And so we begin the Film Z arcs! How will things chance this go-round of one of the movies penned and directed by Oda himself? You all are first to see:
Alex P, Andrew Bohl, Animephilosopher1, Anna Khuu, Ant Franklin, Ant Franklin, Badmr7, Cam Bliss, Christopher Mitchell, Clark Kent, Claude Walker, Cory Johnston, CrazyMan, David Bowling, David Reynolds, Dean, EbayUserGreen, Emi Stafford, Eric Bandel, Eugene Malone Jr., EvilJelly, Fenrir ragnarok, Garvin Lee Nelson-Mathlin, Illiasse Naji, Jacob McCarthy, JEP1010, John Mekjian, Jonathan Moh, Jordanitos, Joseph Morrison, Josh Watson, Julien digot, Kari Winters, Kcx1, Kevin Calderon, Kieran Walker, Korakas, Kyo Anamoto, Lamont Hale, little greenmen, Loriane bourguignon, Marielle Orff, Markoos, Matthew Burley, McBanjo, Mcgin28, Michael Lessard Lagrange, Milagros Peres Davila, Milla, Nathaniel Oppegaard, Nicole Morris, Philippa Sale, Rafael Cardenas, Ranger Ellis, Reader45, Richard Barkley, Ricky Shaffer, Riley Bolerjack, Ryuu, S.D,Gaines, Sebastian Gutierrez, TheMedia_Ghost, TheWolfThatExist, Thomas Sanders, ToonTownTourist, Ty Chaos, ViewtifulSoul, X.P Xavier, and Григорий Сухотин !
Without further ado, We Go!
Chapter 27:
The New World
Nami sighed, the content exhalation highlighting her current happiness. She lounged in the Thousand Sunny's bath, a raincloud drizzling over her body. Several feet away, her son played in the tub with his toy copy of the Sunny, Ace splashing water over the rim without a care. Chopper rested against the door, the doctor reading through a medical textbook while keeping a half-watch for the crew's perverts. Nami didn't trust that Ace's presence nor the threat of Luffy's retaliation would stop them from peeking.
"It's been too long since I've enjoyed Sunny's bath," she sighed, the tension from their latest escapade draining from her shoulders. "So Ace, what did you think of your first real adventure?"
"It was great, Mommy!" the boy answered, leaving his toy boat to float as he turned to face his mother. "I loved it! You and Daddy and ever'one else were so stwong and cool! And I got ta meet Old Man Garp! And the party was so much fun! I can't wait until I'm as stwong as you all!"
"That'll take a while." Nami hummed, cupping some bubbles into her hand before booping Ace on the nose. The action left a dab of suds on his face, causing Ace to giggle. "You need to grow up to be big and tall like Daddy before you can fight like us, you know."
"I can't wait to grow up!"
Nami's smile wavered, the young woman gathering her child into her arms. She held him gently, nuzzling her cheek into the top of his black hair.
"Don't," she begged.
"Don't what, Mommy?"
"Don't want to grow up."
"Why?"
"Because," Nami said, but she decided that wasn't a good enough reason. Not for a child likely to be just as stubborn as her and Luffy. "Ace, did you know Mommy used to be a kid just like you?"
"No way!" the boy balked. "Mommy's always been Mommy!"
Nami chuckled. "To you, yes. But before you, even before I met your father, I was a little girl living in the East Blue. I had a mom and an older sister and a man I looked up to like a father."
"Oh, I know one!" Ace said. "That's… Auntie Noji?"
"Auntie Nojiko, yes," Nami nodded. "She's my sister. Oh, I wish I could see her and Genzo's faces when they learn about you from the papers. Those should be coming out some time soon. But anyway, I didn't get to stay a kid. I was forced to grow up fast."
"Why?"
"Some mean bad guys came to our village. I was about five or so at the time. They were way stronger than any of us there and started stealing money from us. My mother Bellemere tried to fight them, but she wasn't as strong as any of us on the crew now, and she lost." Nami felt a tear slide down her cheek as she remembered when she accepted her adoptive mother and lost her in the same instant. She forged ahead, thankful that the drizzling rain would hide her tears from her son. "Those bad men found my first maps and forced me to work for them. They stole away my chance to be a kid."
"Mommy…" Ace reached up, hugging her as best he could. He might not have understood all the details, but he knew his mother was sad from the memory. "It's ok, Mommy."
"Yeah, it is now." She smiled. "In the end, that's how I met your father, and eventually you came along because of that. If you want to get strong, then I want you to have a childhood more like Daddy's, ok? He got to become really strong while also having a lot of fun."
Ace stood, an idea coming to him. He paddled and waded to the edge of the tub before trying to lift himself out. He paused, turning back.
"Mommy, what happened to those bad guys?" he asked.
"Your Daddy happened to them," his mother answered. "When I told him what they did to me, he and your uncles Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, and Gin charged in and wrecked everything those bad guys made, driving them away. Why?"
"I'm gonna go ask Daddy what he did to get so stwong! I'll get stwong, too, so I can help drive off any other mean guy that makes my Mommy cry!"
"Well, I suppose we've been in the bath long enough," Nami decided, refusing to allow her child to run around the ship without any supervision yet. "Remember, we need to dry off and put on clothes before we leave the bathroom."
She dismissed the cloud, the atmospheric phenomena dissolving into nothingness with a precise wave of her hand. Ace had already squirmed his way out of the tub, the boy now trying to dress himself. In his haste to leave, he'd only dried himself halfway and now faced the trouble of damp clothing.
Nami held one hand up, stifling her giggles as she watched her son trying to wiggle his way into his shorts while the pants refused to go easily. The water still on him served to make the denim stick to his legs, something that Ace apparently took to be a personal challenge.
"Let me help you, sweetheart."
"No, Mommy. I got this."
The navigator stood there for a few minutes, drying and dressing herself while her son struggled with his accepted quest. He did eventually dress, but only after Nami sent a warm wind to dry him off the rest of the way. Even so, Ace looked very proud of himself as Nami scooped him into her arms and walked out toward the deck with Chopper behind her.
"Let me through, you shitty monk!" the voice of the ship's chef growled from just around the corner. "You can't block me from such a holy scene as Nami-swan bathing! It's like you're cheating me out of enlightenment!"
"No punishment in the underworld is as cruel as this," the voice of the musician agreed. "I should know, yohoho!"
"Even iffin ya got past me, I doubt Sunny'd let ya try t' peek," Gin rebuffed. "Not t' mention what th' Donna'd do to ya. That's not somethin' I want Young Master Ace t' see."
The monk paused, a hand resting on his shoulder as Nami stepped around him. Sanji and Brook visibly deflated at their missed chance.
"Thank you, Gin," the navigator said. "I didn't ask you to do this, but thanks."
"Thanks, Uncle Gin!" Ace all but parroted. The monk straightened at the praise and, for a moment, Nami saw him replaced with a happy dog wagging its tail. Already, he was firmly wrapped around her son's finger, something that would be both helpful to Ace's safety and a detriment to his discipline.
Not that there was much discipline on the ship to begin with, and what did exist didn't exactly skew toward good behavior.
The moment broke, however, when the ship rocked. Everyone but Chopper caught themselves, the doctor rolling over the carpeted floor before hitting the wall. Gin flinched, the secondary voice in his head laughing uproariously.
"Sunny, report!" Nami ordered, one hand on the wall securing her footing as the ship rocked again.
"Captain's fish is caught in a current!" the ship supplied. "Seems bad."
"I can't leave that mo— him alone for ten minutes!" Nami swore, hurrying toward the deck. She didn't bother reaching for the door handle, Sunny opening it for her before she reached it. She stepped out, the others following, only for her to freeze. "That's—!"
"The Whitestrom," Robin confirmed. Said current writhed above like a giant eel, its gushing speed making the water within appear such a light blue to be nearly white, explaining its namesake. "Captain's fishing expedition was quite successful until we ran into it. I would not lay the blame on him."
"No," Coby agreed, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "Captain Luffy just didn't want to move away because he thought going into it would be a fun ride."
"Now we don't have a choice!" Luffy supplied.
"Yes we do!" Grace countered. Luffy's catch — a brown tadpole-shaped Sea King larger than the Sunny three times over— sunk deeper into the Whitestom. "Cut the stupid fish loose!"
"But that's my lunch! I mean, our lunch!"
"Shut up, Luffy!" much of the crew roared, Billy offering his own two cents with the crowd. Only Sanji, Zoro, Robin, Franky, and Brook refrained, either through agreement with the captain or because of their own emotional control.
"I'm with Horn and his lady-friend on this one," Kaku offered. "If we just cut the fish loose, we could avoid all this."
"You don't get a say," Luffy denied. "Now if you joined my crew…"
"Nope. Not worth it."
Luffy shrugged. "Had to try."
"Now isn't the time for that!" Merry warned them, the last pieces of the Sea King disappearing past the Whitestrom's border. "We'll have to hope for the best!"
"Crap!" Nami hissed. "Everyone hold on to something! This is going to be a bumpy ride!"
"What's so bad about it?" Zoro asked, the man hooking his arm through Sunny's railing.
"There are no records of anyone surviving the Whitestrom!" Nami explained, dread welling within her as she watched the legendary current draw them closer. Robin crossed her arms, blooming arms everywhere to help secure her crew "We'll need to rely on Luffy's dumb luck to survive! Sunny, Franky, do what you can!"
"We'll try!" the Cyborg promised, forcing his way to the steering wheel. "Sunny, let's get angled with the current to minimize sideways impact! Merry, help us!"
"You got it!" the older Klabautermann nodded.
"Roger, Maker!" Sunny answered, ropes forming pseudo-fins to turn her bow in the direction the current flowed. Within moments and still mostly at an angle, Sunny's keel touched the outside of the current. Another moment sucked them in.
The inside of the Whitestorm beat the ship like a ball in a pinball machine, the moving water batting the ship from one side to the other and back. Her crew screamed, each clinging to whatever they could hold on to to avoid being tossed to the merciless ocean. Their greatest blessing in the endeavor was the resilience of their bubble coating, their air supply stretching and distorting but never reaching the point where it could be broken.
Franky ground his teeth, his mechanical arms struggling to maintain the steering wheel's angle lest their impromptu roller coaster turn even more dangerous. The voices of most of his crew echoed in his ears, his masterpiece of a ship roaring in defiance at the world itself helping to maintain his determination.
And within it all, Luffy and Ace had the gall to laugh. Father and son relished the experience as dangerous, once-in-a-lifetime, and absolutely exhilarating. For several minutes that felt like several lifetimes, the Thousand Sunny suffered that brutal dance only for the whole thing to come to a sudden end.
Sunny bounced off a wide, black wall, the whole thing apparently large enough to stop even the Whitestrom cold. The ship of the Straw Hat Pirates spun away, freed of the danger but still reeling from the encounter. Usopp, looking green in the face, stumbled his way to the railing before hurling over the side, inciting a groan of disgust from Sunny.
"Wah..." Billy complained, finding his own place hurling next to the sniper.
"Again, again!" Ace cheered.
"We survived?" Merry blinked. "Oh Goda, we survived! And we didn't lose anyone! Wait, maybe we did. Where's Kaku?"
"I've got him," Zoro answered from the railing, one arm extended over the side. The crew could just see the horns of Kaku's giraffe transformation poking up, assuming Zoro had his hand hooked under the poor Zoan's chin. He heaved, dropping the ex-spy onto the grassy deck. Kaku groaned, slowly shifting back into his Man Form.
"What did we hit?" Amy groaned.
"You tell us," Coby tried, wedged under the deck's bench.
"Can't. World's still spinning. Do it later…"
Trying to shake her nerves away, Nami looked up to get her bearings. Grace had shuffled her way to Coby and was trying to pull him free. Amy hung tangled upside down in the rigging, her eyes reminiscent of swirls as they still rattled in their sockets. Behind her, however, the dark sea was unnaturally uniform, little bits of shine denoting that it was not actually water they saw.
Almost slowly, a part of this uniform darkness cracked, opening to reveal a single eye that dwarfed even the fish Luffy still had on the hook. Its pupil shifted, turning on them.
BWOOOO!
"Wah!" Billy quacked, his body shaking as he stared at the thing that had made such a sound.
"Woah…" Kaku said. "What is that? It's bigger'an a giant's appetite!"
"It's an Island Whale," Sanji realized. "It's as big or bigger than Laboon was. It's even got scars, too."
"Laboon?" Brook gasped. "Laboon's here?"
"Nah," Coby said, his touch bringing the skeleton back to the present. "He's not the only Island Whale in the world. I can count at least five more from here, so this must be a pod. Maybe even his pod."
"Who's Waboon?" Ace questioned while the skeleton pulled out his violin.
"He's this super big whale we almost crashed into when we first left the East Blue!" Luffy explained, putting his stretchy arms to best use highlighting his 'super big' with a gesture only possible for him. "He even swallowed us after I punched him in the eye 'cause he broke my captain's seat!"
"That's why I've got the neck scar!" Merry realized, one hand rising to feel her choker. "Huh."
"Woah!" Ace smiled, stars in his eyes.
"Laboon did that?" Brook gasped.
"Yeah," Luffy nodded. "Then we met the flower guy, Vivi and some crown guy made an explosion, and we beat them up!"
"Wow, Captain," Coby blinked. "I'm surprised how accurately you remember that considering it was more than two years ago."
"I was hungry, fought Laboon to a draw, and we had lunch right after."
"Of course lunch is why you remember it," Nami commented with a roll of her eyes.
"I remember because of Merry's damage," Usopp offered.
"That was my first time cooking an Elephant Blue-Fin Tuna," Sanji reminisced.
BWOOOO!
"And that's our que to pull out of Memory Lane," Grace said. "We survived the Whitestom by sheer dumb luck, so now what do we do to not get eaten?"
"Again," Coby and Gin added.
"Music is always a correct answer," Brook offered, drawing his bow over the strings of his smallest instrument. "If these Island Whales are anything like Laboon, then I doubt they'd say no to a little song."
The first few notes were enough to clue the rest of the crew (and Kaku) into the musician's choice of song, the familiar tune of Bink's Sake filling their surroundings. Grins spread like wildfire through humans, whales, and other assorted sentients alike. Brook's voice echoed, his emotions laid bare in the old shanty. By the time the first verse finished, a nearby whale rose to perch the ship on the bridge of its nose, carrying the Thousand Sunny toward the surface.
"Now this is what I call traveling in style!" Merry laughed. "Not many other crews can claim to be carried to the surface by a whale."
"Wah! Wah!"
"This is cool!" Ace agreed. "Badass!"
"That is not a good word, Ace," Nami chastised, Gin all but running indoors while she was distracted. "It's a bad word, so don't say it."
"I don't see anything wrong—" Luffy shrugged, only for Sanji to set a hand on his shoulder.
"Luffy, you might as well drop it," the blond advised. "I don't think this is a fight you can win."
"We're nearing the peak!" Grace called. "This is it! Five!"
"Four!" Amy picked up.
"Three!" Usopp added, the rest of the crew now joining. "Two! One!"
"We made it!" Luffy yelled, the water resistance vanishing as the Island Whale giving them a ride breached. Sunny shot into the air, her silhouette highlighted by a flash of lightning. Rain poured down on them as her coating popped, officially announcing the Straw Hats' entrance to the New World.
They had a moment of pause as Sunny landed back on the ocean, only for fog to creep in on them from all sides. Shadows loomed in the mists, slowly condensing into the massive blue-and-white hulls of Marine battleships, their flags flapping in the wind.
"The Navy has us surrounded already?" Chopper demanded. More and more battleships appeared, over a dozen now surrounding the Thousand Sunny. "We just got here and now we need to get out of here!"
"Nothing eludes the Navy save Baltigo," Robin said. "They see our every move."
"Guess we're fighting for our lives again," Zoro nodded beside her. "Nothing new there."
"You two are way too calm!" Usopp accused, readying his Kabuto for battle
"What rotten luck!" Gin agreed, prepping his tonfa. "Good thing Fate ain't gonna let us die here!"
"Something doesn't feel right about this," Merry commented.
"Anyone got a way out?" Grace questioned. "My paints aren't very effective in the rain. Wait, where's Luffy? He was just here."
The captain stood on his Captain's seat with a laugh, a wave of his hand causing Sunny to open her mouth and start readying the Gaon Cannon.
"Show no fear!" the captain ordered. "Push through! Show these marines that the Straw Hat Pirates will never back down!"
"You can't be serious!" Usopp whined.
"You heard the man," Zoro said, drawing his swords. "Less talk and more action!"
"Wah!" Billy nodded, his tail feathers spreading out with a crackle of electricity.
"Luffy, wait!" Nami yelled, his wife pushing her way through the storm so he could hear her. "Those ships aren't real! They're a special kind of mirage found in the Malventamor Sea!"
"Meat all for me?" Luffy asked.
"No, Malventamor! It's a part of the start of the New World known for always having bad weather, and we're caught right in it!" On que, the Marine ships started vanishing one-by-one, each turning to mist and leaving behind nothing to show anyone had seen them. Thunder boomed, a raindrop the size of a small island crashing to the sea off their starboard bow. "All hands on deck! Welcome to a sea known for its terrible weather surpassing anything seen in Paradise. We're pulling through this storm come Hell or high water and we aren't done until I say so!"
Their relief cut off by an admittedly-expected emergency, the deck bloomed into activity. The storm that followed and the mad scramble the crew partook in to keep the Sunny from flipping more than a dozen times over beat out both the first stretch after Reverse Mountain and the inclement weather that shielded the Sabaody Archipelago by a considerable margin as promised. Unable to help with the nimble fingerwork, the pet of the ship gave himself the job of making sure no one —Ace especially— fell overboard.
Ace had never seen such an uncontrolled and ever-changing storm before, but his fear of the clouds and waves was alleviated by his mother's firm hand and his father, uncles, and aunts (and Kaku) running across the ship. Without fear to focus him, the toddler marveled at the wonderous natural threats that appeared, such things including, but not limited to, biting rain, hail that dwarfed the Sunny, winds that lifted the ship from the sea, twisters that turned into typhoons, typhoons that somehow turned into firestorms, and a flash-freezing sky avalanche.
The ship rumbled, but in more of a warning from the spirit housed within than any seaquake. To the rest of the crew, it sounded like an indistinct warning considering not even Sunny fully understood why the currents beneath made her so uneasy compared to the raging storm or the fact that Robin's giant bloomed arms were making a massive snowball. Merry, on the other hand, could translate, understand, and put into words the rumbling of her fellow ship.
"Mrs. Nami!" the white-haired ship-girl yelled as thunder cracked across the sky. "Sunny thinks the ocean's gonna split right below us! She's prepping a Coup de Burst just in case!"
"Thanks, Merry! Franky, Sunny, put us in paddleboat mode and keep us on water! If the ocean opens below us, I don't want us freefalling!"
"You got it!" Franky took the time to strike his signature pose before running to the helm to do as told. The rest of the crew scurried to the stern or the rigging, securing Nami's trees and other semi-loose cargo or tying up the sails so the wind wouldn't pick them up (again). Sure enough, a minute later and Sunny's prediction turned true, the ocean parting as if a certain prophet was leading people out of enslavement somewhere far below.
Panicking, Sunny launched her paw anchors, her claws digging into an iceberg still present from the aforementioned avalanche. The chains connecting to the paws drew taught.
"Oh, that wasn't a good idea," Amy said as the ship swung on a collision course with the sideways wall of water. Similarly, and nearly equal in speed, the force pulled the iceberg to the edge of the split. Above, said ice reached the end of the traditional understanding of the sea, gravity taking hold. "Hit that Coup de Burst, Franky! I'll handle this!"
"Not alone, ya won't!" Gin offered, the baker finding the monk standing on the side of the mainmast as Sunny's keel slammed into the side of the ocean. They began to slide downward, said direction also happening to be backward.
"We'll end up in the deep sea again at this rate!" Coby yelled.
"We're more likely to hit a rock and perish before then," Robin commented. "Or have that iceberg turn us to mangled scraps and flotsam."
"You're too calm!" Usopp cried again, tears in his eyes. "Whatever it is you're doing, do it fast! The divide behind us is already filling!"
"Combination Attack!" Amy and Gin called as Franky pulled the lever that released their readied Coup de Burst. The chains went slack as Sunny rocketed upward toward the falling hunk of ice. In time with this propulsion, Gin thrust his hands upward while Amy extended her legs, using him as a springboard. "Lemon Lightning!"
The name would need some workshopping, but the results were indisputable. Like a bolt of soaked-to-the-bone lightning, the Weightless Woman shot through the air only to punch the iceberg. With her increased mass on top of her maintained speed, the frozen obstacle cracked and shattered. Bits and pieces fell past or bounced off Sunny's hull while Gin caught the woman-turned-missile as they sped by.
Water rushed in, filling the phenomena behind them as the Thousand Sunny flew into the distance, nearly clearing the storm. Billy shot above, absorbing a bolt of lightning that would've hit the ship at her apex. Even with the distance covered, it took them another ten minutes before Nami breathed a sigh of relief and allowed them to rest.
"Yohoho!" Brook panted despite his body not possessing lungs and, therefore, should not have allowed him to be out of breath. "That sure got my blood pumping. Ah, but I don't have any blood to speak of. Yohoho! Skull joke!"
"It's a good thing all my parts are waterproof," Franky commented, the Cyborg doublechecking his systems just to be sure. "That was worse than anything we saw in the first half."
"Wah," Billy shuttered, trying to shake himself dry,
"Again! Again!" Ace cheered.
"I thought I was gonna drown standing up," Usopp complained, shivering. "I'm soaked and starting to chafe. Hey, Nami—!"
"Yeah, we're good," the navigator answered, said woman drawing her coverup close where the biting rain and sudden cold had caused a certain reaction. Ace nodded at something behind her. "Girls first, then boys. We still need people out here in case that storm chases us down again. Now—"
She stopped, a pair of arms wrapping around her waist. Ace giggled in her arms, staring up at a face over her shoulder.
"How was that, Daddy?" the boy asked. "I was super quiet like you wanted!"
"Yes you were," Luffy responded, his breath hot on Nami's ear. He planted a light kiss on the back of her neck, whispering, "You know we're gonna need our navigator just in case. I think you need to stay by my side."
"I think you forgot we have our own bathroom," his wife responded. Most of the crew turned away, trying to ignore them. The woman turned to their child. "Ace, go with your Auntie Robin, ok? She'll help you pick out some dry clothes."
"I suppose I can volunteer," the raven-haired archeologist smirked, bloomed arms taking the child. She shot the couple a knowing look. "Don't take too long."
The crew reconvened an hour later, each and every one in new, dry, unruffled clothing. The sun shone above, bathing Sunny's deck in warmth and light. In fact, the light was almost comparable to a heatwave that would not have been out of place in the deserts of Alabasta.
"I'd forgotten how temperamental Grand Line weather is," Amy commented, the blonde stretching on the deck. With her cake dress drying, she'd switched into something more common for a day in a park. Her yellow shirt was somewhat baggy, but it was also a tad small, the hem barely reaching the middle of her stomach. The brief flash of skin gave way to a pair of daisy dukes followed by her long legs. Where her dress prioritized (a certain definition of) fashion, this outfit was pure comfort. "Totland is a string of islands close enough that they share the same weather, and some of Big Mom's kids have powers that allow them to affect it. They never let it rain since that would damage the candy houses."
"Cool," Merry said, the Klabautermann having shed her suspenders for a red one-piece, a sheer coverup, and a white skirt. She'd allowed Grace to braid her hair, though said braid only came to just below her shoulders, and she'd put a bow on one of her horns. "Man, it's inconvenient when I can't just phase the water out of my clothing like I can with myself. I miss my suspenders."
"Keep bragging," Coby groused, the young man dressed in a t-shirt bearing a t-rex with plastic grabbing arms, the word 'UNSTOPPABLE' printed below. He'd also pulled his hair back into a short ponytail to keep it from spreading out as it dried as he knew it would if not managed. Hoshokusha and Emono crossed his back on his old bandolier, which took away from his t-shirt somewhat. "That's a luxury of yours none of the rest of us know."
"I can actually do somethin' like that," Gin said. He'd traded out his robes for an open beach shirt with various sharks on it along with a pair of board shorts, his tonfa hanging by his sides like in the days of old since he couldn't keep them in his sleeves currently. He still wore his beaded necklace, however. "I can turn myself inta lightnin' for a moment and it's enough t' burn off any lingerin' water."
"Honestly, I can get pretty close," Grace offered. She had abandoned her bodysuit for a more traditional outfit, including a diagonally-striped, one-armed rainbow shirt. Her flower-pattered skirt fell to her knees with a slit in the right side, showing that he also had a pair of spats underneath. Her hair was free of its braid, falling freely. Her satchel of paints hung from her shoulder. "I mean, water is a chemical, but it doesn't react that well with my Devil Fruit powers. I can get it off, but it takes just as long as using a towel, though it's more thorough."
"Really?" Chopper questioned, pulling a notepad from his pocket. "But you can control water, just not at any speed that would be useful in combat?"
"That's about it," the chem-woman nodded. "It's the same with salt, though a little better since I can divide it into smaller parts. And I can't control saltwater at all."
"Fascinating!"
"I needed that," Robin heard Nami mutter under her breath as said navigator stepped out of the room she shared with the captain. The archeologist turned another page in her book, choosing not to embarrass the young mother, yet. Almost bouncing on her feet, Nami slid down the railing in her simple white dress, Billy meeting her at the bottom. She looked across the deck, taking note of those present. "Where's Ace?"
"He's in the kitchen," Coby answered. "Zoro-sensei and Sanji got into an argument about who was going to watch him until you got back, but Sanji won their game of Rock-Paper-Scissors."
"Zoro actually wanted to watch my son?"
"He wanted to teach Ace how to do a proper pushup and get him started with my old bokken. Captain Luffy wasn't here to tell him no, if he even would have."
"Of course not." Nami rolled her eyes. Luffy stepped out of their room above, distinctly trying to act too normal. "So, what's he doing with Sanji?"
"Trying to learn how to cook. Hopefully we can teach Ace to curb the appetite he'll have before he and Captain Luffy eat us out of house and home."
"I'll have a Hell of a time budgeting that," the navigator complained. "Well, I won't interrupt their lesson. Cooking is a good skill to learn young."
Inside the ship, things were progressing nearly as well as one would think. Ace sat on the counter —on a towel so Sanji could move him without needing to stop to clean the countertop if necessary— while he watched the chef work his magic. The boy was dressed in a cute little Polo decorated with pink flower petals over a black background and his orange hat hung behind him, the string tucked into the shirt's collar since its weight would press against his small neck otherwise.
There had been little of the Sea King his father had caught that remained edible after the Whitestrom and the following storm, but Sanji had used the chance to show the child what could and could not be salvaged and why. He'd also run through the basic equipment used in the kitchen and their uses.
"And what is this, Ace?" the blond asked, holding up a bottle with a nozzle on top.
"Alcohol! Not booze!"
"And what does it do in cooking?"
"Goes WHOOSH on fire, burning bad things off the outside!"
"Very good." Sanji turned the bottle over, a splash causing the very effect Ace had just mentioned. The boy clapped. Sanji grinned, now holding up Zoro's wanted poster. "Now, Ace. What's this?"
"Uncle Stupid Moss!"
"Perfect answer! You get a cookie."
"I never thought you'd be so petty," Kaku commented from the table as the young boy nibbled on his reward. The crew's guest had appropriated some of Sanji's clothing, now wearing a blue button-up and a loose tie with fish jumping up a waterfall. His swords hung on either side of his black slacks. "You realize Zoro's gonna try to have your hide."
"He can try," Sanji replied, pulling the dish from the heat and setting it to the side. "Too bad the moss-headed idiot is too slow to get me."
Plates clattered, both blonds turning to see what had been a cooling dish now nothing but a couple puddles of sauce on a dancing platter next to Luffy's son. That said dish had been as tall as the boy did not go unnoticed, nor the fact that the child had not moved despite the fact Sanji had set it out of his arms' reach. Still, spots of sauce ringed Ace's lips, though he was actively trying to erase that evidence.
"Did you just eat that whole thing?" the chef demanded.
"No!" Ace denied. "I ate half 'cause Mommy says to share with friends!"
Sanji quirked an eyebrow, admitting to himself that Ace was a better liar than his father. It was a skill he must have picked up from Nami. Still, being a child meant he left plenty of holes in his story.
"Oh? And who ate the other half, then?"
"Lily did."
"Who's Lily?"
"My friend."
Sanji waited for the child to further elaborate while Ace didn't understand why Uncle Sanji didn't get it. Lily was Lily and she was his friend, so he shared his food with her. Adults were stupid sometimes. All except his Mommy and Auntie Robin-sensei, of course. They couldn't be stupid. They were too smart for that.
"Why did you eat this whole thing without waiting for the others?"
"I only ate half!"
"Why didn't you wait?" Sanji rephrased.
"Daddy and Old Man Garp say you always gotta eat when you can, 'cause you don't know when you'll eat next. 'Specially if you need to kill the tigers and croc'dales and monkeys and bears yourself."
"...That explains so much," the chef muttered to himself, trying to come up with ways to explain to the child that he can't just eat everything before everyone gathered. He couldn't exactly kick the boy like he could the father.
"Uh, Sanji?" Kaku questioned. "Turn around."
The chef glanced at the runaway before doing as told only to get a glimpse of a whole pot of seafood soup disappearing into seemingly nothing. He goggled as the now-empty pot clattered to its side.
"Lily!" Ace shouted. "You said you'd save me half!"
"Sorry!" a tiny voice responded from within. "I forgot!"
"I'm sorry, what‽" Sanji demanded. A speck jumped to another plate, this time devouring half of the octopus there before lifting the plate and throwing it to the child. Sanji caught it before it could reach Ace, but he was powerless as whatever or whoever Lily was ate half of everything else he'd made in moments.
"Stowaway!" Sanji yelled, his voice carrying to the crew outside. "Food thief!"
"Whoops!" the one called Lily said, jumping from the counter with her portion of the thievery done. She reached the door as Luffy, Usopp, and Coby barged in, the speck disappearing into the grass of the deck.
"Food thief‽" the captain demanded. "Where‽ I'll beat 'em up!"
"No!" Ace yelled. "Don't hurt Lily! She's nice!"
"Something the size of a bug ate half our food!" Sanji said.
"No!" Ace dropped from the counter, unsteady but not falling over after all his practice to be able to fall from high places like his Daddy. Still, no matter how fast Ace thought he was, the rest of his family was faster. Luffy, Sanji, Usopp, and Coby vanished out the door before Ace could steady himself, the boy fruitlessly trying to catch up.
On the deck, Coby dove, his dinosauric vision catching sight of Lily in the grass. She slipped between his fingers, her hands grabbing his face as he barreled toward her. The Zoan's cheek distended as she pulled, the rest of the crew seeing the young man get thrown by an opponent they could scarcely see.
"Coby!" Grace cried, pulling a bottle of her Sadness Blue from her bag and squirting it toward him. She took control of its flight, the wave of blue sweeping past the roset. Lily scurried her way down Coby's shirt to dodge the airborne torrent, the tiny woman forcing him to roll over before crawling out from the hem and jumping away.
She dodged stretchy arms, an umbrella, and ropes in her mad dash for Brook, the intruder treating the musician's bones as a meat shield without the meat.
"What is going on?" Nami demanded as Luffy grabbed Brook's skull and stared deep into his eye socket. Lily leapt at him from within, the woman taking hold of the captain by the nose and throwing him over the railing.
"Captain!" the ship herself yelled, ropes swinging from the rigging to catch the nearly-overboard young man.
"Ya dare try t' kill th' Don?" Gin questioned, sparking tonfa coming in from either side as Lily fell. She tensed, preparing to act before impact.
"Stop!" Ace ordered from the doorway to the kitchen. Gin froze, his weapons only inches from the tiny woman. Gravity did not stop, pulling Lily down to the deck where she hopped her way to the toddler's shoulder.
"But Young Master Ace—" the Logia tried to protest.
"You can't attack Lily!"
"Ace, who is that?" Nami demanded, her voice stern.
"Lily's my friend, Mommy," the boy answered, taking the woman from his shoulder and holding her out on his palms. Lily's eyes widened as she concluded that maybe violence should not have been her first reaction. "See? We ate toget'ter, so we're friends forever."
"Er… sorry," Lily said, the crew gathering around to get a better look at her. She had mocha-colored skin with wavy, dark green hair that fell over one shoulder, a horned helmet hanging behind her neck in the same way Luffy and Ace would wear their hats down. Her outfit was almost tribal, colored yellow and light tan while bearing her midriff. The only splash of color was a red sash around her waist. She bowed. "I shouldn't have attacked you all. I have bad experiences with people finding me. I really hope I didn't hurt any of you."
"She's beautiful!" Sanji goggled, as expected.
Nami glanced around. Besides a bruise on Coby's cheek, no one else seemed even slightly hurt. She knelt, getting eyelevel with her son and Lily.
"We're all ok, Lily," she said, Luffy walking over to set a hand on her shoulder. "I'm Nami, Ace's mom, and this is my husband Luffy, the captain of this ship."
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Lily Enstomach."
"So Lily, what are you?" Luffy asked. "You're pretty strong for your size to be able to throw me and Coby around like that."
"Oh, I'm a giant that ate the Mini-Mini Fruit," Lily explained, growing to a hand's length in height. As the crew watched, Ace pulled a fork from his pocket and handed it to her. "I can be full-sized or as small as five millimeters. I mostly stick with this for convenience when I'm not sneaking around, but I still have all my regular strength as a giant."
"That's so cool!" Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper gasped, the rest of the crew taking the explanation in stride.
"What are you doing on our ship?" Nami questioned.
"I was waiting for someone and your ship popped up out of nowhere. I didn't mean to climb aboard; it just kinda happened."
"Our ship popped up?" Merry echoed. "What? Were you, like, in a bottle or something?"
"That's exactly what happened," the mini-giant grinned. "Wait! I don't have time to talk! My father is in trouble and I need to find him!"
"We can help you," Ace said, making an executive decision for the crew.
"You'd do that for me? But we just met."
"Any friend of Ace's has our help," the captain smiled, officially agreeing with his son's suggestion. "What's your dad's name?"
"Panz Fry. He's the greatest pirate chef in the New World."
"Oh yeah," Sanji agreed, Amy nodding along. "Every cook worth their knife has heard of Panz Fry."
"He's famous enough that he's even cooked for Big Mom before," Amy commented. "That was one of the only times I've ever seen her satisfied."
"Yeah, he's known for feeding the hungry," Lily said, "but because we've stolen ingredients from the Navy and World Government sometimes, they've arrested him and are taking him to Impel Down. I need to stop them!"
End of Chapter 27
And that's the start of the next arc! What do you think? Isn't Ace just precious? Life is so simple for them. Anyway, let me hear your thoughts and, as always,
Read and Review!
-SwordOfTheGods