Chapter 4:
Off to Earth?!; Zoro and the boy with the Pink Lion
"Wha-Whaaaat?" Exclaimed Spinel in shock at Luffy's purpose to the small pink gem. "Ya really want me to join your crew? Are you sure?"
Luffy nodded. "I've been where you've been, I've lost some people close to me and it hurt when it felt like I couldn't do a thing to save them." Luffy begun to think of Bon Clay staying behind in Impel Down so Luffy could escape the watery prison and then to the final moments of his older brother, Portgas D. Ace during the Paramount War.
"One of my crew once told me to always count the things I still had after all the loss." Luffy continued. Spinel turned back to the Diamonds' gems in her arms still shrunken and small roughly the size of her own gem. A few more tears trickled down Spinel's cheeks but that was the last of them. She no longer crying, but now in deep thought of what she still knew she had.
"Steven." She said quietly. Spinel then hastily stood up with realization and a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "I still have Steven and HIS family! They could help us!"
Luffy, now sporting his typical smile then tipped his hat up with his pointer finger. "Heh-heh. So I guess we're gonna meet more of your family now." Beamed the straw hatted pirate with his usual enthusiasm. "We should start looking for the rest of the crew too. I haven't seen them at all since it got here."
Spinel then pointed toward the palace. "Let's head back to the palace. Theres a warp pad we can take to Earth then we can start lookin' for Steven and the rest of your, er our crew" Spinel replied with an embarrassed chuckle.
"Yea!" Luffy shouted excitedly "Let's Go!" however about 20 seconds passed with Luffy standing still, as he just registered what Spinel just said. "Eeeeeh?!" he screamed in disbelief.
"What do you mean 'take to earth'. Aren't we ON Earth?" Luffy asked showing genuine shock but his mannerisms to the situation appeared very comical. Spinel calmly but a little surprised at Luffy's outburst explained where they were.
"N-no. This the home world for Gems. At least the original world before the empire started to colonize planets. Anyway we should get going Luffy" Spinel expressed wanting to find Steven as fast as they could.
Luffy snapped out of his shock and then got back to the task at hand "Oh right yea Gotta find this Steven guy and the rest of the crew. Then Let's get go-" before Luffy could get another word in, he suddenly coughed up small clouds. Luffy started to feel weak. He fell to his knees and begun to look deflated from extreme fatigue. His drained appearance looking almost like an old man. This reaction caused Spinel to freak out
"Agh! Luffy? What happened?" Spinel shrieked in fear.
"Ugh….." Moaned Luffy "This happened when I first used Gear 5th, I get REALLY tired for a while. These powers are awesome but the drawbacks suck!"
Spinel understood a little, Luffy was very worn out from his epic battle and needed to rest before they could continue. Spinel then sat down next to Luffy. "Its fine then" she said calming down again. "you helped me a lot today, and the least I can do is let ya rest."
With Luffy and Spinel now resting on Home world, one could wonder what the future hold for our plucky rubber heroes. For that we do need to rewind the clock just a bit to when Luffy first awoke on Homeworld, and have a change in scenery.
Planet Earth. Home to human race, and unbeknown to many of its populace a small settlement of gems. However, the gems who lived on earth were integrating with humans of Beach city. They fought against the Diamonds to protect human life eons ago and after Steven Universe brought about era 3 these gems could finally live in peace on earth doing whatever they wanted. Far from the ocean town of beach city, hundreds if not thousands of miles away, said savior of the galaxy was now in another small town, sightseeing
Three months had passed since Steven left Beach City, and he was enjoying seeing the world he fought so hard to protect and try to find himself. Things had been pretty good for the Human-gem hybrid. No enemies showed up for revenge, no problems from his mother's past came to cause him issue for his own life. And most importantly; Connie his girlfriend who had been working hard to get into college early finally had some free time in her busy schedule. So, the two were going to spend the day together in the forested town Steven had currently stopped in to catch up and see the sights.
Steven was waiting in a vacant parking lot outside his car. He was happily checking his phone while waiting for Connie and Lion to show up so they could begin their tour around town.
"hmm. I wonder how everyone's been since I left home" Steven pondered as he was scrolling though some pictures of his family, some when he was younger and some of more recent times. Like the photo of him and the gems before Spinel first showed up. "I hope they're doing ok" he sighed with a mix of reminiscing and a small tangent of worry.
Despite all troubles Steven went through he still had a good heart and liked to help people. But was now focusing on himself since he had to come to terms with some issued he had been keeping locked away till recently.
Then a loud roar pierced through the silent sunny day air, and a magical pink colored portal opened up. Out of the portal leaped Steven's pet lion, aptly named Lion with Connie in tow riding his back.
"Steven!" Connie called to her curly haired boyfriend with excitement. "Connie!" Steven replied with his own enthusiasm of seeing his best friends now girlfriend after a good amount of time they both spent away from each other due to their busy lives.
Steven and Connie embraced each other in a hug before the two briefly kissed.
"It's been way to long." Steven said happily "I'm glad you were able to make out here today."
"Me too. I been looking forward to this meet up. Studying's been going good but it's nice to stop and take a break from it all." Connie said as Lion walked up to the duo. Steven happily petted his old companion warmly as he was happy to see him too. "Good to see you too Buddy." Steven said happily to his large pink feline.
"So what's on the schedule for today?" Connie asked with much interest.
"Well, I figured we could grab a bite to eat at this diner." Steven said as he then pulled out a flyer from his jacket pocket
"I also found out, this town's doing a really cool convention for our favorite show; Under the Knife!" Steven then excitedly showed Connie the flyer.
Connie then held the piece of paper in her own hands and was equally excited. "Seriously? Here? That's awesome its been awhile I've seen some episodes but I had no idea they had their own conventions, this is going to be an amazing day!"
"I knew you'd love it" Steven replied "Come on the diners like a five-minute walk from here."
Just as the two begun to head to the diner Steven had found. Lion who was still sitting next to Steven's car suddenly perked up. He then took on an angry expression and stance in a direction where the wasn't much of anything save to the curb of the parking lot and hundreds of trees. Though these actions didn't go unnoticed as Steven and Connie immediately turned around to see what had gotten their magical lion's attention
"Lion? You Ok bud?" Steven asked Nervously
"Is something wrong?" Connie asked worriedly
Suddenly out of nowhere a large white and blue light burst forth out of seemingly nowhere. The light filled the air with strong winds and Steven and Connie could hear small but loud crackles of electricity.
"WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING?!" Connie shouted over all the noise covering her eyes with her arms.
"I'M NOT SURE!" Steven responded also covering his eye but with just one arm as he then summoned his classic Quartz shield with his free hand to ensure no flying debris hit him or his girlfriend. "I THINK SOMEONE'S WARPING TO EARTH!" the half gem hybrid speculated.
"BUT THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" Connie called back "THERE ISN'T EVEN A WARP PAD WHERE ALL THAT LIGHT IS"
"This definitely isn't good" Steven thought to himself as he was beginning to get nervous as to what was even happening.
No sooner had the blinding and brilliant light show had arrived, everything soon started to die down. After two minutes the lights, wind and crackling had finally stopped and all was quiet again. Many townsfolk who had noticed this bizarre spectacle from afar either fled in terror or ducked into the nearest building as no to harmed by what they thought was the most insane lightning storm of their lives.
Soon Steven and Connie slowly began to open their eyes and lower their arms to see what on earth had just appeared before them.
"Wha-What in the?" Steven spluttered.
Where the mysterious ball of lightning once was. Was a tall young man. He seemed older than both Steven and connie but was in his early 20s. The man was quite muscular and fit, at a glance Steven believed he was roughly around Garnet's height if not just a bit shorter. He wore a Large dark green coat, what appeared to be a large belly warmer could be seen peeking out by his waist where the coat wasn't buttoned, black pants and boots. The thing that stood out to the two heroes about the man was that he his left eye was closed and had a scar over it, Green colored hair, and he seemed to carry three swords around his waist. The man didn't have any visible injuries but he was knocked out on the ground.
"Wh-who IS this?" Steven asked with the most baffled and shocked look on his face. "I thought some gem was gonna pop out of nowhere when all that craziness started happening. But this, this looks like another human!" he sputtered.
"He doesn't look hurt but he's not moving" Connie said taking a step forward. "We should probably-"
Before She or Steven could do anything to even help the stranger that just appeared before them Lion jumped quickly in front of Steven and Connie while still giving that passed out man the stink eye.
"wha- Lion, no! Don't be like that. This guy might be in trouble! We gotta help him!" Steven scolded
At that moment the man began to stir and jolted up with such speed Steven and Connie had never seen before. The man the drew two of his swords out and begun to swing his head around wildly as if something had angered him.
"WHERE'D YOU GO YOU DAMN BASTARDS!" bellowed the man towards the sunny skies "COME OUT AND FIGHT LIKE A REAL MAN INSTEAD OF HIDING BEHIND YOUR EXPENDABLE CHRONIES!"
"Eek!" squeaked the two friends with a bit of fear.
Steven and Connie had never seen anyone as angry as this man was before, in fact it was understandable that they freaked out a little. With Steven summoning his bubble shield around him, Connie, and Lion as a sort of reflex.
With nothing happening, the man just panted heavily as he kept darting his head to his left and right expecting SOMETHING to happen but nothing did. Soon he regained his composure and sheathed his two swords he'd drawn.
"Damn it." He said under his breath in a very upset mood.
"Just what the hell happened? One moment I'm fighting hundreds of pirates on an island about to vanish, the next I'm in some weird forest clearing with some weird black cement on the ground." He said as he looked at the tarmac of the parking lot he was standing on. "That Warp bastard must have used his powers on us all. Guess that means everyone else got lost."
"Uhh… hi there?" said a meek voice from behind him.
The man turned around to see the oddest thing. Two young adults and a large lion were stuck in a pink colored bubble staring at him with bewilderment.
"Oy" he said pointing to the three bubble buddies. "I you had planned on catching that lion, I don't think being in that weird cage might be a good idea."
"That's what's concerning him?" both Connie and Steven thought at the same time.
"S-sorry that was kind of a reflex thing. All that light and yelling kinda spooked me" Steven admitted as he began to calm down a little and soon dropped his bubble shield around him and his two companions.
"hm. That power reminds me of Rooser man from Dressrosa. This kid have I similar Devil Fruit to him?" Zoro thought to himself.
"Are you ok sir?" Connie asked though Lion still persisted in not letting her and Steven get to closer to their visitor "We saw you just knocked out after that weird light."
"It's a long story kids; and I don't have much time to explain." The man said as he untied his bandana from his head then begun to tie it around his arm by his bicep. "My name is Roronoa Zoro. And I just got separated from my crew so I gotta go find them."
"Oh well nice to meet you Mr. Zoro, My name's Steven. Steven Universe." Steven replied happily trying to extend an olive branch to the lost pirate. "And this Connie, my best friend/Girlfriend, and this is Lion my well lion."
"Pleasure to meet you." Connie said "that's a pretty cool costume you got on, are you a fan of lonely blade? Cuz I know Steven here is also a big fan" she said cheekily causing Steven to smile a little but blush with embarrassment.
"Huh. He some kind of swordsman?" inquired Zoro "A title like that does sound like an interesting challenge."
Steven wasn't sure if Zoro was being serious or just being in some sort of character acting but it seemed clear the more he talked with Zoro the more it showed nothing bad was actually going to happen.
"Heh-heh. Yea kinda" Steven Chuckled "But hey you said you didn't have much time to explain, is something wrong?" he inquired to the swordsman. This made Zoro remember his current priorities on his situation.
"Oh crap, yea thanks for reminding me. I got separated from my crew after this big fight and we got separated, I gotta find them all, later." With that Zoro turned around and begun to ran like mad toward the dense forest of trees and disappeared into the bushes and he begun his search for his fellow Straw hats. Though Steven and Connie were relived nothing bad had transpired they still couldn't shake their feeling of bewilderment as to what just happened.
Sometime later two had decided to finally head to the diner and he ordered their lunch. Steven and Connie were soon happily chatting as if the previous event that had just transpired hadn't happened at all. Though the topic of Zoro did come up again
"Heh-heh still that guy's Lonely Blade Costume was pretty cool maybe he made his own OC and his "Crew" was some of his friends doing some kind of role playing." Steven replied.
"Hm, maybe but that still doesn't really explain all that weird lightning and wind. Plus, a lot of people are still talking about that weird weather when it showed up." Connie pointed out "Maybe… Maybe they're making a movie or something, the lights were special effects and the actor was just adlibbing. We may have been in a film shooting." She pondered a bit more on the whole matter.
"Yeah that makes sense" Steven replied as he took a sip of of juice from his cup. "Though don't the directors usually come up to some people and ask them to sign some kind of- HUH?!"
Connie lifted her head up to Steven who had the same look he had on his face earlier but he wasn't looking at her, but the out the window that Connie was sitting in front of. Connie turned her head around to see what Steven was staring at and much to her surprise as much as Steven, there was Zoro outside the diner, he was walking down the sidewalk across the street as if he was still looking for someone. Many of the people he passed also looked at him with a confused look on their faces.
The two friends then looked at each other with concern. They quickly paid for their lunch then darted off after the Straw hat's first mate to see why he was back in town so quickly.
"Im glad I made it to a town but damn still no sign of anyone yet." Zoro said to himself with a bit of annoyance in his voice.
"Zoro!" Called Steven Zoro turned around to see Steven and Connie running up to him. Zoro stopped wandering to let the two friends catch up to him.
"Oh hey." Zoro said nonchalantly "didn't think I'd see you two so soon. How'd you guys get to this town so fast?" the green haired swordsman asked.
"How did we- This is the same town. We never left at all." Connie said as she and Steven caught their breath
"Yea, You just ran off into the forest like 20 minutes ago. Did your roleplaying thing end?" Steven asked.
Zoro was now the one to be confused and he made his feeling clear to the two. "What the hell nonsense are you talking about? Listen you guys seem like nice people but if you think I'm playing around then you'd be dead wrong to assume I'm just screwing around." He told the duo with a very serious tone in his voice which emphasized his seriousness in the matter.
While both Steven and Connie were taken aback at Zoro's tone they were still both worried about him, in their perspective; taking the roleplaying a bit to far.
Steven then whispered to Connie covering his mouth with his hand to avoid the green haired pirate from reading his lips
"This seems to be getting out of hand. The guy really think he's a character from a show." Steven murmured to Connie.
"I think he may be a method actor." Connie whispered back. "My dad said they're a type of actor that gets so into their role they choose to believe they ARE that character. Maybe we shouldn't pester him anymore anyway."
"I get you're Right Connie but what if he really needs help with whatever he's- Hey where'd he go?" Steven cried as he glanced to Zoro only to see the swordsman had wandered off again.
The two look around the street from where they stood but Zoro just seemingly vanished into thin air. Soon the two while not wanting to totally brush off what had once again just happened, decided to continue on with their day.
However, Throughout the day where ever Steven and Connie went in town, Zoro always seemed to pop up out of nowhere, and then wander off again only to show up in a different spot later on. Eventually, the two were a bit annoyed at Zoro's frequent appearing and disappearing act. So next time they wound up running into Zoro they were able to take him aside to talk once more.
At a small outdoor café in the middle of town;
"Listen Zoro we get you're in a hurry. We really do." Connie started calmy as she sipped on some tea she ordered. "But it is getting annoying and weird you keep running into us."
"Yeah." Steven followed up. "Look I know your having fun playing Lonely Blade but maybe its time to stop acting? Cuz from what I can tell you may have a really issue you need to deal with and acting while trying to remedy it might not be a good way to deal with it."
Zoro scoffed with annoyance. He knew Steven and Connie were nice people but much like them, he wasn't in the best of moods at the moment. He couldn't understand why they thought he was "Acting" or why they kept bringing up this "Lonely Blade", he still had to find Luffy and the others, and to top it off the Café staff didn't have any Sake for him to drink so he had to settle for water.
"Like I told you two. I'm NOT acting." he said "some cowards got the jump on my crewmates and I and now we got separated."
Connie and Steven just sighed as they were unsure of how to handle the situation it felt like they were all going in circles.
Suddenly Zoro's one eye briefly flashed red. The swordsman's observation haki had picked up something and this caused Zoro to stand up out of his chair and he began to stare at the blue skies above. This reaction prompted Steven and Connie to look at him then to the area where Zoro was looking but nothing.
"Is… Is something wrong Zoro?" asked Steven with a mix of curiosity and tiredness.
"We're about to find out kid" Zoro replied as he grasped his left hand on his sword the Wado Ichimonji, ready to draw it from it's scabbard should something attack.
No sooner had Zoro finished talking, there was three twinkles of light clustered together high in the sky above then Zoro could see what appeared to be three round disk-shaped objects spinning rapidly from the sky falling to earth. Thankfully the disks weren't heading toward the three heroes, but they flew over their heads and slammed into a large metal water tower that was placed on top of a building. The force of the disks smashed the water tower's legs and then it began to topple over. Many people who were in the area and seen what had just happened began to flee as to not get crushed or hurt from the large heavy falling debris coming down.
The water tower's trajectory seemed to be heading for Zoro, Connie, and Steven. As Steven and Connie began to run out of the way they turned to see Zoro still standing by his chair but now in a "ready to fight" Stance.
"Zoro!" called Steven with large amounts of panic
"YOU GOTTA GET OUT OF THERE!" Connie called "YOU'RE GONNA GET CRUSHED IF YOU DON'T MOVE!"
But Zoro didn't move nor did he respond to anything the two were saying. Connie and Steven looked at each other for a split second and then darted back to Zoro, to either grab him and get to safety or use Steven's Bubble and hope for the best.
Time seemed to stand still. Zoro quietly took a deep breath before looking upward to the falling chunk of large metal.
"Well now. Seems as though the best way to get through to these two is to demonstrate that I'm not just some guy playing with swords." Zoro thought to himself.
Just as Steven and Connie were about a foot away from Zoro. Something happened they couldn't even they as Crystal gems hadn't seen before outside of fiction. A mysterious green colored aura enveloped around Zoro's body, then flowed to his sword that was still sheathed in its white scabbard.
"One Sword Style….." Zoro began his attack grabbing his sword, still in it's scabbard before turning it vertically.
"Lion's Strike!" Zoro quickly drew his sword from its scabbard. However, whatever Zoro did it was fast for Connie or even Steven to see with their eyes.
Suddenly the water tower immediately split into two pieces, the area where it broke had clear cut marks from a sword. Water spilled out everywhere dousing the three, though Zoro didn't seem to mind or care. The two large metal chunks then landed on the ground next to the three with a large THUD!
Despite being drenched, Steven and Connie were Stunned silent. Zoro was clearly human but he had just done something that both believed only a gem could do.
"That…That water tower had to have weighed several tons." Connie gasped finally breaking the quiet air. "And he just cut it like it was a piece of paper!"
Steven who despite have seen and been through many things in his 16 years of life so far, found himself both scared and in awe of Zoro's feat. The Human-Gem hybrid felt himself collapse to the ground sitting as he gazed at Zoro who still had his back to the pair as be began to re-sheath his sword.
"I…" Steven said still trembling. "I don't think he's an actor Connie."
Twenty Minuets later, the three had returned to where Steven had parked his car. After witnessing Zoro slash a water tower without breaking a sweat, they began to talk again; this time really listening to Zoro, now knowing what he had been saying was all to real.
"…And that's about it" Zoro finished recounting the events of Warp's attack in full to the two. "I couldn't care less about that Warp bastard but like I said, finding my captain and crew are my top priority right now."
"This… This is kind of a lot to take in right now." Connie admitted. "I mean we've seen out fair share of enemies in the past. But; Pirates, fruits that give you super powers, islands that can disappear… its like something out of a novel or something."
Steven despite having listened to Zoro's story, had been staring at the ground the whole time as if he was deep in thought. He wanted to help Zoro. But he now realized that this maybe something like his old adventures with the gems. While it didn't seem that bad, in the back of his head part of him was worried that the whole thing could end up being more trouble for him mentally. Especially since it had been only three months since he left beach city, and even more months since his last… Incident.
Connie had quickly noticed Steven deep in his thoughts and walked close to him and held his hand.
"Hey listen." She said softly to Steven. "I know you wanna help but it's ok if you don't. The last thing me, the gems or your dad want is for you to get more traumatized"
Even if he didn't know the full story, Zoro could tell Steven was hesitant about his next move. And knew what he should say. "Listen. I might not know what's going on for you right now but I can understand if you wanna back out. This is my problem after all and not yours, At the end of the day I AM a pirate and you two are just some civilians."
Steven Looked at Connie then to Zoro. He closed his eyes then took a deep breath, having made his decision on what to do and soon he began to smile a little. Not to hid nervousness but to the fact that he had people who wanted the best for his own wellbeing, even if he had just met one of those people.
"Thanks you guys, I really appreciate it." Steven said as he squeezed Connie's hand affectionately. "But I have thought this through and well our friend here does need all the help he can. plus I think I Know a group of people who can help us out too and I know they're dying to see me again." Steven replied with a true and genuine 'Steven Universe' smile.
Zoro and Connie looked to each other then smiled as well
"Well then I guess that settles thing" Zoro said cracking his neck a little. "Though fair warning. My captain's a bit of an idiot and is prone to make thing pretty hard, so no going back if and when we find him." Chuckled the swordsman.
"So what's the plan Steven?" Connie asked though the look she had in her eyes, Connie seemed to already know what their next move was.
Steven then pointed to the east. Despite being out of action for so long he felt like his old self again ready to go on amazing adventures. "Next Stop; Beach City! Its time to get the old gang back together!"
Zoro couldn't help but wear a smug look on his face. Seeing Steven with this much energy felt like he was with Luffy, albeit a Luffy who seemed a bit smarter. "Alright kid I'm with ya" he said slapping Steven's back sportingly. "so what's the fastest way there?"
"I'm glad you asked" Steven said with a smile "Liiiiion!"
Soon out of the nearest bushes Lion popped out, with what appeared to be a strange looking lizard in his mouth. Lion walked casually toward the three, while finishing his snack.
"That weird Lion from earlier?" asked Zoro.
Lion simply snorted, somehow he was no longer apprehensive toward Zoro, most likely he sensed him save Steven and Connie. Lion soon laid down and Connie and Steven Climbed on his back.
"You too Zoro" Connie said happily "There's no faster way to get to Beach City then Lion here"
"hmph" laughed Zoro "I swear, Luffy Probably gonna get a kick out of you three, wouldn't be surprised if he asked you to join the crew."
Zoro then mounted on Lion and with a mighty Roar! Lion opened a portal and the four vanished into it traveling thousands of miles back to Steven's hometown.
Meanwhile back on the building where the water tower fell. Though no people on the streets below could hear, there was a bit of moaning and groaning from the top of the building.
The three disks were none other then Demantoid, Eyeball and Aquamarine. After crashing onto the roof, they were no longer flat disks and had returned to normal as Luffy's Gear 5 toon powers seemed to have worn off on their bodies, though all the damage they had accumulated remained.
"Ugh! That stupid human! How on earth did he do all that?!" whined Aquamarine as she seemed to have regain enough strength to sprout her water wings and fly in the air again.
"I swear I'll make him, that stupid Spinel, and Steven universe pay!" Eyeball growled even though she was lying on the ground with her face pressed against the floor.
"ugh. Well unlike you two, I'd rather like to find better partners to deal with our little 'Problem' since our last two plans failed spectacularly." Demantoid huffed with an ere of annoyance in her tone.
"Well then." Said an unknown female voice. "I think me an' my associates may be able to he ye three out. Especially since me Cap'n has beef with your Straw hatted 'Stupid Human' ye were talkin' 'bout just now."
The three gems turned their heads to see a tall slender woman in a strange outfit standing over them looking smugly at the three of them. This woman was none other than Sapphire, Warps Right hand.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Next Time: Seems as though Luffy and Zoro's paths will be crossing sooner than they think. And it seems like Sapphire has also been sent to Steven's world as well. Meanwhile the earth's protectors, the Crystal Gems soon learn of Steven's return and are eager to reunite with him. But the festivities can't last long as one of the Gem's former enemies is going on a strange berserker rampage!
Luffy: "On the Next One Piece X Steven Universe;"
A Crystal Gem Reunion; Luffy and Zoro vs the Ultimate Quartz Japser?
"I'm Gonna Be The King Of the Pirates!"