Without SadEcho, there would be nothing! Really! I swear! Since she enfulgs me with such doses of courage :)
Do not own One Piece, just love to mess with characters in my own way.
Warnings: Minor foul language, tiny bit of adult's suggestion (if you squint really hard ;))
Who would have thought, what kind of mess could be invoked by just one innocent question?
"What a storm ... New World's weather is really different from the Paradise's." Nami sighed in exhaustion as she dropped into a chair in the galley, dripping and slightly shivering from the cold, heavy rain. It took some time, but the Sunny was finally able to pass through the storm's core and even if the sea was still wild with heavy rain pouring hard down onto the deck, at least they weren't in immediate danger. The navigator was silently thankful that Franky had implemented that fantastically useful autopilot, which erased the need of having someone at the helm all the time. During an emergency it wasn't exactly the best solution to use it, but when the weather was stable, it helped a lot, like in this case.
"Dry yourselves with warm towels and then wrap up into blankets, so you won't suffer from hypothermia!" Chopper ran wildly around worrying and bringing more towels and blankets, pilling them up. "And change your clothes immediately! Sanji, can you make something fast and warm afterwards? Like chicken soup or something?" The little doctor was in his element, worrying about his nakama's health, trying to pull out the best solution possible, even if it was just a matter of not catching a cold.
"Sure, I'll whip something up right away." Sanji nodded from under his towel, hastily drying his blonde hair ".. so my sweet Nami-chwan will be all warm and cozy again!" the cook noodled in his usual lovey-dovey dance around the exhausted navigator, head still covered with his towel, when his blue eye spotted an all too familiar green head coming through the slit between the door and jamb. "Oi, Marimo!"
"Hn?" Zoro peeked into the room, when his face was hit straight on with a folded towel.
"Dry yourself, before you make Chopper freak ou ... *SMASH* ... t." A thick blanket, so conveniently close to swordsman's hand, flew across the room, hitting the blonde cook on the back of his head, smashing it into the nearby wall.
"You should wrap yourself up, so you won't start coughing, dartboard brow." The swordsman grinned in apparent satisfaction over the successful hit. "But no one would be able to distinguish whether it's the cold's fault, or one of those annoying nicotine sticks of yours anyway."
"Mind your own business!" Sanji screamed at Zoro's answer, throwing the blanket back, but the swordsman swiftly dodged, so instead of him it hit the poor cyborg who just entered the gallery too.
"Pillow war!" Luffy screamed, jumping from the cards he had been playing with Usopp, Brook, and formerly Chopper too, grabbing another one of the blankets and mercilessly throwing it at Usopp. Too bad Robin was reading in the way and instead of the sharpshooter it was the dark-haired woman who disappeared under the improvised cover along with her book, that she had been reading the whole time.
"Luffy, you stupid shitty rubber head! Look what you are doing, what if Robin-swan had been hurt?!" the cook immediately snapped at the captain. But instead of guilty look, he got another direct hit with a blanket and within a few seconds the room was full of flying towels and bed sheets. Nami decided to take immediate cover under the table, slightly wondering, how Chopper had managed to bring so many of them in such a short time.
Speaking of the little doctor, while everyone was suddenly enjoying the friendly all-out brawl in the underbelly, Chopper hesitantly tiptoed through the thick veil of rain over the Sunny's desk, looking for one person, which hadn't been heard from since the moment Sunny had appeared within the storm.
There, sitting peacefully and calmly, almost looking like sleeping, the redhead was sitting with crossed legs, swords over the lap, in a position that reminded Chopper of some kind of meditating monk. Completely ignoring the harsh weather, despite being drenched to the bone, and probably suffering from the cold wind, from the outside it really looked like the pirate didn't mind the whims of the weather at all.
Carefully studying the sitting person, the reindeer opened his mouth a few times before closing it, unsure about the best way of approaching. Something about that person terrified him, instincts from his former herbivorous time were screaming at him to stay on guard and as far away as possible from this being at all cost.
It wasn't the fear of being called a monster again, now that he had his nakamas, he could care less about what other people said about him, nor the fear of rejection or ignorance. It was more of a subconscious feeling of grave danger, which he had experienced quite few times in his short life, mostly in encounters with his natural predators in his past reindeer's times. Not only then, but the first time he had seen Zoro excited in the middle of the battle invoked the same kind of feeling. It had made him fear the green-haired swordsman for a few first weeks until he realized the kind of heart, that beat under that harsh and intimidating exterior.
But this was different. While Zoro was downright scary, invoking the feeling of exactly what would happen to you the moment you happened to get at the wrong side of his swords, this was like his exact opposite. It was that uncertainty about what really was hidden under that calm, peaceful, and careless facade, giving off the vibe of that type of unpredictability where almost everything could technically happen while not giving any clear indication until the last possible second. Still, Chopper was sure, that he was the only one, who could probably feel it at all, given his animal instincts that even the Hito Hito no Mi wasn't able to erase. Maybe Luffy was able to feel it too, given his sharp instincts, but in that case someone had to teach the rubber captain the meaning of fear itself for him in the first place.
"Need something?" the redhead asked calmly with a smile, looking at the little reindeer with a mixture of curiosity and expectation, knowing well about the reindeer's secret observation.
The sudden sound caught the doctor off guard, temporarily confusing his thoughts, but also nudging him nearer towards his doctor's worrying side inside of his head. Opening his mouth to voice whatever was on his mind, Chopper lifted his head and stepped out from his hiding.
A chilling wave of shock rolled throughout the poor reindeer as he jumped a few steps back. Falling on his rear, gasping for air, and clearly feeling the cold sweat under his thick fur that was able to withstand even the harshest rain, when his round eyes met its piercing, almost cat-like counterparts. The intensity of that look was highlighted with its apparent unusual uneven coloring, enhanced by the fact that they rested against the dark olive tone of skin. In that split of a second, he was back in the Drum Kingdom, far behind his herd, staring directly into the eyes of a hungry predator.
Green and blue. The little reindeer stood there, not even daring to breathe, as he watched the hungry wolve's odd eyes. It was fascinating to the point where he couldn't see anything else. Just those two merciless orbs of the predator, who had just picked him to be his next part of dinner. Saliva dripped from the powerful jaws, lined with sharp fangs, creating disgusting pools on the ground under the creature's chin. Low, deep, and throaty growls escaped from the predator, as it prepared to jump at the poor victim. Partially snapping from the dangerous fascination, the small reindeer backed unconsciously away, as the wolf leapt ...
A sudden scream from the deck alarmed all of strawhats in the underbelly where the pillow war immediately came to an abrupt halt with the violent crash of a shutting door.
"Chopper?" Luffy tilted his head to the side with a mixture of curiosity and confusion as he was looking at the trembling reindeer, who clung to the abused door against his back with all the might he could summon.
"Oi, did you see a ghost?" Sanji frowned, looking at the completely terrified doctor, who seemed to be quite out of touch with reality at that moment, as he poked up his head, wrapped in a towel, from the kitchen.
"Uaaah! Ghost?! Where?!" Brook almost jumped up. "Sanji-san! Don't scare me like that! I almost jumped off my skin!" the skeleton yelled in a pretended anger towards the smirking cook. "Though I don't have any, being just a pile of bones! Yohohoho!" Even if it wasn't planned, Brook's jokes were still success as anyone couldn't suppress amused smirk.
But Brook's yelp seemed to have torn the poor reindeer out of whatever was going on through his scared mind. With a silent gasp, the doctor shoved himself shamelessly directly onto Zoro's chest, tackling the green-haired man to the ground. Slightly confused, the swordsman didn't know anything better to do than lightly pat the sobbing reindeer on the back in an attempt to calm down the poor scared creature.
"Chopper, what happened?" Nami asked worriedly with the utmost care, not wanting to startle the doctor even more as she squatted beside the duo.
"H... H ... He ..." Chopper sobbed, as the wave of fear finally rolled over, leaving him feeling unbearably embarrassed over his sudden realization; it was just a memory from the past, but also he was unable to instantly calm down and tell the crew what was on his mind.
"That bastard. What did he dare do to you?!" Zoro immediately growled, unconsciously sending waves of killing intent in the air, which earned him brief jab to the ribs from the irritated navigator.
"If you scare Chopper even more, I'll raise your debt again." Nami snapped harshly at Zoro's frowning expression, sending him clear warning. But despite situation, Chopper seemed to be calmed down a bit, though he was still hiccuping, trying to steady his own shallow breathing.
"What bastard?" Usopp was clearly confused about what's going on. "Who do you mean?"
"How many annoying, obnoxious redheads do we have on board?" the swordsman growled his question in irritation. It was enough that redhead fiend almost drowned Luffy and half of the crew, but now that pain in the ass dared to scare Chopper almost to death.
"Who do you think you are looking at ... ?"A dangerously low hiss escaped from irritated Nami when she realized that Usopp and Franky were looking right at her after Zoro's remark. Robin couldn't stiffed a giggle when both men slowly took a half step back, reacting to the murderous glare coming from the navigator.
"I think it's more of a orange ... " Franky muttered quietly towards Usopp, who viciously nodded his head in agreement.
"Not the slightest hint of red at all, really." the sharpshooter accented hastily, trying to avoid the suspicious glare from the navigator.
"Idiots." Sanji smacked his own forehead, looking at the scene. "How could you even think about something so insulting towards our Nami-swan?!" he yelled immediately, trying to guard the dignity of the navigator like a true gentleman.
"Oi, calm down." Zoro grunted, nudging Chopper slightly to express his concern, ignoring the quarrel behind his back "We won't let him harm you. Isn't that so, Luffy?" It was a useless question, but if it made the poor doctor feel better, Zoro was willing to ask for that effect. But his dark eyes glanced around the room with mounting confusion, frowning because the rubber captain was suddenly nowhere to be found.
"Uoooooh!" the sudden exclamation slightly startled the feasting pirate, who almost suffocated on a piece of raw fish in surprise. Though the feeling of another being coming close was clear, it was still unexpected to be ambushed by such a loud sound. "Sashimiiii!"
Staring with disbelief, and then immediately switching to sweat drop at the sight of the drenched black-haired boy with a bit too big straw hat, the redhead slowly continued to chew the piece of raw meat. It was kind of fascinating to look at the teenager who was currently drooling all over deck and emitting a whole galaxy of stars from the dark brown eyes set on the huge fish that was unfortunate enough to be splashed on board by a particularly high wave.
"Uh ... "the redhead gulped a bite down, uncertain of what to say. "Serve yourself, if you don't mind it ... being ... raw...?" the words slowly died down when Luffy literally dived into the dead fish and began gulping the meal down as if he hadn't eaten anything in half a year at least.
Noticing with another shock at how fast the black-haired boy proceeded to chomp on his dinner, the redhead slightly panicked. "Oi! I know I said you could have some, but some doesn't mean all of it!" he screamed, swiftly snatching a few last parts, keeping some for himself and his sleeping companion for a late dinner. Unable to help himself, the redhead simply stared with a slightly parted mouth at how the captain practically inhaled the huge fish in a matter of seconds, leaving only thoroughly clean bones.
"Mmh Mmnhkh Dh Lhmmfh. Mm gmnma mh mhh Phmhth Khmngh!"
"Eh ... what?" The redheaded pirate had doubted it was even possible to feel any more confused, but after hearing those jumbled words he was proved wrong. His own being required plenty of food quite regularly. Sometimes, there were even comments from the bystanders that he ate more than a lot. But this was definitely like looking at the worlds record of speed eating, and probably the one about devouring the largest amount of food in the shortest time possible while the rubber boy was at it.
"I'm Monkey D Luffy. I'm gonna be the Pirate king!" the raven-haired boy proudly announced with an impossible wide grin when he finally gulped the huge mouthful down his throat.
"Uh... oh," the redhead nodded slightly in apparent disbelief ,"sure you are. The third one in a row." Only thanks to Luffy's innocence, the teenager completely missed the obvious sarcasm dripping from the statement.
"Thanks for the meal, Odd-eye." The redhead incredulously lifted one eyebrow at such nickname. Sure, it was weird and it kind of sucked having differently colored eyes that stood out even more given the dark skin creating a nice contrasting background. Just a very few people had been able to take this difference with such ease like this interesting boy.
"Your welcome, I guess?" the redhead mused, looking uncertainly at the grinning so-called captain. While the sudden squint of the dark brown eyes at the dinner's leftovers certainly didn't escaped his sharp eyes, the redhead chose not to comment it. "Thanks for letting me hitch a ride." the pirate answered with a sheepish tone, not really knowing what to think about all that. But it felt right to at least thank him for that kindness, even if it was a bit forced.
"Saaaanjiiiii!" the rubber man rose his voice to call of his beloved cook, leaving the grimacing redhead rubbing at his own assaulted ears.
Another few sets of stomping feet grabbed the redhead's attention when the whole crew came out into the harsh weather to see what their captain was doing there. They greeted the scenery with a look of disbelief; the redhead, who stopped in the middle of chewing, stared at the group with frown, which met a look of confusion coming from the crew.
"If you wanted to take a bite too, you are a bit late." the redhead muffled through another mouthful with a shrug, assuming this crew is probably short of supplies and pretty hungry, given the fact they grouped around like this.
"Luffy, you shitty idiot! Do you need to devour everything, that looks barely edible?!" Sanji was the first one to get over the picture. "It was completely raw!"
"It wouldn't be, but I don't think you would appreciate if I set the ship on fire." the redhead uttered with mounting annoyance. For his current taste, the deck was becoming a much too crowded and loud.
"Shishishishi!" Luffy grinned in his usual, impossibly wide manner, rubbing apologetically at the back of his neck "The snack was good, but Sanji ... will you make me meat for dinner? That kind on the bone!" The captain asked shamelessly, as if he didn't just devour a heap of meat right now.
"Snack ... yeah, like hell." Redhead commented sarcastically. "That was my dinner, you idiot! But I agree, it needed at least a bit of chilli, though." he mused quietly to himself, rubbing at his stomach, knowing too well that in a matter of minutes it would start growling again. Usually, he didn't have a problem sharing his food, but he and the so-called Luffy obviously parted in ways of opinion at the meaning of "sharing".
Promptly, he smacked away the secretly-inching-hand of the rubber captain towards the leftovers. The redhead emitted a quiet, low, almost animalistic, growl in warning. Poor Chopper, whose ears were the sharpest ones, right after Brook's, instantly tried to press himself through Zoro's chest at that sound. Thankfully the skeleton didn't freak out like the small doctor did.
"Oi, whatever you are doing, stop that right now." Zoro hissed menacingly at the sitting redhead, who promptly returned the glare back. It left the swordsman completely unfazed, given the fact that they had met before, and also he didn't really pay attention to looks.
"Like what, can't I even quietly eat the leftovers from my own dinner that this bottomless pit just devoured for me?" he threw back at the swordsman in a biting, annoyed tone, sliding his glare towards the happily grinning, stuffed teenager.
"I would say, if you stopped emitting those interesting sounding growls, it might work out." Brook pointed out nonchalantly, peeking from behind Franky.
"Waaah!?" The uneven pair of eyes almost bulged out with a mixture of disbelief, shock and surprise when the skeleton spoke out loud. Redhead literally sprang from its sitting position on deck and into a squat on the top of railing, trying to balance out his own equilibrium by swaying his arms back and forth. Opening and closing his mouth like fish thrown out of water, in a matter of seconds the redhead switched from a look of shock and disbelief right to a frown that contained the curiosity of a cat. A pretty morbid one, given the fact he was staring at the skeleton.
Very slowly, he pointed his second finger towards Brook's forehead and cautiously began to close their distance. During that process he even left his squatting position, standing on the deck again with pure curiosity etched into his sharp features.
"What ...?" Brook took a step back at the sudden change of behavior. But it looked like the redhead was unaffected by his voice this time.
Concentrating on his own finger, now with his tongue sticking slightly out, the redhead moved his pointer finger an inch closer to Brook's head. And then ... the redhead slightly poked the skeleton right between his void eyes, immediately retracting his hand.
"Holy shit." the redhead breathed out with a laugh. "How is ... eh ..." the redhead stopped in mid sentence, thinking about something, while crew stared at him, obviously questioning his sanity again. Ignoring weird glares and looks, the redhead turned back to Brook and with a sheepish smile he asked a surprising question. "Sorry about that, but can you tell me, whether you are male or female?" Redhead rubbed at the back of his neck in an apologetically puzzled gesture. "I don't want to call you 'it', you know ..."
"Yohohoho!" Brook chimed in apparent amusement at that question and its tone "I'm a man to the bone! Though I don' t have a ..."
*SLAM* A shiny polished boot slammed the poor skeleton into the deck, interrupting him before he could finish.
"Sanji!" Nami squeaked at her sudden loss of hearing when the cook briefly covered her ears.
"You idiotic shitty skeleton, don't you even dare to end that sentence anywhere near my sweet Nami-swan! Her virginal ears don't deserve to be stained with such a word!" the cook screamed at Brook, who looked right now like real pile of bones, slightly twitching from sudden assault. Thank God Sanji struck the poor musician on the shoulder and not squarely over the head. That might damage Brook's afro and send the skeleton into a ... well .. not so nice mood.
*SMACK* A severely irritated Nami, whose cheeks began to be tinted with red, grounded the crazy gentleman to the deck alongside Brook.
"You owe me a hundredth thousand of belli more for this! And don't you dare to say that thing about my ears ever again!" The navigator was now blushing heavily, screaming at the poor cook, irritated and embarrassed at the same time.
"Shishishi!" Luffy grinned like a madman, smacking Brook over his boney back "Zoro doesn't have one too!"
"Luffy!" the swordsman yelped out in clear embarrassment, red all over his face "How can you say that!?"
"It's true!" the teenager pouted, defending himself.
"No, it's not!"
"It is!"
"It's not!"
"Stop it, both of you!" the bark from the irritated navigator set both males immediately back in line.
"It is." Luffy muttered quietly, still pouting. How could Zoro say that? It was true... he didn't have one ...
"Luffy is right, you don't have ..." Chopper beeped quietly, standing up for his captain.
"You too, Chopper? How the hell can a doctor say I don't have a ..." Zoro began his grumpy, irritated growling.
"Marimo! Don't you dare!" Sanji jumped from the deck, aiming his kick right at Zoro's head. Thankfully, Chopper managed to jump from swordsman's chest and onto Franky's shoulder, hiding behind the cyborg's neck. In the opposite way again.
"You are the one who doesn't have one! Even Nami is more of a man than you, idiot cook!" the swordsman yelled, promptly attacking again and within seconds. There was no way to tell which appendage belongs to who as they were tangled into an unintelligible whirl of legs and swords.
"I have a SUPER one!" Franky stroke his usual pose, crashing both his square forearms together with metallic clang, adding his own share to the mounting chaos.
"No, you don't have one either!" Luffy was literally jumping in his sitting position, clearly amused by the mess he managed to make. "But Usopp and Sanji do, and cool ones!" he pointed out at the sharpshooter, which earned him a brief glare from the enraged swordsman.
"If the captain is saying that, it's most likely the true, dear Marimo." Sanji smirked in the middle of their fight.
"Shut up, you shitty cook, or you will be short of your own very soon!" the swordsman yelled back, pissed off beyond belief.
Blinding lighting flashed through the deck, leaving most of the strawhat crew lying helplessly down, with interesting streaks of smoke coming from their burned-to-a-crisp bodies.
"Scaryyyy..." Usopp crawled away with terrified Chopper attached to his face, as they were the only two lucky enough to be unaffected by Nami's lightning attack. And the redhead too surprisingly.
"Finally, it's quiet..." the navigator sighed in relief, disassembling her Clima tact before sheathing the pieces into the holster at her hip.
"What the ... fuck ..." The redhead's jaw dropped down at the fascinating dynamic of relationships inside this highly unusual crew. He certainly didn't expected that one innocent question would start this crazy chain of events. But one thing was for sure; he really wouldn't want to piss off that mikan-head for real, looking at how easily she took down almost her whole crew with a single attack.
".. beard .." Brook beeped cautiously, finally snapping from his brief unconscious and burned state right into slight depression since no one wanted to hear his skull joke. "I meant .. beard ..." Luffy had been right on target, and Chopper, with his cute innocence, too.
In that moment, all the conscious strawhats sweat dropped, like the well coordinated group they were, almost at the same second at the musician's revelation. The redhead couldn't suppress a quiet chuckle of amusement. This crew would be one hell of a fun!
Torn from his inner musing, the redhead was unpleasantly surprised by a high-pitched irritated sound, that hurt the ears of everyone present. Pissed off beyond belief, the falcon crawled its way out of the redhead's shirt and began angrily whistling, at a frequency that was especially created to be a most annoying sound for human (and reindeer's) ears, clearly venting its anger from being waken up so unceremoniously from its precious sleep.
Redhead grimaced when the tirade began, instantly pushing his fingers inside of his ear canals to guard his eardrums to try and oppose that sound, but ultimately failed. Through that intense whistling no one could hear their own words even if they wanted to. After a few agonizing seconds the falcon finally let out everything that was in its heart, throwing angry glares at everyone present. Opening one eye, the redhead realized, that the immediate danger of becoming deaf was finally over. He turned his uneven eyes to look with an uncertain expression at the irritated bird.
"Not that I understand what were you saying but ... guess, I'm sorry we woke you up?" he scratched at his head, messing the hair up in the process. "Ow!"
A well aimed peck at the redhead's nose was more than enough for an answer. When the falcon decided it was enough she climbed up on top of the red hair, claiming this head as its observatory.
"Guess I wasn't sorry enough." the redhead mused quietly, rubbing his stinging, abused nose with a thoughtful frown.
Light steps on the stairs acquired the attention of everyone, as Robin appeared at the top of staircase.
"I smelled something burning," she announced to everyone.
"Nami just turned half of the crew into crisps ..." Usopp whispered, not wanting to be electrocutioned too, finally peeling the scared Chopper off of his head.
"No, I'm certain that wasn't the case." Robin smiled. "I think it was coming from the kitchen ..."
"Oh fuck! The soup!" Sanji literally sprang to life from the deck and like lightning darted towards the kitchen. "You fucking redhead, you better pray that it didn't burn already, or I'll let you eat all of it!" he shouted angrily all the way until he disappeared inside the Sunny's belly.
Awkward silence spread through the Sunny's deck, as everyone was uncertain about what to say. One by one, the previously knocked out strawhats got to their feet, shifting their looks from one to another.
"I'm hungry! Let's eat!" Luffy squeaked with his usual dose of excitement, throwing both arms towards the sky, grinning from ear to ear. "Odd-eye, you come too! Sanji! I want meat!" he announced loudly, marching his way to the kitchen.
"Idiot ..." Nami sighed. But she was glad that the uneasy silence didn't last long. That was something that she kept letting her captain do. Luff managed to do just the right thing to snap everyone back into normality. Or at least something, that happened so regularly, so it could be called "normality".
"Interesting person." the redhead smirked, until he noticed Zoro's glare.
"Get going." the swordsman grunted, rubbing the soot off of his face from Nami's attack. If Luffy demanded the redhead's presence at food, someone had to make it happen.
"I already told you, I'm comfortable here." Redhead brushed it immediately off explaining why he wasn't there when the crew had returned from deck and into the underbelly.
"Like hell I'll let you out of my sight again. Get going." Zoro frowned even deeper, not giving the redhead the chance to complain. Or at least he thought so.
"I would also recommend you coming inside with us. There are plenty of warm blankets to spare and enough of hot delicious soup for everyone." Robin jumped into the conversation that threatened to turn out wrong again.
Carefully, the redhead weighted his options. He wasn't one who would go with possible enemies right into their lion's den when he didn't know what awaited him inside. But it was true, until now, that the crew had not really tried to harm him in any way. Zoro's reaction poking at his ego, aside. Maybe he was a bit paranoid ...
A low, growling sound of apparent hunger came from the redhead's stomach, causing its owner to deeply blush, despite his dark skin and his decision finally settled.
"Haaa, I don't really feel like bothering myself with reasoning with you right now," the redhead suddenly groaned, dropping his head down in defeat. "I think I might have use for that soup at least ..." he admitted reluctantly, shifting his eyes to the side in embarrassment at the betrayal of his own body.
"You are goddamn lucky it didn't go bad." Sanji growled around his cigar, as he served the hot steaming soup to the table.
"Is it my fault, that you abandoned it?" the redhead asked with an honestly confused expression, looking at the cook. The falcon was sitting at the edge of the table sharing a plate with its red-headed companion.
"He's right, stupid cook." Zoro smirked, pleased, it wasn't only him, who was just kicked to the ego. "You should have paid more attention to your cooking."
"Shut up shitty Marimo, or I'll cut out your path to sake ." Sanji smugly smirked towards the swordsman.
"That's pretty cruel you know," the slightly muffled sound came from behind Sanji, as the redhead had his head stuck inside one of the cupboards, obviously looking for something. How he had snuck past the cook without anyone noticing was a mystery.
"What do you think you are doing?" Sanji's eye began to twitch. He didn't want to be too rude towards the newcomer, but he wasn't exactly used to random redheads roaming through his beloved kitchen. The tension in his voice clearly hinted that the redhead better turn back and obediently sit at his designated place, unless he wanted to experience what Sanji had in store for such opportunities.
"Looking for chilli. Do you happen to have some by any chance?" the pirate asked, completely oblivious of the danger that had been steadily rising behind him, clearly asking for a good aimed punch to the jaw.
"... are you fucking kidding me?!" Sanji screamed, taking that answer as a personal insult. That pain-in-the-ass had not even tasted his soup and he dared to demand seasoning?! It was perfect! The soup was perfect!
Sanji's shiny boot came down without any kind of warning, fully intending to knock the redhead squarely over the head. But before the attack landed, Sanji felt a light touch of the outer edge of dark-skinned hand on the inner side of his calf that pressed into it with just enough strength to redirect his attack aside. Not wanting to crash into his own kitchen, the cook was forced to stop in the middle of the kick, slightly surprised at what happened. He wasn't attacking with full power, but this was weird.
"What the hell was that for?" Redhead frowned with obvious distaste. "Do you have any manners at all, attacking from behind with no warning?"
"You are the one without any manners at all!" Sanji screamed, red with anger like Zoro had been not so long ago, trying to kick the redhead again. But the perpetrator just jumped on the top of the kitchen table into a squat, avoiding Sanji's attack with ease.
"I wonder about that." the pirate grunted with a slight pout, rubbing at his own chin.
"You ..." Sanji's visible eye bulged out in a rush of anger "You fucking algae-head, get off that sacred table before I'll turn your shitty legs into fish food!"
Looking at the steaming cook, the redhead grumpily got off, shaking his head in confusion."What's so bad about the chilli? Should I asked for the pepper instead? ... but everything just tastes better with chilli ..." the pirate mused innocently, grunting under his own nose in confusion, as he proceed slowly back to his given place. At the last possible second he jumped forward, rolling over his shoulder to avoid another dangerous kick, crashing right into the wall in the galley that lead to the kitchen. Ass up, head down, and plastered in the said wall, the redhead watched as Robin and Nami tried to calm the enraged cook down. If it weren't for them, the redhead would have already been dead. Probably.
Silently observing the situation, if falcons could sweat drop, the bird would have done so.
"Hey, who's that anyway?" Usopp asked, partially confused and slightly shocked at all that had happened up till now. It was like the strawhats had just met their personal nemesis, who happen to exactly know, how to literally set on fire anyone in its vicinity within the seconds.
"Dunno ..." Zoro grunted with his usual frown, pleased that he wasn't the only one to suffer from the redhead's sharp tongue. "Hey you!" he yelled towards the plastered pirate, interrupting him in his inner musing.
"Hn?" came the grunt from the newcomer, who obviously didn't feel bothered with the fact that he was turned upside down in a very undignified position.
"Who are you?" the swordsman asked sharply, demanding an immediate, truthful answer.
"Wanderer. Why?" The redhead slightly frowned. This kind of interrogation wasn't exactly his cup of tea. So he decided to stick with usual strategy. Partial truth is also the truth and they doesn't need to know it whole. And it wasn't like he was lying either.
"Like hell, but that's not what I meant." Zoro grimaced, reminding himself that if he didn't want to fall into the redhead's word trap again, he'd better ask directly. "At least tell us your name, when you so deliberately demanded to stick with us."
"It's polite to tell your name first, when you want to ask for someone else's." the redhead pouted, scolding the swordsman like a child, which made Zoro's forehead vein twitch dangerously again. "Anyway why does the name matter? I'm not interested in yours either. But if you are going to insist on it ... call me whatever you want, for all I care," the redhead shrugged the question off. Traveling almost alone held some dangers that were slightly lessened when traveling in a group. Aware of that, the redhead was pretty reluctant about running around, boasting his name to everyone he met. Not that it helped him stay out of problems at all, being the troublemaker he was.
"I'm Robin." The archaeologist decided to step in, taking the situation into her own hands. Letting Zoro be the talker wasn't exactly the best idea, given how those two swordsmen interacted with each other.
"This one is Luffy." She gestured towards the captain, who didn't even bother to cover the fact that he was stealing food from other people's plates, shamelessly stuffing himself.
"There sits Zoro, ..." The swordsman grunted in answer, but it was hard to decide whether it was a grunt of acknowledgment or a snort of disgust.
"Nami ..." The mikan-head lightly waved and smiled at the still unusually positioned redhead, who reluctantly returned her gesture.
"Over there is Usopp." The archaeologist smiled at the sharpshooter, who nodded towards the newcomer, but still squinted at the dark-haired woman.
"Here stands Sanji." Robin lightly gestured towards the cook, who still wasn't quite out of his anger. Not in the mood to see the redhead right now, he turned his back to him with a clear snort.
"Hiding over there is Chopper." Robin looked down at the corner of kitchen counter, where the little doctor stood hidden, in his usual opposite way. Upon being mentioned, he briefly corrected his stance, despite being already seen. It was clear that he is still afraid of the newcomer, though he had already gotten used to his odd eyes. But from the moment that he had dashed back to the ship, he had not said a word.
"Franky ..." She motioned towards the shipwright, who crashed his forearms together above his head in his slightly adjusted trademark pose. Good thing the ceiling was so high, otherwise the ship would have had one more window in her belly.
"And Brook." Robin smiled towards the musician.
"Yohohoho!" Brook chimed, bowing his head slightly down in a polite bow. "Nice to meet you!"
It was a weird feeling for the redhead as he slided from one crew member to another. It didn't look like they were lying, but he was reluctant to believe it was true. After meeting two bands of impersonators at his travels, it was more than possible that these ones were impersonators too. But if they wanted it this way ... he could play around a little too.
"Eve," the pirate stated out. "My name is Eve." It wasn't a complete lie, but not the complete truth either. Partial truth, to be honest. He had used that nickname he had made for himself plenty of times, and it paid off in the situations where mentioning his name could turn the situation to worse. Not that everyone believed his real name in the first place, but that was the price he was willing to pay for that amount of fun it held.
"Really?" Robin smiled with a knowing smile and suddenly, the redhead felt like he was read over on the spot. Maybe he might be honest a little, they even offered him soup and a cover out of their own will ...
Finally flipping himself to a more normal position, he squatted between the door jamb, settling himself in his favorite position.
"Either you are really smart or just plain lucky at guessing," the redhead grinned with a sudden spark of amusement. "If you need to know it that badly ... I'm Joyce."
Illustration: planned, but I must divide my time between the writing and drawing. And writing comes first :)
During writing this chapter, I coincidentally stumbled upon that two-sense, Brook unintentionally whipped up. And when I began to unfold it, I was pretty unable to stop XD It was soo much fun to write that part ...
Hope you enjoyed it too :)
Jitt