and..." I trailed off, tears spiking at the backs of my eyes.
"That would never happen."
I looked up, confused.
"We won't die. Ever. I will make sure that I never lose a nakama," Luffy said determinedly, looking down at me.
I nodded. "Okay," I agreed, unable to do anything else.
We stayed there for a while in silence until I eventually pulled away, pulling my jacket around me. "Thanks, Luffy," I said gratefully. He nodded, watching me leave. I didn't know that the others had heard the entire conversation.
I headed back to my room silently, collapsing on my bed. I prayed to not have another nightmare, but I would have nearly preferred that to what I dreamed about.
In my dream, Sanji and Zoro were dressed as Superman and Batman, respectively, and they tried to defeat the evil balloon monster that looked suspiciously like Luffy that was destroying a huge city made of marshmallows. They failed, however, and ended up being forced to swim across a lake to get a newspaper for Vivi, who was dressed in black leather with a whip and was laughing like a maniac. To save them, I had to go on a marshmallow-subway to a marshmallow-Starbucks with Chopper, who was dressed in a suit and had a pair of stage binoculars to inspect everything. When we got there, the balloon monster had destroyed everything except for the doughnut display. Usopp blocked us before we took one however, saying that we had to pay, but Chopper inspected him with the stage binoculars and he shrunk down into a small fern that waved around happily. I reached over him and ate the doughnut that turned me into a giant pointy pencil and popped the evil monster, freeing Nami, who was the president of Starbucks and she killed everyone for destroying her store, including Zoro and Sanji, who had no part in it. In the end, Nami the president of Starbucks and Vivi the whip-wielding sadist ruled the world happily.
I woke up gasping, "What does it mean?"
The room was empty, thankfully, but I quickly got dressed and ran up to the kitchen where I stared at my nakama. Eating lunch (whatever there was). Normally. Having conversations. Normally. Fighting and arguing. Normally.
Okay, Anni. In situations like this, you gotta check for superhero costumes, suits, whips, and happy little ferns. None? Good.
I sighed and sat down in a seat next to Vivi who was wearing normal clothes. She reached across me to grab the sad wilted lettuce and I nearly flinched out of my skin. She misinterpreted it to be related to my nightmare and put a reassuring hand on my shoulder, but I flinched again.
The rest of lunch proceeded in the same fashion. I nearly yelped when Nami reached across me and I kept trying to see if Sanji and Zoro were wearing superhero costumes underneath their clothes. This resulted in a very awkward situation that I erased from my memory within the next few seconds.
XxX
As the ship drew closer to Arabasta, we started to see ships on the horizon. Vivi explained that they were most likely Baroque Works ships belonging to the Billions. We collectively decided (Nami 'explained') that if we attacked, we would most likely be annihilated immediately.
Just after she finished 'explaining' the sea rose up behind us. A huge cat-like fish thing broke through the surface. Zoro drew his swords, Luffy readied his fists, and my hands burst into flame.
"No, wait!" Vivi cried, jumping in front of us, "This is a sacred animal!"
"But Vivi..." Luffy whined.
"It was food..." I continued.
"We could have eaten it!" Zoro finished.
Sanji lit a cigarette and sighed, "But this must mean that we're getting close to Arabasta, right?"
Nami pointed to the horizon. "Yes, look! You can see it already!"
We all darted to the edge of the ship where a sandy, hot island was creeping over the horizon.
A/N
I nearly cried twice while writing this. Once from sadness and once from laughter. I'm gonna try to write more and update faster, because you guys totally deserve it, but life is a little crazy with scholarships and dance exams and four tests in the same freaking week! You know, just a little crazy.
I recently had the weirdest dream where I was at a school dance with only eight people, then I had my own couch in the middle of the hallway of the school. For some reason it was a country and I kept getting these messages written on sticks that said random (totally unreal) gossip. One said something like two of my friends were in a secret relationship (but they've never actually met irl). Then after that, I had to climb up a pyramid and take a picture of my friends and I with a glass jungle. I woke up and was like, 'Wtf, brain?'. But anyways, have any of you ever had crazy random dreams like that? (I could add them to the story if you want)
See ya!