The Sunny & Crew
"I don't believe this!" Zerina cried out. She was running like crazy with Luffy and two of his crew mates. They had just arrived on Sabaody a short time ago and somehow fell into the middle of trouble. Several blasts from cannons and guns rang out. The air filled with the smell of gunpowder and screams. "How is it possible that you can't even notice impostors posing as your crew?!"
"Huh?" Luffy looked at her and blinked innocently. "They looked just like them! How was I supposed to know?"
"You idiot! They looked nothing like us!" Zoro and Sanji shouted while they hit Luffy over the head.
"But never mind that for now. I'm more interested in you! You adorable little cutie!" Sanji's hearts developed hearts as he spun around Zerina. "I just love your red hair! And your eyes are just so beautiful! So many beautiful women! But who are you?"
"Uh, thanks," Zerina said. She inspected the blonde man carefully. She knew him from Luffy's descriptions and how the man was acting, but it was still a bit much to take in. "It's nice to finally meet you. Although, I never thought we'd be meeting like this. My name's Zerina. I thought we'd have more of a peaceful trip to your ship then have proper introductions."
"Well, get use to it," Zoro said. "With Luffy around, we're always gonna get into trouble."
"I think you've down played all of your adventures you told me about!" Zerina glared at Luffy.
Luffy just laughed as carefree as ever. "Don't worry, Rina! It'll be fun!"
"Right. Fun." Zerina pulled out her bow. She bolted to a stop, loaded an arrow and pointed at the marines that were chasing them. She infused it with her haki and fired. The ground crumbled right in front of the marines that were chasing them. The marines screamed and tried to stop themselves from falling into the hole Zerina just created. Some managed to keep their balance and not fall in while others weren't as lucky.
"Wow! Beautiful and powerful! That was Armament Haki, wasn't it?! You're so incredible!" Sanji gushed. He then glared at Luffy. "Where exactly did you meet such a beautiful woman?! I thought you were training!"
"She's my girlfriend!" Luffy grinned.
"You're what?!" Zoro and Sanji screamed.
"How the heck do you have a girlfriend?! You were supposed to be training for the past two years! What have you been doing?!" Sanji demanded. "You stupid captain!"
"There'll be time for explanations later, but Luffy doesn't know what a girlfriend is. He's just always called me that since we were kids," Zerina informed them. "Right now, we have to get out of this situation and back to the Sunny."
"You're right. Luffy's not the smartest person around," Sanji said while giving Luffy a dubious look. "It's no surprise that he doesn't know what a girlfriend is. He's too focused on fun, adventures and treasure."
"Ah, so you two have known each other since you were kids?" Zoro asked.
"Yeah." Zerina nodded while willing out another arrow. Both Luffy and Zerina stood ready to fire their attacks are more marines. They were about to hand out another attack when someone else did it for them.
They both paused and said, "Huh?"
Over in the distance they saw Rayleigh at the same time. He waved to them. They waved back. Luffy shouted, "Hey! Rayleigh! Thanks for everything!"
Rayleigh waved again in answer that he heard the young pirate. Zerina then shouted, "Thank you, Rayleigh! I really appreciate everything you did for me and Luffy! I hope we get to meet again someday!"
Rayleigh returned a wave to her then signal for them to get going. Zerina nodded in understanding and followed after the three Straw Hat pirates she was with. A few heart pounding, breath stealing moments later, they had finally arrived on the Sunny. Zerina huffed and puffed. When she finally got her breath back into her lungs, she said, "I think I just overcame my doubts of not being strong enough. If a day like today is typical for you all, I'm definitely going to get a lot stronger."
Luffy just laughed. "See? I told you that you were just fine."
"Wow! One very beautiful woman! Two very beautiful women! Three very beautiful women are now on board the Sunny!" Sanji shouted. His nose suddenly gushed with blood. It sent him flying back and crashing onto the deck of the ship.
"Uh, is he okay?" Zerina pointed at him. "He's loosing a lot of blood."
"Good. Let him die," Zoro said. He walked away from the blonde hair like he literally didn't care whether his crew mate lived or died.
"He'll be fine." Zerina pulled her eyes from the swordsman and to the little reindeer. He was checking on the nose bleeding man.
"You know, I was expecting Luffy to come back with a few surprised up his sleeves, but bring back a girl was not one of them." Zerina pulled her eyes over to the orange haired woman speaking. "Let me guess, Luffy saw you fighting, it impressed him and he gave you no choice in joining our crew."
"Uh, not exactly," Zerina replied rubbing the back of her neck. She looked over at Luffy.
"We can talk about that later." Luffy ordered. He punched his fist into the air. "Right now, let's set sail! Time for a new adventure!"
"Aye Aye, Captain!" The Straw Hat crew shouted. Zerina watched as they scurried around the ship. Since she didn't know where anything was, or how to run a ship, she opted to just stay where she was and watch them. She watched them for a while before walking over to the edge of the ship. She placed her hands on the railing and looked out at the navy ships that were trying to surround them.
"Are we going to be able to get away?" Zerina asked.
"Don't worry, young miss," The tall skeleton said to her. She turned to find he was calmly standing beside her with a tea cup in his hand. She tilted her head. It seemed weird that a skeleton was talking and drinking something. Where did the tea go when he drank it? "We'll easily escape. In the mean time, may I see your panties?"
"Huh?" Zerina's shoulders dropped.
"Don't ask her that, Brook!" Nami shouted as she punched the skeleton on the head. The orange haired woman huffed then turned to Zerina. "Ignore him. He's always like that."
"Oh, right." Zerina nodded.
"How is it possible that you know the Amazons?!" Zerina then heard Sanji shouting. She looked to see the cook was pointing at her while yelling at Luffy. "Is she an Amazon?! Is that where you found her?!"
"I didn't find her at all! She found me!" Luffy shouted back. "And I already told you, we'll talk about that later!"
"What's going on with them?" Nami asked.
"It looks like Boa Hancock is helping Luffy escape," Robin replied. She looked out to see the Kuja ship blocking the way of a navy ship. "He sure makes a lot of friends wherever he goes."
"The Pirate Empress?!" Nami shrieked.
"Yeah, they're our friends now," Luffy said. He put his arm around Zerina.
After that the crew turned their attention back to escaping from Sabaody. Zerina was left on her own again to just watch them move about the ship. She found herself sitting down on the bench that wrapped around the mass of the ship. She watched quietly as the crew ran around the ship. She carefully studied them. They were easy to figure out who was who with all the descriptions Luffy had given to her so getting to know them was going to be easy. They were also a bit more lively than she expected. Living with them was definitely going to be a different experience than living back on Hydra.
…
"What?!" The Straw Hat pirates shouted. "You're Shanks daughter and Luffy's girlfriend?!"
Zerina sighed heavily. That's it. I give up. I no longer care if people think or believe I am or I'm not Luffy's girlfriend.
"I didn't even know he had a child!" Nami exclaimed. "How is it possible that no one knew about this? He's a pirate! Something like that would be well known!"
Zerina flinched when all their eyes turned to her. She was sitting on the mass bench with Luffy. The others were scattered around on the deck sitting while a couple of them stood. She knew they wanted answers. She could easily tell that. "Oh, well…Probably because I didn't live with him for long."
"What do you mean?" Chopper asked.
"Well, my mother's family is, uh…" Zerina bit her bottom lip. She should have thought more about what she was going to tell them. "My mother's family didn't approve of her relationship with my father. So, a few years after I was born, they took me away from my father and had me live with them."
"I guess that makes sense," Nami said with a nod. "Kids born with a pirate as a parent aren't treated very well at all."
"Yeah," Zerina mumbled with a small nod. She tossed a glance at Luffy. A small sad expression was on his face, but he didn't seemed bothered by someone bring up something so connected to Ace. She looked down at her bare feet. I guess I already had a cover story in place and didn't even realize it. I forgotten that the world looks down on kids born to pirate parents. It was kinda like that back on Hydra too. I guess things are going to work out fine with this after all. I can work with being the child of a pirate.
Zerina raised her eyes to look over the crew. They all seemed to accept her half truth. Or she thought they all did. Her eyes then landed on Sanji. He was carefully observing her with an intense look in his eyes. Before she could think much about his expression, he closed his eyes and puffed on his cigarette. Does that mean he accepts my story?
"So where is your mother and her family from?" Usopp asked.
"Uh, Hydra," Zerina said carefully. "And my mother died with I was about four years old."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Usopp apologized.
"It's all right. You didn't know." Zerina shrugged. "Beside, I don't really remember her much."
"I've never heard of an island called Hydra," Nami reported. She rubbed her finger over her chin in thought.
"Neither have I. Where is it?" Robin added.
"Well, I'm, uh." Zerina tried to force down her panic. She had no clue what to say here. She really didn't know where Hydra was. All she knew was Hydra was in the sky. She was never allowed to study anything about the island. Her aunt wanted it that way. She use to try and learn about Hydra's history, but she never could find any books on the island anywhere in the manor. And no one would answer her questions about the island. "It's kind of a hard island to find."
"If it's hard to find, then it must not have its own log," Chopper surmised. "Islands like that are always hard to find."
"Right." Zerina nodded.
"So how is it you came to be with Luffy during his two year training?" Franky asked.
"Luffy?" Zerina turned to the young man beside her. He had his hands behind his head and his hat had once again fall over his eyes. She wondered if he was going to change his mind about letting her tell the crew about her uncontrollable ability.
There was an intense paused before Luffy looked up at her. He smiled. "It's okay, Rina. We've already discussed this."
Zerina nodded. She turned to the rest of the crew. "There's something important that I need you all to do for me."
"What is it?" Chopper asked.
"I know I'm new here and all, and this isn't going to make much sense, but I really need you all to not make wishes around me," Zerina said. She carefully looked at each and every one of them. She wanted them to see and feel how serious she was about this.
"Huh? What for?" Zoro asked.
"Because I have this ability to grant wishes. But I can't control it for some reason. And every time someone makes a wish with me around, I automatically grant it. And the wish always comes out dark," Zerina said. She paused to take the time to look at each and every one of the Straw Hats. They obviously were having a hard time believing her.
"You can't be serious," Franky said crossing his arms. "No one has the ability to grant wishes like that. Are you a devil fruit user?"
"No, I'm not a devil fruit user." Zerina shook her head. "I can jump into the ocean and prove it if you want me to."
"I think I'm gonna need to see proof of this," Zoro said.
"You stupid, swordsman! How dare you doubt the word of a lady!" Sanji shouted.
"Are you saying you believe everything she's told us?" Zoro growled back. "Do you really believe wish granting exists?!"
"Well, I…" Sanji paused to consider Zoro's words. He then shouted, "That doesn't matter! A man should never call a woman a liar!"
"It's fine, Sanji. I don't mind proving I'm not a devil fruit user at all." Zerina nodded. She stood up. Before walking over to the side of the deck, she took off her weapons and laid them down. She felt the crew walking over to her. Without a word, she pulled herself upon the railing then dove into the water.
"I guess she really isn't a devil fruit user," She heard Brook say once she resurfaced.
"Hey, I'll open the hatch down there so you can get back on the ship," Franky said. He didn't give her time to ask what he meant. Next thing she knew, a door was opening on the side of the ship. She saw Franky inside of it. He waved at her with one hand while holding a towel in his other. She blinked at the ship before swimming inside.
"Thanks." She took the towel from him and started to towel off her body. She then followed Franky back to the deck of the ship. She sat back down by Luffy. "If you require more proof, Luffy can make a wish for meat."
"Go ahead then," Zoro said.
"You idiot!" Sanji shouted.
"Luffy?" Zerina looked to Luffy. "Make a wish for meat."
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Luffy said with drool running down his chin. He threw his fists up into the air. "Rina! I wish for meat! Lots of meat!"
The crew gasped when Zerina started to glow. Her dark purplish blue aura surrounded her body then spread out over the ship. The aura hovered several feet above the ship. The more excitable Straw Hats shrieked when meat began to fall out of the sky and onto the Sunny. The less excitable Straw Hats just sat and watched calmly. A few of them had to dodge falling meat. Zoro sliced a couple to prevent them from hitting him. He then stuck one of his swords through a piece of meat and bit into it. He mumbled, "Not bad."
"So why can't you grant wishes properly?" Usopp asked.
"I'm not really sure. I never have been able to. The only wish I can grant without having something bad happen is Luffy's wish for meat. I always just figured it was because my father wasn't part of Hydra," Zerina replied.
"And I'm the only one who's allowed to make meat wishes!" Luffy pointed out. "You all stay away from her!"
"No one cares about that!" Nami shouted. "You can make all the meat wishes you want!"
"You mean you don't know?" Brook asked. "Wasn't there some kind of specialist or doctor you could go see about this?"
"No, as far as I'm aware of I'm the first ever to be born of one parent not from Hydra." Zerina shrugged. "This wish granting thing is something we're just born with. As far as I know, it's always been like that for people who were born on Hydra or of Hydra parents."
"And your family wouldn't help you?" Chopper asked.
"No, remember they're not happy with me being a child of a pirate. I was never treated like a part of the family," Zerina said before she could stop herself. She forced herself not to show any kind of emotion regarding her slip up.
"They didn't abuse you, did they?!" Luffy demanded.
"No, no, nothing like that," Zerina quickly said. She chuckled nervously. "I mean, I wasn't treated like a princess or anything, but life could have been worse back on Hydra. I was fine with how things were back there. I actually acquired a lot of skills growing up there. I can grow a mean garden."
Zerina flinched when Luffy just continued to stare at her. After a few intense seconds, he smiled. "That's good. If something was wrong, I know you'd tell me about it."
"Yeah." Zerina twitched. She twitched again when she felt someone glaring harshly at her. She ran her eyes over the Straw Hats, but no one seemed upset. Maybe I was just imagining things?
"So, how is it you come to be with Luffy?" Robin asked.
"Well, Luffy and I share this bond. We can communicate with each other through our minds. He stopped answering me at one point. I then could sense that something was wrong. So I left Hydra to find Luffy. When I did, I learn the reason he was in so much pain," Zerina explained. She looked at Luffy. Luffy gave her a comforting grin. He then put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his side.
"How did you get to Luffy then? If you had your own ship then you wouldn't have had the Kuja bring you back to Sabaody," Franky asked. "Or did you have to abandon your ship somewhere?"
"No, I don't have a ship. While granting wishes, I also have this other ability to, um, I'm not sure how to explain it, but I call it Star Travel," Zerina replied.
"So you can fly?" Chopper asked.
"In a weird way, I guess you could call it that." Zerina nodded. "But I can only travel directly to one place then back again. I can't take to the air and fly all over like a bird can."
"That's so cool!" Chopper exclaimed with stars in his eyes. "Could I see it some time? Please?"
"I suppose so. I'm meaning to go see my father at some point," Zerina said thoughtfully. "I won't mind you all watching me take off and return."
"Great! I can't wait!" Chopper cheered happily.
"I'm kinda excited to see that too," Usopp added.
"I'm curious as well," Robin said. "This will be an interesting thing to see."
"Well, I don't mind you all watching when I leave," Zerina said with a shrug. "I'll let you all know when I decide to go."
"That's great. For now," Nami said standing up, "We should show you around the ship now."
"Yeah! Let's give Zerina a tour!" Chopper giggled happily.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Franky cheered. "You're gonna love the Sunny!"
"Yeah! Let's go, Rina!" Luffy grabbed Zerina's hand and jerked her up from the bench. He pulled her through the Sunny while chomping on his meat. They were followed by Franky, Chopper, Usopp and Nami. She listened intently as Franky chattered on about his pride and joy. He explained every room to her in explicit details.
"Wow! This ship is incredible! I never would have imagined that a ship could look like this!" Zerina said. Her hand was still in Luffy's as her eyes kept wondering over the bar area. "That aquarium is amazing!"
"Thanks! I put a lot of work into this ship!" Franky smiled proudly. "She'll never let us down. Oh, and don't worry about your bed. I'll fix one right up for you and put it in the women's quarters before it's time for bed."
"You don't have to go through all that trouble. I don't mind sleeping on one of the couches or even on the floor. I might actually sleep out on the deck. I kinda grew accusation to sleeping outside these past two years," Zerina stated.
"Don't be silly. Me and Robin are happy to share our room with you." Nami smiled. Her eyes then dropped to the clothes Zerina was wearing. "But I do have to ask…Are those the only clothes you have?"
"Oh, yeah." Zerina looked down at her body. "I left Hydra in kind of a hurry. I didn't bring anything with me. The Amazon warriors were kind enough to give me clothes to wear."
"Ah, that makes sense." Nami nodded. "We can go shopping at the next island we stop at. Until then, feel free to brought whatever clothes you need to from me and Robin."
"I couldn't do that," Zerina said while shaking her head.
"Of course you can. You're part of our crew now. I don't mind at all. I know Robin won't mind either," Nami said with a smile. Her eyes ran over Zerina's body again. "But I think my clothes might fit you a bit better than Robin's."
"You might be right," Zerina mumbled while keeping her eyes on her body. She definitely wasn't build like Robin and Nami were.
…
Author's Notes: Hm, this story isn't coming out like it appears in my head. It seems like a comedy instead of a romance. :/ I guess I have issues working on two OCs at a time ^.^'
Toreh: Welcome to this story then. I'm not sure how good it's gonna be. :/ It doesn't seem to be playing out as well as I though it would. All well, only time will tell how this one will turn out. It might get better when I get to the actual main part of it.