Within a week, things had settled. Jack lived humbly, but had plenty of room for Buki, who seemed to gravitate quite well to Jack's lifestyle; apricating tea ceremonies, bonsai growing and even some kendo training. But especially Jack's katas.
Jack quickly found his little charge, despite lacking memory, was incredibly skilled in martial and sword arts; easily as strong as a man of Jack's age, insanely durable and inventive in how he used his surroundings to fight.
Still though, search as they might, the two could find nothing on Buki's family or background. Soon however, Buki lost much interest in this, cotent living with Jack…
Until Jack took him to work. And not just once, no. see, being the PE Teacher of Megaville School, an all-around school for all ages of children, Buki found himself enrolled in the elementary course and standing in front of many new faces.
Still, he took a deep breath, introduced himself as best he could (even if all he revealed was his name and his interest in martial arts, as a few kids noted) and focused on his studies.
As Buki settled did this, he didn't realize how special things were going to be with the transfer of three specific students….
-KAI-
"This sucks."
"But Professor..."
"Now girls, we've already discussed this before. The time has come for all of us to move on." Professor Utonium told his three daughters, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup. "You know we can't stay in Townsville forever, we have to go out and see the world, learn new things, meet new friends, and who knows? You might even fight new supervillains."
The man put reassuring hands on his daughters' shoulders, understanding how uncomfortable they were being in a new, unfamiliar environment.
"Besides, I believe Megaville is a wonderful place and a lot of people have been coming here lately. And I'm sure it's going to be a lot better than Citysville."
"No, I still think it sucks!" Buttercup huffed.
The Professor led his daughters into the classroom, where a beautiful young woman with long pink hair greeted them.
"Hello. You must be Professor Utonium."
"That's me. And you must be..."
"Miss Meryl."
The Professor smiled. "Hello, Miss Meryl. I'm really sorry I'm late, I had a little trouble back at the lab. Girls, say hello to your class adviser, Miss Meryl."
"Hi."
"How sweet. These must be your little angels. They even have their own colored uniforms." Miss Meryl smiled before turning to her students. "Class, I want you all to welcome our 3 new students; Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup."
"Welcome to Megaville!" The class all greeted together.
Buttercup looked away in annoyance but out of the corner of her eye, she saw a young boy around her age with messy dark hair, pale skin, and striking eyes that were a rich golden amber color.
"Well then, I guess I'll be on my way..." Professor Utonium said as he took his leave. "Now girls, I want you all to do your best and I don't want any trouble. No rough stuff today, understand? Especially you, Buttercup."
"Whatever."
"Please take good care of them, Miss Meryl."
"Oh I will, Professor." The teacher smiled before turning to the girls. "Alright, girls. Why don't we start with a little introduction? Perhaps you can tell us something about yourselves. Your hobbies or your talents maybe..."
The three girls just smiled at each other, deciding to make their introduction with a splash as they posed together.
"In Townsville, we fight crime and the forces of evil..." Blossom began.
"...We kick butt and beat the crap out of monsters and supervillains..." Buttercup continued.
"...Best of all, we save the day just before bedtime! That's why we're..." Bubbles finished before they all ended their introduction as one.
"THE POWERPUFF GIRLS!"
There was a brief silence before the rest of the class burst out laughing, thinking it was some kind of silly superhero cartoon routine they did. The only ones not laughing were the boy Buttercup noticed earlier and another boy with orange hair, blue lensed glasses, purple gloves, and wearing a lab coat.
"How cute, you even have your own club, the Flowerpuff Girls!" Miss Meryl giggled.
"That's Powerpuff..." Bubbles said with tears in her eyes.
"Oh! Alright. Powderpuff! Now why don't you girls take your seats and we'll get started. I just know you're all going to like it here."
Buttercup ended up finding her desk right next to the boy who caught her eye earlier. She didn't pay him much heed as she kicked her feet up on the desk and folded her arms with a grunt, still annoyed that her family had to leave Townsville after so many years of protecting it.
It wasn't until gym that someone perked her interest.
As Jack went through motions of his katas, Buttercup saw one boy copying him near effortlessly…yet he was holding back; she could tell; being created with Chemical X, she and her sisters had learnt to pick up…oddities.
When Jack announced that the students would mirror each other, Buttercup flew over to the boy.
"Hey there! Buttercup Utonium."
She gave the boy her hand and he shook it…with strength to match her own.
"Touya Buki." The boy explained. "Just Buki will do."
Smirking at this, they began to mirror each other's movements.
"So…You been here long?" Buttercup asked.
"Just a week. Sensei Jack enrolled me."
"Oh, he your….?"
"Guardian, yes."
Sensing there was a story there, but this was not the best time, Buttercup changed topics.
"So…you train?"
Buki smiled.
"Jack says I have a talent, although I should harness and hope to never use is…unless to defend."
The Powerpuff could respect that at least.
Off to the side, Blossom and Bubbles smiled, happy their sister seemed to be making a friend.
-KAI-
Later, during Recess, the Powerpuff Girls were lounging together by a tree as the rest of the kids played around. Megaville School was divided into districts to separate each age group from preschool all the way to college. However, there was a 'melting pot' area where kids of different age ranges could hang out together but right now, the girls stuck to the Elementary section.
"What I'd give to kick some butt right about now," Buttercup said as she lay on her back and looked at the sky. "How about you, Bubbles?"
"I don't want my butt kicked..."
"No, Bubbles. Buttercup meant..."
Blossom was cut off by the sound of someone clearing their throat. The girls all looked to see the boy in the lab coat from earlier approaching them.
"Greetings, new classmates. On behalf of all my friends, I would just like to express my most sincere apology concerning that little event this morning. However, I am rather curious of that introduction you had..." He fixed his glasses. "Is it true that you are what you claim to be...that you are superheroes?"
"What's it to you, anyway?" Buttercup asked rudely.
The boy smirked. "I was hoping you could show me a little demonstration of your ability. For you see, I have known a lot of superheroes lately. But none of like you I have ever met. In fact, I happen to be a superhero myself."
"Yeah right. I suppose you could read books faster than a speeding bullet." Buttercup scoffed.
"Perhaps you'd like to see a sample of my capability and to prove which of us holds true."
"You wanna make something out of this, Four-Eyes? Fine by me." Buttercup smirked as she punched her fist into her palm.
"Buttercup, we're gonna get in trouble if the Professor finds out about this," Blossom whispered worriedly to her sister.
"Don't worry, I'll go easy on the bookworm. Just need to knock some sense about who he's messing with."
This got the attention of the other kids as they came over to see what was going on. Included in that group of kids was Buki, who had just been playing on the swings when he noticed the scuffle about to take place.
"Hey, is that Buttercup?" he heard someone call out, getting his attention and concern.
Buki watched as Buttercup dashed toward the boy, who casually had his hands behind his back before suddenly tapping something on his backpack...which unfolded into a type of mech suit and blocked her kick.
"What the...?! What are you, Mojo's fan?"
The boy seemed offended by this.
"Please. Unlike that monkey, everything I do is for good!...Eh, mostly." He then glared at the Powerpuff girl. "You will refer to me as none other than...DEXTER: BOY GENIUS!"
Buki could only watch in interest as Buttercup and Dexter squared off. Eventually, the boy genius managed to catch the girl by her leg, holding her upside-down.
"You give up?"
"Not on your life!"
Blossom narrowed her eyes and flew forward, coming in with a flying kick that Dexter barely noticed and had time to dodge.
"Let go of my sister...NOW!"
As Dexter cleared some distance, Blossom turned to offer a helping hand to Buttercup.
"What are you doing? This is my fight."
"Look, there's no point for me to talk you out of this. But if you really want to get into trouble, at least we'll do it together." Blossom said. "We're a team, Buttercup. Always been and always will be...whether you like it or not."
Buttercup smiled. "Hmph. Guess old habits are hard to break, huh?"
"And that goes for you too, Bubbles." Blossom said as she helped Buttercup up.
"M...Me...?"
"Of course, silly. Without you...there is no Powerpuff. What do you say, girls?"
"I'm game."
"Let's do things like we always do..."
Bubbles smiled. "...Our way."
"Whoa...they're so cool..." Buki thought to himself.
"You're about to get pound Powerpuff Style!" Blossom declared to Dexter.
"Try me."
And so they did...
"One for the money..." Bubbles said, kicking Dexter in the face.
"Two for the show..." Blossom followed up, elbowing him up the jaw.
"Three for your bruises..." Buttercup continued with a flip kick.
"And four to go!" Blossom finished as she and her sisters charged up energy in their hands.
"Let's finish this..." Bubbles began.
"...With a final blow!" Buttercup finished.
"This is getting crazy! Someone could get hurt!" Buki thought in panic before suddenly feeling a burning sensation in his chest. "Wait...what's going on...?"
As if his body moved on its own, Buki rushed in front of Dexter and, much to all the observing students' shock, stretched out his arms like they were made of rubber. Nobody could even see it as he smacked the girls out of the sky and across the playground.
"Buki...how did you do that?" Dexter questioned.
"I...I have no idea!" Buki admitted as his arms snapped back to normal before seeing a grinning boy in a straw hat flash across his vision while stretching his cheek like it was made of rubber.
"I ate the Gum-Gum Fruit! Thanks to it, I'm a Rubber Man!"
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" A powerful authoritative voice spoke up. "Enough of this foolishness, all of you."
Buki tensed up as he turned to see his guardian present, clad in his PE Teacher's uniform with a kendo sword strapped to his back.
"M-Mr. Jack, I'm so sorry!" Buki said, bowing his head in apology. "I was just trying to protect Dexter and-"
Jack put a hand on his ward's shoulder and gave a nod of his head, telling him that he did the right thing before gathering Dexter, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup to scold them.
Unbeknownst to anybody, they were being watched from afar by a group of shadowy figures.
"The Powerpuff Girls, Townsville's mightiest heroes...Indeed, they have lived up to their reputation." One of the figures said with its arms folded. "Each day, they become stronger. More powerful than I have ever dreamed them to be. Bell, my dear, I believe it's time you get acquainted with some new friends...I'm sure they wouldn't mind letting you in the group. After all, you are a Powerpuff Girl yourself."
"Powerpuff Girl..." Whispered a small girl who looked to be the same age as the Powerpuff Girls, Dexter, and Buki. She had long white hair and pure white eyes as she hugged the shadowy figure like a daughter would their parent.
"But that boy…Buki…" The first figure noted. "His power seems…familiar."
"…How?"
"I cannot place it….But something tells me he bares observation: He may just become even more powerful than the Powerpuffs…"
The girl's eyes widened.
"…stronger…?"
"Possibly. But for now? Let us go."
And they vanished as promptly as they had arrived.
Knightmare Lord A/N:
And that ends the official first chapter. We meet the Powerpuff Girls, Dexter, and we also get a first look at Dr. X and Bell, who notice the powers that Buki is developing from eating the strange spiral fruit.
Just a heads up, Buki will be using more than just the Gum-Gum Fruit in this story. Those of you who read our other collab story, Devil's Dreamer, might get a good idea where we're going with this.
Anything you'd like to say, Mrotrax?
Mrotrax A/N:
Hope I did the Buttercup and Buki meeting justice.
Now, just want to get this out of the way to those who are more familiar with One Piece: To prevent Buki from being overpowered, and as it will be shown soon, he can only use ONE Devil fruit at a time..at least for the moment.
With that being said, thanks for the support!
