Chapter 10: Giant's Quest! Lily's Scavenger Hunt
It's a new morning on the Thousand Sunny. The bottle last night continued to bop the Sunny's hull. Ash was the first to wake to the rising sun and left the bed. Pikachu stayed with Nami and Robin. Ash reached the bathroom first to scrub his face and brush his teeth. "I wonder what's on tap today?" he wondered to himself. Niether he, nor the Straw Hats, knew of a new visitor.
"Perhaps toning down the lights would be a start," a woman's voice spoke out. This made Ash open his eyes and look back. He thought Nami wanted some more of Ash after yesterday's fiasco. No one's there. Ash rubbed his eyes, thinking he needed to refocus his senses.
"I swear, I thought I heard a girl talking. Certainly wasn't Nami or Robin, let alone Misty." Unfortunately for the youngest pirate, it's real.
"A girlfriend you can't wait to return to?" Ash heard her and turned to the mirror where he found his hair moving while he remained stationed. He believed something had entered his hair. He screamed at his wild hair moving on its own. This alerted all on the ship and ran to the bathroom.
"What's wrong, Ash?" asked Robin. Suddenly, a figure as small as a fly leaped from his hair and onto the sink.
"Wait, is that?" pondered Nami. The figure soon grew up, literally. Tan skin, green hair in a ponytail, gold hoop earrings, a yellow corset attached to yellow shorts by suspenders… at about the size of Pikachu.
"Lily!" the Straw Hats realized. Sanji's eyes became hearts to the discovery.
"Oh, sweet Lily!" he swooned. "You came back for me to fill your Enstomach again!" Lily nervously giggled.
"Aw, Sanji," she cooed. "I haven't been gone from the Sunny for that long." Ash and Pikachu seemed puzzled to the new arrival.
"So you guys know her?" he asked.
"Hey, I don't know you!" snapped Lily. Nami decided to clarify and came forward with Pikachu on her shoulder.
"Allow me," she offered. "Ash, this is Lily Enstomach. She's actually a giant from Elbaf." Ash blinked while Pikachu met Lily by the sink.
"A… giant?" he repeated in question. "She's no bigger than Pikachu."
"Yeah, Nami's about to explain the Mini-Mini Fruit I ate," Lily pointed out. Ash heard the name of the item.
"A Devil Fruit?"
"Indeed. I can change my size from a flea to what I originally was." Ash seemed clarified to Lily's predicament. "And I can't change to the size of them." Recalling the other Devil Fruit users, Ash had a guess to Lily's.
"So you're a Paramecia-Type like Luffy?"
"Pretty much." Luffy had more.
"Not only that, her dad's a giant cook who uses volcanoes to cook meat," he added. "Panz Fry's volcanic grilling is famous." Ash and Pikachu grew interested with Lily's father's methods.
"That's one way to burn fat off the meat," he joked. Outside, Ash watched Lily scarf plate after plate of breakfast. He gulped to her intake. "And I thought Luffy was someone to worry about when it came to food." A belly full of food, Lily looked ready to talk.
"That hit the spot!" Franky stood forth.
"So, what brought you out here from Elbaf?" he asked.
"That? See, I'm on a voyage to look for new ingredients to help Dad. Unfortunately, my raft got caught in a storm. I shrunk down and dove in the bottle before it splintered. I was on the last of my rations while adrift when you guys appeared again. I climbed aboard and saw his cute sleeping face." Ash's eyes ballooned while his face bled red. "I made a hammock in his hair to sleep. I was out for sometime until he turned the bathroom lights on." The Straw Hats awed Lily's quest to the point where Sanji voiced for everyone.
"You know what?" he spoke. "I can't stand to see a woman have a bad time. Let's help her find ingredients for Panz Fry!" All agreed with cheers. Usopp saw something on the water and looked. He found land. He had to let the crew know.
"Land, ho!" he yelled. All rushed to Usopp where Lily saw the island.
"There it is!" she cheered. "That's where I needed to go!" Pikachu cheered to the discovery. Nami took control.
"Well, now that we know where to go, let's form groups," she ordered. "Franky and Robin will stay here and keep an eye on the Sunny. Ash, Luffy, Zoro and Lily will go on one path while Sanji, Usopp and Brook take another." Luffy, Zoro and Usopp accepted with nods. Chopper tugged on Nami's jeans.
"What about me?" the reindeer whined.
"You and I'll go mapping the island." Chopper sighed, being left out of any searches. Sanji had an objection of a sort.
"Why not I come with you, Nami-Swan?" he pleaded.
"You'd do better with food than navigation. Who knows, you can find ingredients to make a new dish for me to enjoy." The idea made Sanji retract his plea with hearts in his eyes.
"That's brilliant, Nami-Swan! I'll make sure you stay well fed!" Ash mulled to Sanji's actions.
"He reminds me of Brock… only worse," he groaned. Hearing Ash, Franky turned to him wanting to know more.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Brock also tries to flirt with girls. However, he has limits. He didn't go after my mom, he didn't go after Jessie…" Brook heard and determined a difference between this Brock and Sanji.
"I see…" he believed. "So Brock has boundaries he dare not cross." The Sunny reached the land and docked. As Nami stated, only Franky and Robin stayed behind as everyone stepped off the Sunny… except for Ash and Zoro. The green-haired fashioned a rope swing. As he swung off, he bellowed an intimidating yell that sounded out of the movies. He landed with little effort. The rope swing returned to Ash.
"That's cool," he awed. "My turn!" He yelled as well, but it wasn't anywhere close to Zoro's. He also landed near the swordsman who wasn't impressed.
"That was bad," he sighed. "You need to yell with confidence and ferocity, like this." He performed the yell once again. "Got it?"
"Let me see…" He performed the yell again. It sounded better than the first time to Zoro's opinion, but it wasn't enough.
"Almost. Once more." Zoro performed the intimidating yell once again, Ash nodding to it.
"I think I've got it." Ash did the yell again, this time with boom. The yell even hindered Zoro as he winced to the volume of it.
"That… was perfect." Nami groaned to Zoro's training.
"Seriously, that's about as useful as pouring a cup of water," she nagged. The three groups split as Ash had Pikachu and Lily on his shoulders. They searched the land high and low for Lily's ingredients. They saw fruit hanging from trees. Some of the fruit were crosses of an apple and a mango with what looked like spikes on the skin. Ash became interested.
"I wanna say those are apples, but they look too round and spiky," he studied.
"Let's take a closer look," Lily suggested before hopping off. Suddenly, she grew a lot. She's about as tall as the trees. She hoisted Ash to the fruit.
"So, this is your true form. Convenient!" Lily's growth helped Ash with feeling the fruits. 'Let's see if Tracey's tips help.' The spikes weren't sharp and without any worry about stabbing himself. "Not these…" He soon felt firmness in one with a slightly darker color. "Aha!" He started picking the fruit from the trees with Lily's giant form.
"Can I try them?" asked Luffy. Ash tossed a few down to Luffy and Zoro.
"Took his time," Zoro mulled as he caught two. He bit into one, the fruit's juices seeping onto his tongue. "Hey, they're good."
"Ash knows how to pick 'em," Luffy laughed with his mouth full. After gathering some more, they continued their search where Lily pointed out herbs from her list of ingredients. Some time later, both groups returned to the Sunny. Ash, Luffy and Zoro carried bags full of fruits, herbs, spices and some game. It also turned out Sanji's group found the same fruit as Luffy's group. Chopper turned into a muscled man and carried Nami's equipment as well as herbs and other plants.
"How goes the mapping?" asked Usopp.
"I got plenty of the landscape while Chopper found some herbs he could use for medicinal purposes," Nami reported. Sanji offered the fruit to Nami.
"I got you something, Nami-Swan!" he called. The fruit was a lighter color than the ones Ash found and plucked. To Zoro, Sanji's trying to regain their trust.
"Loopy Eyebrows can't be serious," he groaned. Nami studied the shiny piece of fruit.
"A Pinemaple?" she guessed the name before biting into it. Quickly, the taste made her gag and spit out the piece. "Are you trying to kill me!? That was so sour, I'd be better off eating limes than this!" Sanji jumped from Nami's snap. Ash pulled one of his "Pinemaple" fruits out of his bag.
"This should be ripe," he studied. The Pinemaple was slightly darker than Sanji's.
"I'm starting to be a little distrusting to men…" groaned Nami. Regardless, she swallowed her pride and bit into the new Pinemaple. Her eyes lit up. "Whoa! This is yummy! Thanks a bunch, Ash!" The trainer nodded before coming clean.
"You'd need to thank Tracey since he taught me what to look out for with fruit." Lily got to Nami's arm to take a bite of the Pinemaple. Her eyes lit up as well.
"I'm about to melt with how tasty this is!" she squealed. That's when she leaped from Nami's arm to Ash's face and gave it a kiss. However, the impact of the kiss propelled Ash from the group to a spot away. He landed far from the Straw Hats after Lily's kiss to his cheek. Lily removed her lips and looked back to find distance between her and the Straw Hats. "Oops… Sorry about that." Ash laughed any pain off.
"I'm good. That may be the hardest kiss I've had." Sanji gawked to Ash's luck with the women so far, and he began to steam fiercely.
"Robin, Nami, the village girls, the Foxy Ladies… and now little Lily?!" he cried out a list. "Who else?! Perona?! Vivi?! Kalifa?! I need to know how and I need it now!" Sanji stomped to and pulled Ash up by the collar like a bully to its victim. "Alright bub… Spill it!" Ash blinked while sweat rapidly poured down his body.
"Spill it? Spill what?"
"DON'T BE STUPID! You know what I'm talking about: Robin, Nami, Foxy's ladies, the village girls… and now Lily! Why?! Why are you taking all of them from me? What's your damn secret?!" Ash still wasn't sure about Sanji's rambling.
"Secret? How would I know? I'm just being myself! I'm not begging for attention!" Sanji didn't believe Ash.
"BULLCRAP! You're using a special cologne from your world, right? Maybe a potion you pulled from your bag! I NEED ANSWERS NOW!" Hearing enough, Robin summoned arms from Sanji's back to which a pull released his grip. The arms pulled Sanji's head and shoulders down, cranking pain onto the cook. "Robin! OW!" Lily transformed into a giant and hoisted Sanji from his ground.
"Did you ever think he learned from your behavior around women and about how to treat them?" she pointed out. Sanji gulped sheepishly, thinking he was responsible for Ash's luck with the girls.
"Wait… I'm the reason? Then, shouldn't I be getting the same treatment?" Lily sighed before hurling him into the ocean. A splash left Chopper and Luffy to gulp.
"He's not a Devil Fruit user," Franky pointed out. "He'll be fine."
"He needs to loosen himself more," Robin sighed.
"Physically or passionately?" joked Usopp. Ash started making lunch before Sanji joined after drying himself. After lunch, the crew reformed their groups before hunting for more ingredients. They found other fruits, none as mixed up as the Pinemaple that Nami named. The crew returned and baskets filled. That's when they found Franky with a small ship that even had Lily's face on a sail.
"Franky, you shouldn't have!" she cheered. Franky snickered.
"Well, I did have a few additions in mind, including lining this with some coating for when the waves get a little rough. You'll be underwater in it and you'll be just fine." Lily awed the addition. "It's a little something we saw performed on Sabaody before we dove under the Red Line." Ash awed Franky's work.
"Franky, stop outdoing yourself," he joked.
"Franky, you're awesome!" smiled Lily who stayed on Ash's shoulder. "But I'm gonna stay here for awhile." All turned to Lily, wondering her purpose.
"You're not going to Elbaf?" gawked Luffy.
"Not yet. This place has so much in plants and fruits that I'm gonna hang around here for sometime." The Straw Hats acknowledged her decision to stay.
"Hey, finding those fruits, eh…" Zoro started but had trouble with the name. "What did you say they were again, Nami?"
"I don't know what they're really called so I just guessed on Pinemaple," Nami shrugged. Lily now turned to Ash after crawling down his arm and onto his hands.
"Ash, my dad will love to know about you and what you did for me," she praised. "And now that I've known you more, if I did this again, I'd rather be laying on your chest than mess with your hair."
"Probably wouldn't mind that much," Ash giggled. All boarded the Sunny with their share of plants, fruit and game. They left the island with the giant Lily waiving them farewell. "No doubt she would lift Snorlax without a problem." Usopp snickered to the thought.
"Definitely at any form, from her miniature form to her giant," he added. "Though, seeing Lily again kinda inspired my dream." Ash remembered Usopp talking about his dream days ago.
"Right, being a mighty warrior. Didn't I already tell you about how you already are?"
"Yeah, but it's not enough. See, we have more giants as friends back on Little Garden named Brogy and Dorry. They were fearsome pirates over a hundred years ago… still alive today. They inspired me to want to meet the warriors on Elbaf and it encourages me ever so." Ash chuckled to Usopp's dream with the information added. "I mean it!" Ash shook his head.
"I know, but I'm still sticking with what I've told you that you're already on that path." Usopp smiled, not minding the retort. As evening approached, Sanji and Ash made the most of their scavenger hunt with Lily and used the Pinemaple fruits to make new dishes.
"Moss-head's training has Ash speeding his arms and legs like a ninja," Sanji joked. Zoro shot a smug to Sanji, hit with a compliment and an insult.
"If you lose our wager, you'll feel the speed of a ninja," he warned.
"Like hell I'll lose to you. I'll make sure to find the perfect apron to wear. Who knows, it may help with your depth perception." The stare-down took place in front of everyone.
"Zoro, Sanji, you're ruining dinner for the rest of us," Luffy complained. Zoro and Sanji didn't pay any attention to their captain. Hearing the compliment, Ash recalled the word Sanji then Zoro used.
"Ninja," he repeated. "Kinda like what happened in Fuchsia City and their Pokémon Gym." All turned to Ash with what he mentioned, including the butting heads.
"Wait, you met real ninjas?!" gulped the boys in amazement.
"Well, two: The Fuchsia City Gym Leader, Koga and his younger sister, Aya." Mentioning sister, Sanji now got Ash's attention.
"Tell me," urged Zoro. "Do they use shurikens?" Ash scoffed to the question.
"Do they? I was pinned to the wall with those! And don't get me started on those booby traps: secret doors, Voltorbs hiding under the floorboards, invisible walls… That gym was nuts." To the Straw Hat men, it was an adventure.
"That's awesome!" they shouted in amazement again. Nami slapped her face in disgust.
"Geez, those guys…" she mulled. Robin giggled to the awe.
"Lemme tell you guys, their Poison Pokémon battled seriously," Ash added. Aya's name on his mind, Sanji stuttered in bottled delight.
"Now wait a minute!" he yelled shaking held Ash by the shoulders. "You mean to tell me that one of those ninjas WAS A WOMAN?!" Sanji's face so close to Ash made him nervous.
"Yeah… and she's not only Koga's sister but also his student." Sanji wanted more about Aya and so did Brook.
"Give me every detail you know about Aya! Her height, her hair color, her skill level, her breast size, her ass size, her favorite food!"
"Not to mention what color her panties are!" demanded Brook.
"I… NEED… TO… KNOW!" The rambling made Ash hesitate.
"Hold on, Sanji!" he tried to reason. "It's not that easy to remember!" Not enough for the cook of the Thousand Sunny.
"I won't be satisfied until you tell me and Brook everything!" Nami heard enough and sneaked behind Sanji after batting Brook's head away. She disconnected her staff and pointed it to where Sanji couldn't move out of the way.
"Gust Sword!" she commanded. "In your ass!" A powerful blast to Sanji's backside launched him into the mast where he fell unconscious. To Ash, that impressed him.
"Now that… was ninja-like," he gulped. Nami reconnected the staff. "I was gonna say that I only met her once…" After dinner, everyone called it a night… though Ash stayed awake. Pikachu came to Robin as she opened the door to her and Nami's room.
"Can't get enough of us, huh?" she joked. Pikachu squeaked innocently enough. "Alright, come on up." Pikachu happily leaped into Robin's arms before the two headed inside. Ash looked out over the lion-head figure to the nightly starry sky. He seemed disturbed suddenly. Nami came out of the bathroom with her silky white nightgown and came to the young pirate.
"Ash?" called someone. Thinking it was Robin, Ash turned to find instead Nami.
"Hey, Nami," he welcomed. Nami came to Ash.
"What are you still doing up this late? Something with Sanji and Zoro again?" Ash shook his head.
"Just couldn't sleep. I thought I'd come up here and gaze at the stars to clear my head." Nami pondered to the reasoning.
"Really? Mind telling me about it?" Ash took a deep breath before starting.
"Well, it started before I tried the first Pokémon Gym in the Orange Islands against Cissy when I met her brother Senta. I told him I competed in the Indigo League and placed in the Top 16, a spot higher than my rival, Gary. Senta said that I shouldn't bother with the Orange Crew, him explaining how much tougher it is compared to what I dealt with back on my home region. Although, if what he said was true…" Nami noticed hesitation.
"You're nervous about it?" Ash dipped his head and sighed.
"Score one for the navigator… and that's just it. I know my Pokémon and I will be back in our world and back to normal training for the Orange League now that I have their badges. The thing now is… Do I have the will to battle and win? Like I said, I placed among the Top 16 before. If the Orange League's as tough as Senta claims… I… I just don't know." Nami started to understand Ash's issues and placed her hands on Ash's shoulders.
"Don't let that brat's words stop you. You're not only a great pirate but in my opinion, an awesome Pokémon Trainer. I'd bet the tangerines growing right now that you'd take the Orange League by storm. Same would be said for the rest of us and Foxy's Foxy Pirates." Her words began to comfort Ash.
"I guess… but his voice still echoing in my head's kept me awake." Turning to the hammock she saw Ash with Robin gave Nami an idea.
"I think I can help out."
"How?"
"We can sleep together. Could help with this case of insomnia." Ash gawked in surprise to Nami's suggestion.
"Me? And you? In bed?"
"Well, the hammock and sure. Robin had a chance to snuggle with you. Why can't I get a turn?" To Ash, yesterday's fiasco had brought the two closer together.
"I guess I can go along…" Nami escorted Ash to the hammock before the two crawled inside. That's when Ash had a bad feeling.
"You do realize Sanji will come outside to start on breakfast in the morning, right?" Knowing Sanji well, Nami chuckled and wrapped her arms around Ash.
"You let me deal with Sanji. Besides, it's not gonna be all night. Just relax and hit the hay."
"Okay… And Nami… thanks for looking out for me." Nami smiled to Ash, still knowing that he's still young.
"Anytime. Goodnight." Ash soon became comfortable in Nami's arms. He fell fast asleep before Nami. Sometime later, Nami woke to let Ash sleep alone. However, his face as he slept tempted her to stay with him. 'I can't leave him alone… Not with that cute face while he sleeps.' Surrendering, Nami firmly tightened her hold on Ash and fell back asleep but not before a kiss to the eyelid. With one more snuggle, Nami was fast asleep. Sanji may not like what he'll see but to Nami, she wouldn't care.
TO BE CONTINUED...