One Piece: Beyond the Horizon (Chapter #0)
(Author's Note: This is a One Piece OC fanfiction. Contains ZoLu shipping)I am so glad I finally found a pen; I lost mine upon waking up in the pirate ship’s hull. That is right: I woke up on a pirate ship of all things, directly in the hull, where they keep all of the cargo! None of my friends were around, so it was just me, alone, on a pirate ship filled with a lively crew for a whole week! As of today, I have been hiding away from them, only coming up late at night to eat, drink, and bathe. This was my routine for a while, but I knew they would catch on…or rather, their chef did. At first, he blamed their ravenous captain, then he suspected mice, before ultimately coming to the conclusion of there being more than one hungry person on the ship. He laid traps for me many times, but with my hyper awareness and super agility, I dodged every last one. Of course, I felt guilty for sneaking food, so I made breakfast – or got started on it until the chef approached – as a way of apologising.Today, however, he finally caught me. Or rather, the captain did. It was still broad daylight, probably an hour after noon, when I could no longer deal with my growling stomach. I braved the dangers and climbed out of the hull, going through the secret hatch connecting to the kitchen, which was directly above me. The kitchen, which is fused with the dining room, resembles a restaurant, with the two areas separated by a bar. The kitchen has a professional set-up and cooking equipment, including a giant oven that can bake anything and a giant fridge with a lock (which I have uncovered its lock to be a four-digit code, "7326"). A pantry used to store dry goods is accessible via a door adjacent to the fridge, as well as a door leading outside. Next to the kitchen is the main mast of the ship; built within it is a dumb-waiter that can be used to deliver food to another bar below. The area also contains a ladder that leads to a hatch, giving access to the observation deck above.Fortunately, nobody was inside, so I cracked open the fridge’s lock and, to my relief, it had been restocked with fresh groceries, chocolate bars, and milk. In its freezer counterpart was fresh meat, including boneless chicken. I put the chicken in the oven to cook for twenty minutes, while I peeled and sliced up potatoes to turn them into chips. Once they were done, I put them in with the chicken and got to work on a side-dish and a dessert. Luckily for me, I did not have to make anything because they were twelve vanilla muffins just cooling off by the window. I put them all on a clean plate, then took out my chicken & chips and put them on another plate. My lunch was ready and waiting!And then, suddenly, as I was about to help myself, someone fell down from the hatch leading to the observation deck! He got up before I could make a break for the hull’s hatch, so I knew I was screwed. To my surprise, the person who fell into the kitchen was a 19-year-old lad with black shaggy hair, round brown eyes, and a slim muscular build. He had a scar with two stitches underneath his left eye. He wore a straw hat with a red band, a long-sleeved red cardigan (which was unbuttoned, showing off the X-shaped scar on his chest), blue shorts with white fur rimming on the leg openings, a yellow sash loosely tied around his hips, and woven straw sandals. For a pirate, his dress-sense was quite casual.He yelled up to someone above him, telling the mystery person that he was okay, before noticing my presence. At first, I was a little scared, wondering what I should do. I could knock him out, but the crew would wonder where he went. Plus, if I killed him and threw his body overboard, that would only make things worse! He stared at me for a bit, then at my lunch, then back at me, piecing all of the clues together.“You must be the person who has been stealing food from under Sanji’s nose,” he smiled, knocking me off-guard for a bit. Why was he smiling? Was he not bothered about me being a reluctant stowaway on his ship? “You gotta tell me how you did it! I have been trying to figure out how to open that stupid lock for months, but I have never gotten close to cracking it before Sanji comes in to give me a pummelling! He even set up traps, and you didn’t get caught in one! That is totally awesome! Are you a ninja or something?!”I was startled by his carefree nature. He was not at all bothered by me, a complete stranger, raiding his ship’s fridge. I thought there was an ulterior motive, but he did not have a malicious aura. He was good; he was not dangerous to me. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves before speaking. “Nah, I ain’t a ninja, but I was trained in the art o’ stealth, as well as espionage ’n’ assassination,” I admitted. “Sorry for raidan yer fridge all this time. I have been stuck on this ship since last week when I…just woke up without a clue as to how I got there. I am a stowaway, but I didn’t mean to cause ya any trouble…”“Are you with the marines?” he asked me.“No,” I replied immediately, disgusted at the mere thought of myself serving the power-hungry scoundrels in the government. “I hate politics, so the dogs who fight for so-called "law ’n’ order" are my sworn enemies. They speak o’ justice when they are no different than the scum they hunt down. If ya ask me, they are uszan their corrupted sense o’ "justice" as an excuse to get ‘way with all sorts o’ things. I will never serve ‘em!”“That is a relief,” he beamed. “You said you were trained in assassination, so I was worried the Navy hired a bounty-hunter to kill us all. We don’t have to fight, then. As the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, I welcome you to the Thousand Sunny!”“"Thousand Sunny"…I take it that is the name o’ this ship?” I assumed. He nodded his head, his face split in two by his huge grin. “A rather childish name, but who am I to judge? I have only seen the hull, the bathroom ’n’ this kitchen, but so far, I like what I see.”“I can give you a tour later, if you want,” the boy offered, reaching a sneaky hand out for a muffin. I smacked it away, earning a small pout from him.Seeing such an innocent face reminds me of myself, for some reason. With a small sigh of defeat, I got out a humongous meat-on-a-bone (I do not know the proper name for it) and managed to shove it into the oven. As we waited, I offered him half of the muffins. To my surprise, he swallowed all six of them at once like they were peas!“I appreciate the offer, but once yer crewmates see me, I am as good as dead, ‘specially once yer chef finds out I have been sneakan into his fridge late at night,” I frowned, already imagining their reactions. “Being a stowaway is bad ‘nough, but to steal food for a whole week is criminal. Worst-case scenario: the chef would want to cook me for dinner!”“Sanji would have gladly served you if you went up to him and asked really nicely,” the boy chuckled. “As my shipwright says, Sanji gets weak-kneed for women. The sexier, the better…or something like that. I dunno, I say it is not good for his nose; it keeps bleeding.”I laughed out loud at that bit. “Ya got some funny crewmates ‘board this fine vessel…wait, hang on,” I interrupted myself mid-sentence, recalling what he said a few sentences ago. “Ya are the captain o’ this crew? No offence, but I thought ya were a cabin-boy!”“Hell yes, I am captain!” the boy grinned. “My name is Monkey D. Luffy, future Pirate King and proudly wanted by the marines! Everyone in my crew is my friend! Nice to meet you.”Luffy held out his hand for a handshake. I shook it almost instantly. Even though he is strong enough to lead an entire crew of strange & possibly infamous pirates, he still has a childish innocence usually found in young kids. You rarely see that anymore. “Hollianna Rosaline Tighearna, pro bounty-hunter ’n’ wanted by the government,” I introduced myself.“That is a mouthful!” Luffy remarked.“My friends call me "Holli",” I added in. “But in fights, I go by "Trickster". As a fearsome fighter o’ true justice who is neither a hero or a villain, it makes sense to hide yer real identity from yer enemies. Easier to avoid rival bounty-hunters that way, too. I ain’t a pirate, but I do own a ship ’n’ I got shipmates-for-friends. We are a pretty lively bunch.”“Are you serious?!” Luffy gushed. “What is your crew’s name?! I might have heard it!”Just as I finished eating (I was indeed eating through our conversation, but I swallowed what was in my mouth before talking), the oven chimed, alerting us of Luffy’s cooked meal. I put my dirty dishes in the bubbly sink, then got a fresh plate out and put his giant meat-on-a-bone on it. He was practically drooling as I gave it to him.“I doubt ya have heard o’ us,” I chuckled. “To be honest with ya, we are a guild: a group o’ travellers who all work for a shared goal. We do all kinds o’ jobs, such as bounty-huntan ’n’ security. We will work for money, but we don’t necessarily work for anyone; if we find out our client possesses ulterior motives, we deal with said client accordanly. We are the Blue Moon guild – ’n’ I, Holli the Trickster, am its leader ’n’ spymaster.”“Yeah, I have not heard of you,” Luffy bluntly stated with a bashful expression.“We have only been ‘round for ‘bout a year or so, so ‘tis understandable why a group o’ pirates, raiders o’ the big blue sea, are unfamiliar with guilds,” I shrugged. “Then ‘gain, there have been cases where pirates attack tradan ships with guild members on ‘em, so maybe ya have unknowanly come in contact with guilds ‘fore, Luffy.”“We don’t attack anyone without a reason,” Luffy told me through a mouthful of meat. It was disgusting, but at least no spit or food scraps flew out of his mouth. “If the marines send ships out to arrest us, we fight back. If someone tries to kill us or hurt our friends, we won’t hold back. We leave trading ships alone. We can get food at the market. If an island has no towns, then that is fine, too. We can hunt animals and save money.”“…For a self-proclaimed "pirate king", ya are an unbelievably merciful ’n’ kind lad,” I commented. “Be careful, Monkey D. Luffy, or someone might take advantage o’ it.”“Sure thing,” Luffy nodded, swallowing his snack. He then tapped his straw hat as he wiped his mouth with a napkin I lent him. “I like your outfit. You look so dark and cool! A bit revealing, but most girls tend to show off. Uh, don’t tell Nami what I just said…”“Thanks, but I am still working on it,” I replied. “I have yet to finalise on the perfect, go-to outfit that will be used for combat ’n’ day-to-day activities. As for ya, yer outfit is rather…casual. I take it yer crew is named after yer hat. Do they all wear one, too?”Luffy shook his head to answer "no" to my question, but I was not paying attention. My focus was on the door, for I heard footsteps approaching. I should have run back into the hull, but I suspected Luffy would have given me away, so I decided to stay where I was. After all, I was sick and tired of just hiding away, stealing food. That was not my style.The door opened and in came a slim, yet muscular, long-legged man with slightly scruffy blond hair brushed over the right side of his face. As for the left side of his face, it was clear, sporting a greyish-blue eye and an eyebrow swirling at the end counter-clockwise. He had a dark anchor-style goatee paired with a stubble on his upper lip. He wore a black, double-breasted suit with golden buttons and a brown tie. It came with black loafers and a long-sleeved, buttoned-up yellow shirt. He was smoking a cigarette.“Uh-oh, we are in trouble…” Luffy warned me. It came in a few seconds before the smoking blonde glared hostilely at me, grabbed us both by the arms, and threw us onto the decks. The good news was we were able to save our headgear from flying off our heads; the bad news was all the other crewmates were on the deck, so everyone at once became aware of my presence! Oddly enough, he threw me with less force than he used with Luffy.“I finally caught the thief!” Sanji (I believed the blonde was Sanji) growled, stomping down the steps towards us. Luffy was laughing his head off, while I got into a fighting stance, just in case things were going to get hairy fast. “So, Luffy, care to tell us all why you have been secretly dinner-dating with this scarred babe, and how did she even get on our ship?!”At the cook’s words, a swordsman stepped forward. He was a muscular man with lightly tanned skin. His cropped hair was green. His left eye was destroyed via a vertical scar, so he kept it shut tight, while his surviving right eye revealed his eye colour to be turquoise. His left earlobe bore three gold earrings. Tied around his left fore-arm was a black bandana. He wore a long, dark-green coat with a red sash tied around his waist – and the sash was holding onto a trio of katana, each one clearly coming from different origins, yet I noticed a few similarities between them. The coat exposed his chest, revealing a green haramaki and a massive scar (which still bore stitches) stretching from his left shoulder to his right hip. He also wore black trousers, with its ends tucked into his black boots.“Luffy, what is going on?” the swordsman asked with a tinge of venom in his voice. It almost sounded like he was jealous of me. Why would he be jealous, unless…?“Oh my, has Luffy been cheating on Zoro?!” cried a humanoid white rabbit girl with blond hair and brown eyes. Her tail was large, round and fluffy. She wore an emerald-green shoulder cape, a short orange dress with laced-up open sides, and a pair of brown, high-heeled boots.Hearing his tone and understanding its meaning more than I did, Luffy ran over to the green-haired swordsman’s side and hugged his arm. “I swear, Zoro, I am not "dinner-dating" anyone!” Luffy told him. “You know you are the only one for me. And no, Carrot, I would never dream of cheating on Zoro!” he added, fuming at the rabbit. “I just met her, and she is the one who has been stealing food from the fridge! Her name is Holli Rose Tig!”“Hollianna Rosaline Tighearna!” I corrected him. “I know ‘tis a mouthful, but for cryan out loud, it ain’t that hard to say! How would ya like it if somebody mispronounced yer name into something terrible, eh?! How would ya like that, "Donkey B. Stuffy"?!”At my exclamation and purposeful mispronunciation their captains name, most of the crew lost themsleves to laughter. Despite their initial hostility and wariness, they are a pretty chill group. “Ah, right, sorry,” Luffy chuckled. “Such a long name is hard to remember. Anyways, she is a stowaway who woke up in the hull last week, and she has no idea how she got there in the first place. She is a guild leader, and an expert in sneaking around and killing people!”“An assassin?!” his crewmates freaked out, instantly losing their merriment.“Don’t worry, she won’t kill us,” Luffy assured them before I could. “She told me that she hates the Navy, so she is their enemy. Besides, if she was out to kill us, wouldn’t she have done it by now? Who waits this long to kill somebody?”“I can’t believe I am saying this, but Luffy has a point about that last bit…” remarked slim young woman of average height with long-&-curly orange hair, brown eyes, and a set of rather impressive melons. She had a blue tattoo on her left shoulder. She wore a revealing green-&-white horizontally-striped bikini top, tight low-rider jeans (that exposed a bit of her hips & rear), a black belt, orange high-heeled sandals, and pearl-like earrings. “Assassins don’t toy with their targets. Even so, I don’t believe the bit about her just waking up in the hull without a clue as to how she even got there.”“How right you are, my dear Nami!” Sanji beamed, love-hearts practically shooting out of his eyes. Jeez, I have a feeling this one is a true pervert…“Luffy, you are way too trusting!” lectured a muscular, tan-skinned teenager with black woolly hair tied into a ponytail, prominent lips, and a long nose. There was a small goatee on his chin’s point. He wore a white sun-cap, orange headphones on his ears, orange goggles with red lenses around his neck, rolled-up yellow pants with red suspenders, a red satchel, a blue-&-white striped wristband on his left arm, and brown ankle boots. “She could be putting on an act! As soon as we let our guards down, we will be as dead as Brook!”Brook laughed like a retro pirate in old fairy-tales. To my pleasant surprise, Brook was an extremely tall skeleton man with a slightly cracked skull. While his eyes and skin were gone, he sported a black afro. He wore heart-shaped sunglasses on his forehead, a top hat with a giant crown on the brim, an orange feather boa, a beige frilly shirt with a blue cravat, a gentleman’s black coat, salmon-red trousers with a daisy design, and pointy black boots with two gold buckles. He held a purple cane in his right hand.“Calm down, Usopp!” urged a powerfully-built cyborg man with a height of at least seven feet. He had bright-blue hair styled into a pompadour. His upper-body was much bigger than his lower-body, with his legs being so skinny. There were two stitch-mark scars on his torso running down from the back of his neck. His nose was metallic. In place of his elbows were large, light-blue hinges connected to his fore-arms, which were large, light-blue cubes with large, dark-blue star tattoos. His hands were metallic and red. His shoulders were large red balls with yellow socket joints, with the code "BF-37" written on them. He sported three pointy chins. All he wore were a red Hawaiian shirt with coconut tree motif, dark shades on his forehead, red speedos, and metal-rigged suspenders on his feet. “Luffy is rarely wrong on these things. If he says she is cool, then I am cool. The super Franky will trust this girl!”“But our captain is too trusting, even after all the things we have been through,” pointed out a tall, slightly muscular, average-sized man with tanned skin and scruffy, soot-brown hair held in a low ponytail. His face was cleanly shaven. A silk black blindfold covered his eyes and forehead, but I was still able to see a burn scar so large, it covered the entire upper half of his face! He was blinded as a result of a serious wound, one I know better than anyone! He wore two round earrings on each ear, a sleeveless seaweed-green turtleneck, dark-grey jeans held up by a brown belt, and brown sandals. Both upper-arms bore tribal dragon tattoos in jet-black ink. In each hand was a tonfa weighted with metal spheres, coated in a strange substance that smelt like sea-salt. The tonfa’s handles were wrapped in sports tape.“That is true, Ghin, but Luffy has usually been right when it comes to viewing one’s character, so if he says she is fine, then she is fine,” interjected a slim, well-endowed woman with emerald eyes and long, wavy black hair. She wore a magenta top hat with pink stripes & a large red plume, a pearl necklace with matching earrings & bracelets, a white bikini top underneath a purple coat with epaulettes, tight pink Capri-length trousers with a white belt, and purple slip-ons. In her right hand was a heavy-looking, spiked iron club.“I also trust Luffy’s judgement, Alvida,” agreed a tall-&-slender young woman with shoulder-length black hair, large breasts, and wide blue eyes. Her limbs were very long, especially her legs. She wore a partially-zipped navy-blue leather vest with a V-neck line, a long salmon sari-like skirt, white sunglasses on her forehead, and pink high-heeled pumps. “If she were after our bounties, we wouldn’t be here right now. To be more precise, our bodies would be bloody and our heads would be on spikes, displayed for all to see.”“Don’t put such horrific images inside our heads, Robin!” yelled a golden-furred, toddler-sized reindeer boy. His left antler was braced at the base by a metallic plate. Beady dark eyes were accompanied by a blue nose. He wore a white-&-yellow vertically-striped tank top with orange shorts. With those two pieces of clothing was a pink hat underneath a blue cap with a ring of dots around the circle and buckles dangling on the ends. He almost looked cute, but talking mutant animals are not my idea of "cute things".“Sorry, Chopper,” Robin giggled, though she did not look sorry at all.“For the record, I don’t put peoples head’s on spikes,” I spoke up, defending my honour as a respectable bounty-hunter. “I ain’t that heartless. How my opponents turn out after a fight, whether they are dead or ‘live, depends on how much o’ a challenge they give me.”Seconds after I said that, a giant kanabo club slammed in front of me. “I believe in all of Luffy’s decisions, but if you try attacking us when our guards are down, Hollianna, I won’t show you any mercy,” warned a taller-than-average human woman with long, white hair that was bound between orange rods into a ponytail at the back, which faded into aqua-green and then blue the further down it went, ending in rectangular locks. Her large, orange eyes bore prominent eyelashes. There were gold hoop earrings on both of her ears, and a pair of red horns adorned the top of her head. She wore a sleeveless white garment with a diamond-shaped design on both sides and an indigo, wisp-patterned bottom half. It came with red hakama trousers, a large purple-&-white nio-daisuki behind her back, and heavy sandals.“Yamato, you also trust our mysterious stowaway?!” Sanji gawked. He suddenly recomposed himself and bowed when my gaze landed on him. “O-Of course, I never doubt the words of a lady, no matter how exotic she may be, but I am afraid your occupation worries us.”“I am a woman, not a lady,” I frowned, crossing my arms.“Luffy, I do not approve of allowing a professional assassin to board our ship, but if you believe she is on our side, then I will trust your decision,” said a large fish-man with the appearance of a blue whale shark. He was easily the tallest of all the pirates on Sunny, even taller than the skeleton by a few centimeters.The fish-man had a stocky build similar to that of a sumo wrestler and an Oni-like face. His yellow eyebrows and sideburns were distinctly shaped like those found on such demons, in addition to a bulb-like nose and an angular lower lip pointing upwards. He bore two tusk-like conical lower fangs, while the rest of his sharp teeth were smaller. A severe underbite made room for his huge fangs. There was a lightning-shaped scar on his left sideburn, reaching over his left eye. He had long, two-toned black hairwith two long stripes coloured white, coming from the roots over his forehead and trailing down the back, along with a topknot. A tuft of hair with a slight green hue grew on his chin. As expected of a fish-man, his hands and feet were webbed. His limbs were somewhat thin compared to his his enormous girth. His pale-pink gills were located in-between his shoulders and neck. He wore a yellow kimono with a green sash and a Jolly Roger design arranged like stripes, an orange coat flowing like a cape from his shoulders, and wooden samurai sandals.“Thanks, Jimbei,” Luffy smiled as he let go of Zoro’s arm.Seeing as not even the respected fish-man was going to voice his concerns, Usopp reluctantly turned to the swordsman. “Zoro, talk some sense into our captain!” he insisted. “You are the first-mate! Luffy will listen to you! We cannot let this stranger stay on the Sunny, especially now we know she is trained and paid to kill at a moment’s notice!”“I will go along with whatever our captain decides,” Zoro frowned, his thumb stroking the hilt of one of his katana. “But if this girl tries anything funny, I will cut her down.”“As if ya could…” I muttered under my breath, but he heard it.“Is that a challenge?” Zoro glared, going for a sword.“I would advise against you two getting into a fight,” spoke up the slim, tribal-tattooed guy with a cow-skinned, northern-styled hat (which I found to be ridiculous). He bore dark shadows underneath his grey eyes. He had short black hair and a small goatee. He wore a hooded, opened black coat, revealing a tribal heart tattoo on his chest, complete with the skull-&-crossbones. It came with dotted grey jeans and black boots. He looked like the kind of guy normal folks would avoid: the kind of bad boy who wants to be alone all his life. “Call it a surgeon’s hunch, but something is off about her…”“Law-san is right,” Brook nodded. “You may not believe me, but as an undead being myself, I kind of have a sense towards life…and this young lady has nothing of the sort in her. Sure, Hollianna-san is breathing, but I don’t sense a heartbeat over here.”“I ain’t a lady; I am a woman!” I huffed once again, highly offended.“Ah, my humblest apologies,” Brook responded, holding back a laugh.“I am not falling for your zombie-jokes again!” Usopp scowled, walking over to me. He placed two fingers on the side of my neck, searching for a pulse. He raised an eyebrow when he felt nothing. He then brought up my wrist and placed those two fingers on it. Upon feeling nothing, he shrieked like a female victim in a horror show and jumped back. “S-She has no pulse!” Usopp freaked. “Holy c***, not another walking corpse!”Everyone perked up upon hearing that. Chopper, Nami and Alvida were freaking out. Robin, Luffy and Zoro appeared to be interested. Just to be certain, Yamato came closer and felt for a pulse on my wrist. “He is right; I can’t feel anything,” she told Luffy.“Wow, a zombie with skin and a mind of its own!” Luffy gushed. He was not scared of me in the slightest. “Hey, do you wanna join my crew?”“Luffy, stop asking every weirdo to join us!” Usopp screamed in terror. “That girl is an actual zombie! If she bites us, we might turn into zombies!”“But what about me?” Brook asked. “I am dead, and I am all bones!”“There is a huge difference between talking skeletons and zombies!” Nami claimed.“I ain’t a zombie,” I firmly told them, tired of the speculations. “I am a dracopyre.”“What is a dracopyre?” Ghin asked me, unfamiliar with the word.“To put it simply, I am half-vampire, half-dragon,” I explained to the group. I have no idea why I told them, but something in my mind said I could trust them. “I am fully dead, sure, but I was born dead, so…ya could say I am Unborn, too. My biology is a mess, so much that even I hardly knew what I was for a time, but I was confirmed dracopyre a few months ‘go.”“Oh, I get it!” the rabbit girl – Carrot – beamed, clapping her hands. “You are human-like, but you are a lizard, too! That means you are a mink, just like me!”“Do ya see scales all over my body?” I growled, put off by her naivety. “We ain’t ‘like at all!”“Do you honestly expect us to believe such a tale?” Alvida frowned, dubious & suspicious. “I mean, really? A vampire, of all things? Dragons exist, but not vampires.”“Whether or not ya believe it, I have not lied: I am half-dragon, half-vampire, all dead ’n’ human-lookan,” I calmly replied. “’N’ no, Luffy, I cannot join yer crew. I run a guild, so joinan ya would mean betrayan my group – ’n’ there is no way I am betrayan ‘em! But if ya want, we can be…friends? I do owe ya for yer kindness durran lunch.”“A guild…I have heard the guidelines of guilds are as strong as a pirate crew’s, so treachery without officially signing off is punishable by death,” Jimbei commented. “She has a lot riding on her shoulders as a guild leader, and captains don’t abandon their crew.”“Sure, we can be friends!” Luffy grinned, ignoring most of his crews’ arguments. “So you are dead dragon teenager who can drink blood? Amazing!”“Yeah, that is the abridged version,” I told him. “I can turn into a dragon if need be, but while the blood-suckan is mandatory, I won’t die from not drinkan blood from y’all. As for the whole "teenage" thing, my internal clock is pretty much broken, so I can’t age. To y’all, I look to be ‘round 16 or 18, right? Truth be told, though, I am way older than that.”“So, wait, how old are you?” Luffy inquired.“Luffy, you just can’t ask a woman her age!” Sanji lectured him.“124, I think,” I confessed.“That old?!” the whole crew gawked. Luffy and I laughed at their reactions.“Anyways…Sanji, right?” I smiled, facing the blond cook, who was stunned by all three revelations. “I am sorry for stealan food, but when I heard y’all were pirates, I was worried ‘bout who I was dealan with, so I decided to wait it out. I was plannan on boltan as soon as we reached land, but given ya stocked up yesterday, I must have missed my shot. Oh well, if y’all don’t want me ‘round, then feel free to throw me overboard. I can swim, to a degree.”“We can’t do that!” Luffy exclaimed. “That would be mean! We are not mean pirates! Sanji, come on, she only stole in order to survive! Don’t throw my new friend off Sunny!”Sanji glanced between me and Luffy before lighting up another cigarette, the other one having fallen out of his mouth from shock. “…Dead or alive, enemy or ally, I can’t disrespect women,” he relented. “Fine, she can stay, but no more late-night fridge-hoarding!”“Deal,” I nodded, shaking his hand.“D***, you feel as cold as ice…” Sanji mumbled to himself, rubbing his hands together. A bit confused by the statement, Robin touched my skin. She said the same thing. Strange, because I do not feel cold at all. In fact, I feel lukewarm.“Are you really dead?” Luffy inquired, looking me over for any obvious injuries. The only visible one is the large burn scar on the left side of my face.“Want me to prove it?” I asked him.Luffy nodded his head, unaware of the grotesque way of proving oneself to be a walking corpse. With the captain’s permission, I put my right hand into my left sleeve and drew out a pistol from its hidden sheath. Of course, the crew tensed up at this, but their reactions changed from fierce anticipation to a horrified revelation once I aimed it at the side of my head. They tried to stop me, but I pulled the trigger instantly.An unbelievably excruciating sensation pulsed through my head milliseconds after the bullet pierced through my skull, through my brain, and shot out the other end, leaving behind two bloody holes in the sides of my head. I stumbled a bit, but I did not faint or collapse; I stayed standing, much to the crew’s shock. I focused on breathing as I put the pistol back where it belonged. Shortly afterwards, the pain vanished, and the exposed flesh and broken bones stitched themselves back together. Within the blink of an eye, the fresh wound was gone, as if it was never there to begin with. Like many would say, it was "just like magic".“…Yup, she is definitely dead…and crazy…” Alvida whimpered, hugging Carrot, who was equally horrified as her friend and the rest of the crew.“Shooting yourself in the head is suicide…and yet, she survived…” Franky whispered.“She didn’t even hesitate…” Brook breathed, his legs shaking. “Such a fearless soul…!”“I think I am gonna be sick…” Usopp mumbled through the hand covering his mouth, his face turning pale. Chopper tried to ease him, but to no avail as Usopp lurched over the deck’s railing, sending a torrent of vomit into the ocean. Those poor fishes…“What are you?” Law demanded, picking up his ōdachi and carrying it on his shoulder. He looked ready to fight, but he knew he stood no chance against me.“A badass, Unborn dracopyre with ‘nough fire in her soul to burn ya to ashes if ya get on my tits,” was my answer. I then turned to Luffy and patted his shoulder. He looked a little freaked out, but he snapped out of his stupor upon eye-contact. “Sorry for scaran ya, but ya did ask for proof. How else could I have proven my undead biology? I mean, sure, I could have asked Zoro or Law to behead me, but that is even more painful, not to mention nasty.”“…Your powers didn’t come from eating a Devil Fruit, did they?” Luffy inquired, wide-eyed.“That sounds delicious, but no, I can’t eat anythan I don’t know ‘bout, can I?” I answered honestly. “I came out as I am, ’n’ I gained my powers through hard work ’n’ determination.”“How do you not know about Devil Fruits?!” Nami exclaimed, looking at me like I was the first alien to have ever landed on the planet. Rude, much!“I don’t come from ‘round ‘ere,” I confessed. “I guess these "Devil Fruits" ya speak o’ are more than some poisonous apples or raw veggies, huh?”“They are mythical fruits that, when eaten, give people amazing powers,” Robin explained. To my surprise, she generated four more arms from her elbows. “Luffy, Yamato, Chopper, Brook, Ghin, Alvida, Law and myself have all eaten one. I ate the Flower-Flower Fruit, which allows me to replicate and sprout parts of my body onto any surface, including living beings.”“I ate the Human-Human Fruit – and like the name suggests, it gave me human intelligence and the ability to talk with humans,” Chopper informed me as Robin’s extra arms disappeared in a breeze of pink petals. “By the way, I am the doctor of this crew, not a pet. I just wanted to get that off my chest because my wanted poster calls me a pet.”“At eight-years-old, I ate the Dog-Dog Fruit, Model: Okuchi-no-Makami,” Yamato said. “I can turn into the guardian wolf deity of Wano, my home-country. I can produce ice from my body during battle, but I usually do it through my mouth.”“I ate the Smooth-Smooth Fruit, which not only made me very beautiful, but it also makes my skin smooth and slippery to the touch,” Alvida stated with a smile. “Normal attacks don’t affect me; they just slide right off without leaving so much as a scratch.”Luffy put a finger into his mouth and pulled it back at such a length, any normal man’s jaw would have surely snapped. “I ate the Gum-Gum Fruit, so my body is made out of rubber!” he giggled, removing his finger and returning his mouth to normal. “I can stretch my body, deflect bullets, and survive electric shocks! Oh, and I am immune to poison, too.”“I ate the Revive-Revive Fruit long ago, back when I was captain of the Rumbar Pirates, and it resurrected me as the Straw Hats’ skeleton musician,” Brook chuckled. “I will admit, being trapped on the old ship’s wreckage in a cursed region of the sea for many decades was boring, and I did curse my fate, but I take all those curses back. I am happy in this crew.”“I ate the Rumble-Rumble Fruit from an enemy we faced two years ago, which made embody lightning itself,” Ghin claimed, blue sparks flying from his shoulders. “I can manipulate electricity at will. As one of the strongest Devil Fruits, I am nigh-invincible, but Luffy cannot be harmed by me, since he is rubber and all…”“…I was forced to eat the Op-Op Fruit…” Law reluctantly admitted. “I can create a spherical space called "ROOM", where I have complete control over the placement and orientation of the objects inside it. I have been able to perform many difficult surgeries and saved people’s lives with its power. I even saved Straw Hat’s life after the war at Marineford.”“Unfortunately, Devil Fruit users are weakened by water, so the eight of us can’t swim,” Robin added in, staring at the sea. “If we were to fall into the ocean, it would be certain death. It is a huge risk we are taking: us eight being on a ship in the middle of the ocean…”“What about you, Holli?” Luffy asked me. “Besides being an unkillable assassin who was able to avoid Sanji’s traps, what are your powers, besides turning into a dragon?”“Fire ’n’ scarf attacks,” I answered truthfully. They told me their powers, so it was only fair to tell them mine. “This scarf on my neck is actually a weapon, created by…a tired man who invented the fightan style all by himself. He took me in as his daughter for a few years ’n’ he taught me all ‘bout this fightan style. Oh, ’n’ back when I was in the army, I was strong ‘nough to be their GA, so while I might not look it, I got some seriously mad skills!”“GA…you were general over the entire army!?” Ghin gasped, astonished. “If we compare your rank to the the Navy’s, then your abilities equal to that of the fleet admiral’s!”“To obtain such a rank, you must be as strong as that magma b******, Akainu…” Zoro commented through gritted teeth. Hearing that name, Luffy flinched and clenched his teeth in anger before taking a deep breath to calm himself.“D*** straight!” I grinned. “Back in those days, my nickname was "the Red Reaper" – ’n’ now, they just call me "the Trickster" ‘coz there ain’t nobody out there I can’t outwit! They also call me "the Crow" ‘coz I act like one: intelligent, mysterious…’n’ a harbinger o’ death. Seriously, everywhere I go, somebody dies – be it by my hand or ‘nother’s.”“You have made friends with a particularly strong and dangerous person, Luffy, if what she claims is true,” Jimbei told the captain.“Holli is not lying,” Luffy spoke up, gaining his shipmates’ attention. “All she has said so far is the truth. It sounds crazy, but it is true. I would have noticed if she was lying.”I nodded at his words, and he nodded in response. We may have only just met, but we understood each other like we were old friends. It was kind of funny. “…Are your friends as strong as you?” Luffy asked me, changing the topic.“Are heart-attacks deadly?” I smirked.Law and Chopper both said "yes" at time same time, causing Luffy and I to laugh. The rest of the crew soon realised I posed no danger and, minus Law and Zoro, they all laughed along with us. I swear, they remind me so much of my guild-mates! I am so glad these pirates are not some ruthless cut-throats! Blood would stain the deck if they were.“I wanna see your friends!” Luffy begged me.“As ya can tell, I got separated from ‘em, but I reckon they are lookan for me right now, hopan I am as right as rain, so they can’t be too far,” I said. “Honestly, yer crewmates are dead-ringers for ‘em – in terms o’ personality, that is. Maybe that is why I don’t feel so scared, even though there are a lot o’ people on this fine vessel.”“You are scared of people?” Franky inquired, speaking up for the first time in a while. “Don’t tell me such a super woman is shy outside of a fight?”“I have zero social skills ’n’ I dislike talkan, but somethan ‘bout y’all puts me at ease,” I replied. “It might be yer attitudes. Most pirates are all treasure-seekan, bloodthirsty scallywags. Not y’all, though: y’all are nice. Bit weird, but nice.”“I told you, we don’t kill unless we are forced to do so for survival,” Luffy grinned proudly, showing off his pearly-whites. “As for me, I don’t kill at all.” “A pirate king whose hands are clean…it sounds funny, but dreams were made to become reality, even if they are far-fetched,” I remarked, wiping my eye. There was something stuck between the lashes. Once whatever it was came out, I opened my eye and spotted something in the distance…something that made my blood run cold. “Uh, Luffy…since ya are a pirate, ya are pretty infamous with the Navy, right?” I confirmed.“Yup, my bounty is 1,500,000,000 berries!” Luffy boasted. “I got a wanted poster with my picture on it, and so do the others! Do you have a bounty, too?”“I will show ya later,” I promised.“I wanna see it now!” Luffy practically whined.“So proof o’ my rep is more important to ya right now than the squadron o’ Navy ships closan in from the starboard-stern side?” I inquired nonchalantly.All of the Straw Hats raised an eyebrow at that, and I pointed at the incoming ships. Seconds later, the first round of enemy cannon-fire rained down, missing us by an inch. Nami, Carrot, Chopper and Usopp freaked out almost instantly. Jimbei grabbed the wheel, ready to steer us out of – or into – battle. Law and Brook readied their swords as Franky grinned and struck a pose, calling the dramatic timing "super". Yamato, Alvida and Ghin twirled their metallic weapons in anticipation. Sanji puffed out some smoke through his nose, while a smiling Robin crossed her arms. Zoro rested his right arm on his three swords as he stood by his captain’s side. Luffy held onto his straw hat, grinning like the Cheshire cat.“Alright, guys, get ready for a fight!” Luffy declared.“Aye!” his crew shouted in unison.“Jai-ho!” I grinned, eager to help out.(Author's Note: To Be Continued…)
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