So, with the last thing I posted, I promised that my next posting to The Cauldron would be the first chapter of a One Piece crossover. I didn't intend to write it so soon, and yet, here it is. Now, if the premise seems familiar, yes, I reused whitetigerwolf's Animagus Lover challenge, as well as elements from my first fic that challenge inspired, Quoth the Raven...

Unlike Quoth the Raven..., though, this story has a Harry who fell through the Veil and ended up in the One Piece world. Harry's character will be closer in some regards to that of Vert from Vert the Emerald and the Cetra Heritage, as noted below.

The full story probably won't be written for a while. I need to work on other stuff first. But this should serve as a good appetiser.

Incidentally, the first three chapters of my Sekirei crossover, Wings of the Forsaken, will be posted simultaneously with this sample chapter.

MARE NOSTRUM: EAST BLUE SAGA

CHAPTER 1:

PARTNERS IN CRIME

EPIGRAM: He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.

Doctor Samuel Johnson

Wealth, fame, power. Gol D Roger, aka Gold Roger, the infamous King of the Pirates, had it all. And yet, he ended up on the gallows at Loguetown. But even in the face of death, he was defiant, smirking maliciously at his captors, as if he knew what effect his words would have on those gathered to watch his demise. And his words would send countless men and women to the Grand Line in pursuit of fortune, triggering off the Great Pirate Era. Before he was executed, he roared the following to the crowd:

"You want my treasure? You can have it all if you can find it! I left it all in one place! The One Piece is yours for the taking…if you feel up to searching the whole world for it!"

Twenty-two years later, a slender girl in her late teens with orange hair lay slumped in a small boat, isolated seemingly in the middle of the ocean. She doesn't even react when a green-eyed raven flies down right next to her, peering at her in a hungry manner. A wooden chest was near her, whatever riches it was filled with of no use to her. And the ocean around her mocked her apparent thirst.

Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink, as Coleridge put it(1). Had he existed in this world. But he didn't.

However, the girl wasn't alone on the ocean, even if one discounted the raven looking like it wanted to eat her. A slightly larger boat was approaching, its sails emblazoned with the Jolly Roger, albeit one embellished by a red nose and marks on its eyesockets that made it reminiscent of a clown. A trio of men, of rough dress and demeanour, were looking at the boat with eager eyes. "Hey, look, it's a girl!" one of the pirates said.

As they came close, another pirate poked the girl, while the raven, with a squawk, flew up onto the mast of the pirate's boat. "Oi, girl, you dead? You look like something the cat dragged in and pissed all over, ha ha!"

The girl stirred, and looked up at them, her expression apparently one of delirium. "Ugh…am I hallucinating? Can't be…can't be anyone here in this part of the sea. Look…I've been lost for days. Can you spare…some water…and some food?" She indicated the wooden chest near her. "I've got gold…I'll gladly trade some for your help…"

This excited the greed of the pirates, who grinned. Easy pickings, they thought. "Of course we'll help, but…well, we want to see the colour of your coin, missy. We don't help for free." And with that, they clambered onto her boat, and began fiddling with the chest.

The girl, showing more vitality than she did mere seconds before, clambered onto the pirates' ship, and pushed it away from the one she just vacated. The pirates didn't notice, as they were trying to open the chest, while the girl grinned. "Feel free to take the whole ship," she smirked. Then, as she sailed off, allowing her original ship to drift away, she looked up at the dark clouds nearby.

The raven flew down, and perched on her shoulder, and croaked in a manner that sounded like laughter. The girl nodded. "Yep, I agree, Emerald. See those clouds they're drifting towards? Violent showers are on the way, and they'll have to be careful to avoid capsizing. We won't be in any danger. I know these seas like the back of my hand."

Emerald looked at her, in a manner the girl had come to see as disapproving. The girl shrugged. "They're pirates, Emerald. They pillage, rape, and murder. And they're Buggy's, too. He's one of the worst in the East Blue." Her face fell. "He doesn't hold a handle to Arlong, though." She sighed, before heading over to a nearby treasure chest on the deck, and opening it, before smirking. "Bingo," she said upon looking at the coins and jewels within. "They must've just hit a merchant vessel. There's even a crown. Must be for some noble with ideas above his station…or even a Celestial Dragon." She scowled at the thought of the infamously corrupt and dictatorial top nobles of the world. "They don't deserve anything like this."

Emerald, who had flown off her shoulder and was now on the deck nearby, peered at the treasure chest, and then at the girl. He cawed briefly.

The girl sighed. "I know. But I don't think I have much choice. Otherwise, Arlong has my village forever…has ME forever. Still, given what I found out, Buggy has a good map of the Grand Line. We'll have to take a risk and snatch it." She gingerly picked up the raven and pressed him to her chest gently. "We haven't known each other that long, Emerald. But…I wish you could talk back. Heh. God, listen to me, I've been alone for too long. I'm talking to a raven that I adopted as a pet. That's the first sign of madness, isn't it? Talking to yourself…or near enough. Next I'll start referring to myself in the third person. Nami going crazy."

In another part of the world, a pink-haired elegant woman dressed in the uniform of a Marine sneezed a couple of times, before scowling. "Is someone making imprecations of Hina behind Hina's back?"

Emerald remained silent. Well, it was a bit hard to make noise when being pressed to a girl's bosom. Not enough to cause trouble breathing, but still, it complicated speech.

Nami released him, and he hopped away slightly, before watching her count out her money. He had all but fallen into her lap a few months ago, shortly after she left Cocoyashi Village to get the last bit of money needed to pay off Arlong. He'd looked in a bad way, and Nami had to question why a raven was flying over the ocean. As far as she knew, they weren't seafaring birds. Maybe this one had been the pet of a sailor, or a pirate, and he looked unique with that lightning-bolt shape of white feathers above his right eye. He was certainly a smart bird, able to understand her commands. More than once, she was grateful for Emerald for stealing something for her, or crapping on an enemy and distracting them at a critical time.

She would probably need his help once they reached Orange Town. After all, Buggy was one of the most dangerous pirates in the East Blue, and legend had it that he had mysterious powers. Not only that, but he had a temper shorter than the fuses on his cannons, with it being said that he once destroyed an entire village he was visiting simply because a child made fun of his big red nose.

Still, fortune favoured the bold, as they say, and as risky as getting the Grand Line map was (never mind actually making it TO the Grand Line, the infamous 'Pirate Graveyard'), Nami thought that the reward was worth it. Plus, if she really got lucky, she'd have a chance to snatch whatever treasure Buggy had squirreled away…

Not so long afterwards, Nami was cursing to herself as she sprinted down the main street of Orange Town, a trio of pirates pursuing her, Emerald flying overhead. Getting the map had been relatively easy. But then, her luck went sour. And now, three of Buggy's crew were coming after her with swords in hand. And as fast as she was, the bastards were gaining on her. Maybe the crew got practise in physical fitness running away from Buggy when he was in a mood or something.

Emerald crapped on the street, causing one pirate to slip and fall, his flailing limbs bringing down his fellow with him. Then, with a caw, he swooped down at the last pursuer, scratching and pecking at the pirate's face, screeching.

"Get off me, y'damned crow!" the pirate snarled, before grabbing the bird, and smashing him against a nearby wall. He then yelled at Nami, "You'd better come right back here, you little bitch, or your mangy pet's gonna get it!"

Nami had halted, and whirled to face her pursuers. She paled when she realised he wasn't bluffing. She badly needed a distraction, something, anything to distract these idiots, so she could find a way to rescue Emerald. But things like that didn't exactly drop out of the sky, did they?

A distant explosion heralded Buggy firing off one of his infamous cannons. A slightly closer explosion overhead heralded a sound of screaming from above, before something slammed into the ground, kicking up a big cloud of dust. As the dust cleared, the figure it had been hiding got to its feet, ever-so-slightly shakily.

It was a boy, a little younger than Nami, with black hair and eyes, a scar underneath his left eye. He was wearing denim shorts, a red vest, and a battered straw hat. He shook his head, and looked bemused. "Huh. I'm alive. Whose bright idea was it to shoot cannonballs at me?" he asked, his voice high and rasping.

Now, had this been any other situation, Nami would have used the kid as a distraction. But she doubted that that would do Emerald any good. She would have needed him free to be able to flee while this kid distracted the pirates. The pirate holding Emerald suddenly squeezed the bird, and Nami heard the bird squawk in pain, and then, a brittle snap, before flinging the bird behind him.

"EMERALD!" Nami yelled.

"Don't worry," the pirate sneered. "He can't fly now. And neither can you…"

Oh, this brought him back. The jolt of pain through his left wing. It stirred memories that had been adrift in the fog for a while, memories he had allowed to be submerged. Because to remember that he was once human was to remember all the pain he had suffered.

It was a walrus who had broken that arm last. Well, a man who was very like a walrus. He had the moustache and the corpulence. What was his name again? Uncle Venial? Uncle Verruca? Uncle Venereal?

Ah, Vernon. Yes, that fat twat. Fucked a giraffe to have a pig. Or was that a song he once heard?

Gah. Focus, dammit. The raven known as Emerald used the pain to focus his mind. If he didn't do something soon, Nami was going to die, probably after being tortured and raped. And he couldn't do that as he was now.

Another fog-shrouded memory came unbidden to mind. Of a dogfather fighting in a darkened chamber, fighting against a rabid bitch. A curse hit him, he staggered towards an archway…and Emerald needed to save him.

He charged forward, and stopped his dogfather from falling through the archway, only to be knocked through himself. He remembered falling through a void, but only remembered darkly. Even now, his life was mistbound.

But the memory spurred him to do something about this. In his desperation, Emerald reached deep within himself, found something he hadn't used for two years now, and changed…

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" the boy asked, looking at the three pirates, the two who had fallen having gotten up and joined their comrade.

"Stay out of this, brat," one of the pirates sneered. "We're gonna slice up this bitch into bits so small the worms won't even have to chew(2)."

The boy looked incensed at that, and looked set to fight, only for a painful rasp of a voice to snarl, "Expelliarmus."

The three pirates were suddenly hurled through the air, their swords being torn from their grasp, and landing right in front of a figure who was behind them. Someone Nami hadn't seen before. A figure she was afraid of.

The boy was about her age, if somewhat short and lanky, even scrawny, dressed in tattered rags that had once been clothes. He had a messy, shoulder-length mop of black hair framing handsome, if haggard features. There seemed to be, oddly enough, black feathers stuck in his hair. His left arm hung limply by his side, while his right hand held what looked like a stick or a baton…or a wand.

But the things that caught her eye the most were two things. The first was the lightning bolt-shaped scar, snaking out from beneath his fringe. The second, flashing behind scuffed glasses, were emerald-coloured eyes.

As the pirates got to their feet from where they had landed, the ragged boy snarled, "Stay…the fuck…away…from Nami! STUPEFY!"

The three pirates were hurled through the air by a strobe of red light, with Nami and the straw-hat boy diving to the ground to let them pass overhead. They skidded along the ground, but when they came to a stop, they didn't get up.

The straw-hat kid stared, and then grinned, leaping to his feet. "That was cool! Was that a Devil Fruit power?!" he demanded of the ragged boy.

"Shut up a moment," the ragged boy said, before he took his left arm, which seemed broken, and grasped it in his right hand. With a scream, green light suffused it, and then, he released it. "Oh, that was fucking painful." He looked over at Nami. "Are you all right, Nami?"

Nami blinked in confusion, before she asked, "Yeah, but…who are you? How do you know…?" She trailed off when her mind finally made the connections. Green eyes. A lightning-shaped scar. Feathers stuck in his hair. "Emerald?"

The ragged boy nodded. "That's…not actually my name, though. Call me…Harry."

CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:

So, there you have it. Okay, it's VERY similar in premise to Quoth the Raven…, but hey, if it works…

Now, Harry will be somewhat prickly in this. He will be not unlike Vert in Vert the Emerald and the Cetra Heritage. So when Luffy makes his declaration that Nami and Harry will join his pirate crew, regardless of their say in the matter, Harry is NOT going to be happy. In fact, he and Luffy will be at odds. He'll get along better with Nami (obviously) and Zolo, but Usopp and Sanji are other matters entirely. He'll only go along with Luffy for Nami's sake. Plus, Luffy reminds Harry a bit too much of him when he was younger and naïve.

And yes, characters from the Potterverse WILL make an appearance later down the track, as with Vert the Emerald and the Cetra Heritage.

1. The quote is from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. I could have had Harry as an albatross instead of a raven, but a raven, I think, is more fitting to Harry, given his black hair and his connection to the Deathly Hallows.

2. This is modified from a line from the Red Dwarf episode Gunmen of the Apocalypse.