Prologue: Scarlet and Gold
"Smug, sharp-tongued, unshaven, shit-faced bum!" a red-headed woman paced back and forth in front of him. "After all those tales he laid on the bar, all the crazy adventures he spoke about…" She trembled with a mixture of emotions, her face tinged red. "And now, he's just gonna leave! He should take responsibility, the cowardly-!"
"I don't get it, Erza" the young man said, as he cleaned his glasses. "If you want to go, just do it. I mean, you're not getting any younger-" He almost swallowed his tongue as Ezra glared at him with fire in her eyes. "N-never mind!"
After a minute of the scarlet-haired demon instilling pants-darkening fear in the man, Ezra calmed down and sighed, collapsing into a chair. "I can't, though… I should be there for Silk. There's so much I have to tell her. With Tristan gone, she needs someone to watch her."
The precocious man just snorted as he replaced his glasses and adjusted them. "Please! She is as wild as you were! If anything, your leaving won't matter! It's not like you're cooking anything she can eat-" He bit his jaw as that same feeling came over him. "N-never mind! B-but, you should decide soon! He's leaving today!"
Flipping back to calm, the passionate woman gave his words some thought. "Well…"
"Mama!" a tiny blonde girl sprinted into the Boar's Hat, plowing into Ezra. The force of the tackle took them both through the chair, smashing it under them. "I found a rhino beetle! I found a rhino beetle!"
Her anxiety melted in an instant, the woman laughed at her daughter's excitement. "Really? Was it a big one?"
"Huge-mongous!" she said with excited eyes. "It was as big as me!"
"That's not hard," the man snickered to himself. "You're not very big, yourself."
"Shut it, ya old fart!" the energetic child barked, trying to copy her mother's angry look.
"Who's old?" he laughed. "Sorry, kid! You're too cute to be frightening!"
"Am not!" the kid pouted, puffing her cheeks and looking away. "How come you're scared when Mama does it?"
"Well, I grew up with your mother! I know how scary she can get!" the bespectacled man pointed out.
"Silk," Erza sat up so the tiny girl was sitting in her lap. "Rudolph didn't mean anything by it. You're perfectly scary as you are."
"Really!?" Silk beamed up at her, like a miniature sun "You mean I even scared you!?"
'Too bright!' Both adults thought. The proud parent cleared her throat and spoke again. "Silk, dear. I have a question for you."
Erza punctuated the statement by tapping Silk's nose, eliciting a giggle. "Hehehe! What is it?"
The older lady paused, gathering her thoughts. "Well… If Mama wanted to go… traveling with the nice man from the bar-"
"The red-haired bum?" Silk bluntly asked, earning a spit take, cough and laugh from Rudolph as he sipped his drink.
"Yes, him," the mother answered. "I wish to travel with him… for personal reasons."
"Because of his cute butt?" Silk asked, causing Rudolph to react again.
"Why would you say that?"
"That's what all the ladies at the market say," Silk explained. "They talk about either his butt, hands, or feet! I asked what's so great about his feet, and they just said 'When a man has big feet,' and then just stopped talking and laughed."
"Gossiping hens," Rudolph muttered, "trying to corrupt innocent kids..."
"Don't worry about them," Erza sighed. "For me, he… gives me a feeling I can't ignore."
"A feeling you can't what?" Silk tilted her head to the side.
"What I mean is, he's… fun to Mama," she tried to explain. "His stories, his attitude – they make me feel… funny. Does that make sense?"
Silk seemed to think about that for a moment. Finally, she said, "I think it make more sense if you just said it's cuz of his cute butt."
Erza laughed at that. "I suppose you'll understand when you're older… but as I was saying, if Mama wanted to go with him, would you be upset?"
Silk looked away again in thought, leaning back into her mother as she sat in her lap. "...would it be like Daddy? You go away, and I never see you again?"
The redhead's chest throbbed at her voice, giving her a good squeezing hug. "No no! Of course not! Mama would be back eventually! With all sorts of stories to tell!"
"Okay!" Silk chirped. "But, when you do come back, don't tell me any of them yet!"
Both the woman and Rudolph exchanged glances. "And why's that?" Erza asked.
Silk smiled determinedly, punching a fist into the air. "Because, soon, I'll be heading out on my own adventure! I'll make my Dream real!"
A/N: Hey all! Gather round for good news! So, indulge me for a moment, as I ruminate...
So, for those of you who were here in my early days, you know I had a little fanfic called Age of Wonder. It seemed moderately popular, and while some of that might be because of One Piece's popularity, I'd like to think some of that was from my own talent. Writing it really help me figure out my voice and made me feel comfortable.
...Until I kept having large gaps between new chapters, constantly second guessing myself, and tearing my hair out at how nothing felt right on anything I was writing... Don't worry, I'm much better now!
Anyway, much like I said about KRR (Kamen Rider Ranger), I feel One Piece is a part of my childhood that really inspired me to be creative and brilliant. I looked at Age of Wonder, and after a time, I had to ask myself if this was okay to keep writing. I wasn't having fun, and that consensus bled into my writing, which if I go by reader reviews, was beginning to make a few readers nervous and confused as well.
So, AOW was canceled outright! That should be the end of the story...
However, rather than always looking to others for ideas and concepts, I find that my best ideas are when I take some time to think and view things from a new perspective. Plus, I really did want to make a good One Piece fanfic, if only not to say I learned my lesson.
With that all said, say hello to my newest story, One Piece: Iron and Gold! It wouldn't be ready until July, but the first two chapters are available for early viewing on (PAT) reon! If you wish to see what new madness I'm cooking up, follow the link, here or on my profile, to see the first chapter, and I hope you enjoy it!
(PAT) reon (add . com) (Slash) posts (slash) first-look-at-my- (82523278)
