Author's Notes: I think I've settled on a schedule on this fic. Hopefully, I'll be releasing two or three chapters a week and will have it done by early July. May seem ambitious but June is my down time and I have stuff to do next month so I have to get cracking on my hobby goals.
Robin paused in her steps through the town, her ears picking up a distant clang amongst the limited hubbub of the rural island.
"Something wrong Robin?" Usopp asked, apparently the first to notice the distinguished woman stop.
Robin simply smiled and shook her head. "No Long Nose, it's nothing important."
Used to her odd tendencies- or too frightened to get a deeper answer- Usopp simply nodded and fell back into step with the others.
Despite the lack of urgency, Robin's curiosity was peaked and she moved through her allies to catch up to Onji, who insisted on walking in front of the others to maintain some semblance of marine authority.
"What do you want?" Onji questioned impatiently, his mouth forming a hard line as he addressed the Straw Hat archaeologist.
Robin's expression didn't shift as she smoothly responded, "Who said I wanted something?"
"That curious glint in your eyes gave you away," Onji remarked with a proud smirk. "I can read any man and spot a liar from a mile off."
To accentuate his boast, the young man turned his head… to look Usopp directly in the eye.
"Huh, do you want something?" came the question of the confused sniper as Onji turned away from him.
"That's very impressive, fufufu," Robin giggled knowingly. "I was just wondering if the blacksmith is near here."
"Other side of town, you couldn't hear it from here if you're wondering about that sound just now," Onji explained, frowning slightly when he realised Robin's expression hadn't altered in awe at his reveal. "You shouldn't worry about, some of our workers sometimes get out of hand and it comes to sword blows." Onji then muttered under his breath, "Or axe blows."
If Robin noticed his mumblings, she made no obvious signs of it.
Privately she noted, "Mr. Swordsman is going to love it here from the sounds of it. Knowing his luck, that's probably him. He wouldn't have just been dragged out to sea and eaten by the local marine life, fufufu."
The rest of the crew were more preoccupied by the reactions of the people around them. Mothers quickly rushed their children indoors, people working outside froze in their movements with audible gulps and nervous faces peered out windows at the new arrivals.
"Hey, why does everyone look so frightened?" Chopper asked innocently, biting his lip uncomfortably at the terrified eyes of the natives.
"We're pirates, it's to be expected. But you're right, it's a little more extreme than usual," Nami said in an effort to push away Chopper's worries. "Usually Luffy gets to do something before someone runs us off. Maybe Zoro got a head start."
Nami shrugged her own musings off and returned Chopper's innocent smile while subtly glancing uncomfortably at the white bandages stained with the red marks on Chopper's side. "Hopefully he won't have to strain himself anytime soon for these morons."
Luffy, having grown tired of walking through such a boring place, whined, "Hey, are we almost there yet?"
Onji bristled, tightening up his form and pulling his shoulders up in a defensive square.
"Just look ahead, you moron," Onji kept his voice level but a current of irritation ran noticeably underneath it.
Looking up, the Straw Hats glanced about the plain area. The local buildings were all minimalist, the odd sign to mark the tavern or likewise buildings standing as the highpoint of decoration. The largest building was the obvious clue but when Luffy's expression lit up and he prepared to run (the weird dog-officer still pinned in his arms), Onji interrupted him.
"It's hollow; there was an accident and part of the building collapsed through. That place is abandoned."
Growing irritated at Onji's crypticness, Luffy was ready to complain again when the blonde pointed to a building at the end of the town square that seemed no different to its neighbours… save for a flag marked with the skull-and-crossbones (with what appeared to be wind circling the bones) which was flying from its chimney.
"There are other pirates here already?" Sanji said questioningly, lighting up a new cigarette and releasing a smoky puff into the air. "Anyone else think that's a little suspicious?"
"No more so than our new friend pretending to be a marine," Robin interjected cheerfully, well with as much cheer as she usually showed when she knew she was in control of the situation.
The rest of the crew seemed shocked at the revelation but Onji simply smirked at the proud woman.
"I was about to reveal myself anyway," he turned his nose up snobbishly as he added, "but I'd have done it with some flair."
Robin chuckled lowly and Onji's expression darkened for a fraction of a second. Shaking off his annoyance, Onji pushed the front door open to step into a partially destroyed hallway, the drawers against the wall now little more than large woodchips and the wall itself was covered in holes of varying sizes.
"Don't mind the mess, the captain likes to roughhouse," Onji explained, discarding any attempt to separate himself from the pirate crew within.
Luffy laughed excitedly at the sight of the place, dropping the dog as he ran ahead of the group and into a smallish kitchen.
Sitting at the table and attempting to fit an oversized bird's entire leg (it was cooked, at least) into his mouth in one go. His eyes shifted to Luffy and he let out a confused hum before finally managing to stuff the poultry about halfway in.
He had fluffy back hair and a misshapen nose, the bend looking suspiciously like someone's knuckle. His attire consisted of baggy white balloon pants and nothing else, not even footwear. Perhaps his most interesting feature was a circular hole towards the front of his hair that had cut away the black follicles and left a tiny spot of flesh visible.
Biting down hard, the man managed to separate a large portion of meat from bone and his meal escaped his mouth with an audible pop.
Luffy and he both grinned moronically after that.
"Ah din't know we'd 'ave guests, kakakaka~." "You're funny, shishishi~."
Luffy reached for a piece of meat on the table when the other man's hand snapped out and caught his wrist, "Ma meat!"
"Gimme!" Luffy responded, stretching out his hand to grab another bit of stray food.
Glaring, the other man twisted and flung Luffy over shoulder, sending him crashing through a wall ("That was just fixed," Onji moaned) and, much more importantly, causing him to completely miss the juicy bird's leg, coincidently the last bit of food left.
Smirking proudly, the other captain attempted to return to his meal when an arm stretched through the new hole in the wall, spearheaded by a fist that collided hard with the back of his head and sent him flying into the gathered Straw Hats who pushed themselves against the wall to allow the captain to hit into the front door.
Luffy moved in to claim his prize but a voice with a country accent bellowed from the front door, "Kaze Kaze Closed-Eye!"
A very narrow tornado, no thicker than Nami's fingers, pierced the air and struck Luffy in the chest with enough force to send the rubber man sprawling back to the floor.
"He's a devil fruit user too," the non-Luffy Straw Hats wondered with varying levels of interest.
The opposing captain, his finger and thumb outstretched in the shape of a gun, quickly scrambled for the table again but Luffy's rapid recovery allowed him to leap at about the same timed (aided by being closer to the table).
The two collided in the air and landed on the table's edge in a flurry of limbs and screeches.
"Come on, share some of the meat!" "Do ah look like a 'ero to you, now git! Iz my meat!"
Seeing their meal fly into the air after the table collapsed, both jumped out of their pile and latched onto it with their teeth.
Like a pair of snarling dogs, the two pulled their heads away from one another until an almighty rip moved through the air and the two ended up lying on their backs a few feet from one another, the now naked bone bouncing uselessly in the middle of the two. The poor thing had never stood a chance.
Both men sat up at the same time to a horrible realisation… the meat was gone.
"But ahm still hungry," the other captain mumbled, Luffy adding a pathetic, "yeah," as the two sagged in harmony.
"Did anyone else see that or am I losing it?" Usopp asked after a beat had passed.
"No, it's like two Luffys," Nami shivered as soon as the words left her mouth.
"What a terrifying thought, fufufu," Robin laughed somewhat ominously at the sight of the two boys acting like small children.
"What's with all the racket?! I'm trying to sleep off a hangover up here!" a shrill female voice shouted from up the hallway's stairs.
Empowered by the possibility of a new female presence, Sanji's neck was the first to crane upwards to catch sight of her… and his eyes quickly morphed into hearts to confirm that it was a woman of at least mild not unattractiveness (Usopp could count on one hand the number of women who didn't produce that result in Sanji the first time they met, if he got onto the second hand by year's end, Franky owed him a hundred Beli).
Frizzled red hair hanging down to her shoulder, one hand rubbing her eyes tiredly while the other tightly clutched a half-empty beer bottle… her pretty features looked somewhat worn but she wasn't bad to look at. That was the rough assessment of Usopp and Brook, Sanji on the other hand…
"Mellorine!" Sanji shouted excitedly, noodle dancing up the stairs to grip her hand and kiss the knuckles softly. "What can I do to make you happy, Mellorine?"
"You'll do stuff for me," the woman asked, smirking when Sanji agreed. "Maybe waking up before noon ain't so bad sometimes."
Walking down the wooden steps with an obvious confidence while Sanji followed behind her like a love-struck puppy, she introduced herself, "Name's Sakera (pronounced: Sa-ker-ah) and the other two are Onji and our esteemed captain, Risho, the wind charmer. You're looking at the Hornless Jinn Pirates."
Taking a long swig of her bottle and wiping the remnants of her lips, she shook the glass container and turned to Sanji, "Go up to my room and get me another, it's third door on the right."
Watching him sprint off, she said "What a good dog he is."
Nami shook her head in humiliation at Sanji's actions, worried how it might reflect on her more so than him.
Noticing the movement, Sakera laughed and approached the younger redhead with a grin.
"Surrounded by morons as well?" she asked, Nami's eyes widened at the implication. "I can spot a kindred spirit a mile off, morons gathering around like moths to a flame. Girls like us need to stick together."
Tears gathering in the edge of her eyes, Nami gripped the older woman and hugged her tightly, "It's been so hard being surrounded by them. Some days I don't know what keeps me sane, waaahhh."
"We're right here, Nami," Usopp pointed out in irritance while being pointedly ignored.
"Hey, I have your… b-b-bot- bot-tle, huh," Sanji had frozen at the sight before him of two beautiful redheads embracing while his elevated position let him see a hint of their touching cleavage.
Sanji was so distracted by his arousal that he didn't notice a familiar building of pressure in his skull until red began pouring intensely from his nose like a miniature geyser. Covering his nostrils as best he could, Sanji tearfully pulled his gaze away from the sight.
Sakera's eyes seemed to shrink at the biology of Sanji's display, her mind refusing to properly comprehend what it had just seen until she completely dismissed it.
By this point, Luffy and Risho were simply sitting next to each other and laughing at Sanji's misfortune like a pair of idiots in stereo.
"Well, well isn't this a drab sight."
The cold source of the words drew the others' attention to a man with long, silky black hair and a face almost feminine in its beauty. His attire was an entirely black suit ensemble save for a white tie hanging from his neck.
Meanwhile, loud footsteps drew their attention towards the front door as the armoured man whom Zoro had encountered approached the front door without so much as a scratch in sight.
Author's Note: Almost done introducing the other crew? How do they come across?