"Nakama"
In need of suitable companions, I often visited the town of Whiskey Peak on Cactus Island, evaluating travelers from Loguetown. None caught my interest, though I did have good fights. With the townsfolk.
The townspeople were bounty-hunters, slightly above the 'Millions' rabble, under Baroque Works. At first, I dressed in disguise and slipped them my wanted poster from East Blue (faceless ninja costume, 500,000 belli for disgracing a marine vessel), greed made them foolish. Too bad this only worked four times; word got around I was not to be 'reckoned' with. They still enjoyed helping me haze newbies, especially the fake nun and her midget husband.
Good times. In this way, I practiced against ambush and guns.
When I became too discouraged, I trained until the instructions of old lighthouse keeper Crocus, though I couldn't stand his secret whale base. At first Crocus refused, but he came around after he got used to me. I figured 'old man on the Grand Line' meant fighting ability. Crocus showed me grappling moves, a nice complement to my striking Dugong-Style Kung-Fu, and if he enjoyed giving a young girl lessons because she was a young girl, it only meant I didn't need to pay him with belli.
Time passed, as I trained with various older mentors I'd found on the islands, looking for the right people to help rescue my country.
The big break came while I was on a courier mission to Pineapple Island. My den-den mushi rang, and I reached into Carue's ducky pack and answered. Only two people could contact me; Hercules was still a baby snail and I was not about to let Baroque Works know I had a personal snail.
"Emergency! Miss Day of Reckoning, this is Miss Valentine, can you hear us? Whiskey Peak needs help! Two monsters!"
Looking at Hercules with his purple shell, I yelled, "This is Miss Day of Reckoning, expect me in an hour." I didn't really count Miss Valentine as another executive agent, she was a friend.
I reached into my shirt, found the eternal pose for the Cactus Island base on my necklace, and motioned Carue into a new direction. He stopped running on the ocean and briefly took to the air; reorientation achieved.
"Mr. Racingday, it's an emergency… turbo max!"
Carue quacked and I pulled down his goggles. I summoned my little winds, attempting to make us faster. With a mighty flap of his black-tipped wings, my duck and I flew across the Grand Line, faster than any pirate ship.
We didn't make it.
The base was devastated, and even worse, Miss Valentine had gotten hurt, though not badly. I got a secondhand story that went like this:
Miss Wednesday, a dancer who used rifles and Mr. 9, a fallen King who used Steel Bats, failed in their latest mission - provisions. The dumb asses went after Laboon. Now, sure Island Whales are a huge food source as the biggest thing in West Blue, but old sensei Crocus is an excellent protector. At 71, he's still alive on the Grand Line. Think about it. They didn't.
Those failures then lured a pirate vessel which successfully defeated the challenge(s) of the whale over to Whiskey Peak on Cactus Island. Good for them. The city of bounty hunters led by country western gunslinger Mr. 8 couldn't win, not even with muscle-girl Miss Monday. Seriously, they couldn't beat me and my bounty was only 500,000 belli, which is way less than 30 million. The Unluckies and Miss Friday went for help, I guess because the pirates somehow learned sensitive information? Miss Friday, Mr. 8, and Mr.9 were currently presumed dead. Miss Wednesday had fled the island already; the blonde ditz then got annihilated along with her escape vessel.
According to intel, these pirates knew the identity of Mr. 0, and we were supposed to stop them? I really wanted to meet them. Either they would help me topple one of the seven gods of pirates, or it was imperative I stop them from joining his cause.
Thanks to the vigilant Unluckies, Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine stepped up. Things go bad, and I am contacted. The captain was either some guy with three swords or a really stretchy guy. They fought each other over stupidity, and brushed off two Baroque Works Executives like day old crumbs. Miss Valentine was totally mad; she hates being ignored.
The entire debacle happened over about 36 hours, and I showed up in time to miss everything.
Mr. Racingday got food, water, and a few hours rest, and then Miss Valentine changed the weight of herself to nothing, and we rode double, turboing over to Little Garden, thanks to my necklace of eternal poses. Mr. 5 followed us on one of the Unluckies - a giant vulture. We joined that egomaniac Waxman Mr. 3 and his useless partner. They'd just gotten here from Kyoraku Island, and were setting up a base on Little Garden.
All that traveling and coordinating left me exhausted, and I didn't even visit the giants, who I'd sparred with in the past. I did warn off the other agents from bothering them. My allies planned. Before lights out, Hercules told me Miss All-Sunday was around, stirring the pot. Whoever these guys were, her interest meant they held power.
Morning came, and after a nice breakfast on Mr. 3's food, I headed toward shore. Miss Golden Week was useless as usual, and the other Baroque Work Executives had left with their own plans. With a competent navigator, I thought these mighty pirates would be arriving today.
Soon, I found one.
The blonde guy smoking a cigarette did a stupid fancy twirling kick and took out a dinosaur that looked like a giant lizard. I recognized that move. It got my ass banned from the Baratie in East Blue. This man and I had unfinished business.
I retreated and used my whistle to call Carue. Swiftly he appeared, and opening his ducky pack I changed my clothing and dropped my necklace. The 'Ninja Look' was so in today. Still, I had a problem with my costume - boobs. I now had them. I didn't want to look like a girl ninja, I wanted to look like an androgynous ninja. I wanted to fight blondie wearing what I wore before.
"Carue, don't let go of the cloth!" An exasperated and tired quack answered me.
Holding my breath, I twirled into the binding material around my chest. Carue pulled it tight with his beak. It's a good thing I didn't throw away this costume after I'd collected my own bounty last year, using some annoying knocked out Okama at Whiskey Peak. I mean, it's pretty hard to tell one ninja from another ninja when they wear masks. Well, maybe not if you're good, but the Marines weren't that good. Half a million belli was worth my trouble.
Anyway, I still had my old costume and a spare mask, even if it didn't fit me well and I had trouble breathing. I practiced a little, and managed to fake a guy's voice. The one thing I remembered about that damn cook is he hated men, especially feminine men. I wanted him angry.
Conveniently, he went hunting alone, and was now dragging a dead dinosaur. Slowly dragging.
I opened the battle by pinning his arms against his body with my Peacock Slashers, right after he finished lighting a new cigarette. He didn't care, allowing me to tie off the binding and fall into a Kung-Fu stance.
"We have unfinished business." I told him. "You won't be grabbing me this time."
"Chefs don't risk their precious hands in battle!" He boasted, not even annoyed I'd pinned his hands in his pockets. He blew out a cloud of smoke and just looked at me, a blank 'come-at-me' stare devoid of recognition.
"When you broke that huge dining table over my head in the Baratie, you sure didn't use those feet of yours." Twenty feet long, the biggest table in the floating restaurant, and apparently hard to replace; a very angry Head Chef Zef threw us into the ocean, together. I wanted to finish that fight. I didn't start it, but I burned with desire to finish it.
My opponent looked embarrassed. "That was before I finished my training," He mumbled.
"Do you know hard it is to get a respectable meal working for Baroque Works?" I yelled.
It really was hard.
"Because you were flirting with anything that had tits and started with some Marines, I got banned from the best eats in an entire ocean. This is revenge… Tornado Dervish!"
I threw myself forward, adjusting my center mass with Kilo powers, letting the my limited stolen Wind push me faster, and striking with everything I had, from every direction, unpredictable, whirling like a mad tornado. My first special move, an eternal work in progress.
That cook was tied up, and still managed to avoid the worst of me by running backwards. He ran halfway up a tree trunk, somehow managed to untie himself, and back flipped back at me.
"Mutton Shot!" He yelled, kicking at my neck.
I gathered my will into my fist, and punched his incoming shoe with everything I had. The air left my lungs in the standard battle shout of my Kung-Fu.
"OSU!"
The impact was terrific. I was blown black leaving a dirt trench with my heels, and the blonde chef uncontrollably bounced off the tree he'd just climbed. He recovered himself in a handstand.
He had super strength. As much as I had trained, I knew from our exchange I wouldn't win against him in power. Underneath my mask, I smiled.
We fought more, and true to his words, he didn't use his hands. For every hit I took, he took ten, but his attacks were ten times as powerful as mine. It was a close match that pushed my limits, made me improve myself, a true challenge.
Then that stupid chef ruined everything. He used another specially named kick, and I dodged it. I thought I dodged it. Suddenly I could breathe easier, and my opponent stopped moving, frozen.
I took the opportunity and hit forehead with all my might! I knocked boasting blondie the crap out, even left a small crater as the back of his unconscious smiling face bounced off the packed dirt of the forest floor.
Smiling face? That last kick had missed me, but my clothing, specifically my upper torso armor and chest support, tore. I'd won because he'd been staring at my breasts.
Still, I'd won.
Leaving the dinosaur, I tied my fallen opponent on Carue and headed back. I dropped the unconscious chef off Carue in Mr. 3's wax house, before I showed at the battleground,
The tableau wasn't what I expected. Mr. 3 had constructed his 'special service' amusement park pony ride candle tower and had pinned poor Brogi against the ground with wax swords. A swordsman had taken a heroic pose on the tower, and I guessed he was the pirate captain. Next to him was a beautiful girl, also frozen in wax. Miss Golden Week was playing a game with a guy wearing a straw hat, trapped in one of her apathy drawings. A guy with a long nose frantically ran past me, with Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine in pursuit.
In short, I found the situation completely unacceptable. Brogi and Dorry were my friends. While I knew about their bounty, I didn't realize anyone else did. Maybe I should have paid attention yesterday before I slept.
Oh well.
Mr. 3 was not happy to see me. He went on a rant about not splitting bounty money with me, and I calmly walked over behind Miss Golden Week and rendered her unconscious with a palm chop against the back of her neck. Even if she woke up later, she wouldn't do a damn thing.
Calmly, I pushed the man with the straw hat off of whatever drawing Golden Week was controlling him with. Three was yelling and screaming at me, but my something, perhaps my reputation, prevented him from simply attacking me.
"Save the giant." I told the man in the straw hat when he looked at me. "Oh, and fire will melt your friends on the wax tower."
He smiled with gratitude, and not even Mr. 3's wax battle doll stopped him. As I pulled giant wax swords out Brogi, he started talking. I heard a story involving poison and treachery, of how shameful interfering in a battle between Elbaff's Warriors was, of grand dreams and adventure. This was the most wistful I'd ever seen the huge being, and I think somehow the man in the straw hat reminded him life included much more than Little Garden.
I also watched Mr. Straw Hat fight. According to my senses, he'd eaten a devil fruit, and I'd never imagined such an unorthodox fighting style. Stretching… yeah.
After watching Mr. 3 lose, I made the decision. The big decision. These guys were it; I'd make them my comrades. I didn't have many comrades in the Grand Line, less than ten, plus Miss Valentine. More mentors than traveling companions, the lot. Miss Valentine, come to think on it, was here and acting under the assumption the only sides were Baroque Works and These Strong Pirates. Time to correct her.
I told Brogi to find Dorry, jumped off his shoulder, and went to educate about Vivi's side. Miss Valentine wasn't hard to find. Sitting on a long-nosed man and using her Crescendo Stone to crush him out, 'ya-ha-ha-ha' on and on while stroking the poor idiot's nose. Her bumblebee themed parasol was on the ground next to her, along with that blue jacket she loved, and it looked like she'd been on quite the chase; her blonde hair was sticking out of that lemon rind hat she always wore.
She waved happily with the hand not tweaking the boy's nose. I walked over.
"Hey, remember a five months ago when you said you were pushing thirty and wanted to have one last big adventure? That you wanted to settle down somewhere and make chocolates, maybe at a cafe or resort, but you liked Baroque Works too much?"
Miss Valentine stopped laughing.
"Mr. 5 died, huh? Was it these guys or betrayal? Last night after you went to sleep, the three of us who actually think (Miss Golden Week was held in contempt by everyone.) decided if Mr. 0's identity became known, he'd kill us too."
I shrugged. "Miss All-Sunday is in this area. Hercules told me. Honestly, I don't know what happened to your partner, but I do know Mr. 0 is Crocodile, one of the mighty Seven Warlords of the Seas."
"Ugh! Vivi, you didn't have to tell me!" I shook my head sadly, and we both read between the lines.
"Beth, let the kid up before he dies." The longed nose kid was foaming around his mouth.
Miss Valentine stood, and the curly-haired pirate guy crawled away from us, slowly, taking deep gasping breaths of air. He moved like a turtle with broken ribs. He reminded me of the typical dead-pirate-walking, straight from one of the Blues, unprepared for the Grand Line.
"So how about it? Want to join these guys and take down Mr. 0? One last adventure?"
"Ya-ha-ha-ha, you know it, girl!" Neither of us mentioned the fat tears rolling down Miss Valentine's face. We both knew, even with these guys, we were no match for one of the Shichibukai.
"It's not like Five died. He probably crawled off somewhere with Three and Miss Useless." Mr. 3 was known for cockroach-like planning in terms of survival.
Beth just cried into my shoulder. We both knew Five wasn't likely to rescue either of us, should we need such a service. Beth only went for guys I thought were assholes.
Mr. 5 just disappeared. Carue looked exceptionally smug about it, so I guess those two finally had their showdown and the better duck won. I'd wondered where he'd gone during Brogi's story time.
After the dust cleared, we all gathered in one large clearing, more of a flood plain actually, with the giants.
In the middle were Brogi and Dorry, and myself, Carue, and Miss Valentine sat of Dorry's right. On Brogi's left side, sat the band of people who'd defied Baroque Works with panache.
Dead-pirate walking was laying down, ribs taped up, slowly drinking a meat broth. He was terrified of Miss Valentine. Next to him, the blonde chef Sanji, my former rival, worked a fire, dashing off all kinds of dinosaur meat. The guy knew his job. The meat went to the man in the straw hat, who had a huge distended stomach (guess it stretched too), and kept shouting happily 'Meat! Meat!' even while chewing. The swordsman who was formerly a wax sculpture was off to the side de-waxing his katanas, a huge plate of food beside him. A red-haired girl had a small yet fancy plate resting near her. She was occupied drawing a navigational chart.
Sanji had brought a delicious cut of dino-steak over to us, flirted shamelessly, and Miss Valentine and I spent dinner discussing his antics. My opinion - asshole. Her opinion - love at first sight.
The meal finished, and the giants vouched for me. My group approached their group.
"Look," I told them, "you managed to get Baroque Works angry on your own. Their main base is on the desert island of Arabasta, coming up soon along this route, and you know who their boss is, one of the mighty Seven Warlords of the Seas. What are your plans?"
"Kick his ass!" The pirate in the straw hat was looking at me with hearts in his eyes. Smitten by my beauty? Perhaps happy to have everything in the open? He moved towards us, meat-distended stomach jiggling, an entranced and strange journey of reverence. This might work. Deep inside I felt a measure of hope that my country would finally be straightened out, that my Kingdom would know the face of its enemy and actually be able to defeat him!
I smiled a radiant smile, prepared to nearly sell my soul to point these guys at Crocodile, like a big stretchy gun.
"Please join my crew!" Straw hat fell onto his stomach before me, a weird bow… wait. He was looking at Carue. My super duck blushed and hid his orange bill demurely behind his yellow wing. I stumbled. My plans vanished.
"So what type of fruit user are you?" I asked the eccentric man, after I recovered myself.
"I'm a rubber man!" He said happily, making cutesy noises at Carue. "I stretch." He grabbed his own cheek and yanked it a good two feet away from his face, then let go. As it snapped back, the air made a whip-like sound. Carue didn't flinch, I'd trained him well.
"Don't tell her, dumbass!" Yelled the red-haired woman with a tattoo on her shoulder, finally looking up from her charts. "Information is money!"
I pulled my necklace of eternal poses out from Carue's ducky-pack. Held them up, gesturing 'them poses came with us'.
"Welcome to our crew, my name is Nami! Can I see those?" The woman seemed to teleport. Without a second thought, I handed her the beloved necklace I'd spent years making.
"She's evil!" Added almost-squished boy, trying with much pain, to move an arm. "By the way, I'm Usopp, and she tried to kill me thirty minutes ago!" With a clumsy gesture, he shakily pointed at Miss Valentine, standing next to me, wearing her white dress with lemons printed on it, licking her lips.
"That nose." She whispered in my ear, and a sense of dread of filled me. I didn't want to know what she wanted with Usopp's nose, but Miss Valentine would share. In explicit detail, 'kya-ha-ha-ha' all the way.
"Well I'm not trying to kill you anymore." Miss Valentine said politely. Usopp considered this.
Sanji, the blonde chef with a cigarette in his mouth, went down to one knee in front of us, as if proposing marriage. Miss Valentine cooed delightedly; she always loves the guys who I hate. The tray in his hand held two clear stemmed wineglasses filled with a red fruity drink and red umbrellas.
I shook my head at him. Drinking from a flimsy glass like that with my cursed silver lips would reveal my own ability. Plus, I had a bad first and second impressions. Five hours ago he was one of my fighting rivals. Miss Valentine downed hers in one gulp and took my glass to sip on. Sanji left with a flourish.
"I've decided." Usopp announced. "You can join the crew of the mighty Captain Usopp, thousands of mighty warriors strong." He sounded wise, like he was doing us a favor.
A clump of wax bounced off the back of Usopp's head, and he quickly sat down and shut up.
"Idiot, Luffy is the captain." The marine-haired man ran a cloth down a white katana, taking off more wax. It then occurred to him to introduced himself. "I'm Roronoa Zoro." He grunted.
"Wait, I heard you were a pirate bounty hunter. How did you become a pirate?"
Zoro grunted again. I took this to mean 'later' or maybe 'don't bother me.'
Well then. Our turn.
"Hello, I'm Miss Day of Reckoning. I've known Brogi and Dorry for about two years, and they've helped me train in the fighting arts. These are Mr. Racingday and Miss Valentine."
Carue quacked, recognizing his introduction. He liked his nickname. Luffy was scratching around his ears.
Miss Valentine sighed. "I guess I'm out of Baroque Works." She winked at Sanji. "You can call me Elizabeth. I ate the Kilo Kilo fruit, and I can change my weight by 10,000 kilos."
Beth then pointed at me. "This is my best girlfriend Vivi. She's a tomboy, but when it counts she doesn't run away. She tries to hide it, but she's just as good at defusing fights as picking them."
I grinned. "Since Beth told you her real name, it means we're all-the-way in. Hello, I'm the Princess Vivi Nefertari of the royal house of Arabasta. I've been training to fight against Crocodile for years now, and I'm really happy I've finally found nakama willing to help me!"
The reaction faces everyone made at my second introduction were priceless. Not even Beth knew - the woman who was Miss Valentine would have been miserable trying to kept my secret as a Baroque Works agent. I had never wanted my past to hurt my best friend.
And so I finally had my Nakama.
-o-
Author's Notes - Miss Valentine Edition: I really wasn't planning on writing Miss Valentine into such a large role until I looked up her voice actress, which immediately made her character much more awesome for me.
Fumiko Orikasa, the Japanese voice actress for One Piece's Miss Valentine, is also the 'subbed' voice of Seras Victoria and Rukia Kuchiki. (I watch my anime episodes subbed.)
If someone knows a real canon name for the woman who is Miss Valentine, please let me know in a review. Also, if you have a strong opinion as to whether or not Miss Valentine should become a 'main' cast member (as opposed to just the Arabasta arc), tell. I have my own ideas here, but if someone makes a good case one way or another, I'm willing to change my outline.
Finally in chapter four, I mentioned Miss Valentine could change her weight by 5000 kilos, and in this chapter she's up to 10000. This isn't an error, the character has simply gotten better with her ability over the years. Her next goal is 100,000!