Chapter 8 A "Ravens" perspective
AN: distractedly chases Muse and plot bunnies around, suddenly realizes its freaking May! "Oh shit I've gotta get a chapter out!
The next 3 days were a miserable affair, with Aaron trapped inside of the birdcage, uncertain if changing back would be safe. The only contact that he had with the pirates was when they came down to give him a meager amount of fresh water along with a stale bit of bread. Thankfully, the hold of the ship that he had been deposited in was empty of any other prisoners.
Which was a bit of a mixed blessing when it was all added together. On one hand it meant that they didn't have any slaves on board, on the other hand it left Aaron with little to do but sleep and count the grains of wood on the boards. He generally lost count around the 400s.
At least it doesn't seem like they captured Gaimon or any of the animals on the island. Aaron mused after his meal one day while fighting off feelings of lethargy that kept trying to overcome him. Hopefully Gaimon keeps my stuff safe until I can come back and get it.
Aaron was jarred out of a troubled sleep by the door to the hold banging open. He was still in the process of blinking sleep out of his eyes when one of the pirates grabbed the cage, a scruffy weedy fellow in severe need of a visit to the dentist. The pirate didn't say a word as he carried the cage and Aaron up to the main deck. Another round of blinking followed courtesy of the sun this time as his eyes adjusted.
"Are you ready to fulfill your end of the bargain guardian?" Someone asked from behind Aaron, the man stepping into sight before Aaron could turn his head to look. The speaker was the Captain who was wearing a Marine captain's outfit over his regular clothing. Standing behind the captain was the first mate along with 13 other pirates.
Aaron let out a chittering sigh. "Yeah, yeah, let's get this out of the way…" And hopefully I can get away from all of you. He mentally added.
The pirates all climbed into one of the ship's dinghies and the cage was passed over to the captain before the small wooden boat was lowered into the water.
"Good, now since I can't expect you to come back on your own if I let you out of your cage. You'll be guiding my man Slippery to the map's location."
Once more the cage was passed over from the captain to the first mate. I wonder if this is what a hot potato feels like. Aaron mused as the dinghy slid through the water, propelled by its multiple sets of oars.
It didn't take long for the wall that surrounded Arlong Park to come into view, the pirates quietly beaching the boat. Passing the cage to another pirate, Slippery was then boosted up to the top of the wall. The man paused for a moment to get his balance before the cage was passed back to him, Slippery dropping into the compound a moment later.
"Keep quiet bird." Slippery warned as he crept forward, methodically checking each of the windows until he found one that was unlocked. Pushing it open Slippery placed the cage down on the floor of the bedroom, at least that's what Aaron guessed it was. The room had two beds shoved against the wall, leaving a narrow path between them to the door.
Slippery crawled through the window himself before picking up the birdcage. He creeped across the room before pressing his ear to the door. Hearing, or not hearing whatever it was that he wanted, Slippery pushed the door open and peered out.
"Which way, bird?" He whispered as he stepped out into the corridor. A quick swing of the cage from side to side showing Aaron the available choices.
"We need to go up and towards the front." Aaron replied, grasping at faint fragments of memory from a show that he hadn't watched in almost a decade.
Despite the rather vague directions Slippery had very little trouble finding the room in the end. Once he had gone up a couple of flights of stairs he had barely opened four doors by the time he found it. Slippery let out a low whistle as he took in the room and its maps.
"That's a lot of maps." He muttered before stepping into the room. He placed the birdcage down on the slightly tilted drawing table as he stepped up to peer out of the room's only window. Aaron took a quick look around the room for the familiar map, finding it on the same table that he had been set down on.
If I had hands I would facepalm. He thought before looking up as Slippery stepped away from the window.
"Looks like Arlong's got a party going on out there, I wouldn't want to be the poor person in the middle of all those Fishmen. Now where's the map?"
Slowly Aaron gestured with a wingtip to the map that his cage was practically sitting on. Rather than responding Slippery rolled up the map, sticking it into a pocket of his vest before grabbing the cage. The route back out of the building was twice as fast as their entrance had been. Leaving little time for Aaron to wonder what Slippery had seen through the window.
"Did you get the map?" The captain asked as Slippery, as the man finished climbing back over the wall, assisted by a rope that the pirates had thrown over at Slippery's signal
"Right here in my pocket." Slippery responded, patting the pocket that the map was in.
"Good, good. Where, next bird?"
"Coco village."
The pirates didn't take long to get back into the dinghy, leaving Aaron and the birdcage at the very bottom where he got splashed by the spray from the waves. Thankfully for Aaron's mounting frustrations the trip was a short one, the pirates beaching the dinghy near the ruins of Gosa only a few minutes later.
The birdcage was picked up, Aaron finding himself carried in the middle of the group of pirates pretending to be marines as they marched towards their destination. The view ended up being about as bland as it possibly could be, Aaron's vision limited to only the white of the marine jackets surrounding him.
Eventually, not that Aaron could see it, the group of pirates arrived at their destination. The tromping of their feet falling silent before one of the pirates spoke. "So, what do we do now captain?"
"We knock to see if anyone is home, idiot." The captain responded, raising his hand to rap his knuckles against the wood. He waited for a moment before knocking again, louder this time. The pirates around Aaron shuffled restlessly as they waited. Finally after several seconds of silence the captain spoke.
"Alright, nobody's home. The Marine costumes must have scared them off."
"Does that mean we can take the darn things off already?" Slippery asked as he stepped up next to the captain.
"Yeah, take them off. Stupid things itch like crazy anyways." The pirates let out sighs of relief as they began to strip off the jackets, Aaron briefly being set down beside a bundle of what looked like digging tools before he was picked up once more.
"Bring the bird, and the map. I want to confirm that this is the right place."
The pirate that was holding Aaron and the cage, passed him forward to the captain along with the rolled up map. Slippery holding the cage while Aaron glared at the captain as he grabbed the map and unrolled it. The captain studied it for a moment before looking up to glare at Aaron.
"Bird, you're sure this is the proper place marked on the map?!" Aaron didn't immediately respond other than to continue to glare at him. At least until Slippery shook the cage violently.
"Answer the captain bird! Before we find out how good you are at flying without any wings."
"Rawk. Alright, alright. This is the spot marked on the map." Aaron responded even as his glare at the captain gained in intensity. The things he would do as soon as he got out of this cage. The man responded with a chuckle as he turned away to face his crew.
"Alright men, get to digging. The treasure has to be buried around here somewhere. We'll start on the outside and work our way in till we find it." He ordered as the crew let out an excited cheer, unwrapping the tools that they had brought along with them. It occurred to Aaron at this point that the captain, and possibly the whole crew, actually couldn't read a map. How they had managed to survive as long as they had with that glaring oversight was a mystery. Actually could any of these pirates even read?
He was distracted from further thoughts as one of the pirates let out a cry of pain, looking up just in time to see one of the pirates fall as a young man stepped out into the open from the cover of the tangerine grove. He was dressed in dark grey pants with a pattern of gold interlocking chains running up each side, black boots with gold colored laces, a short sleeved dark red button down shirt, a black leather jacket over the shirt, and finally a white bandana covering most of his face. Leaving brown eyes and brown hair as the only real visible features.
The man stepped forward, moving closer to a group of three of the pirates who lifted their shovels and pickaxe threateningly. Aaron's eyes widened in surprise, a gasp coming from Slippery and the captain, as four chains with spikes on the end rose up over the man's shoulders.
"Another Devil Fruit user huh," the captain breathed as the man crossed his arms in front of his chest, fingers pointing upwards. It was a familiar pose to Aaron, one that was confirmed as the man shouted the name of his attack.
"Chain Clutch!"
Those were the only parts of the move that could be attributed to Robin however as the attack differed wildly from what she could do. Three of the chains shot forward going high while the last one went down low. The three that had flown high shooting past the men before performing a u-turn. Each of the three chains wrapped around one of the men, pinning their arms to their sides, tight enough to force the air from their lungs. Then the chain that had gone low swept them off their feet, sending them crashing to the ground.
Slippery made a move to step forward and join the fight. Pausing when the captain raised his hand in front of the man.
"Wait, I want to see how he handles himself." Slippery stopped and resumed his position beside the captain even as the man with chain powers dropped another pirate with a punch straight to the nose.
Slippery set the cage holding Aaron down by his feet, drawing his kusarigama once his hands were free. The rest of the pirates threw down their digging tools to draw the swords and daggers before they charged at the man as a group. The man's brown eyes briefly flicked in the direction of Aaron, Slippery, and the captain as if to confirm that they were hanging back.
Half of Aaron was wondering who this guy was while the other half was impressed by how well he was fighting. Maybe he could give Aaron some pointers after this was over, and Aaron could stop being an actual bird.
The pirates shouted and hurled insults at the man as they closed in. A tactic to psych themselves up as the man silently advanced to meet them. Chains danced around him protectively as the pirates attacked, deflecting blows before twisting past the pirates weapons to deliver strikes of their own. The man himself wasn't idle however as he weaved past pirates and strikes to deliver brutal punches with chain wrapped fists.
He was actually doing better than Aaron had against about the same number of pirates. The flailing chains acted as a counter to their numbers. Still he didn't manage to avoid all of the blows and cuts, yet with each one that got through Aaron could just make out the chains creeping down his body until they formed into almost a suit of chainmail.
"Slippery, deal with him," the captain commanded, fingers tapping against the hilt of his sword impatiently. It was obvious that he was getting frustrated with his mens lack of success.
"Yes captain!"
Silently in the birdcage, Aaron continued to watch as the man blocked a sword stroke aimed at his head. Then twisting around to smash the weighted end of the chain into that same pirate's throat. What Aaron couldn't figure out was who the heck the man was, why he was here, and why there was something naggingly familiar about him.
Slippery roared in rage as he charged across the battlefield towards the man, who turned to face him. There was a moment where the man studied Slippery, arms loose at his sides as if he expected Slippery's charge to not reach him.
That was in fact exactly what Slippery did, the first mate grinding to a halt before releasing the weighted end of the kusarigama, the weight covering the distance in less time than it took to blink. The man was ready for it, taking a step to the side even as Slippery resumed his charge. The man punched with his left once Slippery had drawn close enough. Slippery pushed the blow to the side before he swung the kama in his hand down towards the opening he created.
The man swayed backwards to a dangerous degree in order to avoid the kama. Apparently not noticing the chains that shot into the ground that prevented him from falling. Two of the chains that arched over the man's shoulders lashed out, driving Slippery backwards. Slippery yanked on the chain of his kusarigama, finding that the man had tangled it with a chain of his own.
The man stepped in close to Slippery, a punch towards his head forcing the first mate's hands up to try and block it. The punch turned out to be a feint as the man's leg snapped up to deliver a quick front kick that caught Slippery right in the gut. Slippery gurgled in pain as he crumpled forward, the kama dropping from his hand. He probably could have recovered and rejoined the fight later if the man didn't drop a punch onto the back of his head.
The captain, who Aaron still hadn't learned the name of, advanced towards the other still yet unnamed man with weapons drawn. In the right hand the captain carried a cutlass, a dagger in his left, the pistol slightly hidden beneath the vest. The captain lunged with the cutlass, forcing the man with the chains to snap his arms up to block.
The captain stepped forward to stab the dagger underneath the man's guard. The man took a quick step back to avoid it, even as one of the chains lashed at the captain.
The pair wove back and forth across the battlefield, neither able to claim a definitive advantage over the other. The captain's advantage in speed off set by the man's chains. As the captain swept the dagger towards the man's throat Aaron spotted the trap that the man had been led into.
As the man took a step back to avoid the dagger, he ended up almost tripping over the unconscious body of Slippery. The captain had with each strike, carefully guided the man into exactly the position that the captain wanted him to be in.
The briefest of moments of distraction allowing the captain's cutlass to slice through the jacket, and the chain shirt beneath it. The captain wasn't done however, he twisted the dagger to jab it upwards right towards the man's exposed armpit. A screech of metal against metal rang out as a chain deflected the dagger inches away from its intended target.
The captain stepped back quickly as a pair of chains scythed through the spot he had just occupied. Several more quick steps back opened the distance between the pair once more.
"You're pretty good for some no name pirate. But you're nothing compared to me, Captain Placeholder of the Holder Pirates!" If the cage had given Aaron enough room, he'd have fallen to the ground laughing at the absurdity of the name. This was the guy he had been captured by?! Captain Placeholder and First Mate Slippery?!
If nothing else, the name just screamed that these were mooks. Throwaway villains meant to be defeated by the heroes and then forgotten about. The man apparently agreed as he couldn't help but just stare before finally mustering the ability to speak once more.
"Wow, your parent's must have really hated you." Aaron would have face palmed if he had hands, instead settling to burying his face beneath one wing. It was so obviously the wrong thing to say that Aaron couldn't help but wonder if the man had taken leave of his senses.
Placeholder slid his dagger back into its sheath, before reaching behind his back to grab his pistol. In a single smooth motion he pulled the pistol free, leveled it at the man, and pulled the trigger. The man desperately tried to dodge to the side, the lead ball of the pistol slammed into his right shoulder instead of the center of mass.
Smoke curled upwards from the pistol's barrel as the man's back hit the ground with a thump. Aaron winced, up until that point it looked like the man would have had a shot at freeing him.
"Agh! Son of a bitch!" Aaron's head shot up in surprise. The man was still alive, his left hand clutching at his right shoulder.
Looking closer as the man got to his feet, Aaron could see a glint of something metallic through the hole in the jacket. Placeholder, seemingly as blindsided as Aaron was, stared in bewilderment as the man moved. Placeholder's hands were mechanically going through the motions of dropping the pistol and once more pulling out his knife.
"Chain Shot!" At his shout an iron ball the size of a grapefruit appeared in the man's left hand, a long length of chain trailing down from it. The man reared his arm back before throwing the ball as hard as he could towards Placeholder.
Placeholder took a step to the side and the ball, trailing it's length of chain, zoomed past him. Impacting the ground a couple of feet behind him. Oddly the man who had thrown it didn't seem surprised by his miss. In fact he seemed to have expected it by the way he reacted.
The finger's of his left hand curled around the chain that extended out from the palm of his hand. The length of which was still attached to the iron ball. Aaron, and it seemed Placeholder who had started to step backward, realized what was about to happen as the man started to spin.
The ball, and the chain, whipped through the air as he completed the 360 degree spin. It barely clipped Placeholder as he tried to dodge out of the way, but that was enough. The transferred force spun Placeholder off of his feet and sent him crashing to the ground. A second much louder crash followed as the man released the ball and chain to fly off into the nearby trees.
The fight wasn't over though. Placeholder getting back to his feet even as the man created three connected chains. In an instant he had them whirring above his head like the world's deadliest frisbee.
"Who the hell are you?!" Placeholder shouted as he raised the cutlass in front of himself defensively. Aaron wondered if it would actually help.
"I'm just a guy taking an enthusiastic walk through a tangerine grove." The man replied as he threw the whirling disc of chains at Placeholder. Aaron laughed loudly, the sound coming out more like a squawk. That wasn't a reference that Aaron had been expecting to hear.
Could he be another person transported into One Piece? Aaron pondered. The thought almost made him miss the fact that in mid flight the disc had doubled in size. Placeholder was equally surprised as he tried to dodge at the last second. He wasn't fast enough. The chains ending up wrapped around him like a bola. Placeholder teetered for a moment before he fell backward and cracked his head against the ground.
Tentatively the man stepped forward until he was standing next to Placeholder. He nudged the man with the tip of his boot, probably trying to determine if Placeholder was still a threat. When Placeholder didn't stir the man sighed thankfully. Then the man looked around at the rest of the battlefield and his shoulders drooped.
Aaron watched in silence as the man created more chains and started to clean up the battlefield. Bodies were picked up and deposited a short distance into the woods. The weapons, and discarded chains soon joined them in the woods. The man disappeared into the woods as well for a couple of minutes. The sound of cloth being ripped echoed back to where Aaron sat in the cage.
When the man emerged from the woods he carried a bundle wrapped in some of the discarded coats underneath his left arm. He staggered tiredly for a moment before shaking his head like a dog. He walked over to Aaron and the cage, lifting it up to peer at Aaron through the thin metal bars.
"I'll have you out of there in just a second." He said as he glanced away from Aaron to study the lock.
"I can wait." Aaron responded cautiously. He didn't know enough about this guy to trust him just yet. Especially with how weird everything was at the moment. The lock snapped open a couple of seconds later and the man had barely gotten the cage door open before Aaron launched himself out of the cage. He flapped hard to keep himself aloft until finally perching himself on one of the tangerine tree's branches.
"Ahh, sweet freedom, finally! Space to move! Ugh, stupid pirates." Aaron muttered to himself as he pretended to clean his feathers. What he was actually doing was watching the man as he leaned against the side of the house.
After a minute of watching Aaron saw the man move once again. He reached up to remove the bandana that had covered most of his face. It revealed a face that Aaron didn't recognize at all which while not surprising was disappointing. The man started to remove his jacket as well, only to be surprised by Nojiko's shout.
Nojiko, who carried a passed out Usopp over one shoulder. The pair had a brief discussion where it became obvious to Aaron that the man and Nojiko knew each other. Eventually the group went into the house, ending any real chance of Aaron continuing to eavesdrop.
"I stayed and watched the house for a bit. Saw when Nojiko rushed out and you followed after her. I laughed when you almost tripped over that tree root."
"Har har," Vebulus grumbled.
"I flew after you and perched on one of the buildings to see what was going to happen with Arlong. Unfortunately I apparently picked the exact building that Usopp was going to launch his attack from."
"The one that Arlong wrecked shortly thereafter?"
"The very one! Good thing I was still in bird form which made it pretty easy to escape. I followed Usopp out of the village after that had saved him from getting caught by several Fishmen and Chew."
Vebulus groaned as he buried his face in his hands. "Of course you did. He even told me about that and I thought he was lying."
"After that, well you pretty much know the rest of the story."
"Now we just need to figure out a way to tell Luffy." Vebulus said once he had removed his face from his hands and was looking at Aaron once more.
"Tell me what?"
Aaron and Vebulus shrieked as they jumped a foot into the air before whirling around to find Luffy casually standing over by the door.
"Luffy! What! How! When did you get here?!" Vebulus stammered before finally managing to settle on asking an actual question.
"Just before the fight against the guy with the funny name and his crew."
Blowing out a sigh of relief Vebulus sunk back down onto the chair. "Why didn't you say something?"
"I didn't want to interrupt the story, duh."
I think I'm starting to understand why Nami smacks Luffy on the head so much. Veb thought as he massaged his temples.
"Hey cool bird person, you wanna join my crew?" Aaron's eyebrows rose as he blinked slowly. Vebulus fell out of his chair and landed on his back, staring up at the ceiling.
"Gladly! Aaron Ganaron, The Wandering Warrior, at your service, captain."
"Now I just need a position on the crew for you." Vebulus, still on the floor, and Aaron watched as Luffy grabbed his hat and pulled a folded piece of paper from the red band on it.
"No way.." It wasn't clear if it had been Vebulus who had spoken or Aaron, both of them staring at Luffy with something akin to shock. Not that their captain seemed to hear them, he was busy unfolding the piece of paper and spreading it out on the table.
"First Mate that's Zoro, Navigator is Nami, Sniper is Usopp, Quartermaster is Vebulus, Cook is Sanji, Navigator is Nami again, oh I guess I put it down twice because she was still forced to work with Arlong until now, Scout must be Aaron then!" Luffy dragged one finger down the list, apparently reading from it.
Aaron leaned over the table to take a look at the list while Vebulus was picking himself up off the floor, joining Aaron a moment later. The paper didn't show names like either of them had expected but instead was just a list of positions. First mate, navigator, sniper, quartermaster, Cook, navigator, scout, smith, doctor, archeologist.
"Luffy, where did you get this list?" Vebulus asked while mentally trying to figure out who in the world would be occupying the smith position.
"Found it."
"Where did you find it?"
"Where I keep all of my important things, in my hat."
Vebulus opened his mouth to object, closed it, opened it again, then ever so slowly closed it. There was so many things that he could say to that, about how that was impossible, how it didn't make a bit of sense, that notes from the future didn't work that way. But he realized that in the end no matter what he said it didn't change the fact that Luffy had found the note from the future in his hat.
"That makes sense." Aaron calmly responded, ignoring the way Vebulus stared at him as if seeing him for the first time.
"You know what? I'm going to go back to the party." Vebulus finally said, very much ready to forget the last several minutes of conversation.
"Oh! That's right, I came to find you Vebulus because we were going to have an eating contest soon!"
"Alright? I'm not sure why I needed to know though."
"Because you're going to join of course! You too Aaron!" Before either of them could object Luffy wrapped his rubbery arms around them and rushed out of the house. Dragging the two of them after him, screaming.
AN: The exact conversation that happened between me and Aaron on where Luffy got his future note from.
V: Crap...I have no idea how or where Luffy should have found the note from his future!
A: It's in his hat.
V: Yes, that's where he stores the note.
A: It's where Luffy sticks actually important things that aren't octopi.
V: But the hat can't be the item that carried the note back in time.
A: No, I mean, Future Luffy found a way to send the note back to himself without it being lost. He stuck it in the hat, figuring he would find the note he left himself.
The rest of us are scratching our heads at the logic
V: Picture of a stick figure with a finger raised to object, immediately beneath that is a picture of that same stick figure with his finger lowered.
A: I know, right? But it makes so much sense.