Chapter 40 – Market Smash
It had been several hours after Nyx was given the opportunity to her mom, by the time evening came that day, everyone was in the midst of enjoying themselves, Nyx especially since she now had some closure since this whole mess with the cracks started. However while everyone else was chatting amongst themselves and enjoying their dinner at the dining, there was one who remained quiet as he sat in the adjoining living room, his thoughts contemplating about something he needed to tell everyone. Of course he wasn't the ONLY one who was acting out of character, at least as far as the Dazzlings were concerned, as they watched their sister giggle every time Luffy make a joke, even if it was an extremely bad one that made others cringe, both Aria and Adagio couldn't help but become aware of her sudden oddness.
"Hey did you notice that Sonata has been acting a little strange?" Aria whispered to Adagio, suddenly correcting herself once she realised what she said. "Well, Strang-ER."
As much as she found both her sisters annoying, especially whenever they have one of their usual quarrels, even Adagio couldn't help but see some truth to Aria's observation.
"Now that you mention it, she did seem to have a bit of a new giggly side to her ever since we left Bodega Bay," she admitted, looking towards Sonata with a curious gaze. "Plus I did see that goofy smile a couple of times whenever she was in one of her day-dreams, and I don't think they were about Tacos this time."
It was at that moment, both of them heard Sonata laugh again, only this time with an obvious blush showing in her cheeks, all the while she was listening to Luffy blab on about how he punched out a giant sea-cow.
"Hey Sonny, what' ya drinking?" Luffy asked, his dim-witted mind suddenly changing the subject.
Suddenly both Adagio and Aria's eyes widened with realisation, how could they have been so blind!? When they think back on it, Sonata only started acting more idiotic than she usually did was when Luffy came into the picture, which means…
"Oh my…" Aria gasped.
"You don't think she's…?" Adagio added, the look of panic etched across his face.
However before either sister could finish their sentence, both of them were cut off by the loud sound of an air-horn echoing throughout the entire dining room, the one who squeezed the trigger being none other than G.
"OW, MAN!" Chef yelled, him being the closest one next to G as he stood at the end of the table when he blew the horn. "What you go and do that for!?"
G simply shrugged at that.
"Sorry, force of habit," he apologised casually, not really feeling any sympathy for someone who could easily walk something like that off.
Needless to say that sudden burst of noise instantly grabbed everyone's attention, given past experience something like usually meant that G had something important to say, after all this was once of the few rare moments where he was serious about anything.
"What is it G?" Nyx asked, voicing everyone's curiously. "Is this about what we're gonna do about finding whoever's trapped here?"
G couldn't help but sigh at that.
"Well, yes and no," he said, much to everyone's confusion. "Yes it is about finding those lost individuals, but it's also about everyone's involvement in doing so."
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked, raising an eyebrow.
At first G was a little hesitant to give his answer, still he needed to say his piece, finally with another heavy sigh, he spoke.
"Guys…" he said. "I… I think I should make it on my own from here on out."
Upon saying that, the room instantly fell into silence, no body having any idea as to how to respond to such a statement, in fact some of them even dropped their jaws upon hearing it. Suddenly G's ears were ringing with the sound of angered misfits.
"WHAT!?" everyone yelled, simultaneously.
"But we've only just begun!" Ruby argued.
"Yeah, I want adventure, dammit!" Luffy added
G should have expected something like this, after all stubbornness is something a good many of these characters are known for, however he wasn't willing to give up the argument just yet.
"Yeah and at what cost, huh?" he retorted, taking everyone aback. "In the last realm alone I've scared the living daylights out of Nyx and almost got you all killed!"
Obviously at this point in time what happened between G and Nyx with Slappy was no secret, so of course the Living Genre felt no killed in speaking about it openly, in fact Nyx encouraged it since she believed it would help her with her nightmares. But even with that bit of knowledge, no one was backing down.
"So what!?" Goggles snapped. "We're all just supposed to stay here like yesterday's garbage!? We already went through this discussion back in Middle-Earth G!"
"That's not the point!" G argued. "I don't want to put any of you guys at risk any more than I already have!"
Needless to say the argument was beginning to really heat up at this point, however there were those of a different opinion than the others were.
"Now hold on just a minute," Adagio said, attempting to calm everyone down, granted she enjoyed a good argument but without being able to absorb the negative energy, there was just no point to it. "Maybe we should hear him out, because personally I think that…"
"Oh shut up Adagio!" Aria barked, cutting her sister off mid-sentence. "You haven't stopped complaining since we've met these guys!"
Of course this sudden insult on Aria's part came as a surprise, both to her two sister AND G, was she really arguing on the side of staying with the group? Ruby on the other hand couldn't help but smile, perhaps her friendship was rubbing off on the siren after all, but then again Adagio was certain the more stubborn of the two.
"Need I remind you of what happened to me!?" she snapped, pointing to the small patch of her poof that still remained shorter than the rest of it.
"So you got a little bit of your hair burnt off!" Aria scoffed. "GET OVER IT!"
It was then then the entire dining table became the location of a full-scale squabble, from what G could tell every other voice was being drowned out by someone else. However it wasn't too long before this argument got on the Living Genre's nerves.
"WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP!" he screamed with an explosive force that sent Goggles flying off the table.
Once the room was finally silenced and G had everyone's attention again, he now felt that it was time to really put his foot down and end this argument.
"Look, it's my decision and I'm not putting you all at risk again!" he declared. "We've had too many close calls already."
At those words, nobody could come up with an argument against that, it was true that the groups has too many close calls, narrowly escaping the villains in Edward's dimension, barely escaping them again with an army of orcs in Middle-Earth, not to mention almost loosing Goggles from a lethal injection. Upon recalling that particular memory, the said Gizmonk couldn't help but rub the area on his belly where Frostbite jabbed him with the syringe, maybe G did have a point. Suddenly one particular voice spoke up from the group as he stood up from the table and gave G a stern glare.
"No offence man," Chef said. "But that ain't your decision to make."
Upon hearing those words come out of the former military-man's mouth, Goggles soon managed to snap out of his memory and join in on the argument again, G may have had a strong point but it was nothing compared to his determination.
"The big man has a point," he such, much to G's surprise. "You may have asked us to come along at first, and we could have declined but we didn't. You're stuck with us dude."
"It WOULD seem to be the better idea if you KNEW how we were doing," Laura added timidly.
Ruby nodded at that.
"Yeah, I mean, if you left us here, wouldn't you be worried like all the time about us?" she asked.
"Plus there's the strong chance that someone will end up burning your house down," Franky added, only to receive another one of Uncle's two-fingered strikes. "OW!"
"These old bones will not be rotting away like they are stuck in retirement home!" the Chi-wizard declared before turning back at Franky with a glare. "One more thing! UNCLE DOES NOT APPRECIATE THE INSINUATION!"
Ignoring the fact that there probably was a chance that someone might end up burning his house down, G felt like all of his arguments against the others joining him in his endeavour were now starting to become a waste of breath, there just seems to be no winning with these people. Eventually he slumped down into an empty chair and sighed in defeat.
"I just… I just wanted to make things right," he admitted, his head dropping to face the floor.
Upon seeing g in such a state of despair, everyone else couldn't help but look at each other with concern, G really cared about them THAT much? If it wasn't obvious before then it certainly was now. Still the point needed to be made and no one was finished making it just yet.
"And you WILL make things right," Goggles stated confidently. "But I think we've already come too far to let you do this alone."
"Yeah, It's like I said before G, we're in this together," Nyx added.
It was then that Aria stood up from the table with a proud look upon her face.
"You bet your sorry hides we are," she said assertively, once again surprising her two sisters. "The last couple of weeks have been the ride of my life and I'll be damned if I'm getting off this boat now!"
"Yeah!" Franky added, following the example and raising from the table. "Besides, we still owe you for saving our lives back in Bodega Bay."
"Bring on the Bad Guys!" Luffy declare, basically standing on his chair as he cracked his knuckles. "I'll beat em all into mush!"
Before long, almost everyone one was standing proudly around the table, or ON the table in Nyx and Goggles' case, now G was sure their minds were made up.
"You're really sure about this?" he asked.
"I may not like it, but even I have to admit you're our best chance, lad," Lug answered with a sigh of his own. "And believe me, I don't tend to repeat myself with this conversation again."
"Aye!" Mossy declared in agreement.
"Dead right!" Spud added.
G just couldn't believe it, even after narrowly escaping death AGAIN, these lost characters were still willing to put their faith in him and carry on travelling with him? They must be either really brave, or even crazier than he was, and THAT was saying something. Either way, he was still hesitant in actually allowing it.
"I… I don't know," he said, uncertainly.
Goggles couldn't help but face-palm at that, even after all their arguments G STILL needed more convincing!? It was then that the Gizmonk tried to turn the gears in his head and come up with a new tactic, asking himself, how does one convince someone who actually asked the group to go along with him in the first place, to carry on with said group? Suddenly his tail lit up and the answer popped into his head… use the same method G used to convince the group.
"Okay," he chuckled. "Then perhaps we should give you taste of your own medicine,"
Of course no one knew what the Gizmonk meant at first, but after he ushered the fairies into a small huddle and a few whispers were shared, a few members of the group began to understand as Spud suddenly started playing his banjo. Upon hearing the melody that had begun to play, both Chef and Uncle cringed with despair as they plugged their ears with their fingers.
"Oh no," Chef uttered with an annoyed tone. "Not another dang musical number."
Even G was surprised at this sudden development, so much so that his jaw couldn't help but drop as the Gizmonk suddenly began to sing.
"Now you listen to me, G..." he began.
GOGGLES:
I found out a long time ago
You gotta learn to say "yes" when life says "no"
Don't dwell on the bad times once they're past
That kind of thinking gets you nowhere fast
Cause there ain't no mountain you can't climb
If you hang on tight and just make up your mind
Once you set your heart to moving on
Pal, there ain't no road too long
Needless to say, this sudden musical number took almost everyone by surprise, especially for G. What made things even more surprising was when Aria started joining in as she and Lug pulled him out of his chair and started singing in his ear.
LUG:
Don't look back; don't you turn around
ARIA:
Just keep your eye on where you're bound
LUG and ARIA:
And you're bound to get from here to there
Cause a dream can take you anywhere…
Now that the music had now begun to liven up even more, everyone seemed to be getting into the groove. All except Uncle, Chef and G, the former two mainly because they couldn't really take it and decided to leave the room in hopes of retaining their sanity. As for G, he was simply too flabbergasted at everything at was going on, that he didn't even care when he was flung onto into the sofa while Luffy took the next turn at singing the chorus.
LUFFY:
Cause there ain't no mountain you can't climb
If you hang on tight and just make up your mind
SONATA:
And once you set your heart to moving on,
Then there is no road too long
At this point in time, G tried to contemplate just what it was that everyone was trying to accomplish, just because they sing a little song doesn't mean that he was going to fold in his decision… then again he DID use the same trick on them AND the villains and it seemed to work… good lord, they ARE trying to use his own trick against him. And what's more it seemed to be working since G was now starting to get into the beat, which was evident when he started tapping his foot along with Lug's fiddle playing. Seeing that Goggles' plan seemed to be working, Nyx smiled as she began to sing next.
NYX:
Cause there ain't no mountain you can't climb
If you hang on tight and just make up your mind
And once you set your heart to moving on
Yeah, there ain't no road too long
Finally G couldn't take it any longer, the music combined with the atmosphere was simply too much to resist. With a large grin and a spring in his step, he then jumped up onto the dining table and started square-dancing, much to everyone's amusement.
G:
Ain't no mountain we can't climb
If we hang on tight and just make up our minds
Once we set your hearts to moving on…
"Sing it!" Nyx cried, joining G up on the table with Goggles as they all ended the song with a bang.
G:
There ain't no road too long!
There ain't no road too long!
NYX:
There ain't no road too long!
GOGGLES:
No, there ain't no road too long!
Finally, with the final cluck of the fiddle strings, the song ended and everyone ended laughing their heads off. Whatever arguments they had were forgotten in an instant, and judging from the approving smile he gave to everyone, it would seem that G had been convinced. At that moment he couldn't wish for a better group of friends.
#
When the next morning came, the sun gave off a beautiful glow of crimson and orange as it crept of the horizon about the ocean, the waves calm and tranquil as they broke against the beach. However even in the midst of the gorgeous morning, there were those who weren't so composed
"But WHY do I have to come?" Luffy moaned as he walked with a slouch next to G, causing the Living Genre to form an angry tick in his forehead
"Because I can't trust you in the house, that's why!" he retorted.
But G and Luffy weren't the only ones strolling down the stone road that morning, joining them was Ruby, Uncle, Nyx and of course Sonata. With each of them having a human appearance save for G, who easily remedied that with yet another one of his magical disguises, and Nyx who once again hid in his cloak pocket, it was easy enough for the small group to casually stroll into the Morning Markets
"So… why are we here again?" Ruby asked curiously, her mind still a little boggled after waking up so early.
"Because as soon as Jenny's off the operating table, the next step is to find whoever's stuck in this dimension and bring them back with us," G explained, pulling out a small bag of cash out of another one of his pockets. "And we can't do that without food for the road."
At those words the red-hooded scythe wielder began to understand, if the group needed food for the road then then G needed all the help he could get in carrying it all to the house, after all he can't very well stuff everything in his pockets when in public, it would raise to many suspicions since he was trying to keep a low profile. Hence the reason why he chose a human guise, hiding his glowing heart under his shirt while his other chosen companions were the ones who looked the most human to start with, of course Nyx wanted to come along since she wanted to stick by G in hopes of continuing to make up for her behaviour and Sonata… well it was no secret as to why SHE joined after she spotted Luffy getting dragged out of bed by his ear.
"I thought your house was completely stocked with everything," Nyx commented curiously from inside G's pocket, being able to hear everything clearly from where she was.
"It WAS," G answered, giving Luffy a cold glare. "That is until SOMEONE ate more than his share!"
Yet another secret that was kept from no one, after finally busting open the lock on the fridge last night, after everyone had gone to sleep, Luffy's unconscious mind acted out on its own and he ate almost everything in the fridge and cupboards… all while he was ASLEEP! Needless to say, Chef was extremely pissed off when he discovered the crime-scene just after G's group left for the markets, which in turn was lucky for the rubber man because if he hadn't been dragged out the door by G, then chances are Chef would have ended up being guilty for his murder. However that still didn't save him from facing G's lectures.
"Hey, leave him alone!" Sonata demanded, jumping to Luffy's defence. "I'm sure he needs the food."
"Yeah, I'm a growing man!" Luffy added, though clearly not fully understanding what it is he did wrong.
G couldn't help but sigh at that.
"Uncle too needs supplies," Uncle pointed out, adding his piece before turning to G. "You lack several key ingredients in that laboratory of yours."
"Yeah, I've been meaning to restock it," G admitted sheepishly, really wishing he visited his vacation home more often before the whole crack mess started. "Shame the only things I don't keep in my pockets are perishables, well… maybe one or two things but only because I forget they're in there."
Nyx couldn't help but giggle at that, her mind turning to the time she saw a certain Pig Mutant rummaged through G's pockets and ended up pulling out a cheese sandwich, Celestia knows how long THAT was in there. After spending almost an hour rummaging through numerous shops, most of them being fruit and vegetable stalls, getting items that won't so easily go bad in a hurry, the group soon came to a small area where a stone fountain stood in the centre of a courtyard, at its centre a stone figure of a beautiful mermaid pouring water out of an urn, However it wasn't the fountain that drew the group's attention, but rather the castle that stood out in the distance and the crowd of people that stood rabbling amongst themselves. As much as the castle was amazing to look at, with its pearly white walls and its connecting beach, the rabble seemed to draw the better attention.
"What do you suppose is going on here?" Ruby asked aloud, voicing everyone's curiosity.
However before any member of her own group could give their answer, a bystander from the crowd seemed to overhear Ruby's question and proceeded to grab the group's attention with a small tap on G's shoulder. She was an elderly woman with silver hair that was red with a red shawl and had a gentle looking face that stared down at the group with blue eyes faded from age, so more than likely she was almost blind but still had enough sight to go about her business.
"Didn't you hear?" she asked, causing all the group to shake their heads. "Someone kidnapped the Princess two nights ago, the whole castle is in a state of panic."
Upon hearing those words, there was a series of mixed reaction, for Ruby and Nyx it was a shocked gasp at the very idea someone would do such a thing, for Sonata and Luffy, they merely shared a blank look of confusion, Uncle had a solemn look upon his face, and G gritted his teeth in anger, after all since he basically set up a home here then he knew almost everyone here, including the royal family.
"That's terrible," Sonata commented, finally catching on to the situation.
"And a little cliché under any circumstances," G added, though of course he made sure to do so under his breath so no one could hear him, even if he felt angry about it.
"What happened?" Ruby asked curiously.
At those words, the old woman shook her head sadly.
"Rumour has it that pirates snuck in under cover of night and snatched the poor dear while she was walking along the beach," she explained. "At least that's how I heard it."
And with that the old woman left, more than likely to continue on with her own shopping. After taking a moment to absorb the new info they had just received, the group then sighed with gloom as they all looked back at the castle in the distance.
"That poor girl," Uncle said, voicing everyone's opinion on the matter.
"Yeah," Luffy added. "Pirates like that give the rest of us a bad name."
However those particular words ended up earning Luffy a quick smack across the head, compliments of G, along with a few concerned glares from everyone else, even Sonata.
"I wouldn't go saying that out loud," Ruby said concernedly.
"Yeah, keep in mind that no one knows who you are here," G lectured. "Heck the only reason all of you are with me now is the fact that you're all human. If anyone found out you were a pirate where you come from then we'd all be in a heap of trouble."
However Luffy merely laughed at those words.
"Yeah, says the guy with his own Wanted Poster," he pointed out, causing G to pout.
"That's beside the point!" he snapped angrily.
G may liked a good joke as much as anyone else but given the current circumstances he wasn't in the mood, especially since the news in question involved someone he knew, granted he may not have known her personally but since he knew the story well enough to set up a vacation home here, he felt like he did. As he and Luffy continued to argue on the matter, neither of them seemed to notice Sonata wondering towards a nearby stone wall, he gazed fixated on one of the many notices that was pasted upon it.
"Hey isn't this it?" she asked, grabbing everyone's attention and pointing toward the parchment that caught her attention.
Since Sonata wasn't the brightest of girls, it was certainly surprising that she of all people noticed G's Wanted Poster, then again she did have her moments. As everyone gathered around the poster G couldn't help but feel a little anxious, thankfully because of his current guise no passer by seemed to notice that he and the image upon the paper were one in the same. With that thought in mind G's fears calmed a little and he was able to take a moment to actually look at the image itself since he was unable to properly when Slappy shoved his poster in his face, now that he saw it, G's ego skyrocketed since the desired image seemed to show his smirk in all its glory, in his own opinion G believed he was looking at a very handsome devil. Needless to say, everyone else easily noticed his smug look and G was quick to change his expression and focus his gaze upon the bounty that was printed below the image.
"50,000 Gold coins?" He read aloud, raising an eyebrow with interested. "So that's how much I go for here?"
Of course this bounty was different from the one he saw back in Bodega Bay, though of course he also knew exactly why such a thing could happen.
"Doesn't seem like much," Luffy commented, scratching his head.
Undeniably Luffy would know a thing or two about Wanted Poster Bounties, after all it was one of the few things that actually sunk into that rubber head of his, still his knowledge of any exchange rate completely went over his head. With that in mind, G was more than happy to lay on an explanation.
"You would think so, but every realm has its own currency," he explained, catching everyone's interest, especially Nyx. "Back at Bodega Bay, the poster I saw had me at a million bucks, that's about 100,000,000 Beli where you come from."
At those words, Luffy couldn't help but smirk.
"HA! Good bounty," he said, giving G a proud pat on the back. "But I'm worth three times that… OW!"
Obviously that little outburst earned him another one of Uncle's two-fingered strikes, something which Uncle was more than happy to give for the young pirate's stupidity.
"That is not something to be proud about!" he shouted.
But seeing that little lecture didn't really phase Luffy in the slightest, in fact he simply continued to chuckle at it, Sonata too couldn't help but giggle.
"Oh let him have his fun," she said in a casual yet tender fashion.
As far as G was concerned, another thing that Sonata was completely noticeable for was the fact that she completely sucked at hiding her emotions, and it was quite easy to figure out why she has been coming to Luffy's defence all morning, in fact now that he thought about it she did seem to be doing that quite a lot ever since Bodega Bay. With that thought in mind the Living Genre felt even more concerned than before, if Sonata really did feel what he believed she did about Luffy then that means that there's another problem he needed to sort out, one that'll surely bite him in the ass later if he didn't handle it soon. However will need to put that idea on hold for now, at least until he can figure out a plan of action.
"Well anyway this proves my point," he said, getting back to the subject at hand. "The last thing we need is trouble, so as long as we all keep our heads down, nothing will go wrong."
And just like that irony once again gave G the finger to his face, because as soon as he and the group turned around from the poster…
"HALT!" A loud, brash voice called out. "In the name of the Royal Family!"
Upon seeing the dozen armoured soldiers surrounding him and the group with their swords pointing at them, G couldn't help but smack himself in the face, silently cursing both himself and yours truly for the amount of irony in this story. Needless to say, the other members of G's group all felt a sense of fear upon seeing the soldiers.
"What was that you were saying about nothing going wrong?" Ruby asked nervously, but not without the slightest hint of sarcasm.
Though of course G couldn't really give the red-hooded girl a good enough answer for an event such as this, why were these soldiers surrounding them? Was it about the Poster? Were they able to see through his disguise? No, that's not even possible, even if G DID have a vacation home here he would never go out in public without his magical disguise, then again if he let his guard down once, thus allowing a pirate to enter his realm, then chances are that he might have done so before and didn't even know it. If that was the case then he REALLY needed to get better lessons in keeping a low profile, but the practise will have to wait for the moment, for now the main objective was getting the group out of this situation in one piece… so he did the first thing that popped into his head.
"I was saying… RUN!" he yelled, shifting his arm back into its cybernetic form and shooting a metal fist straight into one of the soldiers' face.
Needless to say the first thing wasn't a GOOD idea, but in any case improvisation was always something G relied on if his plans don't work… and half the time that's ALWAYS the case. Either way, it allowed the group an ample opportunity to get their asses in gear and make a run for it. Using her semblance, Ruby easily lifted Uncle over her shoulder and speed off leaving a cloud of Rose Petals in her wake. With Sonata, she gracefully leapt up onto Luffy's back, gripping his neck tightly as the pirate stretched his arms between two nearby oil lampposts and took a few steps back.
"GUM-GUM ROCKET!" he cried, shooting himself and Sonata like a slingshot in the direction where Ruby ran.
Finally, with Nyx still hiding in his cloak, G took advantage of the chaos and literally jumped over the hoard of soldiers like Spring-heeled Jack, straight onto one of the nearby roofs, after which he continued to jump over each one in order to lose the pursuing soldiers. Little did they realise, that attempting to capture G and his friends was going to be harder than they thought.
#
Author's Notes:
The featured song is inspired by "Ain't No Road Too Long" all credit belongs to the original composer
watch?v=Tebxz6qoB6U
The Character Nyx belongs to Pen Stroke / :iconPenstrokepony:
The Character Laura belongs to :icontwokinds:
The Characters Chi and Mimi belong to :iconbleedman:
The Character Ruby Rose belongs to Rooster Teeth
For the Image of G: art/The-Living-Genre-563434744
For the Image of Witch Hazel: art/Character-Reboot-Witch-Hazel-585406440
