Ellis stood in the cool salt water. Waves crashed against her legs in the ebb and flow. Even though she was trying to relax, she was worried. The village behind her was too quiet.
She looked out to the horizon. There hadn't been a ship in sight for a while. There was no traffic coming to or going from the docks. She had yet to see anyone since arriving here before dawn. It had to be late morning, if not midday. She turned to look back at the buildings. Maybe she should check things out…?
At a strange, scream-like call of a bird, she headed back to the sand where she left her bag and shoes. The sand was hot from the sun as she bounced from foot to foot, minimizing contact with the heated ground. After putting her black slippers on and grabbing her bag, she paused to enjoy the salty sea breeze, blowing her brown hair with it. She let her legs dry a bit before unrolling her dark pants. Then she headed to the dock ramp leading to city roads.
Once she turned, walking away, the silhouette of a ship peeked over the horizon.
The town itself was gorgeous. Medieval-style houses lined the grey-stone brick streets. The bricks themselves were laid in a shell pattern. There was vegetation everywhere, from trees on street corners to homes lined with flowery window sills. There were a few small parks and city squares scattered about.
The town's silence made her uneasy. What port town doesn't have sailors? Fishermen? Even trade ships? It's not like the place was blockaded. She did note there were a couple of pirate flags with the same jolly roger, but pirates in a city aren't exactly unheard of. It's not typical of an antagonistic crew to linger without razing the place down or holding it hostage. Usually, they created a ruckus; it was way too quiet for that.
Though the soil for the many pots and plants was running dry, there weren't many weeds, if any, and the vegetation was clearly cared for. No pests or plant diseases. Whatever's been happening, it didn't start all that long ago. The place wasn't abandoned. Shops were all closed, but the windows weren't boarded up. The houses she peeked into weren't messy. No signs of looting, anyway, and no one appeared to have left in a hurry.
There weren't any animal sounds. No birds, squirrels, rodents, or pets. Not even the whisper of a person. The unsettling atmosphere set her on edge.
As she walked around, she kept her eyes moving without lingering for more than seconds. Checking for movement, anything unusual or out of place. She checked entrances of side streets, windows, any open doorways, and roofs; there was nothing at all.
Until she came across a line of destroyed houses.
It went on for blocks. In one direction, it led to the outskirts of the town. The path widened the farther it went; whatever caused it had a huge blast radius. In the opposite direction was a bar, loudly occupied, with the jolly roger from the docks.
She decided she valued her life and kept walking.
Ellis warily roamed the city, feeling unnerved.
The moment she saw the dog, she was concerned. He was scruffy and covered in dry blood. She fought down the urge to rush over, slowly approaching him from the front. He watched her warily, but she stopped about a yard in front of him. She slowly reached out her hand, knuckles skyward, inching close enough for him to smell her.
His nose was wet and cool to the touch, and once he lightly licked her, she gently moved her hand to scratch the top of his head. She also took that moment to look him over for injuries.
He had cuts on the top of his head, the side of his face, his left leg, and his left ribs–his left side had the worst injuries. He didn't have a collar, either.
She eyed her surroundings. It doesn't look like anyone's around…
No, she won't risk it.
Ellis moved to go into the nearest building, a store called Pet Food–
A growl cut her off.
She looked at the dog, the building, then back at the dog.
"Alright, I won't go into the building, then," she said softly. "I'll have to use what little supplies I have on me, then."
She took off her bag and dug through it. She moved her books around, and right underneath them was her flask of water. Then she pulled out her first aid supplies from an outside pocket.
"This might sting, but I need to clean your cuts before I do anything else." Ellis moistened an old shirt and began to dab at the injury on his side–the worst injury she had seen.
Once she finished, she put ointment over the injury and lightly wrapped it with bandages.
She repeated this process several times, and once she was done, she was sure to praise him for being so good for her.
He wagged his tail as she scratched behind his ears.
She decidedly ignored the sound of an explosion in the direction of the bar she avoided earlier. She had more important things going on right now.
"Is it okay if I go into the store behind you to buy you some treats?" She asked the smart dog.
He barked an affirmative, and she chuckled.
"Alright, I'll be right back!" She got up and moved to step on the porch. The white front doors had handles in a cute paw print shape, and had a sign that said 'closed.' But, having the dog's permission, she entered the building.
Dust danced in the rays of sunlight coming through the windows as she quickly glanced around. She walked past the crates and sacks, heading over to the cereal-sized boxes by the back of the store. She glanced through the variety of dog treats before settling on the orange box of chicken-flavored ones.
She went over to the register by the entrance of the store, rummaging through one of her coin purses for the money(If she only had one, it would only take one pickpocket tailing her to see where she kept her money, and only one successful pickpocketing attempt would rob her completely).
Then she heard something heavy crash outside.
Ellis exited the store to a man in a cage and, of all people, Pirate Hunter Zoro bleeding out next to him. Both in the middle of the road, and mid-conversation.
And the dog just sat in front of them, not fazed at all.
She was only gone for a minute. Why is the pirate hunter here of all places? Nobody notorious should be in the area! Is the clown jolly roger someone important and I just didn't realize?
Then she looked closer at the blood. Someone dangerous is on the island, someone who can give such a notoriously dangerous bounty hunter a serious injury. Nothing vital got hit, but it looks pretty bad.
She stepped down from the porch, cautiously moving in front of the dog, and blocking him from view of the two.
Maybe if you don't look at them, they won't look at you. It's none of my business. If they wanted her to help, they would ask.
The cage–on its side, so the bars went horizontal–looked worn. The top and bottom of the cage (now on the sides) were squares of concrete, with metal bars all around it. The concrete was cracked and uneven, but unstained. Its edges were chipped and weathered. There was no moss or mildew, but the bars had rust or chipped paint. It was hard for her to tell. The scrawny man inside, while curled into himself, didn't look uncomfortable; he had room to move around.
There was one bar that looked like it had been gnawed at by an animal.
Pirate Hunter Zoro was still conscious. He gripped his side, the source of the blood. He glanced in her direction, sizing her up, but looked away. Ellis wasn't much of a threat (or much of anything, really).
The two men continued their conversation as if she hadn't shown up. She wasn't sure what she expected from the first people she'd seen here.
It definitely wasn't this.
Sighing, she just dragged her backpack over and put the box of treats inside. She'll give it to the dog later.
"Doggy… !" The caged guy exclaimed softly, pulling the cage closer as if it weighed nothing. He and the dog had a stare-down. He then pinched the sides of his face and pulled, stretching a little too much. Uncannily, so.
The dog remained stalwart and stoic.
Ellis glanced between him, Pirate Hunter Zoro, and the dog. She didn't know what to do.
"Zoro, it looks like this dog is frozen!"
Zoro seemed to find some strength and got up enough to drag himself closer. He settled against one of the store's porch columns, trailing blood behind him.
"Is it real?" Luffy continued. "It's not moving…"
"I don't give a damn. It's his business if he moves or not," Zoro responded. "It's our business to get you out of there."
What is up with these people? Where did they even come from?
Wait, never mind. A trail of blood led past them, going down the street perpendicular.
In the voice one would use to tell a scary story, the man in the cage replied, "I wonder if it's dead!" Then he reached through the horizontal bars to poke the poor dog on the forehead. On the injury she just patched up. His arms were longer than she expected, to reach as far as they had.
Then the dog bit him. On his face.
The caged man swung his face frantically. Ellis didn't even know faces could be bit at that angle. Then, not only did the man in the cage not scream in pain, he was only shouting at him to get off.
"Luffy!" The injured man (Zoro?) yelled, "Please, quit playing around and get serious!" There was a shift in his expression, then he started looking pallid. He then groaned in pain, body tilting over, and proceeded to collapse on his back. "Lost… too much blood…"
The dog released the caged man from his jaws, causing him to fall back. The dog walked back over to Ellis and sat down, resuming his guard.
"Dumb dog," the caged man (Luffy?) whimpered.
"I don't feel good," Zoro responded, still bleeding out despite the pressure he put on his injury. Should… should she help them?
The sound of heels closed in on the eclectic group, and Ellis turned to see what new tomfoolery approached.
"Hey, Ellis! Fancy seeing you here," a familiar red-haired woman greeted.
"Oh, hi, Nami," Ellis replied. "It's been a while."
Ellis had run into Nami a handful of times throughout her travels. Enough to help each other out a few times, in an 'enemy-of-my-enemy' way at first. They were on friendlier terms now, but their encounters were few and far between, typically ending in Nami not keeping her end of a deal.
Then Nami turned her attention to the two men in front of her. "Look at you two. Not to criticize, but is the middle of the street really the best hiding place you could come up with?"
"Oh, hey, it's our navigator!" Luffy(?) chimed in, sitting up, causing Nami to turn to him.
"I never agreed to that!"
These two don't seem like her usual targets. She never expressed a desire to sail anything other than alone, except for temporary alliances.
Then again, Nami was always the kind of thief to rob someone in their face. Especially compared to Ellis, who prefers heists and breaking-and-entering. The kind of thing where the target never sees her unless something goes horribly wrong. It's easier to steal if nobody knows you're the thief.
After all, when something goes missing, the known thief is the first person you investigate.
So, why does this stranger think Nami's his navigator? And since when did the Pirate Hunter get himself an underling?
"I guess you could have this," Nami pulled something from her pocket and tossed it. "You got me out of a pretty sticky situation." It clattered on the ground by the cage, and Ellis saw it was a key.
"Great! The key to the cage!" Luffy exclaimed. "Did you go steal it for me? Thanks, Nami!"
These guys didn't seem to be the type of people she would hang around, and she seriously doubted Nami would scam Pirate Hunter Zoro, but what would Ellis know? Today was turning out to be such a weird day in general, so this might as well happen. Maybe she was getting desperate.
"Hmph. Yeah, sure," Nami sighed dejectedly. "l got the stupid key, but I left the map and all the treasure."
Map?
"This is great! I thought I'd never get out of here!" Luffy reached through the cage for the key, only to grasp at air.
The dog swallowed it.
"?!"
They all stared in shock, including Ellis, not even daring to breathe. That can't be healthy for a dog.
Then Luffy acted.
He gripped the dog's throat with both hands, launching at such a force that the bars of the cage bulged out with him, causing Ellis to fall back startled. The dog whimpered and cried out in pain, as Luffy growled, "Stupid, stupid, stupid dog! Give it back! It's not food! Give me my key!"
Then Ellis began fumbling for her pouch. Sorry dog, but there was no way in hell she would get in between that. But Nami teamed up with them, and if he needed a key…
C'mon, where did she put them? She patted her pockets. Not there either. Her forearm was seriously starting to itch, and it seriously wasn't the time.
"Hey! Stop that!" A new voice interrupted. "Stop picking on poor Shushu! Leave him alone!" Ellis paused to look up, seeing an old man with poofy white hair, round glasses, and improvised cork and leather armor.
They all turned, Luffy stopping his assault and Shushu quieted down.
"And who might you be, old man?" Zoro piped up.
Didn't he pass out?
"Old man? Why, I'm the mayor of this town, who are you, and why are you hurting Shushu?!" The mayor paused to look at who spoke, gaze lingering on the bloody injury. "My my, that's quite an injury you have there. I take it that you had a run-in with Captain Buggy. We need to get you to a doctor."
Captain Buggy? So the town reallyis like this because of pirates? Great. Well, that explains why Nami's here.
The man, now revealed to be the mayor, helped Zoro up. Zoro leaned his weight on him, and they stumbled to a house across the street. It was to the right of the store, the two buildings were each on the corner of their respective blocks, diagonal from each other.
With all the clown motifs, I feel like I should have realized it was Buggy the Clown sooner.
As they left, Ellis moved to search her backpack. Maybe she left them in her other pants? Nami helped them, so they can't be that bad.
They all sat in silence for a moment, before Ellis paused, looked up, and asked, "So, have an exciting day?"
"Oh, be quiet. I was stealing a map of the Grand Line from some pirates, but I ran into some complications," Nami replied.
"I'm gonna hazard a guess that those two are the complications," Ellis replied, pointing her thumb at the cage.
"Yeah, pretty much."
Luffy looked back and forth between them as they conversed.
"So, you're interested in the Grand Line now?" Ellis asked.
"Yep! After I steal Buggy the Clown's treasure, I'm going to head for the Grand Line and steal the treasures of even bigger pirates!" Nami had stars in her eyes. "Say, Ellis, once I'm all finished up here, want a ride? Last I remember, your ship was on the verge of death, and things are a bit too crazy to stay here."
"Yeah," Ellis replied, "I was just going to nab a new one, but stuff kept happening and I hadn't had a chance." She wasn't about to deny a free ride where she didn't have to be a stowaway.
"Cool! If we get separated, meet me at the edge of the docks. I pulled my boat ashore, so it's in the sand."
They continued chatting until the mayor returned. The front door of his house creaked closed. Ellis turned to the noise to see him carrying a dish and a yellow box.
"How's Zoro?" Luffy asked
"I told him he should really see the doctor at the refugee shelter, but he insisted he didn't need to and just wanted to sleep it off," he replied, perplexed.
Shushu yawned, looking roughed up from his earlier ordeal.
Nami crouched down, sitting on the other side of the dog. "So, this dog's name is Shushu?" she asked, petting him.
"Why's he the only one left in town?" Luffy asked.
"He's guarding the store," the Mayor said.
"He's a guard dog?" Nami asked.
"Yes," he replied. "I just came here to feed him."
"Huh?" Nami turned to the building behind them. "Oh, I see! It's a pet food shop!"
"That's right, and the man who used to run this store was a very close friend of mine." The mayor walked over to Shushu with the bowl, containing bone-shaped dog food, and placed it on the ground in front of him. "About ten years ago, he and Shushu opened this little shop. They've got a lot of memories here, and so do I."
Shushu started eating the food as the mayor continued, "There you go. When he passed, I assumed the responsibility of taking care of Shushu."
"He died?" Nami asked softly.
"Yes, three months ago, after fighting his illness for a very long time," he replied wistfully.
Poor dog. Three months ago? That's pretty recent, in terms of grief. Ellis sighed sadly, running a hand through Shushu's fur.
"Don't tell me he's been waiting for his master to return all this time," Nami spluttered.
"See those wounds? He's been fighting the pirates, protecting his store." Then the mayor sat down on the porch, pulling out a dark pipe to smoke. "Shushu's a smart dog. He's probably known for a while that his master isn't coming back."
Shushu licked the bowl clean, ignorant of their conversation.
"Then, why does he stay here at the store?"
"This is his master's store. It's his treasure." He took a drag from his pipe, then exhaled. "And I think that Shushu still guards the store because it's all that's left of his beloved master."
Shushu let out a big yawn, then picked up the empty bowl, and brought it back over to the mayor. He placed it down before returning to his post.
"I've been trying to get him to the shelter, but he won't budge from this spot," the Mayor said. "He'd rather starve to death than leave his post."
Then the Mayor had a thoughtful look on his face. "Did one of you patch him up?"
Ellis sheepishly raised her hand. "I–"
"ROOWWRR!"
The Mayor gasped.
"What is that horrible roar?!" Nami shrieked.
"It must be Beast Tamer Mohji!" The Mayor exclaimed, jumping up from his seat. He ran up and down the sidewalk, arms flailing. "We gotta go! Run!"
"What do you mean, beast tamer?!"
The two of them fled past the mayor's house, thus leaving Ellis with the dog and the man in the cage. His back was to her as he looked in the direction the others fled.
Then, Ellis remembered. She wouldn't even need a minute.
"C'mon, puppy, something's here," Luffy pleaded. "Why don't you just give me that key back."
Ellis kicked off her shoe and dug them out. As the ground-shaking footsteps got closer, she fiddled with the lock. She poked around, jiggled it, and voila! It's honestly kind of embarrassing how poor quality the lock turned out to be.
All the better for me, I guess.
The lock sprung open.
Luffy turned to her at the noise, startled.
He was free.
Ellis unhooked the lock and swung the cage door open. A blinding grin stretched across his face at her before he crawled out and stood straight.
"Hooray! I'm free!"
Ellis took a moment to put her shoe back on and put her picks into her pocket.
She really needed to invest in a spare set in case of emergencies. Her forearm itched at the thought.
He stretched his arms up, groaning, "Ahh, that's much better!"
Ellis tossed the lock to the side before standing up next to him. She was almost a whole head taller than him; he had such a large presence that she didn't expect to be taller than him.
It was only when warm and noxious air enveloped them, a large form shadowed her and Luffy. They turned around, only to trail their eyes up at a lion the size of a house towering over them.
"I see that your friends have deserted you," a mid-pitched, gravelly voice called down to them. "And after you just escaped!"
"Who the heck are you?" Luffy quizzically responded.
"I'm known as the beast tamer, Mohji. I'm Buggy's first mate!" He proudly proclaimed. "He's pretty worked up. You guys stirred up a real hornet's nest."
Beast Tamer Mohji, in all his fur-crop-top glory, sat on a lion with a baby pink mane. He had on jeans, a brown belt, fur shoes, and a… hat? What appeared to be a 'hat' with tiny bear-like ears. He also had eyeliner on his lower lid and some scruff that comes with forgetting to shave for a few days.
"Woah, that's a weird animal suit you got on–"
The lion shrieked as the beast tamer cried, "That was rude!" He then pointed to his head, "This is manly hair!"
"Okay, that's even weirder."
Shushu growled, in an aggressive stance, inching closer to the threat. "You must not know of my terrifying skills!" He then boasted. "There is no animal in this world that Beast Tamer Mohji can't bend to do his bidding!"
The lion knelt down as he said this, allowing Mohji to step off and stand before them and over Shushu. He bent over and held out his hand, ordering, "Shake."
Only for Shushu to bite the man, reaching past the hand and up to his wrist. Mohji danced in place, flinging the poor dog around as he cried out in pain. Shushu kept growling as he yelled, "Why does it hurt so bad?!" He swung the dog around a bit more before Shushu loosened his bite and was flung in their direction, and landed on his feet.
Ellis felt hands grasp her shoulders and tug her back. Luffy then moved to stand ahead of her, releasing her from his grip but extended his arm in front of her.
"You nameless thief, I have no interest in killing you, but tell me where Roronoa Zoro is before I change my mind," Mohji, now back on his lion, threatened.
"No way," Luffy sternly answered. Right now, Luffy needed to beat the shit out of something, and in front of him stood the perfect target. He deepened his stance, ready to protect the woman and the dog behind him.
"Richie!" Mohji screamed. "Attack!"
Until he got slammed into a building several streets away.
"Good boy, Richie!" Mohji praised, "Nobody could survive that! Now let's go find Zoro, so I can defeat him and strengthen my reputation!"
However, Richie had another idea. He sniffed the air, turning to face the store behind them.
"I see… A pet food store," Richie observed. "Okay, fine. Have a snack, but be quick about it."
Shushu stood up from his sitting position, lowering into an aggressive stance and growling.
Ellis gripped the handles of her blades.
Things are about to get rough.
4k words; updated 2/22/24