Chapter Two: New Horizons
Characters: Wyllow and Skylar
~Wyllow~
When you can't count on your family, you should always have friends to rely on. Friends are how people survive when your family doesn't love you. For a long time, I didn't have any friends. It wasn't that I couldn't make them; it was just that it was so hard to find the right ones. I was the thin blonde girl that was the top of her class, so you can imagine the types of people who wanted to hang around me. Those tiny plastic girls who copied off the smart kids to keep their grades up…the ones that talked shit about absolutely everyone. I wasn't that kind of person. So, I spent most of my days alone, waiting for someone to actually want to be my friend. When I entered middle school, I didn't know it, but my best friend was walking down those hallways, scared to death she would be late to class.
I rushed though the bright hallways, carrying a huge stack of school books and library books, trying to navigate my way. Suddenly, I bumped straight into her. My books went flying everywhere, and I fell to the floor. The girl I had run into was desperately trying to get back on her feet.
''I am so sorry!'' I gasped, picking up all of my books.
''Can't you watch where you're going?'' She snapped, pushing her wildly choppy, short black hair out of her face. It was streaked with blue strands. The girl hurriedly got up and sidestepped me before hurrying down the hallway to her class. I sighed and finished picking up my books.
Later that day, I was eating lunch by myself as usual when I heard someone clearing their throat, trying to get my attention. I looked up from the frightening cafeteria food to see the girl I had knocked over that morning standing there with a full try of food and an apologetic expression.
''Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full.'' She begged. I nodded silently and she flashed me a quick smile before plopping down across from me.
''Thank you!'' She sighed happily before starting to eat.
''No problem.'' I relied, not looking at her.
''I'm sorry about this morning. I was just in a rush and my father and I got into a fight before I left. It was pretty bad.'' She sighed.
''Oh. It's okay.'' I said, understandingly.
''My name's Skylar, but you can call me Sky.'' She held out her hand to me. I took it gratefully.
''Wyllow, but if I had to have a nickname it would be Wyll.'' I informed as we shook hands.
''That's a pretty name.'' Skylar complimented.
''Yours is too. I've never heard it before.''
''Thanks. I think it's probably the nicest thing my parents have ever given me.'' She nodded.
''Same thing here.'' I agreed. I didn't know it then, but she and I were going to be the best of friends. When we got older, we moved away from our parents together. Her boyfriend, Damian helped us get our own apartment. Skylar's parents were mentally abusive-her mother dying in our sophomore year and her father getting even worse. Since her father was rich, he was never home. Her mom and her dad used to go out partying and come home drunk to lecture her about how terrible she was for a daughter. It was really awful, the things they would say. After her mother died, her father got progressively worse and almost got physically abusive a few times. My family was the type that had a long cycle of physical abuse, and my father was especially bad. I came to school with bruises so many times, but I had to hide them under long sleeved shirts and long pants otherwise I would get it even worse for showing them off to the world.
Needless to say, Sky and I were everything that our families weren't for each other. We protected and cared for each other. After we moved out of our terrible situations, Skylar and her boyfriend Damian broke things off. Unfortunately, he went kind of crazy after that. We heard rumors of him joining a gang, but neither of us believed it until we saw news reports of him being involved in gang violence. He started stalking Sky not long after, and it became a rule for us to never leave the house without my knife or her pistol.
Both of us had jobs before we got an apartment, and eventually we had enough money built up and Skylar and I decided to buy a cute little diner. We repainted it, cleaned it and opened it up for business under the name, The Blue Rose. The name was cheesy, but neither of us really cared. We got a lot of business, surprisingly. I had a few strange customers there, but of course none of them were compared to the time…well, I guess there is nothing wrong with me telling you all about it.
One night I was working late, cleaning up shop when the front door opened and I heard a bunch of voices all talking at once.
''Excuse me, but we are closed.'' I said, heading out of the back room with the broom and dust pan. I felt bad because I hadn't had time to lock up shop yet. There was a group of people that looked about my age sitting at a nearby table. They were all dressed rather strangely, and some of them had very odd hair colors. I figured they must have come in late from an Anime Convention or something.
''We're sorry, but is it alright I we stay here just for a moment? We have some things we need to figure out.'' A tall girl wearing a green and white bikini top and jeans asked. Her hair was bright orange and wavy as it fell down her back.
''Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt anything. Are you guys hungry?'' I asked curiously, setting the cleaning supplies aside and brushing dirt off my hands.
''Of course! I want meat! Lots of meat!'' A skinny teen with scruffy black hair hidden under a straw hat smiled widely. He was wearing a red buttoned vest and jean shorts.
''Okay.'' I started taking orders. I had to change their minds about some things because a lot of the food they were talking about I had never heard of.
''Why is a beautiful girl like you here preparing food? You should be the one getting waited on like a princess.'' A blonde man asked. He was wearing a suit and his yellow hair covered one side of his face. The other side it didn't cover revealed a curly eyebrow.
''This is the 21st century, sir. Women do things for themselves now.'' I answered before starting to head into the kitchen. As I was making the food, I overheard parts of their conversation.
''Luffy-san, this is a strange island we are on.'' A quiet voice sad solemnly.
''It's a mystery island!'' The black haired guy from earlier laughed.
''Luffy, you idiot. This is why we told you not to mess with that treasure! It said there would be a price to pay!'' The orange haired girl sighed, completely resigned.
''But I got Ace back! What's the big deal? We will find our way again!'' He said happily.
''I like this place. It doesn't seem so bad.'' A dark haired girl said casually.
''I really hope you're right, Robin.''
''Yeah, this place is SUUUUUPER!'' A loud and obnoxious man called out. He was probably the one with the most muscle, the least clothes and he kind of looked like a huge robot. I came back with their food and they all started to eat quickly.
''This food is amazing.'' The blonde man commented.
''Thank you. It isn't much, but my friend and I love this place.'' I told them as I finished propping up the chairs on the other tables.
''This is all we can afford, so I hope it's okay.'' The orange haired girl took out a wad of cash. As I slowly accepted it, I looked over the bills and I realized the money looked much different.
''These aren't US dollars. Are you foreign?'' I asked curiously, thumbing the money.
''Yeah, I guess so. I thought beri was the currency everywhere.'' Beri? I've never even heard of it before.
''Nope. But it's alright. That food was on the house.'' I handed her the money back. She looked defeated.
''So, what island are we on?'' I squealed as a nearby skeleton I thought at first was a prop turned out to be something much, much scarier.
''You're a skeleton!? Please tell me this is a costume! This can't be real!'' I begged.
''I am quite real. I ate a Devil Fruit long ago and it allowed me to continue living! Sadly, I am just dead bones Brook now. Yo ho ho ho!'' He laughed loudly, his boney mouth moving wildly. I just gaped at him. This wasn't possible. This couldn't be real!
''Oh my god. I can't believe this is happening.'' I sat down shakily.
''Do you know what island we are on, miss?''
''This isn't an island, it's a continent. This is the USA-or America. You're in the state of Michigan.'' I informed them.
''A continent?'' The dark haired girl frowned.
''It's like an island, but much bigger and divided into states. How do you guys not know this? Are you from Madagascar or something? And what kind of magical fruit thing can make people turn into skeletons? I am so confused.'' I babbled.
''We will explain in due time, but I think we have to face reality. Whatever treasure we encountered on Crystaline Island took us to another world.''
''So what do we do now? I we go back, I will probably go back to being…dead.'' Another man with black hair commented. He had some freckles, and he was skinny with no shirt on.
''Then let's not go back! We can explore this place! We can live here if it's another world!'' It was then that I realized a small, fuzzy animal was also among the group. I could assume even though he looked odd and was talking, he had to be real and not in a costume.
''Ahh! It's a raccoon-dog!'' I yelled.
''I'm a reindeer!'' The animal shouted back. I just wanted to curl into a fetal position and cry. What the hell was going on?
''But we haven't found the One Piece yet!'' The man called Luffy responded irritably.
''We can search for a way back while we are here. No doubt it will take a long time.''
''By then someone else could find it!''
''Then you'll just have to kick their ass. We can handle it, Luffy but for now it looks like we are stuck.'' A muscular green haired man responded. It became apparent to me that there were several muscular men and even some of the women looked strong in this group… and with Damian stalking and creeping around, this could be a good thing.
''Look, I am sorry but I have no idea what's going on. If you weren't a talking skeleton, you didn't look suspiciously like a robot and you weren't a talking raccoon-''
''I'm a REINDEER!'' He cut me off.
''Point is, I normally wouldn't believe this but… I'm going to have to say that I guess something weird is going on. It's clear you don't have any US dollars, and you have no place to stay. I really hate to force you guys to stay in our apartment, but it has an extra room and worst comes to worst, you can all find some place to rest your head. As for food, we will just have to work together to afford some. You guys might have to get jobs once you get the hang of this world.'' I sighed.
''Wait, we can stay with you?'' The orange haired girl asked.
''Sure. As long as there isn't anything else weird about you.''
''Well, I've tried using my Devil Fruit powers, but they don't work. That could be the effect of whatever treasure you guys messed with, but it also could be this world.'' The muscular, shirtless guy said.
''I can't transform, but I still look like I did after I ate the Devil Fruit. I didn't turn into a full Reindeer.'' The animal announced.
''And I am still alive, despite not having any organs or flesh. This is truly mind-boggling… even though I have no mind to be boggled. Skull joke! Yo ho ho ho!'' Brook laughed loudly. Everyone else looked awkward and stressed out.
''I've gotta lock up shop. We should get ready to head out.'' I sighed, locking the back room and opening the door for the group to head out. All nine of them got up and followed me out.
''Before any of you get to our apartment, my name is Wyllow and my roommate is Skylar. We should get acquainted before unleashing hell upon our household.'' I informed them.
''I'm Monkey D. Luffy, and I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!'' The straw hat boy introduced himself happily.
''King of the pirates?''
''It's a long and entertaining story. We will fill you in on the details later. I'm Nami.'' The orange haired woman said. I nodded.
''Nico Robin.'' The dark haired girl smiled at me in a friendly manner.
''I am the great and fearless warrior Usopp!'' A long nosed and dark skinned man waved.
''Portgas D. Ace at your service.'' The dark haired man without a shirt said politely.
''My name is Sanji, and I will repay you for taking us in.'' The flirty blonde man said in a lovey way.
''I am Brook! Excuse me…but, may I see your panties?'' The perverted skeleton asked. I turned bright red.
''Of course not!'' I replied, crushing his fragile dreams.
''I am SUUUUUPER Franky!'' The robot man said.
''Roronoa Zoro.'' The green haired man folded his arms.
''I'm Tony Tony Chopper!'' The Reindeer told me.
''Well, it's nice to meet all of you. We should really get home though. Follow me.'' I started to lead the way. We walked for a few minutes when I headed down the alley shortcut I sometimes used to get home faster. I spotted someone at the end of the alley, and I thought about turning around, but with all of the people walking with me, I wasn't afraid.
''Hey there, Wyll. Long time no see.'' Damian's voice echoed down the alley.
''I'm heading home, Damian. Leave me alone.''
''I know where you're going. She can wait a few minutes. How is Sky?''
''She's doing great. Now go away.'' I said, trying to walk past him. He sidestepped me.
''I don't think so. You're going to tell me exactly what happened between us.''
''She doesn't love you anymore, that's what.'' I pushed him enough so that I could continue walking.
''You don't walk away from me!'' He snarled, grabbing my arm roughly.
''Hands off the lady!'' I heard, and Sanji came barreling towards us. Sanji kicked his feet out from under him so hard that his head hit the sidewalk and he was out.
''Thank you.'' I said, examining the now bruising flesh on my upper arm.
''Are you alright, Wyllow-Swan?'' He asked gently.
''I'm fine. Don't worry about me. This isn't the first time that creep has attacked me.'' I responded as the group continued to walk.
''You mean he's done this before?'' Usopp wondered.
''He never touched me before. Normally he just begged me to tell him why Skylar left him. He's been crazy ever since my roommate ditched him.'' I answered.
''Wow. What a creep.'' Nami commented. I nodded and spent the rest of the walk in silence as we made our way to the apartment complex. It felt awkward walking with this many people, but it wasn't too crowded tonight thank god. We went straight to the room and I entered first.
''Hey, Sky.'' I smiled. My best friend was resting on the couch, wearing a small tank top that revealed her midriff, baggy black pajama pants decked out in little red skull and crossbones and her hair was tied up in a ponytail. She was watching Desperate Housewives and munching on Cheetos.
''Wyll!'' She hurried to change the channel.
''You do know that I don't care you watch Desperate Housewives, right?''
''Damnit. How is it you know everything?'' She sighed, flipping the channel back.
''I don't know everything. I just know you. So…Sky… I have a favor to ask.''
''Yeah?'' She looked up from the T.V.
''I met some people at the diner tonight, and they really need a place to stay. I kind of already said they could crash here. There is some weird stuff about them…but they just saved me from Damian. He was crazy and he even grabbed me this time. I didn't have my knife on me.
''Oh…wow…uhh…sure. I mean, I'm gonna change into a longer shirt if that's the case.
''Sweet. You can come in guys!'' I shouted. The door flung open and the nine of them marched in. They admired different things about the apartment, and Skylar screamed bloody murder when she saw Brook.
''What the hell!?''
'It's not what it looks like! Well, it is what it looks like! But… he's a friendly skeleton!'' I tried to calm her. Skylar squealed.
''When is there such a thing as a friendly skeleton?'' All of us sat down and explained to Skylar what was going on, without giving too much detail.
''Okay. Well, we can make mattresses out of the extra blankets in the hall closet, but we have to divide up who is sleeping where. Robin, Sanji and Brook ended up sleeping in the guest room (Robin got the bed and the other two got the floor). Ace and Chopper chose to stay in my room on the floor while Zoro and Luffy stayed in Skylar's room. Nami wanted to sleep on the couch since it seemed the most comfortable option to her, and Usopp got the lazy chair. Franky got the living room floor, as it was the most open place with the least amount of breakables. All the robotic metal didn't look safe to be around some of the glass things in our rooms. When we finally got all of the blankets laid out, we were all too tired to do anything else so we just went to get some sleep, knowing the next day would probably bring forth a lot of trouble.
~Alright, so this is definitely going to become a story. I really hope you guys like it. I figure that there are a lot of stories of people venturing into the One Piece world, but I think ti would be funny and interesting to see it the other way around. If you're really interested in this story, let me know. PM/Review if you want to see any changes or anything like that, or just tell me what you think! This story will have dark moments, but overall it will be a pretty light, funny story with some romance and a lot of friendship. I have the couples for this story picked out already, but I am not revealing who will be with who yet XD. ~MikkyMouse