Chapter Three
In Which Nix Fights
Aka: Morgan Versus Luffy! Who's the Mysterious Pretty Girl?


"The unreal is more powerful than the real, because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it, because its only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. Stone crumbles. Wood rots. People, well, they die. But things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on."

- Chuck Palahniuk


[Previously on One Fall:]

"End of the line," Morgan said, coming up behind them.

"Hm," Nix mused. "If I'm gonna fight, I'll need more than Pixel to do so. Gimme whatcha got Steve-O." She opened the locket. Steven held out a paper fan with an ebony handle. Nix frowned and handed him Sweet-Pea. "Cool fan, but how's it gonna help me?"

She held the fan out in front of her, examinging it. It was black, with the red outline of flames on it. She waved it slightly. A gust of wind sliced through the dirt, leaving a small tornado at her feet.

"For the crime of treason against me, I sentence you all to die where you stand."

"Hm, that's useful." Nix commented, ignoring Morgan. Behind her, Coby braced himself, tears running down his face. Nix stood before the marines, directly in the line of fire, fan held loosely in her hand. A smile played about her lips. "If I die now, I'm gonna do it with style and class."

The marines aimed their guns at the trio. Morgan and Zoro exchanged words before the gun was fired. As the guns went off, Luffy leapt in front of them, making the bullets bouce back off of him and at the marines.

"What the-!" Zoro asked. "Who the hell are you?"

"My name's Monkey D. Luffy," he said, turning to look at Zoro. "And I'm going to be King of the Pirates!" He gave him a thumbs up, grinning like only Luffy could. Nix smiled.

Yep, life's gonna get real interesting with these guys.


[Present:]

"You're going to be King of the Pirates?" Zoro asked disbelievingly. "Right, you must be completely out of your rubbery mind. Do you have any idea what that means?"

"To be King of the Pirates means being the King of the Pirates. How can it be anything else?" Nix stifled a giggle at his simple explanation.

"Yeah, it's surprising, but he's completely serious!" Coby said, a hint of pride in his voice. "That's how he is, I suppose, because he seems to have every intention of fufilling his dream and obtaining the world's untimate treasure, the One Piece!" Luffy grinned at them.

"Here, I couldn't figure out which one was yours so I just took all of them." Luffy held out the three swords to the green haired man.

"They're all his, Luffy." Nix said, practicing off-handedly with her fan. "He uses the three sword style."

"Take them already, just know that if you fight with me now you'll be a government defying villan."

"Either that or the marines get to excute you for doing what was right." Nix finished, turning back to them.

"What are you, the son of the devil?" Nix snorted. No, he's the son of a dragon. "What does it matter? If I don't choose your side, I'll end up dead on these sticks. So let's do it." Nix grinned as Luffy laughed triumphantly.

"So you're finally gonna join my crew!" The seventeen year old did a little victory dance.

"Would you quit celebrating already and get these ropes off of me?" Zoro snapped.

Nix rolled her eyes and moved forward, trying to untie the knots. She frowned.

"They tied these pretty tight." she muttered, attempting to knaw through one.

"Let me try," Luffy said, and began pulling on them. Meanwhile, the marines began to charge them, swords drawn. "That's funny. The knots got tighter instead of looser."

"Give me one of my damn swords now!" Zoro shouted. Nix scowled and spun around, fan poised to blow them away. With a flick of her wrist, she sent one marine flying. With her free hand, she tossed one of Zoro's swords at his head.

Shing!

Zoro leapt in front of Nix, blocking all the swords with a single move.

"Oooh, thanks!" she said cheerfully, closing her fan with a swish!

"Make one move and you die," he told the marines.

"He's scary," they sobbed.

"Today, I officially become a criminal having fought the marines, so I'll join your crew, that I can promise you. But I want you to know one thing: while I'm with you, the only thing I dedicate myself to is fufilling my dream."

"Which is?" Luffy asked.

"To become nothing less than the world's greatest swordsman. If somewhere along the way, I have to deviate from you to do that, I'll do it and expect an apology."

"The World's Greatest Swordsman," Luffy said, trying out the title. "Sounds great! The King of the Pirates wouldn't have anything less than the best!" Nix smiled.

"Seems like I should deticate myself to something as well, besides finding a way home that is."

"Big talker," Zoro told Luffy, smirking. "From this point on, I don't care if I'm a criminal or not. I will spread the name Zoro throughout the world!"

"What are you all standing around for?" Morgan bellowed, making the marines cower in fear. "Kill all four of them!"

"You might wanna duck!" Luffy said, pulling his leg back. Zoro's eyes widened as he ducked alongside Nix, who pulled her hat off to keep it out of the crossfire. "Gum Gum . . . WHIP!" He brought his leg forward in a sweeping motion and swept all of the marines off their feet, sending them to the ground.

"Strike!" Nix shouted, refering to bowling.

"Wanna tell me what you are?" Zoro asked.

"I'm just a guy who ate the Gum Gum Fruit." Luffy said, swinging his leg back and forth.

"What's a Gum Gum Fruit?" Zoro asked around the sword in his mouth.

"A rubber man?" one of the beaten marines asked.

"Captain, we don't stand a chance against them." another one said.

"Yeah! We couldn't even deal with Zoro alone! They're insane!"

The pirates (Luffy, Nix, and Zoro) turned to face Morgan as he ordered the men to shoot themselves for their weakness. As Zoro got ready to attack, Luffy ran around him, slamming a fist into Morgan's chest. Introductions were made, blows were exchanged, and Luffy continued to introduce his fist to Morgan's face while Hellmepo arrived.

"Stop right there! Look at what I got!" he yelled, pointing a gun at Coby's head. Nix moved silently, walking behind the blond and placing her fan near the base of his neck, ready to attack him if he made a wrong move. Luffy ignored him and continued to beat Hellmepo's father to a pulp. "Are you stupid or something? I said stop! If you would pay attention to me you'd see that I have a hostage!"

"You won't use that gun," Nix said, smirking. Hellmepo yelped and turned to face her. "You know, guns are made for actions, not threats." Luffy, who had been standing up, looked at her in surprise. Was it possible the girl knew Shanks and his crew? Luffy grinned at the terrified Coby and the ready-to-attack Nix.

Coby stopped shaking for a moment then yelled out, determined to die for his dream.

"Luffy, listen! Don't let anything that happens to me stop you! Even if I die!"

"Of course," Luffy laughed. "You hear that? Coby's ready to die by your hand!"

"Gum Gum . . . PISTOL!" Zoro, Nix and Luffy all moved at once. Nix grabbed Coby's legs and yanked him out from under Hellmepo's arm as Luffy rocketed his arm forward, slamming Hellmepo in the face. While Luffy was vulnerable, Zoro leapt at Morgan, slashing him across the chest and preventing the attack from reaching Luffy. The young captain grinned appreciatively. "Nice one!"

Behind him, Morgan fell back, thudding against the ground as Zoro stood over him.

"Just doing my job," Zoro grinned. "Captain." Nix fluttered around Coby anxiously, motherly intincts kicking in, clucking like a ruffled chicken.

"Are you alright? You're not hurt are you? Do you need something to eat? Pixel! Do me a favor and set Hellmepo's feet on fire!" Pixel obliged happily.

The blond leapt to his feet and ran inside, screaming for water. All around them, marines were cheering from Morgan's defeat while Zoro collapsed from hunger. Nix laughed and adjusted her hat, helping Luffy pick the swordsman up.

"Put him in here first," she told him, opening the locket. "He'll need a quick shower before going anywhere with me!"


"Woo! I am stuffed!" Zoro laughed, sitting back. "Having not eaten for three weeks, I was ready to knaw through my boot straps!" Rica, her mother, and Coby laughed from their place at the bar. Nix smiled and continued to feed her Pokemon.

"I can't believe you're finished," Luffy sniffed, muching on some meat. "Lightweight."

"How the hell can you have a bigger appetite than someone's who's starved for three weeks?" Zoro asked, pointing at the pile of plates stacked up in front of Luffy.

"He's got a rubber stomach!" Nix laughed, standing up and picking Sweet-Pea up off the floor and setting him on the counter.

Her wallet fell out of her pocket, a slip of paper falling out. Luffy picked it up and stared at the picture for a moment.

"Hey Nix," the natural red head looked up at him, feeding a chopped carrot to Sweet-Pea. "Who's this?" Nix smiled.

"The blond woman is my mother, and the guys are my brother, Ciro, and my dad." Luffy stared at her.

"You mean Shanks has a daughter?" Nix frowned at him.

"Huh?" Luffy pointed at the red haired man in the photo.

"That's Shanks," he handed her the picture. It was indeed Shanks, a younger and clean-shaved version of the man, but him none the less.

"I -" she said, surprised. "Never realized that."

"That's cool!" Luffy said, grinning at her. Nix smiled back weakly.

"So, how many crew members do you have?" Zoro asked Luffy.

"Huh?" the captain said, looking at him blankly.

"You said you were getting people to join your crew. How many people do you have?"

"Counting me and Nix?" Luffy said. "Two. Three now that we have you."

"Vulpix!" Pixel said, pawing Luffy's leg.

"Oops! Sorry. Make that four." Nix smiled, recovering from the shock of finding out who her father was.

"So we're all that amounts to a pirate crew?" Zoro asked, disbelief evident in his tone.

"Why not? We're a couple of strong guys." Luffy said, shrugging.

"And a girl," Nix added.

"That too."

"At least tell me you have a ship." Zoro asked.

"Sure do!" Luffy said, pointing his fork at the rowboat that was visible from the window.

"We'll get a much bigger one soon, don't worry." Nix said, smiling mysterously.

"I can't believe I got myself suckered into this." Zoro sighed, veins pulsing in his head.

Rica inquired as to where they were going, which Luffy said was the Grandline. Coby explained the dangers of the place and warned Luffy about it.

"They probably didn't know what they were getting into and died or just didn't want to come back. If you know what lies ahead, the Grandline can be a pirate's paradise!" Nix said, grinning.

Luffy and Coby had a short conversation before the marines arrived. They allowed the crew to leave, but they had to leave immediately. The townspeople protested, but Luffy and Nix stood, ready to leave.

"Thanks for everything," Nix told Rica's mother as she took a bag of food for Pixel and Sweet-Pea. "Bye everyone!" Nix walked out, ignoring the marines questions, but turned back in time to see Coby slug Luffy. The seventeen year old smirked and began to beat the crap out of Coby. Zoro went in and grabbed Luffy's collar, stopping him from hurting him even more.

Nix smiled and continued on to the boat.

"That act you put on back there was pretty thin," Zoro told Luffy, who just laughed. "They probably saw right through it."

"Coby can get through it," Nix said dismissively, carrying Sweet-Pea in her arms like Misty did with her own Togepi.

"Luffy!" Coby shouted, coming up to them as they untied the ropes. "Thank you! You've done more for me than anyone ever has!" He saluted them.

"I've never heard of a marine saluting a pirate before." Zoro said, amused. "That's one for the history books."

As they set off, calling their good-byes, the rest of the Marines came up behind Coby, Rica, and her mother, saluting the first of the Straw Hat pirates.


"I get the feeling some interesting adventures are gonna happen now." Zoro said. Nix adusted her tophat.

"You've no idea," Nix laughed.


A/N:

- Magic126 - thanks for Story Alerting and Favoriting!
- hanonmm - thanks for Favoriting!
- ichigo1508 - thanks for the Review! Glad you liked it! :)