AN: Hello! Merry Holidays and Happy Christmas, I think I did that wrong. Whatever!
Here is part 2 of chapter 5 or as it will properly be known from now on chapter 6! So for all those readers out there you get the gift of a chapter. Meanwhile I hopefully don't wake up at 2:30 in the morning for the third time in a row, so so very sleepy.
Anyways I sort of hinted at it in the last chapter but this story now has a co-author! Say hi Aaron!
A: Hi Aaron!
V: Yes thank you for that stellar dad joke. Now have a totally real and not at all made up explanation of how he became co-author.
V sitting at a table playing with a bunch of One Piece dolls when A suddenly slams the door open.
A: V!
V:What! V grabs the dolls and yanks them into a protective embrace.
A: You're needed on the bridge!
V: Knock on my door, knock next time!
A: Yes
V: Did you see anything?
A: No, I didn't see you playing with your dolls again
V: Good! V rushes off as A walks slowly over to the dolls and drops one more into the pile.
V: Wait, we don't have a bridge.
Chapter 6
Aaron had meant to back up– Vebulus if he remembered the name right. It was a name that sounded familiar even if he didn't have time to consider it more. But when Chew took off after Usopp like normal, one of the still standing Fishmen had also gone after him as well. Vebulus could handle one Fishman by himself right? Vebulus was probably having a perfectly excellent time right now. Plus Usopp wasn't anywhere near ready for a 2v1 yet. He probably wasn't ready for an actual 1v1 either but such was life.
The increased strength from his Zoan transformation meant that it didn't take long for Aaron to spot Usopp. The long-nosed sniper still running full-tilt away from Chew and a light blue Fishman with a Kanji that Aaron didn't remember the meaning of on his forehead. While Aaron couldn't remember the name of that particular Fishman, it had been a while since he had been a teenager, he did recall at least one thing, the name started with a T. So he probably wasn't that important.
Aaron picked up his pace before realizing something: Usopp was fast. For sure faster than Aaron was on foot, but thankfully that wasn't his only option. Leg muscles coiled as Aaron kicked off the ground and jumped into the air. A few powerful beats from his wings had Aaron soaring over to Usopp's side."Need a hand there, sniper-man?"
Aaron flinched as Usopp screamed and took off in a straight line to the right of his previous path. Once more Aaron went into the air, circled up, spun, and dived, catching back up to Usopp's frantic flight easily. "Hey now, I'm trying to help, you cowardly idiot!"
Usopp slid to a stop and rounded on Aaron, his teeth clenched as he growled. "I am not a coward! I'm just… Retreating to a safe distance to get a good shot off! But fine, if you want to help me, I'll gladly let you take point, uhh–"
Aaron smirked as Usopp trailed off before he activated his second power, the robes rippled as they transformed into steel armor underneath a set of gray vestments trimmed with gold. Around his neck hung a holy symbol, that of a stylized purple V and stylized red A. It always surprised him how comfortable the change was, though he swore that he could feel someone facepalm while another laughed. "Class Change: Cleric. The name's Aaron Ganaron, The Uncaged Bird. Now, I've heard of you. Usopp, son of Yasopp, right? From Syrup Village? Nice to finally meet the man who stopped Djange the Hypnotist!"
Aaron snagged Usopp's hand and shook it, drawing on the power that was available to him because of the class change. "Heroism." Golden energy sparkled around Usopp before sinking into him. Aaron had just gotten the spell out as Chew and the other Fishman rounded the bend in the trail, Usopp's eyes widened and then narrowed. It was clear that he could feel the difference."How does it feel?"
"I… I… What did you do to me?! I'm not afraid!"He looked alarmed, and if he'd been capable of fear, he'd probably be blathering.
"Sorry, man. Normally I'd ask, but there's no real time. Wanna kick some Fishman ass for your navigator?"
Usopp pulled out his slingshot as he glared at the approaching Fishmen. "Hell yeah."
The water of the pool started to bubble as I took a step backward defensively. Chains shot up from the ground by the foot that was still extended forward. They wove back and forth until they had formed a wall of chains six feet tall, five feet wide, and a foot thick. I finished just in time, Pisaro bursting out of the pool seconds later, several balls of water trailing after him. Before the water could start to fall, Pisaro delivered a punch to each ball, sending them shooting towards me.
The sheer force imparted to the balls of water distorted them as they flew, causing them to become almost comet like. They pierced through the chain wall almost as if it wasn't even there, before slamming into my crossed arms. A soft wheeze escaped from my lips as the air was driven from my lungs, and I was sent flying. My impromptu flight quickly ended as I crashed into the wall.
Blackness flickered across my vision as I slumped against the now partially broken wall. My entire body ached and my lungs felt like they were burning as I tried to fill them. Pisaro, still over by the pool, shook his maracas in a manner that was almost a funeral dirge.
"You may act all tough pirate, but if a few water bullets did that much damage then my next move will finish you off." As he spoke, Pisaro stepped back into the pool and dipped his maracas beneath the water.
"I call this move "Singin' in the Rain"!" Water surged up into the air as Pisaro somehow heaved several gallons up in a single move. Maracas blurred as they swung back and forth too fast for me to see, the force distorting them to be almost like needles as they zipped towards me. I'd never be fast enough to get out of the way on my own, but I didn't need to move on my own.
A single length of chain snaked out and away from me, the end wrapping around one of the few remaining pillars still upright in front of Arlong's building. The chain dragged me out of the way as it pulled me towards the pillar, the needles of water spraying in a wide arc across the spot I had just occupied. Demolishing what remained of the wall.
"Enough with the freaking musical references! Where the hell did you even hear these from anyways?!" I shouted as I used the pillar for support as I got back to my feet. Blood stained the front of my shirt where the water bullets had struck me, if I looked I expected to find a whole host of new bruises covering my chest.
I tried to take a deep breath but instead winced as pain shot through my side. That, probably wasn't a good sign but I couldn't exactly stop fighting right now. I could only hope that nothing, like a rib or two, happened to be broken.
"I heard it on the SBS man. It's a transponder snail channel that plays nothing but crazy music all day everyday. It's hosted by an awesome pair of dudes named Cross and Soundbite."
I pondered that bold and completely insane statement with my mouth hanging open. There was no way of course that it could actually be Cross and Soudbite from This Bites for a laundry list of reasons. The most relevant one being that the crew wasn't even in the Grand Line yet let alone Alabasta! Ugh, whatever thinking about this was making my head hurt. I might also have gotten a concussion when my head hit the wall.
While I had been off in the mental equivalent of LaLaLand, Pisaro had scooped up more water and had just repeated his Singin' in the Rain trick by launching more water needles at me. I dodged the attack with another chain assisted leap that brought me closer to the pool, this time anchoring the chain into the ground itself. I snapped off a pair of Chain Shots at Pisaro as I landed, forcing him to dive underneath the water to avoid them.
I needed a plan. Both because I really couldn't let Pisaro continue to use the pool to his advantage, as well as the fact that he was really starting to annoy me. I kept one eye on the pool in case Pisaro popped back up, even as I looked around for inspiration.
As I shifted my foot struck one of the many discarded chains that covered the battlefield. A light bulb turned on in my head. It was a completely insane idea and I wasn't sure if I could even pull it off but I also didn't have any better plan. Chains spiraled out from where I stood and began to gather and weave the discarded chains into the desired shape.
As I was adding the final scattered chains into what I had constructed Pisaro surged out of the pool. A tidal wave of water trailed after him, seeming to be wrapped around his maracas that just happened to be glowing.
"Eat this you worthless Human, my ultimate attack! Under the Sea!" The tidal wave of water raced towards me as Pisaro launched it. I could swear that the water looked hungry at that moment.
"I don't think so! Raging Chain Serpent!" The construct that I had made out of discarded chains and newly created chains surged forward to meet the wave. I had created, and was puppeting with the chains still connected to my hand, a man sized snake that was half again as long as it was tall with a mouth full of spiked chains acting as teeth.
The two attacks crashed against each other. The weight of the water against the weight of my chains. It wasn't even close to a fair contest as the serpent of chains punched straight through the waves. Pisaro didn't even have a chance to dodge before the attack slammed into him and kept going. The serpent finally stopped when it crashed into the stone wall at the opposite end of the park.
"Guess we found out who was worthless after all. Also, I think I'm gonna sit down now…" I muttered just before I sat down. It was actually more of a boneless sprawl then anything resembling a proper sitting position but I was too tired to care.
It had been a very long, very exhausting day and I was looking forward to just existing free of responsibilities for a while.
"Vebulus! Are you alright?!"
Hearing my name called I turned my head to look at the hole which a door had formerly occupied. It was crowded with onlookers from Coco village. Nami was in front, Luffy's hat still on her head, Nojiko half a step behind her. Johnny and Yosaku a couple of feet back from there and seeming to keep the rest of the crowd from surging in.
"Fine! Just tired." I shouted and raised an arm to wave. Nami looked almost relieved at my statement, like some tension had left her.
"If a little fight like this is enough to exhaust you then you need more training."
I turned my head back in the other direction to see Zoro approaching. He looked a bit more beaten up then when I had last seen him but otherwise looked fine. I did raise an eyebrow however at the person behind him.
Hatchi stood a bit behind Zoro, sporting a new haircut and looking slightly sheepish. About half of his hair spikes appeared to have been sliced off, leaving him a bit lopsided looking.
"The sword was good but it doesn't suit my style." Rather than answering my unspoken question Zoro just held out the blade I had given him earlier. I took it from him and generated a quick loop of chain so that I could sling it across my back instead of carrying it. Once I lifted myself up, though the ground was starting to be very comfortable. When had I laid down? During the entire process I kept my eyebrow raised questioningly. Finally I got an answer, just not from Zoro or Hatchi.
"Thank you Hatchi, for everything you've done."
All eyes turned towards Nami as she finished speaking. She didn't say anything else however, just pressed her lips together in a thin line. Slowly all eyes turned back to Hatchi. Who was rubbing the back of his head and looking so sheepish that if he looked even a tiny bit more sheepish he'd be an actual sheep.
"Sanji's back. Hey Sanji!"
"Nami-Swan!"
Sanji's arrival and his rush over to Nami put an end to any chance of asking further questions for the moment. Kuroobi's unconscious body unceremoniously tossed onto the pile of other knocked out and defeated fishmen. Shaking my head at Sanji's antics I turned my attention back to Hachi only to find the octopus fishman in conversation with Genzo and Nojiko. One punctuated by frequent bows from Hachi.
It seemed to be the time for people to finish up their fights as Usopp and the mysterious Aaron pushed their way through the crowd of villagers. Neither seemed to be in the greatest of shape as they leaned against each other for support. They didn't look like they were in danger of dying anytime soon but with how tough the people were here it was hard to say.
That thought tugged at something in the back of my head. I glanced over at Zoro, or more accurately at the bandages covering the wound that Mihawk had dealt him only a couple of hours ago. Had it really been only a couple of hours? So much had happened that it felt far longer.
Tired as I was, it wasn't really surprising that my thoughts were wandering. Ideas slipping through my fingers like grains of sand. Huh, when did I close my eyes?
Vebulus was asleep seconds later, his chest rising and falling slowly. Nami, who had noticed when Vebulus's head had started to slump, gently guided his head down to the ground. She glanced up as a single wood sandal wearing foot smashed its way through the roof of Arlong's castle.
Usopp glanced away from the ruins of Arlong's palace as Aaron pulled away. The birdman looked embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his head. "So I hate to leave in the middle of everything but there is something that I need to do."
"Alright, I'll mention you to Luffy. He'll probably be interested in meeting you."
Aaron smiled and started to walk away, deep in thought about what he was going to do next.
"Wait, where are you going to meet us?" Aaron stopped and turned back to Usopp at his shout.
"I'll see you all at Coco village." And with that Aaron slipped into the crowd, vanishing amongst the press of people. The rest of the crew didn't notice Aaron's departure, mostly because their attention was on the corrupt Marine captain and his men that had shown up. With Vebulus fast asleep and Aaron off on his own project there wasn't anything that prevented Zoro from beating Nezumi up and then Luffy earning himself the largest starting bounty of any East Blue pirate.
When I awoke from my unexpected nap, I found myself on the floor of a dark room. The only illumination was from the moonlight that spilled in through the windows. The night wasn't quiet however, instead it was filled with the distant noises of a village party in full swing. It sounded like we'd won, not that there had been any real doubt about it. There was a smile on my face as I stood up, belatedly realizing that while I had been asleep someone had tossed a blanket over me. A blanket that was now on the floor.
I took the discarded blanket and draped it over the back of a nearby chair as I took a better look around. Despite the relative darkness it didn't take much to realize that I was in Nojiko and Nami's house. The second time I had been here in a few hours. Small wonder I had fallen asleep with how busy today had been, it was a testament to the stamina of this world's natives that they didn't seem tired in the least. I would eventually return to this thought later after the three days of non-stop partying and wonder where they got all of the energy.
I fought a yawn down as I stepped outside and took a moment to breathe in the cool night air. The moon was bright enough that I wouldn't need my phone's flashlight to make my way to the village. Honestly it was amazing that the thing still worked, infinite battery or not. Maybe V had made it indestructible as well?
The phone buzzed at that moment to signal that I had just received a text message. I rolled my eyes in exasperation and pulled the phone from my pocket, glancing at the displayed one word message.
"Yes."
I snorted and shook my head, before slipping my phone back into a pocket before continuing down the path. As I drew closer I could begin to distinguish individual voices, and distinct sounds of the party. Cheers, music, the sounds of cooking, and dozens of others. There was a wide grin on my face by the time I set foot in the village and into the ongoing party.
Someone slapped me on the back while congratulating me on the defeat of Arlong and his men. A citrusy tasting drink was shoved into my hands from the tray of a passing barmaid. The flavor wasn't enough to completely suppress the taste of alcohol however. A shame, but I had never been one to really care about getting drunk anyways.
The food, however, I indulged in. I tried a bite of everything, even things that I would normally not even take a second glance at. Sweet, spicy, sour, savory, it didn't matter what it was, I tried it. That was how I found myself watching Luffy stuff huge haunches of meat into his mouth while I leaned against the side of a building. The half drunk drink from earlier in one hand, a skewer of vegetables and meat coated in a tangy spicy sauce in my other.
Now having food, especially meat, usually isn't a good idea around Luffy. But I had come up with a workable solution. A chain with a spike at the end hovered like a snake prepared to strike over one shoulder. A chain that was engaged with Luffy's stretched out arm in a game of keep away with my skewer as the prize. The game was actually quite fierce despite the relative lack of attention we were paying to it.
"Good to see you're awake. How are you feeling?" A voice said from beside me, I turned to find Nami taking a seat on one of the barrels that occupied the wall I was leaning against. Bandages were wrapped around the upper bicep of her left arm. Right where Arlong's tattoo had sat.
"A little stiff but otherwise fine. What happened after I fell asleep?"
"Luffy defeated Arlong, declared to everyone that I was his nakama, and then he and Zoro beat up Nezumi and his men."
"Not surprising. Who's Nezumi though?"
"Corrupt Marine captain that Arlong had been paying to keep anyone from breaking up his little racket."
"Ah, that would explain a few things."
She didn't have anything to say to that so we fell into a state of comfortable silence. Nami bounced her heels against the side of the barrel, brow creased like she was thinking hard about something. I watched the ebb and flow of the party as people enjoyed themselves, while polishing off the last bits of food on the skewer. Discarding the now clean skewer I went to take a drink when Nami suddenly spoke.
"Soooo Vebulus, how did you end up with Mad Treasures' Devil Fruit?"
I choked and then sprayed the rest of my drink across Luffy as he bounced past. I spent the next several seconds pounding my chest while coughing. Eventually I managed to get out a strangled "What?"
Nami just stared at me placidly with an eyebrow raised, waiting for me to recover. No way to cover up my reaction at this point. But an edited version of the truth would work just as well. The brief coughing fit at least gave me the chance to organize myself.
"Sorry, I wasn't expecting to hear his name. Especially outside of the Grand Line."
I leaned back against the wall, head tilted back so that I was staring up at the sky.
"I've never personally met Mad Treasure, just heard rumors about him. I knew he had a Devil Fruit but no specifics." I looked down at my hand and curled my fingers into a fist before I continued. "If you say I've got his fruit then I won't dispute it."
Whatever happened to Mad Treasure though, it wasn't my doing. Like I said, I didn't even know he had a Devil Fruit."
"How did you find it then?"
I glanced over at Nami's question to find that she had her arms crossed while she stared at me.
"Suppose I never really mentioned how I ended up on that island. The ship I was on hit something during the night. When I woke up I was stranded on the opposite shore from where you found me. It was just me, a narrow stretch of sand and a towering cliff wall that I didn't have a hope of climbing. At my back was the ocean and the only thing I found to eat was a Devil Fruit.
At first I thought about swimming for it, at least until I caught sight of what was in the water. Juvenile sea kings, or maybe just very big angry fish. In retrospect, I'm amazed I didn't get eaten while I was helpless."
While I didn't outright state it, the conclusion wasn't hard to guess at. The sea kings had been too busy eating everyone else and I had gotten lucky enough to slip by unnoticed. Of course no such crew existed, well at least I hoped that hadn't been how I ended up on that island. 'Course, I had figured that because I had Mad Treasure's fruit that he wouldn't have existed either.
"So what did you do?" The answer was pretty obvious but Nami clearly wanted me to spell it out.
"It wasn't like I had a whole lot of options. It was either eat the fruit and pray that it would give me the ability to scale the cliff, or die of thirst.
So I ate the fruit and lucky for me I was able to use the power to escape."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
Nami shook her head and sighed. Seeing that it looked like this was the end of the conversation, and wanting to avoid any more questions, I pushed myself off of the wall and turned to walk away. I had barely taken two steps before I heard Nami slide off the barrel.
"I met him once. Mad Treasure that is." There was a slight tremor in her voice and reluctantly I turned to face her. She had her head tilted away from me as I leaned one shoulder against the wall. Shadows obscured most of her face and her fingers tugged at the bandages on her arm.
"It was when I had just started out, stealing from pirates that is." She paused and as if noticing what she had been doing moved her hand away from the bandages.
"I tried, along with someone I had met, to steal from Mad Treasure and his crew. Things didn't go the way we planned it but in the end everything worked out. I had nightmares after that of all the ways things could have gone wrong."
"It must have been a shock when I came out of the woods then."
"Just a little bit."
"I'm sorry if seeing me using chains scared you. It's not like I knew." I shuffled awkwardly before looking away from her. I mean I kind of did know that she had encountered Mad Treasure before, I just hadn't considered that Nami would ever have nightmares about it. Plus those episodes weren't really canon, which was it's own can of worms.
I could see her shake her head out of the corner of my eye before she responded.
"It's alright, you're nothing like him. Can I ask you something, Vebulus?"
"I don't see why-" I turned towards Nami and almost flinched back. She was close, way too close! Her face only inches away from mine, eyes sparkling mischievously.
"Do you want to kiss me?"
"Uuuh."
Nami pressed her chest against me as she leaned in for a kiss, her breath was hot against my lips and smelled faintly of tangerine. One hand cupped the back of my head as her other hand crept down my body.
Aaron pulled his hand back as the grave marker and the soil around it glowed. Then she was standing there, the only sign that she wasn't alive was her translucent nature and her slightly muted color scheme. She didn't say anything at first, just stared down at her hands and then walked to the edge of the cliff to look at the lights from the village. Aaron, still in his hybrid Zoan form, walking up to stand alongside her.
"So, what do you think?" He finally said, breaking the silence.
A soft sob escaped from her, a translucent hand coming up to wipe away tears and stray strands of red hair. "My girls. They've grown up so well. I'm glad. Even though I couldn't be there for them, this is almost as good…"
"I'm glad this helped you. Do you want to go see them while the spell is still active?"
Several long seconds passed as Luffy flew past, hooting in joy as he did, holding a plate of food in his hand. Eventually she shook her head.
"No, I'd probably do more harm than good if they saw me. Plus it would raise a lot of questions that would be awkward to answer. Anyways, you said you're going out to sea with Nami?"
"As soon as they leave, yeah. Once I properly introduce myself that is."
She raised an eyebrow at that statement but didn't comment."Keep an eye on her, will you."
Aaron smirked. "Two eyes, as often as I can spare them."
Bellemere began to fade slowly. Becoming more and more translucent by the second. She was smiling the entire time though and had one last thing to say.
"Tell Nami that I approve of her choice of boyfriend."
"Wait, what?!" But she was already gone. The sound of her laughter followed Aaron down the hill as he headed back to the village.
Over by the grave that Aaron had just left three figures stood, invisible to everyone. Bellemere who was cackling like a hyena, a figure wearing all concealing red robes with his hands up in the air like 'what can you do', and a figure in all concealing purple robes with his head in his hands.
Nami pulled away from me, that same mischievous look in her eyes, only to frown as we both looked down at her hand. Wrapped around the wrist of the hand currently holding my wallet was a thin chain. Nami smiled ruefully.
"Can't blame a girl for trying."
That got a chuckle out of me as I plucked the wallet out of her hand, slipping it back into a different pocket then the one she had plucked it from. I lengthened the chain, shifting the material from steel to gold as I went, until I had enough to loop around her wrist three times. Joining the ends together I stepped back to examine the chain bracelet I had made.
It wasn't a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but it didn't look bad either. It was loose enough that you could slip it off without trouble but not so loose that it would fall off on its own. Raising her arm, Nami studied the bracelet and smiled.
"Well, if you ever decide to stop being a pirate you can probably get a decent job at some jewelry store."
That got a slight chuckle out of me even if I did roll my eyes. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Well, I've got some other things I need to do tonight so, good night Vebulus."
"I need to find and talk to a bird brain myself. Good night Nami."
Nami turned and walked away, a sway to her hips that there usually wasn't. She glanced back at me before vanishing around the corner of the building, a teasing smirk on her lips. I shook my head as I turned back to the party, my mind setting aside Nami for the moment. I could have sworn for a moment there that I had heard laughter, but since I couldn't hear it now I could only assume it was from the party.
"Now, if I was an apparent Zoan bird person, one with apparent class changing powers which I really should ask about, where would I be?" I tapped my chin thoughtfully as I weaved through the crowd, which didn't show a sign of settling down anytime soon. My wandering took me from one end of the village to the other and back.
Despite my best efforts however, I failed to find a single sign of the still mysterious Aaron. I had paused near a cluster of tables while I considered if it was worth it to make another circuit through the village, or to try something else. There was a slight possibility that he was outside the village as well.
"Vebulus! Do you have a moment?"
Pulled out of my thoughts by the shout I turned in the direction it had come from. Sitting only a couple of tables away was Sanji, looking like he had taken a break from the party to have a smoke.
"Yeah, I'm not having any luck finding who I'm looking for. Anyways, what's up?" I stepped around the tables as I talked, pulling up a chair and dropping into it when I reached him.
"Who are you looking for, I can keep an eye out for them."
"That bird-guy that helped us out, called himself Aaron, I was hoping to talk to him…" I trailed off and then dropped my head to the table with a thunk. "I'm an idiot."
"While I won't dispute that claim I'm not sure I follow your train of thought."
I lifted my head just enough off the table to glare at Sanji before I sat back with a sigh. "Nevermind, just tell him I'm looking for him if you see him. Now what did you want to talk about?"
"Luffy said you had a record of the ship's stores on you. I wanted to take a look at it to see what was available for meals and what we might need to purchase."
That was a good idea, and something I hadn't even thought about doing. I should probably get started making a list of things to buy when we reached Loguetown so I wouldn't forget.
"Oh, yeah. I got the list right here." I pulled my phone out of my pocket as I spoke. The brightness of the screen briefly blinded me before I navigated over to where I had saved the file. I turned the phone around and pushed it over to Sanji. The glow from the screen illuminating his surprised expression as he stared down at it.
"Fancy, but what is this?" Sanji asked as he carefully picked up the phone. When it didn't do anything he started to read.
"It's called a phone, it's sort of a cross between a computer, a camera, and a record player. They're really rare outside of my homeland."
Sanji looked up at me suspiciously for a moment before he returned to studying the list. When he finished he pushed the phone back over towards me and leaned back in his chair. He blew out a thin stream of smoke as he stared up at the sky. The shadows that hid his face made it impossible to read his expression.
"Vebulus, what do you know about the North Blue and Germa 66?"
I paused in the act of picking up my phone at his question. I needed to be careful about what I said next otherwise things might get problematic.
"Not much about the North Blue honestly. As for Germa, aren't they from that Marine comic series?"
Tension seemed to ooze out of Sanji's posture and when he leaned forward his face was inscrutable.
"I see. I'll see you later Vebulus."
And with that rather abrupt statement Sanji stood up. Blinking in confusion I watched him walk off without another word. Well I guess I could get back to looking for Aaron, or as a yawn escaped from me, find some place to get some sleep. In the end the lure of sleep won out, it had been a rather busy day. I'd continue my search in the morning, especially since the party still wasn't showing any signs of ending.
As I didn't want to just crash in some random alley or persons house, and as it was where I had woken up earlier, I decided to walk back to Nami and Nojiko's house. I had gotten only a couple of steps outside of the village when I unexpectedly tripped over something. Pulling out my phone I turned the flashlight on to better see what I had tripped over and found Aaron facedown on the ground. Snoring softly.
"Well guess that confirms it then. C'mon old man, let's get you someplace better to sleep. Can't just leave you drunk and asleep out here."
" 'M not drunk." Aaron muttered sleepily as I picked him up with my chains.
"Hai, hai." I randomly responded in Japanese because it felt like it fit the situation better.
The morning found me on the floor, curled up beneath the blanket that I had woken under last time. Aaron was sprawled out on the floor a few feet away, still snoring. I doubted that I had sounded much better while asleep.
As it looked like Aaron wasn't going to be waking up on his own anytime soon, I spent the next several minutes stretching, working the kinks out of my body, and checking on the condition of my numerous cuts and bruises. Once I was satisfied that they all seemed to be healing normally, well normally for the world of One Piece at least, I exited the house and walked around to the water barrel.
I dipped a bucket in the barrel and turned it over my head. Cold! Now very much wide awake, I filled the bucket about halfway before I walked back into the house.
"Rise and shine, Dad!" I shouted brightly before dumping the bucket over his head.
"Veb!" Aaron screamed as he bolted upright and then looked around confusedly. When his eyes landed on me he did a brief double take before slapping a palm to his head.
"Uggh, my head... knew that would take a lot out of me, but damn did I underestimate how much... Oh, hi! You're, uhhh... Veb, right? Wouldn't happen to be short for Vebulus would it, by any chance"
"Actually it does. That also answers at least one question while raising so many others." I muttered while Aaron looked around the room quizzically.
"So uh, funny question but where are we?"
"The magical world of One Piece, but you probably realized that already. More specifically we're in Nami and Nojiko's house." I flatly stated as Aaron got to his feet. He was taller then me and wearing the oddest looking robes I had ever seen.
"Uhuh, makes sense I guess."
"There is one thing I want to confirm for sure before we continue. Just to make sure you are in fact who I think you are." I reached into my pocket and for the 3rd time in a 12 hour period pulled out my phone.
"Do you know what this is?"
He blinked. "You've got to be kidding me. Why... how do you have a phone... and why didn't I get to keep mine?"
The phone, somewhat predictably, took that moment to buzz with an incoming message. Without even thinking about it I opened the message, tilting the screen subconsciously towards Aaron so that he could see it.
"You'd have to ask A. I let Veb keep his phone so I could bother him, and now you, you lucky dog, whenever I wanted. Also, I figured he might need it. What with being stuck alone on an island for a month.
V"
Well there was only one appropriate answer to a statement like that.
"Who the hell is A?!"
A note floated down from the ceiling, Aaron snagging it in midair, before reading it aloud. "I decided to mess with V and stuck around, sent Aaron so Veb wouldn't be as alone. No phone because I honestly didn't think about it. Gimme a sec. Also, this message will self-destruct in 5 seconds. -A"
Aaron quickly crumpled the note and threw it out a nearby open window before it exploded with a soft 'pop' sound.
"Not falling for that again." Aaron muttered as I stared at the spot in the air where the note had exploded.
"Well that-" and then a phone popped into Aaron's lap with a soft "nah-nah-nah-nah!" jingle.
"H-he Zelda'd me, that dick!"
Slowly, and still somewhat stunned, I sank down into the chair beside me. Then because I could and felt it was appropriate, thunked my head against the table and groaned I opened my mouth to ask for details from Aaron when a second note drifted down from the ceiling. This time I snagged it and read it.
By the way, I decided to do something V said he wasn't going to do. Have fun! -A
You did WHAT?! -V
Silently I stared at the note, trying to force it to combust with my mind. As I hadn't gained pyrokinesis in the last few seconds the paper remained unburned. Crumpling the paper up I tossed it out the same window as Aaron had and watched it explode as well.
"Anyway's." I said firmly, resolving to forget I had ever read the note in the first place. I had enough of a headache as it was thank you very much. "Let's start from the beginning. Meaning when you arrived. Hopefully that will make some of this make sense. Though I'm starting to doubt it."
"Well, first I woke up on Gaimon's island, in a pit, with a box, and-"