Meat Dream
Chopper twitched uncomfortably against the mass of the Sunny. He trailed his eyes over his friends and twitched some more. Nami, noticing all of his twitching, walked over to him. "What's wrong, Chopper? You've been very agitated all day."
"I don't know," Chopper replied. He looked around at all of their friends again. Usopp was fiddling with some project, Franky was working on himself, Luffy was on the verge of falling asleep, Brook was playing his violin, Zoro had a couple weights out, Sanji -with Celeste on his shoulder- just walked out onto the deck with drinks for everyone and Robin was reading a book. "Something just doesn't feel right."
"How so?" Robin asked as she put her book down and walked over to join them.
"I wish I knew," Chopper sighed. "I just feel like somethings wrong. And I've been worried about Neo and the Heart Pirates lately too."
"Maybe you just ate something that upset your stomach," Usopp said.
"Are you insinuating my food is making him sick?" Sanji glared at Usopp.
"Of course not," Usopp waved his hands. "I was just saying that-"
"Chopper's right," Celeste said, cutting off the sniper. Sanji turned his attention to the little sprite on his shoulder. "Something's wrong. There's a dark magic in the air. It's doing something to the planet. It's been doing it for a while now too. It was hard to detect at first, but now it's obvious."
"Magic?" Sanji asked. Celeste looked at him and nodded.
"Meeeeeat," Luffy sang as he fell over onto his side and snored. Just as the words trailed out of Luffy's mouth, a large piece of meat rose up out of the ocean and parts of the Sunny started to turn into meat as well.
"What the heck is going on with my ship?!" Franky demanded. He jumped to his feet when a piece of meat rose up out of the floor of the Sunny.
"Is Sunny turning into meat?" Usopp asked.
"Meat!" Luffy shouted and his eyes snapped open. He dove for a piece of meat on the Sunny. Franky stepped in his way and grabbed the captain. "Let me go! I want meat!"
"No way!" Franky replied, struggling to hold his captain back. "I have no idea what's going on, but that's part of the Sunny! You're not eating my ship!"
"Meat! Meat!" Luffy started to slip out of Franky's grip.
"Then go eat that one!" Franky took Luffy, spun him around and threw him onto the large piece of meat that came up from the ocean.
"This is very strange," Robin said, inspecting the meat on the Sunny. "How is this possible?"
"Magical creature," Celeste said while looking around the ship carefully. "Someone's here. Someone who doesn't belong."
"Huh?" Sanji looked at her again.
"I feel someone. They have magic. They somehow made this happen," Celeste replied then dove into Sanji's shirt. She poked her head back out. "It's scary."
"Luffy! Hey! Luffy! Get back down here!" Zoro shouted. "We have a problem! Are you listening to me?!"
"I don't think he can hear you," Brook said. He tilted his head. "Is it just me, or does our beloved captain look like he's still asleep?"
"Now that you mention it," Nami rubbed her chin. "He does look like he's asleep. I thought he woke up a minute ago."
"Sanji! There's someone aboard the ship!" Celeste cried out again. "They're causing this! Make it stop! Make it stop!"
The crew, but for Luffy, frozen when they all then felt a dark presence on the ship. Something shot out and slammed Zoro against the wall. He pushed back against it. Looking down he found it was a fairly big piece of meat. "What the heck?! How can meat attack?"
"We're getting attacked by food?" Usopp asked. "That's stupid. What harm could that do?"
Just then two sharp bones lodged themselves into the floor right beside Usopp's foot. He squealed. "Forget I asked!"
"Luffy!" Usopp turned to the giant piece of meat. "Will you wake up and get down here?! Get down here, now! We have a problem! A serious problem!"
"Yummy! Num! Num!" Luffy didn't hear Usopp and continued to rapidly chomping on the meat he was climbing all over.
"He's useless," Zoro said while slicing up several pieces of meat that kept firing at him. "Just forget him for now."
"How are we supposed to fight lunch? Thunder Bolt!" Nami asked. She fried some of the flying meat, but it did nothing but cook them. "This isn't working!"
"Ha! Ha! Ha!" An unfamiliar voice laughed. "I don't believe this! I've always heard that humans were pathetic, but this is just beyond pathetic! You can't even handle a little meat like this? Our queen is going to love ruling over you all!"
"Who's that speaking? Where are they? Does anyone see them?" Brook asked.
"I don't see anyone, but I can sense them," Chopper replied. "They're not friendly either."
"You think?!" Sanji said. He kicked multiple pieces of meat. "This is such a waste of food. Come out and face me, you coward!"
"I'm not the one wasting food," The voice said. "I didn't create this at all. That guy with black hair did."
"Luffy did this?" Robin asked. She had her arms crossed over her chest. She called out multiple arms and hands to grab onto the meat flying around.
"There's no point in trying to explain it to you all," The voice laughed. "I can tell you're all not that smart. You wouldn't understand!"
"This guy is really starting to tick me off!" Zoro growled. "Just face us all ready! What kind of coward are you?!"
…
"We're almost there!" A crew mate shouted.
"Good," Law nodded.
"Law, something's wrong," Law turned his eyes to Neo. She was concentrating on the space in front of her. "There's someone on the Straw Hats ship that feels like Isleen did. They're under attack."
"We've arrived! We're going up!" The crew mate shouted again.
Neo and Law headed for the door as the crew mate guided the ship up to the surface. The second they were above the water, Law opened the door and they stepped out with a few crew mates in tow. Law warped them onto the Sunny. They all went wide eyed when they found the Straw Hats dodging several pieces of meats and bones.
"Hey!" Sanji said then kicked a piece of meat away from him. "Neo! Law!"
"Huh?" The Straw Hats glanced over at the newly arrived crew before going back to dodging meat. Suddenly the meat froze in midair.
"There!" Neo shouted and pointed up to the lion head of the Sunny. Everyone looked to where she was pointing. Standing there, with an amused grin, was a dark skinned, black haired creature with slightly pointed ears and sharp canines. He was wearing a raggedly torn, brown shorts and a golden bands around his ankles. His limbs and fingers were long and spindly.
"I guess the fun is over," He said. He then jumped down to the deck of the ship. He looked Neo up and down with mild interest. "So, you're the one, huh? The one our queen is torturing?"
Law growled and stepped in front of Neo. "Stay away from her."
"I suppose so. I'm not strong enough to take you all on," The creature grin then bend his knees. He pushed off the floor and bounced off several parts of the Sunny like a ball. Neo summoned her wind crystals and trapped the creature in a vortex. He began to glow. His glow pushed against the winds. "Hey! Let go of me, brat!"
"I can't hold him for long!" Neo said.
"Shachi!" Law shouted.
"On it!" Shachi reached into the bag he was carrying and pulled out a pair of the cuffs. He then dropped the bag and allow Neo to lift him into the air with her winds. Once high enough, he slapped the cuffs on the creature's wrists and dropped back down to the floor. Neo kept the Warper in her winds until he vanished from the area. "Did it work?"
"I believe so," Neo said seconds before all the meat started to disappear, returning the Sunny to normal. Everyone looked to Luffy when he cried out. The young pirate fell into the ocean.
"Can we leave him down there?" Zoro asked. The Straw Hats exchanged thoughtful looks then sighed, knowing they didn't have the heart to actually do so.
"I've got him," Neo announced. She summoned her water crystals and pulled Luffy back upon the ship. She laid Luffy down on the floor. Sanji stepped up to the unconscious teen and pressed his foot onto his chest, causing Luffy spewed out a fountain of water.
"Neo!" Chopped cried as he ran over to Neo. He leaped into her arms. "I'm so happy to see you!"
"It's good to see you too," Neo said, but her voice wasn't happy.
"Hm? What's wrong?" Chopper looked up at Neo. Neo sighed as tears gathered in her eyes. "Something happened, did it? I've been thinking about you a lot lately. And I've been worried!"
"Yeah," Neo nodded, trying to hold back her tears. Law placed his arm around her shoulders. "Something has happened."
"What happened?" Nami asked as dread settled over the crew. "Where's Corazon?!"
Neo pulled Chopper into a teary hug while Law pulled her closer to his side. He then looked out at the concerned faces of the Straw Hats, but for Luffy who was still laying on the deck unconscious. With a heavy sigh, Law told them what happened. By the time he finished, the Straw Hats stood around stunned and angry.
"That's…That's terrible," Robin said as she and Nami rushed forward to hug Neo. It was a bit awkward with Chopper still in her arms and Law refusing to release her.
"You poor baby," Nami said, stroking Neo's hair.
"Pretty Princess sad," Celeste flew over and landed on Neo's head. "She needs a soothing cup of tea. Cutie?"
"I'm on it," Sanji nodded. He spun around and hurried for the galley.
"Come sit," Robin said in a motherly tone. They let Neo and Law sit together on the bench around the mass. Chopper remained in her hold and on her lap.
"Can I ask how Corazon is doing?" Chopper asked timidly. Neo nodded and opened the compact. Chopper studied the baby carefully through the mirror. He nodded when the words 'Still stable and resting comfortably' scrolled across the bottom as if he was agreeing with what the words were saying. "That's good. I'm relieved they can help him."
"I'm glad that Velocity and Elian decided to stay with him," Nami said softly while glancing at the compact.
"Hungry," Luffy whined, finally waking up. He sat up and looked around. "Sanji, I want meat. Hm? Traffy? Neo? When did you all get here?"
Both crews sighed. Once again the story of what happened was told. Luffy crossed his arms with a furious glare in his eyes. Law knew that look from Punk Hazard and Dressrosa. "They're not going to get away with this! How dare they attack my friends?! And hurt my nephew! They're gonna pay for this!"
"At least he's finally snapped out of that dream," Nami sighed.
"That's Luffy for ya," Sanji said, returning with some tea for Neo and Law. He walked over to them and handed them the cups.
"Thank you," Neo said softly while Law just nodded his thanks.
"Some kinda dream like world, huh?" Luffy, snapping out of his fury, rubbed his chin in mock deep thought. "That makes no sense at all."
"He's gonna need a demonstration, isn't he?" Bepo asked.
"Of course he is," The Straw Hat crew sighed.
"I'll do it. I've been wanting to try this out anyway. If we're gonna have to control the world around us we're all gonna have to practice," Shachi said. He took a deep breath then let it out slowly. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Everyone, but the Heart Pirates, eyes widened when Shachi created fish like Elian did in the sub.
"That's not possible!" Nami exclaimed.
"Interesting," Robin mumbled.
"This is just crazy," Franky said, pushing up his sunglasses to get a better look at a small group of fish swimming near him.
"This is confusing. They're real, but also, not real," Chopper said. He tapped a fish that swam by. The fish looked at Chopper before swimming off. "This is going to take some getting use to."
"Shachi's right," Sanji puffed on his cigarette while Celeste road around on one of the fish. "We're gonna have to practice controlling our minds. Especially if our dreams can become reality. And with how Luffy's dream easily became reality, we're going to have to work hard on this."
With that, Sanji closed his eyes. An intense look of concentration appeared on his features. The next thing everyone knew, the women's clothes changed into very skimpy outfits. Neo squeaked, dropped her now empty tea cup and pulled Chopper closer to her body to cover herself as her cheeks flushed bright red. Sanji opened his eyes and drooled while his nose spewed blood at Nami and Robin's almost completely exposed bodies.
"You idiot!" Nami cried. She pulled back her fist and punched Sanji as hard as she could. "Doing this to me and Robin is one thing! But doing this to Neo is another! What were you thinking?!"
"What?" Sanji picked himself up and rubbed his throbbing cheek. "I didn't do anything to Neo. I would never do this to her."
"Uh huh," Nami crossed her arms and turned her eyes from him. Sanji followed her gaze. He shriveled down when he saw Neo ducking behind Chopper and the Heart Pirates glowering at him.
"Really!" Sanji waved his hands frantically. "I didn't mean to do it to her! I have the utmost respect for her!"
"Room! Shambles!" Law hissed before anyone else could say or do anything. He sliced Sanji up into as many pieces as possible. He then turned to Neo and concentrated on her clothes until she was back in her usual button up shirt and jeans. He slipped his arm around her and kissed her temple. "Are you all right, love?"
"I'm fine," Neo leaned against his side and finally released her tight hold on Chopper.
"Serves you right," Nami growled at Sanji's severed body.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to do that to her! I respect her very much!" Sanji shrieked in his defense while all this body parts wiggled and twitched. "That was just harder than I thought I was going to be!"
"He might be right," Shachi sighed, coming to the divided man's defense. "It was fairly hard to summon those small fish that I did."
"Yes! Yes! He's right!" Sanji said. "It was hard! It was an accident!"
"I guess we're really going to have to practice hard on controlling this," Robin said. Everyone's eyes dropped to Luffy. He was concentrating so hard his face was turning red. Suddenly, a piece of meat, twice as big as the Straw Hat captain, appeared in front of the teen.
"Meat!" Luffy cried before chomping down on his treat.
"Such a one track mind," Brook mumbled.
"We are now in a world where we have to use our brains over our brawn. And, let's face it, our crew is not known for using our brains. We are in so much trouble," Nami sighed.
"Well at least we have the Heart Pirates with us," Brook said, sipping his tea. "We'll be fine."
Everyone, but Luffy, looked at the skeleton. After a few seconds, they all sighed.