Chapter 2: Ambush! The Attack of the Trainer!
Riding on Charizard and having Pikachu on his shoulder, Ash raced to stop an attack from one ship into another. After Misty activated a trap door, Ash and Pikachu fell through and wound up seeing one ship start an ambush on another. It didn't help Ash as to who or why one ship stormed the other, only screams telling him and his Pokémon where to go. They saw the men in white fighting a handful of people. "Let's make our arrival known, Charizard," he ordered. Charizard let out an enormous roar where everyone on the ships stopped and peered up to see the Pokémon. Charizard's appearance freaked the men in white while others like a raven-haired young man with a long nose in bright yellow trousers held up by suspenders and wearing a white sunhat gawked to the orange lizard's sight. He held a large black slingshot made with five rubber bands.
"A dragon?!" he shrieked. Listening, Ash recognized one of the voices.
"So, that long nose is one of the three screamers?" Pikachu seemed a little befuddled. The men in white brought out rifles and aimed it at Charizard.
"Men, aim…" one of the white garbs alerted. To the long nose, it was his opportunity. He loaded his slingshot and aimed it at the men in white.
"Not so fast!" he shouted. "Special Attack... Green Star: Sargasso!" He shot a round of green seeds which exploded in midair and wrapped the gunners in seaweed, tangling them and unable to shoot. Another familiar scream alerted Ash and his Pokémon, finding a furry creature. It wore a yellow/white striped tank top and orange shorts while donning a blue helmet with antlers sticking from the sides. More men in white surrounded this one.
"Should we?" one man wondered. "He's only worth 50 Berries." Unable to hear from below, Ash had to help Tony Tony Chopper.
"I won't let you hurt that Pokémon!" he growled as he grabbed another red/white ball. "Squritle, I choose you!" Hearing the shout from above, the men in white turned to see Charizard, some freaking out. When the ball opened, a small blue turtle with a red shell emerged. It landed between Tony Tony Chopper and the men in white. On an upper portion of the ship, a raven-haired young man in an open red shirt, straw hat and jean shorts. He also had a huge scar on his chest in the shape of an X. One sight of Charizard had him gawking in delight.
"That kid can ride a dragon?" he cheered. "So cool!" That's when he felt the presence of more men in white behind him.
"You won't be riding that dragon, Monkey D. Luffy!" one man shouted. "That 400 million bounty is ours!" Monkey rolled his sleeve to his upper arm.
"I'm riding that dragon, and you can't tell me no!" Back with Tony Tony Chopper, the men in white weren't sure what to make of the new creature. Ash nodded, knowing his advantage.
"Squirtle, Skull Bash!" he ordered. Squirtle ran at a man before jumping head-first like a missile. It smashed into the sternum and floored the one attacker. Tony Tony Chopper gawked at its rescuer before Ash had a followup. "Now, Hydro Pump!" Squirtle tucked its head, arms and legs before powerful streams of water, blasting the men in white off the ship. More men in white emerged from the other ship. The long nose spotted the new men on the attacked ship.
"Backup!" he shouted. Ash had a plan to keep the invasion to a minimum.
"Charizard, use Flamethrower!" Charizard breathed a flame at the attacking ship, blocking access. The men in white gasped to Charizard's attack.
"He's controlling the dragon?!" one gawked. Charizard flew toward the attacking ship with the men in white before nodding to Pikachu.
"Let's give these guys another taste of Pokémon… Use Thunderbolt!" Pikachu leaped off and landed behind the men in white before emitting a blast of electricity. A redhead young woman wielding a blue staff and a giant cyan-haired man in black briefs watched from the attacked ship. The thin but voluptuous redhead wore a blue bikini and jeans while the cyan-haired had giant steel arms with red rounds and blue cube-shaped parts to it while wearing an open red Hawaiian shirt. His chin looked like the head of a trident.
"That kid on the dragon's helping us?" she gasped. "Not that we needed help but whoa!" The cyan-haired laughed to the sight.
"He is SUPER!" he cheered as he banged his arms together. Charizard swooped in and collected Pikachu. Ash returned to the attacked ship and found three men fighting: a green-haired man in a green samurai robe, a blond man with a goatee with curled eyebrows and hair covering his right eye, wearing a light blue button-down shirt and black slacks and another raven-haired facing away wearing a gold crown, a yellow boa and a magenta long coat. The green-haired had a scar over his left eye which remained shut. He also wielded three swords: one in each hand and one in his teeth. Seeing the three, he believed the group could handle the men in white while he also observed a few more cornering a raven-haired woman wearing a green gown and stilettos. The thin and voluptuous woman looked to be standing her ground but wasn't armed. A flap of Charizard's wings had her turn before she saw Ash grab another ball.
"Bulbasaur, I choose you!" he summoned as he threw another ball. Out came a small blue four-legged creature with a green bulb on its back. It fell between the woman and the men in white. "Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip!" Bulbasaur summoned vines which whipped the swords from the men in white. Flinging the vines again, hard shots to heads staggering the group. "One more Thunderbolt!" Pikachu jumped from Ash's shoulder and let out another Thunderbolt and zapped the men in white out of their consciousness. One more who came to help his fellow men gawked at Ash's command to his Pokémon.
"That kid's controlling all these creatures?!" he irked. "Is he another devil fruit user?" Pikachu and Bulbasaur jumped back to Ash who used Bulbasaur's ball that turned the bulbed creature into a beam that returned to its source. Pikachu came back to his shoulder as Ash had one more objective in mind.
"Let's finish this!" Charizard over the attacking ship, Ash had one more ball on hand. "Snorlax, Body Slam!" Tossing the ball upward, it opened to reveal a large blue bear with a cream-colored abdomen. It belly-flopped onto the attacking boat which everyone still on dove into the ocean. The bear smashed through the ship and came out below it underwater. The men in white abandoned ship by diving to any emergency boat as their ship took in water. The men in white on the attacked ship stood no chance and retreated, diving in if they haven't fallen in already. Ash waited for the bear to emerge from the destructive belly flop. Monkey, the girls, the long nose and the blond came to port to find Ash on Charizard while Squirtle waited near Tony Tony Chopper. Finally, the bear emerged from the ocean and swimming the butterfly.
"It's okay!" awed the long nose. The blond irked to the bear's ability to swim despite its large size.
"So, what do you call that swim?" the blond asked as he lit a cigarette. "The blubberfly?" Ash grabbed its ball and pointed to the bear.
"Just what I needed, Snorlax! Return!" Like Bulbasaur before, the beam tagged Snorlax and it returned to the ball. Monkey decided to call Ash over.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Come down here! You and your animals are awesome, even your dragon!" Ash and the Pokémon gawked to Monkey's guess about Charizard.
"We'll correct him…" Charizard nodded before they landed on the surviving ship. Ash hopped off while Tony Tony Chopper and the other raven-haired came to meet them. "You guys doing okay?" The green-haired snickered to the concern.
"We're fine, kid," he replied. "Hell, we would've dismissed them without your help." Ash irked to the remark.
"I see…" The long nose patted Ash on the back for his help.
"Don't let Zoro speak badly about you," he assured. "We're all strong enough to take those guys on, though it was real helpful to give us a hand." Ash felt pleased to know someone appreciated his effort.
"I heard some screams and flew on Charizard to save you from those guys attacking your crew." Pikachu backed his claim with a few squeaks. The redhead heard the Electric Pokémon and cooed.
"Aren't you just adorable to have!" she squealed as she snagged Pikachu from Ash's shoulder. Pikachu wondered about her as the raven-haired woman observed it.
"I'll say, Nami," she agreed before tickling her slender finger to Pikachu's stomach who laughed from it. Nami awed Pikachu more and embraced it in a tight hug.
"That's even cuter! I wanna hold onto you for a long time!" Pikachu wasn't comfortable and began emitting electricity, spooking Nami. "Take it, Luffy!" She handed Pikachu to Monkey who looked puzzled.
"Why should I hold-" he argued before Pikachu emitted another Thunderbolt, shocking Monkey D. Luffy, but the shock didn't seem to phase the raven-haired with the scar. Pikachu stopped and turned to find Luffy unharmed. "That's why… I gotcha." Pikachu freaked out, as did Ash.
"That's not right!" he gasped.
"Normally, it's not," the blond agreed while taking a puff. "Of course, after Luffy ate Devil Fruit, he can't be considered normal to begin with." The explanation left Ash a little puzzled.
"Devil Fruit?" To demonstrate, Luffy grabbed his mouth and stretched it, the mouth and skin elasticizing out to arm's reach. This horrified Ash. "What in the world?!"
"Surprised?" teased Luffy with his mouth moving despite the stretching. "I'm a rubber man." Zoro had more.
"Captain Luffy is one of four on this ship who ate Devil Fruit," he pointed out. "Robin, Chopper and Brook also had a taste." Ash blinked to the names except for Chopper, the furry creature named Tony Tony Chopper. Looking down, he had a better look to Chopper, the only one on the ship Ash towered over in height.
"Are you suppose to be a Pokémon?" he asked. Chopper gawked to what Ash called him.
"I'm not a Pokémon, I'm a reindeer!" he protested, surprising Ash and Pikachu. "And second!… What's a Pokémon?"
"Wait, you can talk?"
"Yeah, well… that's what happens when I ate the Human-Human Fruit. If you didn't send your turtle to protect me, I would've pummeled those guys." Ash wanted to believe him since hearing from Zoro.
"Maybe I will someday." That's when the tall raven-haired man came forward.
"Yo ho ho!" he laughed. "So this is the one who came to save us?" Ash turned to see the man to acknowledge.
"That's one way to- AH!" Ash screamed as he saw a tall skeleton wearing shades. "A skeleton!" Pikachu leaped to the raven-haired woman in fear of the skeleton. It laughed to the fright.
"I guess I came a little strong on him. Not many people could stay still when they see me after my first life." Holding Pikachu, the raven-haired woman comforted Ash.
"Brook may look scary, but he's a nice man overall," she assured. Ash wasn't sure to take her word.
"Easy for you to say..." he shuttered.
"Well, maybe listening to my songs could tell you more about it," Brook offered while raising a violin. "Perhaps then, you'll know the heart I have… which is impossible since I don't have a heart!" He laughed again to his own self-pity.
"Brook's the oldest of us," the long nose informed. "Of course, it somewhat helps after eating the Revive-Revive Fruit."
"Oh, so he can't die, per say?" asked Ash.
"Well, he can… He just bounces back up." Ash grew interested in the slingshot user's long nose, and he picked up on it. "Hey, is it about my long schnoz?" Ash shrugged to the sight.
"Can you blame me? That nose sticking out like that reminds me of a bedtime story my mom gave me. Who was that character?" The long nose scoffed to Ash's notion.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Zoro begged to differ.
"I don't know, Usopp," he spoke up. "From what I've heard from East Blue, you've been telling some tall tales." The long nose, Usopp, snarled at Zoro.
"Can it, Zoro!" The man with the mechanical arms found the group getting to know Ash.
"Hey, the one with the dragon!" he misnamed as he also viewed Pikachu in the raven-haired woman's grasp. "Seems the mouse likes being in Robin's arms." Pikachu chimed to knowing Robin. Ash wanted to correct the man with the mechanical arms.
"Before I explain what Charizard is," he started. "I gotta say those are some really cool mechanical arms." The cyan-haired snickered to the compliment.
"Thanks. The name's Franky." He offered a handshake which Ash accepted, despite Franky's hand completely wrapping Ash's.
"I'm Ash. The one with Robin is Pikachu, By Chopper is Squirtle and Charizard there is a Fire and Flying, not a Dragon. They're my Pokémon." Chopper now felt clued in to the naming of Ash's creatures.
"Now I see!" he realized. "That's why he thought I was one of you." Squirtle shrugged to how that could happen. Nami wanted to help Ash with identifying the rest.
"Anyway, Ash," she started. "Usopp's our sniper and gunner, Franky's our shipwright, Chopper's our doctor… cute at his age. Roronoa Zoro's our swordsman, Sanji with the smoke in his mouth is our cook, Robin's our archaeologist and I'm the navigator." Ash awed the lineup on the ship. "Anyway, they had to have come from a nearby fort. Let's head to their base of operations. Franky, to the wheel!"
"Aye aye, Nami!" accepted Franky. Ash and Pikachu blinked to the order as Luffy looked up.
"Let's open the sails!" he shouted. Ash looked up and saw a black flag unfurled along with the sails. On it made Ash's heart skip a beat: the black flag had a skull on it with two bones crossing. The skull wore a straw hat like Luffy. To Ash, he helped people he didn't want to help.
"Hold on!" he jumped. "You mean to tell me… You're all pirates?!" Even the Pokémon felt shock to knowing the truth.
"Yep! And you're a new recruit!" Ash couldn't help but feel betrayed. He helped pirates and fought those who he should have helped… and now he's been drafted to join the crew. It only got worse. "Hey, Usopp! You got clothes for Ash?"
"I think I do!" he replied. Luffy grabbed Ash's arm.
"Hey, wait a minute!" he started to resist. "Don't I get a saying in this?!"
"Nope. You helped us, and now we'll help you!" With Usopp's aid, Ash entered the inside of the ship. He couldn't believe his misfortune… all because pirates had screamed for aid. Now he's part of an operation that he never asked for. What else could go wrong?
TO BE CONTINUED...