Straw Hat RWBYs
An: Sorry this one is late, but work has been exhausting and Christmas holidays have been hectic. On that note, Happy late Merry Christmas! I wanted to post this yesterday, but it didn't pan out like I wanted. But here it is, and I hope you guys enjoy it!
And I'd like to take a moment to answer some reviews I got:
Greymon1000: Thanks for understanding my reasonings for introducing the World Nobles early. To me, it would take more than a few corrupt Marines to get RWBY to join the Straw Hats, and while Marine RWBY team would be interesting, that's for another story.
Yes, Grimm will be arriving. It has a lot to do with the way RWBY arrived on Susanos. That will be explained later.
I hope I can continue to do well on the characterization front. My strongest writing points are fight scenes and I'm sort of ok on everything else.
Soren: Pretty much yeah.
Some of them. I know for certain the Rainbow mist and Navarone (the marine base filler arc after Skypeia) will definitely be adapted into this fic. The others I may write separate mini fics for them. Movies will probably be the same, save maybe Strong World.
qazse: You bring up a point most others bring up on Haki and Aura. Allow me to say Nomadskout8 and myself are well aware of the pros and cons of both Haki and Aura. In this story, we're going to have Haki and Aura a connection. As to what that is, I won't be spoiling, but I hope you continue with the story to find out what that connection is.
And not all the Straw Hats will be getting Aura. Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy, to my thinking, wouldn't even consider having theirs unlocked. And due to that 'connection' Aura for the ones in the One Piece world will not work like it does for those from the RWBY world. Next chapter will showcase that.
Also, thanks for your opinion on Aura, which helped Nomadskout8 and myself with our Haki/Aura situation.
Red: That's an interesting idea. Honestly didn't think of that.
And a special thanks to Nomadskout8 for his help with this chapter. I hope y'all enjoy it!
Chapter 5: Weiss's curiosity and Usopp's strife!
Marine base, Hannoki Town
"I can't believe they said that to us!" Ruby whined as she stomped out of the Marine base, looking crossed. Her team wasn't much better, wearing similar scowls on their faces as they followed their friend and leader.
"I could understand the skepticism," Weiss ground out. "It's an unbelievable claim, after all. But that…" She growled. "That woman was completely out of line!"
"I agree!" Yang said, frowning. "She's lucky Ruby's too nice, or else I would have punched her in the face for insulting my baby sister like that!"
"You probably would've gotten arrested for that," Blake told her.
"Totally would have been worth it!"
"Girls, come on. It's fine!" Ruby, ever the optimist, said with a smile as she turned to them. "Yeah, she was super mean, but maybe that captain guy she mentioned won't be!"
"Her superior?" Blake mused. "No offense, but are you sure that's a good idea?"
Ruby's smile faltered a moment before it returned strong. "Yeah! I mean, it doesn't hurt to try right?"
"I guess," Yang grumbled to herself.
"Let's not get our hopes up," Weiss said cynically. She eyeballed the Marines around them with a frown. The entire situation was starting to seem too familiar to her. And it was making her uncomfortable.
"Yeah," Blake muttered, agreeing with Weiss. "These men and women don't seem all that friendly."
"They look like Atleasian soldiers, but they didn't strike me as villainous," Yang countered. "Ya know, besides all the jokes people make about Atlas."
"That's what worries me, Yang," Blake told her.
"Not for me." The three turned to Weiss, who turned to face them. "Yes, being a military power, they do have many similarities to the Alteasian military, but being from Atlas myself, I can tell you these people don't remind me anything of Alteasian soldiers."
"Then what?" Ruby asked.
"…They remind me of my father's 'enforcers,'" she told them quietly.
"You're dad's…enforcers?" Ruby asked in confusion.
"The mine security personnel," Blake said heatedly. The half-sisters turned to her. Weiss, however, nodded.
"Yes. The men he hired to make sure any 'problems' in the mines were swiftly dealt with, and everyone was quiet about it," she explained. "That's who they remind me of."
"That's a bad thing, right?" Yang asked.
"Yes. It means I think they're up to no good," Weiss told her.
"Are you sure?" Ruby asked.
"No. And that's what worries me."
The all-girl team was silent at that. Ruby, however, didn't stay glum for long and quickly plastered a big, happy smile upon her face. "Well, let's just hope they're not doing bad things for now! We still need to find someone who can help us with our problem!"
The girls perked up a bit at that. "Ruby's right," Blake said to the others. "We shouldn't worry ourselves with problems we don't know the answers to. Best to focus on the ones we have now."
"Yeah, you're right," Yang said, shrugging. "So, what's the plan, Ruby?" The three older girls turned to their leader. Ruby looked at them together and smiled.
"I think we should split up and find the boss guy," she explained. "Maybe he could at least get us our own boat, so we can search for a way home ourselves."
"It's better than sitting here waiting," Blake commented quietly. "Let's do it."
"I agree," Weiss commented, looking around the vacant street. "There's…something I'd like to do as well."
"What?" Ruby asked.
"…It's personal," Weiss answered. Ruby just shrugged.
"Alright." Ruby looked at her team and smiled widely. "Ok, team! Let's split up!"
With Luffy
Luffy pouted as he stared towards the mountains in the distance. Why couldn't he reach them?! Were they running from him? That would be super awesome, but also super annoying. He wanted to stand on top of them, dammit!
"I feel like I'm running in circles!" he grumbled.
"Oi, Luffy." The straw hatted teen looked down and saw Zoro staring up at him. He was scowling.
"Oh! Zoro!" Jumping off the roof he was perched on, Luffy landed next to the swordsman with a wide grin. "So, you decided to explore the village too?" he asked.
"No. I came to keep an eye on you," he answered. He looked around and said, "That'd said, I'd rather not stay in this town any more than we have too!"
"But Zorooo!" Luffy whined. "I haven't climbed the mountain yet! And this stupid town's twisting me around!"
"Luffy, we don't have that kind of time," Zoro explained to him. "You want to get to the Grand Line as soon as possible, right?"
"Well, yeah, but we've got time to go stand on top of the mountain!" Luffy gave Zoro a wide smile. Zoro groaned and put a hand on his face.
"Fine. Just don't come crying to me when Nami starts yelling at you," Zoro told him. "Let's just get this over with."
"Hm? You're not go explore on your own?" Luffy asked in confusion.
"No." Zoro looked around the empty village, grimacing. "I don't like this place. Doesn't something about this seem wrong to you?"
"Now that you mention it, it's kinda quiet," Luffy admitted. "I thought they were all taking an afternoon nap or something." He shrugged at this.
"Maybe." Zoro glanced out at the town. "But…"
"Oh well! Who cares, right?! I'm going to the mountain now! Later Zoro!" Luffy called out, walking away cheerfully with his hand on his hat.
"Luffy, wait," Zoro called out and walked after him. "We need to-huh?" He turned a corner and found himself staring at a dead-end alley. "Where'd he go?" He looked around and frowned. "Tch. Idiot got himself lost. Now I've got to hunt him down again." With that, Zoro walked out of the alley, intent on finding his wayward captain.
"Huh? Another dead-end?" the green-haired swordsman questioned, raising an eyebrow at the wall in front of him.
With Usopp
Despite his initial fears, being alone as he fixed the Merry was actually not all bad.
It was calming. The birds chirping. The gentle crash of the waves on the shore. Usopp could listen to that and ignore everything else.
Everything, of course, except his constant griping about being ditched.
"Stupid Zoro. I could have had everything but the worst stuff done if he'd just stayed and helped," the long-nosed teen grumbled in annoyance. He hammered a board on the outer hull down and wiped his brow. "Then again, from what I've seen of him, he'd have probably just fell asleep, and I would have had to done this all alone, anyways." He looked at his handiwork and smiled.
"Not a bad job, if I do say so myself," he said proudly.
"HEY!" Usopp cried out in terror as he tried not to fall off the Merry at the sudden shout. As he finally regained his balance and landed on his feet, he let out a breath in relief as he patted himself down.
"HEY! YOU UP THERE!" Usopp flinched and nearly lost his balance again as he turned to see who was yelling at him. When he saw the person, his eyes widened comically as he exclaimed wordlessly at the sight before him.
The speaker was a woman with pale skin, green hair, and light green eyes. Black spots and three line-like tattoos decorated her neck. But the fact that made him freak out? It was the fact she was wearing a Marine uniform.
Usopp had to force himself not to lose his balance again. 'Ok, calm down, Usopp, you've got this…' he thought to himself. 'Just play it cool, and act natural.' He looked over the side of the Merry, and shouted back, "Y-Yes? Can I help you, officer?!"
"You can start by telling me why your ship is docked here and not in town!" she responded. "This area is under Marine lockdown, and we have posted no vessel may dock here for the moment!"
"Y-Yes, well, you see, my crew and myself got caught in a violent storm, and our navigator thought it'd be best to weigh anchor here just in case the damage we sustained was worse than we thought," he lied quickly, hoping she bought it.
Miraculously, she seemed to. "Hm…I can see a few concerning hull problems," she mused, looking over the Merry. "Can't believe I overlooked them." Turning back to him, she asked, "Where's the rest of your crew?"
"In town," he replied. "We needed some material to patch up the bigger issues with Merry here, and we were low on supplies, so they went in town to get the parts we needed and restock." The Marne nodded.
"Understandable. However, that still leaves the issue of your vessel being in a restricted area," she told him. "We've secured this area because this is a popular mooring spot for pirates."
That caused Usopp to splutter. "P-P-P-Pirates?!" he exclaimed. The girl just looked at him and grinned.
"Eh, don't worry about it! I'll stick around until your crew comes back! After all, it's a Marine's job to protect and serve!" she said with a salute. "Oh!" She jumped a little as she remembered something. She suddenly looked embarrassed as she spoke again: "My apologies! I haven't introduced myself! I'm Petty Officer Paralee Zola!"
She looked at him, and Usopp got the feeling she was waiting on him to introduce himself. He recomposed himself and responded, "Oh! Right! Sorry about that officer. I'm Usopp; I'm the captain of this ship!"
"Well, Captain Usopp, you sure do take great care of your vessel!"
"T-Thanks!" 'Holy smokes! She totally bought that!' Usopp thought.
With Luffy
Luffy looked around in confusion. "Hey, Zoro? Zoro? Where'd you go?" he asked to no one as he looked around the wharf. "Huh. Must have decided to go exploring, after all!" He smiled at that. "That's cool! At least he's having fun!"
He frowned as he stared back at the mountain. "Now all that's left is catching up with that stupid mountain!" he shouted. He jumped up on a building and looked further down at a massive ship. He frowned at it. "That ship looks familiar for some reason…"
Meanwhile, just a block away from the straw hat captain, Weiss strode through the abandoned dock fearlessly. Her eyes searched the area for any sign of life as she continued forward. She turned her gaze up at the rooftops and saw Luffy looking further down the shoreline. She nodded to herself and made her way to him.
"Ok! Mountain here I come!" Luffy shouted as he jumped off the roof again. He was about to run off again until he heard a voice behind him saying, "Hey, Luffy." He turned and saw Weiss walking up to him. He smiled at her.
"Oh! Hey Weiss! How'd it go with the Marines?!" he asked eagerly. She shook her head.
"They practically laughed in our faces, though Ruby insisted on looking for the captain in charge, thinking he could at least get us a boat," she replied evenly. Luffy frowned.
"That wasn't nice of them," he stated plainly.
"You make it sound like they were supposed to believe us right away," Weiss observed.
"Well, yeah, you were telling the truth and they're supposed to be the good guys," Luffy responded.
"That's…a very childish way of thinking of things," Weiss said with a raised eyebrow.
"Gramps would have believed you," Luffy continued, heedless of Weiss's jab. "He'd have done everything he could to help you!"
"Are you implying your grandfather is a Marine?" Weiss asked. Luffy smiled and nodded.
"Yeah!"
"And yet…you're a pirate?"
"Uh-huh!"
Weiss tried to think of something to say, but she couldn't think of anything. Finally, she found herself asking, "Why did you become a pirate if your grandfather's a Marine?"
"Huh?" Luffy turned to her in confusion. "Because-"
"I know the reason you gave us," Weiss interrupted. "However, I'm just having a hard time comprehending something. Why did you decide to be a pirate? Surely, there's some other reason besides freedom."
Luffy regarded her for a moment, his expression went blank as he considered whether he should say something or not. After a few moments, he sighed. "It's a combination of things, really." Weiss raised an eyebrow.
"Are you…willing to share?" she asked.
"Yeah, I guess. Just never had anyone ask that before," he admitted. She nodded at that, fully understanding the feeling.
"Take your time," she told him.
"Nah. It's fine," he said. "I guess…it was three things," he explained, holding up three fingers.
"Okay? What are they?" Weiss asked.
"The first was my Grampa," he said simply. Weiss's face went slack.
"Wait. Your grandfather? The Marine? Why?!" she asked/demanded.
"Because he's almost killed me hundreds of times!" Luffy explained a bit too cheerfully.
Weiss lost it. "I'M SORRY WHAT?!"
"Shishishishishishi! Yeah! He was always throwing me into ravines, and forests, and tying balloons to me so I'd fly!" Luffy continued.
"How can you laugh at that?!" Weiss screeched. "What would possess a man to do that to his own grandchild?!"
"He wanted me to be a strong Marine like him," Luffy said.
Weiss almost lost her self-control again, but she forcibly calmed herself. "Y-Yes, well…I suppose after a life like that, I can see why you didn't wish to be a Marine like him…"
"It wasn't that." Weiss blinked in confusion as she turned her attention back to Luffy. "Yeah, his training was tough, but I rarely ever saw 'em. I saw him maybe twice a year, at best." Here, the straw hatted teen frowned. "He always got called back to work. I didn't like the idea all work all the time."
Weiss found herself hesitantly nodding to that. "I can…understand that." Her father never took a vacation from work; it was one reason why the Schnee Dust Company was so successful: he never did anything that didn't make money. And despite her love of singing, it always irked her how he'd turn her concerts into giant spectacles to turn a profit. "And the other two?"
Luffy grinned. "The next is a promise!" he exclaimed. Weiss raised an eyebrow.
"A promise?" she repeated.
"Yeah!" The Straw Hat captain took off his hat and stared down at it. "I promised Shanks I'd become Pirate King, then return his hat to him in good condition!"
"Shanks?"
"Yeah! He was a pirate captain that hung around my village for a year! He was super cool! He and his crew would tell me all about life on the sea and how much freedom you had. I tried to join his crew, but they wouldn't." He pouted for a moment before smiling. "Good thing since I wouldn't be on such a great adventure right now!" He laughed at that.
"I'm assuming Shanks wasn't, what you'd call, 'a bad pirate?'" Weiss continued.
"Nope! He was the one to help me see there's good pirates and bad pirates!" Luffy answered. "He even saved my life!"
"Huh? Why?!" the heiress shouted.
"A mountain bandit threw me into the ocean, and the King of the Coast tried to eat me," Luffy explained before Weiss spoke up again.
"Wait, wait, wait! Mountain bandits? King of the Coast?" she asked. Luffy nodded. "Who's the King of the Coast?"
"A giant Sea King that lives off the coast of my island," Luffy explained. At Weiss's blank expression, he elaborated, "A giant sea monster!" Her eyes widened.
"Just when I thought your world couldn't get weirder," she mumbled. She shook her head. "Let's just go onto the last one."
"Sure." Luffy's faced turned to stone. "The third is…"
He paused, making Weiss tap her foot. "Yes?"
"I wanted nothing to do with the Marines after what happened in Grey Terminal," he told her.
"Grey Terminal?" she asked.
"It was a settlement outside of my island's capital." Luffy scowled at this. "Though settlement is being generous, since it was little more than a dumping ground for the capital's garbage."
Suddenly, Weiss was getting serious Mantle/Atlas vibes. "Why would anyone settle there?"
"They had nowhere else to go. But one day, the nobles had a scumbag pirate set fire to Grey Terminal," Luffy said in a darker tone than Weiss would have thought was possible for the cheery teen.
However, what he said had Weiss paling. "They did what?! Why?!" The white themed girl started to feel like a broken record at this point.
"A World Noble was coming to the island, and they wanted to make a good impression," Luffy told her. "My brother and I nearly died in that fire, and my other brother died to that damn noble that day."
Weiss couldn't help but feel horror at the cruel act described by Luffy. It also made her feel uncomfortable. What he described sounded very similar to the situation Atlas and Mantle faced on a daily basis, just less…cruel. Was even the right word? She wasn't sure.
Instead, she decided to focus on something else. "B-Brothers? You have brothers?" she asked. Luffy's face brightened up at that.
"Yeah! Ace and Sabo! We used to do everything together!" Luffy explained. "Ace was always the strongest, and Sabo was the smartest!"
"And one of them died?" She hated bringing that up again, but she wanted to be thorough. Luffy's mood soured a bit.
"Yeah. His dad was a noble of the capital, and Sabo hated there. He ran away to the sea, and the World Noble shot down his boat for being in his way," Luffy explained.
Weiss had to force herself not to reel back in shock. "And he got away with killing a kid?!" Upon hearing a bit of his brother, she felt a kinship to this Sabo, being of high standing and having a crappy father herself.
To hear this World Noble just shot him down in cold blood…
"He was a World Noble," Luffy said bitterly. "From what Gramps told me, they're pretty much untouchable, even by the Marines." He looked Weiss in the eye and said, "Did that answer your questions, Weiss?"
Weiss flinched back, not expecting his question to be so sincere, and not cold. "Y-Yes. Thank you, Luffy." He smiled.
"That's good! Finally decided to join my crew yet?!" he asked eagerly. She frowned at him.
"I wouldn't go that far!" she declared. He shrugged.
"Oh well! I'll try again later! Right now, I've got a mountain to climb! Later Weiss!" he shouted as he took off in a random direction. Weiss was about to yell at him when she noticed something.
"You dolt! If you're going to the mountain, you're going the wrong way!" She ran after him, unaware of someone walking out of an alley.
An: What did you think? I hope the Luffy/Weiss interaction was good. It was a hassle to write. Again, I want to thank Nomadskout8 for his help with the scene.