Sanji & Shanks
Rolling over on her back, Zerina sighed. Despite being inside the ship, in the women's quarters, she knew it was about four thirty in the morning. She had been on the Sunny for five days now. And, for some reason, she just couldn't get use to it or sleeping in doors. She wasn't sure exactly which one it was. All she knew is she was having trouble getting a decent nights sleep. She would fall asleep between two and two thirty then always wake up at four thirty. She was considering taking Luffy upon his offer if she didn't get some real sleep soon. At this point, she was just thankful that they hadn't run into any trouble. She knew she wasn't going to be good in a fight if she didn't get more than a couple hours asleep a night.
With another sigh, Zerina forced herself out of bed. No point in trying to get back to sleep. She paused and looked at the two women. Her two new roommates were sleeping peacefully. She felt a bit envious of them at the moment. Getting to know the Straw Hats was proving to be crazy easy. Of course she already knew quite a bit about them thanks to Luffy telling her practically everything about them before.
The first couple of days they spent the majority of their time getting to know her. They asked her all kinds of things. Luckily, none of them were hard to answer. It was just the basic get to know you questions. What's your favorite color? Red. What's your favorite style of clothes? Don't really have a favorite. What's your favorite food? Hot honey and butter rolls. Least favorite food? Strawberries. Questions like that were easy to answer and didn't require lying or manipulating her words.
She continued to walk to the door but paused when she saw her reflection in the mirror. She was wearing a light green Amazon, altered to her liking, bikini style outfit. Even thought Luffy has told her everything about his-their-crew, she didn't feel right about wearing someone else's clothes. She still felt weird about the Kuja giving her these outfits. She wondered if she would ever get use to such acts from other people. So far all the people she has met since being off Hydra were very nice and friendly. They were just so different from the people on Hydra. She wasn't sure if she was going to be able to get use to it or not.
With a third sigh and a light rumbled of her stomach, she left the room. She made her way up to the deck of the Sunny. Out on the deck, she could see Franky was up and standing guard at the front of the ship. Not really wanting anyone to know she was awake, she quickly slipped away from him and into the kitchen. Another thing she was still uncomfortable with was helping herself to someone else's kitchen, but Luffy had told her multiple times it was okay. So she opened a couple cabinets and rummaged for something to eat. She found herself some oatmeal. That was an easy make for her. She quickly whipped it up then sat in silence while eating her hot meal of oats.
While sitting in the quiet room, her mind drifted back to when she was still with her dad. Oatmeal was always a favorite of hers. Shanks would always feed it to her when she was upset, not just when she was really hungry and he needed a quick meal to make her. Tears came to her eyes. She really missed him now. Perhaps she had put going to see him off long enough. Perhaps missing him was why she couldn't sleep so well.
A sudden open of the door made her jump. She looked up to see Sanji staring at her with slightly widened eyes. Her presence startled him as much as his startled her. "Oh, Zerina, I didn't think anyone else but the two standing guard were up yet."
"Sorry," Zerina apologized. "I couldn't sleep anymore. I was hungry too."
"I see." Sanji looked at her almost empty bowl.
Zerina suddenly felt self conscience about being in here. This was Sanji's kitchen not hers. "I'm sorry. I should have asked before I dug through your food supply."
"There's no need for you to apologize. You are part of the crew now. So this food belongs to you as well," Sanji said. He puffed on his cigarette while walking into the kitchen. Zerina watched him gather up a couple pans while she polished off her oatmeal. A thick, uncomfortable silence had settled over the room. She wondered if he felt it too.
"You don't like me very much, do you?" Zerina found herself asking. She twitched when Sanji turned and looked at her. She wasn't sure what he was going to say or what he was thinking, but it was obvious that he was unsure of her. That was something he just couldn't hide from her whether he knew it or not. She knew far too many people like that back on Hydra. She swallowed. It seemed like several minutes had passed while they just started at each other. "Look, I know you're trying to hide it from me, but I've seen far too many people who don't like me because of who my father is. It's okay. I get it. I'm not someone you're use to having around. You don't have to like me just because I'm a childhood friend of Luffy's. Sometimes people just don't click. I get that too."
She watched as Sanji opened his mouth. He was going to say something, but quickly closed his lips. A few more minutes passed before he finally spoke to her. He said, "I don't even know you. You've only been here for a few days. We haven't had time to get to know each other yet. I'm sure we'll be friends once we get to know each other for real."
Zerina flinched at his words. She tried to stop herself, but she couldn't. And he saw her flinch. She saw a small frown pulled at the edges of his lips before he turned his back to her. She sighed to herself. This guy was different from everyone else on the Sunny. He obviously paid closer attention to details and the way people act. She should have known she wouldn't be able to fool everyone. Quietly, she asked, "How did you know?"
"Observation Haki," Sanji replied quicker than she thought he would.
"You're using haki on me?" Zerina asked. She felt hurt by his words and use of haki on her, but she didn't know why she felt like that. Its not like Sanji was a friend of hers. She'd only known him for a few days just like he pointed out. Still it stung her that he did.
"Yeah," Sanji said with a nod. "But, for the record, even if I didn't have this type of haki I still would have known that you were lying about certain things."
"I'm so-"
"Don't bother apologizing unless you're going to tell me why you're lying to everyone, most importantly, Luffy," Sanji said, cutting her off.
"I can't do that," Zerina replied. She clenched her fists together.
"That's your choice to make them. But your lying better not hurt my crew. If they do, I will consider you an enemy," Sanji said with warning clearly lacing his tone.
"Then you will fight me?" Zerina asked.
"Only if Luffy says so. You are his friend so I highly doubt that will ever happen. He's obviously very fond of you. But I won't forgive you if you hurt him," Sanji said. The two fell back into uncomfortable silence. There was nothing she could say at that point. She didn't want to hurt Luffy, but it looks like no matter what she did that was going to happen at some point anyway. Sighing, she turned her eyes down to her bowl.
Zerina had no idea how long she had sat there starting at her empty bowl. One minute she was staring into the empty dish with Sanji's words buzzing around her ears, the next minute the bowl had disappeared and she was sitting at the table with the rest of the crew eating breakfast that Sanji had made without her even noticing.
"You're awfully quiet this morning, Zerina," She heard Usopp say. She lifted her eyes to the sniper. "Is something wrong?"
Zerina flicked her eyes over to Sanji. He was standing at the sink washing dishes. She flinched lightly when he glanced over his shoulder at her. They locked eyes for a second before he turned his attention back to his task at hand. He apparently wasn't going to bring up the subject of her lying to anyone. She looked back at Usopp. "No, nothings wrong. I was just thinking about going to see my dad today."
"Really?!" Chopper shouted with glee. "That means we get to see that little trick you told us about?"
"Yeah." Zerina nodded.
"That's great. I've been dying with curiosity to see this," Nami said.
"I'm glad you decided to finally go see him," Luffy said. Zerina turned her eyes to him. She was sitting on his left side. She had sat there since the first time they ate in here. He designated that her spot, even scribbled her name on it much to the annoyance of Franky, and no one else was to sit here. "When are you leaving?"
"Well, I'm sure they're eating breakfast right now so I think I'll wait an hour or so to go see him," Zerina replied.
"That's probably a good idea," Robin said. She brought her tea cup up to her lips. "It's also possible that they're not even awake yet. They're known for being heavy drinkers."
"Yeah." Zerina chuckled. "I figured that's one thing that will never change with him and his crew. He never drank that much with me around, but he still drank a lot."
…
Zerina stood on the deck of the Sunny. The Straw Hat crew was gathered around her. Even Sanji, who was standing up on the next level, was leaning over the railing. A slight amount of interest was in his eyes. She could only look at him for a few seconds before dropping her eyes away from him. Her eyes went to Luffy. She felt guilty, again. Did he really have to look at her with those innocent, trusting eyes of his?
"How long are you going to be gone?" She barely heard Luffy asked.
"I'm not sure." Zerina shrugged. "I'm not all sure what we're going to be talking about. They might want me to stay and eat lunch with them. If I had to take a guess I probably won't return until later tonight or possibly even tomorrow. Will that be a problem?"
"Naw." Luffy waved his hand in the air. "You haven't seen him for years. I'm sure you have a lot to talk about. Take all the time you need. You can always contact me if you're going to need more time with him. Just be sure to tell him I said hi. And that I can't wait to come kick his Emperor butt off his throne!"
"Thanks, Luffy. I'll be sure to deliver your message," Zerina replied with a laugh. She then closed her eyes. She heard the crew gasp when a white glow appeared around her and engulfed her body.
"That's so cool!" She heard Chopper cry.
"She looks like she's on fire, but the fire is white instead of red or orange," Usopp said.
"That's just incredible!" Franky shouted. "She's super amazing!"
Without a word to them, she took off into the sky and headed east. The excitable crew mates of Chopper, Franky, Usopp and Brook ran to the railing of the ship. They watched her strange glowing form disappear on the horizon.
…
Zerina's flight across the sky was a short one. It always was. Her Star Travel ability was fast as light. She came upon her dad's ship with just minutes of taking to the sky from the Sunny. She landed on the deck of the Red Haired Pirates, startling them. Before her glow disappeared, she heard the familiar, but older, voice of Benn saying, "Well, look what just fell out of the sky. A pretty little Fallen Star."
"Very funny, Uncle Benn," Zerina said. She tried to sound annoyed at the old nickname, but she just couldn't. She was too excited and happy to see them again. He had started calling her than one day after she tripped and fell over her own feet. It did annoyed her, but she also loved it. Her glow faded away and she finally saw all of their smiling faces. It had been far too long since she saw them. They all had grown older and now had grey in their hair, those who had hair. "Wow! You all have gotten so old!"
"You better watch that smart mouth of yours, Fallen Star!" Benn growled playfully. He wrapped his arm around her neck and pulled her to his side. She squealed when he lightly rubbed his knuckles into her hair. "I'm still your uncle. And I still have permission from your dad to punish you when you get out of line."
"What? It's true!" Zerina laughed. "You all are old!"
"You've gotten older too, Z," She heard Lucky Roo say through his typical mouth full of food.
"True, but at least I'm a lot cuter than you lot!" Zerina whipped back.
"She's got you there, Lucky Roo." Zerina's heart thumped with excitement against her chest. Her dad's voice was just as she remembered it. Benn released her enough so she could stand up straight and look at her dad. Shanks laughed. "And I'd much rather see her lovely face than your ugly mugs any day."
"Daddy…" Zerina felt her eyes swell up with tears. She was just so happy to see her dad after so many years of being apart from him. She broke away from Benn's hold and ran over to him. With all the strength in her legs, she leaped into his open arm. She wrapped her arms around his neck and cried. "Daddy…I-I missed you so much."
"I've missed you too," Shanks whispered back. He wrapped his arm around her. Tears were gathering in his own eyes. After several minutes of intense hugging, Zerina's feet was back on the deck of the ship and he was brushing away her tears.
"Now, no more tears. You have a lot to tell me," Shanks ordered. She shifted when his eyes roamed over the outfit she was wearing. "And I get the feeling I'm not going to like everything you have to say."
Zerina chuckled nervously. She knew he wasn't going to like everything she had to say. But she knew she couldn't lie to him about anything. He knew far too much about Hydra already from what her mom had told him when they were together. He also knew the current style of clothing wasn't acceptable for someone of her position on Hydra. So, she sat down with him on the deck of the ship, along with the rest of the crew, and told him everything from the moment she arrived on Hydra years ago to the second she left Luffy's ship to come see him.
"WHAT?!" Shanks's voice rang out several yards from the ship. A couple of sea king snakes shivered at the noise before diving back down to the depths of the sea. Zerina blinked as her father ranted on. "HOW DARE THAT OLD MAN TEACH MY BABY HOW TO FIGHT?! WHAT WAS HE THINKING?! OH JUST WAIT UNTIL THE NEXT TIME I SEE HIM! HE'S GOING TO PAY FOR THIS!"
"What exactly is he upset about?" Yasopp asked in a hushed tone. "If Zerina grew up on the ship with us, he would have taught her how to fight himself. She's the daughter of a pirate. She'd need to learn how to defend herself anyway. Besides, this could help her with her troubles back on Hydra."
"Just let him have his moment. He's a dad. He's supposed to blow things out of proportions when it comes to his little girl," Benn said with a shrug. "And how is this supposed to help her back on Hydra? They grant wishes. Which is why she hasn't told Luffy about any of the abuse she suffers, right, Zerina?"
"Yeah." Zerina nodded solemnly. "You all know that if I do tell Luffy about this he'd figure out a way to get to Hydra and try to fight them. I can't let that happen. They can kill him too easily with just a couple of words. Or make me do it since they love to torture me."
"But you should still tell him," Shanks said suddenly done with his rant. Zerina turned her eyes to him. "You know they're not going to give you up so easily."
"But why?" Zerina asked. Tears came to her eyes once more. "I didn't do anything wrong! Why can't they just let me go?! I'm nothing but an eyesore to them anyway! Why do they want to keep me there if they hate me?!"
Zerina rubbed her fists in her eyes, not noticing a strange glance Shanks gave his crew. She dropped to her knees and cried and cried. She barely noticed Shanks kneeled down beside her until he put his hand on her back. She calmed down to the soothing circles he made on her back. "Baby, you haven't been sleeping well, have you?"
"No," Zerina replied honestly through her dying sobs.
"You always had issues sleeping when you were a kid and something was bothering you," Shanks recalled.
She looked up at him. "I did?"
"Mhmm." Shanks nodded. "Sometimes you'd lose sleep over the silliest things. The only way I could get you to sleep was to sleep with you."
"I don't remember that," Zerina replied. She narrowed her eyebrows in thought. For some reason she couldn't recall a single time like that.
"Well, you were just a kid. It's natural that you don't remember everything when you lived on the ship. Why don't you come inside for a nap? We can talk more after that," Shanks offered. Zerina opened her mouth to protest. But, apparently, Shanks still knew her well enough to know ahead of time she was going to resist a nap. He shook his finger at her then pointed to the door that led inside of the ship. "Don't you dare even think about arguing with me, young lady. Up and into my room. Right now."
Zerina scrunched up her nose at the command, but obeyed him. She placed her hand in his larger one and stood up with him. She felt like a child once again with her hand in his. She loved it. She loved him. She quietly followed him into the ship. It still felt the same as it did years ago. It felt like home. A real home with real family who actually loved her.
"Here we are," Shanks announced when they entered into the captain's quarters. She glanced around the room. The large bed, the two nightstands on each side, the closet, the old wooden dresser, the mixed smells of booze, wood and her dad's scent had childhood memories flooding back to her.
Memories of her sleeping in his bed, cutting her knee when she fell, him being silly to make her laugh when she was crying. A few faded memories of her mom tried to come back, but she just couldn't remember her clearly. "Daddy?"
"Yes?" Shanks asked as he led her over to the bed. He grabbed the cover and flipped it back for her.
"Will you tell me about mom?" Zerina asked quietly. For a second, she felt like she shouldn't have ask him. He became insanely stiff and quiet. "You don't have to. I was just-"
"Of course I'll tell you." Shanks turned around and wrapped his arm around Zerina's shoulders, pulling her to his chest. He then guided her to the bed and they both sat down on it. Zerina snuggled into his side and waited for him to speak. "You were only four when your mother passed away. It's only natural that you have trouble remembering her. Well, lets see…Where would a good place be to start?"
Zerina covered a yawn while her dad debated on where to start talking. "I guess I should start at the beginning…It was twenty years ago when I first met your mother. She was by far the most stubborn woman I have ever met. She was also the most beautiful with her white hair and silver eyes. She was like a magical ghost that appeared out of nowhere. She also had a knack for getting into trouble. She had gotten caught by some bandits who wanted to sell her off at a human action house because she had such odd eyes. They thought she would be worth a lot because of them."
Shanks chuckled. "Being the charming gentleman that I've always been, I decided to help her. But, wouldn't ya know, she didn't appreciate the help at all. She actually slapped me when I set her free from the explosive collar then ran off without a word. Oddly enough, when we left that island, we found that we had a stowaway on my ship. It was your mother. Intrigued by her actions, I decided to make her a servant on my ship. It was just for fun, however. I wasn't going to make her a servant for real. But then, one day, she broke down and told me everything about her life on Hydra. She told me about how the elite there treated those who wasn't as gifted in their magic as others. About how she was going to be forced to marry a man she absolutely couldn't stand. About how she wanted to free the…Zerina?"
Shanks looked down to find that Zerina had fallen asleep. He chuckled. He should have know she was far too tired at the moment to stay awake to listen to the entire story. He kissed her hair and settled down in the bed beside her. He gave her one last looked before drifting off to take a nap with her. "Don't worry, Little Star. Everything is going to be just fine."
…
Zerina had no idea how long she slept for. All she knew is she was struggling to wake up to two muffled voices in her ears. She wanted to move but her body felt strangely heavy and stiff. She couldn't move at all. She couldn't even opened her eyes up all the way. All she could do was crack her eyes open slightly to blurry vision and listen to the voices fading in and out of her ears. Through her blurry vision she saw two bodies standing not too far from her. She couldn't figure out who they were. She knew they weren't an enemy. She knew she was safe…somewhere. But where? Why couldn't she remember where she was?
"…not going to tell her?!"
"…won't matter…she doesn't…I won't…"
"Maybe…you're the captain and her…but if not then why…the entire crew wants to know…"
"I know, Benn…something she has to….out for herself…going to be hard…but her mother wanted…"
"…hope you know…you're doing, Captain."
"Captain?" Zerina asked groggily as if she's never heard the word before in her life. She reached up to rubbed her eyes. When she touched her face she found something was covering her eyes. She went to pull whatever it was off, but stopped when one of the blurry bodies walked over to her. The blur sat down on the bed and placed its familiar hand on hers. "Daddy?"
"Don't do that," he told her. He guided her hand back down to the bed, away from whatever was on her face, then stroked her hair. "It's okay, baby. Just go back to sleep. You're safe here. No one's going to hurt you."
"Okay," Zerina said with a small yawn. She relaxed back into the pillow. Her eyes drifted closed as the second blur walked closer to the bed and spoke again.
"Think she heard…"
"No…wake enough….be fine…" The voices faded off into darkness as Zerina closed her eyes and fell back into dreamless slumber.
…
Zerina opened her eyes to the familiar sights of her father's room. She stretched out with a yawn before sitting up. She looked around to find that her dad wasn't with her in the room. She pushed off his covers and got up to go find him. As she walked through the ship, she noticed that she felt really good. She hummed to herself in thought. Before she could think much, she came to the door that would lead out onto the deck. She placed her hand on it and pushed it open. She stepped outside and blinked in confusion. "Huh?"
The ship was now docked at an island. She looked over the island. There didn't seem to be any kind of town on it. Or at least on the side that they were on. There could be a town on the other side. It looked to be a pretty big island. But why would they dock on the uninhabited side of an island?
"About time you woke up, Fallen Star," Benn joked. Zerina pulled her eyes from the island and looked at her uncle. She looked around to find the rest of her uncles weren't anywhere to be seen on the ship. She walked over to the railing and looked over it. The rest of the crew was down on the island. They had a fire going and some form of meat was rotating over the fire by the crew's cook. From the smell drifting on the breeze she found it was sea pig meat.
"What's going on?" Zerina asked him as she turned her eyes back in his direction. "We weren't anywhere near an island a few hours ago."
"We weren't anywhere near an island yesterday," Benn corrected.
"I slept yesterday away?!" Zerina's eyes widened.
"Technically, you slept yesterday and the most of today away. It's just about time for lunch. If you slept any longer, you would have missed it," Benn said. He pulled a new cigarette from his shirt pocket and lit it. He blew a puff of smoke out before walking over to her. He easily lifted her up and hung her over his shoulder like she was a sack of potatoes. "Captain, wants you down on the island. He wants you to eat lunch then you're going to be sparring with me, missy."
"What the heck?!" Zerina whined. "Sparring with you?! Why don't you just kill me right now and get it over with?! Why torture me to dead?!"
Benn released a hearty laugh at her complaint. "You should have seen this coming, Fallen Star."
Zerina huffed. "If I had know this was going to happen, I would have just stayed with Luffy!"
"You staying with Luffy is precisely the main reason you're sparring with me today," Benn explained as he walked over to the rope ladder that was hang down over the ship's side so they could climb down to the island. "The captain wants to see what Silvers Rayleigh taught you."
"But I didn't bring my weapons," Zerina said thoughtfully. "I didn't even think about the possibility of sparring with someone here. I was just coming to see you all."
"Well, that was a huge mistake on your part," Benn said. "You should know to always carry your weapons with you. Even if you are going into friendly territory. You never know when the enemy is going to pop up and attack you."
He finished speaking with a sharp smack on her bottom with his hand. She cried out, "Ouch! What was that for?!"
"Punishment for leaving your weapons behind," Benn replied. He swung his leg over the railing and easily descended down the rope ladder with her still on his shoulder. He jumped down the last few feet and easily landed on the ground. "You said you trained with a bow, arrows and a bo staff, right?"
"That's right," Zerina replied. Feeling the blood now rushing to her head, she placed her hands on Benn's back and pushed up. "Why?"
"I think we have some of those laying around," Benn said. Zerina growled lightly when she heard the rest of the crew laughing at her predicament as they got close enough to them. Benn then sat her back down on her feet. "You can borrow them this time. But if you ever forget your weapons again, I'll really give you a punishment. You'll train for an entire day straight without stopping and without food."
"Daddy!" Zerina almost stomped her foot on the ground. She quickly remembered she wasn't wearing any shoes and was able to stop herself before she did. She whipped around to the red haired man, looking for some defense even thought she should have know she wouldn't get any.
Shanks was leaning against a log. His arm was behind his head, he had his eyes closed and his right leg crossed over his left knee. When she addressed him, he cracked open an eye and smiled. "You know the rules around here, baby. They haven't changed since you've been gone. All of your uncles still have my permission to punish you in any way they see fit when you have done wrong. Understood?"
"Ugh!" Zerina let her head fall back as her shoulders slumped. "Fine! Understood! Punishment received! Lessoned learned! I'll never leave my weapons behind again! Happy?!"
"Very good," Benn said with a chuckle. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. Her nose scrunched at the smoke tickling her senses. "Now, eat your lunch like the good little girl I know you are."
"Yes, sir," Zerina said with a defeated sigh. The cook then walked over with a plate of food and a cup of water for her. She took him with a smile. "Thank you."
Zerina then sat down beside her dad. She ate quietly while the crew chatted like she remember. She then turned her eyes to her dad. "Daddy, about what you were saying earlier."
Shanks eyes popped open. The food he was chewing on involuntarily slid down his throat, causing his face to turn blue from lack of oxygen. The crew immediately stopped all of their talking and turned to the two. Shanks pounded his chest before he could swallow his food. He gasped for air before turning to Zerina. "W-What about it?"
"Nothing much, I just wanted to apologize for falling asleep when you were telling me about mother," Zerina said, unaware of the reactions of the crew. "I guess I was far more sleepy than I thought I was."
"Oh, that," Shanks said. He took a deep breath then let it out before continuing to speak. "Don't worry about it. We can talk anytime about her. It was more important that you slept. You do feel better now, right?"
"I feel fine. I felt great until Uncle Benn informed me I was sparring with him," Zerina said. She then shot a glare at the grey hair man. He responded with a simple smirk before turning back to his own food. "Do I have to spar with him? With the crew at all? They're way stronger than I am."
"No whining about this, baby," Shanks said in a slight warning tone. "This has to be done. I want to make sure you are capable of taking care of yourself when the situation arrises. Things are different here than on Hydra. You're on a pirate crew now. You'll need to know how to handle stronger opponents, but I'm sure Luffy's crew will help you with that and help you train more. Right?"
"Yes, sir," Zerina said with a confirming nodded.
"Then finish your lunch." Shanks nodded to the half eaten meal on her plate. "You'll rest for about thirty minutes after your finished then start your sparring season."
"Right." Zerina nodded again.
"By they way," Shanks said. Zerina turned her eyes back up to him. "Do you remember the song that your mother use to sing you?"
"I didn't remember it until a few days ago," Zerina said thoughtfully as she recalled the time and place she suddenly remembered the song. "I was with Luffy on the Kuja ship. It just suddenly came back to me. Why?"
"No special reason," Shanks said. He had his eyes down at his plate. He pushed his food around before looking up at her with a strange, serious and concerned stern look that she couldn't recall him ever using. "Never forget it again, okay? Promise me you'll remember it from now on. Promise me you'll sing it everyday so you don't forget it again."
"Uh, okay. I promise." Zerina blinked. "I don't want to forget it again anyway. Singing it everyday will help with that. I guess I just didn't sing it enough on Hydra and ended up forgetting it. I guess being back with Luffy somehow reminded me of it."
Shanks just slowly nodded to her. Zerina then turned her attention back down to her plate, unaware of the passing glances of concerns the crew was giving their captain.
…
Zerina stood, somewhat, ready to face off against Benn. She knew he wouldn't intentionally hurt her, but she also knew he wasn't going to go easy on her either. She knew he would start off slow, inspecting her fighting style, before going in for the attack. She figure she might as well do the same. She couldn't really remember how any one of them fought since she was only six years old the last time she was with them.
She placed her bo staff, bow and arrows, her borrowed weapons for the moment, securely on her back before charging in towards Benn. She jumped up into the air and brought her foot down towards his head. He easily blocked it. She threw a couple punches at him, followed by a couple more round house kicks before leaping away from him. She pulled out her bow staff then charged back in.
After a few swings with her bo staff, Benn suddenly took off on her. She quickly followed. "What is he-"
Zerina cut her own voice off and quickly jumped backwards seconds before Lucky Roo leaped out of a group of nearby bushes. She swung her bo staff at him. He blocked it with the back of his wrist. Taking a bit of his sea pig meat, he said, "Not bad. I wasn't expecting you to sense me that quick."
"I knew something wasn't right when Benn took off running," Zerina replied with a smirk. "I should have known from the beginning that this sparring session wasn't going to be just between me and him, daddy's more thorough than that. He will want to test me on more than just one on one training."
"Good girl," Lucky Roo praised her. She caught him by surprised when she planted her foot on his knee. "What the…?"
"And right now Yasopp is coming up from behind me," Zerina said with a smile. She pushed up on Lucky Roo's knee and flipped backwards over Yasopp. She then planted her feet on the man's back, kicking him forward and throwing him slightly off balance. Yasopp stumbled forward and almost clocked Lucky Roo on the chin with his fist. "And this is how it's gonna be. I'm gonna have to be more careful now that I know for sure pretty much all of you are going to try and attack me."
…
Zerina panted hard. She wiped the back of her arm over her chin, brushing the gathering sweat off of it. She quickly jumped to her left when one of the Red Haired Pirates rushed at her with his fist swinging at her. She just got out of the way as he brought his hand right down on the ground where she was standing. She pulled out an arrow. Embedding it with her Armament Haki, she fired at him. But, of course, he easily dodged it.
They all easily dodged her attacks. She didn't find this surprising at all. They were, after all, subordinates of an Emperor. And they have had years of training over her two years. She knew that she was never going to be able to defeat them. And she also knew they were going easy on her, extremely easy. They had been going at this sparring session for hours. And she was no where near taking any of them down. She didn't mind. That wasn't the point of this anyway. She knew the point was for her dad to see what she can do and for his crew to train her while she was with them.
She whipped around when she felt Benn coming up from behind her. She wasn't able to move quick enough. He easily knocked her bow out of her hand, her bo staff was knocked out of her hand two hours ago. Now with her bow taken away, all she had was her fists and feet. She round housed kicked him. Again, he easily blocked her attack then sent her flying several yards away from him. Her body collided with the ground. She bounced then rolled before coming to a dusty stop. She waved her hand to get the dirt away from her. "Geez! This is a lot harder than fighting those animals back on Rusukaina!"
"Indeed it is," Shanks said while walking up to them. "But you have done well. I see that Rayleigh's trained you well enough. You're going to be fine sailing with Luffy and his crew. That'll be enough. I don't want you to get hurt over a silly little sparring season."
"Great." Zerina rolling onto her back.
"Let's get those cuts taken care off. After that, you should eat something and sleep some before going back to Luffy," Shanks said while running his eyes over the small cuts and bruises she gather from the day's training.
"Probably a good idea," Zerina said through pants while sitting up. She brought her right foot underneath her. She placed her hand on her knee and pushed herself to her feet. She was able to stand up, but stumbled forward.
"Maybe we over did it a little," Shanks said as she fell into his arm. He nodded to Benn. Benn nodded back as he walked over to the two. He picked Zerina up. "Let's get you into the doctor's quarters."
"Right." Zerina nodded and closed her eyes. She was so glad someone was there to carry her. She wasn't sure she could even take a single step toward the ship. A few minutes later, she was sitting in the doctor's quarters. The Red Haired Pirates doctor was dabbing a cotton ball covered in antibiotics on the cuts on her skin. Some of the cuts stung from the antibiotics, but she was too tired to care.
"Since your here," The doctor said. Zerina stiffened up. She knew what he was going to say before he even got a word out. "Let me take a look at your back."
"Zerina," She heard her dad say in his typical fatherly warning tone. She sighed knowing there was no way out of it. So she pulled her legs onto the bed and turned her back to them. When she knew they had adverted their eyes, she pulled her top up. She left it hanging around her neck so it would fall over her chest. Seconds later, a dark cloud filled the room. She could feel her father's harsh glare on her back. She knew if he could get to Hydra he would kill every single one of them in a second.
The doctor remained smartly quiet. He rummaged for an ointment that he could put on her back that would help it heal. When he found it, he quietly walked back over to the bed. He sat down on his chair and started applying it to her skin. "Well, it's healing nicely. Just as long as you don't get it cut and get dirt in it. If that happens, it'll get infected. So try to avoid getting hit on your back until it's healed completely."
"Right." Zerina nodded. She focused down on the bed and contacted Luffy. "Luffy?"
"What's up, Rina?"
"I'm going to stay a little while longer with my dad. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"Sure thing, Rina. How is everyone over there?"
"They're fine. They miss you too and can't wait to see you again."
"Are you okay? You sound kind of tired."
"I am. I trained with the crew today."
"What?! That's incredible! Well, I won't have you tell me how it all went. You can talk about that when you get back to the ship. You just take care of yourself for right now. And get some sleep."
"Sure thing."
"See you tomorrow!"
"Yeah. See you then."
"Are you done talking to your lover?" Shanks asked. The doctor chuckled as Zerina felt her face grow hot.
"Daddy!" Zerina hissed. "Luffy is not my lover!"
The two men laughed hysterically. She pulled on her top while they were busy laughing. She turned to them. Standing up, she stomped her foot on the floor and instantly regretted it. She was far too sore from training to be stomping around. And stomping your foot without shoes on was never a good idea. She dropped back on the bed and whimpered at the pain shooting through her body. She hissed at the two men in the room. "Will you two stop laughing? What's so funny anyway?!"
"You and your naivety towards Luffy," Shanks told her with a large grin on his face. "You two are meant to be together. You just don't see it. You're totally in love with him and he's totally in love with you."
"I am not!" Zerina snapped. She could feel her face growing hotter. "And he's definitely not in love with me! We haven't seen each other for years! Besides, you know how he his!"
"Naw. That's just denial talking." Shanks smirked at her. "I'm a father. And I'm your father. I can sense these things."
"Sure you can," Zerina grumbled as she stood up.
"You are in l-o-v-e!" Shanks sang. Zerina growled. Ignoring the two cackling hyenas, she left the room with a slam of the door behind her. Walking down the hall, she could still hear them laughing and singing about her being in love with Luffy. She rolled her eyes and went to find someone that wasn't as childish as her dad. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen with this group of pirates. Rockstar had been passing by the doctor's quarters and heard what Shanks had said about her and Luffy. So she spent the majority of the night listening to them teasing her. After about three hours of endless torture, her dad finally took pity on her and ordered his crew to stop teasing his baby. But they didn't stop sending her teasing smirks and glances. Eventually sleep came as a heavenly blessing. She drifted off to sleep while leaning against her dad's side as the crew continued talking and drinking.
…
"What the heck happened to you?" Just about all of the Straw Hats asked when Zerina arrive back at the Sunny. Her arms were slack at her sides and her legs wobbled like noodles. She had brushed most of the dirt off her skin, but some still remained. She wanted to take a shower back on her dad ship, but using a bathroom where only men used didn't sound very appealing to her.
"If the Red Haired Pirates ever ask you to spar with them," Zerina side. She looked pointedly at each and everyone of the Straw Hats, even Sanji who, shockingly, was just as shocked to see the mess she was in as the rest of them were. "Just say no and walk away as fast as you can."
"You trained with an Emperor's crew?" Robin asked with a calm tone that Zerina thought was highly inappropriate for this situation.
"Yes." Zerina nodded.
"That's practically suicide!" Usopp shouted. "My dad's on that ship! They're insanely tough!"
"Don't worry, guys." Luffy smiled confidently. "Shanks wouldn't let them hurt his girl. She was perfectly safe with them."
"That's still pretty insane," Franky said. He pushed up his sunglasses to get a clearer look at Zerina's cuts and bruises.
"That's scary," Brook added before taking a sip of his tea. "I'm glad I wasn't there. I would have died. But, then, I'm already dead so…"
"Do I need to take a look at your injuries?" Chopper asked while looking her up and down.
"No, thanks anyway. The doctor on my dad ship took care of them yesterday. Right now, all I want is a long, very long, hot soak in a hot bath," Zerina said while walking passed the crew.
"All right, but I still want to put some antibiotics on those cuts when you get out of the bath," Chopper said. Zerina turned to argue that it wasn't necessary, but she didn't have the strength too. And he wouldn't be looking at her back so she just nodded in response.
"Do you need help in the bath?" Nami offered. "You look a bit unstable."
"No, I'll be fine." Zerina waved her off. "Thanks anyway."
"All right then," Nami said with a nod. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to call for one of us. Oh, and we'll be dock in a few days. There's an island not far from here. We can finally get you some new clothes."
"Okay." Zerina waved at them then disappear into the ship to get her a clean pair of clothes. After she grabbed herself a fresh bikini she made her way up to the bathhouse. While the tub filled she removed her clothing and check herself over to make sure none of her new cuts had gotten infected. They hadn't. Once the tub was filled up to her desirer, she turned off the knobs and slipped into the steaming water. "Now this feels great."
Zerina closed her eyes with a content sigh. She stayed that way for several minutes before opening her eyes. She narrowed her eyebrows in deep thought. Something felt odd to her all of a sudden. It was like she couldn't recall everything that happened while visiting her dad and his crew. She started to think through what she did when she arrived. "That's odd. Why would I feel that way? Nothing special happened. I arrived on the ship, said hello to everyone, took a nap with dad, I did fall asleep while he was telling me about mother, then I woke up, meet Benn on the deck, went down to the island, ate lunch, talked about mother's song, sparred, doctor visit, dad and everyone teased me about Luffy, ate, slept again, then came back to the Sunny. Hmm…I'm not missing anything…Am I?"
…
Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay 'again'. Our lovely little internet modem thingy decided it wanted to quit working. So we've been out of the internet for eight days. :'( Of course it happened on the weekend so we had to wait 'til monday for it to get shipped out. And then apparently our internet provider people has a different definition of 'express shipping' than everyone else. :P Here's this chapter. Enjoy!
loveanimation4life: Hmm..I guess that last chapter did ended abruptly. I didn't' even noticed until you mentioned it and I reread it. :/ Good luck with your story! :)
PuddyKatz: Oh yeah. He's gonna find out about it. I wonder what he'll think and do? ^.^