Chapter 20
I'm writing a bit slowly but I'm quiet excited for this next arc, I have it all planned just to need to figure out the writing part, enjoy!
Ages reminder
Luffy: 9
Ace: 12
Sabo: 12
Zoro: 11
Nojiko: 13
Coby: 8
Deuce: 14
~ ASL ~
Ace was pretty ecstatic about this fight. It was easy, he got to show off his moves to his brothers and see how they progressed themselves. It was awesome and he was already excited for the next pirate fight. He was so excited that he went for the treasure himself, hoping at the same time to find some food to munch on, their ship was quite huge. He ate some dried meat that tasted quite good and brought a small chest from the Captain's quarters into the Freedom, expecting some treasure. He was a little disappointed in seeing a simple but strange fruit. It looked like some kind of orange apple and of course, Ace being hungry didn't hesitate and chomped on it.
And immediately regretted it, upon tasting it on his tongue, he must have swallowed some because he felt his stomach becoming strangely warm, then his face and fingers. He looked down on his hand, he was literally on fire!
He shook his hand and stumbled against the mast, panicking more, and the more he was upset, the brighter the fire was, he couldn't set it out! And then the sails were on fire too and someone finally drenched him with water while the ship was still ablaze.
"What the heck was that?!" asked Deuce, eyes wide.
Ace felt very weak suddenly and fell face first into the ground.
Deuce looked around to try and understand what was going on and finally saw the remains of the fruit laying next to the chest.
"Ace! You ate a devil fruit!" he screamed, in complete astonishment.
~ B ~
Mathilda had no idea what it meant but there was her opportunity, while the two kids (why the hell were they kids?) ran towards their burning ship, she turned towards the still tied up, bruised and unconscious captain. Weirdly enough the parrot was still on him, looking at her as she pulled him towards the railing. She was pretty strong physically but the captain was kinda fat and heavy. She still didn't hesitate and watched him fall and sink into the water, not even struggling considering how he was unconscious. The parrot flew around her and landed on her shoulder.
"Revenge, revenge." It croaked and she felt sick in the stomach.
She waited a minute, then two and realized the truth. She didn't feel better, in fact she felt wrong about this, revenge brought her nothing but the awful memory of something she wished she didn't see, a man drowning, like her Dad did. She did get justice but was it worth the cost?
"Er… miss erm… Who are you?" Asked a voice and she turned, seeing a young masked man with cyan hair carrying a heavy blue bag. She blinked and he did too, was it really a crew full of kids?
She turned and saw that the fire was out but the small ship was heavily scorched and had no sails. She looked back at the younger child and smiled a little.
"My name is Banshee, nice to meet you."
~ C ~
Coby knew they've arrived at a new port. The past few days have been quite boring as the only thing they did was jump in between islands and train and learn marine codes. It was interesting of course but somehow dull after a while. His childish mind wished for more fights and adventures, the Marines didn't really let him train with them as he was too young and Garp was just here to kick his and Helmeppo's butt around until they couldn't fight anymore. He did feel a little stronger but the pain reduced his enthusiasm somewhat.
But today was special, as they boarded at a new island he was allowed to check it out, unlike the rest of the crew, he wasn't officially a Marine and with his casual clothes he was told to go enjoy himself for a while. He wasn't sure what he actually meant, he was just supposed to come back in a couple hours, but maybe they expected him not to come back? Was it a way out of Garp's hellish training? Was it Boguard's test for his loyalty?
Helmeppo was more enthusiastic about the outing than Coby was, they were given some money to spend and visit the city.
"Hey Coby, check out those sticks, they taste delicious!" Coby took one with a smile to the seller and tasted it, it was a little weird and they laughed about their tongues becoming blue then Coby finally stopped avoiding the question and asked Helmeppo.
"What makes you want to be a Marine?" His blond friend blinked then shrugged a little dismissively .
"My Da- father was a Marine and I was around them my whole life so why not."
Coby wanted to dig a bit deeper, Helmeppo wasn't saying much but he was asked back.
"What about you? You told me why you were with your pirate friends" he whispered those last words with some resentment "but not why you want to be a Marine." Coby looked at his hands, they were still tiny but the calluses were there, the proof of his training.
"I just want to be something y'know, my home island was so small there wasn't even a Marine base and yet… There was a Marine that saved a little girl when pirates attacked our island, he was so brave and strong! He was going to become something, while I… I was just going to disappear." Coby stayed silent, thinking of Luffy's determined expression when he wanted to become the pirate king, could he dream like that? Could he become something big too? Was becoming a Marine enough? Will Luffy remember him when he becomes the pirate king?
"C-coby! Isn't that Vice-Admiral Garp?"
Indeed the man walked straight forward, the crowd, unused to having Marines in their country parting in front of him like a sea of fish in front of a Shark until someone made him stop.
It was an old woman with white hair, wearing dark clothes and a top hat decorated with golden flowers. Behind her, four guards seemed ready to fight as well, plus some more weirdly dressed people.
"I'm going to ask you to stop here, Vice Admiral Garp. I believe there is a treaty forbidding Marines to set foot on the island." She seemed confident but the crowd was whispering wildly in between them, some people completely leaving in case a fight broke out.
"You must be the Mayor Sandra." said Garp's chilling voice, the same he used when he was unhappy with them.
"I'm here for those kids." He opened a newspaper with some pictures Coby couldn't see but he didn't need to as he already knew who he was referring to.
The woman remained impassable, barely checking the newspaper.
"There are no children of yours on the island, please respect the agreement Vice-Admiral."
"Humpf, then did you see them? If you tell me where they are, I'll be gone before dawn."
"If you admit they're yours, are you ready to pay for the damages they've caused? Will you pay for the treasure that has been stolen?"
Garp waited a couple seconds, then answered with a smile the woman obviously did not expect.
"They're my grandsons, of course I'll pay whatever. Now do you know where they're headed?"
Coby felt his arm being pulled by Helmeppo.
"We need to go back! If they leave soon we'll miss the ship!" The pink haired realized he was right, he wasn't so sure Garp would wait for them and a bit sad to miss the end of the confrontation, he ran back to the ship with his best friend.
~ ASL ~
The whole crew plus Banshee, (her new parrot) and Nojiko were all gathered on the bigger ship, inside the Captain's cabin around a low table, the three young captains in the front while their crewmates were a little behind. Nojiko and Banshee sitting a little apart from the whole crew on barrels but still obviously listening in.
Sabo had a thoughtful frown on his face while Luffy was looking very excited, bouncing a little in place like the rubber ball he was. Ace wasn't looking so good, sitting in the bucket of seawater but he was holding on like a champ, so they wouldn't set fire to the second ship they now had.
"Ace, you ate a weird fruit inside the chest and now you're on fire." said Sabo, as a summary for the whole crew, Deuce looked worriedly at his captain and asked.
"Anyone know anything about devil fruits? I know there's a book about a bunch of them but it's been a while and… I don't really remember which one he could have eaten".
He sighed defeatedly, but only silence answered him, he was pretty sure Luffy didn't even hear him and was watching Banshee's parrot with interest. The young woman crossed her arms and opened her mouth.
"He obviously ate a Logia Fruit, probably the fire one, ." They all looked at Banshee, waiting for an explanation, she sighed and gave it. Deuce took a notebook out of nowhere, ready to write everything down.
"Logias are the one of the rarest kinds of devil fruit, they make the user become the element they embody, meaning Ace, right here, became the embodiment of fire." She finished, apparently not willing to share more.
"Like me! I'm rubber!" exclaimed Luffy, oh so he was listening, no one knew to correct him but Banshee leaned down and looked at him closely with interest. Luffy quickly gave her a proud example by stretching cheek as far as his arm could pull before letting go, the momentum almost propelling him to the wall but Zoro caught him by his leg and pulled him back in on his seat.
"That's… That's a paramecia, I think…"
Everyone looked owlishly at the teenager and she crossed her arms, not willing to say more.
"Thank you but don't think we forgot about your circumstances lady Banshee, we still don't know if you're part of the pirate's crew or not." added Sabo.
"I'm not part of their stupid crew I'm telling you, they stole my ship and everyone else is gone." It set a cold mood and Sabo scratched his neck in embarrassment and decided to move on.
"Alright but what do we do with the rest of them? They tried to kill us, should we just throw them all overboard?" He looked only half serious saying this but he honestly had no idea what they could do with a dozen tied up men. Banshee answered him like he told her in particular.
"You can drown them all for all I care. But this is my ship, they stole it and kept me because I can use the engine." said the redhead and Ace smiled widely at her, even while looking like a drenched cat.
"Well our ship had a little accident so we're taking yours now."
"The ship doesn't have sails, you're not going anywhere without me."
Ace blinked, thinking for a bit then smiled, holding out his wet hand toward her.
"Then join my crew, that way we can both go wherever we want and-"
"Ay wait, I wanted to ask first!" said Luffy, finally getting his attention away from the parrot and jumping up.
"Then you shoulda asked first, she's joining my crew now!" He crossed his arms and Luffy turned to Banshee who seemed a little startled.
"I'm going to be the pirate King, join my crew first!"
"Wait, pirates? You're pirates? Where's the captain?" She stood in surprise, ready to defend herself.
"Me!" "Me!" "The three of us" Said Sabo in the end with a small smile.
"When we're bigger we're all splitting up and going our own ways anyway." added Ace with a scoff then looked at Banshee and Luffy did the same expectantly. Still astonished she waved her hand, frowning at the information she was getting.
"I'll think about it when one of you is not waist deep into sea water, you both can fight it out." Sabo sighed, she didn't need to add more fuel to the fire- then winced at the accidental pun.
"Alright alright, we'll solve that later, about the pirates, what are the options, except pushing them overboard that is.
"What about we abandon them on our old ship until someone finds them?" mumbled Deuce, seemingly unwilling to just murder them.
Sabo looked a little hurt at the idea of leaving pirates aboard the Freedom until he remembered the sorry state it was in.
The sails were missing and the mast fell down, the railing and the deck were severely burned, showing the hull underneath. It probably wasn't going to last long.
"Alright let's put it up to a vote. Raise your hand if we let them drown." Banshee, Sabo, Zoro and Ace raised their hands, then Zoro lowered his when Luffy made puppy dog eyes at him.
"Oookay, what about we leave them on the Freedom until they're found by Marines?"
Luffy, Nojiko, Deuce and Zoro raised their hands, it was decided. Zoro frowned and asked.
"Wait is Banshee even part of-"
"My vote matters." She said and the parrot suddenly flew up from Banshee's shoulder and started to scream.
"Let them live! Let them live! Let them live!"
"Darn parrot" mumbled Banshee and sighed, leaving the Captain's quarters, probably towards the engine room.
Luffy laughed and tried to catch it with a stretching hand, failing immediately.
"Guess they get to live, right Luffy?" said Sabo, the enthusiastic captain finally caught the struggling bird and laughed.
"Shishishishi, yeah!"
The pirate crew was promptly carried away to their old ship, some of the members woke up and tried to resist but a solid kick on the head from Sabo or Ace shut them down. No one seemed to comment or notice that the captain was missing.
They salvaged everything they could, Sabo taking his sailing materials and compass, Luffy carrying the food with Zoro and Ace with Deuce's help handled the canons and the bedding. In the end, except for the treasure they really didn't have much of value really.
.
"Can you do this at least? There's a deserted island Northwest and once we get there we can figure things out." Sabo crossed his arms, frowning at the recalcitrant teen, she didn't seem to be willing to listen to a child younger than her, weirdly enough.
"What if I don't want to be abandoned on a deserted island while you guys steal my ship?" Wasn't very trusting either and Sabo wanted to pull his hair out.
"You said it yourself, we can't use the engine without you, so either you lead us to-"
"How much you're gonna pay me?" Sabo blinked, she just wanted money? Then he actually had to think about it, he counted on his fingers the crew members.
"Well if you join the crew you'll get about one sixth of our treasure, which we still haven't entirely turned into berrys so you'd have to wait, if you don't join any crew we'll pay you whatever you need I guess. Keep in mind that we can easily buy another ship so don't think we're actually that desperate for your ship."
She seemed to think about it.
"You kids can't have that much money anyways, I'll be paid per trip until I decide I guess."
She completely missed Sabo's evil grin, they had way more treasure than she could imagine.
"Sure thing, now lead the way, Banshee."
Sabo wasn't all that sure she wanted this girl around, she was pretty arrogant but all that mattered was that she knew how to use the ship and that was it.
He returned to the bridge and almost stumbled on a napping Zoro, then he looked around and realized Luffy was fishing with Ace and Deuce was talking animatedly with Nojiko, who was politely nodding along.
This ship was way bigger than the Freedom, for one they had two main masts, even if the torn sails weren't very useful at the moment they had a crow's nest up there. He kicked at Zoro and told him to go get himself useful at the top, he didn't want to be surprised by another pirate's ship again. They would also need more food than what they had at the moment, they did buy some at Oykot but they had one more passenger to feed and it wouldn't last as long as he hoped. There was also the issue of Nojiko's island, which was meant to be their next destination and he also had to count and split the treasure and-
Sabo sighed deeply and returned to the Captain's cabin, he would figure it out once they landed at their new island.
.
~ Z ~
It would be Zoro's turn for the shift and he took it seriously enough since the last attack, they never knew when more pirates or marines could appear. But as he arrived on the bridge Ace called him for the side.
"Can't sleep in the water, you can go to sleep." It was true, they couldn't really risk the guy setting the ship on fire while they slept. But Zoro thought that the Captain looked pretty grumpy and frustrated. His expression bothered Zoro who was more used to seeing him up and confident.
"Okay but I want to fight you when you're better."
This seemed to startle Ace who suddenly smiled and nodded.
"I'll kick your butt for sure."
That's more like it, thought Zoro and headed for the cabins.
Sabo was pushing Luffy to help him clean up the crew's cabin. It was wider than he expected and there were plenty of hammocks for everyone.
They left the Captain's quarters to the ladies, there was only one big bed there and it wouldn't fit all the boys anyways. Zoro laid on his hammock and sighed, his wound was taken care of by Deuce but he still felt it sting a little. He knew that Sabo and Nojiko were preparing something for the trip but he was mostly hoping it would make him stronger.
~ ASL ~
Luffy was excited to say the least, they finally landed on a new island. Unlike the others, it was pretty small and deserted but the forest quickly peaked his interest. He really wanted to go but before that he observed Ace's powers on the beach.
First he was supposed to stop being on fire which was apparently more difficult than it seemed and Deuce agreed to try and help him.
But really, Luffy noticed that all he did was watch and sometimes drench Ace with a bucket in case he got too close to the ship or the forest. Luffy thought the cyan haired boy was enjoying it a little too much and Ace seemed to notice too and tried to aim a small fireball towards him successfully setting fire to Deuce's coat so he had to drench himself with the bucket to set it out, making Ace laugh like a maniac at how Deuce panicked.
It got a little boring for Luffy who jumped off the ship to get on the beach as well, bouncing on it a little.
"Zoro! Let's go explore the island!" Sabo was nowhere to be seen, probably working in the Captain's quarters like he'd been for the past few days with Nojiko. Luffy was pretty happy that Sabo also found a first mate, he was getting a little worried that he wouldn't have a crew.
Luffy and Zoro found a couple strange animals including a giant rabbit with sharp teeth that tried to attack them but that Zoro cut in pieces and the most peaceful lion that he'd ever seen, it barely paid attention to them and was more interested in eating grass than anything else.
"What a weird island!" Luffy laughed as he saw a tiny peaceful wolf and tried to pet it. It seemed to enjoy it and Luffy immediately wanted to take it home but Zoro prevented him saying that he was too tiny and would die. That seemed unfortunately true as the wolf didn't seem to have any capacity to defend itself whatsoever. The deer that attacked them, though, looked positively delicious in Luffy's opinion. Maybe they could have another feast to celebrate their victory?
~ NN ~
Nojiko was missing.
This news fell like a brick inside Nami's stomach and she barely could swallow her tears, Arlong didn't like to see her cry. Genzo put his hand on her head gently, assuring her that everything would be alright and that they would find her but the information just weighed on Nami's brain like nothing else. She had to return to Arlong park tonight and…
Nojiko was missing.
What if it was another sick scheme of Arlong to keep her around? What if she was a prisoner inside Arlong's castle to keep Nami obedient? But she was so obedient already, she did everything he asked for, all these maps, all these lands to map out until her hands bled. Nami thanked Genzo for the information and taking care of the Tangerine Grove and before he could say anything else she walked away.
Nojiko was missing.
Her sister, her pillar, her only family was gone. What was she supposed to do, the maps for Arlong were not done yet, should she run? Should she beg so she could go after her sister? What would be the price for finding Nojiko though if she asked Arlong to help she would end up working for him forever. She walked in the forest, it was dark enough one could barely see her tears rolling on her cheeks.
Nojiko was missing.
Nami suddenly ran and ran until her breath hitched and she could only cough her lungs and she stopped. In front of her a wooden cross and the wind of the ocean making her hair fly. After a couple minutes she sat and breathed slowly to calm herself down.
Nojiko was missing.
"Bellemere, what should I do?"
Eat some drama friends, it's just the beginning.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Don't forget to review, makes me write faster
See you next time
