"Paille?" the old woman questioned as she munched on some of Sanji's cooking. "This tastes great with rum."
"Wow~ De-li-cious!" the little girl agreed. "I'm Chimney! This is Gonbe, the cat. And that's my granny, Kokoro!"
We'd docked the ship next to the platform that had a house and the light tower, and Nami, Usopp, Luffy and I had jumped off of the ship to try and talk to the drunken old lady.
'Cat…' I blinked owlishly, eyeing the creature that was clearly a rabbit, not a cat.
"I thought you were train robbers! Kakaka!" The old woman laughed casually, taking a swing out of her rum bottle.
"I'm Luffy and I'm going to be the Pirate King," Luffy answered without hesitation.
"Really!" the little girl gasped.
"Yup," Luffy replied.
"Kakaka, you're funny!" Kokoro slurred drunkenly.
"Um…" Nami mumbled. "Chimney, that was a steam-power boat, right? But with its shape, how was it able to float."
'Train,' I grumbled, sure that I had seen a train on the water.
"You've never seen it before?" Chimney asked. "I guess you don't see that anywhere else in the world! That's a Sea Train. Its name is Puffing Tom."
"Puffing Tom?" Nami repeated.
'Told you~' I sung mentally.
"It's a steam-powered car that moves on the railroad in the sea," the little girl explained.
"A railroad!" Nami exclaimed.
'Of all the weird things we've seen, this shocks you the most…' I deadpanned.
"Yeah, it's just beneath the surface of the water," she continued. "The train moves from island to island every day, transporting passengers between islands. Sometimes it transports mail and packages too."
I got up and walked to the edge of the platform. Looking into the sea, I saw the rail line under the water. Nami walked over next to me and looked at it as well. "Wow! There really is a railroad!"
"Yes! And you sailed right onto the railroad! That was dangerous!" Chimney scolded.
"But, no matter how much you warn it, the frog won't understand!" Luffy protested. "Then your train rammed it and sent it flying! That was rude!"
"Ah…" the little girl mumbled. "His name is Yokozuna. He has been a nuisance for a long time. He likes to compete his strength with the others, and he has been trying to beat the train. He won't die from a crash like that. He will come back again."
"Compete!" Luffy gasped. "So that's why he didn't run away! That's some very cool fighting spirit!"
"What!" she snapped. "He causes nothing but a headache! He broke the front of the train so many times already! Every time he tried it, he frightens the passengers too!
"Is that so…" Luffy paused to consider something for a few seconds. "I don't eat hardworking animals! I won't eat him!"
"You shouldn't be eating frogs in the first place!" Nami yelled at him, crossing her arms over her chest.
"So… Where do you want to go? If you take the next train you can go to the Town of the Spring Queen, St. Poplar, then the Gourmet City, Pucci, and finally the Carnival City, San Faldo. All of them are very interesting places. If you are a Government official, you can take a special train too…"
"Ehh! The Gourmet City!" Luffy gasped.
"Don't even think about it!" Nami smacked him over the back of the head before sighing. "We have a ship so we can't take a train. Besides, we have to follow the log pose."
"Oh? Where is your log pose pointing?" Kokoro asked.
"To the West," Nami answered.
"Oh. Then you are going to Water Seven. The train you saw actually came from the Blue Station there! That place is true to its nickname, the City of Water. It is a city with the world's best ship factories. The ships that they make are trusted by even the World Government."
"Oh! Then there are good shipwrights there!" Luffy exclaimed in excitement and my ears perked up. Talk about coincidence.
"Kakaka! Not just good!" she laughed in reply. "That place is where you'll find the world's best shipwrights!"
"Usopp!" Luffy called out as he spun around to face our sniper.
"Yeah!" Usopp yelled, getting excited as well.
"…Alright, it's decided! We're going to go there and find a shipwright to be our nakama!"
We'd quickly packed up and said good bye to the old woman, the cat, and the kid. She gave us some recommendation note that we were meant to give some guy so that we could get Merry looked at.
"Leave the shipwright search to me!" Sanji called out, pointing to himself. "I'll definitely find us the hottest babe around."
"Stupid!" Luffy taunted. "We need a super big man to be out ship mechanic. He has to be at least 5 meters tall."
'He won't fit on the boat then, Luffy,' I giggled, shaking my head.
Usopp, thinking along the same lines as me, said, "That's too much, Luffy. He won't fit into our little ship."
"None of that matters, as long as he or she is a good shipwright," Zoro pointed out. "The main concern should be whether or not anyone will want to join a group of pirates."
Luffy quickly pulled out a piece of paper and started to draw what he thought the Shipwright should look like. Zoro, getting bored of our conversation walked off. Robin, Sanji, Usopp, and I stayed around to see what Luffy would come up with.
"Look here!" Luffy held up the paper, showing off his drawing off some ugly giant monster that only vaguely resembled a human. "Let's find someone that looks like this!"
"…If I see someone who looks like that, I'll just turn around and run," Usopp complained, sweating.
"I would too," Sanji agreed. "I would jump into the sea if I had to. Although this guy looks like he's part octopus, so he would probably still come after me."
'…Well, I don't care what they look like. Hell, I'm not exactly the most conventional character myself. So long as they do their job,' I sighed, tilting my head to the side as I stared at Luffy's picture.
"Land ho~ Land ho~" someone yelled out and I stuck my head out of the kitchen door. Everyone let out sounds of amazement and awe and my own eyes widened a bit when I saw what lay before us. It was a giant city that was built on water, much like Venice was. And, in the centre of the town, as the main feature, was a giant water fountain. It looked amazing.
"Man! That looks like a metropolis!" Usopp gaped and I quickly dashed out of the kitchen, bounding to the front of the boat in excitement, my tail waving behind me like a banner. "No wonder the sea train goes here."
'Look at it!' I barked, jumping up on the railing next to where Usopp was standing. 'It's amazing!'
"Look, over there it says 'Blue Station'," Nami pointed out as we started to sail down into one of the canals of the city. "So where is the dock? Maybe it's on the other side."
"Hey! You over there!" a voice called out and we looked to the side to see a fisherman in small boat to the left of us.
"Yah?" Luffy asked.
"Pirates can't go in from the front like that. Go from the back!" He pointed to a different direction casually and I blinked owlishly. Did a fisherman just give a bunch of pirates advice?
"Okay! Thank you!" Luffy called back and we changed our course through a different canal into the city. I stared in awe as the beautiful passed us on either side.
"Wow! Water Seven is so cool! This city is the best. Everything is floating on water, even the houses!" Chopper gasped.
"That's not it," Robin interrupted. "This city is just built on a sunken island. Look closely at the base of the buildings."
"Wow! Pillars!" Chopper exclaimed when he noticed what Robin was talking about. All the houses were held up out of the water by pillars.
"I see," Sanji mused. "That's why it's the city of water."
"Yeah!" Luffy cheered, throwing his arms up in the air. "Let's go find shipwrights!"
"Hey!" one of the locals called out from a side walk. "You can't anchor your ship there. What are you here for? Robbery?"
'…What?' I mumbled in disbelief at the attitude of the locals. 'Please let this not be like Whiskey Peak.'
"No. We just want to fix our ship," Luffy called back to him.
"Did he just ask if we want to rob him?" Usopp sweat-dropped.
"Head that way until you see a small peninsula!" the old man advised, pointing in another direction. "You can anchor there."
"Okay, thank you!"
'What the hell is wrong with this place!' I hissed suspiciously, glancing around.
"I think this is it… Okay, pull the sail up," Nami ordered.
Zoro grabbed the rope to the sail and started to pull, only for a great crack to echo around the area as the main mast snapped. Zoro and I both scrambled forwards at the same time to try and stop it toppling over. I placed my front paws on it, pushing against it, and Zoro did the same.
"Hey! What are you doing, stupid!" Usopp snapped.
"Uh…" Zoro hesitated. "I just tugged on it a little bit… That's surprising. I didn't think Going-Merry was in such bad shape…"
'Me either…' I admitted awkwardly, dropping back to all four paws as Zoro started straightening the mast back up.
"Why aren't people here scared of pirates?" Nami asked the question that was on everyone's minds.
"That's probably because pirates only come here for repairs," Zoro pointed out as Usopp hit him for breaking the mast.
"Maybe they have very strong guys to fight any pirates if necessary," Robin theorized.
"No doubt about that," Sanji agreed. "There must be strong guys everywhere in a big city like this."
"For real!" Usopp panicked, abandoning his abuse of Zoro. "Then isn't it dangerous here?"
"It should be fine because we're customers," Sanji reassured him.
"Really?" Usopp's eye lit up.
"Okay! Let's go!" Luffy order and he and Usopp jumped off of the Going-Merry and started to run off.
"Hold on! Luffy! Usopp! You're going to follow me!" Nami snapped at them, bringing them to a halt as she jumped off the boat as well. The three quickly walked away from the boat, leaving the rest of us to watch the boat.
"Hey! Hey, Zoro!" Sanji called, drawing both of our attention. Zoro had decided to sit down on the front deck, leaning against the railing as he had a nap. I was lying atop the railing just behind him, my head resting on my paws as I tried to sleep as well. "Where's Robin? Is she on the ship?"
"Hm, no, she went out with Chopper," Zoro replied, not even opening his eyes as Sanji came onto the front deck. I lifted up my head to stare silently at our chef.
"What!" Sanji yelped.
"They went off to buy some stuff," Zoro elaborated.
"This sucks, it means I'm stuck on this boat with you!" He messed up his hair in frustration.
"Same to you," Zoro sighed.
'Wait… What about me?' I grumbled, quirking and eyebrow.
"Oh! My darling princess, you're still here for me at least! I knew I could trust you!" Sanji was about to jump towards me in an attempt to hug me but I snarled, sending him an intimidating glare that clearly let him know that if he tried to touch me, I would bite him.
Sanji froze with his arms stretched out, laughing nervously. "Well then, I'm going to go shopping. Did you want to come with me, princess?" Sanji cooed, sending me a gooey look.
'No thanks.' I shook my head, deciding to stay behind and guard the boat with Zoro. Who knows what'll happen when we're in a new place that we know nothing about.
"Oh…" he looked deflated. "Zoro, guard the boat and make sure nothing happens to my princess!"
'Dammit! I can look after myself!'
Zoro and both noticed their approach, but without any sort of communication, we knew what our plan was. We both kept out breathing steady, not even twitching as the intruders approached up, drawing out their weapons.
'Hmm, lucky I did stay here,' I purred mentally, my body itching to attack the people trying to sneak up on us. 'They're cowards to attack us while we sleep though.'
I heard one of them swing their weapon at Zoro, but Zoro beat them to it and drew one of his swords, blocking the attack without even opening his eyes. At the same time, a hand seized my tail, yanking it hard enough to pull me off the railing. Ever since the incident with the burnt tail, I hated people if they touch my tail. No one touched it and got away with it.
As I was dragged off, I thrust out my legs, propelling off the railing towards the person that had pulled my tail. I twisted around in the air, slamming my paws down on his face so I could use it as a jumping board. I sent my attacker sprawling on the ground, landing neatly next to Zoro. At the same time, both of us opened our eyes, glaring our attackers. There were at least 10 of them, all crowded on our deck.
"I thought you were asleep…" the one that had his sword locked with a sitting Zoro hissed.
"Who the hell are you?" Zoro demanded, pushing him back as he stood up and drew another sword.
"You asked who we were?" one of the group laughed. "We are bounty hunters, Pirate Hunter Zoro. Kids cry when they see us, we are the Franky Family! The 60 million bounty on your head is ours!"
Zoro and I glanced at each other, both of us slightly annoyed. 'The only reason kids would cry when they see you is because you are so damn ugly! You probably burn their eyes out!'
"Then we'll hide in the ship," he continued, "and ambush the rest of the crew! Wahaha! We're going to be rich! We're so lucky! Kill them!"
The ringleader charged forward first, swinging his sword at Zoro who blocked it with ease. Neither of us flinched or wavered even the slightest. "More like unlucky," Zoro smirked as he pushed back against the attacker, sending him flying back through the air and into the sea.
"What! Charge! Get him!" The rest of them roared and charged towards us, so I jumped forward this time. It was my turn. Zoro had, had his fun.
I jumped up, through the air and bounced between them like a bouncy-ball, using random point of their bodies as launching points. I made sure to put extra strength into my kicks to make sure that I sent each of the sprawling as I flashed between them, faster than they could counter-attack.
"Nitōryū," Zoro muttered as they climbed back to their feet, I wandered back over his side, letting him finish them off. "Sai Kuru*!"
His two swords created a whirlwind like effect, sending them rest of the attackers flying off the boat and back into the water. The force as the attack pushed against me, but didn't sending me flying. Things suddenly went quiet again and Zoro sat back down where he was before, sighing about how boring that was. I with a grunt of agreement, I shook out my fur and jumped up onto the railing again, settling down for another nap.
"Excuse me," another presence appeared on the boat all of a sudden, causing my eyes to snap open. Zoro also opened his eyes slightly and we both stared as the newcomer started walking around the boat.
'Usopp…' I mumbled, staring at the long nose. 'What the hell are you wearing?'
He made his way down to the lower deck and stopped at the mast. "It's worn down pretty badly. We'll need to replace the mast…"
At the same time, Zoro and my brains loaded fully and we both jumped up, Zoro drawing his weapons. "HOLD ON A MINUTE. WHO ARE YOU!"
'You're not Usopp! You smell different! And you talk more intelligently!' I growled, jumping over onto the railing that looked over the bottom deck.
"Oh. Sorry, did I wake you up?" the Usopp-imposter asked.
'No shit!'
"This ship is…" Sanji mumbled after Zoro told him what the Usopp-imposter had told us.
"They can't repair it? Even if we pay them? Why did it end up like this…?" Chopper gasped.
'I don't know Chopper, I don't know,' I sighed, jumping off the railing as I walked over to him. I buried my face into the soft fur of his chest, allowing him to wrap his arms around me in a hug. Poor kid.
"I don't know. I wonder what Luffy and the others decided. Those three probably came up with a goof answer at the shipyard already," Zoro grumbled.
"Are you sure he wasn't just exaggerating? Just look!" Sanji insisted. "The ship looks as good as always. Didn't it make it all the way here from East Blue with us?"
"That is probably the reason why it's broken. A person gets stronger with wounds, but for a ship, the wounds only stack up and weaken it more and more…" Zoro explained.
"I just can't accept this," Sanji grunted. "I wonder what Usopp would think if he hears this…"
"But I like Merry very much!" Chopper protested as I pulled away from him.
"Merry is broken, Robin is missing… This afternoon is filled with trouble…"
"Everyone!" a worried voice called as it ran towards the boat. Sanji, Chopper and I ran over the railing.
"Nami's back!" Chopper exclaimed.
'Something's wrong,' I noted.
"Huh? Why are you alone?" Sanji asked. "Where are Luffy and Usopp? Nami! Did something happen?"
My stomach twisted. Today was not going well. First Robin has disappeared on us, and now Nami was alone. What in the world… Without a second thought I jumped over the railing and ran towards Nami, wanting to check that she was okay. If someone hurt her or the others, I was going to lose it.
*Nitōryū Sai Kuru: Literally,Two Sword Style Rolling Rhino. Or Rhino Cycle in the Viz and FUNimation translations. The pun here is in the Japanese pronunciation of "Sai Kuru" or rather "cycle".
Beta read by praeses.
Translation notes also by praeses. All attack names are from the One Piece wiki.