Heart of a Pirate
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Kingdom Hearts. They belong to Eiichiro Oda and Square Enix respectively.
Last time on Heart of a Pirate:
"Silence! I'm the law here!" the Queen shouted, pounding the bench with her fists. "Article 29 of the official lawbook: Anyone who defies the Queen is guilty!"
"That's crazy! You just made that up!" Donald yelled.
"Cards! Seize them at once!" the Queen demanded.
As one, the card guards turned towards the group. One remained behind and rotated a wheel built into the wall, causing a curtain to wrap around Alice's cage before rotating it 180 degrees. The rest readied their weapons and charged at the group.
Chapter 13: Usopp in Wonderland (Part 5)
Title Page: Hercules stands across from Zoro looking excited, a speech bubble stemming from him that depicts cartoony versions of both of them lifting weights side by side, with another image of them crossing swords just below it, and a big question mark to the right of both images. Phil stands behind him looking angry and shaking a fist with small puffs of angry steam coming from him, while Zoro looks mildly surprised.
Subtitle: "You're strong! Want to train together?"
A Few Minutes Earlier
0o0o0o0o0o0o—Hollow Bastion, Conference Room—o0o0o0o0o0o0
Maleficent and a young teenage boy with silver hair stood in the center of the conference room around a large stone plinth. The flat surface of the stone glowed with the light of a single circle of green bordered with four smaller circles of green. Within said circle, a translucent image of a young blonde girl dressed in a blue dress and white apron appeared, the girl looking every which way fearfully.
"This is your target," Maleficent said, gesturing towards the girl. "You are to travel to this world, fetch her from her captivity, and bring her here."
"And what exactly is the purpose of doing so?" asked the boy.
"She is a Princess of Heart," the sorceress explained. "One of seven hearts of pure light. As such, her power will be necessary to revive your friend. And if she remains in that world much longer, she runs the risk of being taken by the Heartless, so we must act quickly."
"Why send me?" the boy asked. "Why can't you go?"
"I have my own matters I must attend to at the moment," Maleficent replied, unmoved. "And this will be an excellent opportunity to prove your worth, as well as master your magical abilities."
The young man looked up at Maleficent with some suspicion, then relented. "Very well," he said, turning away. "I'll be back soon." He then held out a hand, and a glowing purple circle appeared in front of him. He stepped through; a moment later, the circle disappeared, and the silver-haired boy was gone.
"I expect great things of you, young Riku," the sorceress said with a sinister smile, before turning back to the plinth. The image then warped and shifted before forming into an image of two figures: One with blue hair and a round red nose, the other with glasses and hair styled into a large number 3, and both dressed in black and white striped prison garb.
"These two may prove useful as well," Maleficent mused. She had been keeping a close eye on the Keybearer and his companions since their victory in Traverse Town, and thus had witnessed their respective encounters with the two convicts. "They have yet to defeat our young Keyblade wielder and his companions, but they have clearly tangled with that pirate boy before, so their knowledge will be quite valuable. And those abilities of theirs interest me greatly; they shall be valuable additions to the ranks of the Mistress of All Evil!"
The sound of Maleficent's cackling laughter echoed throughout the halls of the castle.
0o0o0o0o0o0o—Wonderland, Court of the Queen of Hearts—o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Oh geez!" cried Sora as he narrowly bent out of the way of a random lance. "What do we do against these guys?! They're not Heartless!"
"Doesn't matter! We need to fight or we're in big trouble!" said Donald as he took out his staff and jumped out of the way of a blow from another guard.
"But won't we get beheaded for resistin' arrest?" asked Goofy, though he still slipped his shield onto his arm despite his words and blocked a blow.
"We'll get beheaded anyway if we just sit and do nothing!" the Court Magician countered, spinning to the side and launching a Blizzard spell at his respective assailant.
As this was happening, Luffy quickly moved his head to the side, narrowly dodging a Spade guard's lance being thrust at his face. "Hey, do you guys poop?" he asked, his good-natured smile never wavering.
The guard, caught completely flat-footed by the question, could only tilt his head to the side with a bewildered expression. "Huh?!" he squawked.
"WOULD YOU PLEASE TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY?!" Donald screamed as he jumped out of the way of a couple of guards' weapons.
"I am! I'm always serious!" Luffy replied, ducking out of the way of another lance as he did so.
"Oh great…" Sora groaned as he parried another lance blow and kicked its owner away.
As the entire kerfuffle was happening, Usopp had somehow snuck out of the fray and began edging along the hedge walls towards the crank wheel that controlled Alice's cage, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. Once close enough, he tiptoed the remaining distance and gingerly reached his hand out…
…only for a pair of red and black lances to swing down in front of the wheel, causing the sniper to squeak and shrink his hand back. Looking up, he found himself face-to-face with the 3 of Hearts and the 5 of Spades. The same guards who had apprehended him and dragged him to the courtroom.
"And just what do you think you're doing?" the 3 of Hearts said with a stern look.
"Only the Queen and the guards may touch this wheel!" said the 5 of Spades, equally stern.
Usopp shook his head; enough was enough. "Sorry, gentlemen, but I don't have time to deal with you right now," he said as he reached into his bag and pulled out his slingshot.
Along with two eggs.
"Eggs?" said the 3 of Hearts, raising an eyebrow.
"What do you intend to do with those? Make an omelette?" said the 5 of Spades.
"You're gonna wish that was the case," replied Usopp with a grin as he loaded one of the eggs into his slingshot. He then looked up at Alice's cage. "Hold your nose, Alice!" he called out.
"Huh?" both guards said at the same time.
"Hissatsu: Tamago Boshi!" yelled Usopp as he aimed and launched the egg straight into the 3 of Hearts' face with a splat.
"Ugh, that stinks! Get it off me!" the guard complained, swatting and swiping at his face.
"Hey, you okay?" said the 5 of Spades, taking his eyes off Usopp momentarily.
"Tamago Boshi!"
SPLAT
"Augh! You jerk! Now I can't see either!" the guard yelped as he followed his compatriot's lead and swatted at his face, having received his own faceful of rotten egg from the sniper.
"You fools! Get him before he gets to the prisoner!" shouted the Queen. She then pinched her nose shut and waved her hand in front of her face with an expression of disgust. "And clean yourselves up while you're at it!"
Now satisfied that they were suitably distracted, Usopp dashed over to the wheel and began spinning it downward, causing the cage to descend. Upon reaching the ground, the sniper spun the cage around and ripped the curtain open.
It was empty.
"Huh?!" the pirate gasped. "Where's Alice?! She was here just a minute ago! We all saw her!"
"What is the meaning of this?!" yelled the Queen. At this, Sora, Luffy, Donald, Goofy, and all of the card guards halted their scuffle and turned to look at the cage. All were equally surprised to see it unoccupied.
"Where has the defendant gone?!" the Queen demanded.
"Hell if I know! If I was the one who got her out, we would have left already!" Usopp protested.
"She must have gotten kidnapped while we were fighting," Donald mused.
"You fools!" the Queen shouted, turning back towards the guards, who all snapped to attention. "Find the one who's behind this! I don't care how!" she ordered. The oversized playing cards immediately scattered, running in every direction away from the courtroom.
The Queen then turned to the Keyblade group, scowling. "What are you still doing here?! Court is adjourned! Now leave before I have you arrested!" she ordered.
"Fine by us!" said Donald as he turned towards the exit. "Come on, guys! Let's get out of here!"
The group nodded and followed the Court Magician out of the courtroom.
Moments later, the group found themselves back in the hedge maze they'd wandered through to get to the courtroom. Now that things had settled down somewhat, each member of the two teams that they had split into earlier took the chance to get the others up to speed on what had transpired on their respective ends, and the two enemies of the Straw Hat Pirates they had encountered. Luffy had been surprised to learn that Mr. 3 had popped up in this world too, and promised to kick his ass once they ran into him for trying to hurt his friends. They now wandered the maze, searching for Alice.
"So what will we do when we find Alice?" asked Sora.
"We make sure she's okay, and then we leave," said Donald. "The King obviously isn't here, and we can't meddle any more than we already have."
"You were talking about not meddling before," said Usopp, looking curious. "Why exactly is it so important to not meddle in other worlds?"
Donald sighed before launching into an explanation. "If the inhabitants of other worlds found out that there are other worlds out there and that there were ways to travel between them, there's a chance that powerful individuals would seek to attack and conquer those worlds." He looked at the others with a serious expression. "In extreme cases, it could even lead the worlds to complete ruin. That's why we limit our involvement with local affairs."
"That's a scary thought," said Usopp with a shiver.
"I don't get it," said Luffy, head tilted to the side with a confused expression.
Jiminy sighed. "Just keep your nose out of other people's business on other worlds; otherwise, the worlds will mysteriously explode. That's all you need to know," he explained, keeping it as simple as possible.
"Ah! Got it!" Luffy replied with a smile, pounding his fist into his other hand. Donald shook his head at the pirate captain's simplemindedness.
"But doesn't traveling between worlds dealing with the Heartless count as meddling?" asked Sora.
"That's different; the Heartless are already meddling by stealing the hearts of the inhabitants, and if left unchecked, the worlds themselves will be destroyed," the Court Magician replied. "By taking the Heartless out, we're minimizing the damage done by them and therefore maintaining the world's status quo; it's more like the exact opposite of meddling."
"I see," said Sora with a thoughtful expression; after all, he'd seen his own world get destroyed by the Heartless with his own eyes. He then realized something. "But that Mr. 3 guy isn't from this world either, and he isn't a Heartless; what do we do about him? And that other guy Luffy and Goofy mentioned?"
Donald looked deep in thought for a moment, then replied, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, let's try to find Alice!"
With that, the group continued through the maze, with everyone minus Donald and Jiminy calling out Alice's name every so often. They got no response, but refused to give up.
0o0o0o0o0o0o—Wonderland, Bizarre Room—o0o0o0o0o0o0
The group soon found themselves back in the room where they first shrank; Usopp recognized it as the room they had stumbled into and dealt with the Heartless swarm earlier. "Oh good, it's right-side-up this time," the sniper commented with a small amount of relief, wiping his forehead.
As the group moved to search the room for any sign of Alice, they were distracted by a loud voice from above.
"AHA! Found you!"
All heads present whipped upward to see a familiar face standing on top of the nearby stove connected to the fireplace and chimney; familiar, at least, to half of them.
"Who the heck is that?" asked Donald.
"Him again?" said Jiminy.
"You thought you could trick me and ditch me back there, huh?! Well, I'm not done with you yet!" the figure shouted, ignoring Donald and Jiminy's words.
"Oh, you're still here, Buggy?" said Luffy blankly, causing said pirate to fall on his face.
"YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO HAVE A MORE DRAMATIC REACTION!" Buggy screamed.
"Hey, yer that clown guy from earlier!" said Goofy as he pointed towards said clown pirate.
"It's BUGGY the Clown, thank you very much!" Buggy shot back, annoyed.
"Oh, the others told me about you!" said Sora. "You're the guy who can split his body!"
"So glad YOU'VE heard of me, at least!" said Buggy, puffing out his chest proudly. "I'm sure you've heard all sorts of amazing-!"
"And also hates it when people mention his big red nose!" Usopp interrupted.
There was a stony silence after that. "…What was that, punk?" Buggy growled.
"…uh-oh," Usopp squeaked, covering his mouth.
"'Uh-oh' is right," the Splitting Man said with barely controlled anger as he pulled out his knives. "You're first on my shit list, pal. And as for you…!" He gestured towards Luffy and Goofy. "I ain't lettin' you get away this time!"
"That makes two of us," came another familiar voice, accompanied by some stomping sounds. The group turned their heads towards it to see Mr. 3 stepping up next to Buggy atop the stove. This time, however, he was covered in some kind of large armor, presumably made of his own wax, with large boxing gloves on each hand and large shoes to match (Sora fidgeted slightly at the sight). His hair blazed with fire as he stood in place, completing the look.
"Oh, there you are!" said Buggy.
"Likewise; I was wondering where you went," Mr. 3 replied.
"Who's that?" asked Goofy.
"Ah! It's him!" said Sora, startled and a bit fearful.
"You again!" shouted Donald, whipping out his staff.
"Indeed," the Candleman replied with a smirk. "You'll find I'm not so easy to get rid of."
"Hey, it's you!" said Luffy with a look of surprised recognition. "Three!"
"That's MISTER Three to you, Straw Hat!" Galdino growled. "And don't think for a moment that this will go the same way as before!" He slammed the fists of his armor together. "This time, I intend to win!"
He stopped short upon seeing nonplussed expressions on Luffy and Usopp's faces. "What are those looks for?! You should be cowering with fear before me!" said Mr. 3, annoyed.
"That armor's boring," said Luffy in a flat voice.
"Yeah, it looked so much cooler in color," Usopp agreed.
"Ain't exactly the definition of 'flashy'," Buggy murmured with a hand on his chin.
"Well, I don't exactly have Miss Goldenweek here to paint it up, now, do I?!" Mr. 3 yelled, stomping his foot.
Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy all looked upon the exchange with expressions ranging from confused to disbelieving. "Uh, guys? I… don't think that's the problem right now…" said Sora.
"Oi! Three! Focus! We're here to fight them, remember?!" Buggy shouted.
"You were commenting on it too!" the Candleman shot back. "And it's MISTER 3, damn it!" He punctuated his yell by shaking his armored fist at his red-nosed compatriot.
"Whatever! Not the point!" Buggy yelled back. "If we're gonna get 'em, let's get 'em right now!"
"Very well," Mr. 3 grumbled as he moved his attention back to the Keyblade group, all of whom tensed in preparation for an attack.
"My, my; such fighting talk," came yet another familiar voice. All pairs of eyes moved to the source: The Cheshire Cat, standing on one of the bottles on the table, leaning on his upright tail.
"WHERE DID THAT CAT COME FROM?!" Buggy screamed.
"What the devil?" said Mr. 3 with a surprised twitch.
"Oh no, not you too!" complained Usopp.
"Alas, having found the evidence you sought, you now seek the defendant you have lost? A tragic turnaround, if ever there was one; poor Alice…" mused the Cat.
"Wait a minute!" exclaimed Sora. "Did you see Alice? Do you know where she went?"
"Maybe, maybe not," the Cat replied.
"Not exactly helpful there," groused Donald.
"I'm sorry, but can this wait?" Jiminy piped up. "In case you haven't noticed, we have two men here out for our heads!"
"Yeah! Buzz off so we can fight!" agreed Buggy, before doing a double-take. "Wait, where did that voice come from?!"
"So fixated on each other, but blind to the true danger afoot," the Cat said cryptically. "As I told you before, the cat, the culprit, and the answer all lie in darkness."
"The what?" said Buggy.
"The what?" said Mr. 3.
"And the what?" finished Luffy.
"I shall show you what shadows lurk in the heart of this world," the Cat continued as if no one had said anything.
"How?" asked Goofy.
"Haven't you heard?" said the Cat, snapping its fingers. Just then, flames sprang to life in the lamps on the ceiling, brightening the room further. "Where there be the brightest of flames, there exist the darkest of shadows…"
Just then, the shadows of the table and chair grew even darker and extended sideways, melding into one. The black and red symbol of the Heartless appeared on top of the combined shadows, before something under it began to form from the darkness. A large curved cylindrical shape rose from the shadow, followed by a humanoid torso-shaped form upon which it was attached with two very long and crooked appendages, then two more long appendages on the underside of the torso. The shadow underneath it disappeared, but the dark form remained, its outline remaining indistinct. It stood at least four times higher than Goofy, the tallest of the group.
"I trust you've prepared your hearts for the worst?" said the Cat, showing no reaction whatsoever to the large shadowy form coalescing behind him. "If not… too bad!" He then faded out of existence as the dark figure formed into a more distinct and colorful shape.
From the bottom moving upwards, the smoky darkness cleared away to reveal the Heartless' various features. Large, crescent-shaped black feet. Two lanky pairs of legs that each combined into one, with one ankle, two knees, and one hip joint each, with each pair having one leg colored red and the other black. A small armored torso with large, pointed pauldrons on its shoulders, colored red with black trim. Two very long arms that appeared to be made of several black rectangles like unfolded origami, each ending with large, clawed black hands. And a gold-trimmed cylindrical head that appeared to be composed of five smaller cylinders stacked on top of each other, each with its own face and alternating colors between black and red. To top it all off, it carried two large striped purple juggling clubs in its hands.
Once the Heartless' form was fully revealed, it bent all four of its knees and sprang backwards in a somersault before landing on its feet across the room, then jumping and flipping backwards to plant its feet on the wall, then springing forward and twisting in the air before landing right behind the Keyblade group. Everyone turned around to see the Heartless straightening back up, its arms crossed in front of itself before un-crossing in a flourish, the clubs bursting into flame as it did so.
"COOOOOOOLLLLLL!" Luffy exclaimed.
"Wh-wh-wh-what i-is th-that th-thing?" Usopp stammered, his knees shaking.
"Looks like another Heartless," said Goofy, slipping his shield back onto his arm.
"That lousy cat! He played us for chumps!" shouted Donald, raising his staff. "Now we've got a big Heartless problem on our hands!"
"Guess it's time to fight again," said Sora as he summoned the Keyblade and got into his usual stance. He swallowed hard; this thing was even bigger than the big armor back in Traverse Town. Guess Leon was right, it really is only going to get harder as we go, he thought to himself as a bead of sweat dripped down the side of his face. He then firmed his grip. But if I'm going to find Riku and Kairi, then I need to stay strong! I can't run away!
"Heh heh! Bring it on!" said Luffy as he cracked his knuckles.
As all of this was happening, Mr. 3 and Buggy looked on with curiosity, fascination, and in Buggy's case, nervousness. "Th-three?" Buggy stuttered, pointing a shaking finger at the monster. "Just what is that thing?"
"If I had to guess, it's one of those 'Heartless' creatures we saw them fighting earlier, if that sigil is any indication. But far more powerful," Mr. 3 mused, ignoring the fact that the clown pirate got his name wrong once again. "And if I had to make another guess, the Heartless are what invaded Impel Down and brought us here."
He then grinned maliciously. "This works in our favor! From what we've seen, the Heartless seem to attack anything that moves; if Straw Hat and those others are busy fighting that thing, we stand a greater chance of victory! All we have to do is stay out of the way and wait for an opportunity to strike while they're distracted, overwhelmed, or off balance, and we can pick them off one by one!"
"But what if they manage to beat that thing?" asked Buggy.
"Then our job will still be easier than before! No doubt they will be tired out or injured from fighting that thing, while we're fresh and ready to go!" Mr. 3 answered.
"I like the way you think!" Buggy grinned with a thumbs-up. "Alright then, let's see what this big guy can do!"
With that, the two Impel Down escapees watched with great interest as the Keyblade group charged forward to attack. The Heartless readied its clubs, and the battle was on.
Author's Note: And there it is! Alice is gone, but Buggy and Mr. 3 have made their grand re-entrance, and the Trickmaster fight has finally begun! This is going to be a fun battle to write for sure.
Sorry if this chapter seems a bit all over the place; I honestly didn't have that clear of an idea of how to go from the Courtroom to the Trickmaster fight, so I wrote whatever I could think of for each scene I did know what I wanted to do, and eventually the rest came to mind. Let me know if this chapter is a mess or not.
I know the Trickmaster's entrance isn't the same as in the game or the manga, but I felt like giving it a little extra flourish. I've been watching through Sailor Moon Super S lately, and I felt like the way the Lemures were summoned would work well for a Heartless boss's grand appearance, so here it is.
Big thanks to FictionReader98 and Zoneshifter_D for beta-reading this chapter!
That's all I've got to say for now. Thanks for reading, and look forward to the next one!
Techniques used in this chapter:
Hissatsu: Tamago Boshi: Translation: Sure Kill: Egg Star. Usopp fires a rotten egg at an opponent with his slingshot, mostly as a distraction technique to cause them to hold their noses at the stench while he escapes the fight.
Alice has gone missing, and now the group finds itself faced with not only Buggy and Mr. 3, but a big new Heartless enemy! Can the group pull together to take down this new threat? What will they do about Buggy and Mr. 3? And what does Maleficent have planned for the Impel Down escapees? Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Heart of a Pirate!