Chapter 2: Big Mistake
The City of Water 7 was always a nice place to visit, at least during the better time of the year when Aqua Laguna didn't flood the place. As far as everything else goes G loved coming here, in a way it was like a better version of Venice, meaning that there were water-ways and canals that were used for transportation, almost like roads, often surrounded by sidewalks on the canals. However it was mostly the food that G usually came for, particular the Water-Water candy that he had developed quite the appetite for.
"Thanks for the candy, Joe," he said, gratefully giving the shop vender what was owed for his purchase.
"No problem G," the shop vender replied with a smile. "You look after yourself you hear?"
Of course Joe didn't know G really was, at this point in time G was once again donning a magical disguise in order to blend into the world he was in. In this case, he was disguised a young, tanned-skinned human with jet black hair and wore a pair of scruffy jeans, an open vest over a bare chest and a fedora hat, along with an eyepatch covering his right eye. The reason for this was because while the magic of his disguise was almost flawless, there was always a certain body part that simply refused to be hidden, in this case it was the Jolly Roger in place of his right pupil. He didn't know WHY this always happened but one theory G had was the genre that particular body part represented was always the strongest when he was in a story that was mostly themed in that genre, thus the Adventure themed Jolly Roger would always stick out whenever he came to the "One Piece" worlds. Sometimes this little setback would usually cause him to end up being spotted through his disguise by the public, luckily after a few such incidents, G soon learnt how to take precautions, as such he would always bring an eyepatch whenever he came to Water 7. As he downed his Water-Water Candy, G couldn't help but think that this particular day wasn't going to be so bad, sure Chi turned down his offer, but that didn't mean that he had to sit down and do nothing, after all he had an entire Multiverse of stories to go through, more and more appearing every day.
"Now then…" he pondered to himself. "What shall I do tomorrow?"
#
Meanwhile at one of the lower docks, a ship was just making port, a ship known as the Sexy Foxy, It's Captain, the sly tactician and cheater of games, Silver Fox Foxy. Just like his name implies, he was a close to a fox and a human could get, he was a stout man with skinny arms and legs, a unique hairstyle, with his hair split into two spikes pointing upwards to look like ears, and a long pointed, red nose. He also wore a pair of orange pants held up by suspenders, along with a fur-rimmed, purple coat over a bare chest, a wardrobe choice that he was graciously proud of, though in many case he has been known to prefer a silver coat from time to time.
"Fehfefefefefe!" he laughed. "Water 7! I like this place, there is good food here."
It was then that he was joined by another voice.
"Not only that but it's the best place to go to resupply," it said.
The one who spoke was Foxy's second in command, Porche. She was a slender young woman with an hourglass figure, dark blue hair and blue eyes. She wore a pink jumpsuit with puffed pant-legs, which was unzipped on the top to reveal a bikini top beneath it, an outfit which was adorned by several large, white puff-balls, the most notable one being the one hanging from her hat. Next to her was Foxy's second lieutenant, Hamburg, a huge gorilla-like human with tanned skin, bulky arms that bore blue, long-sleeved gloves, and a leopard patterned scarf. They may have been different in looks but what these two had in common was the fact that both of them were severely loyal to their Captain, Foxy, a fact that was clearly shown by both of them wearing the standard Foxy Pirate Mask that was required by all members of the crew upon joining.
"Ready the crew Porche," Foxy ordered. "I want the ship resupplied by sunset!"
"Sure thing Boss," Porche replied gleefully, before turning around and calling towards the rest of the crew. "Okay boys, you know the plan! We are here to resupply only, so NO roughhousing! Remember this is one of the few Cities that allow Pirates and we don't want to overstay our welcome okay?"
"Aye-Aye!" the crowd cheered.
At those words, at least half the entire crew walked down the gangplank and began making their way into the streets of Water 7. However before they joined they're comrades, Foxy wanted to have a word with Porche and Hamburg first.
"And you two remember YOUR assignment, correct?" he asked them, receiving a nod from both pirates in response. "While the others resupply the ship, you know go ashore and pick up some new 'recruits' for the crew. Remember, Davy Back Fights may be fun, but it is also nice to snatch a few just to spice a few things up."
"You can count on us Boss!" Porche replied, happily giving him a salute.
"No problem!" Hamburg added.
#
However that particular task was not as easy as Porche and Hamburg first thought, after about an hour of searching the city, neither one of them found any potential candidate that Foxy would consider worthy members of the crew.
"This sucks!" Porche moaned. "We've been traipsing this whole darn city for ages and we STILL can't find anyone worth recruiting."
"Yeah Pupupupupupu," Hamburg chuckled in response, as usual he found something to laugh about even in the worst conditions.
"This isn't a laughing matter!" Porche snapped angrily. "If we go back to the ship empty-handed then the Boss is gonna…"
Suddenly Porche found herself cut off mid-sentence by a loud noise coming from the alley behind them.
"What the…?" she said with a raised eyebrow, quickly passing by Hamburg to take a peek into the alley.
Peering their heads around the corner, both Hamburg and Porche's eye widened upon seeing the circumstances happening in the alley. There, with his back up against the wall was a short, tanned-skinned man with a glare in his left eye and his hand covering his right. What he was glaring at were a pair of brutish looking thugs wearing tank-tops and both brandishing a knife in their hands, both of whom seemed to be sneering at the man named G with a sinister grin.
"Dude, did you check out this guy's eye?" one of them mocked. "What a freak!"
However G merely growled in response.
"I'm warning you two right here and now…" he snarled. "Just walk away!"
However the thugs merely laughed at that.
"Oh yeah," the second thug retorted. "And what are you gonna do about it shorty?"
That was a big mistake on the thug's part, the only other part of G's magical disguise was always seemed to be a problem was the fact that no matter what form he takes, he still remains only four feet tall, thus making him a subject of ridicule. Needless to say, G's anger built up so much upon hearing that remark that he felt like he was going to pop a blood vessel. Watching everything from the side-lines, both Porche and Hamburg couldn't help but feel intrigued.
"Well this certainly took and interesting turn," Porche commented.
"Mini-man pancake," Hamburg chuckled in addition. "Pupupupupupu."
However Hamburg's giggles soon became silent, the reason being the fact that he and Porche had just witnessed something extraordinary. Within moment of his insult, G had jumped at least four feet into the air and delivered a double-uppercut kick to both the thugs' chins, sending them flying back into the wall behind them.
"Whoa," Porche exclaimed, impressed by the strange man's amazing feat of agility. "He's good,"
Meanwhile, while one thug was knocked out from the kick, the second thug looked back at the strange man with a fierce glare.
"You're gonna pay for that!" he snapped, holding up his knife.
However G remained unfazed by the thug's words, in fact upon hearing them he merely chuckled.
"Have you ever heard of the Face of Horror boy?" he said, instantly confusing the thug along with the two pirates watching the whole thing. "Well here is the HAND of horror!"
At those words, G raised his left hand, it's flesh suddenly melting away like butter to reveal nothing but bone. Upon seeing this the thug dropped hi knife and back up against the wall, his whole body trembling with fear. Needless to say, the whole display was catching Porche and Hamburg by surprise too.
"Hamburg, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Porche gasped.
"Yep," Hamburg gulped in response.
G's skeletal, claw-like hand had to have been merely a few inched away from the thug's face at this point, his face sweating with terror as he looked into the glowing Jolly Roger in G's eye.
"Now be a good boy…" G mocked, his voice suddenly turning deep and resonating with ghostly echoes. "… AND GIVE ME YOUR SOUL!"
With that the Thug then wet himself and screamed like a ten-year-old girl, it didn't even take him more than a few seconds for him to run out of the alley with his tail between his legs… right into Hamburg's waiting club. As it turned out, while the whole situation may have been terrifying to even witness, Porche's ambition outweighed her fear and she saw this a great opportunity. Once both she and Hamburg were sure that the thug was out cold, they once again turned their attention towards G, who at this point was re-donning his disguise on his skeletal hand.
"Ha! Works every time," he snickered, his gaze searching the ground for his missing eyepatch. "Now I better get out of here before…"
"FLOWER HYPNOSIS!"
Those were the last word G ever heard before he suddenly felt all woozy, within moment the living Genre soon found himself falling face-first to the ground. As the two pirates stood over the unconscious form of their catch, both Porche and Hamburg couldn't help but smile with delight.
"Well, the Boss is certainly going to be pleased to meet you," Porche commented with a smirk.
"No doubt about it," Hamburg added. "Pupupupupupupu."
#
However the reaction they received when they got back to the ship was far less positive than what they were hoping for.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?" Foxy snapped angrily, peering down at the less than impressive catch that Hamburg had set on the deck beneath his feet.
"Oh Boss, please let us explain…" Porche tried to say, only to be cut off by Foxy's angry voice again.
"Explain what, Porche!?" he retorted. "I need STRONG recruits for my crew, and this whelp looks like he can't even lift a spoon."
Porche sighed at that, even she had to admit that from a first glance, G didn't look like much, from a distance he probably looked more like a kid than an adult. However Porche was NOT going to give up so easily.
"But Boss, we think he might have Devil Fruit Powers," she argued.
"Yeah, check out his right eye," Hamburg added in the same nervous manner.
Foxy raised an eyebrow at that, curious as to what his two lieutenants are talking about he then kneeled down and opened up G's right eye, much to his surprise, in place of a pupil, he found a red Jolly Roger on a blanket of light green where it should be white. Seeing this, Foxy's expression changed from an angry scowl to an intrigued smile, it's not every day that he sees something like this, so perhaps there was some truth to what Porche and Hamburg was telling him.
"Hmm, perhaps he could be useful after all," he thought allowed, much to Porche and Hamburg's delight.
"What shall we do with him Boss?" Hamburg asked eagerly.
"We shall put him in the brig for now," Foxy answered, rising to his feet. "Perhaps a few days at sea might make him a bit more compliant to our request."
At those words Porche and Hamburg beamed at their Captain, glad that he had finally considered their catch worth the effort.
"Oh Boss, that's brilliant!" Porche replied happily.
However while Foxy and his crew cheered in celebration, they all failed to notice the grin spreading across G's face as he stood up and dusted himself off.
"Yeah… sorry to tell you this but I'm not planning on sticking around," he said, his usual toothy grin spreading across his face.
Needless to say, the sudden awaking of the strange young man shocked all of the pirates on deck.
"What the…!?" Porche gasped.
"I thought you said he was knocked out!" Foxy snapped angrily.
"He was, Boss! I swear!" Porche pleaded, clearly confused at what was going on.
What Porche, nor anyone else for that matter, failed to realise, was the fact while Porche's attack would have easily knocked anyone out for as long as she needed to, G, even while disguised, has somewhat of an immunity against such things. Sure he was knocked out for the first 10 minutes, but the truth of the matter is that he had been awake long before Hamburg had dumped him on the Sexy Foxy. Sure it was risky, perhaps even stupid to allow the pirates to take them, but in G's opinion it was also a chance to have some fun.
"Oh come now Sweet-cheeks," he said playfully. "If you wanted me so badly, all you had to do was ask. Perhaps we can go on a date sometime, eh?"
At those words Porche couldn't help but cringe as G winked at her, granted she was used to being admired by many men on her own crew, but there was just something about this particular person that made her want to run for the hills with every suave word that came out of his mouth.
"Alright, enough banter!" Foxy snapped, once again bringing focus to the conversation. "Do you have any idea who I am, boy!?"
Indeed he DID know him, after all it was in G's nature to know the name and backstory of every character of the stories he travels to. If any normal human had this ability they would had been driven mad with so much information, but to G's credit, not only was he not human, but chances are he was already slightly insane. And thanks to all the information he had of Silver Fox Foxy, G knew exactly what to say next to get out of this situation.
"Yeah, I know you…" he said, his large grin growing ever more so across his face. "You're that Split-Brain who couldn't even win a fight against a kid!"
Sure enough, just as G expected, Foxy's sensitive ego caused him to go wide-eyed with despair, finally forcing him to his hands and knees in a slump of depression.
"He called me Split-Brain," he sobbed, dramatically. "I swear I'm gonna cry."
Then right on cue, as g had expected, Porche rushed to her Captain's side to comfort him, all the while Hamburg giggled to himself.
"Oh Boss, don't listen to him," Porche pleaded, patting her Captain's back. "He's just being mean."
"Actually, I think he was right on the money," Hamburg comment sly, placing a hand over his mouth to stifle the giggles. "Pupupupupupu."
"Shut up Hamburg!" Porche snapped angrily.
This was the chance G needed, while all the pirates were distracted by their Captain's dramatic depression, he knew that this was the exact moment to escape.
"Well, hate to insult and run…" he said, suddenly grabbing everyone's attention. "Oh who am I Kidding? It's what I live for! Sayonara Losers!"
Suddenly, just as everyone turned their heads towards him, G then jumped 10 feet into the air and over the edge of the railing, before anyone even knew it, G had jumped clean off the Silver Foxy and back onto the port below before dashing back towards the city. Needless to say, Foxy was truly ticked about that sudden form of trickery.
"Get after him!" he shouted angrily. "I want his head on a spike!"
"Aye-Aye Boss!" his crew cried in response.
In a matter of moments, almost the entire crew had jumped ship and began flooding into the city after G. However Foxy had two particular pirates stay behind.
"Porche, Hamburg, do you remember where you found that runt?" he asked.
At first both of them seemed confused upon hearing the question but indulged their Captain none the less.
"Yeah Boss," Porche answered. "Why?"
Hearing this Foxy's sly grin returned to his face.
"Well if my theory is correct then chances are that he will probably return to that area," he explained. "Perhaps he lives there or was meeting someone, either way it's worth a look."
Both Porche and Hamburg couldn't help but smile at that.
"Oh Boss, You're a genius!" Porche said happily.
And just as anyone would come to expect, Foxy's ego caused him to put on a smug face upon hearing that.
"Yeah, I know," he said with a smirk
#
It took about another hour before G managed to lose the Foxy pirates perusing him, luckily he has been exposed and chased so many time that he always managed to find a way to avoid capture. In this case all it took was a little dive into the canal and some navigating to make his way back to where he was taken. Finally after what felt like ages, G finally broke out of the water and climbed out onto the street.
"Finally!" he gasped. "I thought I'd never lose them!"
It was only lucky that G was able to hold his breath for so long, if there was one thing that his mismatched body could have used it was gills.
"I blame YOU for that!" G commented.
Silence while the author is talking, please! Now where was I? Oh yes, after G shook himself dry, he then made his way back into the alley where he had encountered the thugs, both have whom had regained consciousness and have long since gone. However what G failed to realise at the time, was while the thugs may be gone, he was FAR from safe. Peering over the edge of the nearby roof, eyeing their target with fierce determination was none other than the trio of pirates led by Foxy.
"See?" Foxy said smugly. "What did I tell you?"
"Once again Boss, you're the best!" Porche replied gleefully, happy in the knowledge that today wasn't going to end up so bad after all.
With G in his sights, Foxy glared down with his sly grin, a terrible punishment brewing up in his head for the one who made a fool out of him.
"The fool," he snarled with a sneer. "He's only got himself cornered
"Trapped like a rat," Hamburg added, stifling a giggle. "Pupupupupupu."
While it may have been true that the alley he was in did in fact end with a brick wall, and thus a dead-end, G didn' seem phased in the slightest. Before he made his next move he then looked back out of the alley to once again make sure no one was going to watch what happened next. However G's big mistake was the fact he didn't look up, if he had then he would have spotted Foxy, Porche and Hamburg readying themselves to strike from above. Confident he was alone, G then gave the pirates the biggest surprise of their lives and shed away his disguise. Like melting butter sliding off a piece of toast, G's human form oozed away, leaving his true mismatched body in its place, needless to say all three of the Foxy Pirates' jaws dropped upon seeing this.
"What the hell!?" Foxy gasped.
"What the heck is he?" Hamburg added, sharing the same dumbfounded look his Captain had.
This was indeed a good question, at least for those who didn't know that they were in fact characters in a story. But confusion aside, a more important question remained, just what was this creature doing now? Suddenly, just like he did in the City of Aku, he then thrust his cybernetic arm through the nearby wall with a forceful punch, and after pulling his metallic fist back, he smiled upon seeing the portal home.
"Whoa!" Porche gasped, completely amazed at what she was seeing.
Foxy on the other hand managed to get over his awe long enough to realise that whatever was going on, it meant that this creature was severely close to being lost forever, and Foxy was not going to let such a catch slip through his fingers so easily.
"We can't let that freak escape!" he declared, quickly standing up and readying his fingers for his special technique. "SLOW-SLOW BEAM!"
At those words, Foxy's Devi Fruit Power activated, as such rings of pink light burst from Foxy's fingers and headed straight towards G as he entered the portal. However G proved to be either too quick, or perhaps the beams were too slow, either way, they missed G completely and hit the portal itself instead. Of course G didn't realise what had happened in the slightest since he never bothered to look behind him, in fact he had just assumed the portal closed just as quickly as it normally would, however thanks to Foxy's power it remained open due to losing its original speed because like G it was bound to the laws of physics of the particular world it was in. Though dismayed that he didn't get to hit G with his Devil Fruit Powers, Foxy was stilled determined to catch the strange creature, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise of the idea that had entered his mind next.
"Hurry! Before it closes!" he shouted.
Though clearly confused at Foxy's request, Porche and Hamburg followed his command regardless. After both Foxy and Porche had jumped onto his back, Hamburg then jumped off the roof and ran towards to portal, which was slowly beginning to pick up velocity again, luckily due to his size, Hamburg wasn't really hurt and picked up plenty of speed during his dash, at least enough to jump through the portal just as Foxy's beam wore off. But where they ended up next would have never have crossed their minds in a million years.
#
To say that the three pirates made it just by a hair would have been quiet accurate given the fact that the closing portal almost took a piece of Porche's head clean off as it swiftly closed, luckily it was a narrow escape and only the tip of her long hair was sliced instead. Once the initial shock of the whole ordeal had finally passed, Porche and Hamburg looked over their new surroundings, their eyes completely wide upon seeing the number of staircases that defied the laws of gravity. Suddenly their gaze turned to their Captain, who at this point was standing with his arms crossed and a large grin spread across his face.
"Um… Boss?" Hamburg said nervously.
"Where are we?" Porche asked, sharing in Hamburg's fear.
At those words Foxy then turned towards his two crewmates, his eyes filled with delight upon realising what a great find this was.
"I don't know," he said flatly. "But wherever we are, one thing is for sure. This day has suddenly became… interesting."