Happy Late Birthday Aro And Nix!
Chapter Six
What a Filler!
Aka: Kuro's Plan Revealed! Usopp's Allies!
[Previously, on One Fall:]
"I'm here to see you," Luffy said, looking up at Kaya. "I wanted to ask a favor."
"A favor? From me?" she asked, surprised by the rubbery stranger.
"Uh-huh," Nix walked over to stand between Nami and Zoro, Sweet-Pea clasped firmly in her arms. "I was wondering if you could help us get a boat."
"You there!" Klahadore, really Captain Kuro, said, walking up to them briskly. "What do you think you're doing?" Feeling some movement from Sweet-Pea, Nix looked down to see him waving his fingers back and forth in a familiar pattern.
"What the-" she mumbled, surprised and a little aprehensive that the baby Pokemon would be using Metrenome. That move completely unpredicatble. Nix was so mesmerized by the spiked ball type Pokemon that she didn't even notice Kuro insulting Usopp or the sharpshooter running past them to slug the butler/pirate in the face.
But she did notice, however, that before the curly haired boy even reached him, a blast of light shot from Sweet-Pea and at Kuro. The Solarbeam knocked the man off his feet, sending him to the ground and his glasses flying.
"Togeprrrriiiiii!" the baby trilled happily, thrilled that it sent the poop-suit wearing man to the ground.
"What," Zoro asked, staring at the Pokemon he had been holding only a few moments ago. "The hell was that?"
[Present]
"Heh heh," Nix said nervously, tightening her grip on Sweet-Pea. "Oops!" Then she took off running, vaulting over the hedge and leaving a dust trail behind her.
She finally stopped by the boats, collapsing in exhaustion.
"Prii?" Sweet-Pea asked, prodding her cheek.
"Y-you're an idiot," she panted, lifting the little Pokemon so she could look him in the eye. Sweet-Pea cheerfully and patted Nix's face with his little hands, a lot like a baby would. She sighed, unable to be irritated with the Pokemon. She hugged him and laid there for a moment before getting up. "We should probably go find the others so we can plan out the attack."
"Prii!" Sweet-Pea said, nodding importantly.
"Maybe he went after the Captain?" Nix heard Zoro say as she walked up to the fence behind them. "As for Nix, who cares?" A tick went off in the Magician's temple and she moved silently, crouching behind the swordsman and glaring at the back of his head.
"You should care," she growled, making him jump. "But who cares if I drop you off a cliff or something."
"Where the hell did you come from?" he demanded, meeting her glare.
"Over there," she said, pointing behind her. "Where's Luffy and Usopp?"
"The Captain should be 'there'." Pepper told Carrot. Nami looked down at them from her perch on the fence.
"Yeah, the East coast. Whenever he's troubled, he always goes there."
"Want to go and check on them?" Pepper asked, looking at them. Nix shook her head and sat behind Zoro, leaning against the post her was sitting against.
"Nah," she said. "They'll be fine. By the way, where's Pixel."
"He followed Onion." the boys told her. "He always disappears. Then he'll come out of nowhere, screaming like crazy."
"It's horrible!" Onion screamed, running down the road right on cue, Pixel at his heels.
"See?" Carrot asked, looking at the other boy.
"A man walking backwards! A very weird man is coming this way!" Onion stopped in front of them, pointing at the road behind him.
"PIIII!" Pixel wailed, leaping into Nix's arms.
"Liar." the other two Usopp Pirates chorused, not moving a muscle.
"It's true!" Onion protested. "Look!" Everyone turned to see the moonwalking Jango, or DJango as he was called in the manga, making his way towards them.
"Hey," he said, turning to them. "Who called me weird?" Nix stared. Jango was just weird. High sock-thingies, green pants that were too light to match his gloves, a blue jacket over an over sized T-shirt and a matching hat. To top that off, he had that mushroom stalk on his chin from not bathing enough and heart shaped sunglasses. Not cool "I am not weird."
"Looks like a weirdo to me." Pepper said pointing at him.
"That's ridiculous." Jango protested.
"Nope," Nix said, still staring. "You the one of the weirdest things I've ever seen."
"What was the weirdest?" Zoro asked, half grinning.
"My aunt Tila making a turkey tap dance like a puppet." Nix shuddered. "The horror."
"I'm just a hypnotist passing by." Nix rolled her eyes. Lies!
"A hypnotist?" Onion asked excitedly. Nix rolled her eyes as the man tried to show off and ended up putting the boys, Pokemon, and himself to sleep. Nix sighed and prodded Pixel, eliciting a snore from the fox-type.
"What the hell was that?" Zoro shouted, making Nix snort.
"That was stupidity."
[from here on is taken from the manga]
After Jango had been dragged off by Kuro, which surprised Nami (Nix already knew who he really was and Zoro just raised his eyebrows), and the boys had been roused from their short nap, the three StrawHats (well, five if you count the Pokemon) lazed around, waiting for their captain or, in Nix's case, waiting for the scream that would send them to the cliff base.
"CAPTAAAAIN!" There it went. Nix opened her eyes lazily in time to see Usopp sprinting for the village. She yawned and shifted slightly, continuing to pet Pixel.
"Wasn't he with Luffy?" Zoro asked, blinking as he stood.
"I think he's still mad about that butler insulting his father." Nami said, looking after him.
"I see," Zoro said, leaning on one arm against the fence. Nix rolled her eyes and pushed his arm, causing him to lose his balance and fall. Nix stood, ignoring his angry shouts and picked her Pokemon up, heading for the cliffs. She would have waited for the three boys to lead her, but she had a way of finding Luffy.
"Can you smell where he was coming from?" she asked Pixel, who cooed and jumped from her arms, walking steadily towards the scent of salt air and barbeque.
Not fifteen minutes after they left, the others came running up behind them.
"Wait!" Nami exclaimed, stopping abruptly. "How did you know where they're taking us?"
"I didn't," she said, shrugging. "I had Pixel find Luffy's scent."
"Oh," Nami blinked and turned back to the path. Nix attempted to follow her, but was stopped by a tan hand grabbing her wrist. She blinked up at Zoro, who was glaring down at her.
"What?" she asked innocently, tipping her head to the side.
"Why are you always doing stuff to embarrass me?" he demanded, and Nix surpressed a shiver from the irritation that flowed from his silver white eyes.
"Because," she said, carefully trying to pull her wrist away from the swordsman, but the sea foam haired man merely tightened his grip and waited. "I'm a prankster and you're the easiest to target. Besides, that blush is cute on you."
Zoro glared as she grinned at him, the telltale blush of embarrasement showing slightly on his cheeks. Nix's grin widened impossibly, until it was almost Luffy-like. Zoro narrowed his eyes at her and yanked on her wrist, making her stumble and fall against him. Suddenly, she found her face pulled up until it was mere inches away from his.
For one very scary moment, she thought he was going to kiss her, but he merely pulled her lip up instead. Not romantic at all.
"W'a a' 'ou doin'?" she said around his finger, glaring at him with irritated emerald eyes.
"You have fangs." he said finally, releasing her. Nix stumbled back, wiping her chin where some drool had collected.
"They're not fangs!" she pouted, crossing her arms. "They're just sharper than normal."
"They look a lot like fangs, like dogs have." he paused. "Or foxes." Nix leveled him with another glare, making him flinch internally. Women scared even Zoro when they were angry.
"We should go," she said icily, turning away from him. It wasn't her fault she was so sensative about her teeth. She got enough grief because of her hair.
Ten minutes after the strange confrontation, the crew had found their captain and woke (is that correct?) him, via Nix tossing a couple of exploding cards at his head.
"What!" Carrot shouted, echoed by his other two Veggie-pals.
"Miss Kaya's gonna be killed?"
"Pirates are going to attack the village?"
"Yup," Luffy said simply. Nix glanced back at him before continuing to moodily skip stones into the ocean, where they were hungrily swallowed by the cold waters. "That's what they said! No doubt about it!"
"Strange place to take a nap," Zoro commented, looking around.
"I thought I was on top of the cliff." Luffy said, looking up and frowning.
"You probably fell," Nix said, pointedly ignoring the swordsman of the group, who frowned at her. Was she still mad at him?
"That butt-ler guy is really bad!" Carrot exclaimed, clenching his fists.
"I never did like him," Pepper declared, putting his hands on his hips. Nix smiled to herself. Kids, no matter how old they were, usually banded together against someone if they went against one of their friends. She remembered that from high school.
"And the hypnotist's a bad guy too!" Onion finished, sounding slightly disappointed.
"PI!" Pixel wailed, collapsing. His mistress looked at him blankly, green eyes blinking slowly. The natural redhead shrugged, tossing another rock.
One. Two. Three skips.
She ignored the rest of the conversation, remaining where she stood as everyone ran off, including Pixel.
"I swear he likes Luffy better," she mumbled, once again put out by the Pokemon's attactment to the rubber boy. Then her tone took on a sarcastic edge. "Oh, yes. Just forget all about me. You still love me, right?" she added hopefully, looking down at Sweet-Pea.
"Pri?" the baby trilled in confusion before running off after the others.
"I feel so unloved."
"You know, I find it weird that no matter how lost I get, I always end up where I'm supposed to be." Nix said, emerging from the tree line. "It's like I'm the opposite of the marimo." She paused. "Eh, I gotta give him a personal nickname."
She walked up behind the crew, wrapping her arms around Zoro's chest and resting her chin on his shoulder. Ah, the wonders of being tall.
Zoro jumped, staring down at her. How did he not notice her presence. Nix looked up at him, all traces of hostility gone, lips graced with a sly grin.
"Boo!" she said, turning her eyes to Usopp, who was clutching his arm as he walked to the beach with Nami and Luffy. "Why's long nose bleeding?"
"We're about to find out," Zoro said, reaching behind him and grabbing Nix's collar, nearly strangling the red head as she was pulled onto the swordsman's shoulders.
"Gah! Put me down kaiso!" the green haired man stopped abruptly, looking at her curiously. Nix took the opportunity to scramble around on his face, feet digging in painfully to the swordsman's back and she hooked her legs around his waist, signifigantly more comfortable riding piggy back. "Much better."
"What did you call me?" he asked, trying to look at her. Nix flushed, glad he couldn't see her face. She had called him seaweed, but he didn't need to know that did he? At least she had the nickname issue resolved.
"Eh? Nothing important, now. . . MUSH!" she shouted, poking him in the ribs. Zoro yelped and grabbed her legs before running to catch up with the others.
By the time they reached the cliffs, it had grown dark. The cresent moon hung high in the night sky, providing a pretty picture. Nix took advantage of the fact, sketching the beach while she listened to the plan.
"It's 'cause I'm a liar," Usopp said, hanging his head. There was pain behind his words, a kind the anime and manga couldn't express. It was a pain of not being able to protect what you loved. Nix's grip tightened on her pencil as her hand stopped moving. She relaxed when Usopp continued to speak. "No one'll believe me! I should've known!" She pretty muched tuned the rest of his words out, listening again when she heard Luffy speak.
"- we're going to help you." the rubbed man said, stretching his arm to loosen it up. Nami put her hands on her hips, looking stern.
"I'm telling you now, the treasure's all mine!" Nix smiled. Under Arlong's command or not, she'd never lose her love of money.
"Huh?" Usopp mumbled, sniffling. He looked up at the pirates with wide eyes, wiping them with the palm of his hand.
It became silent. Nix listened to the waves slapping against the rocks.
Her green eyes, Zoro noticed, glowed in the night. It was almost inhuman, he noticed with a shiver. People often told him his eyes could pierce and terrify a person, but Nix's eyes, they went right through a person.
"You guys," Usopp said slowly, trying to understand. "Are willing to fight beside me? Why?"
"You're outnumbered right?" Nix asked. Usopp looked up at her and recoiled as her eyes reflected moonlight. Like an animal's!
"You look pretty scared." Zoro continued, making the sniper jump to his feet.
"ME?" he shouted, pointing to himself. "SCARED? HA! TH-THAT'S A L-LAUGH! OUTNUMBERED OR NOT, I'LL BE F-FINE! I'm Captain Usopp, brave warrior of the sea!"
Usopp looked down at his knees, which were shaking worse than an angry chihuahua. He hit them angrily. "Hey! D-darn. . . Darn! Darn it! What are you looking at? I'm going up against Captain Kuro's pirates! Of course I'm scared! So what? I don't want your pity! You guys can stop laughing! Leave!" Everyone just stared at him. Nix's eyes flickered to Zoro as he spoke.
"We're not laughing at you. We're impressed. That's why we're going to help you." Nix nodded solemnly.
"I'd be afraid for you if you weren't scared." She said, amused at the idea of a fearless Usopp.
"Who'd risk their life out of pity?" Luffy growled. Usopp began to cry.
"Y-you guys!"
A/N: Eh, we got nothing. Life caught up, blah blah blah you don't want to hear our excuses, we know. yea. . . Kaiso means seaweed
Review Corner!
xXxDragonxPhoenixXx:
I love how you write Nix and Zoro together. Makes me want to read your story even more. I loved the part where Zoro is holding Sweet-Pea, and Nix commented on how
cute it was.
Thanks! It's fun to write the interaction between them. Nix is gonna tease Zoro a lot in the future.
secretdewdrop:
haha I like it already, although I hope you won't make the whole focus of the story on a romance instead of the one piece plot. I eagerly await a new chapter =)
Thanks! Eh, we don't plan on centering it around a romance, but it'll still be there, just very slow going.
ichigo1508:
nu! the horror! lol anyway good job!
Ah, cliffys! Thanks! ;)
AiriiSpade:
I love this story, so please keep going! :)
Thanks! We've got a lot planned for this, so we'll keep going!
Thanks to secretdewdrop, AiriiSpade, captain choco head and Jhonie for Story Alerting and Favoriting!
